notes from the overfed

October

2011-10-22T18:03:00.004-04:00

October is a busy month around here. Two of my daughters have their birthdays, there's Thanksgiving and then the ever entertaining Halloween. What is also awesome is Lindsey. She is a local baker in my neighbourhood who makes fantastic cakes like the one above. She's affordable and she delivers right to your door. Plus she's got the cutest little voice. You'd think she just inhaled some helium but really she sounds like that all the time. Maybe it's from all that flour and icing sugar she's consumed. What I like most about her is that I don't have to bake to have a great looking cake for my kid's birthday.
So happy birthday my Ruby and kudos to Lindsey and her fantastic blue ballerina birthday cake!

When I am forced to bake I always use the following fail safe icing recipe.

Chocolate Icing
from Marilyn Smith's ultimate Foods for Ultimate Health

2 tbsp unsalted non hydrogenated margarine
1 oz unsweetened chocolate
6 tbsp chocolate soy milk
2 1/2 cups icing sugar
1/3 cup natural cocoa powder

Heat margarine, chocolate, and soy milk over stove at low heat. Pour melted mixture into medium bowl. Add icing sugar and cocoa powder and beat until smooth. If it's too thick, add some more soy milk until desired consistency is reached. Spread over baked good or eat straight from the bowl.

The C Word

2011-09-20T16:30:00.001-04:00

Yes, it's true, I haven't posted in a while. I have good reason. My mom's Lymphoma has morphed into Leukemia. Her doctor has advised her to get her will in order and gave her a life expectancy of less than two years. She consistently amazes me with her optimism and general perspective on life. She walked into the doctor's office expecting to be given months to live but instead has potential years. It's not good news but better than she'd hoped. As she put it, she's "had a good run of it".
I lost my dad suddenly almost a year ago. He was perky and over for dinner on Friday and dead by Monday. There was no chance to say goodbye.
Now the clock is ticking. I have one parent left and only for a short while. I really can't imagine a world without my mom, and it makes me cry every time I think about it. This whole death thing really sucks.
Through all the tears there are glimmers of joy. I am enjoying my husband, my mom and my kids more than ever. We all went out for dinner on Friday night and we laughed so hard I almost peed my pants and drooled ice cream at the same time.
My mom has taught me that life can always be harder. Recognize and enjoy the positives of your situation. Right now, at this minute, my mom is alive and well, and I'm going to see her tomorrow. I won't always get to say that, so I guess I'm having a pretty good day.

It's hard to know what pairs well with Leukemia. Pork chops seemed like a tasty option. I made these for my mom last week.

Pork Chops with Spiced Apples and Raisins
Tyler Florence Real Kitchen

Pork Chops
1 gallon of water
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sea salt
1 cup frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
1 1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns
2 fresh sprigs of thyme or rosemary
4 bone in pork chops
sea salt and fresh pepper
olive oil

Spiced Apples and Raisins
2 tbsp butter
3 granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and thickly sliced
leaves from 2 sprigs of thyme or rosemary
1/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
pinch of cardamon
pinch dry mustard
sea salt and fresh pepper
juice of 1/2 lemon

Combine water, sugar, salt, apple juice, peppercorns, and thyme in a large pot. Stir until sugar and salt dissolve. Submerge chops and put pot in fridge to tenderize the meat. Do not brine longer than 2 hours or your meat will get mushy.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Sear pork chop in heavy skillet. Brown 4 minutes per side. Place in large baking pan and roast chops for 30 minutes or until done.

While the chops cook, melt butter in clean skillet over medium high heat. Add apples, and thyme, and coat in butter. Cook and stir for about 8 minutes. Throw the rest of the ingredients in the pan and stir well. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the apples soften. Spoon spiced apples over pork chops and serve.

Haikus of My Summer So Far

2011-07-27T19:03:00.002-04:00

Crap, it's summer break
Too many kids, too much time
September please come now

Crafts, parks, bikes, splash pads
I can do this, it won't beat me
Am I Supermom?

Burgers on the grill
Ketchup, mustard, relish, bun
Cold beer, I need some

Water and sunscreen
Cheese sticks, crackers, apples, lunch
Ferries, Centreville

Summer is fleeting
Precious time with my wee kids
It all goes too fast

Buttery Rosemary Sweet Potatoes

3 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4" thick
1/3 cup butter
2 tbsp fresh minced rosemary
sea salt and fresh pepper to taste

Boil potatoes until 3/4 cooked. Drain and set aside. On stove top, melt butter and add rosemary. Heat gently for 3-5 minutes. Toss potatoes with butter mixture and wrap in foil. Place on BBQ on medium/high heat for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Cancer Free Cobbler

2011-07-14T14:05:00.004-04:00

I recently dropped off some food, including a peach and blackberry cobbler, at my friend's house. Her mom was going through chemo and she was worried. It's a scenario I know well. There's the diagnosis, the worry, the treatment, the sickness, and the ever present waiting. You are always waiting for more news, hoping it's good, anything but bad. The last thing you want to do is concern yourself with the mundane task of making dinner.

My friend got good news the other day. Her mom's treatment was a success. Some think it was the chemo, but my bet is with the cobbler.

Cancer Free Cobbler

2 lbs peaches, peeled, pitted and cubed
1 cup of blackberries
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp lemon juice
pinch of salt

1 cup all purpose flour
3 tbsp plus 1 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
5 tbsp cold unsalted butter cut into cubes
1/3 cup yoghurt

Preheat oven to 425 F, and place rack on lower level. Toss peaches and blackberries in sugar and let sit for 30 minutes. Drain fruit and save juice. Whisk 1/4 cup of juice with corn starch, lemon, and salt, and mix with fruit. Place fruit mixture in a greased glass pan. Bake for 10 minutes.
With a food processor, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add butter and pulse until grainy. Transfer to a bowl and mix in yoghurt. Form six dough balls and place on fruit mixture. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake 20 minutes, and let cool 20 minutes. Enjoy.
Sorry about my lack of a cobbler photo but it was eaten too quickly.

Miss Chatelaine

2011-07-06T11:03:00.002-04:00

I just subscribed to a year of Chatelaine magazine. Well, truth be told, it is on my To Do List. I have been intending to subscribe for at least 6 months now. It seems to take me a little while to
get my chores done. I'm good at reading mags, just not subscribing to them in a timely fashion. We can't all be perfect now can we?

My Chatelaine love has been my dirty little secret for some time now. I always thought it was a fairly lame magazine. Too boring and too mainstream for me. I was always an avid reader of Bitch and Bust magazine, but since kids I haven't had the brain power to get through an article without losing track of what they are talking about. Of course, it's possible that's due to my early onset of Alzheimer's. It's not an official diagnosis but I'm expecting one any day now, I just keep forgetting to call my doctor.

One of my best friends was over the other day. She's a very hip lady. I was passing on some of my books and magazines to her. She very politely declined the Chatelaine. She was surprised by my love and as an awkward amends she told me she had just gotten her 70 year old mother a subscription. It didn't make me feel like a very cool cat. It was either that or my lame use of forties jazz slang.

These are the things I love about Chateleine magazine and am not afraid to admit; 1) the recipes that I will never try 2) the workouts that I love to plan for but never do 3) the book suggestions that I will never remember when I'm at a bookstore. So in summary, it is plainly obvious to me and all my readers that the boring and mainstream Chatelaine magazine is a perfect match for me.

I am thinking of legally changing my name from Alysa to Miss Chatelaine. Please address me as such when I see you next.

Gluten and Dairy Free Quiche with my friend Bacon and my acquaintance Broccoli
(I was unable to come up with a catchier name)

8 eggs, beaten
1 cup of plain soy milk
5-7 new potatoes
3 or more slices of bacon, diced and fried until slightly crispy
1 head of broccoli, cut into fine pieces
salt and pepper to taste

In a bowl combine eggs and soy milk. Set aside. Slice potatoes an 1/8 thick and boil until 3/4 cooked. Grease an 8"x 8" pan, and throw all the ingredients in it. Bake at 375 F for 30 to 40 minutes.

Backyard Pesto

2011-06-26T17:10:00.002-04:00

I've been feeling a little uninspired lately with my cooking. This whole dairy, gluten, and sugar free world I'm catering to has cooked me into a corner. I'm not feeling the love in the kitchen. I need the love if I am meant to cook the love. I don't even like shopping for food right now, and that is usually the only kind of shopping I like.

So I hunkered down for a solid 3 minutes to peruse a few cookbooks. Due to time constraints, I didn't get through many but I did get slightly inspired. I decided not to go shopping and use the food I have at home. I kept it simple, and who knows it may work out. Tonight we are eating sweet potato fries, edamame with sea salt and sesame oil, white beans with corn and backyard pesto, and salmon salad served on romaine lettuce leaves. I'm sure my kids will recoil in disgust, but at least I'm excited about having dinner. It's been a long time.

Backyard Pesto

1 big handful of basil
1 small handful of chives
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup olive oil
1 garlic clove minced
juice of one lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Throw it all in a cup and blend with a hand blender. I opened a can of white beans, and after rinsing them, tossed them with two tablespoons of pesto. Then add cooked corn from half a cob.

Candied Bacon

2011-05-20T07:24:00.002-04:00

Yet another post about bacon. There are some peanuts in there for a little variation. I had some friends over the other weekend for dinner and my friend Joel brought candied bacon and peanuts. It was delicious. I know I've said it before but is there anything bacon can't do?

As a complete aside, I need to brag about my afternoon. I haven't had much babysitting lately so I've been feeling a little burned out on the parenting side. Nothing to worry about, it's just that I haven't been as fresh as I could be in that department. My mom took my girls and the dog out, and Jess was downtown. I had a list of chores to do but decided to first lie down on my couch and enjoy a silent house for a few minutes. I think you know where this is going...I had a nap! Holy cow it's been a long time. It was awesome!

Perhaps even better than the candied bacon.

Candied Bacon and Peanuts

When I asked Joel how he pulled off his bacon delight, this was his response. It was concise and to the point, kind of like bacon itself. Rumour has it that Joel is part man, part bacon.

Just kinda winged it.

THICK (old fashioned) bacon from Loblaws in toaster oven for about 20 minutes at 350 meanwhile melted brown sugar in a pot and added some maple syrup. Finished the bacon in the pot - just a minute. Took em out and threw a bunch of peanuts on lower heat for about 3 minutes. Chop bacon, mix and cool in fridge.

Employment

2011-05-10T17:52:00.004-04:00

I have not been gainfully employed for some time now. I know, I know I've been doing very important work here at home. That ain't gonna buy me a new pair of shoes now is it? It's coming up to 7 years at home. What skills could I possibly have left? Well I do rock at multitasking and have excellent customer service skills. What more do I need? That should get me several high paying gigs. Oh I forgot to mention I am very good at slack-assing, dog walking, choosing fun over chores, and jumping in the car with the kids for impromptu road trips.

I wish I was one of those people who honed a skill for a decade before staying home. Then I'd at least have something to fall back on. I'll be starting from scratch. So if you know the perfect job for me, please let me know. I'd love to hear from you. And if you are hiring, please replace slack-assing with ass slapping when you read above. I don't want you to get the wrong impression of me.

Lemon Rosemary Potatoes

In this gluten free world I'm living in, I am trying to find some love for the potato. I think I've found a little here.

20 new potatoes
1/4 cup of butter (or more if you love your butter)
the juice of two lemons
2 sprigs of rosemary
sea salt and fresh pepper

Boil your potatoes until tender. While potatoes are cooking, melt your butter in a pan. Add rosemary until it softens a little. This should only take a few minutes. When potatoes are cooked, drain them and toss them in a bowl with the rosemary butter. Add salt and pepper and pour on lemon juice. Toss again and serve warm.

Please Accept my Ravioli

2011-04-25T19:05:00.004-04:00

It's been pointed out to me that I've been, well, a little absent as of late. I'm still interested, but it's complicated. It's not you, it's me. Maybe we should just be friends. Oh forget everything I've just said. I could never break up with you. I've got a long list of of perfectly good reasons why my blog has been on the back burner. If you have had a good amount of whining in your day, you may want to skip this post.

Here we go and it's not in order of importance. Jess is on a dairy, sugar, gluten and booze free diet (a.k.a. the no fun diet) that has put a dent in my love of cooking; we got a dog; the laundry keeps piling up; I had to paint my toenails; Easter; I hosted my mom's birthday; I'm always tired and I don't have Mono; I discovered Boardwalk Empire; I haven't talked to Heather in like forever; chocolate comas; I am now watching Shameless; I'm trying to start a new business; Jess was away for two weekends in a row; I still have three kids.

Really it's a wonder I get anything done. So please change your inner voice from saying "Holy cow she hasn't posted in so long" to "Gee that was worth waiting for", then we will all get along better. We don't need to break up, we can still be part time lovers. That last sentence must be read to the tune of "Part Time Lover" by Stevie Wonder.

Butternut and Apple Ravioli

1 butternut squash, roasted
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and grated
Salt and pepper to taste

3 cups of all purpose flour
5 egg yolks
1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
juice of 2 lemons
4 - 8 slices of cooked bacon, diced
fresh basil, chopped (optional)

Put flour in a bowl, beat eggs and add to bowl along with salt. Use your hands to mix and form dough. If the dough isn't smooth enough add a little water, only a teaspoon at a time. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes and then let rest covered in the bowl for 20 minutes.
Take about a golf ball size of dough from the mound. Flatten it and roll it out with as little flour as possible. Try and roll it as thin as possible. Repeat until all your dough is rolled out. Use a cookie cutter or a water glass to cut out your pasta shapes. Place a teaspoon of squash, salt and pepper, and a dab of apple in the center of half your pasta shapes.
In a separate bowl, beat an egg. With your finger, spread a little of this egg on the outside of of each filled pasta. Place the top pasta on the filled pasta and press gently but firmly on the edge to seal the ravioli.
Sauce
Heat oil in pan and add garlic. Add lemon juice, bacon and salt and pepper.

Place ravioli in boiling water for 4-5 minutes before tossing in sauce. Garnish with basil and serve immediately.

Deep Fried.

2011-03-28T20:52:00.001-04:00

Yes, that's me. It was Saturday night and we had just finished a delicious dinner at our friend's house. Then out came the deep fried Snicker's bars. They were good. It was hard to deny that fact. I hear they were all the rage in the States a few years ago. That doesn't surprise me. Americans aren't known for their highly nutritious diets.

Jess has been negotiating with me for years to get a deep fryer. Although we'd be able to produce tasty nuggets of greasy goodness for our friends, in my heart of hearts, I know we are not the type that should own such an appliance. Oh sure, we'd promise to to treat him right but it would just be empty words. We would feed him all the right foods, clean him regularly and make him feel as worthy as our other appliances. He'd even feel as good as our self righteous juicer. He would stand proud next to our toaster over and hand blender, convinced that his job was as important as theirs. He would be like our adoptive son that never knew he had another set of parents out in the world.

The abuse would begin slowly. At first it would be just small bits of food that we'd experiment with, just to see how they would sizzle. Maybe move up to frying a whole carrot. Then we'd start stealing the kid's candy from Halloween to fry up for a treat. You all know how this is going to end. Let's say it together. "Deep Fried Turkey For Christmas". I can't live like this.

But for now we are safe. But the weather is warming and and you know what that means. Jess will start asking for an ice cream maker.

Deep Fried Snicker's Bars

8 Snicker's bars
8-12 cups of vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup of milk
2 tbsp of white vinegar
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Place Snicker's bars in freezer for at least two hours or until frozen solid. Heat oil in heavy saucepan until it is 3 inches deep over medium high heat. Use an oil thermometer to ensure the oil reaches a temperature of 375.
Place 1/2 cup of flour aside. In a bowl combine the remaining flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, mix together the remaining wet ingredients. Combine both bowls to make the batter.
Once Snicker's bars are frozen dredge in flour and then immerse in batter. Gently place bar in heated oil. Once it has reached a golden brown colour, remove with slotted spoon and place on a plate with paper towels to soak up the excess oil. Let them cool slightly before serving.

Moderation

2011-03-27T15:46:00.004-04:00

Moderation is not my strong point. I'm a true believer that if you buy pint of ice cream, you should eat that pint. Why delay the inevitable? It's all going to the same place. You are simply being more efficient if you eat it all now. Am I right here or what?

I remember listening to Howard Stern one morning talking about how much he loves almonds. Each day he would count out 12 almonds to eat for that day. He never ate more that than. How can a man so lacking in boundaries be able to tame his love of almonds everyday? I'll telling you, the world is a baffling place.

My weekend consisted of not enough moderation. This seems to seep into my daily life as well. I feel the need to curb some of my indulgences. I know I'm worth it, but I'm not sure my body and mind are thanking me for my lack of discipline. Perhaps April is my month to restrict such loves as cheese, chocolate and dare I say, wine. I need more sleep, so maybe less outings and more early bedtimes. I also need more exercise. April sure is starting to sound like a drag.

I recently got introduced to a very tasty kale salad. I'm not claiming that this is exciting news, it's simply a fact. I have no problem eating kale in moderation. Why is that? April is my month to change such discrepancies, and I'm starting with the recipe below.

Kale Salad with Pecorino Cheese and Lemon

1 large bunch of kale, washed and trimmed of stems
4 ounces Pecorino Romano, grated
2 lemons juiced
Handful of tamari almonds, crushed
1/2 cup olive oil
Kosher salt and fresh black pepper to taste

Slice deveined kale into thin ribbons. Toss the shaved kale with teh cheese in large bowl.
Whisk lemon juice and olive oil together and pour over salad. Season with salt and pepper. Let salad sit at room temperature for an hour before serving. Sprinkle with almonds before eating.

Unpretentious

2011-03-19T16:22:00.003-04:00

Jesse and I found ourselves without plans last Saturday night. I was suppose to be away at a resort in Ontario. Every winter my friend and I book a place and take off for the week with the kids. It's usually affordable and it allows us to have a week away from the grind and some good friend time. It is also lovely to have a destination that doesn't make us feel left behind by all those who are flying South for some sunshine.

This vacation didn't work out so well. Within the first 3 days three of us had thrown up. The flu was upon us and I hightailed it out of there before my kids were bedridden with the worst.

So we found ourselves with a free Saturday night. We were all in good health so it only made sense that we should entertain. Jess had one stipulation. He would cook and it wouldn't be anything fancy. I tend to get excited at the prospect of cooking something interesting for friends and sometimes I go a little overboard. Luckily Jess is a good cook so I let him take over. Phone calls were made and guests arrived. It was meatloaf and mash potatoes for everyone and we all loved it. I didn't even get a chance to take a proper photograph before it was all gone.

There is something to be said about a simple meal. There is more to be said about sharing it with friends. It's one of my favorite things to do and I plan to do it with more simplicity in the future. Unless I'm feeling a little fancy.

Jesse has gone gluten free so most of our recipes are modified to accommodate this. This one is more moist than the breadcrumb version and is now our new standard. I hope you like it.

Gluten Free Meatloaf

2 lbs ground steak or lean ground beef
2 eggs, whisked
1/2 cooked rice
2 tsp salt
2 onions, finely chopped and sauteed
1 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Transfer and press into a loaf pan. Bake at 400 C for 30 minutes.

a break and a brand new start.

2011-03-16T06:12:00.004-04:00

Friends, I think there might be a little bit of spring headed our way, and not a moment too soon.

At first I thought that I was having a run of bad luck over this past winter. After a while, as the seasonal malaise crept in and got ready to stay awhile, I decided that it was not just the events of the winter, but winter itself that was laying me low.

Now I realize that I must have just been hibernating, because a couple of days of March break, fresh air and sunshine, and I am back!

Well, sort of.

(Alysa and I took our kids to the park the other day and we both had a laugh over my needing to tell her (and the rest of you) that I, too, was taking a break from our blog. She says it was fairly obvious. She has a point.)

I am back because I wanted to let you know that over the course of my hibernation I got to work on a new project.

It's still very much a work in progress, and my break over here will continue, but if you are curious about what I am up to you can always check it out.

Spring, and a brand new start. What could be better?

March Break

2011-02-16T20:26:00.001-05:00

Hello friends. I'm taking a wee break from blogging. A blogging break, a B squared. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with life and I need to take a step back and simplify a little. It won't be long just until some day in March after the many trips and birthday parties, and when all my laundry is done. I hope you have a lovely month and do come back. I'll blog you soon.

Felicitation!

2011-02-01T14:56:00.006-05:00

I turn 39 this week. Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to me. Once I get started it's hard to stop with that song. I'm happy to be another year older. I have a lot to be happy for. My one sadness is that my dad won't be celebrating with me this year. But I know that he is out there somewhere sending me his love. I have a loving family, lots of wonderful friends and a fairly sunny disposition. Plus I look exactly my age. Not one day over. Not one. So really there is not much to complain about. I got pretty lucky with my life so far.

My goal this 39th year is to be healthy and strong. Let me rephrase, be healthy and strong with a reasonable amount of wine and ice cream mixed in. No need to get pious in my old age.

Another reason to celebrate is that it's been a year since Annie and I started our blog. So allow me this "Yeah Blog! We rock!". And thanks to everyone who reads us. I hope you've enjoyed it so far.

One more note, my cousin Diane has this blog and her 17 year old daughter Haley (my second cousin) wrote a post about what high school is really like. Check it out, she did a great job.

I've never made the recipe below. All seafood is Jess' domain. This one is delicious and I request it at every special occasion. I'll be having it this week.

Grilled Sea Scallops with Green Onion Relish and Warm Bacon Vinaigrette
from Bobby Flay's Grill It!

20 sea scallops, muscle removed
1/4 cup olive oil

3 tbsp olive oil
8 ounces bacon, diced
2 green onions, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
2 shallots, finely diced
1/4 apple cider vinegar
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in pan. Add bacon and cook until crisp about 8-10 minutes. Transfer bacon to a bowl and mix with green onions. With bacon fat in pan, increase heat under pan. Add shallots and cook until soft. Add vinegar and sugar, bring to a boil and cook until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, stir in mustard and thyme, and season with salt and pepper.

Heat your grill to high. Brush scallops on both sides with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Place scallops on teh grill and grill until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Turn over and continue cooking for 2 to 3 minutes longer. Transfer to platter, drizzle with warm bacon vinaigrette and top each scallop with some green onion relish.

Hamtastic

2011-01-18T17:38:00.003-05:00

Last weekend the whole family went up to our friend's place for the weekend. They have a beautiful log cabin on 100 acres. It was a winter wonderland. We spent the weekend tobogganing, hiking, and cross country skiing. We also managed to get in some good wine and fantastic food. We simply had an awesome time hanging out with our good friends and the kids. It was lovely to not feel rushed and know that you had several days to get in all the good conversations and laughs without time constraints.

For as long as I can remember I've always wanted a cottage or country home. That desire isn't as materialistic as it sounds. I'm not looking for an accumulation of wealth or to outdo my neighbour. I just love the idea of having uninterrupted time with friends and family to just hang out. The older I get, the more busy everyone is. It seems idyllic to have a space where the main goal is to play board games, get outside in nature and be together.

I know it's not all fun and games. It's a huge cost, and a lot of work. Even though I love to host, I realize that not everyone is a perfect guest. But I'm going to keep dreaming knowing that it probably will only ever be a dream. I'm okay with that too. I'm happy to just be a guest.

Up at the cabin I ate the best ham I have ever had in my life. My host outdid himself. Here are all the details. Enjoy!

