Projects

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!

change.

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.