day 16

What's a homesick prairie girl to do? Why, buy homemade perogies and latkes from the Ukrainian church across the street and watch back-to-back episodes of Corner Gas, of course!

And then do more homework...

christmas cookies

Missed decorating last year due to a hectic work schedule, but we figured out a time that would accommodate this year's hectic work schedule. Very happy it worked out because I love this tradition! We squeezed a lot of decorating into two hours.

 

Can't wait to eat these!



Ayva went all out on her cookies for Santa. I'm absolutely positive it will result in bigger and better gifts. Seriously, how could Santa resist?

Ayva upping her game

Ayva and I made our annual Omar and Adam cookies. She asked me why Omar was wearing a belt and boots, but no pants. Several saucy answers came to mind but before I could say any thing, Marilee saved me by joking that his pants were invisible. Ya, invisible pants, that's what I was going to say...

 





The Omar and Adam cookies.

A HUGE thank you to Marilee for organizing, baking and making us a snack!

it was a dark and stormy day

Not much snow yet but the wind is howling and the temperature is dropping. The sun never came out and I haven't been able to wake up properly today. I can't imagine living in Iqaluit or someplace colder and darker than Winnipeg. It is definitely one of those days to fill your belly with something hot. May I suggest roasted parsnip soup? If you have the ingredients on hand, of course. No sense heading out in this. I don't have the ingredients; I have something better...... leftovers!

This soup seems complicated but it's really not. Roast the veggies, warm broth and cream (I used milk), blend. I found the immersion blender didn't work very effectively so I used a regular blender. And the parsley oil was really pretty but it didn't add much flavour. You can definitely skip it.

Yukon Gold Potato, Parsnip & Roasted Garlic Soup with Parsley Oil

Parsley Oil:

1/2    cup (125 mL) Italian flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/2    cup (125 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt

Roasted Garlic:

2    heads of garlic, tops sliced off
Olive oil
Sea salt

Potato & Parsnip Soup:

1    tbsp (15 mL) melted butter
1    tbsp (15 mL) olive oil
2    lbs (1 kg) Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cubed
3    parsnips, peeled and cubed
2    onions, peeled, stemmed and quartered
4    cups (1 L) vegetable broth
1/2    cup (125 mL) heavy cream
Salt and pepper

Directions:

Parsley Oil:

Combine parsley leaves with olive oil in a food processor. Process until puréed and bright green. Let steep for about 1 hour then strain oil through a fine-mesh sieve, discarding solids and reserving oil. Season with a little sea salt then transfer oil to a jar with a tight-fitting lid.

Roasted Garlic:

Drizzle garlic heads with olive oil and a pinch of sea salt. Wrap tightly in aluminum foil.

Potato & Parsnip Soup:

Preheat oven to 400 F (200 C). In a large bowl, combine butter and olive oil, whisking to mix. Add next 3 ingredients and toss to coat. Place mixture and wrapped garlic in a baking dish; season vegetables with salt and pepper. Roast in oven for about 40 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring the vegetables halfway through the cooking time. Remove baking dish from oven. Place vegetable mixture into a large pot set over low heat along with broth and cream. Using an immersion blender, process until mixture is smooth, adding more broth if soup is too thick. When garlic is cool to the touch, squeeze cloves into soup. Using an immersion blender, process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste; cover and cook until soup is warmed through.

To Assemble:

Spoon soup into bowls then drizzle with Parsley Oil and some fresh cracked pepper. Serve immediately.

Serves 4

fortune (?) cookies

Spent six bloody hours making fortune cookies today. Quel désastre! I put great faith in Martha's recipes but this one was baaaaad. The oven was too hot, the cookies too small.... Checked out some other recipes online and adjusted as I went along. In the end, I got enough good ones for tomorrow evening but I'm super grouchy now. And still have an evening of baking and cooking ahead. I see a glass of wine in my near future...

First attempt. Oven at 400 F as per recipe.
Lowered to 300 F after this mess. 

Second attempt. Damn thing wouldn't unstick from the pan.
Wasted quite a bit of batter this way, then borrowed a
non-stick pan from my next door neighbour.

Third attempt. Temperature is good. Pan is good.
Folding technique needs work. You have to work fast,
and the bottom of the cookie should be on the inside.

Finally!

Managed a dozen half-way decent cookies.
Recipe is supposed to make 3 1/2 dozen.
Ugh.

Thankfully my other baking turned out great
or I'd be hanging up my apron.

Our fourth year taking baking to our neighbours.
Was a good way to meet people the first year
and we've kept up the tradition.

martha stewart, eat your heart out

Ready to decorate.

Et voila!

Second annual Adam and Omar cookies.

