Where I went on my summer vacation: Toronto

A trip to Toronto isn't usually something I blog about. It takes me anywhere from an hour (on a super good day and the OPP isn't anywere in sight), to an hour and a halfish (on an average day) to so long I can't remember why I ever wanted to venture out there.

There are always exceptions to this, such as meeting a favourite person or doing something interesting or both. This is one of those exceptions.

Like Ottawa, Toronto was very food focussed. Incredibly food focussed. So food focussed I have no idea if I did anything (apart from look for parking) that wasn't food focussed. I think I spent a good six or seven hours eating, drinking and perusing foodish pursuits. There's little wonder why my clothes are just that much snugger.





You know you're in for a good meal when all you have to say is "Yeah, I'm meeting a friend at an Italian restaurant for lunch. Can't remember what it's called, but it's at Richmond and Victoria." and the response is gleeful "Ooh! Osteria Ciceri e Tria!" you know it's going to be good.

We shared the daily antipasti--a sampler tray, if you will. They were my word, they were good. I can remember all but one, but what I do recall--arincini di riso studded with cuttlefish, meatball in marinara sauce, lamb stew with crostini, fig with ham--was fabulous. For her main, my friend had the gnocchi with seafood; I had tagliatelle with duck ragu. We tried two desserts--a hazelnut tarte and a little cake (again, my memory fails).













If you read Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess, you know that we shared a fabulous iced coffee that afternoon. She wrote getting together was like meeting an old friend. It was.

Jennifer and I have been emailing each other, off and on, for years--(this month marks my fourth year foodblogging on Cardamom Addict; Jenn's been The Domestic Goddess for almost six years). We've cohosted events and sent questions and comments back and forth to one another, but in all this time we've never managed to meet.

There was an immediate ease and familiarity--the type that's normally reserved for long lost friends who haven't seen each other in years. We sat at a patio and chatted about family and friends and Ottawa. We talked about blogging and characters who've come and gone in those years. We talked about our current real life adventures. Every once in a while pausing (or trying to out-volume) the Blue Angels as they zoomed over head, rehearsing for the Air show.

Throughout, we were the targets of unwanted attention. No, not the wayward Bay Street crowd. A bee. Probably a relative of the one that harassed Yal and I. Cheeky monkey tried to steal some of my coffee too! That's just what I need...a fixated bee on a coffee buzz.

I could have spent all afternoon chatting with her, but alas, she wasn't on holidays. We parted ways and I found my self on the TTC at possibly one of the two most dangerous-to-me stores in Toronto. The Cookbook Store is one of my measured Meccas. Yes. A store devoted to cookbooks. The usual suspects from Food TV are there, but unlike other bookstores, they don't dominate the shelves. Here is where I find good food writers. Here is where I find interesting titles. Titles appear here, in their original format, before they appear in big-box bookstores, rewritten for the American audience. I left with a copy of Piri Piri Starfish, a book from which I desperately want to cook each and every single recipe.

My restraint at the Cookbook Store was easily voided as I peeked in at a neighbouring kitchenware shop. That peek ended up with me buying a terra cotta garlic keeper and a cast iron corncob printed cornbread tin. I'd seen them in magazines and recipe books and just couldn't resisit.

It was inaugurated the next day with my variant of my favourite cornbread recipe. Using a combination of maple syrup and brown sugar, the bread has a sweet-smoky flavour. I'm sure the niblet pattern discernable in the cute little cobs only helps to make the cornbread even more tasty.



Maple Corn Bread

125g ap flour
1tsp salt
1Tbsp baking powder
1/4tsp baking soda
120g cornmeal
50g brown sugar
1 egg2Tbsp
vegetable oil
225ml milk
125ml maple syrup

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Seive together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Stir in cornmeal.

Beat together the egg, sugar and oil until smooth. Mix in the maple syrup and milk. Pour into dry ingredients and mix well.

Pour into prepared 22cm (9") cake pan or muffin tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.


cheers!
jasmine

Oh, and the other dangerous-to-me shop? Well, if I mentioned it by name, I'm sure the percentage of solicitous emails I receive will increase. That's a lot coming from the gal who's also the Sensual Gourmet...But really, I highly recommend them, especially if you're well beyond what regular department stores stock.

What I'm reading:

I'm a quill for hire!

Two bits of sweetness

Sweetness Number One:

Do you ever notice how some people go quietly go about, pasting the universe together, ensuring the Milky Way doesn't spring a leak and stardust doesn't collect in the corners?

These are the people who keep things going as tickety boo as possible, usually without fanfare, often without thanks.

