Chomping at the bit

All of this week, I have had evening events:

Monday and Tuesday were book club at the most exquisite Japanese restaurant, last night I worked a good friend’s book launch and tonight I’m out in Scarborough giving a talk on Caribbean food.

I am dying for a night at home to cook. After all, I’ve been pouring over Caribbean cookbooks for weeks now and can’t wait to give the recipes a go here at home!

I’ll let you know how I do.  In the meantime, have a nice warm meal for me, would you?

Sayonara

I will have had Japanese 4 out of 5 nights by the end of tomorrow.

I reviewed a Japanese restaurant Friday night, went to one with friends for dinner Saturday night, cooked at home last night (potato leek soup from scratch, chicken with homemade barbecue sauce, rice, veg and salad) and then am going to a Japanese restaurant with 2 book clubs tonight and back again with 2 book clubs tomorrow night.

Similar to the “5 Indian Restaurants in 8 Days” bit in my book, I have had the opportunity to really compare and critique various techniques and dishes.  The only difference is that I think I could have a Japanese meal every day.

Hey, I’m working on it…

Totally baked

I do not bake.

Firstly, because it is such a scientific, specific craft and while I like to do a good job, I am not a perfectionist – it’s not like cooking, where I am comfortable and I can improvise at any point in the dish.

Secondly, I don’t have a sweet tooth, so it is impossible for me to gauge how cookies, cakes, tarts and pies should be.

However, yesterday I made Diablo Cupcakes, a Mexican chocolate version that is just a little spicy.  And not only did I make them, I took them to a fancy dinner party a couple of hours later.

What was I thinking?

I was sooo nervous.  Here I was, not only baking, but imposing my bad skills on folks that I like and care about.

Normally I would make a side dish, salad or something savory and in my comfort zone.  I guess all of this cooking madness went to my head and suddenly I thought I could do anything.

It’s impossible to tell how people felt about them because no one is going to stand up, cast their plate across the room and yell, “Drivel!” (unless Gordon Ramsay is a guest)  My fella of course said they were good, which prompted a bunch of “uh huhs” and “oh yeahs.”

No one threw up and they didn’t have to be thrown in the trash, so I feel I did all right.

I am glad just to be making dinner tonight.  I know my way around anything supperish.  I am solid ground.

Until, that is, it’s someone’s birthday and I get the bright idea to make the cake.

No boil noodles – lazy or #$@! brilliant?

I made a wonderfully aromatic lamb lasagna last night with fresh noodles that you don’t have to boil first.

The result was incredible – soft noodles that weren’t at all mushy and have that toothy give that makes lasagna stand out from other pasta dishes.

I know that there will be some of you who think that not having to boil them first makes it an inauthentic dish, but then is buying and boiling them any better?  Perhaps your version of authentic is to make everything from scratch.

Tell me what you think.

In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy my lasagna.  It’s always better the next day anyway…

Fishin’ for dinner

Today I took my Mom to some of my favourite food stores.

We loaded up on fresh produce and intriguing ingredients and came back here, where I made fish tacos for dinner.

Here in Canada, fish tacos aren’t a thing like they are in the States.  It’s because we’re not close enough to the water, I suppose.  But I do love and crave them and so I thought it was time to give into that feeling.

I patted fresh sole with panko (Japanese bread crumbs) and a medley of creole spices.  I made fresh guacamole and put out bowls of diced yellow tomatoes, sliced scallions, crisp red leaf lettuce, organic pea shoots, spicy salsa and rice and beans I made quickly, finishing with cilantro and lime juice.

It was so much fun and despite being very filling, it was  not at all heavy, which was nice after having a paella-bellowed tummy the night before.

I love that you can make anything that you’re craving.

Though it didn’t quite quell my desire to open a fish taco stand… stay tuned.

Clubbing

Tonight I’m doing up my notes for our book club meeting tomorrow night (I’ve yet to start the ones for my other book club…) and I’m grinning like a crazy person.

Because not only do I get to eat and write about food for a living, but I get to read books about it and then meet with a bunch of folks to talk about it – over a meal.

Ahhh.

And in rereading sections of books about food, I assess and reassess my opinions, my patterns and sometimes even the dishes I make.  All based on things I’ve read.

