Grandpa's garden,
a roast in the BBQ,
the comics,
good wine,
good food,
grandma's chocolate chip
cookies,
and family--
teasing, laughing, comforting,
and just being together
because we can.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Family Traditions: Sunday Dinner
Grandpa's garden,
a roast in the BBQ,
the comics,
good wine,
good food,
grandma's chocolate chip
cookies,
and family--
teasing, laughing, comforting,
and just being together
because we can.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Lovecraft Critters
Here sits a parliament of owls from an art class
our Ulskie took part in. If only the folks in Ottawa were as dignified and
well-
behaved!
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Birthday Bliss-out
I had such a wonderful birthday this year. The Naughty Tea Ladies sent me an e-card from Rubber Chicken cards, that made me laugh first thing in the morning. They sent me The Psychic: Cumpleaños - "La Psichica" (for some reason the title comes up in Spanish)--hilarious. Peter made me a wonderful dinner and we had a small group of friends over. I'm trying to get over my FEAR OF DINNER PARTIES. Not that I'm afraid to go to them, but I am nervous about giving them. I don't know why I'm nervous about playing the role of hostess, but I guess it's just a kind of shyness I have to work at overcoming. I love introducing people though, and watching the connections unfold. We ended up having a wonderful conversation about the German/Russian diaspora, because of our family histories via Chile, Northern Manitoba, Lars, Stuttgart, Saskatchewan, and the Ukraine. It made me curious about the relationship between my grandfather who left Germany in the thirties and his brother who stayed.We had Peter's crab soup which is made by pouring hot corn stock over fresh crab meat. Now I know corn is the root of all evil (long story), and I've really lost my taste for it, but this is one case for corn. (Polenta is good too.) The day before the party Peter hauled his butt down to the Lobster man and brought back a couple of buddies on the bus. He dispatched them, cooked them and cleaned out the meat.
We also had Chevrette and figs on crackers, crab risotto, sautéed oyster mushrooms, peppers jalfrezi and fresh bread. Our friends brought a lovely soy bean salad, filled meat buns (very much like mini kolachy), and a porn star dessert. Everything was delicious. Okay, but my faux pas as a hostess was that I didn't ask if there were any allergies to crab and that two couples don't eat meat. Anyway, everyone had enough to eat, I think, and all were very gracious. Also, if you do have an allergy please REMIND your hostess, because I get people's allergies or aversions mixed up--the crab, hazelnut, salmon, gooeyduck allergies which all are all food we frequently serve (well, maybe not the gooeyduck). Since we're on the subject, I don't like offal, blood sausage, brain cheese, or anything with toenails on it. I grew up in the prairies in a farming community, with hearty omnivore traditions, so you're pretty safe to invite me over for dinner anytime! Peter is lactose intolerant to some degree, and our son is picky, but not allergic to anything we know of.
I made up some crackers for a cheese course with Beddis Blue from Saltspring--a lovely barnyardy cheese and honeycomb from the Nicola Valley. Then we presented the hilarious porn star strawberry tarts which made at least one of our guests squirm with delight, and the kids devoured them.
I received some lovely gifts: flowers from the Leaf Seamstress's garden, a flirty bag and some quail eggs from Silly Lily, and a precious handmade cookbook from Loiszing. Lovecrafts!
P.S. We drank Prosecco di Valdobiadene, and Lang Gewurtz, 2006 (nice glycerous rose finish).
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Gung Hay Fat Rat!
We are a group of people who love food. We are like foraging insects who upon discovering a quality source of pollen, nectar, or seeds pass the word directly onto the rest of our colony. We are The Eaters. Some of us can even cook, too. A few of us cook for a living, others make it their business to find the best meals in Vancouver. I feel privileged to be one of The Eaters. especially on a night when we are treated to Chinese New year's Feast hosted by our man, Lee (Mr. Crabkini 2008.)
It's a tricky thing, planning a dinner with a bunch of Eaters and their troublesome offspring, but we're in good hands. Lee arranges a private room with a special table and menu just for the kids. He's chosen to wait until the Alaskan King crabs are in season and orders a menu based around the crab prepared in a variety of ways. We go take a look at the tanks where the giant creatures with thick, bumpy shells remind me of the giant alien robots in a lurid cover illustration of The War of the Worlds. They are horrible and majestic creatures, dredged from the deep for our entertainment. Some are more feisty than others. All are doomed baby, doomed.