One of my colleagues is a wonderful person with a great sense of humour who just coordinated a successful, huge and amazing project. She's a great person and we are so very lucky to have her with us.

I racked my brain to find a fitting "hurrah for you" acknowledgement--well, beyond saying "hurrah for you"...and then I thought of it.

Cupcakes.

Cupcakes baked by our darling Cream Puff.

For those of you who don't know, Ivonne started her own little baking business sometime last year (email creampuffsinvenice at gmail dot com, if you're interested in hiring her), so I asked her to bake my friend something wonderful and Spring-like.

Ivonne never disappoints and made these lovely raspberry-rosewater cupcakes, all pretty in pink, to be delivered in the morning. I'm sure my colleague will love them.

Sweetness Number Two:

Back in March I told you of a different colleague and her quest to help her brother-in -aw win an engagement ring for his girlfriend.

Unfortunately he didn't win (he came in third). But that didn't stop the proposal...in the manner he described. I'd passed on the message that my readers wanted to see pictures from the proposal, in exchange for voting for him in the contest.

So, for those of you who wanted to see a giant chicken in a swanky restaurant, here you go:

cheers!
jasmine

What I'm reading: The Children's Book by A.S Byatt

I think my laptop caught porcine apoplexy

Even though we all know we cannot catch H1N1 (aka Swine Flu) from a good old bacon sandwich (okay, not all of us know this as a friend mentioned her cafeteria pulled BLTs from the menu because of the swine flu), I think all the online news coverage I've been following brought out the hypochondriac in Zippy the laptop.

She's going into the repair shop for a few days (hopefully it's not a lost cause) -- I'll be back when I can reliably get this thing to boot up.

Anyway... I leave you with an idea...especially appreciated by those in the midst of calming others and monitoring the various health websites: Piggie-shaped cookies, complete with little face masks (of coloured sugar). The recipe is Butter Cut-Out Cookies from Nigella's How To Be A Domestic Goddess (p 212).

Have fun but remember to wash your hands...talk soon.

cheers!
jasmine

What I'm reading: The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

Fishy Fridays: Fish cakes

For newsfreaks, this week left some of us wishing for extra sets of eyes, smudge-free newspaper inks and finer controls to our PVRs. We grabbed for our boo bricks and generally debated over pints of Guinness, boxes of Timbits and or plate or two of moussaka (okay, it was mass market cafeteria moussaka, but it was still supposed to be moussaka).

But isn't that what good journalism is supposed to do? By holding up a mirror to the powers that be audiences are enlightened, enraged, encouraged. We want to know more about our political and physical environments. We want to know why a decision made in a not-so-distant past and in a not-so distant place means we're paying only about 25 per cent less for petrol than a year ago while oil prices are roughly half what they were a year ago, how our home values have dropped and the reasons we might want to avoid certain brands of processed meats.

I'm appreciative of good journalism: reporters who research well, find credible sources, legitimately prove what they've discovered seven ways to Sunday and present information in a fair and balanced way. Good journalists can do this and make it look easy. They need to be smart, skeptical, ingenious, trustworthy, determined, fast, patient, fearless, resourceful and value the truth.

News delivery methods don't really concern me (online vs paper vs radio vs TV-- although paper is easier on the eyes than staring in to light beams)...what bothers me is that journalistic skill and experience seem to be pushed aside for cheaper alternatives who quite simply write good or appeal to a certain demographic. Sure some of us think we have the stuff to to keep democracy in check, and have been approached to "contribute" to news outlets...but how many of us could replicate Woodward and Bernstein to the same level of effectiveness?

I think, because it looks so easy and is so nicely packaged, many people take decent reporting for granted, leaving some unable to differentiate between analysed information and glitzy packages. Foodish analogies point towards differences between Julia Child and Sandra Lee or Martin Yan's Chinatowns and Road Tasted.

The issue of journalistic standards came to the forefront not so long ago, as Ian Brown put it, it took a jester to point the finger. Yes, I refer to Jon Stewart's televised vivisection of CNBC's Jim Cramer and that television network's business reporting in general. For those of you who missed it and/or cannot access the videos, essentially Stewart took Cramer and CNBC's money honeys to task about the quality of their reporting before the stock market plunged lower than my neckline.

Yeah...when Stewart's team assembled and aired supporting clips, it was pretty obvious that there was something fishy going on...

Almost as fishy as a recent opinion column that included a line from an expert who "chirped" about the "beneficial effects" of being jobless, what got me was the opening para in which the writer confesses she and her husband paid $235 for a sushi dinner for two before moaning on about the virtues of frugality, practically begging for approval for not spending money at the mall.

