The Progression of the Garden

July 31, 2012July 31, 2012 ~ Teresa ~ 4 Comments

There’s nothing so interesting to me this summer as my vegetable garden. I’ve had some difficulties (mostly of the nocturnal animal variety), but overall I’m pretty pleased with it. I harvested tomatoes today, with more to come. There will be beans and cucumbers, kale, Swiss chard, beets, and radishes – perhaps even an eggplant or two. I’m going to try again with lettuces for September harvest and there’s late-planted garlic growing, which I’ll pull up in October, dry out, and sow for next year’s harvest.

In the meantime, I’ll keep taking photos, so you may have to endure one or two more of these posts before the summer’s through. I’d love to hear about what you’re growing, in backyards, windows, or balconies.

FFWD – Lemon Quinoa Pilaf

July 27, 2012 ~ Teresa ~ 11 Comments

The keen-eyed among you will notice that the title of this week’s post doesn’t really match the name of this week’s recipe. I decided to substitute quinoa so that my partner could eat it with me. I love barley, especially when my mother uses it in soup, but it contains gluten, so it’s a no go grain in our house.

Adapting the recipe was easy, though a little fussy. Quinoa is more like couscous than barley and takes only five minutes under boiling water to be ready. The original recipe allows the vegetables to cook in stages with the barley. To make sure that the carrot and red pepper were soft enough for the pilaf, I added them to the pan with the partially sautéed onions and cooked them until they were nearly tender. Then, I added the vegetables to the chicken stock and simmered it for a few more minutes. I strained the vegetables out of the stock and set them aside, then brought the stock up to a boil before pouring it over the quinoa. (If your stock reduces too much, you can top it up with boiling water.)

Once the quinoa was done, I added the cooked vegetables to it, along with the lemon zest and green onions. Not exactly what Dorie had in mind, but with all the flavours and textures intact.

You can find many other blogged descriptions of this week’s FFWD recipe (many of them ACTUALLY using barley!) here: Lemon Barley Pilaf

FFWD – Salmon with Basil Tapenade

July 21, 2012July 21, 2012 ~ Teresa ~ 14 Comments

The first time I made this dish was not long after French Fridays began. A friend of ours was living with cancer and was slowly beginning to let go. I started going over regularly to cook for her and Kevin would join me when his work schedule allowed. Another friend of hers had organized a rotation using Lotsa Helping Hands, so that folks didn’t show up all at once on one day and leave her hanging another. I was holding onto a lot of denial, which was fed by the fact that this had all happened before – the decline, the rotation – and she’d bounced back miraculously. By the end of the year, though, she was gone. Many of the first several months of French Fridays recipes were shared with her. They have a bittersweetness for me now. I also have her assessment of those recipes in the back of my mind – this one was too oily (I used a lot less olive oil this time), the Pumpkin-Gorgonzola Flans were actually a dessert, she wouldn’t change a thing about the Spiced Butter-Glazed Carrots.

The timing of this week’s dish is perfect – last weekend was the Vancouver Folk Music Festival and she devoured it passionately every year. Jeanne was a foodie, an explorer, a self-described “culture vulture,” and a seeker of healing and wisdom. She was fiercely opinionated, always ready for adventure, and deeply committed to her friends. The world is less for not having her in it, but it seems as though there are traces of her everywhere, in the festivals, art shows and Pride marches; the waterways she kayaked up and down BC’s coast; the roads across the province she knew as well as the locals. I think of her often, especially when I go to an art show or try a new restaurant. Nothing got her as excited as trying something new, unless it was taking off into the wilderness for a while.

Memory is wrapped up in the senses. One of the reasons I love cooking and baking for those I love is that it helps build those memories for me and for them. When Jeanne died, she left me some of her kitchen equipment and some of her camera equipment. I like the connection that’s made between my blogging and my memories of her.

You can find many other blogged descriptions of this week’s FFWD recipe here: Salmon with Basil Tapenade

In the Swing of It

July 17, 2012 ~ Teresa ~ 4 Comments

It’s truly summer here and I’m spending a lot of time fussing over the plants in my vegetable garden. That’s not all that there is to do, though. Summer’s a busy time around here.

