Monday, January 5, 2009

Would we?

My husband and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary last week and despite the record snowfall in Vancouver, we had a superb time. In fact, five years earlier, our wedding day was preceded by snowfall which gave the perfect backdrop to our ceremony, cold and crisp but clear with freshly dusted North shore mountains glowing at sunset. Oh I'm gushing.


This year's gift, in accordance with the traditional anniversary gift list, is wood, seemingly not the most romantic of substances, but nonetheless worthy of giving in some form to the one you love. The Scrabble Premier Wood Edition game was the obvious choice for him, especially appropriate for wintery house-bound evenings. So far, we are tied at one game each and I am expanding my vocabulary with legitimate 2-letter words.


After some brainstorming, my secondary gift which had to be wood-related but edible was the cinnamon bun. True cinnamon is the bark from the Cinnamomum zeylanicum tree, although, what North Americans call cinnamon is more likely a related species, Cinnamomum aromaticum, which is also called cassia, a more intensely flavoured and woodier bark.


As seasoned alumni of the University of British Columbia, Eric and I both have a soft spot for those legendary UBC cinnamon buns and several years ago, I found the official recipe (I use butter instead of margarine). These buns are not as gooey and smothered in icing as typical cinnamon buns; instead, they have a lovely caramelized crust and soft interior. As a freshman, I may have consumed one per day before my waistline begged me not to. Happy Anniversary!

13 comments:

Rina said...

They are gorgeous - am bookmarking and hopefully making soon!!

Happy Anniversary!

CrumbsandPixels said...

Bookmarking this recipe, too! Awesome photos!

Happy Anniversary!

Fat Grl Slim said...

Ahhh UBC cinnamon buns!!!!!! The Totem cafe didn't do any favors to my waistline either!

Happy Anniversary! And thanks for making miss Vancouver...

rlbates said...

Happy Anniversary!

tara said...

I cannot stand cloyingly-sweet cinnamon buns. I can only bear a few nibbles before I am in sugar-overload. These look absolutely perfect - I do believe I'd be tempted to eat a whole one ... or two. Or more. A definite must-try. Happy anniversary to you both!

Anonymous said...

Hi Cuz:
Happy anniversary to the both of you!! I can't believe it has been five years already!! May you have many many more years of happiness together!! I absolutely adored the UBC cinnamon buns when I went there.
Love yah,
Cuz Lila

Anonymous said...

Aww - happy anniversary! That looks like one hell of a good time - Scrabble and cinnamon buns! What could be better?

If you ever need more wood ideas, how about cedar planks for making salmon? Haha, ok maybe scrabble is better! Love it!

Anonymous said...

Happy Anniversary!!! Wishing you many more happy years ahead together!!! Those cinnamon buns look amazing!!!! Sylvia

Unknown said...

Happy anniversary! I had no idea UBC had a recipe book, but now I'm on the hunt for it... maybe it will give me good karma and let me get into one of their Masters programs for fall! :)

The buns looks fantastic!

Morgan Laine said...

mmmmMMMMMmmm UBC cinnamon buns. The Vanier caf would take the stale, unsold buns from the week and make french toast out of them every saturday! Deadly.

Happy Anniversary :) and hope you're enjoying the snow-rain mix we west coasters are experiencing.

Charmaine said...

Your mutual love of UBC cinnamon buns makes me so happy! I might be dating myself, but I also loved the Chicken breast sandwich and samosas at the Deli in the SUB. Oh, and the Dole Whip at the Hospital Caf...
:) Charmaine

dlyn said...

Lovely recipe and a great little story - bookmarking that to use in the future!

loretta said...

Incredibly smashing! If they're as tasty they look, you're a star!

? Since you have used pastry rings do yo think they'd work for English muffins, sized appropriately? Best material? Nancy Silverton uses tuna fish cans (tin)-- I prefer to buy new.

Congratulations!

Loretta