Here's a bit of advice: spending $235 for two people (whether last week or two years ago) on a few pieces of fish, some mounds of rice and a bits of seaweed kinda sorta negates the overcoming mall temptations/aren't I a virtuously fiscally responsible person thing...a lot

So...for those of us who are honestly trying to be frugal, but still want fish in our diets, I offer you one of the most cost-effective fish dishes I know of: fish cakes.

Really.

Roughly equal weights of tinned tuna and leftover cooked potatoes, spices and egg. Mix it all together, form a disc and coat it in cornmeal, flour or breadcrumbs before frying. I chose cornmeal because I wanted the cakes to keep their crunch without the risk of getting soggy.

Yes, it may lack a certain je ne sais quoi usually associated three-figure dining, but you can zhuzh it up swanky greens with foofoo dressing, and or serve them with whatever sauce you wish--I chose flavoured mayonnaises--simply add curry powder or chopped jalepenos to mayonnaise, a roasted pepper sauce, or ketchup..purple ketchup, if need be.


Fish cakes
makes six to ten cakes, depending upon your generosity

340g canned tuna
340g cooked potatoes, riced
1 egg, well beaten
a couple pinches, onion powder
2 Tbsp minced parsley
salt and pepper
cornmeal for coating
peanut oil for frying

Mix tuna, potatoes, egg, onion powder, parsley and salt and pepper together.

Make patties by portioning mixture into patties that are two to three tablespoons of filling each. Coat in cornmeal.

Heat oil and fry patties until golden brown, being careful when flipping them over.

Serve hot with curry or jalepeno mayonnaise or tartar sauce (or any other sauce you wish).

cheers!
jasmine

Happy Thanksgiving and Maple Syrup & Poutine's 100 Canadian Foods to Consume

Hello all -- long weekend over here (Canadian Thanksgiving), so I'm just going to crash and take care of things around here...and hopefully come up with a tasty dessert for the turkey dinner.

In the meanwhile, Danielle from Maple Syrup and Poutine has come up with her own version of the VGT's Omnivore's 100 (my score is here). I think it's a great list...here's how I've done...The way I've done it is to grey out the ones I've not eaten (can't figure out the strikethrough command), the bits in blue are things I won't have and what's in pink are my comments.

Maple Syrup & Poutine's 100 Canadian Foods to Consume
1. Arctic Char
2. Ketchup flavoured chips
3. Wild Rice Pilaf
4. Caribou Steak
5. Gourmet Poutine
6. Screech
7. Beaver Tails
8. Maple Baked Beans
9. Bison Burger
10. Bumbleberry pie
11. Nanaimo bar
12. Butter Tarts
13. Cedar Planked B.C. Salmon (allergies)
14. Wild Blueberries
15. Pure Local Cranberry Juice
16. Chocolate from Ganong or Purdy’s
17. A cup of warm cider from your local orchard
18. Caesar
19. 4 of the following types of apples (Cortland, Empire, Golden Delicious, McIntosh, Spartan, Greensleeves, Liberty, Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Honeycrisp, Golden Russet, Idared, Gala
20. Freshly foraged mushrooms
21. Dinner cooked by Michael Smith, Susur Lee or Rob Feenie
22. Fondue Chinoise
23. Dish created from a Canadian Living Magazine recipe
24. Peameal Bacon Sandwich from St. Lawrence Market in Toronto (other places, yes, but not there)
25. Lobster bought directly from a boat in a Maritime harbour
26. Handmade perogies from your local church or market
27. Alberta Beef at an Alberta Steakhouse (I think so...I had Alberta beef in Alberta...can't remember if it was in a steakhouse, though)
28. Leamington Tomatoes
29. Roasted Pheasant
30. Wild Game hunted by someone you know
31. Ice Wine
32. Habitant Pea Soup – entire can
33. Any Canadian Artisinal Cheese
34. Bannock
35. Tourtiere
36. Flapper Pie
37. Jellied Moose Nose
38. Saskatoon Berries (qualification: in tea form)
39. Fish and Brewis
40. Screech Pie
41. Fiddleheads
42. Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich
43. Flipper Pie
44. Montreal Bagels with Smoked Salmon
45. Toutins
46. Jam Busters
47. Bakeapple Pie
48. Bridge Mixture (ooh...so addictive)
49. Canadian Style Pizza (bacon, pepperoni. Mushrooms)
50. Shreddies
51. A cone from Cow’s Ice Cream (they didn't have ice cream when I went to the one shop, but have had the candies and the hot chocolate.)
52. Lumberjack or Logger’s Breakfast
53. Jigg’s Dinner
54. Rappie Pie
55. Pemmican
56. Lake Erie Sturgeon Caviar
57. Belon Oysters
58. Brome Lake Duck
59. Beer from a stubby bottle.
60. A beer from Unibroue or Phillips Brewery.
61. Salt Spring Island Lamb
62. Fry’s Cocoa (Hey! What happened to the decent-sized cannisters? I can only find little ones now)
63. A bag of Old Dutch Potato Chips
64. Every Flavour of Laura Secord Suckers
65. Chicken Dinner from St Hubert’s or Swiss Chalet (blech)
66. Hickory Sticks
67. An entire box of Kraft Dinner (a serving...not a whole box)
68. Candy Apples (NOT caramel apples)
69. Corn from a roadside stand
70. A meal at Eigensenn Farm (it's on my list to do...)
71. Okanogan Peaches
72. Berkshire Pork
73. PEI Potatoes
74. Something cooked in Canola oil
75. Figgy Duff
76. Blueberry Grunt
77. High Tea at the Empress Hotel
78. Fresh maple syrup hardened on the snow
79. Oreilles de Christ
80. Nova Scotia Beer Warmer
81. A cheese plate containing Bleu Bénédictin, Friulano, St. Maure and Oka.
82. Black or red currant jam
83. Maple glazed Doughnut from Tim Horton’s with a Large “Double Double”
84. A glass of Mission Hill’s “Oculus”
85. Alberta Pure Vodka
86. Chokecherries
87. Canada Day Cake
88. Boulettes
89. Canadian Iced Tea
90. Mead
91. Fricot
92. Grandperes
93. Local honey
94. Creton on toast
95. Glen Breton Rare
96. A whole box of Smarties, where the empty box is then used as a kazoo (oh my dear...I haven't donte that in years)
97. Grilled cheese made with Canadian Cheddar
98. A meal from Harvey’s
99. Lake Erie Perch
100. Red Rose Tea