Pineapple Ham
a.k.a. Rocking with my Ham Out

8 lb bone in ham
1/2 pineapple, sliced 1/4 " thick

Glaze
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp all spice
1/2 cup minced pineapple
3 tbsp butter
1/4 cup white wine

Preheat oven to 325 F. Score ham liberally 1" all around with a sharp knife. Melt butter in pan and add all glaze ingredients except wine. Whisk on low-medium heat until glaze thickens slightly. Remove from heat. Place ham cut side down in glass pan and fill bottom of pan with 3/4 " of water. Cover ham with 1/3 of glaze, stuff flaps with sliced pineapple and cover with extra pineapple. Place in oven for 40 minutes. Remove ham from oven and glaze again with 1/3 of the glaze. If necessary, empty out some water until there is only 1/4" in pan. Replace in oven for another 10 minutes. Take ham out of oven and cover with foil. Deglaze the glaze pan with white wine and drizzle over ham before serving. Try not to lick your plate.

I Swear.

2011-01-11T16:06:00.003-05:00

I love swearing. Really it's one of my favorite things to do. It may not be my most productive hobby but I enjoy it quite regularly. It makes me sound unintelligent, unlady like, and crude. So some may say it's not really working for me. Maybe as a mother of three I should be aiming for a persona more in tune with my current role in life. But this is the thing, I love that swearing is inappropriate, vulgar and crass. To me, those are the positives.

This has really been a lifelong pursuit. When I was a teenager my ex step father (ya you read right) use to say I sounded like a truck driver's girlfriend. Now maybe he meant I wasn't swearing enough since I didn't qualify as a truck driver but simply the girlfriend. Perhaps I should of been swearing more at the time. Maybe that would of launched me into a whole new career.

I'm sad to say that since kids I've toned it down a bit. With kids present I am apt to say "oh darners" and "darn it all to heck". I'm embarrassed to say I've even uttered a "frig" here and there. But don't worry, there is still a whole lot of swearing in me waiting to burst out. As soon as those kiddies go to bed you'll get an ear full.

Marinated Beets

6 beets, peeled and cubed
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 part red wine vinegar
1 part water

Boil beets until tender, about 12-15 minutes. Remove beets from water and place in a container with a lid. Put garlic in container and partially cover beets with water from pot. Cover completely with red wine vinegar. I try to aim for a solution of half water and half vinegar. Place lid on container and refrigerate. Beets will be ready to eat within 24 hours, and can be kept in fridge for 2-3 weeks.

Million Dollar Chicken

2010-12-31T08:29:00.003-05:00

So the holiday ills are never ending with my family this season. I thought we were out of the woods but I was so wrong. Wini developed pneumonia and now that she's better my little Ruby seems to have caught the flu again. Our only outings have been to the hospital so I guess that's where we are picking up our new bugs. Damn those sick people! Not my sick people just the ones that are passing along the ickyness. If you see my posse on the street, give us a wide berth. You don't want what we have.

I did manage to get out last night. A couple glass of wine and some good friends sure can make three weeks of sick kids seem like a distant past. I am constantly amazed at how varied and interesting people's lives are. There are so many choices out there. Sometimes it's hard to figure out which ones to choose. I'm in the process of making some decisions myself and I'll fill you in when I know more. I am now officially ending the cryptic babbling.

Even with all the sickness, we still had a wonderful Christmas. Everyone got along and we were all in good cheer. We missed you dad. I have high hopes for 2011. 2010 was a little rocky in it's latter half and I'm looking forward to good friends, lots of family and new choices in the new year. I hope it's a good one for you too.

Million Dollar Chicken

My adorable friend Heather made this for my family the other week and we all loved it. It's easy, quick and tasty. Thanks for the recipe Heath!

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup almonds, slivered
2 cloves garlic, chopped
8 boneless chicken thighs (around 2 lbs)
1 cup bottled salsa
2 tbsp currants (Heather likes to add more)
1 tbsp honey
3/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Heat pan and add almonds until toasted. Remove almonds and set aside. Add oil to pan and allow it to heat up. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add chicken and brown on all sides. Mix the salsa, currants, honey , cumin and cinnamon in a bowl. Add mixture to chicken, reduce heat to medium low, and cover and cook for 20 minutes. Serve with rice and garnish with almonds.

Shortbread

2010-12-23T11:37:00.001-05:00

I'm back. At least mostly back. I was down and out with the flu for a week, and then the rest of the family got it. We were in isolation for almost two weeks. That does not do my soul any good. I was getting all bummed out and bored from being coop up inside. I would make an awful hermit. All the other hermits would laugh at me for trying to talk to them. No one would show up for my hermit parties. I'm in a much better mood now and just in time for Christmas.

Every year I give my neighbours a little bag of treats. I'm not sure if it's wanted or appreciated. Regardless, I still want to give them a token of appreciation. I am grateful that they all seem fairly normal and they cause me very little stress. We do our obligatory chit chat across our lawns, and don't get too personal. I'm happy to bear it all with my friends but I am a little more reserved with my immediate residents.

We started a new tradition this year. The tradition is that Jess bakes the cookies for our neighbour gifts. He may not realize that this is the new tradition but I'm going to fly with it. He's perfected his shortbread recipe. And for a girl who doesn't really like shortbread, I've sure eaten a few.

Sea Salt and Pepper Shortbread

1 part sugar
2 parts butter
3 parts flour

All ratios are by weight. Cream butter and sugar. Mix in flour. Form dough into a log, and refrigerate for 2 hours. Remove from fridge and cut log into discs. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and pepper. Place on a greased cookie tray and bake for 10 minutes at 350 F.

tried and true.

2010-12-20T06:43:00.005-05:00

Have you decided what you are cooking for Christmas dinner?

If you haven't, might I recommend this ham?

I really can't say enough good things about it, so I will leave it at this:

It's perfect.

I made it for our Christmas dinner last year, and it was so good that I made it again this past Easter. I would have been quite happy to make it again for Thanksgiving, had my husband not observed mildly, "You know, I don't actually LOVE ham."

A shocking statement, to be sure, but I rallied in October and made a luscious leg of lamb instead.

I had grand plans for a different sort of beast this Christmas as well (crown roast of pork? Filet de boeuf?), because we are having some extra special guests and I do still sometimes, albeit very occasionally, feel the urge to put my hard-earned flashy cooking skills to good use and make something complicated and impressive for a festive occasion.

But as the big day draws alarmingly near, and I continue to hobble through my days encumbered by crutches and a cast (funny story...), this tried-and-true and utterly delectable ham is starting to look like the winner.

I am thinking of this for one of my sides, and my daughter, who has lately become a bit of a francophile thanks to her infatuation with the Madeline stories, has requested buche de noel for dessert.

But that's as far as I've got. I am stymied, as ever, by vegetables. I feel I need at least two to make this dinner into a veritable feast.

What about you? What will you be eating for the big day, and (equally importantly) the manic week that precedes it? Any snappy sides to recommend?

Do tell!

Thyme and Honey Glazed Ham
from Gourmet, April 2009

I use a ham about half this size, and reduce the cooking time roughly by half as well. Other than that, I follow the recipe to the letter (can you believe it?)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons chopped thyme
1 (12-to 14-pounds) boneless or semiboneless fully cooked ham at room temperature 1 hour
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup mild honey
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Melt butter with thyme and let stand until ready to use.
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in lower third.

Peel off and discard any rind or skin from ham, leaving 1/4 inch of fat on ham. Score fat on top of ham in a crosshatch pattern without cutting into meat. Put ham on a rack in a large roasting pan. Cover ham with parchment paper, then cover roasting pan with foil. Bake 1 3/4 hours.

Meanwhile, boil vinegar in a small saucepan until reduced to about 1 tablespoon. Remove from heat and whisk in honey, Worcestershire sauce, and thyme butter. Let honey glaze stand until ham has baked 1 3/4 hours.

Discard foil and parchment from ham. If there is no liquid in roasting pan, add 1 cup water (liquid will prevent glaze from burning in pan). Brush ham with half of honey glaze, then bake, uncovered, 30 minutes.

Brush with remaining glaze and bake until glaze is deep golden-brown and ham is heated through, about 30 minutes more.

sailor jerry (christmas fuitcake, part 1).

2010-12-12T13:12:00.002-05:00

I have a friend who recently decided to stop colouring her hair.

We've been friends for years and we remain close, despite that fact that she is still single and fabulous and I am married with children, and that colouring my hair is the only (tenuous) thread that remains to connect me to my former glamourous self.

She is a massage therapist, an excellent bartender, and a world traveler. She used to live in the Caribbean, and she is planning an ambitious solo adventure to celebrate her 40th birthday next year.

She also flew in to town to spend the weekend with me not long ago, at a time when I very much needed the support.

So that should tell you everything you need to know about this friend of mine: she is brave, kind, and awesome.

She didn't even grimace with distaste (which would have been appropriate) when I tried to serve her the spiced rum I bought because I liked its name (Sailor Jerry) and its label (vintage tattoos) but neglected to check its provenance (umm...New Jersey?).

Instead, she whipped up some champagne cocktails to get us through our afternoon.

And Sailor Jerry is destined for this Christmas cake, which I plan to make later today.

Christmas Cake, Version 1

You'll have to start making this as soon as you finish reading the recipe, pretty much, in order for it to be well-aged in time for Christmas - I will be posting a more procrastinator-friendly version soon. But if you like fruitcake, this is a classic. The recipe comes from the Laura Secord Canadian Cookbook, via my mom.

For Fruit Mixture:
(Note that you can vary the amounts here as much as you wish, as long as your total volume comes up roughly equivalent. You should also not hesitate to substitute ingredients you like for the ones you don't, eg. chopped dried pears for currants, etc.)

250g slivered almonds
1 kg candied cherries
450g chopped mixed peel
2c raisins
1c currants
1c chopped pitted dates
1/2c spiced rum

For Cake:

2 1/2c flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1c butter
2c lightly packed brown sugar
6 eggs
3/4c molasses
3/4c apple juice

I would get started on the fruit mixture the night before you are planning to bake your cake. All you have to do is combine all of the ingredients in a large pyrex mixing bowl, stir well, and cover lightly with plastic wrap.

The next morning, add 1/2c flour to the fruit mixture and stir well. Set aside.

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Grease, line with parchment, and then grease again an approximately 8"x8"x3" loaf pan.

Sift together remaining 2c flour, baking soda, cloves, allspice, cinnamon, and salt in a large mixing bowl.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter. Gradually add sugar, then eggs one at a time, beating well between additions.

Combine molasses and apple juice in a glass measuring jug, whisking to mix.

Reduce mixer speed to medium-low, and add sifted dry ingredients alternately with molasses mixture, mixing lightly after each addition, and finishing with the flour mixture.

Fold in fruit mixture, and turn out into prepared pan.

Bake 3 to 3 1/2 hopurs, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from pan and remove parchment. Cool cake completely on a rack.

When cake has cooled, feed with a little rum (2-3 tbsp) then wrap in a layer of parchment, then a layer of foil. Continue to feed the cake with rum every few days, rewrapping well each time. The cake should age a minimum of around 2 weeks, so if you're motivated, there is still time!

of sweethearts and stars.

2010-12-06T07:05:00.002-05:00

Well, hello there!

I can scarcely believe that, in effect, an entire season has just passed without my contributing a thing around here.

I have been trying to figure out how to address this last epic silence from my end; as these things go, the longer I thought about it, the more ambivalent I was about addressing it at all, and then the silence itself started to feel so insurmountable that I nearly gave up on the idea of blogging altogether.

But then, December arrived, and my husband returned home after months of (more and less) lengthy absences.

And, just like that, the festive season began around here.

My children woke up this morning to the first real snow of the season, and I woke up to the promise of a long bath, a new magazine, and coffee drunk while it is still hot.

Friends, we have so much to catch up on!

Sunday Stars
Even while single-parenting, I can't resist the outlook-changing lure of a fresh-baked breakfast. I have been using spelt or light spelt flour of late, but for these I tried a combination of light spelt, coconut, and whole wheat flours, because that is all I had on hand!

1c large flake oats
3/4c buttermilk
1 1/2c flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 stick (1/2c) unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1/4c brown sugar
1 large ripe banana, mashed
1/4c chocolate chips
1/4c craisins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

Combine oats and buttermilk in a glass measuring cup, stir well, and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and a pinch of salt, if desired. Cut in butter and brown sugar until mixture is fairly uniform and resembles small peas.

Add oat mixture, banana, chocolate chips and craisins to bowl and stir just to combine into a sloppy dough. Turn out onto a well-floured piece of parchment and knead 3-4 times to help the dough come together a bit.

Roll (using a well-floured rolling pin) or pat dough into a round about an inch thick. Cut out shapes using an approximately 3" cookie or biscuit cutter. Place biscuits on prepared baking sheet; re-roll or pat the dough and cut out more shapes, until you've filled the baking sheet - I usually get somewhere in the neighbourhood of 16-18 biscuits.

Bake 18-10 minutes, rotating pan halfway through. Cool a few minutes on pan, then transfer to a rack and serve very warm, while the chocolate is still gooey.

Treats

2010-11-30T16:24:00.003-05:00

I can't believe it's almost Christmas. I do realize December just arrived but it still feels as if the holidays are right on my doorstep. I guess I've fallen for all the marketing pressure. They start pumping it out right after Halloween. I try to ignore it but somehow it seeps in.

I'd love it if Christmas wasn't about the presents. Or if everyone stuck to the rule of only handmade gifts. That's a hard rule if you suck at making gifts. Not everyone wants a popsicle stick ashtray, or underwear made from macaroni.

I know a family who does secret Santa every year. Ya, I know, big deal. What they do differently is that they pull for names the day after Christmas so they have a whole year to make something great. That's the catch, they have to make their gifts. You can perfect a lots of false starts when you have 365 days to work with. I'm making Jess a scarf since the one I made for myself is fabulous. This is only my second knitting project so who knows how it will turn out. Unfortunately, Jess will be getting it for Christmas whether it works out or not since I won't have time to knit another one. If I had the whole year to knit I'd be able to crank out several crappy scarves before I hit the jackpot.

To buck consumerism, I try to think of inexpensive gifts for my girls since I think they have enough stuff. Reya is getting some yarn and knitting needles, and I am going to teach her how to knit. Wini wants to bake a cake, so she is getting a new cake pan, the dry ingredients in a jar and a recipe. Ruby may get a lump of coal since she is still young enough to be convinced that that is a great gift. And I can say I made it myself.

Happy holidays everyone.

Butter Tarts

Pastry
2 cup white flour
1 cup shortening
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp cold water

Filling
1/2 cup of raisins
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1tsp lemon juice

Blend shortening and flour with a pastry cutter until crumbly. In separate bowl combine salt egg, vinegar and cold water. Add to flour and shortening and mix until just combined and no more. The key to dough is to handle it as little as possible. Form dough into a ball and wrap in cellophane. Place in freezer for 10 minutes. Roll dough out on a floured surface to about 1/8" thick. Cut out circles and press into a greased muffin tin.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Pour boiling water over raisins and let sit for 5 minutes and then drain. Stir together butter and sugar. Blend in corn syrup, eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice. Stir in drained raisins but don't stir so much that the mixture bubbles. Fill pastry 2/3 full. Bake 15-20 or until pastry is golden.

Juicing.

2010-11-23T12:57:00.005-05:00

Well it's official. I'm a bonafide health nut. I started juicing. I should put on a sweatband, and start drinking raw eggs for breakfast. I've always been health conscious but it's probably more for vanity reasons as opposed to real health concerns. If I were a slim, high metabolism, I can eat whatever I like and still look fabulous kind of gal I'm not sure I would ever get off the couch. I would fill my bedroom full of Cracker Jacks and eat my way out of bed every morning. I would use ice cream as a milk substitute for my cereal. At lunch I would use slabs of chocolate instead of bread for my ham and cheese sandwiches. I think you get the picture.

But alas, I am not that girl. So here I am juicing. And I wouldn't swap my fresh juice for any skinny girl genes. That was a lie.

I do like my juice. My buddy Neil gave me a comprehensive tutorial on the machine and a few recipes. He also lent me his juicer which is great. I've already mailed my letter to Santa with my request. I sure hope he gets it in time.

I'm brand spanking new to this juicing thing so if you have any recipes or tips please send them to me.

Green Elixir

3 green apples

2 whole lemons

3 celery stalks

1 cup torn romaine lettuce

2 cups chopped and densely packed dark greens (kale, collards or parsley)

Wash all of your produce. Quarter you apples. Turn your juicer on and start shoving it in. Enjoy and feel virtuous for being so healthy.
This will yield a larger batch of juice then one sitting - store in vacuum sealed thermos for next day or freeze it.

Eat Your Greens

2010-11-16T16:30:00.003-05:00

I'm always trying to eat more greens. I love my greens but they are not all made equally. Let's face it the ones that taste the worst are usually the best for you. Why did Nature do that? Was she trying to hog all the nutritious ones for herself? Was it her way to feel physically superior to us? Let me give you a hint Nature, throw a quick hurricane at us and we soon realize who's boss.

As adults, it's fairly easy to convince ourselves why we should eat kale, swiss chard and the other gross tasting vegetables but try telling that to my kids. So far I've only been able to convince my 3 year old. She'll happily eat a bowl of kale chips, or steamed bok choy. My other kids are harder to fool. When faced with a plate of stinky greens, a common statement from my four year old is "It smells like poo". This is a hard argument to debate. I'm not sure she'll believe that a plate of feces is going to make her strong and healthy. Maybe I should present them with a real plate of feces and then give them the option of eating brussel sprouts instead. Isn't good parenting all about giving kids choices?

The other night I made a great side dish of brussel sprouts. The adults at the table loved them but the kids wouldn't eat them. There was no references to poo so maybe I'm making some progress.

Brussel Sprouts with Bacon and Maple Syrup

15 brussel sprouts
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp maple syrup
4 slices of bacon, diced
1/4 cup of walnuts
salt and pepper to taste

Steam brussel sprouts until tender. Drain and cut lengthwise. Heat oil in a pan on medium high heat, and add sprouts and bacon. Stir occasionally until bacon begins to crisp. Add balsamic vinegar stir well. Let brussel sprouts sit until they caramelize slightly. Add syrup and walnuts, toss and season with salt and pepper. Serve warm.

Hand Models

2010-11-07T17:18:00.003-05:00

I went over to a friend's house this week for craft night. She hosts craft night every 3 weeks. The last time I was there was 6 months ago and I hadn't made any progress on my project. I'm a craft lover at heart but obviously don't make a lot of time for it in my daily life. I have lots of ideas and use to keep a craft journal of future artsy endeavors. My first undertaking was to create a blog where I would try and use the word "craft" in as many sentences as possible until all things crafty in a 10 block radius would spontaneously explode. It was going to be the highlight of my crafting career.

I am trying to relearn knitting. I have only knitted silver wire for my jewelery business and wanted to try yarn. Well I tried it and it was crappy. I'd pick up my knitting project from time to time and contemplate how I could improve it. I concluded if the yarn wasn't going to put in any effort to look better why should I. I decided the best thing for everybody was to punish my knitted mess for being so ugly. So I left it in the corner for 6 months and gave it my best cold shoulder.

Then it was time for craft night. I took my sorry excuse for knitting to my friend's house and tried again. I unraveled my bastard child and gave birth to my new favorite. One day she is going to grow up and be a scarf. Not just any scarf but one that came from a humble Value Village beginning to an overachieving front porch star. She'll put all my other winter accessories to shame. She's only 30 cm long but may one day wrap all around my neck if I don't run out of yarn. When you see me all bundled up on a winter's day sometime in the near future, don't forget to compliment me on my scarf.

Blue Cheese Dip with Sweet Potato Chips

4 large sweet potatoes
3 tbsp olive oil
4 oz blue cheese
2 heaping tbsp cream cheese
1 cup yoghurt
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp fresh rosemary
2 tbsp fresh dill
1/2 tsp hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Slice sweet potatoes 1/8 " thick and toss in olive oil. Bake at 415 F for 10-15 on each side or until crispy. Combine the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl. Mash together well and serve with warm sweet potato chips.
NOTE: I would like to take this opportunity to thank my two hand models in the photo above. Laura and Emily, I couldn't of done it without you. There would be no blue cheese dip without your dipping support.

Halloween

2010-11-03T19:34:00.003-04:00

I made a risotto the other night and it got eaten so fast that I didn't have a chance to photograph it. So you are stuck with a picture of me and my daughter. I'm the non feline.

I've always loved Halloween. My mom used to make all my costumes. When I was six, I was Wonder Woman. I thought I was pretty hot stuff in my costume. I spent the night wielding my super powers, flying around in my invisible plane and collecting as much candy as possible.

We used to live across the street from a girl named Michelle. Her house wasn't the most kid friendly house on the street, but that was no reason to avoid them on Halloween night. You have to optimize your opportunities when you only have one block to work. I pranced up to their door and yelled "Trick or treat". Michelle's mom opened the door and asked me what I had dressed up as for Halloween. "Wonder Woman" I replied proudly. "No" she responded surly "You are Woner Woman". And then she tossed me a Tootsie Roll. Deflated I looked down at my shirt to see that she was right. I was Woner Woman. My mom had forgotten the D.

So I went home and ate my whole bag of candy. No just joking. I wasn't that traumatized by it. I just like that story and it gives me warm thoughts of past Halloweens. I do like a poorly executed homemade costume. I always give those kids extra candy.

Mushroom, Bacon, and Walnut Risotto
from The Mediterrasian Way

6 tbsp olive oil
2 onions finely chopped
4 slices of bacon, diced
2 cups arborio rice
2 cups white button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup white wine
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and cooked onions until softened. Add bacon and cook 2 minutes. Add rice, mushrooms, garlic, and walnuts for 1 minute. Add stock, wine, salt and pepper, bring to a boil, cover with a lid, and reduce heat to low. Simmer gently for 20 minutes without lifting the lid. When done, stir in cheese and serve.
This is the easiest risotto ever.

Big Pants!

2010-11-01T14:53:00.002-04:00

I haven't been cooking much lately. I've been blessed with friends who have given me lots of food so I don't have to cook if I don't want to. It's much more practical to send food than flowers when hardship is on our doorstep.

The thing with hardship is that I never think I have it so bad. That doesn't mean I don't cry myself to sleep when I need to or think certain aspects of life suck sometimes. The difference is that I can always put it in perspective. My general attitude towards life is that someone out there in the world is struggling more than me. Someone has to work harder and overcome more obstacles than I ever will. There are people who can't afford to feed their children, or are in constant pain, or are simply unhappy.

Every day I am grateful for what I have. And I don't need no stinking gratitude journal to keep track. In yo face Oprah! Sorry I got sidetracked. I am blessed to be able to have a warm bath on a Sunday afternoon, afford a membership at the YMCA, and eat gobs of Halloween candy in elasticized pants. Who needs more than that in a lifetime? Really just the elasticized pants will get you pretty far in life.

Baked Pumpkin Seeds
I know, I know it's so last year but they are tasty.

seeds from a pumpkin, unwashed with goop on
equal parts soya sauce, olive oil, sesame oil
Fleur de sel to taste
fresh ground pepper to taste

Remove seeds from pumpkin but don't wash them. Keep them goopy. Coat with soya, olive and sesame oil. Season with salt and pepper. Bake on a cookie tray at 375 F for 10-15 minutes or until golden.

It's Party Time

2010-10-26T16:13:00.003-04:00

I love a good party as much as the next guy. Not so much when it's my kid's birthday party. I always get a little stressed about them. I tend to counter that stress by spending too much money for someone to come entertain the mob. When did child parties become such a booming business? And who would be crazy enough to be in that business?

In the past few years, I've tried to spend less and go back to the parties of my generation. I don't remember ever being entertained at a birthday party. I would be dropped off, and then proceed to eat as much junk food without throwing up until my mom came back. Maybe that's why I was a fat kid? I just put that together now.