Spent a lovely afternoon at Marilee's apartment eating cheese and crackers (and fudge and oranges and chips) and decorating cookies. This has become an annual tradition and one that I really enjoy. Marilee and Heather made the cookies and icing and I just had fun. Thanks to my previous blog post, no Christmas music was played, though Ayva did mention several times how quiet is was. What can I say.... we were concentrating!

new york diary - day 14

Our day...

 

Followed by pancakes and beer for dinner.

new york diary - day 12

Made cookies last night as Deb and I were craving something sweet after our super healthy dinner. It took an hour to mix the dough. Kana's pantry is so well stocked that each ingredient required a major hunt. It's so much easier to find things when there is nothing in the cupboard! But the results were well worth the time. The recipe is eggless so you basically end up with chocolate chip shortbread. So yummy!

This morning I was up early, having cookies and coffee for breakfast and enjoying the most gorgeous foggy morning. Dropped Deb off at the train at 8:15 for another day in NYC. Contemplated joining her but since it is Black Friday and I decided to spend the day as a country mouse rather than face the mayhem.

Afternoon and evening - reading on the patio in the sunshine, cleaning the house, walking the dog and starting the ethics portion of my thesis.

Cookie Recipe
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup plus 3 tbsp all purpose flour
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 300 F.
2. Beat butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in vanilla.
4. Add flour and baking powder; beat until just mixed.
5. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans (dough will be stiff).
6. Using about 2 tbsp of dough, shape into balls and arrange a couple of inches apart on a cookie sheet; flatten slightly.
7. Bake until cookies are slightly brown at the edges, about 30 minutes.
8. Cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

new york diary - day 7

The morning was spent in the park, taking pictures of the pretty little lake and all the geese. Molly was interested but not keen on getting too close. Which was fine by me. I only like geese from a distance as well.

This afternoon, I managed to drive to the grocery store and back, thankful the entire way for GPS. The meandering roads make no sense to this "gimme a grid" prairie girl. The only real problem was my lead foot, which I totally had to watch. That 50 on the speedometer is not in kilometers!!!

Okay... before I tell you this next bit, let me assure you that I'm not pregnant or crazy (or pregnant and crazy). After my big excursion, I rewarded myself with my first peanut butter and pickle sandwich. The thing is, on the plane I was reading The Round House, which has this passage:

First, we unstuck the bread slices carefully from the peanut butter. Next we tucked in my mother's famous little crunchy pickles. Last, we closed the sandwiches back up. The pickle juice salted the peanut butter, cut the stickiness so you could swallow each bite, and added just the right hot, sour bite to the nuts.

And when I arrived at Kana and Brad's the same day I read that passage, an article on this Depression-era invention was on their coffee table. I could only take that as a sign. I wanted to make it with sour dough bread but there wasn't any at the grocery store. Used the sweet pickles already in the fridge. The ciabatta was a good bread choice, but bread and butter pickles would be much better. The sweet pickles lacked zing. Natural peanut butter is a must. Will definitely experiment further.

new york diary - day 3

Yesterday I rode around with Brad in the afternoon while he saw clients and looked at the many trees that came down during Sandy and now have to be cleared. One client was in Sleepy Hollow, which was oddly exciting considering what a truly sleepy town it is. The evening was spent reading, roasting chestnuts and sitting in front of the fire with a dark and stormy while Brad packed. So, about those chestnuts..... it was a first for me and I'm totally smitten. So sweet and delicious!

Score chestnuts using a sharp bread knife.

Place in salted water and bring to a boil.
Then roast in the oven at 425 for 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and cover with a towel or
lid and let steam for 15 minutes.

Peel and enjoy!

Today was productive, if not a thrill a minute. Took Molly on two long walks to survey the storm damage and worked on my MALT duties. This evening will also be spent in front of the fire, reading and drinking wine but alas, no chestnuts. Have I mentioned that I'd like to be retired and wealthy and spend all of my evenings like this?



Molly surveying.

Some of the damage.
Also a few lines still down but presumably turned off.
Didn't test them out!

roasted tomatoes

About a month ago, I brought in my green tomatoes. I cut the plants, leaving the tomatoes on the vine and I hang them in the basement. (Can't remember where I learned this... I think Martha Stewart, but can't find it on her website) I've had tomatoes as late as January this way, which is amazing! This year they are all going ripe at once so tonight I made roasted tomatoes for dinner.

My mom sent me a really easy recipe. Heat oven to 425 F. Depending on the size, halve or quarter the tomatoes and core them. Lay on a baking sheet with a rim (very important unless you particularly like cleaning the oven). Drizzle with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

The recipe says to roast for 15 to 25 minutes but I think this depends on the kind of tomato. This time is probably right for paste tomatoes such as Romas but I had to roast them for about 45 minutes. Tossed them with basil (thanks Marilee!) and topped with goat cheese. 