Have a great long weekend for those of you who have it...see you next week.

cheers!
jasmine

Sniffle

Today's post was supposed to be the latest cookbook review, but the deities think otherwise.

As I sat for lunch, I could feel a little ache. By the two o'clock coffee my throat was a little tingly and by the time I left the office at the end of the day, my tongue was sour.

Meh.

On my way home I stopped off at one of the Chinese restaurants I like and picked up some hot and sour soup, egg rolls and pot stickers. After I took the soup's piccie I doctored it with chilli garlic sauce and black rice vinegar. Hoping to shake this whatever it is sooner rather than later. Probably overworked and underrested.

Meh.

So instead of being a sane person and crawling under covers, I started tidying...sorted out the kitchen, ran the chilli pepper (the vaccuum--it's very red) over the carpet in the TV temple and towered the books on the centre table. I can't be unwell in disarray--even when I was little(r) at the first sign of a cold, I'd break out the furniture spray and glass cleaner.

Meh.

So...instead of writing the review, I've decided to keep with the foodbookish theme and let you know which cookery books were nominated for the 2008 Canadian Culinary Book Awards--winners will be announced on 7 November at the Royal Winter Fair.

Short-listed in the English Cookbook Category:
Dish Entertains: everyday simple to special occasions by Trish Magwood (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd., Toronto). Here's my review.

Fresh: seasonal recipes made with local foods by John Bishop and Dennis Green (Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver);

Wild Sweets Chocolate: sweet, savoury, bites, drinks by Dominique and Cindy Duby, (Whitecap Books Ltd., North Vancouver);


Short-listed in the English Special Interest Category, books about food, but not cookbooks:
In Bad Taste? The adventures and science behind food delicacies by Dr. Massimo Marcone (Key Porter Books, Toronto);

The 100-mile Diet: a year of local eating by Alisa Smith and J.R. MacKinnon (Random House Canada, Toronto).

Ultimate Foods for Ultimate Health…and don’t forget the chocolate! by Liz Pearson and Marilyn Smith (Whitecap Books Ltd., North Vancouver);

Short-listed in the Canadian Food Culture Category, books that best illustrate Canada’s rich culinary heritage and food culture:
A Year at Les Fougères by Charles Part and Jennifer Warren-Part (Chelsea Books, Chelsea);

Icewine: extreme winemaking by Donald J.P. Ziraldo and Karl Kaiser (Key Porter Books, Toronto);

Menus from an orchard table: celebrating the food and wine of the Okanagan by Heidi Noble (Whitecap Books Ltd., North Vancouver).


