This Season Of Love, California Nostalgia Resonates at Café Sausalito

              The renaissance of retro Sham Shui Po 深水埗 has brought the Bay Area's nautical scene to 201 Tai Nan Street 大南街, where a quaint little café now resides. Café Sausalito is a new neighbourhood gem that serves up one of the best cup of joes in the area. I have been given the honor to leave a small footprint by helping create some of their weekend specials and homemade baked goods currently offered to the lovely citizens of Hong Kong. Although Coffee is the star of this joint, it is not the only thing that makes this place a special one.
               I had a blast these past few weeks while celebrating Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year in the span of two consecutive weekends. The café took this opportunity to put up fitting decorations in order to honour these major festivities with open arms. 
        For those days surrounding Valentine's Day, I put forth a lovely dark chocolate-rose tofu tart to pair with our special heart warming mocha that unlocked every mans heart. 
        Who really hates chocolate is really a hater, but those who are lovers won't mind a free chocolate strawberry tuxedo with a purchase of two coffees on Valentine's Day really enjoyed this delectable gift! 
     My girlfriends and I really had a great time creating these while on a girls night at the café bonding in-house with our very own resident barista baller, the sultry Michael Tam. He really did have quite a lot to complain about being the only man in the midst of 4 women dipping strawberries in chocolate. 
                    We also took the opportunity to invite local artists and musicians to showcase their skills at the café and welcomed everyone to come out for a coffee with a slice of cake. These artists included Alison a wonderful sketcher and Henna Tattoo artist to set up a little booth out front for anyone who wants give an as-you-wish sum in exchange for some artwork. 
            For another romantic afternoon, the pleasure was all ours when Anthony, a resident saxophonist from the Langham Hotel, stopped by for a couple of sets. He was definitely serenading all the patrons inside with well known cover tunes that span from the Western world all the way to songs from our closely related Chinese roots.  
           On Chinese New Year's Day, Tai Nan Street became the prime locations for a block party where we had The Anello, a Hong Kong based collaboration, stirring up the scene with familiar covers and also amazing originals. You can see them creating an amazing buzz throughout the café and its surroundings with such an awesome performance. 

       We can hardly wait until The Anello can come visit us again with more live performances!!! This was a perfect day to spend a holiday on the block with good live music, great coffee, good food and good company!!! The rain didn't stop us! 
   





       
             A hearty brunch was also served alongside this enjoyable event, which made a positive attribution to the whole experience. Can you really resist a toasted bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon, pickled cucumbers on top of French style scrambled eggs? I can answer that question for you! 
      Should you also compliment that with a warm homemade apple crumble tart? Oh, I think so! :) ...If apples and cinnamon are not a combination for you, may I suggest a homemade chocolate-hazelnut (Nutella) tofu tart or even a classic lemon tart for kicks. 

            I had the honour to develop and create a membership card board for Café Sausalito, which Michael delightfully accepted as my contribution. It is now conveniently displayed at the café for a place to put our important members' record of their coffee spending. 
       As a token of my appreciation, I made everyone drink steamed milk! 
I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day and a Happy Chinese New Year! 恭喜發財! Got Milk?!?!

Recipe: Vegetarian Cauliflower Pizza! Easy, Healthy and Gluten Free!

             How many pizza's slices can you eat? I know I'll be tempted to go for seconds and thirds for a pizza that just came out of the oven, but how many calories would you regret racking up by the end of the night!                              Don't like veggies? You won't even think there are any vegetables in this crust! Even if you don't have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, this pizza would be a great alternative to increase your vegetable and dietary fiber intake without losing all the flavors and mouthfeel of a real pizza!!! I know it's hard to believe but this is my 'raison d'etre' as a culinary dietitian. I live to research, test and produce a highly nutritional dish that will tantalize everyone's tastebuds and yet makes them feel extra good about eating it. 

simplyscratch.com

      Cauliflower is a natural cruciferous vegetable that is highly versatile, highly nutritious and related to disease prevention. They are not only high in vitamins, minerals and fiber, but in recent scientific studies, cruciferous vegetables have been linked to cancer prevention where animal laboratory results show anti-inflammatory effects, protection against DNA damage, and have antiviral and antibacterial affects. How exciting! There's now more reason to add these amazing vegetables to your diet and help you live a more fulfilling and healthy life! There are many versions of this cauliflower recipe and many links on the web are really good, I've just compiled a few recipes I've found and modified it to my own liking, I hope you'll try this at home. 

         

Recipe: Cauliflower Crust Pizza with Barbecue Sauce and Tomatoes and Onions 

Ingredients: (Makes Two 9x9 inch round pizza)

Crust:          2             heads of cauliflower 

                    4             eggs 

                    1 cup      mozzarella cheese, shredded 

                    1/2 tsp    salt 

                    1/4 tsp    black pepper cracked

                    1 tsp       oregano, dried

                    1 Tbsp    garlic, minced

Toppings:    4 Tbsp    Barbecue sauce (any)

                    2             roma tomato cut into wedges

                    1/2          red onion sliced thin

                    1 cup      mozzarella pizza cheese, shredded

                    1 cup      chicken breast, diced (optional for carnivores)

Method: 

1) Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celcius or 400 degrees Fahrenheit

2) Cut cauliflower into chunks and pulse in a food processor or a blender. Be careful not to puree it too finely, a texture like rice is what you want. (as shown). Take riced cauliflower out and drain and squeeze out any excess liquids and place in a large mixing bowl. This process can be done before hand and can keep a stash of riced cauliflower in your freezer so you can make pizza on demand! 

3) In the bowl, add in cheese, salt, pepper, eggs, oregano, and garlic and mix thoroughly to combine. 

4) On a parchment lined flat baking tray (can be square or round) spoon cauliflower mixture onto tray and spread evenly to about 1cm thick and place in the over for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. 

5) After taking the crust out of the oven, you can low spoon on the barbecue sauce then layer on the tomatoes and onions. If you would like to add meat, some diced chicken breast would be a great addition. At the end sprinkle on the cheese and return to the oven for about 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and some browning occurs. 

There is nothing better than a slice of homemade pizza, fresh out of the oven! Enjoy! :)