When we get settled, the waiters take our orders for libations: beer, soft drinks, and Perrier for the pregnant lady. Meanwhile, we pour cups of jasmine tea for one another, lulled into a semi-hypnotic state by the Lazy Susan. The first course is a slow-cooked cleansing broth made with pork and figs. The meat is placed on a dish with the figs and ginko nuts to display the pride in ingredients and provide some texture to whet out appetites. The kids start munching on crispy chicken, shrimp chips and broccoli. Next, the crabs are presented by our two waiters, whose work is a lovely twinned choreography throughout the evening. I'm sure they laughed to themselves about these crazy people who want to devour the food with their cameras before they chow down for real. Lee holds a crab up to his chest and our Jeffrey Steinesque comrade, makes jokes about crustacean nipple clamps. Ouch. There are some other photos taken by the other photographers that take the phrase "food porn" to a new level. (I'll spare you the details, dear readers, so you can sleep safely at night.) "Say bye bye!" the waiter says and they're off to be put in what must be a geezly big pot of boiling water.
When we next see the crabs they have been dressed and drenched in garlic and butter. The tops of the leg shells have been sheered off by some kind of crab dremel so we can easily pick the meat out with our crab forks. The fresh sweetness of the flavour is enhanced, not masked by the sauce. The next part of the crab that comes sends me into the food-lust swoon: crab knuckles served with a dry, salty curry and garlic chips. This is called "Typhoon Shelter Crab", which makes me wonder what kind of story lies behind the invention of this incredible dish. Whoever was trapped in that typhoon shelter sure knew how to cook a crab. Maybe they had crab seven days a week for several weeks. Crab, crab, crab, until finally Eureka! A dish was invented that made it possible to fall in love with crab every time they ate it. To triple what SC calls our "Double Happiness" of crab, the waiters toss noodles in the buttery garlic crab juices left over after we've devoured the meat.
The rest of the meal was a study of contrasting textures--the chewy, slippery abalone mushrooms, and delicate pea tips, the slightly crunchy pea pods and silky scallops, the melting texture of the start anise ribs. (Who needs sous vide?) The lamb in the stew was pleasantly chewy, complimented by the lovely umami quality of the fermented tofu melting into its rich gravy. Does that tofu come in a bottle? Gotta get some of that for home cooking. The free-range chicken was served with a galangal/salt five-spice mix, and our table mused what was to be done with the little chicken head, eyes closed in rigor mortis.
"Do they die with their eyes closed?" In our King Crab finale a la "Portuguese", the shells are filled with a creamy coconut curry and rice, which is served in individual bowls.
Our son's antennae perk up when he sees us eating a dessert made with red bean paste and tapioca baked with a rich cakey crust. What I imagine he thinks is chocolate gives his palate quite a shock at first, but I see him come back later for more. I could have eaten two helpings, three with whipped cream.
These are time-honoured cooking traditions which escaped from the Typhoon shelters and crossed the oceans, highways and byways through the Chinese Canadian diaspora. Thank goodness for that, and thanks for friends who know how to celebrate the Ratty New Year. Finally, thanks to Lee for being such a gracious host!
It's a tricky thing, planning a dinner with a bunch of Eaters and their troublesome offspring, but we're in good hands. Lee arranges a private room with a special table and menu just for the kids. He's chosen to wait until the Alaskan King crabs are in season and orders a menu based around the crab prepared in a variety of ways. We go take a look at the tanks where the giant creatures with thick, bumpy shells remind me of the giant alien robots in a lurid cover illustration of The War of the Worlds. They are horrible and majestic creatures, dredged from the deep for our entertainment. Some are more feisty than others. All are doomed baby, doomed.
When we get settled, the waiters take our orders for libations: beer, soft drinks, and Perrier for the pregnant lady. Meanwhile, we pour cups of jasmine tea for one another, lulled into a semi-hypnotic state by the Lazy Susan. The first course is a slow-cooked cleansing broth made with pork and figs. The meat is placed on a dish with the figs and ginko nuts to display the pride in ingredients and provide some texture to whet out appetites. The kids start munching on crispy chicken, shrimp chips and broccoli. Next, the crabs are presented by our two waiters, whose work is a lovely twinned choreography throughout the evening. I'm sure they laughed to themselves about these crazy people who want to devour the food with their cameras before they chow down for real. Lee holds a crab up to his chest and our Jeffrey Steinesque comrade, makes jokes about crustacean nipple clamps. Ouch. There are some other photos taken by the other photographers that take the phrase "food porn" to a new level. (I'll spare you the details, dear readers, so you can sleep safely at night.) "Say bye bye!" the waiter says and they're off to be put in what must be a geezly big pot of boiling water.