October is busy. Two of my kids have birthdays this month. I rented a bouncy castle for my six year old and it was a hit. That's my plan for every future birthday until they are twenty. After the kids went home, Jess and I went in and had a bounce off. I've never jumped so high in my life. The only downside was I almost peed my pants. But what the hell, it's a rental.

For loot bags, Reya's friends got homemade chocolate covered apples for their parting gift. It was cheap and delicious. Next time I would skip the shredded coconut, the kids just wanted the chocolate. Really you could skip the apple as well, but the presentation isn't as nice.

Chocolate Apples

6 apples, chilled
6 popsicle sticks
1 lb of semi sweet chocolate
1 cup of sweetened shredded coconut

Twist the stems off the apples, and insert a popsicle stick in the base of the apple. Heat chocolate until melted in a double boiler over medium heat. Dip apples in chocolate, and use a spoon to pour chocolate in hard to reach places. Once covered, sprinkle with coconut. Place on a plate covered with parchment paper and let set in the fridge.

Dad

2010-10-15T23:20:00.003-04:00

I haven't posted in a while. My dad died suddenly a few days ago. This is the last photo I took of him. We had a complicated relationship. One full of love, anger, forgiveness, wisdom, and awkwardness. He tried to be a good father but sometimes he stumbled. I know he loved me deeply and I mostly returned that love. At times I was too angry to do so. My dad taught me to forgive. Indirectly he showed me that I could live a life of anger and hate or I could forgive and let love be my guiding force. We all have our demons but not everyone is strong enough to conquer them.
My kids saw a gentler side of my father and for that I am grateful. He was a loving grandfather, and enjoyed every moment he had with them. I hope their memories of my father remain with them always.
The last time I saw my dad was on Thanksgiving weekend for my daughter's birthday. We all had a good time, and it was the last meal I shared with him. I made spaghetti and meatballs and lasagna, as I do for all my kids birthday dinners. My dad always liked when I cooked Italian. He wasn't even close to being a vegetarian but enjoyed my veggie lasagna. I use to slave over my lasagnas but no longer have the luxury of making everything from scratch. So dad, here's my recipe. It will always remind me of you.

Lazy Man's Lasagna

9-12 oven ready lasagna noodles
1 jar of tomato sauce
250 ml cottage cheese
1 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1 cup grated mozzerella cheese
1 large bunch of baby spinach, chopped finely
1 250 ml jar of roasted red peppers, drained and finely diced
2 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 350 C. Lightly oil a 9 x 13" glass baking dish. Combine cottage cheese, spinach, eggs, and 1/2 cup Parmesan and 1/2 cup mozzerella in a large bowl. Mix well. Pour small amount of tomato sauce on the bottom of pan. Cover with a layer of lasagna noodles, then 1/3 of cottage cheese mixture and 1/3 of peppers. Repeat until all filling is in pan. Cover top layer of noodles with remaining tomato sauce and cheese. Bake for 45 minutes and serve hot.

Trashy Goodness

2010-10-02T12:26:00.003-04:00

Man it was cold today. I guess it wasn't if you were dressed for it, but who was prepared? Certainly not me. We are trying not to turn on the heat until November 1st. Jess has decided that he is going to make a pie every night so the oven can warm up our house. I may crawl into our kettle and turn on the burner. I don't heat up well. Cold hands, warm heart as my ex boyfriend use to say.

This is also the time for comfort food. I've got two favorites. One is melted cheese on toast and the other is chicken and rice cooked with mushroom soup. Didn't every seventies mom make that one? It rocks and I don't know how to make it. I'm sure it's not hard. I could look up the recipe but I don't want to. I want my mom to make that one for me and if she's not available I want someone else to make it. It's the kind of dish that tastes better when it's served to you. It is not a high class fare but I've never claimed to be high class.

Here's another classic, tuna noodle casserole with a potato chip crust. Last week was the first time I had heard of potato chip crusts. Obviously I haven't been hanging out at the trailer park enough. My kids hated it but Jess ate the whole thing.

Tuna Noodle Casserole with Leeks and Fresh Dill
From Bon Appetit

1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups of thinly sliced leeks
1/4 tsp celery seeds
coarse kosher salt to taste
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup half and half (I skipped this and it was still creamy)
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
8 ounces wide egg noodles
1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese
2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
2 5 to 6 ounce cans albacore tuna, drained and broken into chunks
2 cups coarsely crushed salted potato chips

Butter 8 x 8x 2 glass baking dish. Melt butter in pan over medium heat. Add leeks and celery seeds, and sprinkle lightly with salt. Cover for about 8 minutes until leeks are cooked but not brown. Add flour, stir one minute and gradually add milk and half and half. Simmer until mixture thickens, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.
Cook noodles, drain and transfer to a large bowl. Pour leeks sauce over noodles and add cheese, and dill. Mix well and then fold in tuna. Transfer to baking dish and cover with foil. Bake at 375F for 25 minutes. Remove foil, sprinkle with crushed chips and bake uncovered for another 10 minutes.

My Lunchtime Lament

2010-09-28T12:57:00.002-04:00

I've been at home taking care of my kids for 6 years. It has flown by, it really has. I've loved it and sometimes I've hated it. I've always been grateful that I've been lucky enough to stay home and give my kids the extra time. Sometimes I'm a fantastic mom and sometimes I'm not.

This Fall all my kids are in school. Reya's in grade one, Wini JK, and Ruby is in preschool a few mornings a week. I've dreamed of the Fall of 2010. In my darkest parenting days, this September has been the light at the end of the tunnel. I have arrived!

Except now I'm not sure I wanted to get here so quickly. I feel a little out of sorts. What do I need all this free time for? Other moms I know are busy with projects and new jobs. They seem to have no problem filling their time. I feel like I'm just wandering the streets buying groceries to occupy myself, or am asking random people to hang out with me. I have projects too, you know. I just don't want to do them.

Now my little almost six year old is eating lunch at school. I don't see her all day. Mostly I'm fine with that. Soon they'll all be eating lunch at school. That I'm not cool with. Who's going to be my baby? I can't believe how fast they are growing up. Maybe I need to get a dog?

Smart Cookies for the Lunchbox
from Honest pretzel by Mollie Katzen

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup oat bran
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

Preheat oven at 375 C. Combine the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Pour in the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Oil a 9 x 13 inch baking pan, and throw it all in there. Bake for 30 minutes. Take cookies out and cut into squares. Put squares on a baking tray and cook for 15 minutes longer. Remove and let cool before serving.

Pie in the Sky

2010-09-25T16:32:00.004-04:00

Oh Pie, how I love thee. Yes I do think Pie deserves a capital P. It's that important. I didn't always like Pie but Jess showed me the way. He makes a mean apple Pie. Now that we have a very prolific rhubarb plant in the garden, he makes a very nasty rhubarb Pie as well. The problem with Jess and I is our lack of control when it comes to eating too much Pie. Why oh why does Pie have to make me fat? Can't it be mean and kind to my figure all at the same time?

When Jess and I starting dating we became happy fat. We both enjoyed eating good food and it started to show. We really needed our friends to do an intervention, but it should of been clear to us as well. One obvious sign occurred during a Saturday afternoon. We had been out late the night before and planned to hunker down in our apartment and watch a few movies. We decided to make some hoagie sandwiches for a snack. When we got to the deli and bought our bread, we had a revelation. Instead of making two sandwiches, we could get our loaf of light rye sliced horizontally and make a giant loaf sized hoagie that we could graze on for hours. It was brilliant, and delicious. I think we grew two sizes just from that afternoon.

We've slimmed down slightly since then but Pie keeps calling us back. Even though Jess makes a mean Pie, I'm going to give you my Aunty Sara's pie recipe.

Aunty Sara's Rhubarb Pie

Crust
2 cups of self rising flour
1/2 cup of vegetable shortening
1/2 cup of margarine
2 tsp sugar
1/3 cup water

Filling
4 cups diced rhubarb
2 cups sugar
2 tsp cornstarch

For the crust, combine all ingredients except water in a bowl. Crumble it with your fingers until all the crumbs stick together. My aunt's trick is that you crumble and lift at the same time, so the crumbs fall into the bowl. You want to get the air into the crust so it doesn't taste too heavy when you bake it. Slowly pour in water until your dough starts to form. You may not need as much water as I've listed but it'll be close to it. Form into a ball, and roll out on a floured surface. Try and roll out the dough only once, and handle it as little as possible. Cover a greased pie plate and shave off the extra dough. If you are making a covered pie, roll out another circle from left over dough and set aside.
For the filling, combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Fill pie plate with filling and cover with leftover dough. Pinch sides of plate to keep filling in.
Bake at 400 C for 50 minutes.

Fig This

2010-09-21T16:16:00.002-04:00

I am almost too tired to write this. It's not that it's late at night, it's that I haven't slept well for a week and I'm feeling it. I am only getting about 7 hours of sleep. I know most new moms would spit in my face for my last comment and I would gladly deserve it. I'm a nine hour a night kind of girl. All you sleepy people out there know what I'm talking about. I am simply exhausted if I sleep less than that. It took me a long time to figure out my magic number but now I know and I'm sticking to it.

I'm a much nicer person when I'm well rested. When I'm tired I get petty and start to imagine getting into fights with strangers over the pettiest of crimes. I want to yell at the yahoo at the party who double dips, or curse at the person who dares to brush past me on a crowded sidewalk. It's not that I have a whole bunch of pent up rage that needs to be released, I'm just a grump when I'm tired. I'm usually quite easy going, or at least that how I like to perceive myself. It seems I am also unable to write anything interesting when I lack sleep.

You can't win them all. Hopefully you'll come back for a more restful, and entertaining post in a few days.

Here's a delicious fig salad I made weeks ago. As of late, we've been living off of scrambled eggs and melted cheese on toast.

Fig, Pear and Goat Cheese Salad

4 fresh figs, cut in quarters
1/2 cup of walnut pieces
1/2 cup of crumbled goat cheese
1 tsp of honey
juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
fresh ground pepper to taste
2 pears, cored and thickly sliced
3 cups of mixed greens

In a small bowl, whisk together honey, lemon juice, olive oil, mustard, and pepper. Set aside. Place pears and greens in a large bowl and toss together with the dressing. Divide among four plates and top with figs, walnuts, and goat's cheese.

Harvest

2010-09-14T14:44:00.005-04:00

I love the bounty that my garden and other people's gardens provide me this time of year. A tomato picked right from the vine will never compare with a store bought one. The problem with all this bounty is that I don't want to eat it all. I want to see it grow, and look luscious in my backyard and I even love picking it. It's great when my bowls are overflowing with vegetables, but I want the yucky ones to simply vanish when they start to fade and lose their beauty.

I wish that some of my plants could just produce one or two edible treats. Do I really need a bucket full of chili peppers? I know I can dry them and save them all year, but really will I ever get there. Can't they do that themselves? Haven't I done enough already? I planted them and fed them all season. The least they could do is preserve themselves, jump in an attractive jar and nestle themselves comfortably amongst their alphabetical kin in my pantry. Am I asking too much? Am I the jerk here?

One of the prettiest and most horrid of the vegetables is the eggplant. It sure looks great in it's purple tracksuit getting all fit and fleshy on the vine all summer. Recently I picked a bunch from my front garden, and I've been watching them get a little wrinkly. I kept hoping they'd pass me a note that gave me a secret recipe that made them taste good. A recipe that didn't involve loads of tomato sauce and cheese. They said nothing. Who's the jerk now?

I did find a recipe on my own accord that worked fairly well with my Asian eggplant. It's still eggplant but at least it tastes better. If you have to eat eggplant, this recipe is not a bad one to try.

Asian Eggplant Salsa
from Bonnie Stern's Heart Smart

5 or 6 thin Asian eggplant, trimmed and diced
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp dark sesame oil
1/2 tsp hot Asian chili paste
2 tsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh ginger root, finely chopped
4 green onions, chopped
3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Combine soy sauce, sugar, water, vinegar, sesame oil, and chili paste. Set aside.
Heat oil in large pan on medium heat. Add garlic, ginger, and cook for 30 seconds, and then add the eggplant. Cook for a few more minutes and then add soy sauce mixture and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and continue to cook until mixture is thick. Add green onions and cilantro. Serve cold or room temperature.

Italian Dreams

2010-09-10T17:06:00.006-04:00

I had one recurring fantasy when I was growing up. It wasn't to be a princess, or to get married, or own a pony. It was that my dad's job in HR at Sealtest was a sham, and that he was really a mafia kingpin. I know, it's a little weird. We got a fair bit of discounted ice cream when he was working at Sealtest, so in retrospect I'm not sure a job change would of worked out in my favour.

It isn't clear when or why I devised this dream life of living with the head of a mob family. There certainly weren't many indications that that was a reality. My parents were divorced which is usually not allowed, we weren't rich, and my dad own a little townhouse in Scarborough. He could of least moved to Little Italy to be closer to his secret life. My dad is half Italian which is the only thing connecting him to a life of crime.

I think I just wanted to be more Italian. Or more anything. I always found it a little boring to be a Caucasian with an English background. I wanted exotic blood running through my veins. The fact remains you can't pick your heritage. So I am what I am. But there is hope. Maybe Jess has a secret life?

Tomato Crostini with Sardines

can of sardines, well drained
2 ripe tomatoes, diced
1 small avocado, peeled and diced
8 fresh basil leaves, torn
juice of half a lemon
1 clove of garlic, peeled
1 tbsp of toasted pine nuts or walnuts
1/2 baguette, sliced and lightly toasted

In a bowl combine tomatoes, avocado, basil and lemon juice. Toss gently. Rub baguette slices with garlic. Spoon a little of the tomato mixture onto the baguette slices and top with bits of sardine. Sprinkle with nuts and serve.

not pretty.

2010-09-09T10:19:00.003-04:00

I recently had one of those epic and bewildering days where nothing (nothing!) really seemed to go my way.

I didn't (thank goodness) have a particularly ambitious agenda, and nothing really disastrous happened, so it's not that things went terribly wrong - but they also didn't go terribly right, and by day's end, even I was tired of hearing my own voice uttering variations on the word "no."

The (not very pretty) quesadillas you see here sum things up:

They were delicious, a hot, quick, and relatively nutritious lunch; but only my husband and I ate them. My kids wouldn't touch them!

And the salsa fresca that I envisioned accompanying them? Mealy and watery, and somehow both tasteless and excessively garlicky all at once.

No tragedy. But an uphill battle all the way.

Still, by day's end, there were sleeping children, wine, a delicious soup (which I forgot to photograph), and some long-overdue adult conversation.

Also, the promise of a better day tomorrow.

And this way of preparing black beans, which was the delightful discovery that would, on a normal day, have turned things around.

Slightly Redeeming Refried Beans

I come from a long line of women who can't stand refried beans, but I love these, and they keep well, so a quick hot lunch can be had in the time it takes to heat a tortilla in a pan.

1/4c olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp smoked paprika (hot or mild)
pinch oregano
2 - 540mL cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2c - 1c chicken or vegetable broth

In a large, shallow saute pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and saute until golden, 8-10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and add garlic; saute another minute or so, then add cumin, coriander, paprika and oregano. Stir well. Add beans, then 1/2c broth, Simmer 5-8 minutes, or until beans are soft (I'd taste a bean at 5 minutes - personally I prefer them not too mushy). If they seems a little dry for your taste, add the remaining 1/2c of broth and cook until heated through.
Remove from heat, and mash as much or as little as you'd like (I used a potato masher).

Makes about 6 cups.

I'm Back

2010-09-06T14:57:00.005-04:00

I'm back in town and a little heavier than when I departed. That's what I get for eating pie everyday for a month. It is true, my aunt makes a truly yummy crust, but I'm not ready to divulge her secrets today. That will have to be for another post. It's not that I don't want you to wow your family and friends with a lovely flaky tart. It's just that I feel like everywhere I go I leave a sugary trail scented with English lager. To say the least, August was my month of indulgence.

Now I need to tighten my belt on my indulgences because my belt is getting too tight. Don't worry, that feeling won't last long and I'll soon be making pies for you.

I did have a wonderful vacation visiting family in England and Wales. Thank you so much for asking. It was family for 28 days straight and I loved it. I don't have a large amount of blood relatives in Toronto, so being surrounded by gobs of kin was comforting and enjoyable. So watch out England, I'll be back.

Stuffed Pork Fillet

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
2 shallots diced
1 celery stick diced
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/3 cup prunes diced
1 tap fresh thyme leaves
1/4 cup pecans chopped
1 egg beaten
1 - 1 1/2 lb pork fillet

Preheat oven to 350 F. Heat 1/2 tbsp oil in a pan and fry celery and shallots for 3-4 mins. Remove from heat and mix in breadcrumbs, prunes, thyme, egg and pecans.
Cut pork in half lengthways without cutting through it, then open it up flat. Bash the fillet slightly to flatten it. Lay stuffing along the middle, and roll it back up and secure with string in 3 to 4 places. Place on roasting pan and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes. Slice pork into 8 pieces and serve.

peachy.

2010-09-02T20:51:00.005-04:00

Promise me you won't laugh out loud when I tell you that we don't often have dessert in our house.

Of course, there are exceptions - when my mom comes to town and bakes us a pie, for example - but generally speaking, the sweet-treat-after-dinner thing is just not our thing.

This is partly because my children, who are very early risers, are usually bundled off to bed mere moments after putting down their forks, so feeding them sugar just prior to that seems a little counter-intuitive (if not slightly masochistic, from the parents' perspective).

It's also partly because I love desserts so much that I'd prefer to have them be the main event, rather than relegate them to the end of the meal, when everyone is already drowsy from the wine and a little full.

There is nothing I like more than having a cupcake or leftover piece of pie first thing in the morning, preferably with coffee (and cake in the afternoon is the perfect way to push through the glassy-eyed no-man's-land that constitutes the hours between three and five o'clock).

The only trouble is, because I avoid making that kind of thing unless it is a special occasion, there is rarely a leftover slice of something yummy to be had in my house in the mornings.

And that, friends, is why I am such an avid fan of the breakfast cake. It is treaty enough that you can fool yourself into thinking that it's an indulgence, and healthy enough that you can fool yourself into thinking you're starting your day with something nutritious.

This particular one came together so simply and quickly this morning that it's going to be on heavy rotation around here until we run out of peaches (and by "we" I mean every fruit stand within a 10-block radius of our house).

Peachy Breakfast Cake

1 1/2c light spelt flour (you could use all-purpose too, or - better still - whole wheat. I am just really enamoured of this spelt flour I discovered recently, so I am using it in everything)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/2c frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
1/2c melted butter or coconut oil
1/4c buttermilk
2 eggs
1 heaping cup diced peaches (I used 3 medium)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a bundt or other tube-shaped pan.

Sift together flour, baking powder and cardamom in a large mixing bowl.

Whisk together apple juice concentrate, butter or coconut oil, buttermilk and eggs in a large measuring cup with a spout.

Gently stir liquids into dry ingredients until just combined. Stir in peaches until evenly distributed through the batter.

Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake 30 minutes, until cake is slightly golden on top and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool in pan on rack 10-15 minutes, then run a knife or spatula around the outside of the pan and invert cake onto a plate.

Serve warm.

slightly pickled.

2010-09-01T21:19:00.008-04:00

I love the idea of making pickles.

For me, pickling conjures up visions of charming country kitchens, steaming pots, banging screen doors, and faded Liberty print housedresses; row upon row of shiny jars packed with bright, tasty things to spice up the dreary winter ahead.

At this time of year especially, that vision of industry, tradition and simplicity has its appeal.

Of course, it's totally a fantasy: despite my attempts at various other incarnations over the years, I am a city girl through and through, completely and happily entrenched in city life, not bound to tradition, and not terribly industrious either - especially when the task at hand involves the kind of repetition that home canning demands.

I am also not a fan of making things in bulk, so, much like life in that country kitchen, those rows upon rows of jars would drive me a little crazy after a very short time.

(And did I mention that I don't even really love pickles?)

And yet - and yet! - the fantasy remains.

These two (delicious, bright, and easy) salads are the closest I will come this year, but they will, in my mind's eye, almost get me there.

Slightly Pickled Carrot and Peanut Salad

I should warn you that neither of these salads keeps particularly well over night, so don't plan for leftovers.

1/4c white wine vinegar
1/4c olive oil
1 tsp sesame oil
6 medium carrots, thinly sliced
3/4c salted peanuts

Whisk together vinegar and oils in the bottom of a large non-reactive bowl (I use a Pyrex mixing bowl).

Add carrots and toss well. Leave 3-4 hours, if you can!

Add peanuts just before serving, and toss well.

Slightly More Pickled Zucchini Salad

4 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
1/2c white vinegar
1/4c brown sugar
2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh chives

Place zucchini in a large non-reactive bowl (I use a Pyrex mixing bowl). Add 1/4c of the vinegar, 2 tbsp of the sugar, and 1 tsp of the salt, and toss well. Let sit at least an hour or two, then turn zucchini out into a colander and drain well.

Return zucchini to bowl and toss with remaining vinegar, sugar, and salt. Add chives and toss well.

Each salad serves 4-6, depending on what else is on offer. Faded housedress optional.

one.

2010-08-30T21:36:00.005-04:00

My baby boy had his first birthday recently.

I know how cliche this sounds, but I really don't know where the year went.

When my daughter turned one, I was thrilled. I marveled at her existence every single day, and each milestone was another chance to celebrate: she was learning, growing, turning more and more into this amazing little person I was so excited to get to know.

When I met other mothers who greeted their babies' first birthdays with a little less enthusiasm, I was completely perplexed. Why mourn time passed, I wondered, when the present - and presumably the future - was brimming with wonderful things?

These days, I think I understand that ambivalence a little better.

My son's birth was a harrowing experience, one from which I feel, in many ways, that I am still recovering. After he was born he spent days in the NICU, having his lungs and tiny belly filled by machine, while I was in another room on a morphine drip, feeling like I'd thrown a party to which the guest of honour hadn't shown up.

After those first dire days came weeks, then months, of management: me learning to manage my pain, my guilt, my disappointment in myself and my inability to bounce back the way I'd have liked.

A series of difficulties, more and less agonizing, arose for me to manage that fall: my son had colic, my husband had to travel extensively for work. A beloved friend and crucial part of my day-to-day support was killed in a bizarre and tragic fashion.

We found out we had to move, and it took us six months of searching before we found a new place to live.

Somewhere in that period, I realized I had spent more than half of my baby's life distracted by a haze of worry and grief and pain, and I found it utterly crushing to think that I would not get those first months of his life back, ever.

Eventually, as is always the case, we made our through that period of crisis. The big concerns were settled, and the idea of returning to some kind of balance began to seem not so far-fetched.

Throughout my high-wire act, my daughter continued to be the amazing little person I had taken all of the time in the world to get to know, and my son's personality began to emerge - and he is awesome. Sweet like his sister, and adoring in the way that makes all mothers of boys secretly swoon. He's smart and quick and daring, chubby and charming.

I am thrilled that he is one whole year old, that he is strong and healthy, that he is learning and growing so quickly. He and I are as thick as thieves, our relationship none the worse for all of my feelings of anguish and guilt.

But if I could, I would turn back the clock - I would stop time. I would go back and marvel at his existence, every single day, from the moment he was born.

Since that is not an option, I will settle for rejoicing in a present - and presumably a future - brimming with wonderful things...and our family will celebrate, all four of us, with cake.

