Tag: food

The Daily EO: August 8th, 2012

After a long drought – being on the road – I finally got a new CSA share this week.  Every Sunday we get an e-mail letting us know this week’s share and I was standing on the West Coast having a great time yet also jealous that I wasn’t home to enjoy the bounty.

  • sweet corn
  • baby New Potatoes
  • yellow tomatoes
  • baby beets with tops
  • baby carrots
  • green onions
  • purple beans
  • zucchinis

In the evening we were invited to a friend’s house who also got the same CSA and we ate barbeque grilled pizza with yellow tomatoes, japanese eggplant with purple beans, butter chicken, basmasti rice and corn on the cob.  Muskoka corn!  I didn’t even know it existed.

I’d also like to say out loud something that I’ve know for a while.  The bags of “baby carrots” you buy in the grocery store, are not truly sweet yummy baby carrots (GASP!)  They are large carrots chopped into pieces and then “sanded” to peel and the round the edges.  I buy them yes, but I just wanted the world to know that I know.  I’m watching you.

August 8th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  Impromptu dinner gathering using our CSA basket!

 

The Daily EO: July 30th & 31st, 2012

Sorry for the delay in the EOs, it’s been difficult to get to them with the travels and activity lately! 

Part 1:

Greetings from Sechelt, British Columbia and the Smillie Ocean Front Home!

Hours Driven (door to door):  4
kms travelled:  85
Money Spent:  $138.56

Today we travelled to Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast to stay with some friends for a couple of days.  Although it is not on an island, you have to ride a 40 minute ferry to get there.  That ferry ride gives you a feeling of a true journey and that you are exceptionally isolated – it has also saved the area from overwhelming development by Vancouver commuters.

We caught the 9:40 ferry, but that required a drive through Vancouver during rush hour, but it was surprisingly easy to move to Horseshoe Bay for our journey.

We had received exceedingly detailed directions to head to the house and found to our delight the perfect lake house.  Built and obviously decorated in the 1970s, the house with our friends quickly invited us to shove off your city stress.  We spent the day on the beach despite the cooler weather, and I watched as my husband charmed yet more children.

The adults enjoyed quiet time once the kids hit bed, despite knowing an early morning would quickly be upon us.  And we were right – the kids were up trying to be quiet right in the early morning.

July 30th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  The full moon shone over us – clear skies promising tomrrows weather.

A Full Moon Rises

 

The day was perfect – not a cloud and a soft summer breeze cooling our skin.  And it showed, we were in bathing suits all day.  Well, except one of us – Emile borrowed a motorcycle and spent hours driving the roads.  I learned how to stand-up paddleboard, enjoyed lime margaritas, burned my nose, tickled little children, pulled up prawn traps and even managed to even sneak in a long 6 km run.

My friend’s two-year-old son is adorable and well-mannered.  And – Parents, listen to this one! – he pulls himself into his crib every afternoon for a nap.  Yes, that is right, he decides he is tired and then goes has a nap.  A 2 year old!

Four adults tried to figure out how to make a butterfly birthday cake using cupcakes and 2 square cakes.  It took much longer than you might think.  So did the streamers.

July 31st, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  Neighbourly Kindness – after helping the neighbours with their prawn traps, they gave the entire haul (peeled and prepped) to us to enjoy for our dinner.  Afterall – they had ordered pizza already.

Self Portrait: Husband with Gifted Prawns

 

The Daily EO: July 21st, 2012

I don’t like fish or seafood.  No, really, I don’t.  Please don’t try to tell me “It doesn’t taste fishy at all”.  It does.  It takes like fish.  Salmon does.  Tuna does.  Yes, even the lobster and crab do.  Even if you drown it in garlic butter.   I have sensitive taste buds.  I can taste it.  It tastes like fish.  I don’t like it.

This eliminates traditional sushi as a pleasant food item for me.  I enjoy going to Japanese restaurants for dinner with friends and my husband, as I can order the vegetarian options, but it usually means a tofu dish, or avocado rolls or cucumber rolls.  And let’s face it – both of those rolls are boring.