For instance, while I’m typing away in my stuffy apartment (what am I thinking?), there’s a hyper-local honey tasting at Salt Tasting Room; folks are finding a spot for their blankets to watch a movie in Stanley Park (courtesy of Fresh Air Cinema); and elsewhere in the park, folks are settling in to watch a live presentation of The Music Man.

This week’s Main Street Farmer’s Market is featuring a pie contest as part of their Berry Festival and The Salty Tongue’s brought back their Long Table Supper series with a fruit-focused Pit for your Supper theme. If that’s not enough berry goodness for you, Gourmet Warehouse is tempting folks (well, me) by stocking Bernardin’s Home Canning Starter Kit. If you’re needing a canning primer, the Greater Vancouver Food Bank‘s Community Kitchen program is hosting a Safe Canning Basics demonstration. If you’re more of a grow-your-own sort, there’s Mid-Season Gardening workshop coming up, too. I think I may need a little help on both counts – I got a little carried away with the five(!) varieties of beans I planted and I think freezing all the extras would be a bit of a shame. I’m also trying to figure out what to plant in my newly freed up garden squares – ah, Square Foot Gardening, you really know how to keep a body hopping.

There’s tonnes more going on, with all the festivals, block parties, and outdoor events of the summer. I’m hoping to take in a goodly portion of them. But for now, I’m off to water my garden before it gets dark.

What’s happening in your neck of the woods this summer?

FFWD: A Big Ol’ Catch Up Post: Seaweed Sablés, Corn Pancakes & Ginger-Pickled Cucumbers

July 13, 2012January 17, 2017 ~ Teresa ~ 24 Comments

If you’re not careful, your blog can become the cognate of that dusty, cluttered storage closet that you try not to think about too much. Unfinished drafts and unedited photos in jumbled heaps mirror the stacks of old textbooks and piles of unused sports equipment that you keep meaning to sort out. Well, consider this post a sort of virtual garage sale, clearing out a bit of space on my overtaxed hard drive.

David’s Seaweed Sablés

Sablé cookies are one of Dorie Greenspan’s specialties. Each of her cookbooks have several varieties included, most famously her World Peace Cookies. These ones are a little different – they’re savoury, salty, and sweet and include that jewel of the sushi world, nori. I say jewel because nori is beautifully iridescent, so much so that it seemed almost a shame to chop it into tiny pieces for this cookie. The results are surprisingly tasty and worth sacrificing a sheet or two. Eating them, I imagined myself on a Paris balcony, champagne in hand.

You can find the rest of the gang’s posts on this recipe here: David’s Seaweed Sablés

Corn Pancakes

This recipe is like the perfect outfit, that can be dressed up or down as necessary. Canned corn is called for, but fresh or frozen would do just as well, if you’ve an aversion to the canned stuff. These pancakes can serve as finger food at a cocktail party, in the vein of Buckwheat Blini, or they can be the starch at a simple dinner. I opted for the simple route, serving them with steamed broccoli and turkey smokies. They worked well, but I’m looking forward to trying them again when the weather gets cooler – they’d be perfect for soaking up the juices of a braise or stew.

More French Fridays posts on this recipe can be found here: Corn Pancakes

Crunchy Ginger-Pickled Cucumbers

Last up is a salad so simple that my brother exclaimed, “Oh look, Teresa chopped up a few cucumbers and called it a salad!” It was my contribution to the barbeque feast in celebration of my nephew’s high school graduation, and I was quick to tell him that there was a little more to the salad than cucumbers. I didn’t bother mentioning how easy it was to put together. After the cucumbers hang out in some sea salt for a while, they’re tossed with fresh ginger, seasoned rice vinegar, and red pepper flakes and left to stew in their juices in the refrigerator. Luckily, they’re delicious, so I didn’t get any more teasing for the (lack of) effort my contribution to dinner entailed.

You can find the link to everyone’s posts on this recipe here: Crunchy Ginger-Pickled Cucumbers

I’m still behind on French Fridays, so another smorgasbord post might show up here soon, but I think I’m well on my way to getting back on track. Now, I’m looking forward to catching up on everyone else’s posts.

Flowers + Dog

July 5, 2012 ~ Teresa ~ 4 Comments

A photo post today, just because. I was hoping to call it Dog and Butterfly, for that ’70s vibe, but none showed up on the day I was taking these photos. I did have a face-to-face with a hummingbird, which seemed to go on forever, but must have really been only about ten seconds. I don’t mind not having photos of that encounter – how often does a hummingbird hover a foot from one’s face, taking stock of you while allowing you to enjoy its delicate iridescence?

