As a proud Canuck, friends always seemed surprised when I told them I had never downhill skied before (one highschool friend’s reaction was to tell me that I wasn’t as “cultured” as she thought I was). Happily, I was able to check that off my bucketlist just before the end of 2013 with a family trip out to beautiful British Columbia. Guided down the Whistler Blackcomb mountains by my talented skiing cousins and aunt (the same aunt who makes some of my favourite granola), we beginners all progressed to blue runs before the end of our ski week and even attempted some small moguls (most of which I managed to stay on my feet for). With only one nasty bruise, I’d say my first skiing experience was a success and I can’t wait to try again!I think I might have been spoiled by the chairlift views in Whistler — Bon Iver could write songs about the snowy pines on the mountain and the views, of course, are just spectacular. We were a little unlucky with the snow; it seemed like it was snowing all over Canada at the time, just not in Whistler. But we did get some fresh powder before our last day of skiing, so I got to experience shredding some pow (except, not really. Let’s be honest, I was snowplowing a whole lot.).

Almost as important as the skiing, of course, is the après-ski. Whistler is full of good places to refuel after a day on the mountain, but aside from some fare at the lodges on the mountain we opted to use our kitchen for big family meals. The one meal we outsourced was crowd-pleasing pizza from Creekbread. I’d never had pizza with roasted potatos before, and I loved it. Our healthiest post-ski snack (by far) was at the green moustache. Tucked in behind a pretty little boutique full of creative things, the green moustache is a bright spot with even brighter juices, raw snacks and meals. A great spot for keeping new year’s resolutions. Just beside our healthy nook was an equally delightful spot, although with more indulgent treats. Purebread has the kind of display of baked goods to make people salivate. It’s the perfect place to get a hot drink and a sweet snack at the end of your day, or a fresh loaf to go with dinner.

So in case you don’t feel like packing a glut of mini brownies in your suitcase, you could certainly get your fix at Purebread. Or, you could layer bags of frozen brownies snuggly between your snowpants and your long johns and enjoy them on the other end. They’re dense enough to survive the trip, and delicious enough to make it worth the effort.Ever since my mum made these for the first time a couple years ago, they’ve been a favourite for entertaining and sharing. They’re simple to make, the only thing that might make the process lengthy is re-using the same mini-muffin pan for each batch (but at least you’ll end up with a lot of little brownies!).

Two Bite Brownies recipe from Gourmet
Makes approx. 72 1″ by 1″ mini muffin-sized brownies

Ingredients:
2 cups (4 sticks)
8 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 3/4 cup granulated sugar
8 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350F.
Line mini-muffin tin with liners.
Melt butter and chocolate in 4 quart heavy pot over low heat, stir until mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar. Add eggs one by one, whisking after each addition.
Whisk dry ingredients together. Stir flour mixture into the chocolate mixture until just blended. Spoon batter in prepared muffin tins, fill cups to top.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 20-25 minutes. Let cool for five minutes before turning out onto cooling racks. Repeat with remaining batter.

Hope your holidays were wonderful and 2014 is off to a great start! xo