Short-listed in the French Cookbook Category:
Apollo : ceci est un livre de cuisine by Giovanni Apollo (Les Éditions Transcontinental Inc., Montréal);

Serge Bruyère : ses recettes orginales et revisitées by Anne L. Desjardins, Project Coordinator and Author, (Les Éditions La Presse, Montréal);

Stefano Faita, entre cuisine et quincaillerie by Stefano Faita (Editions du Trécarré-Group Librex, Montréal).


Short-listed the French Special Interest Category, books about food but not cookbooks:
La chimie des desserts : tout comprendre pour mieux les réussir by Christina Blais and Ricardo (Les Éditions La Presse, Montréal) ;

La sélection Chartier 2008 by François Chartier (Les Éditions La Presse, Montréal) ;

Les vins du nouveau monde, Volume 1 by Jacques Orhon (Les Éditions de l’Homme, Montréal).

cheers!
jasmine

I'll never be a professional deep fat fry gal

...well, not a this rate.

At issue was a recipe for the next cookery book review. When I saw the recipe for (bloobybloobybloo) I thought--hey, I like the name and it could be tasty because it uses (falalalala) and (bingobongobing). The technique was easy enough: deep fat fry a dumpling.

I'm not afraid of much, culinarily: fugu's the only thing that readily comes to mind. If it's prepared by someone who knows what they're doing, I'll probably be fine...I just don't want to be the one scalpelling away the tetrodotoxin-laden liver and skin and other bits, and then spend the next how many hours worried if I'll ever hear from my friends again.

There are those amongst us who are afraid of one thing or another in the kitchen: yeast, whizzy whirry bladed machines, recipes that require cooking (as opposed to dumping and nuking), spices you can't find at the bigscarymegamart, spices you can find at the bigscarymegamart, using a mandolin without the hand guard, butter...

I know from trawling blogs that deep fat frying isn't necessarily everyone's favourite activity. I'm not sure what it is that bothers some people. Is it the searing hot oil, reminiscent of Mediaeval torture? It is a worry that the inside will be a playground for salmonella while the outside is a beautifully and crisp golden brown? Maybe it's because it uses f-words...two of them...preceded by a d-word.

By no means am I a well-practiced hand at deep fat frying. About once every few months I decide that something needs to be dffed--doughnuts, cutlets, whatevers--and I just do it. Most of the time things are fine, but sometimes my issue is that the end result is a little overdone. Instead of a lovely golden hue reminiscent of a setting sun, it's a burnished honey-cum-blowtorch kissed charcoal briquette. It's usually one or three of a recipe load of goodies, so it's no big deal.

My problem with the (bloobybloobybloo) was that I didn't seal the wrapper edges well enough. A couple of minutes after lowering them into the bubbling fat the spluttering started an all of a sudden my dumplings weren't alone in the pot. They were surrounded by lace-like confetti that emanated from my improperly-sealed dumplings. When all was said and done, I must have lost a good 20 per cent of my fillings from my dumplings. Not enough to render the dumplings hollow shells, but enough to make me sigh.

Then again, dffed (falalalala) is pretty good in its own right.

Still, I don't think I'm quite ready to be a professional deep fat fry gal...yet.



cheers!
jasmine

In a crunchy but slightly mushy mood

As a run-up to Mmm...Canada, this week's posts will feature Canadian foods and food products. Today's post uses oats.

About two months ago, when I outted myself as a pinhead, I mentioned my sudden craving for granola.

Our dearest Ivonne visited me about a year ago and brought with her a parcel filled with homemade granola. It was so good--sweet and crunchy, studded with cranberries and blueberries--I had it with milk, yoghurt and ice cream...I was even grabbing handfuls as snacks. Wanting to satisfy my craving, I emailed her for the recipe and she obliged.

That's one of the things I really like about being a part of the food blogging community. We can ask each other for hints, recipes, techniques and even the occasional ear or opinion and it's generally freely given. No questions asked.

We visit each other's pages and riffle through their recipe books and pantries. We ooh and ah at intricate pastries and commiserate over horrible casseroles. Our dishes span many cuisines and courses, not to mention lifestyles and preferences. We dare each other to expand our horizons and invite one another to create new foods.

We can say "Hey! I want to do an event featuring my home country and I want you participate--you don't need to find it on a map, or have visited or anything, but I just want you to join in on the fun."


And for the most part they'll say "Hey! I can find it on a map and YES I'd love to take part."

Better yet, we can say "Hey, I'm going to be in your neck of the woods...wanna hang out?" and you can usually find a dining companion...


And like many RL communities, word spreads about our joys and our pains. We find little gifts in our mailboxes (real and virtual). We support freely and we are supported unexpectedly.

Most of this without ever meeting each other face-to-face.