When we are in Cranbrook, we always go for sushi.  We always talk about trying one of the 3 other places in town, but always end up at Sakura.  My brother – who also has the sophisticated anti-fish taste buds I do – always orders the beef and chicken teriyaki rolls.  Emile always orders at least one salmon roll, and I always get the edamame and tempura veggies as starters.  For a main, I skip around the menu ordering the vegetarian dishes or sometimes order a meat noodle dish.   But I am usually disappointed in my choice of rolls – I can’t ever order from the “Special Roll” section because of the fish problem.  You know – the rolls that come on a sleek long dish and you say “Oh, how beautiful” when it arrives at your table.  Sauces artfully placed, and garnished carefully positioned.  Sigh.

On the special menu this evening a “special veggie roll” was offered.  It featured asparagus, avocado, spinach, mango, and sweet potato with a cream sauce and a blueberry sauce.  I shared it with my mom, and it is the first time that I got to truly appreciate “roll art” arriving at the table.  The dish was the perfect line between savory and sweet, and utterly delicious.

July 21st, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:   Edamame, tempura vegetables, teriyaki tofu, “special veggie roll” and deep-fried mango ice cream.  So Good.

The Daily EO: July 18th, 2012

My brother doesn’t like people to play around with things that are not broken or already good.  “Just leave it alone!”, he’ll growl at you.   When I prepare food, I am always screwing around with things.  He hates it.  He always tries it, and often will eat it, but happily watches me get back on a plane or in the car so he can just eat food how it should be.  No “hippie” food, no vegan crap, just left alone.

I made dinner tonight – a stir fry with marinated tempeh and chicken served on grated cauliflower.  Todd ate it.  Said he could have done without the tempeh, but ate it.  Dessert?  Well.

July 18th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  The look on my brother’s face when he took his first bite of chocolate banana/avocado pudding sweetened with honey.   Mom and Emile shared an extra portion.

 

The Daily EO: July 16th, 2012

Feed your children something that makes you feel a little guilty.  Occasionally something they clamour for, something they love, and let them eat as much as they want.   Make it a special occasion out of nothing.  It’s part of childhood, it’s part of growing up and it will form the basis of a memories that they will hold dear for life.  The rest of the time, feed them chickpeas, quinoa, organic fruits and vegetables, homemade meals, or whatever you believe gives them the best start at life.  But don’t forget to satisfy the kids in them.

When we were kids, every summer we spent one week at Christina Lake at a friend’s house.  During that week, we were allowed to eat anything we wanted – as long as we ate a good dinner and drank a glass of milk.  I ate creamsicles, sugar cereal, cans of pop, potato chips, bugles, corn chips, cookies and anything else I could get my hands on.  During the rest of the year, we didn’t have ready access to such abundances – it was carefully monitored and often not even purchased.   Frankly, I spent so much time swimming in the lake and running around the beach that I probably burned all those calories anyways.   And the joy it brought my brother and I!

I’ve told you of our wiener roasts before.   Today we had another one.  We gathered our new roasting sticks, fried onions and white hot dog buns and cooked them over an open flame.  Yes, I know that hot dogs have terrible things in them, I know that white bread has little redeeming value and that marshmallows are sugar bombs.  I don’t eat like this normally, and so I let myself savour the taste memories.

July 16th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  Ordinary food made extraordinary with layered memories over time.

(Photo Credit Emile – no post processing)

Another Wiener Roast Memory. Aurora Borealis in the Fire Pit.

The Daily EO: July 13th, 2012

Greetings From Cranbrook, BC and the Levang Motor Inn!

Hours Door to Door:  15
kms travelled:  1525.3
Money Spent:  $124.56

We had a plan – we were going to sleep in, enjoy the gym at our fancy hotel, eat breakfast, then hit the road for day 3.  That all changed when Emile woke up early feeling refreshed – and with a thin wallet – and said “I think we can make it all the way today”.  It wasn’t a bad idea, we had about 1.5 days of driving left and it felt silly to stay the night 4 hours away from our destination.  So, plans changed – out of bed, in the shower, stop at McDonald’s, fuel up and head out of Winnipeg with a song in our heart.

Just a note here – for anyone who hasn’t had a McGriddle in a long time (like me) – they are as wonderfully terrible as you can remember a sandwich made with syrup pitted pancakes to be.  And the Higgins and Burke Earl Grey tea was excellent.

