Scrabble night – part 1

I’m sorry it’s been so long since I wrote, but if you live nearby, you’ll know that it’s been insanely hot here. Then there was the earthquake, followed by days of torrential rain. This does not make for good eating.

Last week, we had a Scrabble night, complete with an indoor picnic dinner. I spent the night before cooking in the damp heat for about 4 hours. If it was going to be over 30 degrees again, I didn’t want to heat up the place before the neighbours arrived.

I had decided on the idea of the indoor picnic due to our crazy, indeterminable weather. Plus it was too hot to eat anything too hearty.

We were having 2 fellas over who I was pretty sure could put away a lot of food, and there was Scott and I to consider. We can eat in one meal what I think some people eat in a day. That, and my irrational fear of not having enough food had me preparing quite the spread.

So I marinated 12 Dolly Parton-sized boneless, skinless chicken breasts: 6 in a vindaloo paste and 6 in a green coconut curry. I made my usual 85 sides, which this time around included broccoli slaw, mixed bean salad, herbed mini potato salad, and a melange of roasted peppers, artichokes, portobello mushrooms, red onion, black olives and fresh basil in an olive oil vinaigrette.

The apartment was like a steam bath after I was done. Scott, Cosmo (our cat) and I looked limp and heavy with water.

What had I done?

Magazines to the rescue

I knew I wanted to cook last night, but I didn’t know what.

I checked the freezer for meats and took a huge bag o’ chicken wings and a tray of stewing beef out to thaw.

Now what?

I headed out to the library and thought I might see some inspirational ingredients on the way.  Lucky for me, I got Food & Wine‘s February issue and Fine Cooking‘s Feb/Mar issue that filled in the blanks.

From Food & Wine, I made Classic Hot Wings (recipe below) which Grace Parisi recommends you flour first, bake on high (500 degrees) and then finish with melted butter and hot sauce.

My fella came home from the office starving, so I don’t know whether it was his crazy hunger or whether they were that good, but he kept saying how much he liked them.

While the wings were baking, I made Food & Wine‘s Celery-and-Celery-Root Salad (which would’ve been much easier if I’d used my mandoline instead of my Chinese cleaver – what was I thinking?).  What a beautiful looking salad and really, just the simplest of ingredients.

My guy does not like the look of celery root before it’s peeled, so while he’ll eat it, he’s not too crazy about it.  This of course, I didn’t know the extent of until he came home and said, “Yeah, not for me.” After spending about 20 minutes whacking the beast and all the other ingredients (my celery root came out not like matchsticks, but like wide watercolour brushes – hey, you do what you can with what you have), I was disheartened, especially because now I had to eat a honkin’ bowl of root veg on my own.

Luckily, one of my closest pals dropped by in between meetings  today and I made her an ad hoc lunch of sliced chicken breast and a side of the celery salad.  She loved it so much, I gave her the recipe!  Phew.  Now there’s only a tub the size of a beer cooler left …

The main course I made was thanks to Fine Cooking. 

Spicy Red Lentil Dal with Winter Vegetables & Lamb might sound heavy for June, but it’s been cold and rainy on and off, so it felt like a good night for something hearty.

I replaced the red lentils with green and substituted beef for the lamb.  Otherwise, I followed the recipe as written.

Spicy comfort food with a modern edge.  It was absolutely perfect and exactly what we needed on a chilly night.

I am so grateful to these magazines.  They made what started out to be a panicked cry of “What will we have for dinner?”, into  a wonderful, memorable, nourishing night.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 500°. Line a large baking sheet with foil and spray with vegetable oil. In a bowl, mix the flour with the salt. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Spread the chicken on the baking sheet in a single layer and spray with vegetable oil. Roast the chicken for 45 minutes, turning once or twice, until browned and crispy. In a bowl, toss the chicken wings with the hot sauce and butter; serve.

Hell’s kitchen – part 2

Or at least they should have, except that this week all of my events fell within the same time period, so instead of being at home, cooking my little heart out, I ate out every night from Monday to Friday.

Monday and Tuesday evening,  I had my food book clubs (4 of ‘em!),  where we meet in a restaurant that I’ve paired with the region of the book we’re reading each month.  This month we went to Zin, a high-end Chinese restaurant in Yorkville, where the owner Rockie created a special fixed price menu featuring Hong Kong delicacies, like we read about in our book of the month, The Piano Teacher.