Fruit and Nut Granola
adapted from Stonewall Kitchen Favourites

125g rolled oats
55g pinhead oats
50g sweetened shredded coconut
50g sunflower seeds
50g pumpkin seeds
50g whole almonds
35g brown sugar
1tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
½ ginger
75ml maple syrup
60ml oil
1tsp vanilla extract
100g dried fruit

Putting it together

1. Preheat oven to 150C/300F and line a baking tray with foil or parchment
2. Mix all the ingredients together, spread evenly on the prepared tray and pop into the oven for 30-40 minutes. Stir every 10 minutes or so, so the granola doesn't clump together. The granola is ready to come out of the oven when it's a lovely golden colour
3. Remove from oven and put the tray on a cooling rack. Stir once or twice until cool
4. Keeps in an airtight container for up to six weeks.

cheers!
jasmine

Time for some R&R x2

R&R # 1:
Between this and that and this and that, I've been running a bit ragged and a teensy bit behind on things. Add a few meetings and I think I'll take a mini blogging break, but will be back sometime later next week.

At the very least, I hope to catch up on a bit of trashy reading about a gangster's moll, a disgraced politician, a million-dollar plane ride and misplaced government documents. No, not the latest Lauren Henderson plot, but the current buzz in Ottawa. A friend thinks of it as Munsinger-like. Me, I think of Profumo.

R&R #2:
Anyway...yesterday a very, very good friend of mine (someone I think of as my surrogate sister) appeared at my office with a box of goodies from her property: wild ramps and rhubarb. Lucky me!

I spent some time last night looking at recipes and dishes, and I think I know what I'll make with them, but if you have any recipe suggestions or thoughts, please share them (with recipe links, if possible) in the comments section. And no, both ramps and rhubarb don't have to show up in the same dish...

Have a great week!

Edit: Not as long a break as I thought...wait for it...

cheers!
jasmine

A little of this and a little of that and...what the?

I had a craving. Nothing really fancy or weird. Something that helped to stave off the ever so slight dip in temperatures. A nice simple bowl of chilli con carne.

I don't do anything special or unique. I think of chilli as one of those kitchen sink foods that's a great way of using up veggies that are still good, but may not be as supermarket supermodel-ish: the carrots may not be as firm as they were when purchased, the bell peppers a tad wrinkly, the tomatoes squooshier than many would like. The meat is whatever I have on hand--usually beef, but sometimes turkey or chicken. The spicing is from a packet that promises to have a steaming pot of goodness within 20 minutes.

Well, the carrots could have used Viagra, the peppers needed Botox and the tomatoes could have used alternating treatments of ice and Tylenol. I had 500 grams of ground beef and about 300 of ground pork. Add to that some garlic, onions a tin of kidney beans, and some tomato paste and well, I've got chilli.

Umm...except for the seasoning packet.

I suppose if the onions, carrots and peppers weren't sautéing, I could have run to the bigscarymegamart and bought a packet. But alas, they were sautéeing, and I didn't feel like shutting everything down.

Think think think.

My Dear Little Mummy makes a ground beef curry with beef, carrots, peas, ginger, onions and a myriad of spices...I could do that...sort of. No ginger, no peas. Nottaproblem. My chilli con carne morphs into curry con carne.

So I added a tablespoon or two of curry powder to the onion mixture and then added the beef and pork and another tablespoon of curry, along with a little tin of tomato paste and the chopped tomato and a bit of water. I cooked everything together, until the meats were no longer pink, added the rinsed kidney beans and stirred everything until the beans were heated through. Had a taste. Hmmm...something wasn't quite correct (apart from the ginger and the peas and the correct spicing).

Think think think.

Well...the fat can of puréed tomato was in the cupboard. Okay...why not?. In it went, on went the lid and I simmered everything with some salt and pepper for about 30 minutes...just like I would meat sauce for pasta, making this meal in a pot curry con bolognese.

How did it taste? Well, not like chilli, not like my Mum's curry and not like bolognese. It was a combination of all three: spicy, meaty and left me with a nice, happy feeling inside. Two days later, it tasted even better--as such dishes usually do--and colleagues were wondering what was in my bowl because they didn't see it in the caf, and they wanted some (umm...no...when will they learn?). I explained it to them, they looked confused and walked away. I guess fusion cooking doesn't translate well...well, at least not this particular dish.

Fine...more for me.

cheers!
jasmine

Angry Eating

Yesterday I was in a &(*?%"@ mood. All I'll say is that I had a &(*?%"@ day which pretty much turned into a mostly &(*?%"@ night.

When I get this...angry...I don't grumble--grumbling is a sign that I just need to talk things through and sort things out and all's good.