Most of these photos were taken at my parents’ place and the rest are from a walk around Fort Langley. Tomorrow, I’ll be back, with cucumbers.

Oh Summer, Where Are You?

July 3, 2012 ~ Teresa ~ 4 Comments

We’ve had a long wet stretch from late winter until, well, now. The forecast finally promises a stretch of sun, but I’ll believe it when I see it. The funny thing is that I’m a mild weather girl. Having been raised here, rain doesn’t bother me. But, since I’ve started vegetable gardening, I’ve found myself longing for some sunshine.

There are things growing in my garden and, truth be told, there are a lot of things germinating in my garden right now, too. The one good thing about this very late summer is that my procrastinating self has been able to stretch out the planting portion of the season to its limits. But, my tomato plants are sad and I’m feeling a little fear for the eggplant plants I finally put into the ground. I’m not worried about the zucchini. I suspect that it would over-produce in a nuclear winter (though I hope never to test that theory).

I love looking at my vegetable beds, neatly marked off into square foot plots with wooden barbeque skewers and hemp twine (I’m rather proud of myself for repurposing those skewers). The flower beds are a challenge, sometimes, with the constant threat of morning glory, buttercup, snails and slugs. The vegetable garden, though, is easier to weed and brings out a love of orderliness I didn’t know I possessed. If only that would extend to the storage cupboards…

Lime Honey Beet Salad

June 19, 2012June 19, 2012 ~ Teresa ~ 6 Comments

Remember sour candies? Perhaps you still indulge once in a while. I have occasionally, though chocolate was always my favourite treat. Their appeal lies in the contrast between the powerfully sour coating and the sweetness of the candy underneath. It’s a pleasurable shock.

Dorie’s Lime Honey Beet Salad has that same effect, albeit in a much more grown up and healthier fashion. My first bite had me drawing a quick breath of surprise, even though I knew exactly what was in the salad (I made it, after all). We had this with a slow-cooked moose stew that I’d cooked overnight and it made a nice contrast.

Just a quick, late post this time. It’s been a busy month and I’m looking forward to a less hectic July.

You can find many other blogged descriptions of this week’s FFWD recipe here: Lime Honey Beet Salad

FFWD – Almond Flounder Meunière (Make that Sole)

June 8, 2012June 8, 2012 ~ Teresa ~ 24 Comments

I’m not a fan of heavily breaded or batter-covered fish. I’m fine with a little light dredging or the barest coating of fine crumbs, but too much and I begin to flash back to Good Fridays past and their requisite take out dinners featuring tiny pieces of fish hidden in gobs of deep-fried batter. And schnitzel, which I’ve never really been on board with, either.

A crust of ground almonds and lemon zest, though; that’s a coating I can get excited about. The recipe calls for a tablespoon of all-purpose flour to be added to the almond mixture, but I substituted a gluten-free whole grain flour mixture. I also substituted sole for the flounder, which is kind of perfect, since the recipe is based on a combination of two classic sole dishes: sole amandine and sole meunière.

The fish is brushed with egg yolk, then coated on one side with the almond-lemon zest crust. It’s cooked in brown butter and finished with a few squirts of lemon juice and some toasted almonds. (I skipped the parsley, which has been growing extra-slowly in the cool, damp weather we’ve been having lately.) I served it with steamed cauliflower, which I dressed with lemon juice and a little pepper.

My post this week is a catch up, since everyone else is making olive oil ice cream and I (sadly) do not own an ice cream maker. I’m glad I finally got to this recipe – it was too good to be ignored, unlike those fish and chip dinners of yesteryear.

You can find many other blogged descriptions of this FFWD recipe here: Almond Flounder Meunière

Nearly Summer

June 5, 2012June 5, 2012 ~ Teresa ~ 2 Comments

It’s my favourite season here in Vancouver and I’m looking forward to a spring and summer full of gardening, festivals, learning, and playing. We’ve had a rainy spring so far, but the sun’s expected soon and I’m hoping that the plants in my garden will start taking off.

What are you looking forward to in these warmer months? And did you catch the Transit of Venus today?