Buttermilk Birthday Cake with Milk Chocolate Icing
(adapted from Nigella Lawson)

I know that it seems counter-intuitive to post such a recipe in these last, dog days of summer, but please, do us both a favour and take note of it for the next time you have a birthday cake to make. Trust me, you won't regret it - and I promise I will be back tomorrow with something a little more seasonal!

For the cake:

1 2/3c all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4c plus 2 tbsp buttermilk, at room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla
1/2c very soft unsalted butter
3/4c sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and line with parchment two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.

Whisk together buttermilk and vanilla in a glass measuring cup (or other vessel with a spout) and set aside.

Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed slightly and add eggs, one at a time, beating 30 seconds between additions. Add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture in alternating increments, beating well between additions, until a smooth, pale golden batter forms.

(You may find, partway through or even towards the end of the mixing, that your batter looks slightly curdled. Please don't be alarmed - this has happened to me without fail every time I have made this cake, and it doesn't affect the end result whatsoever.)

Divide batter evenly between the two prepared pans and bake about 25 minutes, rotating pans halfway through cooking time. The cake is done when it is slightly burnished and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool in pans 10 minutes on a rack, then turn cakes out onto the rack to cool completely.

For the icing:

250g milk chocolate, coarsely chopped (or use milk chocolate chips)
3/4c unsalted butter
6 1/2c icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 tbsp milk, if needed

Melt chocolate and butter together in a saucepan over VERY low heat, or in a double boiler, or (although I have never tried this) in a microwave. Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and beat in icing sugar and vanilla at medium-low speed. If icing is too thick, thin with a little milk.

When cakes have cooled completely, trim of the domed top of each cake. Place one cake, cut side up, on a platter or cake stand. Scoop a generous amount if icing onto this bottom cake (there will be plenty of icing, so don't be skimpy on the filling) and spread it out evenly with an offset spatula or table knife.

Invert second cake onto the iced bottom layer. Use remaining icing to generously frost the top and sides of the cake (there may be some icing leftover).

Serves 8.

not missing.

2010-08-29T09:00:00.006-04:00

Friends, it is going to be Labour Day!

This coming weekend!

I have to say it: How did this happen?

Actually, I have a pretty good idea of how it happened, but it still seems incredible that even my time to make up for lost time this summer is coming to a close.

In response, my husband and I have spent the past few days tearing around our city and its surrounding areas in full staycation mode, dragging our children from one picturesque location to the next, camera at the ready, trying to eke out as much carefree living as we can before getting down to the serious work that will come with September.

In spite of the summer's having fled by at an astonishing pace, with me and my apron flapping haplessly along behind it, I am determined to make the most of what is left of its bounty.

And what a bounty it is! This has been the most dreamy of seasons for produce in our area, and we have been gobbling up blueberries, peaches, corn and tomatoes by the handful.

So it isn't that we haven't been eating the good stuff.

It's just that I haven't really been cooking it much - unless you consider grilling to be the same thing as cooking, which I do not.

I do support the popular notion that really good, fresh food needs little adornment to make it tasty and lovely, but I have to admit that I am ready to get seriously back into the kitchen.

So much so that yesterday, after a day at the beach and despite the high temperature outside, I made this lovely curry. We ate it out on our deck, the smells from our neighbours' barbecues wafting around us.

And, for possibly the first time this summer, I didn't feel like I was missing a thing.

Zucchini Curry

The best part of this dish is the curry paste. You pound it together yourself, using a mortar and pestle, which is equal parts aggravating and gratifying - but so worth it!

3 cloves garlic, chopped
a 2" piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp brown mustard seeds
1 tbsp Madras curry powder
1/4c vegetable oil
1 large Vidalia onion, sliced thinly
1 tsp brown sugar
6 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise then cut crosswise into slices 1/2" thick
1 can (398ml) coconut milk
a handful of roasted cashews
a handful of fresh coriander leaves

To make curry paste, first bash together garlic, ginger and sea salt in a mortar and pestle until a coarse paste forms. Add cumin, coriander, mustard seeds, and curry powder, and keep pounding until mixture is fairly smooth and cohesive. Set curry paste aside.

In a large heavy saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion slices and sugar and cook, stirring, until golden, 8-10 minutes.

Turn heat down to medium-low and add curry paste to pot. Cook, stirring, until very fragrant, about a minute. Add zucchini to pot and stir well. Add coconut milk.

Bring just to a boil, then stir well, cover and simmer until zucchini is just tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in cashews and fresh coriander.

Serve with steamed rice.
Serves six.

is this thing (still) on?

2010-08-22T21:01:00.004-04:00

I can't go another minute without acknowledging my rather lengthy, and completely unplanned, absence from this blog.

The list of things that have conspired to keep me off the keys these past several weeks includes, but is not limited to:

Our move;

a lack of internet service (and an appalling lack of service from our internet provider, but you've all no doubt heard that story before) for more than a week following the move;

three family birthdays and twice that number of birthday parties;

many wonderful out of town house guests;

a broken camera;

and my husband's travel schedule, which took him away from us for what felt like an eternity.

I have missed posting a great deal - in fact, I have missed cooking a great deal, since most of my meals this summer have centered around cheese and crackers and leftover birthday cake.

Still, there are at least a couple of weeks left of this glorious summer yet, and my kitchen, now that I have begun to settle into it, is awash in fresh local ingredients.

Which I plan to press into service.

Any minute now.

As soon as I finish this cupcake.

**I may have mentioned before that Alysa is the person in our relationship who really knows how to make things happen, and for that I am especially grateful this summer, since she has unsurprisingly held up her end of things with aplomb even while juggling her own family's hectic existence. Thank you Alysa!**

Carrot Cupcakes for a Momentous Day
adapted from Gourmet Today

It was my son's first birthday on Saturday, and I made these cupcakes for the first of two parties we held for him over the weekend. They were a huge hit, and I'd make them again in a heartbeat.

For the Cupcakes:

1 1/2c light spelt pastry flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
3/4c vegetable oil
1c packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4c finely shredded carrots (I used 2 large ones)
1/3c finely chopped walnuts, toasted
1/2c sweetened shredded coconut, toasted

For the Icing:

3 1/2c icing sugar
250g cream cheese, room temperature
1/2c unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp vanilla

For the cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg in a bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together oil, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Beat in flour mixture until well combined. Gently fold in carrots, walnuts and coconut until just combined.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake 25-30 minutes, turning pan halfway through cooking time, until a tester inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Turn cupcakes out onto rack to cool completely.

For the Icing:

Place icing sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to remove any lumps. Add remaining ingredients and process until smooth and thick. If icing is runny (as mine was on a highly humid Saturday morning), refrigerate it for an hour or so until firm enough to pipe onto the tops of the cupcakes.

Makes 12.

I'm Off

2010-08-02T18:27:00.001-04:00

I won't be posting for awhile. I'm taking my girls to England for a month to meet my family. My mom is already there, and we will be staying with my aunt. I'll be taking lots of pictures and posting when I can but I'm not making any promises. I'm not sure what my aunt's internet scene is over there but I'm sure I can find a hip (or nerdy) internet cafe to communicate with you all. I hear they have the internet on computers now in the UK.

It is said, mainly by my mom, that my aunt Sara makes the best pie crust in town. I've never been a huge pie lover until Jess started baking pies. I think he is the best pie maker this side of the Atlantic. My mom is always trying to set up a pie competition between him and my aunt, but neither of them seem particularly interested. Maybe my mom has a secret fantasy to be the best pie tasting judge of all time. Perhaps at her age she feels that dream will only be realized by forcing family members to compete in the kitchen. She'll only be satisfied until one person is left humiliated and crying on the kitchen floor amongst piles of second place pie dough. Or maybe my mom is just trying to make conversation by engaging people with a common interest. It's a toss up, I could believe either one.

That being said I will try and ply Aunt Sara's pie crust recipe from her. No forms of manipulation are below me, but I'm pretty sure she'll just tell me if I ask nicely. So look forward to pie and scones in blog future, and wish me all the best parenting luck when I fly solo with my three little girls. Gravol may be my new best friend.

Roasted Tomato and Corn Soup
from Bonnie Stern's Heart Smart

12 to 15 plum tomatoes, halved and seeded
2 onions, cut into 1/2 inch slices
3 ears of corn, husked
1 tbsp of olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp chipotle puree
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup shredded fresh basil

Grill tomatoes and onions on BBQ until each side is soft and brown. Grill corn until browned turning to cook all sides. Remove and cut kernels off of corn and set aside. Heat oil on medium heat, add garlic and cook for a few minutes. Add chipotle and tomatoes, stir and cook until hot. Add stock and bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer for about 15 minutes. Puree soup, and return to heat. Add onions and corn and cook for 5 minutes. Add vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Garnish with basil and serve.

Scrumping It

2010-07-25T20:42:00.006-04:00

When Jess and I were living on the boat we did a lot of scrumping. Scrumping is the act of taking unwanted or unused fruit from trees. Those trees may be in a public park or in someone's yard. Some may call this stealing. We called it budgeting.

When we were in the Southern United States, there were fruit trees blooming everywhere. Edible delights were taunting us every time we turned a corner. To most they were innocent fruit idly hanging from the trees, but we heard their jeers. Oranges boldly dared us to pick them, while lemons were more subtle. They would whisper amongst themselves about our inability to harvest readily available fruit. Well we showed them. Every chance we got we picked them. At first it was under the cover of darkness and then we got braver and started picking in broad daylight. It was worth every freshly squeezed glass of juice.

My neighbour has a peach tree in his front yard. They are elderly so they wouldn't give much of a chase. If they did catch me, I think I would win even if his wife jumped in. Ah, the arrogance of youth. Or maybe it's the realism of middle age. I could just go buy my peaches at the store. I am not as fiscally restrained as I was on the boat, but that doesn't seem like it would be as much fun as scrumping.

Grilled Peaches with Balsamic Reduction

6 fresh peaches, halved and pitted
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/8 cup honey, optional

Heat BBQ to medium high heat. Grill peaches on both sides until grill marks appear and they are slightly warmed. Meanwhile, heat balsamic in a pot on high heat. Whisk constantly so as not to burn vinegar, and until balsamic has reduced by half. Arrange peaches on platter with insides facing up. Drizzle with balsamic reduction. If reduction is not sweet enough, reheat pot of balsamic and add honey to the reduction until it is fully mixed in.

Farmers

2010-07-20T17:37:00.003-04:00

There is a farmer's market up the street from me every Monday. I just love it. It may not be the cheapest place to shop but it is the freshest and pretty darn tasty too. If bacon says no, I may ask the farmer's market to marry me. No it's official, I will ask him to marry me. I'll make him a ring out of bacon which will not only make bacon feel like a fool for rejecting me, but also make my offer irresistible.

There is a very cool program called FarmStart that helps farmers start small scale farms. A few of them at our market participate in this program. They are urban farmers. They live in Toronto and commute less than a hour to Brampton to farm their land. Through FarmStart they are able to rent land for very little, which enables them to actually make a living by farming. One of the biggest pitfalls for farmers is the debt they incur due to the land they need to buy. This way they can learn their trade and do what most of them love to do.

It certainly got us thinking. I've already contacted them to see if we can rent land simply to grow food for our family. We were denied, but I have a feeling that FarmStart or a similar program lies somewhere in our future. We will have to wait and see.

This is a recipe that one of the Brampton farmers gave me when I bought fenugreek from him. If you can find fresh fenugreek, make this dish. It is divine.

Methi Aloo

2 large bunches of Fenugreek
3 potatoes, diced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 medium white onion, diced
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp crushed red peppers
2 tsp oil
1/4 to 1/2 cups of water

Remove fenugreek leaves from stem and discard the stems. Heat oil in pan, add onions and cook until soft. Add potatoes and water and cover pan for 5-7 minutes or until potatoes are cooked. Add tomatoes, fenugreek, salt and red peppers and cook until all water has evaporated. Serve hot with pita or naan bread.

Summer

2010-07-10T08:22:00.004-04:00

For all of those living in Ontario, I'm sure it's been said many times but I'll say it again; it's stinking hot out there. I haven't heard from some of my friends in a few days. There is a good chance they may have melted last week. Or maybe they just went to their cottage. I would like to escape to my chic little cottage in the woods and go jump in the lake to cool off. Unfortunately that will only happen in my dreams.

I signed up two of my girls for soccer Monday nights. Every game there is a half game snack of watermelon and then, win or lose, there is the ultimate prize. It's the commercial made popsicle. The kind that stains your face and makes everything you touch so sticky that it could be a substitute for crazy glue. You could call it crazy popsicle but it doesn't really have the same pizazz. If you asked my girls if they liked soccer they would kid swear up and down that it's the best game ever. But really it's all about the sugary treat after the game. I almost signed them up for soccer camp but realized they'd hate it because no where on the program does it list popsicles from the corner store as an activity.

My poor, poor girls have been raised on homemade juice popsicles and other versions like the ones below. Try them out. It may not make your kids like soccer but it will make you feel better about eating popsicles.

Avocado Fudgesicles or Pudding

1/2 cup of water
8 pitted dates
1 cup of almond milk or any other milk
2 large avocadoes
1/2 banana
7 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 to 3/4 cup maple syrup
pinch of salt

Let dates soak in water for 30 minutes. Place all ingredients in blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Put in popsicles molds and freeze for a minimum of 4 hours.

For pudding, place in small glasses and refrigerate. Serve with grated white chocolate.

in minutes.

2010-07-07T07:25:00.003-04:00

My garden is overgrown with mint and chives.

I use the term "my garden" fairly loosely, since it will soon belong to someone else - which is why it is so overgrown.

I have no complaints about the mint and chives, though - they are two of my favourites, and I am happy to have them in abundance, at least for the time being (my new garden is lovely and lush, but also very well-ordered; so, for this growing season, anyway, there will be no invasive herbs running amok).

Between the mint and the heat, our meals have been largely inspired by the Mediterranean - a lot of grilling, quite a lot of olive oil and garlic, some rosemary, some lamb.

I am now at the point of almost constantly fantasizing about my new kitchen and all of the things that will happen in it: long, lingering conversations, slow cooked dinners, multi-course breakfasts (really!).

But until we get there, the order of the day is meals in minutes.

I am aiming generally for luscious, robust things that will fill me and cheer me, and can be made in the amount of time it would otherwise take to scoop some ice cream into a bowl.

I found this dish fit the bill admirably.

Lunch in minutes

I used a grilled eggplant leftover from a previous meal, which is why this took so little time for me to cobble together; but if you don't happen to have any leftovers on hand, the grilling only adds a few minutes to your prep time.

1 medium eggplant, sliced crosswise and grilled
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh chives
3 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint
1/4c extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp wine vinegar
100g feta, crumbled

Cut grilled eggplant slices into cubes.
Combine all ingredients in a large salad bowl , toss gently, and serve.

Serves 4, as a side dish

Mexico

2010-07-05T17:16:00.006-04:00

I've always wanted to go to Mexico. My friend Beth lives there. She married a Norwegian, and now runs a school in a little town in Mexico. The morning is for paying students and in the afternoon it's free for the poor local kids. She spends 8 months in Mexico, a few in Oslo, and then helps run a school in London, England in the summers. She does all this with her cute little one year old.

It's funny where choices take you. I went to high school with Beth. We did similar things. We were room mates in University, and both traveled afterward. Somehow her path led her to a life of international travel in far away countries. Whereas mine led me right back to my hometown. I only live 5 km from where I grew up. I still hang out with people I met in grade school.

Now don't get me wrong. I love my life, my husband and kids. I'm right where I want to be. I just find it interesting how two people can have similar upbringings but end up with completely different lives.

So here's to Beth and her wildly exciting life. I hope she'd eating some carnitas down South.

Beer and Tequila Carnitas

4 pounds bone in pork shoulder
2 cups diced white onion
4 poblano peppers
2 tbsp chopped garlic
2 tsp kosher slat divided
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper or to taste
3 cups diced seeded tomatoes, fresh or canned
1 cup tequila
2 12 ounce bottles of dark beer
20 corn tortillas, warmed

Trim enough fat from pork to yield about 1/3 cup diced. Cut pork into 1" cubes. Heat heavy pot and add fat until a thin layer covers the bottom, about 10 minutes. Increase heat and add onions, peppers, garlic and 1 tsp salt. Cook until onion is translucent.
Add pork and cook stirring frequently until enough liquid is released to cover vegetables and meat. Reduce heat to medium low and cover for 15 minutes. Uncover and bring to a lively simmer until the liquid has reduced to a thick paste, about 30 minutes.
Stir in tomatoes and return to a simmer for 10 minutes. Add tequila and and cook until the liquid has evaporated, about 20 minutes. Add beer and simmer about 40 minutes until liquid has evaporated . Season with remaining salt and pepper . Transfer to a platter and let guests assemble their own tacos with warm tortillas and taco garnishes.

the most important meal.

2010-06-30T14:23:00.004-04:00

If you were under the impression that my family and I are subsisting on breakfast foods and baked goods these days, you wouldn't be far wrong.

I have been managing to cobble together some decent - even inspired - dinners, which isn't hard to do given the bounty of seasonal produce; and I have banished the cereal supper for the time being, which makes me disproportionately pleased with myself.

But on full, full days like the ones I've been having (and will continue to have for the next couple of weeks, I expect), the evening meal isn't what keeps me going.

Most of my good times in the kitchen have been happening in the earliest part of the day, before it gets too hot and muggy and while what is required of me for the next twelve or so hours seems almost reasonable.

I have been using the fact that my baby is still nursing as an excuse for waking and baking relentlessly, and I have also been getting a lot of mileage out of these pancakes - wonderful for breakfast, a decent mid-morning snack, and not bad slathered with peanut butter for lunch or late at night, either.

Oatmeal Pancakes
adapted from Orangette
You must start these the night before, which I find more thrilling than onerous, but I recognize that not everyone may feel that way...

1 1/2c whole oats
2 1/4c buttermilk
1/2c whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2c butter OR coconut oil, melted and cooled

Combine oats and buttermilk in a mixing bowl; stir well, so that all of the oatmeal is submerged in the buttermilk, then cover and refrigerate over night.

The next day, sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a small bowl.

Whisk together brown sugar, eggs, and melted butter (or coconut oil) in a small bowl. Add egg mixture to buttermilk mixture, and stir well to combine.

Fold flour mixture into wet ingredients - do this gently, but make sure everything is well combined.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Brush lightly with a little oil, and then, when the pan is hot enough, add the batter by 1/4 cupsful (I get two pancakes per batch in my pan). Flip pancakes when they are looking dry around the edges, after 3 minutes or so. Cook a further few minutes, until golden, then transfer to a plate and place in the warm oven while you get on with the rest.

Makes 14 pancakes.

Country Dreams

2010-06-28T20:26:00.007-04:00

Sometimes I feel I should be living in the country. Or at least a little more rural than downtown Toronto. I like activities that are mainly associated with rural life. Last week I went strawberry picking with some friends and my girls. It was raining on Saturday so our family spent the morning in the kitchen. Jess and Reya were grinding flour from spelt and wheat berries for our Sunday pancakes. Wini and I made jam from our picking haul. I can envision spending more days like these. The only improvement would be to be able to look out my kitchen window and see a lot more space.

Part of the problem is that I can only envision good times in the summer. I'm not sure I am cut out for long Canadian winters outside of city limits. I'm sure we would spend time outside making massive igloos and cross country skiing. But those scenarios are always interspersed with visions of me looking out a snowy window eating chocolate by myself and wondering where all the people are.

My ideal situation would be to sell my house in Toronto and buy a fabulous place in the country with lots of space to roam around. But here's the catch, all my family and friends would have to come with me. I am way too social to leave my Toronto network. I've been building up this network my whole life . I'm not sure I could move and throw it all away. Oh I'm sure they would come visit and I'm positive there are some cool country folk that I would like to befriend. I'm just too comfortable in my little life here in the big smoke. Even if the grass is just as green in rural Ontario, I think I'm going to stay on my tiny patch in Toronto.

Savoury Strawberry Crostini
adapted from The Globe and Mail

6 slices of toasted crostini
12 ounces of goat cheese
1 pint of strawberries
1 cup diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp of sugar
1 tbsp of lime juice
1 tbsp of diced pickled jalapenos
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
freshly ground pepper to taste
freshly ground sea salt to taste
2 tbsp fresh chopped basil
2 tbsp fresh chopped mint

Spread generous amounts of goat cheese on toast. Combine all the other ingredients to make salsa. Top toasts with salsa and serve.

lucky.

2010-06-25T07:28:00.003-04:00

(soup tureen courtesy of mrs. huizenga)

Our house is in chaos at the moment.

Having just said goodbye to the last guest we will have at this address, we have begun to dismantle our life here. It's not the most fun process, partly because of the emotional weight attached to what we are doing - but also partly due to the fact that it is an extremely messy undertaking.

Simply put, there is crap everywhere.

How is it that we've managed to accumulate so much in the three short years we have lived here?

When did I, formerly known to my friends as the compulsive minimalist, become the kind of person who has boxes and bags and bins of excess to cart to the Goodwill every day?

For every box I pack, there is another filled with things we no longer need - if indeed we ever needed them in the first place.

Going through our things, I'm half fascinated and half horrified by the pile-up; but when I manage to shift my eyes from the miasma I feel terribly lucky.

Lucky that we're in the privileged position of having more crap than we know what to do with.

And lucky that we are moving on.

Happiness Soup
adapted from Nigella Lawson

The great thing about this easy-going soup is that it works hot, warm, or even tepid. I have never tried it fridge-cold, but at room temperature it's great.

1/4c olive oil
3 medium yellow zucchini, finely diced
1 clove garlic, smashed
zest and juice of a lemon
1 tsp tumeric
4c (1 litre) chicken broth
1/2c basmati rice
4-5 large basil leaves
1 ball of mozzarella (about 325g), cut into small cubes

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add zucchini pieces and cook, stirring gently, about 5 minutes, until slightly softened.

Add garlic and tumeric and stir; then add lemon juice and zest, broth, and rice.

Cook, uncovered, about 20 minutes, until rice is cooked and zucchini is tender. Add basil leaves and remove from heat. Puree soup in batches.

Serve warm, but not necessarily hot; garnish each bowl with a handful of mozzarella.

Serves 4-6.

Jamming it

2010-06-20T17:54:00.005-04:00

One of my best friends is getting married in July. We decide it would be great to give homemade jam as the bomboniere. I can't say or type that word without some kind of accent. If I had to win an accent contest to save my life, I would die a pointless death. Jess puts a lot of stock in people's ability to do accents. If he had known about my lack of skill in this department, I'm not sure he would of started dating me. I'm not saying I don't have other things to offer in a relationship but certainly embellishing a story with a believable accent is not one of them. My life strategy has been to surround myself with well accented people to make up for this obvious void in my life.

A few days ago, my friend Heather and I had a major jam session. It took us eight hours to make 164 jars of jam. The only breaks I took were to feed the kids dinner, give them a bath, and put them to bed. Heather worked tirelessly until the job was done. We were able to get ourselves a few hours of child labour, but they unwilling to put in a full days work. Reya and Wini hulled and mashed strawberries. Ruby keenly sensed that we had over bought and spent the day eating as many strawberries and she could get her hands on. All in all it was maybe the most productive day I've had since I've had kids.

If you get a chance to go strawberry picking this season, go make some jam. Here's a great recipe;

Spiced Strawberry Jam

5 cups crushed strawberries, cleaned and stemmed
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 box powdered fruit pectin
1/2 tsp butter
7 cups of sugar

In a saucepan, combine the strawberries and spices. Add the pectin and butter to the saucepan. Bring to a full boil on high heat stirring constantly. Stir in exactly 7 cups of sugar and mix well. Return to a full boil and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove the saucepan from the heat and skim off any foam with a metal spoon. Ladle into sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. Cap, seal, and process in a boiling water bath canner.
Yields five 1/2 pints of jam.
For more information on canning check out Bernardin's website

d-day.