I wrote awhile ago about making a cabbage dish around the frenzy that is St. Patrick’s Day and just a few nights ago, I went out and got celeriac, after skimming a recent article about how it doesn’t get enough love, and made a beautiful, velvety soup, daubed with fresh herbs and fresh ground pepper.  Now thanks to our most recent book, The Tenth Muse by Judith Jones, I’m craving James Beard cookbooks and simple American food like liver and onions and the hearty dishes of Miss Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock.

I learn something new out of each book and it turns out, I put it to the test in the kitchen, long after the book has been read and put aside.

I fully intend to make some of the recipes from the book – Frozen Maple Mousse, Sorrel and Leek Pancakes and Martha’s Paprikash with Little Dumplings.

But just you watch. I’ll go to the meeting tomorrow and we will be spouting a flurry of ideas, with exchanges of ingredients, books and recipes flying across the table.

And in a few days, weeks and months, somehow it will all end up as dishes being simmered on my stove.

Renovation means re”no kitchen”ation

I am grateful for our new tap.

The last one, our only one, leaked like it had just seen Mississippi Burning.

This one is nice and a little fancier, but in order to put it in, they had to take a hunk out of our wall (our tap was cemented in back in the 20s apparently).  It was 3 days this week of having to move everything off of the counter – coffee maker, dish rack, dish detergent and sponge, spices, cooking oils, etc.

In other words, things I need in order to cook.

The first day I didn’t move anything back because the handyman was coming the next morning.  I’d just go out and get us some coffee.  No biggie.

That first night though, making dinner was a pain.  My fella had helped to clear away everything and some of my essentials were nowhere to be seen.

It took a little digging, but I found my cooking oil in the hallway and many of my spices.  It took a little while to reassemble everything and knowing I had to take it all down again caused me more than a little heartbreak.

I made a relatively easy dinner of steak and shrimp with fingerling potatoes, broccoli and cremini mushrooms.  Not too bad.  The second night I had a restaurant review and brought home leftovers for my fella, so we skated through that one, but last night was tough.  Again, I had to bring everything back into the kitchen to make a pretty labourious Beef Kerang.

It paid off though.  Scott said how much he liked it – not only last night but today as well.  Woo woo!

I get to have the kitchen as is until Monday morning, when the handyman comes back for the last time to do the finishing touches – put in a shelf to hide the pipes and tidy up the corners.  Then I can put everything back for good.

Phew.  How the hell do people survive FULL kitchen renovations?

I totally acknowledge and accept the fact that I would have to be heavily medicated to handle that.

That, and some seriously good takeout.

Nudging inspiration along

I met with my good friend and co-editor Chris this weekend for breakfast, where we, of course, talked food for much of the meal.

Chris has food ennui and well, it happens to all of us.  I get it from time to time, especially in winter where I tend to make a lot of roast chicken, beef stew, chili and meatloaf.

I have found that it helps me tremendously to constantly be looking through cookbooks, cooking blogs and sites and magazines for new recipes to try.  I also try to change up where I shop so that I’m not tempted to buy the same things over and over (this takes a little more effort, but oh-so worth it!).  Just this week, I took my Mom to an area she doesn’t get to often and we food shopped like crazy.  We bought a ton of healthy ingredients that were somehow affordable, and have been inspired ever since.

I was trying to suggest similar things to Chris.  I thought that we could each make something new once a week and then write about it to one another.  I’m going to write about my new dishes here.  Oh, this oughtta be good!

When you cook often, it is hard to keep the inspiration going, but it’s there.  You just have to look around a little bit and you’ll find it.

I’ve already found something I’m going to make this week.  That wasn’t so hard.

Actually, I can’t wait!

Do you go through these kinds of things?  What tough spots have you hit?

p.s.

Is it weird that both their names are Tony?

Hmm…

Oh Anthony

Every couple of months, we watch a bunch of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations.

The problem we’re having is the same we had with watching The Sopranos for all those seasons – despite just having had dinner, we’re hungry all over again.

It varies, depending on where he’s traveling.  The episode in Jamaica?  Not so bad.  Last night’s episode in Provence?  Nearly killed us.

And we had just finished a big, whopping Easter dinner that I lovingly prepared throughout the afternoon: velvety celeriac soup, broiled lamb with savory and freshly ground Chinese 5-spices, new potatoes, carrots and green beans.

Sigh.  We snacked our way through the entire episode, though.

Damn you, Anthony!  Just kidding.  We love watching you.  And hey, we’re faring way better than we did during The Soprano years.  The amount of pasta we consumed?

You don’t want to know…