There are those that will tell you driving the prairies is boring, but for me, I love it.  The vast expanses, the fields of yellow and purple, the multiple tiny towns gathered on the highway’s edge and the land filled with grain elevators, silos and even small oil pumps.   I also love that as a province, Saskatchewan refuses to change their time for Daylight savings – if it is 11:00 am in January, it’s good enough to be 11:00 am in July.   They just opted out.  I didn’t know you could opt out of Daylight Savings time. – I should try it in the Spring ahead and get my extra hour of sleep.  Just like the city of Creston, BC who as a town refused to change their clocks – they are right on the timezone line, otherwise that could be problematic.

I also love that Western Canada seems to have an end to their cities.  There isn’t outskirts for even most of the major cities – suddenly its upon you and just a quickly you are through.  In Ontario, we stretch and spread beyond the city limits, and now it seems that Barrie to Niagara Falls is one unending path of human construction.

We stopped at a little bakery in Indian Head outside of Regina.  I ordered 3 “jam jam” cookies and savoured them as we continued our drive.  Actually, I didn’t savour them at all, I ate them as quickly as I could.   Emile’s Long John – and I am talking about his chocolate covered pastry – disappeared pretty quickly also.

We missed any restaurant that appealed to us in Lethbridge, so ended up at Jimmy’s Drive Thru in Bow River about 40 kms past.  Type of place that really doesn’t care about the service levels – just takes care of business.   We ate our burgers on the go as we continued our trip through Alberta.

Do you know the speed limit in Saskatchewan and much of Manitoba is 110 km/hour?  You’ve got a four lane divided highway with 5 km visibility.  I wonder if they ever have accidents there?   In BC a twisting mountain narrow 2 lane highway speed limit is 100 km/hour.  I think one of these provinces need to consider adjusting.  As Emile was passed several times by the locals, we enjoyed the reemergence of the mountain ranges, and I felt the familiarity of home.

This is where we’ll stick for some time now before carrying on to Vancouver and returning to Huntsville via the United States.   It’s not very often that you take a picture of the welcome sign for three provinces in one day – it’s nice to have a break from driving.

July 13th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  Photo Credit Susan – that’s right! Not Emile!

Sunset in Big Sky Country

The Daily EO: July 8th, 2012

I neglected to put photo credit on the photo from yesterday’s entry.  Although I did the post-processing, the photo was taken by my husband Emile. 

There is a bakery in town.  It is called Schat Bakery.  German or something.  It certainly catches your eye as you drive down Main Street.  In English, the name sounds like past tense of poop.  Like all bakeries, I know it is there, but I do not often visit.  They smell terrific but are like having 3 shots of vodka before grocery shopping.  Suddenly you really need a cake a day for desserts.  So with our fitness kick, I stay out of the bakeries.  I can’t physically run as far as I would have to burn off all those calories.

My in-laws are visiting and we decided to do some sight-seeing and shopping downtown.   Looking for a fast and cheap lunch idea, I suggested the hotdog cart.  Nothing like a hotdog or sausage on a beautiful summer day!  My father-in-law looked at me and the cart like I suggested he scrounge for food in the gutters.  Apparently, he has a problem with hot dogs.  Or perhaps he was cranky due to lack of caffeine.  Whatever it was, he wasn’t eating on the street.  He was going to walk the six blocks to the closest Tim Horton’s and get a coffee.

In all the times I have visited with people from Holland, it doesn’t matter how full you are, how sick of food you may be, you always have a sweet treat with your coffee.  Always.  Even if it is stale graham crackers from the back of the pantry.  You have a sweet treat.  And my in-laws are Dutch.  We needed a coffee and a sweet treat.  And no tubes of processed meat.

Hoping to salvage this situation, I looked up and saw Schat Bakery across the street.  On the window it said “Coffee/Tea”.  We entered the cool shop and the lit glass display cases glowed.  The signs for each item were in English and DUTCH!  This isn’t a German bakery, this is a Dutch bakery.  And I never knew.  Not only had I steered my in-laws to wonderful hometown bakery, but a Dutch one!   They even had a Dutch conversation with the proprietor.  I am their favorite daughter-in-law again.