When I'm truly irate I get incredibly placid.

Apparently, for those attuned, it can be quite unnerving. They'd feel better if I yelled, sent objects hurtling through space or even if I scalpeled them so precisely with logic, they haemorrhaged from mere ego.

But they get nothing like that.

What they receive is extreme politeness, relatively few words and a timed exit. Those who aren't attuned think I'm pensive or simply taking things awfully well.

Regardless, when suppertime came, I wanted something that took no effort, had good doses of salt and fat and meat. Definitely meat. What this strata of mood brings on is my decidedly carnivorous side's blind desire for something to die for me to be satiated. Sometimes it's greasy steak fajitas, sometimes its a steak sandwich, sometimes it's a beefy burger. This time it was quite simple--a big bacon cheeseburger with everything (less tomato slices) and poutine...which was put off until tonight. Some of the &&(*?%"@ mood remained today...so perhaps this fast food fare may help to lift this cloud.

Which got me wondering...

When I'm stressed or inconsolable I want comfort food. Over the years I've vacillated between this food and that food, but I usually want something that is palpably cared for and doted over. Give me a nice piece of roast beef with gravy, mushrooms and garlicky mashed potatoes and much seems better. I want to taste that someone actually cares about feeding me.

But when I'm in a &(*?%"@ mood I want much the same foodish items, but not so fussed on. I want fast. I want hot. I want food that's slammed on a griddle, plunged into sizzling hot fats and dumped on a plate. I don't want delicate victuals. I don't want something that needs exact timing or precise temperatures.

So...here's a question for you...when you are angry and need feeding, what do you crave? Does it, in any way, resemble your comfort food?

cheers!
jasmine

Earth Hour: 29 March 2008, 8pm

Just for one hour, on one day, turn off your non-essential lights and appliances.

For more info, visit these links:

EarthHour.org (home)

Some partnering, participating or supporting Canadian communities:

• Charlottetown, PEI (directs to the Royal Astronomical Society)
• Edmonton, AB
• Halifax, NS
• Iqaluit, NU (for all of Nunavut)
• Moncton, NB
• Montréal, QC (en français)
• Ottawa, ON
• Saskatoon, SK
• St. John's, NL
• Toronto, ON
• Vancouver, BC (directs to BC Hydro)
• Winnipeg, MB

Canada-based business supporters (Only those who registered)

World Wildlife Federation Canada's Earth Hour page

• The Good Life's home page (WWF Canada's online portal to living an environmentally-friendly life)

cheers!
jasmine

It's like being five years old again

Two snowstorms within seven days left us with a lot of snow and not a lot of places to put the tonnes of frozen flakes. The weather forecasters, newsreaders and traffic reporters spent days warning us about how bad things would be...and they were right.

Sunday night I got a call from My Dear Little Mummy, who'd gotten wind of the storm...all the way in India. She tracked the storm via BBC News, and watched the destruction on the Atlantic and Ohio...as she said "It was all white and then I saw a little head peeping out (from behind the snow drifts)." Which she thought was funny...then I told her the snow banks were taller than her...she didn't think that was funny. Really, it was like being in kindergarten, not being able to see over the drifts and banks.

Unfortunately, the air pressure turned migraine inducing...I have little memory of Friday, or most of Sunday for that matter, except for a couple of handfuls of pain pills, blankets and almost total darkness.

Saturday, I was one of the insane people who went out grocery shopping. The MidsizedMildlyAnnoyingMegamart is pretty much across the street from me, but I took my life into my own hands, given the slippy roads, notsogreat visibility and the ice that kept forming on my wiper blades. I was well enough to do some baking, but Beelzebub lived up to his name and turned my poor little blueberry buttermilk muffins into charcoal-stumped cakelettes. They are so sad, I couldn't bare taking pictures...really...bad things should not happen to good blueberries.

Sunday, before the vice grip-like hold on my head rendered me useless, I dug out George (my car)...with the help of my two wonderful neighbours. I also took some pictures, so my parents could appreciate what they skipped out on...



L: The view from my front door...that smear of grey is George. Yes I have a garage, but there's a desk in there which is keeping me from parking in it...

M: My parent's walk...

R: See that splotch of red? That's my Dad's car. Apart from the lumpy snow in front, it's all drift.



L: My parents' front garden...that loopy thing is a wire trellissy thing that theoretically protects the plants from the former neighbours' kids...and vermin...

M: My condo again...see that big snow pile under the tree--it's more than twice the height of a car.

R: My neighour's front garden, seen from the shared driveway.