2010-06-20T07:26:00.002-04:00

My kids have the best dad ever.

Root Beer Cupcakes
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

I had a couple of cans of root beer in the fridge leftover from my pregnancy, and this seemed like a great excuse to crack them open. Note that these cupcakes are super moist and freeze very well - which may or may not be good news if, like me, you find having 24 cupcakes sitting on your counter to be tempting in the extreme.

Cupcakes
2c root beer
1c cocoa powder
1/2c unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/4c granulated sugar
1/2c firmly packed dark brown sugar
2c all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
2 eggs

Frosting
500g icing sugar
1c soft butter
250g soft cream cheese
1 tbsp rum

For the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. In a small saucepan, heat the root beer, cocoa powder and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted. Add the sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until just beaten then whisk them into the cooled cocoa mixture until combined.

Gently combine the liquid and flour mixtures together in the large bowl (batter will be slightly lumpy).

Use a 1/4c measure to fill cupcake liners and bake cupcakes, rotating trays halfway through, until a tester inserted into the center of each comes out clean, about 15-17 minutes.

Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

When cupcakes are cooled, make frosting:
Place icing sugar in the bowl of the food processor and blast for a few seconds to remove any lumps. Pulse in butter and cream cheese, and then rum.

Using an offset spatula or a table knife, dollop and spread frosting onto tops of cupcakes.

Makes 24.

special delivery.

2010-06-18T19:32:00.003-04:00

I have begun having my groceries delivered.

The passing mention of this new habit in a recent post did nothing to reveal how momentous a difference ordering food online, and its subsequent delivery, has wrought; so let me just say, unequivocally and on the record:

It has changed my life.

I have always loved shopping for food (and most other things, too), but lately it had been starting to feel like a bit of a chore.

We have several big household expenditures coming up, so we have been making an effort to be more frugal - which has meant less shopping at the pretty little jewel box-like shops along our strip in favour of trips to the vast, faceless and uninspiring (but ultimately more economical) supermarket at the outer fringe of our neighbourhood.

Because I find going to that store the worst kind of drudgery, my husband has been doing the grocery shopping of late - and although his is an errand of mercy and I should be grateful that he does it at all (and I am grateful, really!), I am not always pleased with what he comes home with.

It's not that he's a bad shopper - I'd just prefer to do it myself.

(For a while there, because of my control issues, we were making our trips to said giant grocery store en famille, and that was the worst kind of gong show:

Picture the four of us, largely disgruntled and at least one of us hungry, hurtling through the aisles in an attempt to make good choices and buy everything on our list before someone had a major meltdown and we were forced to leave without anything.)

Enter the life-altering on-line supermarket, where the aisles are empty, there is never a line at the checkout, and you don't have to pay in cash or bag your own groceries.

Yesterday, I ordered everything on my list while nursing my baby and watching my daughter do a 300-piece puzzle.

And then this morning, before I had even finished making my coffee, there was a man at the door with four boxes of fresh food for my family and me.

I was so delighted by the whole thing, I made us a cake for breakfast to celebrate.

Spiced Carrot Breakfast Cake

The disadvantage of this over, say, muffins, is that it takes considerably more time to cook. That said, it also seems to go a lot further (don't ask me why, since the ingredients are virtually the same), and the presentation is awfully pleasing. Besides, who can resist the notion of cake for breakfast?

1c wheat germ
1c buttermilk
2 eggs
1/2c applesauce (unsweetened)
1/3c oil (once again, I use coconut, but any vegetable oil will do)
1/2c agave nectar OR thawed apple juice concentrate
1 2/3c whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp nutmeg
about 2c grated carrots (I grate 2 fairly big carrots - not enormous, but not medium-sized either)
1/2c chopped pitted dates
1/2c chopped almonds
1/2c craisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a tube pan.

Place wheat germ in a large mixing bowl.

Combine buttermilk, eggs, apple sauce, oil, and agave nectar in a large glass measuring cup and whisk until smooth. Pour over wheat germ in bowl and stir to combine.

In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg. Stir in carrots, dates, almonds, and craisins.

Add flour mixture to buttermilk mixture and stir until just combined. Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake about 40 minutes (check after 35), or until a tester inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Cool 10-15 minutes in pan, then run a knife around the sides to loosen the cake and invert it onto a wire rack.

Serve immediately, or let it cool a little longer before serving.

Makes at least a dozen slices.

Bounty

2010-06-15T16:13:00.004-04:00

I tend to cook too much food when I entertain. I'm not sure if it's because I think what I'm making will be irresistible or I think that it should be socially acceptable to overindulge whenever food is presented. I dream of cocktail parties where everyone receives their own round of melted brie so I don't have to share. The dream wouldn't be complete without my very own trough of seven layer of chip dip. Nothing taste better on a corn chip than a creamy mixture of beans, salsa, sour cream, and avocado. Obviously the other three ingredients are a national Mexican secret because I can't for the life of me figure out what they are.

Cooking too much food inevitably leaves me with leftovers and I hate throwing out food. I must have spent my past life in a post war environment because I can't stand wasting food even if it's a whole day old. I also love coming up with ways to make new dishes that don't look like their past lives. When we were living on the boat I made a kick ass brussel sprout sandwich. It tasted a lot better than it sounds.

I had family over the other night for my brother's 40th birthday party. I overestimated everyone's love of corn and was left with a bowl full. Below is a tasty alternative to cold corn on the cob.

Corny Soup

kernels from 6 cobs of cooked corn
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 sweet potato, diced
1 tsp chipotle pepper or to taste, minced
3 cups vegetable stock
1 cup of milk
1 tomato, diced
juice from 1 lime
handful of cilantro

Saute onion in heated saucepan. Once soften, add sweet potato and stock. Bring to a boil and then simmer 10 minutes or until sweet potato is cooked. Add corn and let cool enough to blend with a hand blender. Add milk, and reheat slowly. Add tomato, lime juice and cilantro. serve immediately.

beauty.

2010-06-13T22:34:00.004-04:00

I can not tell you how thrilled I was to unpack a box of groceries the other day and find the small paper bag containing these tomatoes.

I nearly couldn't eat them - I was so taken by their beauty that I just wanted to sit and stare.

I gazed at them on every lovely surface I could come up with (the white stove top, the pale blue platter, the yellow tablecloth, the green couch).

I sniffed them: they smelled like the memory of a garden from childhood.

Aren't they gorgeous? Days later, I am still rapturous at the very thought of them.

After ogling them for a while longer and spending considerable time deciding how best to enjoy them, I made this sauce.

Then everyone in my family ate it.

And that, friends, is why I love food.

Fabulous Sauce from Fabulous Tomatoes

This is one of my favourite simple no-cook pasta sauces, but it also makes a great salad if, like I did recently, you discover partway through your preparations that there is no pasta to be had in the house. This is also one of the rare times when I have to insist that you use the best olive oil you can get.

3-4 large heirloom tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sea salt
freshly ground pepper
1/2 good quality extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp finely chopped chives
2 tbsp finely chopped basil
1 (340g) ball mozzarella, cut into small-ish cubes

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Lightly score each tomato with a sharp knife, then plunge the tomatoes into the boiling water (you may need to do this in batches) for just a minute or two, to facilitate peeling.
Scoop the tomatoes out of the water and peel them, then cut each tomato in half and remove the seeds. Core and coarsely chop tomatoes.
Place tomatoes in a large, non-reactive mixing bowl and toss gently with sugar, salt, and a few grindings of pepper. Let sit at room temperature a minimum of two hours, and as many as eight.
When nearly ready to serve (ie. while your pasta is boiling), add chives, basil and mozzarella to tomatoes and toss gently.
Makes sauce for about 450g of pasta, or salad for six.

excess.

2010-06-10T09:32:00.004-04:00

I have a confession to make: I am not really a fan of leftovers.

When confronted with them, I don't find myself inspired to create marvelous dishes that are greater than the sum of their parts; instead, I think longingly of those food disposal units that would allow me to stuff the uneaten portions of our meals down the drain and grind them into oblivion.

For some reason, I find opening the fridge to the sight of shelvesful of little containers a bit anxiety-provoking, and I would be quite happy if they were to simply disappear without my having to give them a thought (and to be fair, they often do, thanks to my husband, whose appetite is tremendous and somewhat less discerning than mine).

The leftovers problem becomes complicated when I acknowledge that generally, when cooking, I prefer an abundance of ingredients. Because we are only four, and only two of us can really be said to actually consume our meals, the result is that I tend to make quantities of food from which leftovers are inevitable.

So basically, I go to as much trouble to generate leftovers as I do to avoid dealing with them once they've been created.

I know, it's a problem.

But we're not here (well, not really) to delve too deeply into my complicated relationship with food. We're here to celebrate the fact that, when I was dispirited by the bits and pieces floating around our fridge one recent rainy day, I decided to make these pancakes for lunch. All four of us gobbled them up, and there wasn't a leftover to be had.

Corn and Cheese Pancakes

I processed the corn kernels in deference to our baby, but you could just as easily leave them whole and stir them in at the end with the cheese.

1c fresh or frozen corn kernels
2 eggs
1/2c olive oil
2c buttermilk
2 tsp sugar
1c whole wheat flour
1/2c corn meal
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 heaped cup grated cheese (I used cheddar)
a little butter, for the pan

Process corn kernels in the food processor (if frozen, they will make quite a racket). Add eggs, oil, buttermilk and sugar and process until combined.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, corn meal, baking soda, and paprika. Add corn mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined. Gently fold in cheese.

Heat a large heavy pan on medium-high heat. Melt a little butter in the pan.

Make pancakes in batches, using a quarter-cup measure. Cook each pancake about 3 minutes per side.

My husband and I ate ours with salsa and sour cream, my daughter had hers with maple syrup, and the baby ate his au naturel.

Makes 14.

Pick Me Ups

2010-06-08T20:43:00.003-04:00

I haven't been sleeping very well lately. Let me tell me you it's cramping my style. I'm not one of those people who is all bubbly and cheerful regardless of circumstance. I think I'd be fairly creepy if that were the case. It's like those uber parents you see in the playground. You know the ones. They know all the kid's names. They have lengthy discussions with every kid asking about who their favorite dinosaur or barbie is. They do all of this knee deep in the sand pile with a freaky clown smile on their face. I always think those over achieving parents in the playground are just putting on an act to diffuse their guilt over their extreme grumpiness behind closed doors.

I think I may have found the solution to my tired days. It's caffeine. Now I know that most people have already figured this out but this is a new revelation to me. I only starting drinking coffee after I had my third kid. I'd been off the stuff for 12 years. When I was in university I was living on a pretty steady diet of tea, diet coke and nachos. After figuring that this may not be a healthy option I drastically switched my diet to nachos with caffeine free drinks.

But let me tell you, throw in three kids under three and little to no help with childcare, and you'd be jumping on the coffee train every morning as well. My little one is now 2 1/2 years old and I've got my coffee consumption down to every other day. I'm a little slow on the off days but I make it up on my coffee days. So if you see me in the playground being too nice to your kids and doing cartwheels it's not because I'm creepy, I'm just jacked up on my two cups of java.

Fish Tacos

Shrimp
1 lb extra large shrimp shelled and cleaned
3 tbsp teriyaki sauce
Sauce
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
2 tsp prepared wasabi, or to taste
Salsa
1/2 English cucumber, halved, seeded and sliced
1 tbsp red onion finely chopped
3 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 tbsp picked ginger, chopped
1 ripe avocado, chopped
salt to taste
1 tsp hot sweet chili sauce
8 flour tortillas
2 cups romaine lettuce

Toss shrimp with teriyaki sauce and cook on bbq until shrimp is opaque. Combine wasabi and mayonnaise and set aside. Combine all ingredients for salsa in a bowl and mash together. Set aside. To assemble, spread sauce on tortillas, place several shrimp in tortillas and top with a spoonful of salsa and lettuce. Roll up tortillas tightly and serve.

waking and baking.

2010-06-04T21:23:00.010-04:00

(with sheepish thanks to my friend Eden, from whose delightful blog post I ripped off this title)

We all have our morning rituals, the idiosyncratic routines without which we spend the rest of the day feeling slightly off.

Personally, although I have learned to live largely without caffeine these last couple of years, and my drinking alcohol in the morning is limited to the occasional mimosa, I find it very, very difficult to begin my day without some kind of baking, preferably still slightly warm from the oven.

During the recent heat wave in our city, it took me several days of being out of sorts and saying ferocious things to anyone I met who dared utter the words, "we have air conditioning, but we prefer not to use it unless we really need it," before I realized that a large part of my attitude problem had to do with eating a cold breakfast every morning.

Necessity being the mother of invention (and greed being an incredibly powerful motivator), I decided to try to come up with a warm weather-friendly strategy: rather than giving up the waking and baking altogether, the trick was to make up a recipe so easy and fast that the kitchen barely had time to heat up before I was pulling some yummy thing out of the oven.

With the help of my willing family and what must be the hardest-working ceiling fan in the GTA, I came up with these muffins.

And I have to tell you that, even though the temperature is more moderate now than it was last week, I still can't get enough of them.

Muffins for Hot Mornings

3 very ripe bananas
1/2c oil (I use coconut oil because I'm obsessed with it these days, but go ahead and use whatever you've got)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2c thawed apple juice concentrate
1 2/3c whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp instant espresso powder
3/4c chocolate chips

In a food processor, combine bananas, oil, eggs, vanilla and apple juice concentrate and process until smooth.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and espresso powder.
Add flour mixture to food processor and process until all ingredients are combined.
Scrape batter into a large mixing bowl and fold in chocolate chips.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
While oven is preheating, line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper cups.
Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, and bake 17 - 18 minutes.
Remove from heat (and turn oven off immediately!) and cool 10 minutes or so in pan before transferring to a wire rack.
Serve immediately, or allow a little time to cool.
Makes a dozen.

...get out of the kitchen.

2010-06-01T21:12:00.005-04:00

I was chatting with a friend the other day about the heat.

She and I are in similar circumstances: our kids are the same age, and neither of our husbands is often around during the dinner hour. We are also both, at the moment, living without air conditioning; and it has been very, very hot and humid in our city these past couple of weeks.

We were discussing the indignity of having to get dinner on the table when it's 30 degrees both inside and out and you're outnumbered by your children, and our conversation went something like this:

Me: You know, I am so tired and hungry by that point in the day that I can't cope with making a salad. And I refuse to turn on the stove. I'm embarrassed to tell you how many nights we've had the cereal supper in our house this past week alone.

My Friend: I know, it's too much. Although I will eat a salad, as long as it has lots of cheese in it.

Me: Oh, I love cheese in a salad. And croutons.

My Friend: And nuts.

Me: And a side of sausage.

As grateful as I was to learn that I am not the only one who struggles with the dinner hour these days, I do recognize that, heat wave or no, the cereal supper is not something every mother would like to commit to on a long-term basis.

(I'd like to mention at this point that I used to love hot weather, and I have not had air conditioning my entire adult life. Hot weather, for me, used to mean cold bubble baths and dinners that consisted of drinks on ice.

Since having my children, though, I find that when the heat is on, nobody in our house sleeps well through the night; we move through the days with our energy sapped; and we find excuses to spend time in our climate-controlled car.

In fact, these days, I find that too much hot weather makes me a little angry.)

However, I think I may have come up with a reasonable alternative. Since discovering this recipe (thank you, Sara!), I have made it three times, varying it a little each time. The one you see here is my favourite so far - side of sausage optional.

Asparagus Salad
Adapted from Culinerapy

1/2c red wine vinegar
1/2c extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground pepper to taste
2 bunches asparagus, trimmed
1c roasted walnuts, chopped
1 1/2c crumbled feta

In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, oil, and salt & pepper. Chop asparagus crosswise, and add to bowl along with walnuts and feta.
Toss gently.
Refrigerate a couple of hours before serving.

Serves four.

Sweets

2010-05-30T14:20:00.007-04:00

I'm not a fan of baking. There is too much measuring, and you really have to follow the recipe otherwise it won't work out. That seems hard core to me. I really prefer to do most of the things in my life a little half assed. Jess likes to figure out the really hard problems whereas I tend to stick with the easy fixes. We often joke that we need to invite a third person into our relationship that really excels at the medium hard problems. Then we'd really have it made.

Out of the two social occasions I attended this weekend, I was responsible for dessert. I'm not sure what went wrong there because I try very hard never to have that responsibility. My desserts tend to not work out. It's mainly because I try and change the recipe to a healthier version. Desserts don't react well to that. There is a reason they taste really good and it's called butter and sugar, and lots of it. Jess likes to call my dessert affliction the "too healthy to be tasty syndrome".

Well I got it right this weekend. I followed all the rules and regulations and both desserts worked out. I made Annie's super easy chocolate cake and the following pie for my vegan friend. Don't let that vegan bit scare you off. It was damn tasty.

Chocolate Almond Peanut Butter Pie
from Fresh at Home

Crust
1 1/2 cups vegan chocolate cookie crumbs
1 tbsp canola oil
1/4 cup maple syrup

Filling
3/4 cup natural smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp firm silken tofu
1/4 cup +2 tbsp vanilla soymilk
pinch sea salt

Topping
1/2 cup vanilla soymilk
4 oz bittersweet chocolate chopped
1/4 cup + 2tbsp almonds, chopped and toasted

Crust
In a mixing bowl, combine cookie crumbs, oil and maple syrup. Press into an oiled 9 inch Pyrex pie plate. Bake at 350 C for 10 minutes, remove from oven and set aside. Reduce oven temperature to 300 C.

Filling
In a food processor, blend all filling ingredients until smooth. Pour into crust and bake for 15 minutes. Cool.

Topping

In a small saucepan, bring soymilk to a boil. Remove from heat, add chocolate and stir until smooth. Pour chocolate mixture over pie and sprinkle nuts on top. Refrigerate at least 2 hours and serve.

go local.

2010-05-29T09:16:00.005-04:00

Our favourite farmer's market opens this morning, and we can't wait to go.

Situated in a beautiful spot and surrounded by walking trails and great views, this market also has great coffee, live music, and planned activities for children.

Oh, and the produce on offer is pretty great too - although, as what I have written so far will tell you, I don't really go to the farmer's market for the produce.

I go for the inspiration, the colours and sounds and smells; for a great cup of coffee and a hand-held breakfast enjoyed in the company of people who are as into food as I am.

I still can't get over the abundance and diversity of things available to us in southern Ontario, and there is not a time of year more inspiring than this one.

This morning I am hoping to get some local strawberries, so that I can make the best hot weather dinner ever:

Local Strawberry Shortcakes

There are three components to this heavenly supper - I start by making the shortcakes in the morning, before it gets too hot; then I get the strawberries ready and let them sit, covered, in the least warm part of the kitchen. Just before we eat, I whip the cream.

For the shortcakes:
2c whole wheat pastry flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2c cold butter
1c sour milk, sour cream, or buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda.

Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse sand. Stir in milk, vanilla, and sugar until dough just barely comes together.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead 11 times (not more, not less! This is the secret to perfect shortcakes!). Roll dough into a rough rectangle, and cut into 8 pieces. Gently pat the pieces into rounds and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake 8-10 minutes, until golden. Cool completely on a rack.

For the strawberries:
about 4c sliced strawberries (from 2 or 3 containers of fresh strawberries, washed and hulled)
2-3 tbsp brown sugar

In a large bowl, combine strawberries and sugar and toss well. Cover and set aside for a few hours.

For the cream:
2c whipping cream, chilled
1 tbsp vanilla
2 tbsp sugar

Whip all ingredients together until soft peaks form.

I don't expect anyone needs directions as to how to proceed from here...

See you at the market!

Fresh

2010-05-27T16:49:00.005-04:00

My favorite restaurant in Toronto is called Fresh. It is vegan, and has such good food. I know a lot of you are thinking what I'm thinking. How can vegan and good food be in the same sentence? How do they live without bacon, cream, and all the other tasty treats animals have to offer? Well I don't have the answer for you. All I know is that those vegans at Fresh sure can cook.

I worked in the service industry for about 12 years. I started when I was about 16. I have fond memories of those days. I certainly had some good times. When I'm reminiscing about those days, sometimes I think I'd like to do that job again. It only takes about 10 minutes in a busy restaurant to make me realize that doing a job in your twenties might be a wee bit different than taking orders in your late thirties. I don't want to go back.

I do fantasize about owning my very own sandwich truck. Every time I see one I think it would be fun getting up early and making a wad of sammies, and then heading to the construction site. I even envision muscling out the mom and pop truck that's been at that site for the last 30 years. Oh don't tell me I don't have dreams! I'm not going to be a stay at home mom forever.

I made an avocado soup that I'll be serving at my sandwich truck if you are interested. I'll have to rename it my sandwich/soup truck. It's not vegan but I'm pretty sure the folks at Fresh would like it too. I'll sneak it on the menu when I get a job there. Just don't tell them there's dairy in it.

Cucumber Avocado Soup

1/2 English cucumber, sliced
1 avocado
1-2 jalapenos, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup of plain yoghurt
1-2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste
a handful of cilantro
juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp of oil

Heat oil in a saucepan and saute the garlic until fragrant. Add all other ingredients and blend until smooth. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Serve chilled.

salad days.

2010-05-25T13:44:00.003-04:00

I have come to realize that I may be overly fixated on the weather.

We all joke that discussing the forecast is one of our national pastimes, and I've noticed lately that I actually am one of those cliched Canadians whose conversational gambits often begin and end with, "Isn't it a [insert appropriate adjective here] day?"

It's not the worst thing to talk about, but I could do with some new subject matter.

The trouble is, I have not been keeping up well with the news lately; I know nothing about sports; and my taste in music is both un-current and probably a little pedestrian to anyone who might actually like to talk about music with me.

Of politics in my city I know shamefully little, and I am late to register my daughter for school in the fall, so I avoid that subject at all costs.

I do love to shop, but the various vintage treasures that I've unearthed at bargain prices may not be of interest to everyone I meet - and besides, I have declared a pre-move moratorium on acquisitions (and how that is going for me is the stuff of a whole other epic conversation).

So you can see why, at a loss for small talk, I drift back to my old reliable, the weather.

Aside from the polite innocuousness of weather-related chat, discussing the forecast also offers the opportunity to segue into my absolute favourite topic, which is, as you have no doubt realized by now, what I am going to eat next.

And today, because it is a beautiful May day, that happens to be the salad you see here.

Barley Salad
adapted from Food and Wine

I actually made this over the weekend, but it makes quite a bit and it tastes better every day.

1 1/2c pearl barley
1c roasted almonds, coarsely chopped
5 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2c olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp lemon zest
1c packed Italian parsley leaves
1c crumbled feta

Cook barley in a large pot of boiling, salted water until tender, about 20-25 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water to cool. Shake out excess water.

Meanwhile, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and lemon zest in a large bowl. Add barley, parsley, and feta and toss gently. Stir in chopped nuts, toss again, add some salt and pepper if desired, and serve.

Serves 4-6, depending on your desire for leftovers

Getting Away

2010-05-24T17:34:00.005-04:00

I had the good fortune to be able to get out of town this weekend. Jess' family has a lovely property in Grey County. It's just enough space to feel like you can get a little lost if you want to. Just enough out of earshot that you can't be blamed for not hearing your name being called. The kids love it. There are rabbits hiding around every corner, and adventures to find without my apron strings tugging at their heels.