When we next see the crabs they have been dressed and drenched in garlic and butter. The tops of the leg shells have been sheered off by some kind of crab dremel so we can easily pick the meat out with our crab forks. The fresh sweetness of the flavour is enhanced, not masked by the sauce. The next part of the crab that comes sends me into the food-lust swoon: crab knuckles served with a dry, salty curry and garlic chips. This is called "Typhoon Shelter Crab", which makes me wonder what kind of story lies behind the invention of this incredible dish. Whoever was trapped in that typhoon shelter sure knew how to cook a crab. Maybe they had crab seven days a week for several weeks. Crab, crab, crab, until finally Eureka! A dish was invented that made it possible to fall in love with crab every time they ate it. To triple what SC calls our "Double Happiness" of crab, the waiters toss noodles in the buttery garlic crab juices left over after we've devoured the meat.
The rest of the meal was a study of contrasting textures--the chewy, slippery abalone mushrooms, and delicate pea tips, the slightly crunchy pea pods and silky scallops, the melting texture of the start anise ribs. (Who needs sous vide?) The lamb in the stew was pleasantly chewy, complimented by the lovely umami quality of the fermented tofu melting into its rich gravy. Does that tofu come in a bottle? Gotta get some of that for home cooking. The free-range chicken was served with a galangal/salt five-spice mix, and our table mused what was to be done with the little chicken head, eyes closed in rigor mortis.
"Do they die with their eyes closed?" In our King Crab finale a la "Portuguese", the shells are filled with a creamy coconut curry and rice, which is served in individual bowls.
Our son's antennae perk up when he sees us eating a dessert made with red bean paste and tapioca baked with a rich cakey crust. What I imagine he thinks is chocolate gives his palate quite a shock at first, but I see him come back later for more. I could have eaten two helpings, three with whipped cream.
These are time-honoured cooking traditions which escaped from the Typhoon shelters and crossed the oceans, highways and byways through the Chinese Canadian diaspora. Thank goodness for that, and thanks for friends who know how to celebrate the Ratty New Year. Finally, thanks to Lee for being such a gracious host!
Friday, March 7, 2008
A Bouquet of Garlic
For Valentine's day, I gave Peter a bouquet of a dozen long-stemmed garlic bulbs I bought at the winter farmer's market in the Wise Hall. I also bought an amazing Siamese twin squash shaped like human lungs. There's a new chocolate store on West 10th called Cocoa Nymph and we tried some of their wares. I highly recommend the "Glinda" which contains a burst of blackberry jelly.
I got my hair cut today and now I look just like Isabella Rosellini. If you come to our door and think Isabella is here filming a movie in our kitchen, Mais non! C'est moi!
Monday, March 3, 2008
Mushroom Love
I had homemade perogies with sautéed mushrooms for lunch yesterday. There were also mushrooms in the perogies (made at our 100 mile community kitchen perogy bee), and the hot sauce I ate them with is Silafunghi's superdynamitevegetablehotsauce, made with Italian mushrooms. Have I told you lately how much I love mushrooms?
So it's my birthday this week and I have the happy task of planning the menu, made even happier by the fact that my love is going to make it for me. I'm thinking mushrooms...and some other things. I want honeycomb with blue cheese on crackers, Peter's crab soup, wild rice, sunchoke salad with sunflower sprouts and sunflower seeds, mead, Gewurztraminer, chocolate, and curried mushrooms. Maybe we could have garlicky mushrooms on toast to start with. What should we drink with that? I am in a melted cheese mood too--maybe we should do some decadent cheese toasts, and that garlic toast made with raw and roasted garlic. I'd like some Prosecco. Jewelry would be nice too. I'm into silver these days.
Silver feathers, mauve roses, violet tea cups, chai chocolates...and mushrooms dancing in my head. "Oh Lord won't you buy me a flat screen tv? My chocolate drawer's empty, I'm all out of brie."
Mom and dad took a tour of a chocolate factory in Hawaii this week. Dad climbed up a mountain and fainted at the top. They revived him with a power bar and he soldiered on. What a trooper!
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