They made a great side dish with scrambled eggs and toast. Breakfast for dinner is the best! Especially on a cold, raining night when we're both home late and don't feel like cooking. Yum! Yum!

august theme song

O and I hosted our first party together last night, a house concert with the fabulous Greg MacPherson and the currently nameless band that O and Claire Therese have recently put together.

So many "wish you were here's". Tried to entice Deb to fly in from Montreal as she seemed like the most likely of my far flung friends to make an impromptu trip to Winnipeg for the weekend but she already had plans. Kana... after so many parties together in Brandon it just felt wrong not to have you here. Especially as the night wound down. You totally should have been on the patio with us, drinking one more drink than was strictly necessary. Tracy... I know you and D would have loved the performances and the cozy atmosphere. Karen... I made tarts galore! Would loved to have spent the afternoon baking with you and debating about crusts. And then watching the guests scarf them back. Danette... well, if you'd been here we probably would have taken advantage of your musical talents.

As it was, we had a good crowd. About twenty friends from both our circles who don't normally hang out but who share quite a few connections. Typical of our demographic, it wasn't a super late night. But it was a good time. My only complaint is that I felt like I didn't get to spend much time with anyone.

Went a bit crazy in the kitchen. Made two kinds of mini quiche, tzatziki, a disappointing white bean dip that needed a lot of tweaking, eggplant fritters (which I forgot to put out until almost everyone was gone), macaroons, chocolate shortbread cookies, and three kinds of tarts (with an unpleasantly chewy cream cheese crust that I won't make again). Also had garden veggies, watermelon, almond stuffed olives, crackers and sweet potato chips. Had so much fun baking. It was kind of the highlight for me, actually.

The music was fantastic. Greg, as always, put on an amazing show and was completely charming. Claire is not a seasoned performer and was a bit nervous at first, but O was rock solid. They've only been playing together for a few months and its impressive how good they are already. Claire's songs are really lovely. She thanked me for putting up with them rehearsing in our house but I honestly don't mind. It's like a free weekly concert!

By the way, if you have any band name suggestions, please leave it in the comments. :]

a good year for cake

I'm guessing that the photo above is from my 7th birthday. Don't remember the exact year but I do remember the cakes! We were traveling to visit my dad's family in BC in late July. I had a birthday cake in Brandon before we left and then a series of cakes as we visited relative after relative. Although I look like the least happy person in this picture, I was mighty impressed by the doll cake my Auntie Corrine had made for me. It was truly something else.

My aunt doesn't make me birthday cakes anymore but that's okay because now I have Marilee and her impressive baking skills in my life. Et voila! The Groovy Girl cake!

And that's not all. By showing up at Marilee's at just the right time, I was able to mooch part of a peach cake that was fresh out of the oven. O's verdict was it was the best non-chocolate cake ever. I'll go one further and say it was the best cake of any kind ever.

Tonight, Elizabeth and I are going to Baked Expectations to belatedly celebrate our birthdays. I definitely see a piece of old fashioned chocolate cake in my near future!

forty two

Amazingly delish cake made by O.
Sprinkles on top courtesy of Kana.

Going.... going...

Soba Noodle Salad

O and I do not have air conditioning but we find all kinds of ways to beat the heat. And this is one of my favourites. A really refreshing salad with just a bite of heat. This week the culinary stars aligned. The basil and mint were begging to be picked, O's dad gave us some gorgeous mangoes and the temperature spiked to the 30s. I don't really have a recipe but this is close:

• Soba noodles (or in this case red curry and cilantro vermicelli), cooked and cooled
• Two perfectly ripe mangoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 to 3/4 c. edamame, steamed and cooled
• 10 or 12 mint leaves, chopped
• 10 or 12 basil leaves, chopped

Dressing:

• Juice of one lime, plus a bit of zest (or you can swap some of the lime juice for cider or rice vinegar)
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• Red chili flakes
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• Small drizzle of sesame oil (don't go overboard or this is all you'll taste!)

Toss first set of ingredients. Mix the dressing and pour over salad. Mix again. Chill for 1/2 hour or more and enjoy!

dinner party

Omar and I had an amazing dinner last night with his friends who are in town doing a show at PTE. Jan prepared an excellent beet soup, pakora and filo pockets, five Indian dishes, naan, rice, and various condiments. Was quite blown away and totally stuffed. We were tasked with brining wine and dessert.

Don't have any pictures of the buffet but did take a shot of the dessert. Very pleased with myself! They are mini cheesecakes made in a muffin tin and they rocked, if I do say so myself. Topped with apricot ginger jam. Recipe is available on the Martha Stewart website. She suggests straining the jam, which does make it look prettier (and a bit like eggs) but I preferred the chunky bits of apricot and ginger.