It always takes me a little while to wind down when we get to the farm. I need to leave my city ways behind and be a little more relaxed about rules. Jess is always trying to convince me that there is a city clean and country clean. I'm not sure I buy that one but sometimes it's a necessity up there. I always seem to think bedtimes should still be imposed. But I'm slowly realizing that maybe seeing a sky full of stars is more important. I don't want my kids growing up thinking there are only 4 stars in the sky come nightfall.

A friend came up last year, and we went to a cow penning competition. His daughter kept asking if the animals were cows. He was mortified. He felt so city, and was convinced the country folk were snickering about his daughters lack of animal identification skills. I'm sure the largely Mennonite crowd barely noticed. Their list of chores is probably so long that they don't have time to ridicule the city folk.

Since we lack refrigeration in our little cabin up North our fare is usually pretty simple. It borders on boring and I have yet to figure out a weekends worth of delicious cooler food. So I will post a curry that I made last weekend at a dinner party in the city. Curry is hard to photograph without it looking like vomit. Please don't let this deter you from trying it. I guarantee it taste better than it looks.

Trinidadian Chicken Curry

6-8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
juice of 1 lime
3 scotch bonnet peppers, seeded and finely chopped
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp curry powder
handful of cilantro
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 tbsp canola oil
2 large onions finely chopped
2 sweet potatoes, cubed
4 large tomatoes, blanched, peeled, and chopped
2 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

Marinate the chicken with the lime, chilies, cumin, turmeric, half the curry powder, cilantro and garlic. Coat chicken well, and let stand in refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours.
In a large saucepan saute onions with oil for about 10 minutes. Add remaining curry powder, tomatoes, and stock. Season with salt and pepper, and simmer for 5 minutes. Add marinated chicken and sweet potatoes, stir well, and let simmer for 30 to 60 minutes until chicken and potatoes are cooked and sauce has thickened.

simple and good.

2010-05-21T08:04:00.007-04:00

There are certain foods that are perfect for certain moods.

If I am deeply overtired in a physical way, I need to have a grilled cheese, fries with mayo, or pancakes and bacon (yes, I have discovered that hangover foods are also a great balm for the overtired body); but when I am feeling world-weary, I turn to smooth, soothing pureed soups.

When I am bleating and blue and the weather is not doing what I'd like, it's a lemon square and some Earl Grey tea with amaretto.

When funds are plentiful and I am grateful for all that life has to offer, I roast a duck and insist on really good wine with it.

And when everything just feels simple and good, nothing is more perfect to eat than my mother's lemon pie.

My mom was here visiting last week, and we had the best time.

It's nearly impossible these days to have an uneventful week at our house, but last week we came pretty close - no birth, no insanely prolonged labour (or preparations for either event), no - well, not too many - raging hormones or eviction notices or husband travelling; and on the home front, no kitchen cupboards needing painting or garden needing planting.

My mom hadn't been here in eight months, so we spent our week enjoying her company and planning for her next visit, which will happen in our new house.

Oh, and we drank and ate indulgently all week.

The last day my mom was here, she and my daughter made this lemon pie, and its billowy brightness kept me going through what might otherwise have been several days of moping in her absence.

Simple and Good Lemon Pie
I usually buy three lemons for this, but often I only need two.

1/2c cornstarch
1c sugar
3c boiling water
4 eggs, separated
2 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp lemon zest
1/2c lemon juice
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/3c sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Use your favourite pie crust recipe to line an 8- or 9-inch pie plate. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden. Cool completely.

Reduce oven heat to 400 degrees.

Prepare filling while crust is cooling: In a medium saucepan, combine cornstarch and 1 cup sugar. Place saucepan over medium heat, and gradually add boiling water, stirring constantly until thickened.

Lightly beat egg yolks in a small bowl. Stir a small amount of hot mixture into eggs yolks, then beat egg yolk mixture back into saucepan. Cook a further minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in butter vanilla, lemon zest and juice.

Using a rubber spatula, scrape filling into prepared pie crust.

Make meringue: Place egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium high speed about 30 seconds to combine, then add cream of tartar. With the mixer running, gradually add sugar and continue beating until stiff, glossy peaks form.

Top pie with meringue, using a spatula to ensure that filling is completely covered with meringue.

Place in 400 degree oven for 5 minutes or so, until meringue is golden.

Cool to room temperature before serving.

Round Two

2010-05-19T17:24:00.005-04:00

I didn't let my first roti recipe get me down. I've watched enough Rocky movies to know that you don't give up after one try. I tried a more complicated version that seems to do the trick. I'm still going to hound my local roti guy until he gives me his recipe but until that happens I can live with this option. I need to have more Caribbean food in my life even if I'm not going there anytime soon.

In my last post, I mused about how inexperienced we were as sailors when we set off for the Caribbean. We only had a 30 hour course and a few day sailing trips under our belts before we left for our 10 month voyage. Most of the people we met had been sailing for decades, and often I felt quite lacklustre in my navigational skills. There was only one boat that we met on our trip that lacked even the basic knowledge of sailing. And frankly they made us feel like we had been born sailing when we compared ourselves to them.

They were four kids in the mid twenties who had been waitering at the same restaurant in Miami. They all agreed to pool their money together, buy a 42 foot sailboat, and then spend a year or two sailing the seas. The problem was that all of them had very little sailing, but were all pumped after reading Tanya Aebi's book Maiden Voyage. They decided they would take a sail over to the Bahamas and back for a bit of practice. Instead of waiting for a good weather window to go, they simply went when they all had two days off from their restaurant work. That turned out to be a bad idea. A storm was brewing the day they set sail. The waves were high, and they all got incredibly sea sick. There dinghy got ripped off their boat in the middle of the night, and they were all silly enough to not be wearing life jackets. One guy was manning the helm with one hand, while the other was holding on to his girlfriend's tee shirt as she puked over the side of the boat. But they made it to the Bahamas and back in one piece and within their allotted two days off. The last I heard they had sailed the islands for over three years. I'm guessing their sailing and judgement improved. They would of missed an incredible trip if they gave up after that first harried voyage.

So with them in mind, I will continue my noble quest towards the great roti. Maybe I need to go back to the Bahamas to get it right. But until then I am going to eat this one.

Dhalpurie Roti

2 cups all purpose flour
1 to 1 1/2 cup of water
1 tsp of baking powder
pinch of salt
2 tbsp canola oil

3/4 cup yellow split peas, soaked over night
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
salt to taste

Cook peas until soft but not mushy. Combine peas, turmeric, and cumin and blend to a consistency of wet sand. Set aside.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add water until the dough comes together into a soft dough. Knead slowly for a few minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Cover and let rest for 20-30 minutes.

Divide dough into four equal balls. When forming balls, flatten balls slightly, and add a tablespoon of pea mixture. Then carefully pinch dough back into a ball shape.

Heat a heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat. Roll out a ball of dough to a 8 inch circle, and place on skillet. Brush oil on one side, and flip after a few seconds. Repeat until both sides are browned, and roti are slightly puffed. Serve with curry.

made with love.

2010-05-17T07:48:00.005-04:00

When I was in my twenties, I baked and decorated specialty cakes (usually wedding cakes) for people as a way of making extra money.

I didn't love doing it, if I'm being totally honest - I was pretty anti-wedding at that point in my life, and I also felt very uncomfortable with the highly-charged emotional force-field that seemed to surround every bride I encountered.

I also found that when people asked for a special cake for an occasion, they tended to forget that the cake is also actually food, and not just an elaborate decorative extravaganza to be endlessly manipulated.

I often wound up feeling like an artist (remember, I was in my twenties) whose medium was not being respected.

Still, I kept at it for some time, partly for the money, but also because I got a secret thrill out of the look on the recipient's face when they saw the finished creation.

Even though I didn't often know them well (and on some occasions I didn't even wish them well), it pleased me to play a small part in making their special day go a little better.

Once those wedding and specialty cake-baking days were safely behind me, though, I never looked back.

Until this weekend.

I have to tell you that I loved every minute of making this cake.

I made it for a dear friend's daughter (who is also my daughter's dear friend). She was turning four, and she is deeply embedded in her mermaid phase. Her mother, like me, is pretty ambivalent about the idea of little girls having barbies, but we both agreed that maybe a mermaid barbie wasn't too too bad - and besides, the kitschy nature of this made it irresistible to both of us.

(And really, the idea of wrapping a barbie up in saran wrap and plunging her into the middle of an edible skirt? As my mother pointed out, there is probably an on-line community of people who fetishize that kind of thing!)

The birthday girl was thrilled, which would have made it all worthwhile even if it hadn't been fun; and when one of the other mothers at the party asked me if I did this kind of cake-creation on a regular basis, I was happy to be able to answer that I only do it for people I know and love.

Mermaid Barbie Birthday Cake

Here's what I did, and if anyone out there wants more specifics, please let me know:

I used my favourite layer cake recipe (one that makes two 8"-round cakes) and doubled it, twice. I divided the first doubled recipe between a 9"-round wedding cake pan and a medium-sized Pyrex bowl, both buttered and lined with parchment. The second doubled recipe went into two 8"-round layer cake pans, also buttered and parchment lined.

I baked the cakes two at a time in a 350-degree oven. They took between 30 and 45 minutes (the one in the Pyrex bowl took the longest).

Once the cakes were cooled, I used a champagne flute to make a barbie-sized hole in the middle of each layer.

Then I made a double batch of my favourite basic butter icing recipe, and coloured it with sky blue food colouring gel. I set half the icing aside for the final coat, and used half to fill the layers and cover the outside of the cake for a thin crumb coat.

Once the crumb coat was set, I wrapped the barbie in plastic wrap (I made a plastic turban for her hair) and plunged her into the centre of the cake, arms up.

Then I did the final coat of icing, reserving a bit to pipe onto barbie's naked chest to create the appearance of a bodice for the dress.

I decorated the cake in keeping with the undersea theme, and once all of the icing was set I took barbie's hair out of its plastic-wrap turban.

Et voila! Mermaid cake for 20!

Round One

2010-05-13T19:34:00.007-04:00

I am trying to perfect the roti. I haven't quite got it yet. I borrowed a stack of Carribean cookbooks from my local library, and did try a roti recipe but what I got was good naan bread. I started liking West Indian food the year Jess and I lived on our boat.

The software company Jess was working for was closing down. They fired most of the staff and then asked a handful of people to stay on an extra year to tie up loose ends. As an incentive, the bonus at the end of the year was a whole year's salary. His coworkers acted responsibly and paid off student loans, made down payments on new houses or tucked it away for their children's education. We did no such thing. In our defense, we didn't have any debt, weren't ready to buy a house and had no children save for. We did what any sane couple in their late twenties would do. We bought a 30 foot sailboat, took a 30 hour sailing course, and then spent a year sailing to the Bahamas and back.

Most of the people we met on our trip were retired and seasoned sailors. Not so with us. Several times, we found ourselves in dicey situations due to our lack of experience. We are lucky that we didn't get ourselves killed a few times. But it was all worth while in the end, even with all the bumps. There is nothing like drinking a cold beer on an empty Carribean beach, or making sushi fresh from the tuna we just caught off the back of our boat. We hope to go again when the kids are a bit older. For now we will settle with making roti at home and reminiscing.

Roti (but it really is more like naan bread)

2 cups all purpose flour
1 to 1 1/2 cup of water
1 tsp of baking powder
pinch of salt
2 tbsp canola oil

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add water until the dough comes together into a soft dough. Knead slowly for a few minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Cover and let rest for 20-30 minutes.
Divide dough into four equal balls, and let rest 10 minutes. Heat a heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat. Roll out a ball of dough to a 8 inch circle, and place on skillet. Brush oil on one side, and flip after a few seconds. Repeat until both sides are browned, and roti are slightly puffed. Serve with curry.

letting the days go by.

2010-05-13T18:55:00.003-04:00

I know I am not the only mother who sits down from time to time (I could end that sentence right there) and marvels at how I got here.

I haven't forgotten how it all came to be - it happened so quickly, and so recently, that it's still very fresh in my mind - but I do marvel.

I marvel that five years ago right around now, I was single, with a very lightweight secret crush on a guy I barely knew; loving the spring weather, and thinking about spending some time in another city, just for a change of scene.

You can guess, I am sure, what the next phase looked like: my lightweight crush became my great love, and spending time in another city became moving my entire life to begin anew with that same love - who, in turn, became the father of my children and then my husband.

We're just about to move into a new house, another brand new start for the two of us, who have been lucky enough to have many of those already in our relatively brief time together.

Before I met him, I would never have considered myself a romantic.

This is one of the first dishes I ever cooked for him, and it remains a favourite.

Once in a Lifetime Chicken and Coleslaw

This recipe is easily doubled, or tripled, for a crowd, and it's even better the next day.

4 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp rice vinegar
6 tbsp lime juice
6 tbsp fish sauce
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp sesame oil
4 tbsp soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, crushed
700 g boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/4c finely chopped fresh mint
1 package (454g or 1 lb.) coleslaw

In a shallow bowl large enough to hold chicken pieces, whisk together sugar, vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce, olive oil and sesame oil until well combined. Remove 3/4 cup of liquid from the bowl; reserve.

To make marinade, add soy sauce and garlic to the mixture in the bowl and stir well. Add chicken pieces; toss to coat, cover, and marinade as long as you can (minimum 20 minutes, maximum 4-5 hours).

Stir mint into reserved 3/4 cup of liquid to use as dressing for the coleslaw.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Use tongs to transfer chicken pieces to a well-oiled shallow baking dish large enough to hold chicken in one layer. Bake, basting occasionally with marinade, until thighs are cooked through, 20-30 minutes. Let rest about 10 minutes before serving.

While chicken is resting, toss coleslaw with dressing.

Serves 2, generously.

Girlfriends

2010-05-10T19:24:00.004-04:00

I had some friends over the other night. It was a full fledged girlie movie night. There was wine, good snacks and a cheesy movie. I mean a full on high school cheese dog kind of movie. I'm not embarrassed to say that we watched New Moon. I'm not typically a vampire lover but I totally enjoyed this movie. I usually have a low tolerance for craptacular movies, but this one really spoke to my vampire/werewolf side. Although I was disappointed that they didn't cast a hot guy for the werewolf role. Don't get me wrong, he was all good from the neck down, I just think he would of looked better if he wore a mask for the whole movie. He's the kind of werewolf that you can dress up but have to leave in the pickup truck.

I do love hanging out with my girlfriends. It's possible I may be too social for my own good. Jess is quite the opposite. He would be perfectly content if we lived deep in the bush in a tiny cordwood cabin, with little contact from the outside world. He'd maybe need a brief visit from a friend or family member every 6 months or so. As long as the kids and I were with him he'd be happy. Although I do think Jess has a lot to offer, I'd need more than just him and our brood to sustain me. There is a portion of me that is reserved for girlfriend time and I am unwilling to accept substitutions. I need time to giggle and talk about fashion, food, celebrities, and any other nonsensical stuff. And, of course, watch crappy vampire movies.

Here is one of my favorite movie snacks. It's a twist on your regular bowl of popcorn.

Movie Night Popcorn

1 bowl of popped popcorn
sprinkling of Worcestershire sauce
1-2 tbsp of brewers yeast

Fill your bowl with popped popcorn and sprinkle with Worcestershire sauce. Top with brewers yeast. Eat it up.

separation (anxiety).

2010-05-08T16:04:00.005-04:00

When I found out I was pregnant the first time, I thought I'd be a capable-but-remote mother. I have never particularly liked children, and had never intended to have any of my own; but I was prepared to take the responsibility seriously and try to do well at my job.

I couldn't have imagined, then, the rabbit-hole that is falling messily and helplessly in love with your babies.

As it turns out, far from being remote (or, some days, even very capable), I am a mother who actually can't stand being away from her kids.

I can't describe the mixture of anxiety and guilt and mild heartbreak that I feel when I have to do something without them for more than an hour. Of course, I can function without having them with me constantly, but I don't like it one bit.

But yesterday morning, by the time my children and I had hobbled through several hours of games and puzzles and baking and bathing and breakfast, and it was not even 8:00, I was looking for something much stronger than milk to add to my insultingly decaffeinated coffee.

And I also felt an unfamiliar sensation.

I couldn't put my finger on it until my husband, bless him, offered to take the kids out, and I realized that what I was feeling was the need to not see them for a little while.

That feeling didn't last long, but while it lasted I took advantage: I pulled a chair out onto the back deck, put my feet up on the railing, and gobbled up this last breakfast bar in blissful silence.

Breakfast Bars

These are a great breakfast, eaten slightly warm with a bit of yogurt drizzled on top. They are also an excellent take-along snack, treaty but healthy and yummier than store-bought granola bars.

1c brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2c oil (I use melted coconut oil, but any vegetable oil would do)
1 tbsp vanilla
1 1/2c oats
1c whole wheat flour
1/4c wheat germ
1/4c unsweetened coconut
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cardamom
1c chopped dried apricots
1/4c craisins
1/4c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8" square pan with parchment.

In a large bowl, beat together brown sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla. Stir in oats.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, wheat germ, coconut, baking powder, and cardamom. Add dry ingredients to wet, and stir to combine. Stir in apricots, craisins, and chocolate chips.

Spoon mixture into prepared pan. Place a sheet of plastic wrap over mixture and, using the plastic wrap as an aid, press batter very firmly and evenly into the pan.

Remove plastic wrap, and bake 35 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool in pan, on a rack, for as long as you can stand it before cutting into squares.

Goals

2010-05-03T20:03:00.004-04:00

I ran a 10 km race yesterday. It's really hard to type at the moment with my one hand patting myself on the back. Fifteen thousand people ran that race. Probably because it's dubbed the easiest 10 km in Toronto. I didn't come in first. There was maybe ten thousand people who past the finish line before me. I'm not really concerned since I'm not particularly competitive. I did have a goal of running a marathon before I was forty. The closer I get to forty, the more I downsize that goal. It went down to a half marathon last year, and recently I've downgraded it to "ah who cares".

I have tried to think of why I run races. I don't care where I place or how good my time is. It cost me money that I could spend on more pleasurable things, and takes up valuable time. After the race yesterday, me and my run crew went out for a tasty breakfast. Later on I spent a few hours flaked out on the couch, munched on fancy cheeses and had a few beers at dinner. By the end of the day it dawned on me that my whole motivation for running races is that it gives me a good solid two to three days of guilt free eating. Months of getting up early, running injuries and general exhaustion is worth a few days of eating without a care. It's a shallow goal, but one that I plan to continue to chase. I could of been a doctor, lawyer, or had some other fancy goal in life. But no, I'll keep it simple, run, eat, enjoy.

Bloody Eggs

1 16 ounce can of crushed tomatoes
1 onion minced
1 garlic clove minced
1 tsp of salt
1 tbsp of turmeric
1 tsp of honey
black pepper to taste
1 tbsp of olive oil
6 eggs

Saute onion and garlic in a pan with oil. Add the rest of the ingredients except the eggs. Bring sauce to a boil and then simmer. Add eggs and poach until desired consistency. Serve with toasted baguette brushed with olive oil, and a green salad.

unambivalent.

2010-05-01T20:26:00.005-04:00

Recently, my husband and I got some good news.

We'd been waiting for it for months, and the waiting, and its attendant anxiety, had been tremendously difficult for us. Although we'd done everything we could to stay positive, we were coming to a bit of a breaking point when we got the word.

Of course I expected to be awash in relief - maybe not immediately, but within hours at least; but a day went by, then two, then three, and nothing.

I continued to feel anxious and ambivalent, labouring through my days as if there were a black cloud over my head, and mine alone.

I started questioning the nature of the news: was it not as good as we'd first thought? Was there some lurking underlying reason to hang on to the worry that had been plaguing us all this time?

And then I became disappointed in myself: had I lost the ability to embrace the good things in life - or welcome them, at the very least? Had I become one of those people who prefer living under the black cloud?

After several days of this kind of torturous myopic musing, my food processor broke.

For some reason, the untimely (and, with any luck, temporary) demise of this beloved appliance pushed me over the edge.

I have always been slightly embarrassed by my affection for my food processor, and I am more so now since my disproportionate reaction to its failure to thrive: I raged, pouted, craved smoothies night and day, and was generally impossible to be around.

But I'm happy to report that, in the days since that cathartic experience, all of my ambivalence towards the initial piece of good news has vanished.

I'm ready to welcome a little hope, and relieved that we are on our way forward after being mired in limbo for far too long.

And although I am devastated about my food processor, I am holding out for a quick and inexpensive repair job - in the meantime, I'll make do with the immersion blender of dubious origins that's languishing in the cupboard.

Glorious Soup

With thanks to my friend Catherine, who inspired me to make this after a long conversation about the glory of beets.

6 medium beets, quartered
4 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground ginger
6c chicken stock
2 lime leaves or bay leaves (optional)
1c finely chopped fresh dill
1/2c coconut milk
1/2c sour cream
a few sprigs fresh dill, for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Toss beets with 2 tbsp olive oil and place in a shallow, ovenproof dish. Cover with foil and roast about an hour, until very tender.

Heat remaining 2 tbsp oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring, until translucent. Add celery and carrot and continue to cook, stirring, a further 5 minutes or so. Add cardamom, ginger, and stock. Add lime leaves (or bay leaves), if using. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat. Simmer until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.

Add beets to soup and use an immersion blender to puree until smooth. Blend in dill, then gently stir in coconut milk and sour cream.

Reheat just until hot - do not boil!

Serve garnished with more sour cream, if desired, and fresh dill sprigs.

Celebrations

2010-04-26T12:39:00.009-04:00

I adore my mom. We just celebrated her 67 birthday this past weekend. On March 20, 2000 she informed my brother and I that she had been diagnosed with Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Upon hearing that news I sobbed uncontrollably for days and wept for weeks. It remains the most devastating information that I have ever received. I find it hard to think of a world without her. I have friends who have lost their parents, and the older I become the more commonplace this will be. I simply don't know how I'll survive it when it happens, but in my heart I know I will because she raised me to be strong.

If you know my mom, it's easy to see that she has something special. She is hard not to like. She is perhaps the most kind, generous, and loving person I know. She is also very positive which is something I admire greatly. There is simply too much complaining in this world. I find our society is a breeding ground for people to grumble about even the smallest inconvenience. People seem to forget that we are one of the most privileged societies in the world. Everyone seems to want more, yet lack the ability to appreciate what they already have.

My mom has had a challenging life, yet still has a great attitude. Years ago, she and her long term partner broke up and she was forced to declare bankruptcy. The bank seized our house and she had to move into a basement apartment. It was a low point in her life and I asked her how she was coping. At the time she was an Oncology nurse, and she felt like she didn't have it too bad. She said "Everyday I go to work and people are dying. I have a patient who is 26 with three kids and she won't live to see next week. It puts it in perspective. At least I've got my health." After her diagnosis, I reminded her of our conversation years earlier, and asked how that had changed her outlook. Again she amazed me with her response. "I am almost 60 years old, and I have two wonderful children. Not everyone gets to have those things. I have nothing to complain about." When ever I'm ready to complain about life I remember those conversations with my mom and it allows me to see all the joy and love that surrounds and fulfills me. And I am grateful.

My mom was told she had 5 to 7 years to live. After several rounds of chemo, a stem cell replacement and some radiation she is still going strong ten years later. In yo face cancer!
We celebrated with a meal of stirfried beef and green beans, basmati rice, steamed baby bok choy, and dumplings with peanut sauce, and of course some cake. I'll pass along my peanut sauce since I've been asked for it many times. This sauce tastes good with anything. It comes from the Fresh at Home cookbook.