July 8th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  A Dutch Bakery, coffee and a oliebollen for all.

The Daily EO: July 5th, 2012

There are 5 ice cream shops in Huntsville – The Nutty Chocolatier, Kawartha Dairies, Yog’s, Belly and The Purple House.

The Nutty is the oldest and most established – it’s been on Main Street for years and draws in the tourists with their huge selection of ice cream, chocolates, and candy.  It’s open until 11 pm in the summer allowing for treats after other events in town.  They carry Nestle Ice Cream.

Yog’s used to be located on the Main Street (across from Nutty) and had every inch of their shop decorated with photos of patrons enjoying their ice cream.  There were 1000s of pictures.  They tehn moved just off Main Street for a fresher look (read: no more pictures).  Yog’s also carries Nestle Ice Cream.

Kawartha Dairies is a recent addition.  They built a huge log cabin-ish building outside of town on Highway 60 (on the way to Algonquin Park or Ottawa).  They are part of Kawartha Dairies (obviously) which is a large dairy in the – you guessed it – Kawartha Lakes area.  Kawartha Lakes is not in Muskoka.  They obviously serve Kawartha Dairies ice cream.

Belly is a new gourmet ice cream shop this season and all of their ice cream is blended in Huntsville.  They are located also on Main Street, but in a small gazebo in a tiny park.  They serve local and seasonal flavours like rhubarb or Tall Trees Butter Tarts.

The Purple House opened after River Mill Park did – it’s now located just off Main Street directly across from the biggest children’s play area in Huntsville and the waterfront.  It is a tiny purple house.  The serve Kawartha Dairies Ice Cream.

So if you are a consumer in Huntsville looking to purchase an ice cream cone – you are in luck, you have lots of choice and a decision to make.

Do you go with Nutty Chocolatier – the original?  Yet the tourist trap?  Do you want the originality and quality of Belly?  Two things that you pay extra for?  What about Kawartha Dairies?  It’s a bit of a drive out to Highway 60 and it drags people away from our downtown core but they have a huge selection.  Or The Purple House?  Across from the park and the waterfront?  Or Yog’s that serves exactly the same ice creams as Nutty just around the block?  Yet also a tradition?

It’s a hard choice. But it is the little things that make the difference to me – I don’t want Kawartha Dairies because they are a new interloper is from Lindsay or the like.  Go back to where you came from with your fancy store away from the centre of town!  And if I am only buying an ice cream cone – I have to stand outside – I can’t purchase in the store.  Telling me as a consumer what to do never bodes well for you.

Yog’s never got past their tiny little dingy store with me.  Even now that they moved, I have to wonder why they aren’t doing something to differentiate themselves from the competition.

Belly – I haven’t been to yet.  It’s next on the list though.  I’ve heard it is very expensive and the portions are small – but isn’t anything that claims to be gourmet?  It will be an occasional treat – but I need to find a less pricey regular place.

The Purple House.  Brilliant location.  Supported the “Band On the Run” by giving two for one ice cream cones to racers on race day.  Kawartha Dairies Ice Cream, but it’s not like Nestle’s is local.  And also a frozen yogurt machine that you can make your own.  So love that.

For years, our choice was The Nutty – but the portions have been shrinking, the prices rises and there is a feeling that perhaps you are not valued as a local consumer as you should be.

The Purple House welcomed us warmly when we returned to support them for supporting us in Band on the Run.  Fair prices, solid selection, excellent service and good portion size.  Sorry Nutty.

July 5th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  A dumped supplier.  A new place.  And another important decision in my life made.

The Daily EO: July 3rd, 2012

I wear contact lenses.  I’ve corrected my vision since Grade 2.  The first time I wore my glasses, it was for the Christmas pageant at school.  My classmate Caroline – yes, I remember her name – said to me “Angels don’t wear glasses” and that line has lived in infamy in my life since then.  I was originally diagnosed as near-sighted with an astigmatism, the latter I seemed to have grown out of as no optometrist has noted it subsequently.  I wore glasses from that fateful Christmas pageant until I was about 25.  Playing softball is difficult if your depth perception is off.  So, you either miss the ball every time, or you correct your vision and deal with the sweaty lenses.