Rufus was a big help, as always. He's well known for his love of all things toasty but this was going a bit far. He wisely stayed off the vent (which is why his butt is hanging over the edge) but he didn't seem the least bit concerned about getting caught lounging on the stove. He jumped off in a dignified and casual sort of way after I shrieked at him. Had to take his picture first, of course!

back to eating on a budget

Broke again. Since this happened around the same time last year, I'm blaming December. The whole holiday season is so expensive. Not just buying gifts, but all the eating out, drinking wine, making cookies, traveling to visit loved ones...

So here we are. Eating on $20 each a week until the end of February. That's right... 8 whole weeks. Went a bit over budget this time because we miscalculated. Thinking we had enough money to cover raisins, I threw a tub of them in the basket. Organic no less. And then I ran to the corner store and bought $10 maple syrup for our pancakes. Thought we had some in the fridge, but turned out we didn't and the pancakes were already in the pan. Still... this put us at about $60, which is about $20 less than we usually spend.

Menu for the week looks good:

• Risotto primavera
• Baked lentils, steamed carrots & mashed potatoes
• Refried bean quesadillas with wild rice
• Tofu stir fry
• Some kind of soup using our slightly wilted veggies
• Omelette
• Getting taken out for birthday dinner (yay!)

Lunches will be leftovers and/or salads. Breakfasts will be oatmeal (with raisins, of course) or cream of wheat. A healthy and relatively cheap way to start the New Year!

week 4 - the review

Okay, first of all, check out my rockin' focaccia bread. This is how we've been eating on $20 each a week.

Second, our lessons learned:

• $20 a week for food really is no fun. Eating is an incredibly social activity, but on this budget, you can't afford to entertain or to go out. Potluck would definitely be an option, but it wasn't something we got around to organizing.
• $20 a week for food for one person would be tough, but when it is $40 for two, it is much easier. With $40, you can buy bulk quantities of things like rice, and it works out much cheaper in the long run.
• It is not as much work to plan meals as you might think. The first week we put a lot of effort into it, but by week two, we were sort of winging it and it all worked out fine. 
• It is a lot more work to actually make all your meals. This budget doesn't allow much room for convenience foods. When you are having a busy week, taking the time to cook can be a huge burden.
• You really have to know how to cook in order to live on this budget. We are both comfortable in the kitchen, so we actually ate better in March than we usually do because we were making an effort to be creative (see focaccia bread above!). Instant foods (other than Monday night perogies and beans!)were out of the question for us.
• If you don't know how to cook, then this budget limits you to only the worst foods. We were actually eating healthier because of the planning we were doing.
• We had to do a lot of compromising. Most of the organic food we usually buy is out of our price range, but we found that there were many local choices. For example, we couldn't afford the organic potatoes which came from the US, but we could afford locally grown non-organic potatoes. I insisted on organic apples, but with the rest of the food, we only bought organic if the price was comparable, like with dried lentils.

Third, for a variety of reasons, we find ourselves quite skint these days. The menu planning and home cooking have really been working for us, so we are keeping up with the $20 each a week for food until our finances are more stable. We will be putting aside an extra $10 each so we can go out for coffee or dinner once in a while or have people over, because that is something we've really missed.

week 4 - the menu

Monday - perogies, beans, fried onions and corn (sensing a pattern here?)
Tuesday - tofu and zucchini in a black bean sauce with rice
Wednesday - omelette and spicy potatoes
Thursday - leftover omelette with toast (O in Calgary, so not inspired to cook for myself)
Friday - sichuan eggplant with rice
Saturday - gingered carrot soup and my first attempt at focaccia bread
Sunday - not sure, but either pasta with tomato sauce or going to O's dad's

falling off the wagon

Had a stupid day yesterday, filled with people who I wanted to strangle. Instead either walked away from them or sent them an email to asking them politely to refrain from being horrid. Both apologized after, so that says something.

Anyway, the cure for my stupid day was a piece of old fashioned chocolate cake and a reviving cup of Earl Grey at Baked Expectations with my friend Elizabeth. And since I was falling off the wagon, I dragged O with me and took him home a piece of chocolate orange mousse cake. Total cost? $20. Yep. Food budget for the week blown in one frosting-filled evening.

It was so delicious. And I felt so much better. And we almost made it the entire month. But excuses, excuses. Will channel my guilt into summarizing our experiment next week.

week 3 - the menu

Monday - perogies, fried onions and beans (a repeat from last week, but it was soooo good!)
Tuesday - black bean chili and corn muffins
Wednesday - grilled cheese sandwiches
Thursday - mushroom carrot loaf and a salad
Friday - cream of broccoli soup and oven fries
Saturday & Sunday - chick pea and cauliflower curry with brown rice

Week was a little uninspired, but we had a meeting at the community centre on Wednesday, and I had a meeting on Thursday. The oven fries rocked, though!