I don’t normally jump on any superfood bandwagon that comes along. Every few months an obscure food would enjoy its 15 minutes in the spotlight and allegedly we would be fools not to load up. I strongly believe in a balanced diet as my path to healthy eating. Unless there are compelling reasons in terms of taste and nutritional value, I rarely splurge on the latest fad. Coconut water and chia seeds are two superfood that made the cut in my kitchen.
Coconut water is well-known among athletes as a natural source electrolyte hydration. Chia seeds are valuable as source of omega 3, antioxidants, and fibre. Combining the two into a potent sports drink makes perfect sense. Last Friday I took advantage of a one-day sale on Ataulfo mangoes at Whole Foods Market and brought home ten perfectly ripened fruit. With just a little planning ahead, I treated myself to a slurp-worthy cooler that was also good for my body. Chia Coconut Water with Mango is now my favourite post-workout beverage.
I am embarrassed to admit that I like shopping. My gender disposition ought to give me a free pass. However, as computer programmer and athlete, many of my girl friends turn up their noses at such traditional stereotypical activities. Shopping is for girly girls and we ought to engage in much more intellectual or athletic pursuits. Sorry girls, I love beautiful things and they don’t just land on my lap serendipitously.
The simple act of aimless browsing can be divisive and that is why I prefer to shop alone. I don’t necessarily have a specific item to look for but when I see something I particularly love, the discovery is akin to unearthing a treasure. Obviously I am highly interested in kitchenware and my recent find of Hello Kitty cake pan proved just that.
I spent last weekend in St Paul / Minneapolis. The reason for the visit was an inline skating race. Those who are keeping tabs on my concussion recovery, I skated. Despite missing six weeks of training, I crossed the finish line in very respectable time. I received a conditional clear all from my physician this week and the hard work of mounting a comeback has begun. Spending a long weekend at the Twin Cities gave me an opportunity to explore the little neighbourhoods that give the city its flavour. I found these etched beech wood mini spoons from local company Talisman Designs. I saw their cheeseboards and salad servers before but the diminutive size of these spoons (think ice cream spoons) with the little bird is absolutely adorable.
For reasons unknown, I stopped baking my weekly bread since April and my bottles of yeast have been untouched. It’s funny how once the rhythm of daily life is disrupted, it is hard to resume the routine again. This week, I dusted off (well, not literally because that would be disgusting) those bottles and played with yeast in ways I never tried before. Both recipes were huge success though I have no human testimonial for one of them.
Let me start with one that I tasted. My brief journey in Germany left me wanting to learn more about their cuisine. More specifically, dessert. No surprise there! The word kuchen generically means cake but I associate it with the yeast-leavened fruit-studded confections I enjoyed abroad. Seriously, even McCafe in the Frankfurt airport was pretty awesome. With an abundance of tiny flavourful Ontario raspberries at home and the ennui from baking yet another buttermilk cake, I decided to make a raspberry kuchen.
I am always a little embarrassed about shopping when I travel. A close family friend once scoffed at his wife’s foreign shopping excursions. He insisted that it was worse than frivolous because there are sights to see, museums to take in, and cultures to experience. In his opinion, shopping in most cosmopolitan cities is rather generic and there is no need to travel all the way across the globe when the same thing can be found back home. I am not 100% in agreement with him but have to admit that he has some valid points. It does not stop me from indulging in retail therapy when I travel but this is where my embarrassment stems from.
Shopping in foreign countries allows me to bring small mementos of my travel back home. Some are great reminders in months or even years to come of what I enjoyed abroad. Some are unique finds that I cannot get in my hometown. Some are simply objects I absolutely fall in love with and would have purchased anywhere in the world. On my flight back to Canada earlier this week, my suitcase was bursting at the seams with purchases of all three categories. It was a most fruitful trip in the shopping department.
Eating food locally grown and raised by small farms practicing sustainable farming is a value that I did not expect to embrace with such dedication. I do not like to be lectured when I shop for groceries so the moral high ground approach is not the reason I care so much. I appreciate the earnestness and passion of our farmers. I certainly applaud them for going against the trend of industrial farming despite the hard labour and low profit. As a consumer, what truly convinced me is that dollar for dollar, I get much higher quality, better variety, and healthier option. Once I’ve seen the value in this choice, there’s no going back to my old ways.
Even in the familiarity of home, it takes planning and effort to get my weekly supply of farm fresh produce from my CSA Kawartha Ecological Growers and my favourite farmers’ markets. The challenge to eat locally is magnified when I’m away from home. As soon as I arrived in South Florida, my first order of business was to seek out locations of Whole Foods Market and farmers’ markets. Being one of the main growing region of United States, one would expect abundant availability of high quality produce in Florida. Strangely enough, that does not appear to be the case from many people I talked to. Since I arrived in Fort Lauderdale a week ago, I shopped at various grocery stores catering to different consumer markets. I visited Wal-Mart Supercenter, Publix, Whole Foods Market, and Marando Farms. Now I understand my friends’ lament on the lack of quality produce.