Peanut Sauce

3 tbsp olive oil
1 cooking onion, diced
6 tbsp minced fresh ginger
6 cloves garlic
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/3 vegetable stock
3/4 cup rice vinegar
1 cup water
2 cups smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup lemon juice
2/3 cup tamari
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1/4 cup sunflower oil

Heat oil in a pot, and add onion, ginger and garlic. Cook until onion is soft.
Add curry powder, and cayenne pepper, cook 2 minutes and then remove from heat.
Add remaining ingredients, and let cool. Blend until smooth. Before serving heat gently over low heat.

the joy of cooking.

2010-04-26T06:59:00.005-04:00

My boy loves to eat.

He's really, messily into it, in a way that neither my husband nor I remember our daughter being.

In fact, I spent a bemused dinner hour a few nights ago spoon-feeding my three-and-a-half-year-old daughter the same pasta that my nearly-eight-month-old son was happy shoveling into his mouth unassisted.

That she was eating that pasta at all was down to her being willing to try it only because her brother seemed to like it so much that curiosity got the better of her - not curious enough to pick up the spoon and feed herself, mind you, but enough to agree (with a certain indulgent air) to give it a try for Mama.

And yes, I did consider that a victory.

I know that in time the other shoe will drop, and our boy will become, at least for a while, as picky about what goes in his mouth as our girl is at the moment, but for now, we're happy to take advantage of his willing palate with dishes like this one.

Morroccan-ish Chicken
I think the secret ingredient here is the ras al hanout, which is reportedly a blend of over 20 spices and goes a long way toward adding authenticity to my attempts at Morroccan cooking, about which I know not a great deal. I got my little jar, made by a company called The Epicentre, from this great store in our neighbourhood.

I also think this would be a great slow cooker recipe, but as my kitchen is not equipped with that particular fabulous appliance, I can't be entirely sure.

3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp each coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp ground sumac
750 g boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 medium onions, diced
a 2" piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
a 796 ml (28 oz.) can San Marzano tomatoes and their juice
juice of a lemon
1 tsp ras al hanout (see note at the beginning of this recipe)
8 dried apricots, finely chopped
1/2c canned coconut milk, plus more if needed to thin sauce
fresh coriander leaves, for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large, heavy ovenproof skillet with lid, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.

Stir together thyme, salt, pepper and sumac in a large, shallow dish. Add chicken thighs and turn to coat with spices. Add thighs to hot oil in pan and brown well, turning once, about 5 minutes or so per side. Remove thighs.

Add chopped onions to pan and cook, stirring frequently, until golden, 7-8 minutes. Add ginger and garlic and cook, stirring, a further 2-3 minutes, until very fragrant.

Add tomatoes with their juices and lemon juice, breaking up tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon as you stir. Add ras al hanout, apricots, and coconut milk. Stir well.

Return chicken to pan. nestling the thighs into the sauce a little bit. Bring to a simmer, then cover and transfer to hot oven.

Cook about an hour, until chicken is tender and the house is filled with lovely smells. Serve over couscous and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serves 4-6.

Easy Peasy Japaneasy

2010-04-22T18:54:00.006-04:00

Sometimes you need an easy meal. Sometimes you need your kids to just get along. Sometimes you need some time to yourself. Sometimes you need to not be in charge. I've been highly irritable lately. I expect that should change in the next day or two. Otherwise I may need to get my crib back. But let's not go there. It seems too scary.

I love sushi but rarely go out for it the way I did in the past. It use to be on the top of our list when we went out for dinner. Now it pales in comparison to the other options out there. I think that's probably because we don't dine out as frequently as we use to. There are so many different types of food that I want to try, and the possibilities seem endless in Toronto. Although I love Japanese food, I feel like I've sampled most of the culinary delights that Japan has to offer. This, of course, does not negate my frequent cravings for sushi. Instead of wasting a night out at a Japanese restaurant, we now delight in a night in on Japanese. It's not a purists meal but it does satisfy that base need for rice, nori, fish and wasabi. Plus you can throw it together when you feel like your fridge is empty and you need a break from life.

Cheater's Sushi

2 cups sushi rice
1 1/4 cups of water
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 avocado, thinly sliced without peel
1/4 lb smoked salmon
2 tbsp of honey mustard or wasabi
1/4 cup mayonaise
1 sheet toasted nori
1/4 cup fresh chives or green onions
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Combine water and rice and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute and reduce to low and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest for 10 minutes. Do not remove lid during cooking and resting. Transfer rice to large bowl and toss with rice vinegar.
Line an 8 inch square baking dish with plastic wrap. Arrange smoked salmon slices on bottom, overlapping slightly. Arrange avocado slices on salmon. Combine mustard and mayonnaise and spread over salmon.
Gently spread half of the rice in dish as the next layer. Place nori on rice and cover with remaining rice. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 15 minutes at room temperature or refrigerate.
To serve , unwrap and invert onto a serving platter. Sprinkle with chives and sesame seeds. Cut into squares, and serve with wasabi and pickled ginger.

mama down.

2010-04-20T16:55:00.004-04:00

Is there anything worse than the flu bugs you get from a baby?

I know, I know, of course there is.

But at this moment, eyes and nose streaming, ears clogged, throat raw, sleep-deprived and generally miserable as I am, I am finding it hard to keep some perspective.

In fact, I am so miserable that there is really only one thing I am willing to eat - and it is pictured above.

This silken, soothing custard is the ultimate comfort food to me, and my childhood dish of choice when anything really unbearable came my way.

Give me this, and some hot water with lemon and lots of honey (no whiskey, I promise), and I may live to see another day.

Baked Vanilla Custard
adapted from the Laura Secord Canadian Cookbook

2c milk
1/2c sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
a sprinkling of nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil a kettleful of water. Lightly grease a one-litre ovenproof dish.

Combine milk and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk until milk is very warm (do not bring to a boil, or you will have a curdled mess rather than a silken dreamy thing to eat) and sugar dissolved.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs an vanilla. Pour milk mixture into egg mixture, whisking constantly.

Pour custard into prepared dish, and sprinkle with nutmeg. Place dish in a roasting pan and place in the oven; pour boiled water into the roasting pan, until it reaches half way up the sides of the custard dish.

Bake 25-35 minutes, until almost set. Remove custard from roasting pan and leave it to cool, in its dish, as long as you can. It might be marginally better cold, but I never get that far.

Serves two greedy people.

Projects

2010-04-18T08:49:00.008-04:00

I am currently revamping my kitchen. It seems to be taking me a little longer than I expected. My first project was to paint the kitchen cabinets. That took me 13 months. The next plan was to paint the walls. That only took me 3 hours. Now it's not that I suddenly became a very efficient painter, it's just that the wall space in my small kitchen is mainly covered by cabinets. Those cabinets are now a lovely shade of grey. We bought our house almost 6 years ago. It was a bit of a crack house, and had been empty for 3 years. The local hell raisers had gotten whiff of that and decided to make good use of our house while it was vacant.

When our house came on the market, my real estate agent mistakenly invited me to the agent showing. Things had not been cleaned up yet. By things I mean the kind of things you don't want to see in a house that you may buy. The garage had recently been burnt down, there were several piles of knee high raccoon feces in the attic, plus needles, bottles and spoons in the basement. I'm guessing the spoons weren't for soup parties down there. Oh home sweet home!
We bought it, gutted it, and rebuilt it. There were only a few sketchy fellows knocking on my door when we moved in. I guess they were looking for their old party spot. I hope my home looks a wee bit better than when they were shooting up in my basement. I'll admit I'm a little slow with decorating projects but I'm improving. After we renovated, we did prime the kitchen cabinets. It took me just over 4 years to start painting them their lovely shade of grey. Now that 13 months doesn't sound so bad does it?

Stir Fried Beef with Green Beans and Chilies

This is perhaps the best stirfry I have tasted in a long while. It looks a little complicated but it's not once you get the hang of it.

Marinade

1 egg white
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp Asian five spice
1 tbsp cornstarch
salt and pepper to taste

1 lb boneless beef top round, sliced thinly against the grain
3 tbsp of peanut oil
3/4 lb green beans

Sauce
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 inch fresh ginger, minced
4 cloves garlic
2 green onions
1/2 dried chili
1/4 chicken stock
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese vinegar or balsamic
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Combine ingredients for marinade in a bowl. Toss beef in marinade and refrigerate for 15 minutes. While the beef is marinading, blanch green beans and toast sesame seeds.
Heat peanut oil in pan until hot, and begin to fry beef in small batches. Once all the beef is cooked, set it aside or warm in a low heated oven.
Add ginger, garlic, green onions and chilies in remaining oil, and saute for a few minutes. Mix in stock, cornstarch, soy sauce, vinegar and sugar. Simmer a few minutes until sauce thickens. Return beef, beans and sesame seeds, and toss to coat. Serve with rice, and a cold beer. Enjoy!

gratitude.

2010-04-18T07:07:00.003-04:00

My baby has been unwell for a couple of days now.

I'm grateful that it seems to be nothing serious, just a bad cold and a bit of a fever; and although it has resulted in such an astonishing lack of sleep at night (even for us) that I have been stumbling through my days woozy and disoriented, I'm less bothered about that than one might expect.

I am actually a little bit grateful, because in the long nights and (even longer, frankly) days that he's not been feeling well, he and I have been stuck together like glue.

I love everything about holding him so close, constantly - and it's a rare treat given that he is my second child and my affections, considerable though they are, are (necessarily) usually divided between him and his sweet sister.

I'm grateful to have had some extra moments to inhale his sweet-apple scent and wonder that he won't take a soother - so unlike his sister! - and that he gets panicky, just like I do, if he doesn't have one foot uncovered in bed.

I am also grateful because as I write this, he is asleep.

He stayed asleep (mercy!) when I slipped out of bed.

And the rest of my family is still sleeping, too, giving me an unfettered moment to enjoy a luxuriously hot cup of coffee (I'm on decaf these days, but the placebo effect is remarkable) and make everyone pinwheels for breakfast.

Cinnamon Pinwheels

When I was growing up, we had pinwheels for breakfast when we were out of eggs so pancakes or muffins were not an option - because we never knew when they were coming, these resonate in my memory as the best kind of treat. The recipe, of course, is Gwenn's.

1c milk
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1c all purpose flour
1c whole what pastry flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2c + 2 tbsp butter
6 tbsp soft brown sugar
cinnamon, to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine milk and vinegar and let stand while you get on with the making the dough:

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in 1/2 c butter until it is the size of peas and dough is crumbly.

Pour in soured milk and mix just until it clumps together. Turn out onto a floured board and knead gently 11 times (not more, not less. Seriously! This is the key to the success of your pinwheels!). Add more flour if the dough seems excessively sticky.

Roll dough into a rectangle about 14"x10". Melt remaining 2 tbsp butter and brush evenly onto dough. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over butter, and dust with cinnamon.

Roll dough up longwise, to form a cylinder, and pinch along long edge to seal. Cut crosswise into slices about 1" thick.

Place pinwheels on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake 15 minutes, until golden.

Makes 16-18.

conventions.

2010-04-14T20:45:00.003-04:00

Like many aspects of our life, my family's weekday mealtime routine is a bit unconventional.

My husband works in the late afternoon and late into the evening, so breakfast is an extremely leisurely affair, involving baking, cocoa-drinking, story-reading, music-making, and, in good weather, a trip to the park or another outing of some kind to blow off some steam and get everyone stoked for lunch.

Lunch is the main meal of our day, and it happens in the early afternoon. The spouse who has not taken the kids out in the morning is usually the one who prepares the food, and once we've finished eating and cleaning up, and the kids and I have begun to shamble through the remainder of our day, my husband goes to work.

I relish our days together as a family, and I recognize that they are a luxury that not many families are able to enjoy, particularly in the fast-paced and expensive city where we live.

The corollary, that we worry about our finances perhaps a little more than some of our friends and neighbours, feels like a small price to pay for all of this time with our babies. They are growing at lightning speed, and soon enough (sooner than I care to acknowledge), the demands of a more conventional schedule will impose themselves.

The only slight drawback of our daily routine is that the evening meal my children and I have together tends to be a touch on the uninspired side: these days I rely heavily on French toast and cheese omelettes, roasted vegetables, and - more often than I care to admit - granola with applesauce.

This soup is one that is currently in heavy rotation on weeknights. It's not overly glamourous, but it covers all of the basics; and it's dead easy to make, which has its advantages at the time of day that every mother I know refers to affectionately as 'the witching hour.'

Day's End Alphabet Soup

I chop all of my vegetables in the food processor, and I aim for two cups of each. I always have carrots, onions, and celery on hand, which is why they are specified here, but I encourage you to be creative!

2 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, finely chopped
4-5 carrots, finely chopped
6-7 celery stalks, finely chopped
2 tsp cumin seeds, coarsely ground
1 tsp celery salt
6 c low sodium chicken broth
3/4 c alphabet noodles

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and saute 5 minutes, then add remaining vegetables, cumin, and celery salt. Saute until veggies are tender. Add chicken broth and bring to a fast simmer. Add noodles and simmer 6-8 minutes, until noodles are cooked.

Makes easily a couple of dinners' worth.

Deviations

2010-04-11T20:11:00.011-04:00

I went out for dinner last week with a girlfriend of mine. It was at a new restaurant on a popular strip that has been the talk of the town as of late. I wasn't particularly impressed with the food. Perhaps I am picky but if I am paying someone money to cook me food I expect it to be good, or at least better than I can cook at home. I want to be wowed. I want to be clueless as to how that person concocted the dish. Those things didn't happen at this restaurant. What I was impressed with was the excellent service, drinks menu, and the scene. I am always amazed that there is this whole world that goes on out there after 7:30 pm. Call me egocentric, but doesn't everyone get into their jammies after the kids go to bed. By "kids" I mean my young ones not those out raving all night. Am I dating myself by assuming that kids still go to raves? Man, I am so nineties. Maybe I need to get out more.

Nevertheless, there was certainly a scene. I wasn't really part of it but I did witness it. We sat at the bar, and we were well taken care of by the bartender. After he found out my girlfriend was a sommelier, he just had to have us sample all the wines they had on offer. I faked my way through it all. I know what I like and don't like but don't ask me to break it down. I gushed in all the right places, but secretly I was just pleased we were getting free drinks at a fancy hangout.

What I was most impressed with was the cocktail menu. I'm not much of a cocktail drinker. I usually like to have wine with my meal. This menu wasn't run of the mill and everything sounded interesting. Most of the drinks I had never heard of before. I started the evening off with a Lavender Fizz, and when I am on my deathbed this will be my last request. I may have a few in the interim as well.

Now I know this is a food blog, not a drink blog but bear with me. You may forgive my deviation after your first sip.

Lavender Fizz

1 1/2 oz of gin
3/4 cup of soda water
juice of 1-2 limes
lavender syrup to taste
garnish with a sprig of mint and wedge of lime

Lavender Syrup

2 cups of water
2 cups of granulated sugar
2 tbsp of fresh or dried lavender blossoms

For syrup, boil all ingredients in a stainless steel pot. Remove from heat and let steep 30 minutes. Strain, and refrigerate in a tightly covered container. You can also buy ready made Lavender Syrup online and at specialty stores, in case your lavender blossom cupboard is empty at home.
For Lavender Fizz, combine all ingredients and serve over ice. Garnish with a sprig of mint, and wedge of lime.

Allergies

2010-04-08T06:52:00.006-04:00

I am mildly allergic to cats. I'm fine if I don't touch them, and I only start sneezing after a few hours. That is all good with me since I am not a cat person. I don't have to suppress any desires to cuddle with cats. I'm quite happy to ignore them. I feel bad for those people with major allergies. It must truly suck. My girlfriend Linda gets really bad eczema. Last summer it got so bad that her eyelids crusted over from it. Her Naturopath has concluded that it must be from a food allergy and therefore has striped her diet of all things tasty. To me that seems a fate worst than crusty eyes.

For all those burdened with a no gluten, sugar, beef, pork, eggs, and dairy diet, Asian food may be for you. I had a dinner party that included Linda and her family. I didn't want her to have to eat a separate meal and feel like a freak. Most suitable recipes tended to be Asian, so Asian it was. I made fresh mango, chicken, and bean sprout rolls with peanut sauce, sweet and spicy salad, and pho (Vietnamese soup). I did add beef to everyone's pho but left Linda's vegetarian. It was a delicious meal and good times for all. But best of all was that Linda woke up the next day clear skinned and reaction free.

Below is the beef pho recipe. The vegetarian version is optional. This is a tasty soup for all including those without allergies.

Beef Pho

4 ounces dried rice noodles
8 cups beef stock (vegetable stock can be substituted)
1 onion finely chopped
4 tbsp hoisin sauce (recipe below)
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp five spice powder
2 cups bean sprouts
2 scallion trimmed and thinly sliced
10 ounces thinly sliced lean beef (omit if doing veg version)
handful of cilantro
broccoli
1 block tofu cut into cubes and marinated (recipe below)

Hoisin sauce

4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp honey or molasses
2 tsp white vinegar
1/8 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp sesame oil
20 drops Chinese hot sauce
1/8 tsp black pepper
Combine all ingredients until it forms a paste.

Marinated Tofu

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup tamari
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 sunflower oil
1 block of tofu cut into cubes
Mix all the ingredients and then pour over tofu. Marinate for at least half an hour.

Soak noodles in a bowl of boiling water for 10 minutes.
Place stock, onion, hoisin, fish sauce, ginger and spices in a pot. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add broccoli for the last 5 minutes.
Drain noodles and place equal amounts in soup bowls. Place sprouts, scallion, tofu and beef slices on top of noodles and pour stock in. Let stand for a minute to poach the beef. Serve with cilantro, and drizzle with lemon juice.

girl food.

2010-04-06T16:31:00.001-04:00

My daughter adores pink.

Not only is she enamoured of the colour; she is quite convinced that pink is for girls ONLY.

Whenever she tells us that, in her stern, unwavering 3-year-old's voice, my husband and I duly remind her that there is nothing saying boys can't also enjoy the beauty of pink, just as girls can sometimes be fond of blue, etc. etc.

While we try to be earnest and attentive when we have this conversation, and our aim overall is to discourage the division of likes and dislikes along gender lines, most of the time we're content as long as we manage not to encourage it.

And in fact, to be honest with you, often our efforts even in that department are a little half-assed.

Last night, I made the roasted beets you see above. I may have mentioned that my daughter is not inclined to try new foods, and that vegetables are particularly problematic; so I thought I had hit the jackpot when I realized that beets are - yes! - a pink food.

Her eyes widened slightly when I pointed this out.

"Mama," she said, "does that mean that beets are GIRL food? For girls ONLY?"

My answer came instantly and unflinchingly: "Yes, darling, they are."

Beets for Girls ONLY

The above photo was taken without the goat cheese topping, because frankly the dish looks a little better that way, but I'm sure you don't need me to tell you how much better it tastes after it's been slathered in goat cheese, butter and fresh herbs!

2 bunches beets, peeled and quartered (reserve beet greens for another use)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4c soft goat cheese
2 tbsp soft unsalted butter
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon leaves

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Toss beets and olive oil and place in a shallow oven-proof dish. Roast for about 20 minutes, until just barely tender.

While beets are roasting, mash together goat cheese, butter and salt until combined. Stir in tarragon.

Dollop goat cheese mixture over beets and continue to roast a further 10 minutes or so, until beets are quite tender and cheese it golden in parts.

Serves 3-4 as a side dish.

The Red

2010-04-05T16:53:00.006-04:00

I never really knew my grandparents. Both my grandfathers died when I was very young. My nanna lived in England and I rarely saw her. My grandmother lived in Utica, NY and I saw her on and off throughout my childhood. My only real clear memory of her was when I visited her in the nursing home when I was maybe nine. She had Alzheimers, and I remember giggling with my brother when she gave us a tour of the nursing home. She showed us the dining room and then across the hall to the lounge, and then across the hall to the dining room and then back to the lounge. My brother and I were hard pressed to not find it hilarious. Kids are mean, and I guess we were not the exception. Both my nanna and grandmother died before I had the chance to know them.

Jess' family still has a few ninety plus folks. My favorite is Aunty Irenie. She is feisty, opinionated, sharp as a tack, and speaks five languages. She still works as a translator. She's had an interesting life. She fled Germany when Hitler was taking over, and then lived in Chile for years before coming to Canada. At every family gathering she makes her red salad, affectionately known as The Red. It is not a crowd pleaser. Some of us love it and some of us don't, but it is always there. I can't imagine a Parker get together without it.

Here is Irenie's red salad. It is a little old school so if you don't like it I am also going to post my version of The Red. I call it The Modern Red but don't tell Irenie. I still want to be invited back to dine with her.

Irenie's Red Salad

2 cans sliced beets, diced
4 stalks celery, diced
3 apples, peeled, cored and diced
1/2 cup Miracle Whip

Combine all ingredients and serve.

The Modern Red

1 large bunch of beets
1/2 cup crumbled feta
handful of fresh mint, torn in small pieces
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
1-2 apples, peeled, cored and diced
handful chopped walnuts

Dressing

Equal parts olive oil, and rice wine vinegar
Dollop of Dijon mustard
1 tsp of maple syrup or to taste

Peel and chop beets. Boil them until you can easily pierce them with a fork. Transfer to a bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Pour desired amount of dressing, toss and serve.
Note:
Don't throw out your beet greens. They are very good for you. I like to saute mine in olive oil, a little garlic and balsamic vinegar. They taste great on a salad or pizza.

easter post-script.

2010-04-04T18:17:00.006-04:00

This is the ham I cooked for the two of us, our 3-year-old, and our baby.

Delicious, yes!

Excessive? Possibly.

Never knowingly undercatered, I always say...

good intentions.

2010-04-04T07:04:00.006-04:00

I had every good intention of making at least a portion of my Easter dinner in advance, to share with you here.

Sadly, that isn't what happened, but I can tell you that the fabulous ham recipe I am using can be found here, and I am making these potatoes. There will also be green beans, possibly a salad, and whatever remains of this morning's chocolate haul for dessert.

Now, a glass of bubbly and we're off to join Alysa's family to hunt for eggs.

Happy Easter!

Coq au Vin

2010-03-31T17:44:00.013-04:00

My mother moved in recently. It's a temporary stay and is working out well for everyone. She's got a little spot in the basement. It isn't as cruel as it sounds. My basement is partially finished, and she has a cozy little spot with her own washroom. It's not as if I've thrown her on the dirt floor with a sleeping bag and she has to catch rats to survive. She brought very little with her since she plans on moving back into her house in a few months. The one thing I asked her to bring was her Julia Child's cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I'm not sure my request was a good idea.

Now I'm no Julie and Julia. I have no desire to put that much work into cooking just because I'm unhappy with my current job. I just thought I should have a peek into serious cooking and see what it's all about. I decided to try Coq au Vin. It is the classic French dish, or so I've heard. I have to say I felt like it took a lot of my time. Maybe it's just Julia's version that is excessive. If anyone has a shorter version I'd be happy to have it. It was tasty and a hit for all those involved, except for me. It was too much reading for me. I am one of those people who can't dine in a restaurant if their menu is too extensive. I get bored reading it, and I tend forget what all my choices are. And part of the joy of going out to eat is actually conversing with the person I'm dining with. This seems to be impossible if I can't order my food due to menu overload. I also have trouble using most of a bottle of wine to cook a dish. There should be more in my glass than in my pot.

After all my gripping I'm going to give you the recipe anyway, and hopefully you'll fare better than me. Maybe your attention span is longer than mine. I may give French cooking another try but if it doesn't work out my mom may be taking Julia with her when she moves back home.