Because I am hosting for 4 clubs over 2 nights (not including the other 2 I host earlier in the month), I get to eat twice.  The first night I had garlicky, incredibly tender Rack of Lamb with rice and broccoli.  The following evening, I tucked into Duck Breast served with a rich Thai curry sauce and snow peas.

I am grateful for the chance to have eaten there twice, as both meals were simply divine and for the first time in this book club, we had 100% satisfaction from our members.

Rockie also included a 1 lb. Lobster on the fixed price menu, which I’m going to go back for, as well as a bunch of interesting dishes on the regular menu.

Wednesday night I did a restaurant review – Northern Italian, which was okay.

Thursday, I got together with my Mom and she treated us to Chinese in the Beach – egg rolls, sweet and sour chicken balls, chicken chow main and Chinese fried rice, all for the insane price of $8.50 a person!

Friday, I was determined to make dinner at home, but my fella decided to take the afternoon off and we ended up downtown looking at furniture.  We wandered around until sudden hunger impaled us and we went for sushi nearby.

So just to reiterate:

Mon – Chinese

Tues – Chinese

Wed – Italian

Thurs – Chinese

Friday – Japanese

Hell’s kitchen – part 1

Well, it’s been awhile, hasn’t it?

That’s because it’s been so freakin’ hot out that in our little apartment, cooking anything on the stove means creating a sweat lodge in our very own home.

As you know, I tried there for awhile, drops of sweat plopping into my casseroles and roast dinners., but once it hit 36 degrees, I had to concede like and eat like sane folks – which meant little or no cooking.

Which hits me hard. It’s during these times of stove moratoriums that I want to cook and create more than anything else.

So I shopped instead, hoping that would sate me. I bought ingredients for salads and cold plates and as many interesting beverages as our fridge would allow.

But it turned out that what I thought would never happen, did.

We lost our appetites.  We ate maybe one small plate a day and spent the rest quenching our neverending thirst.  It’s the first time in probably close to a decade that I didn’t want to eat.

Eww.

Thankfully, after a solid week of intense heat, sleepless nights and lack of appetite, it cooled down and things resumed back to regular scheduled programming.

Before the guests arrive

There are many problems I’ve been able to overcome throughout my years of cooking and entertaining.

But one that still eludes me is trying to eat before having people over for a party.

See, if it’s a dinner party, that problem is immediately solved – you get to eat with everyone – but when you’re just having people over for drinks, it’s difficult.

After all, I’ve just spent hours cleaning everything – you don’t want to have more dishes to do.  And do you really want people smelling lamb chops or curried fish as they come through the door?  I’ve spent the day trying to eliminate any odours – I don’t want to add any.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to a dear friend’s for birthday drinks and a movie.  I asked what they did about supper beforehand.  Lovely Jill sighed and furrowed her brow.  “Pizza slices, while we were out getting a cake.”  She certainly wasn’t happy about it, but had given in to the combination of need and time pressure.

Which happens every time we entertain and I’m not serving dinner (Even on these nights, I often cook up 7 -10 appetizers but because everyone was coming and going – long weekend plans – I resisted, but it was hard.  Really, really hard).

So last night we didn’t have dinner at all.  I had a muffin from the batch I’d made on the weekend and an apple.  Scott didn’t eat at all.  By the time 9 pm rolled around, I was ravenous, but party snacks just don’t fill the void.

What do you do to eat and not have to reclean the kitchen, etc. before your guests arrive?

A nice problem to have

I’m reviewing a restaurant tonight.

Funny, I look forward to the next one practically the moment I’m leaving last week’s restaurant for review and yet I always feel a little sadness at not being able to cook the night I’m out.

Of course, the next night I’m at the stove, I’ll be thinking, “Gosh, wouldn’t it be great to just head out for a bite to eat and not have to worry about marinating, chopping or washing anything?”

It’s a nice dilemma to have though, isn’t it?

So I finally caved…

… and started a food site because not only am I reviewing restaurants and writing about food for a living, but I’m spending much of my “free” time cooking, shopping for ingredients and basically thinking about what I’m going to make next.

So I hope you’ll follow me and my little adventure here.  I will not be posting pictures of everything I make step-by-step (one photo will suffice), or what I eat at every meal or anything like that. But I will be sharing TMI – what I bought, what I made, what I read.

I figure if I’m thinking about this stuff, someone out there must be too.  I can’t be the only one questioning whether next time I make lime chicken I should finish it with grains of paradise or pepitas.

You’ll find out soon enough…

Thanks for joining me on this ride.  I am excited.

And hungry.