By that point, contact lenses were moving into the daily types and so much more comfortable and affordable.   I figured I would correct my vision AND avoid the inconvenience of glasses.

I have two strong memories of vision:  when I first got my glasses, your brain needs time to adapt the new distorted images and although you can see properly for the first time, my brain had spent almost 8 years adapting the images for me.  So when I first got my glasses, I could see the TV better, but I my brain also interpreted my height as being significantly higher than I was actually tall.  That was pretty disconcerting for a kid.  I remember running across the street from my house, looking down and wondering how I got so high up from the road.

The second was when I was 25.  For those of you who do not need corrective lenses, you will not be able to relate.  When you cannot see properly without glasses, it’s something of an anchor.  You have these things on that dint the side of your head, leave red marks on your nose, and that get so filthy you wonder how you could see through them.   And after spending about 1/2 hour trying to jam lenses into my eyeballs that my reflexes just weren’t having, the first drive home without the glasses anchor was miraculous.  I could see, I couldn’t feel the lenses, it was like normal people.  It was amazing.

Now that I am old, my eye doctor has informed my that my vision is changing yet again.  And that would explain why I cannot see to pluck my eyebrows with my lenses in.  In fact, I have to be correctionless to be able to see about 50% of the hairs.  So, every two weeks when I remove my lenses for a 12 hour rest, I also pluck my eyebrows.

July 3rd, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  If you cannot see to pluck, you cannot see you need to pluck.  When life taketh, it giveth.

 

This week’s CSA half share:

  • Baby New Potatoes
  • bunch of tat tsoi
  • bunch arugula
  • a bag of lettuce mix
  • small heads of bok/ joi choi
  • snap peas
  • green peas

 

The Daily EO: June 24th, 2012

It rained all day today.   It started about 9:30 am and rained for the most part until 8 pm.   I spent most of the day in bed watching TV, drinking mug after mug of tea, eating carbly delicious food, surfing the internet, and reading.  It was so comforting.  My husband did the same – although he spent most of the day watching study videos and reading for his Networks+ exam.  He’s happy because nobody wants to study when you’d rather be outside in the sun.

There is something about spring that makes you want to throw open your doors and bask in the sunshine after a deep and dark winter.  But just as wonderful as it feels to put on dry clean clothes after a day at the beach, a cool rainy Sunday in summer is a needed break.  Closing the doors and snuggling in, eating soup and knowing that tomorrow back you will be in the sunshine.   After a week of record-breaking temperatures that were indeed glorious, this rainy day focused us back inside as a reminder to enjoy the day that comes.

It was also filled with soothing events:

  • I read about this week’s CSA offering.  I jealously thought of others as this is one of our off weeks.  More strawberries.  Too bad.
  • I received word that two of my postcards via Postcrossing were received!  I requested two more addresses knowing now that two postcards are coming to me soon!  The postcard I sent to a guy in the USA was marked as one of his “favorite”!  Hooray!
  • We made one of my husband’s favorite comfort meals: Manwiches with mushrooms and onions.  As a loving wife, I at one point made sloppy joes from scratch for him.. .  well, I used seiten instead of ground beef.  .  .my efforts were appreciated, but not ever requested again.  He prefers that Hunt’s can.  Sigh.  For compromise, we now use a mix of ground beef and TVP.   It took me years to get him off cheese slices for grilled cheese sandwiches instead of old cheddar.
  • I pulled a Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Lentil Loaf from the freezer for snacks.  I made it a couple months ago from Spilling the Beans and knew someday I would love myself for freezing one of them.  The day came!
  • As the house is now sold, we didn’t have to clean, tidy, put things away or worry about cat hair gathering in the corners of the bathroom floor.  We can go back to our normally clean, but slightly cluttery selves.
  • I read the latest PostSecret cards and secretly (not any longer, I guess) felt as always a combination of smugness, sympathy and voyeurism.
  • Skipped running with the valid excuses of sore calves/shins and concerns that I would melt under the steady drizzle.

June 25th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  Perfect, Ordinary Rainy Day.