Coq au Vin
from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

4 strips of bacon diced
3 lbs of chicken cubed (I used chicken breasts)
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 cup cognac
3 cups either full bodied red wine or white
1-2 cups beef stock
1/2 tbsp tomato paste
2 cloves mashed garlic
1/2 tsp bay leaf
1/2 lb sauteed mushrooms
3 tbsp flour
lots of butter

Braised Onions
12-24 pearl onions
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1 1/2 tbsp oil
1/2 cup beef stock
salt and pepper to taste
medium herb bouquet: 4 parsley sprigs, 1/2 bay leaf, 1/4 tsp thyme tied in cheesecloth

Saute bacon slowly in butter until lightly browned in a casserole dish. Remove to side dish. Brown chicken in hot fat from dish. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Return bacon to casserole and cook in oven for 10 minutes at 300 C. Remove from oven and pour in cognac, and ignite with a lit match. Shake casserole back and forth until flames subside.
Pour wine into casserole. Add enough stock to cover chicken, and stir in tomato paste, garlic, and herbs. Simmer for 30 minutes, until chicken is cooked. Remove chicken to a side dish.
While chicken is cooking prepare onions and mushrooms. Saute mushroom in butter until tender. Set aside.
Peel the onions, and heat oil and butter until bubbling. Saute onions for 10 minutes, rolling onions so they brown evenly. Pour in stock, season and add herb bouquet. Cover and simmer for 40 to 50 minutes until onions are perfectly tender but retain their shape.
Back to the chicken cooking liquid. Raise heat and boil rapidly reducing liquid to 2 1/4 cups. In a separate bowl combine the 3 tbsp of butter and flour together into a smooth paste. Beat paste into the hot liquid with a wire whip. Bring to a simmer for a minute or two. Sauce should be thick enough to lightly coat a spoon.
Add chicken, mushrooms and onions to the sauce and serve immediately.

...from now on

2010-03-30T16:45:00.004-04:00

Ahh, this is promising weather indeed!

I don't care that there is more cloudy weather on the way - today I am basking in thoughts of tulips by the armful, fresh rhubarb, and my favourite ham recipe, that last hailing from one of my carefully-hoarded collection of Gourmet magazine back issues.

I have much to say on the subject of that ham, and today is far too nice a day to be proselytizing on its virtues - but stay tuned, because I intend to include it as part of this weekend's feasting and I will tell you all about it.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share this soup with you. I made it this past weekend and it did a great deal to restore my mood, which lately has been veering back and forth between glum and utterly uncheerful.

Its flavours are bright and bracing, the perfect tonic on a cloudy day, and it's also hearty enough that it kept us all going through a bit of a trying afternoon. Kept us going, and more importantly, looking forward - to nothing but blue skies, from now on.

Lentil Soup for a Cloudy Day

I kept the spice on the mild (family-friendly) side here, but you'd do well to ramp it up a bit if there are not small children dining in your midst.

1/4c olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 - 1 tsp red curry paste (or to taste)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
2 tsp tumeric
1/2c red lentils, rinsed and drained
3c chicken stock
1 798ml can whole organic tomatoes
1c coconut milk
4 cooked sausages, sliced (I used curried chicken sausages from a local butcher)
fresh cilantro, for garnish

In a large soup pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and potatoes and saute until onions are translucent. Add curry paste, garlic, and tumeric and cook, stirring, 2-3 more minutes. Add lentils, stock, and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat. Simmer until potatoes and lentils are tender, about 20 minutes.

Puree soup in batches using a food processor; alternately, get out the old immersion blender (we have one that I'm pretty sure was given to my husband by an ex-girlfriend - oh, the scandal!) and blast the soup until smooth.

Return soup to the stove over medium heat. Add coconut milk and sausages and heat gently, stirring occasionally, until soup is piping hot and sausages are heated through.

Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve.

Serves 4 for lunch, with leftovers.

Getting On

2010-03-28T13:54:00.009-04:00

I was over at my neighbours house Saturday evening and boy did she put on a good spread. It was a casual late afternoon/early evening thingy and there were appetizers galore. There was guacamole, eggplant relish, crostini with an olives, anchovy, parmesan mixture, homemade pizza, lots of veggies, and lots of good drink. I brought a bean dip. It tasted better than it sounds.

There were several other women there. It was your basic chick party. Our conversation was varied and interesting. At one point we started talking about getting older and how our bodies and faces are changing. The words I heard were not all kind. This was a roomful of attractive, accomplished and intelligent women. We should all be patting ourselves on the back for how awesome we are. I'm not saying I don't have insecurities, or that I've never fretted about being the skinniest or smartest person in the room, but I have never worried about my wrinkles or getting old. I love that I look all of my 38 years, and that I've had the pleasure of living this long. I think our society has it all wrong. Why would you fight against aging when you have no chance of winning. I have no desire to look 20 or to do my twenties over again. I look forward to getting older. Every decade holds new possibilities and I'm eager to greet them even if they come with a few more wrinkles.

Here's the recipe for the dip I made. Bean dip sounds boring but it's worth the trip to beantown. It's guaranteed to make you look your age but you'll look good eating it.

Bean Dip

2 cups cooked kidney beans (1-15 oz can), rinsed and drained
2 tbs fresh lemon juice
1 medium sized tomato
1 to 2 medium cloves of garlic, minced
a handful of parsley
a handful of cilantro
3/4 tsp of cumin
1 scallion minced
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt
black pepper and cayenne to taste

Peel and seed the tomato by dropping it in a pan of boiling water for 10 seconds. Remove it and peel off the skin. Cut the tomato in half and squeeze out and discard the seeds. Chop the remaining pulp. Put tomato and the rest of the ingredients in a food processor and blend it up. Serve with veggies, chips or eat with a spoon.

trying.

2010-03-26T13:45:00.006-04:00

I don't know how people who are not stress-eaters cope with their stress.

When faced with a seemingly insurmountable challenge, I can think of nothing that offers more solace than food - and the more indulgent, the better.

(I recently read a magazine article on the merits of shopping, written by the wonderful Lynn Crosbie. She made reference to an era when, instead of going out and buying things, women would get together to eat bourbon-soaked waffles and watch bad T.V. I'm pretty sure she was joking, but at this moment in time, a waffle soaked in bourbon? Nirvana.)

So it was that after an epically trying day not long ago, I found myself scouring the cupboards for a snack that might improve things. I was aiming for something chocolatey and sweet, but filling - so I wouldn't have to think about eating again for a while.

Mindful of my nursing baby, I was also hoping for something that wasn't completely devoid of nutritional value. I settled on baking some gluten-free brownies from my new favourite cookbook.

While I was waiting and waiting and waiting for them to bake (my one complaint about the gluten-free baked goods is that they require a little more patience than their wheaty sisters), and to atone in advance for the overindulgence that was imminent, I made some granola.

This is the granola that I have been eating since I was a child, and it never fails to transport me to a kinder and gentler time.

Gwenn's Crunchy Granola

This is basically a template. I don't think even my mom, whose recipe it is, ever makes it exactly according to these specifications, so go with whatever is in the cupboard that suits your taste.

7c oatmeal
1c wheat germ
1 1/2c unsweetened coconut
1/2c dark brown sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/4c sesame seeds
1/2c raw sunflower seeds
1/2c raw cashews
1/2c natural almonds
1/2c water
1/2c vegetable oil
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine first nine ingredients in a very large bowl, and mix well.

In a large glass measuring cup or similar jug, whisk together water, oil, and vanilla.

Pour liquid ingredients into oatmeal mixture and mix well - I use my hands for this part, but a wooden spoon would work too.

Divide evenly between two large rimmed baking sheets and bake 30-40 minutes, stirring granola about halfway through cooking time.

Cool completely in pans before transferring to an airtight container.
Makes about 12 cups.

Chicken, Greek Style

2010-03-24T21:07:00.006-04:00

Ah chicken. So much you can do that with that tasty little bird. Before I had kids I was very queasy about prepping any raw meat. I always had to pass that task off to to those hardier than me. I figure it was a side effect to being a vegetarian for years. I was always fairly handy with a vegetable, but would morph into a weak kneed pile of jello when faced with a dead animal. For some reason having three kids has cured me of that fear. Maybe it's because of all those gross things that comes with having kids. Now I could go on for some time swapping gross stories. It is one of my favorite topics, but I'll try and stick to nice anecdotes about food instead.

I have some lovely friends who are very generous with me and my family. Every summer they lend me their cottage for several weeks. Each year I invite my friend Zoe and her kids to hang out with me and mine while our husbands slog it out in the city. Zoe is a joy to have as a guest since she's a talented cook, our kids get along great and we have a mutual love for summer cocktail hour. She always makes me her Greek style chicken which I think may be the best chicken ever. I tried to reproduce it the other night and it was good but not as good as Zoe's. Maybe it was because I wasn't at the cottage with a gin and tonic in hand. Zoe claims it's all about the marinade post bbq. You need to douse that bird with oil and lemon juice after it comes off the bbq. It just soaks it up leaving you with a succulent chicken to devour.

I am never disappointed with this chicken. It is the perfect bbq fare. Serve it up with a salad and roasted potatoes and you are good to go.

Chicken Greek Style

10 chicken drumsticks skin on
3/4 cup olive oil
juice of 3 lemons
2-3 cloves garlic minced
salt and pepper to taste

Reserve 1/4 cup of oil and juice of one lemon. Put all remaining ingredients in a ziploc bag. Zip it up and shake like hell. Leave it in the fridge to marinate for 1 to 24 hours. Bbq on medium high heat until juices run clear. Once chicken has been removed from heat, drizzle with reserved oil and lemon mixture. Serve immediately.

uncomplicated.

2010-03-24T09:53:00.006-04:00

I used to love making risotto.

Not only did it encompass everything that makes me happy in a food (butter, wine, starch, meat, cheese); making it was a process that I found thoroughly enjoyable, especially if I had friends around. The risotto dinner routine from those days goes something like this:

Heat broth. Pour a glass of wine for everyone. Start the butter, the onion, the rice. Start talking. Splash some wine into the pan. Splash some wine into the glasses. Ladle broth into the rice, and start stirring. More wine, more gossip, more broth, more stirring.

Eventually everyone sits down, flushed from the steam and the stirring and the wine. The conversation doesn't really slow down, because another advantage of risotto is that it is completely uncomplicated to eat.

These days, while I still love the uncomplicatedness of eating risotto, still love the wine and the conversation, the risotto dinner routine has had to evolve somewhat.

It may seem hard to imagine, but I have discovered (necessity being the mother of invention) that a really creamy, delectable and soul-satisfying risotto can still be had without my standing over the stove for half an hour and coaxing it into being.

Friends, I have given up the stirring.

And it has changed my life.

Risotto for a New Reality

By some miracle, my daughter, who has an aversion to vegetables and doesn't like her food to be mixed together, devours this dish. I also buy my squash already diced, and my pancetta already cubed, which adds considerably to the ease of making it on a weeknight (well, any night really) and thus also to its soul-satisfying cred.

2c arborio rice
1/4c olive oil
2c (450g) diced butternut squash
1/4c white wine (optional - if not using, increase broth to 5 1/2c)
5 1/4c chicken broth
150g diced pancetta
2c frozen peas
1/2c grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a deep, heavy-bottomed skillet with a tight-fitting lid, combine rice, oil, squash wine, and 5 cups broth over medium-high heat. Stir once, bring to a boil, then clamp the lid on and transfer to the oven. Cook 25-35 minutes (I find it takes a little longer if you're using frozen squash), until rice is al dente and broth is mostly absorbed.

While rice is in the oven, cook pancetta cubes in a small heavy skillet until crispy. Drain on paper towel and set aside.

Return rice to stovetop over medium heat. Stir rice well, scraping up any crispy bits that may be stuck to the bottom of the pan; stir in pancetta, peas, and remaining 1/4 cup broth. Cook until peas are just tender, maybe 2-3 minutes. Beat in grated parmesan.

Serve immediately, with a generous grating of black pepper.

Serves 6.

Marriage

2010-03-21T19:44:00.008-04:00

We had friends over for dinner Saturday night. They have just gotten engaged. I never used to get excited about news like this. I think it is partially because I never had any desire to get married so I never fully understood what all the fuss was about. I never wanted the fancy dress, all the attention, or the big day. Maybe I'm just too cheap to spend so much cash on one day. It doesn't seem practical. Hopefully I don't come off as much of a curmudgeon in person as I sound right now.
Jess and I will be celebrating 13 years together come the Fall. As time marches on and I get a wee bit older, I think a celebration of some kind might be fun. I don't think it's some inner need to acknowledge our relationship to the world. I think it's simply a great excuse to have an awesome party, and invite all those we love. So I'm excited about the news of a pending wedding for our friends. It seems romantic and a solid decision for a couple of folks that have already been together for eight years. Congratulations Kevin and Stacey!
Saturday night our dinner was fairly low key with a yummy salad and some home burgers. We started out with some bubbly and stuffed mushrooms to kick it up a notch. This is a classic appetizer that works for any occasion.

Roasted Mushrooms with Pine Nuts

I substituted cashews for pine nuts because pine nuts are so expensive right now. It was still good with cashews but pine nuts are ideal.

18 large mushrooms
1/3 cup olive oil
juice of a lemon
2 large garlic cloves minced
1/3 cup of pine nuts
1/3 bread crumbs
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
freshly ground pepper to taste
salt to taste

Wipe mushrooms clean. Pull stems out of caps and set aside. Coat a shallow bake-and-serve dish with some olive oil. Dip mushrooms caps in lemon juice and place stem side up in dish.
Dice mushroom stems, and saute them with garlic and olive oil. Stir in nuts and bread crumbs. Add red pepper flakes, pepper and salt to taste. Remove from heat.
Spoon the sauteed mixture into the mushroom caps. Bake uncovered at 400 C for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve hot.

Habits

2010-03-16T20:23:00.007-04:00

It's been lovely these last few days. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and I haven't had to wrestle anyone into a snowsuit in the last few weeks. We even applied sunscreen today. What a March! Let's hope it lasts and doesn't turn around and slap us in the face. All these warm days make me want to drink beer and eat chips. It really doesn't take much for me to have those feelings so it may not be entirely because of the weather. I have been known to indulge even on the darkest, coldest day.

There was a period in my life when I had chips for dinner every night for about 8 months. Now I'm not a complete slob. They were nachos chips, and there was salsa and cheese on them. It seemed somewhat complete at the time. I was in university and continually slotted myself into the 4:30 to 6:30 classes. By the time I'd get home, either due to poor planning or bad eating habits, nachos always seemed like the logical and most desired dinner companion. And frankly they seem like a damn good choice these days as well. It just doesn't seem right to get in my jammies, watch TV and slobber over a plate of nachos while my kids are eating broccoli at the table. So for them I'll resist and wait until they all move out. I'll happily fill my empty nest void with chips once they are gone.

Aside from the classic nachos platter I also love my mango salsa. It's a bit more upscale from my younger days, and healthier. I've used canned corn for the recipe but only because corn isn't in season yet. This recipe is great for leftover corn.

Mango Salsa

1 398 ml can of black beans
2 mangoes finely diced
1/2 red onion finely diced
1 398 ml can of corn
2 tsp of rice wine vinegar or to taste
juice of 2 limes
handful of chopped cilantro

Drain and rinse the black beans and corn. Throw it all in a bowl, mix around and eat with corn chips and beer. Enjoy!

crumbs.

2010-03-15T14:58:00.007-04:00

These are not the photos I had intended for this post.

I had actually been hoping for something more like this, but without the glare - because in real life, this cake is a splendid looking creation:

Still, March so far has been such a month of highs and lows, cheers one moment and tears the next, that it seemed more reasonable to let everyone get their hands into the photo (and into the cake) than not.

I made it twice this week - yes, it's that good! And it's that easy! - and would have gone for a third, even if just for the photo op, but the rest of my life has been encroaching on my time in the kitchen lately.

I should have reason to make one more celebratory cake in the very near future, though, and when I do, this will be the one.

Easy Does It Chocolate Cake
Adapted from Nigella Lawson

The ingredients in the original recipe for this are measured by weight, which I recognize is not easy for everyone, so I've included approximate traditional measurements as well for everything but the icing sugar, which I find easier to eyeball anyway. In an ideal world, all of the ingredients would be at room temperature before you started, but please don't let that be the deal-breaker.

The Cake:
200g (1 1/2c) all purpose flour
200g (1c plus 2 tbsp) sugar
40g (1/2c) cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
175g (3/4c) unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2/3c sour cream

The Icing:
75g (1/4c plus1-2 tbsp) unsalted butter
175g (6 oz.) best-quality dark chocolate
300g icing sugar
1 tbsp liquid honey
1/2c sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease two 8-inch round cake pans and line their bottoms with parchment.

Place all of the cake ingredients in the food processor (seriously!) and process until a smooth, thick batter is formed. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and bake in the middle of the oven about 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool cakes 10 minutes in their pans and then invert onto a rack to cook completely.

When cakes have cooled, make the icing:

Combine butter and chocolate in a large bowl and set over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.
Place the icing sugar (I usually eyeball, just over half of a 500g bag to start with the intention of adding more if needed) in the bowl of the food processor and pulse a few times to get rid of any lumps.
Add honey, sour cream, and vanilla to cooled chocolate mixture and beat with a spatula until smooth.
With processor running, add chocolate mixture to icing sugar. Icing should be glossy and spreadable, but thick enough that it will not drip off the cake. If you find you need more icing sugar, add it by tablespoonsful until desired consistency is reached.

Place one cooled cake on a cake plate, up (rounded) side down. Spread about a third of the icing onto the bottom cake, then top with second cake, this one right side up. Spread remaining icing over the top and sides of the cake.

Decorate however you see fit, or not at all.

The Berserkie

2010-03-11T19:48:00.006-05:00

I've got a man friend. His name is Neil. We've been friends a long time now, almost 34 years. We met in kindergarden when we were four. I use to go to his house for lunch, and in my spare time I'd beat him up. I use to be a bit of a bully but that's another story. Our friendship has endured mutual crushes, taunts and silent wars, and still we hang out and have a good time. He lives nearby with his lovely wife and two small boys. As of late he is at home with his boys, and is slumming it with us stay at home moms. He loves it and is damn proud of his mom jeans.

On several occasions he has claimed that he has invented a sandwich. He calls it The Berserkie. Although delicious, this sandwich is not for the diet conscious. Neil is not known for his vegan diet filled with fruits, veggies and tofu. A large portion of his diet seems to revolve around dill pickle chips, bacon and Meli-Melo. He's the guy at the end of the party that fires up the bbq to feed the hordes one last round of garlicky Polish sausages that we like to call Honkers. I'm not judging him. He is well loved for feeding us Honkers.

The Berserkie is a manwich if I've ever seen one. I just can't picture a bunch of chicks daintily lunching on a trayful of Berserkies. So get ready to serve your man or your manly woman one of these tasty sammies. It's a combination of fried turkey, maple syrup and melted cheese, and if they don't like it you can always give them a Honker.

The Berserkie

200g of oven roasted turkey
100g extra old cheddar
4 tbsp maple syrup
2 slices toasted light rye

Heat turkey slices at med high heat for a few minutes, stirring often. Discard drippings, and add 2 tbsp of maple syrup and continue frying turkey for another few minutes. Discard drippings and watery syrup. Add the remaining maple syrup. Continue frying turkey until golden brown. Shave cheese into frying pan, and allow to melt. Pile turkey, scrapings and all onto your bread and make a sandwich. Serve immediately.

change.

2010-03-08T08:26:00.000-05:00

I was doing a bit of optimistic almost-spring cleaning the other day when I came across this envelope, crammed full of hand-written recipes on bits and pieces of paper in various states of disrepair.

It was like finding buried treasure or reading a diary, all of these food-related memories linking me instantly to the moments when they were created; and, as is so often the case with this kind of thing, reading them left me in a bittersweet mood, nostalgic for some aspects of my old life, and fiercely grateful for who I am and where I am now.

I am not the only one in my circle of friends who has a move planned in the not-too-distant future, so I know I am not alone in my looking backwards with mixed emotions while contemplating a leap forward into the unknown.

We're all trepidatious, optimistic, and sad. We all want to embrace what's coming wholeheartedly, but are reluctant to leave behind the joy of the here and now.

We've all done it before, and we will all do it again.

The good news is that with every move, with every shift, comes the chance to lighten our load a little, and to distill the current chapter of our lives down to its essence before starting anew.

This recipe is one of the treasures that I carry with me move after move.

It was a go-to dinner during a phase in my life when several dear friends and I were utterly heartbroken yet managed to eat incredibly well. It isn't much to look at, but it's the kind of dish that you have to serve and get out of the way so as not to be trampled by people scrapping for seconds; and, although I am not a savoury breakfast person, I have been known on a certain kind of morning to eat this by the spoonful, straight from the pan.

"Pork and Beans"
adapted from Nathalie Senecal

5 tbsp vegetable oil
10 cloves garlic, minced
500 g lean ground pork
1 tsp Thai green curry paste, or to taste
350 g green beans, chopped
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp brown sugar
3 tbsp fish sauce
1c water or coconut milk

Heat oil in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until golden.

Add pork and curry paste and cook, stirring, until pork is no longer pink.

Add beans, paprika, sugar, fish sauce and water or coconut milk. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until beans are cooked and much of water is absorbed, 8-10 minutes or so.

Serve with steamed jasmine rice.

Making Yoghurt

2010-03-06T16:59:00.000-05:00

Yup you read right. I'm making my own yoghurt. And let me tell you, it rocks. I'm not sure if it actually tastes better than the store bought kind or if it would win in a blind taste test, but I'm loving making it. It's the whole process of making something from scratch when I had no idea how it was made. All I knew is that I could buy it from the store, and that they seemed too expensive and loaded with crap I can't pronounce. There are lots of food products that I'm not sure how they make them but I want to do it myself. Cheese, crackers, marshmallows, and booze are all future projects. It is legal to make your own marshmallows isn't it? It won't make me go blind?

I also love that I've created no garbage while making yoghurt and that it never touches plastic. I'm not a fan of plastic. Yes I am one of those people. There was a lot of hullabaloo recently about which plastics are the safe ones. Which plastics don't leech hormone disrupting toxins, and carcinogens into our foods and which ones are okay. I'm pretty sure none of them are okay. I think it was just a way of placating the masses, so big business can claim they are being responsible while still producing the "safe" plastics and topping up our landfill. But that is my theory.

When I make my own yoghurt, the milk comes from a glass jar, to my metal pot, to my recycled glass containers. Not a drop of of plastic enters the process and no waste is create. It's awesome. If only my neighbour had a cow, I could go right to the source. Life is hard in the city, not so many cows to milk. Luckily, yoghurt making is pretty easy so it makes up for the lack of cows. Here are the how to's;

Yoghurt

3 litres of milk
1/4 cup existing plain yoghurt with live cultures

The first thing you must do is change the lightbulb in your oven to a 60 watt bulb. You can use either skim, 2% or whole milk. I usually do 3 litres at a time but you can use any amount. Heat milk to 185 F. If you do not have a thermometer, 185F is when the milk will start to froth. You may have to stir occasionally so as not to scorch the milk. Once the milk begins to froth, remove from heat, cover and let cool to room temperature. This process will take several hours. Once cooled, remove 1/2 cup of milk and mix with 1/4 cup of existing yoghurt. Add that mixture to the pot of milk, and mix thoroughly. Pour milk in sterilized containers. I like to use old mason jars that I've washed in the dishwasher. Place filled containers in oven with the oven light on and let stand in oven for a minimum of 24 hours. If it exceeds 24 hours the fermentation will just continue which is just dandy. Place yoghurt in fridge and enjoy for weeks to come.