ì`ve lived in bc for over 12 years now and the one thing that i`ve grown to love out here is salmon. wild sockeye salmon is by far my favourite, but any salmon will do. i try not to buy farmed salmon, but it`s not always possible. one day i was watching kitchen nightmares (original british version) and he was making crab cakes. they looked beautiful. i`m sure they tasted great, but i`m not a huge fan of crab. and then the light bulb went on... salmon!
salmon cakes 1 pound fresh salmon 1/2 bunch of cilantro (or flat leaf parsley if you're not a fan of cilantro), finely chopped 1 red onion, diced 2-4 cloves of garlic, minced (or to taste) juice of 1 lemon 1 large egg, lightly beaten 1/2 cup bread crumbs 1 tsp salt salt and pepper to taste and a drizzle of olive oil.
preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. place the salmon in an oven safe dish and season the fish with salt and pepper to taste, drizzle with 1 tbsp of the fresh lemon juice and the olive oil. cover with tin foil and bake for 15 minutes. turn the oven off and let the fish rest in the warm oven for 5 minutes. take the salmon out of the oven and once the fish has cooled a bit more, "flake" the fish with a fork. mix the remaining ingredients into the salmon and form "cakes" with your hands or a large cookie/ice cream scoop. cover and refrigerate until you're ready to cook them. i use my griddler, but you can cook them up in a frying pan, too. serve on a bed of lettuce or in a bun like a burger!
and of course you'll need a nice canadian wine. i picked up a bottle of rigamarole strictly for the uber cute label. i'm a sucker for stuff like that. turns out it's a very nice wine. i'm not a wine geek and normally i can't smell the "oaky-ness" or "the sun must have been shining whilst the birds flew overhead," you can smell it's fruity. it's label says: "why is it such a rigamarole to simply find a great dry white? the puzzling complexity of terroir, oak ageing, vintages and those ridiculous descriptors is just too much. save that mental energy for calculating the time it would take to harvest our grapes with hedgehogs..." love it! and bonus, it's from bc's beautiful okanagan valley.
the other half of the blogging event was held by jennifer of the domestic goddess and was right up my alley... a sugar high! one of the best memories of my childhood was going to a sugar maple farm up in kleinberg (ontario) when there was tonnes of snow on the ground. i remember the worker pour the hot syrup on the snow in a line and rolling it back onto a popsickle stick. to this day, i think that was the best maple syrup i have ever had. to me, nothing tastes like a sweet canada than maple syrup. 
MAPLE COOKIES
2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened 3/8 cup packed light brown sugar 1/4 cup maple syrup (the real thing!) 1 egg 1 teaspoon cream of tartar 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 3/8 teaspoon salt
Into medium bowl, sift flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar together; set aside. in the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. add egg and maple syrup. add remaining dry ingredients until just combined. Shape dough into ball; wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough 1 hour or until easy to handle. Preheat oven to 350*F. On lightly floured surface, with lightly floured rolling pin, roll 1/3 of the dough at a time 1/8 inch thick, keeping remaining dough refrigerated. With floured 3 1/2 inch maple leaf shaped cookie cutter, cut dough into leaves. Place cookies 1 inch apart on greased cookie sheet (or use parchment lined sheets.) Bake 10 minutes or until golden. With pancake turner, carefully remove to wire racks to cool. Repeat until all dough is used, greasing cookie sheet each time.
MAPLE CREAM
2 cups (4 ounces) confectioners’ sugar1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) butter, softened pinch salt (extra fine if you have it)1/2 teaspoon maple extract1 teaspoon vanilla extract1 to 2 tablespoons maple syrup
Beat the confectioners’ sugar, butter, and salt together. Mix in the maple flavoring and vanilla. Add the maple syrup a bit at a time, until the filling is a medium-soft, spreadable consistency (the filling should hold its shape). Drop a teaspoonful of filling onto the flat side of a cookie. Top with another cookie, placing the flat sides toward each other. Let the cookies sit for several hours to let the frosting set up, so the cookie halves don’t slide around on one another. Store in airtight containers for several days or freeze for longer storage. 