Aside from regular reading of recipes posted in magazines, cookbooks, and blogs, my favourite reason to play recipe sleuth comes from friendly requests. I’m known within my circle of friends as the girl who loves to cook and bake. It comes as no coincidence that friends would approach me from time to time with questions like “I’m looking for a great recipe for [insert an occasion] but I don’t want [insert constraints]. What do you recommend?”. Sounds familiar?
Strangely enough, I don’t have a recommendation off the top of my head in most cases. Part of the reason comes from depth of experience. As much as I love the subject, I only have at most ten years of home cooking experience under my belt. The other more important factor is that the constraints from the challenge rarely apply in my own kitchen or personal preference. I don’t have food allergies, intolerance, nor religious/lifestyle preference. Over the years, I stock my kitchen with all the equipment I need to accomplish what I like to do most. The search for a no-bake cheesecake was a good example in recent memory. When a friend asked me last week for a great recipe for bake sale that does not use mixers and is nut-free, I was scratching my head. Oh, and she needs to make 150 pieces!
While my east coast friends are dealing with the first snow of the season, I am enjoying a warm and (mostly) sunny weekend in Hawaii. My main reason for visiting is head-scratching to most people I talked to. It seems rather silly to fly 10 hours each way to rack up on mileage points. Of course I would love to stay longer but with my trip to Denmark earlier this year, I have already depleted all of my vacation days at work except for one. So here I am in Honolulu for a weekend.
This is one of those vacations that I have nothing planned in my itinerary. I've been to Honolulu ten years ago so have seen some of the must-see attractions. I'm here to relax and just indulge in activities I enjoy (which may or may not include a dip in the ocean. Seriously, I'm not much of a swimmer). Upon arriving at the hotel yesterday, I took a long time just chilling in my room with no hurry to get out until hunger eventually took over. You see, all I had during the eight hour long flight from Chicago to Honolulu was a yogurt parfait. It was one of the best yogurt parfaits I ever had with thick Greek yogurt, blueberry compote, homemade granola, dried sour cherries, and cajeta. What a treat from Tortas Frontera! But still, it was far from enough. So yes, a rumbling tummy eventually drove me out of the posh and comfortable hotel room in search of ramen.
I’ve been chosen to host an America’s Test Kitchen “Food & Friends” dinner party, cooking from the Provencal Bistro Menu of their upcoming Menu Cookbook. The last couple of days I’ve been busy with preparation and now the big day has finally arrived! You are welcome to follow along my progress by the twitter hashtag #ATKDinner.
My effort so far involves cooking some of the dishes in advance but mainly my biggest task is to make sure my house is clean and welcoming to friends. As much as I love the lived-in look of books piled high on the coffee table and opened mail on the counter, I don’t want to leave my guests searching for a spot to set down their drinks! The clean up is mostly done and I even got a new bookcase for the family room to house all my new cookbooks. My collection has long ago exceeded the capacity of the study upstairs!
With new toy comes new culinary landscape to explore. This is how I felt the minute I set my shiny new slow cooker on the kitchen counter. Whether you know it as Crockpot or slow cooker, this piece of small kitchen appliance is nothing new to the North American kitchen. I’m pretty sure generations of newlywed received one as a gift since the days it was introduced as the next greatest invention for convenient home cooking. Like most inventions, slow cooker has fallen somewhat out of fashion but it is still useful when it comes to cooking for a crowd, preferably without much fussing over. This is the reason I finally made the leap to join the slow cooker club.
The onset of colder temperature means comfort food will once again take over my menu. Chillies and stews and soup and braises are all things I love to cook and eat. And don’t forget beans! They are crucial to my mostly vegetarian diet and there are few things more comforting than a big pot of creamy beans. I am particularly fond of the heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo. The taste and quality are simply unmatched. Even though they are more expensive than what you find in grocery stores, they are still significantly more budget-friendly than cheap cuts of meat. If only there is an easier way to get them in Canada! One drawback about beans is the long cooking time. I rarely plan ahead enough so I often find myself staying up late at night until the pot of bean finishes cooking. With the help of my new toy, convenience can be mine at last.
Browsing the small kitchen appliances section is a huge exercise in self control. The practical side of me knows that half of what I see is useless and frivolous. Who needs yet another single-purpose machine to take up precious kitchen real estate? However, the shopaholic side of me cannot help but squeal “OMG! A cupcake maker for making cupcakes! And that mini deep fryer! I can make apple fritters on demand! And what about that soft serve machine with built in sprinkles dispenser!” Well, you get the idea.
However, one small appliances that I have been eyeing for years is the home vacuum sealer. This gadget totally screams late night infomercial but I can think of many practical uses in my kitchen. A few years ago, I even bought one but in the end returned it to the store because I simply couldn’t justify the purchase. This month, I finally made the plunge and I couldn’t be happier. I only wish I bought it earlier.