Sorry, no food pictures or food post. If you're interested in a dessert that uses snow, take a look at Jenny's post.


cheers!
jasmine

Yes, Quellia...there really was a chipmunk

Our lovely and talented (and Daring!) Quellia wanted to know more about that rascally chipmunk from One Egg Short.

That stituation happened to me several years ago (well, all but the Gerard Butler DVD thing--can't remember who the beefcake du jour was at the time--so it was either VHS or something on TV we watched).

I was house-and cat-sitting for a friend who was on an overseas contract. Rusty and Midge (or as I called them, Bitey and Purry) roamed the neighbourhood, occasionally bringing back souvenirs and takeaway meals from their adventures: birds usually; weird looking mutant bugs and mice, occasionally. I was always of two minds of such things--miaowy behaviour such as hunting is very much encouraged (gee--wish Mr. Bean figured out such behaviour), but the "let's pretend to give the bird a chance to get away before I swat it or break another of its bones" games is something I really, really hate...almost as much as finding the carcases in a corner--obviously put there for a later-in-the-day snack.

One night I came home to find the house in a bit of disarray--not as if someone had broken in, but as if two cats where running around, chasing each other or something else. It was late, I didn't think much of it, and I'd clean up in the morning. And then I saw these things that were a cross between Maltesers and buckshot all over the place. Then there was blur...followed by two cats.

Insert explitive *here.*

Unlike their other snacks, this one was very much alive and not injured.

Zoom zoom zoom when the rodent. Zoom zoom zoom went the cats. Zoom zoom zoom I went trying chasing the three of them. Clatter when the wastepaper basket...yes...I remember that...and the prezzies found inside the bin. I guess chasing them wasn't the smartest idea as the chipmunk probably thought it was now chased by three large things.

And then I saw it squeeze under the bathroom door's gap. I put a towel or a throw down to block the crack so chipmunk couldn't escape. The cats were quite concerned as their chasey game halted without their permission....what a mean cat-sitter I am. So there they sat in the hallway waiting for their friend to come out as I looked for something...anything to capture the silly thing. I had a live moustrap, but it was too small. I looked around for something else...and tried to think of something that would work. But nothing came to mind.

So I called a friend for advice. He showed up and very matter of factly got the wastepaper basket and a piece of light card from some sheets I got on sale and trapped the terrified little creature. He opened the door and off scampered the chipmunk into the dark of night. We locked the cat doors. (In retrospect it was very much like the "Remember This" episode from Coupling Series Three (no, nothing about a party, or Edvard Munch paintings, but the spider part)--and if you've never watched Coupling (not the one ep wonder that aired a couple of years ago, but the absolutely hillarious BBC show) go rent it.

Okay...so what does this have to do with the spring rolls pictured? No, they aren't filled with chipmunk meat.

Spring rolls...Chinese Food...Chinese New Year...Year of the Rat...Rodents...Chipmunks.

See...it all sequits.

cheers!
jasmine

Be it ever so humble...

...there's no place like home.

I'm now a home-owner. Well...to be accurate, the bank owns most of my home; I think I own the powder room, spare bedroom, and linen closet.

Michael and I began to talk about living together, probably selling his condo and buying a bigger place for the two of us (and his 2000 dvds, my 2000 books, his TV temple, my piano...). So I suppose I was already in the mindset...after many ponderings on my own, with friends and with my parents, I took the plunge and purchased his condo.

I know some of you wonder if this is wise or not, but he made it a place of peace and comfort for me--a place to escape from daily stresses and turmoils. And throughout everything, his home kept those qualities. Yes, at times it is difficult being here, but it really is the best thing for me.

Well...apart from the kitchen.

Meet Beelzebub:

(the stove, not the pot)

Yes. I now live with Beelzebub. Oh sure he looks all sweet and innocent, promising to come up to temp or even just turn on, but as soon as you turn your back on him...well, it's not nice. He's either is cold as ice or his ire singes the most innocent of foodstuffs. He even kept his white cloak from the days before his fall to lull you into believing he's one of the good 'uns.

I've developed the theory that his fall from grace came out of sheer laziness. He wasn't used much in the previous nine years, pretty much replaced by the microwave, steamers, the grill thingie and toaster oven. I put him through is paces every so often--as did My Beloved One--but not often enough, apparently. But now that he's required to be...well...fully functional at a moment's notice, he's just not happy.

My father even made derisive comments about this stove. So much so that I'm given free access to their wonderful stove to feed myself and others. It will be a while until he is exorcised from my kitchen--I'm hoping for a gas stove, but I need to a) save up for a mini-reno and b) get the association's okay (in case the gas piping needs to go outside the townhouse)--but until then, I'm stuck with this fallen angel...

cheers!
jasmine