These are a few of my favorite things.....

I LOVE salad. I LOVE soup. I LOVE egg salad sandwiches. I LOVE potato salad. No, I'm not 70 years+. I'm just a girl who isn't afraid to admit her favorite food even if it's commonly referred to as Old People Home food.

The reason I mention my favorite things is this: people assume that those items are boring. Yes, boring. I have to agree that I have come across bland soups & egg salad sandwiches in my time, but they don't have to be!!! Screw the dill and add a little curry to spice up an eggie sandwich! Add some chili flakes to your next salad dressing! BTW, one of the best eggie sandwiches I have ever had the delight in eating was one I bought from a little corner store/deli/liquor store/movie store/last place on earth to buy Thrills gum (yes the gum that tastes like soap), on the Sunshine Coast in Halfmoon Bay. The best potato salad hands down is my mom's (especially the last batch).

So tonight Rob wanted barnyard and potatoes. So I made my challenge a salad dressing. I have the most awesomest (yes that's a word) salad dressing book, Salad Dressing 101. The recipes are fantastic and they do it on a rating system. 1 to 3. For example, if a recipe as the #2 rating, then that dressing is best for the more hearty greens.

So I made a salad dressing tonight. Honey, paprika, red wine vinegar, tarragon, dried basil, pepper, salt & olive oil. I dipped my finger and it was pretty tasty. Anyway, we forgot to eat the salad. We were consumed with Dragon's Den and forgot to take the salad to the table. Our loft is about 1001 degrees so by the time we finished dinner and went into the kitchen the salad looked like it had been beaten with an ugly stick. But I did dip my finger pre-dinner and it was tasty so that technically counts. SO THERE!

Mmmmm Salad

So tonight I finally did it. I made a recipe from scratch without adding my own influence. I was pretty darn hungry (just got home from working out) so I wasn't really in the mood to fuss. So I grabbed a magazine, flipped it open and just picked something. Luckily for Rob and I, it turned out to be pretty tasty. But first, let's back-up just a bit:

I have gone back to my veggie ways the past few weeks in addition to adding runs to my life (5K three to four times a week). By doing this I have managed to fit back into some clothes (mostly jeans) that I thought I would never squeeze my ass into again. But no, apparently eating well and regular exercise comes through again as a winner. So I can still have my glass of wine with dinner and not feel guilty. A glass of wine in addition to my gin martini, straight-up with blue cheese olives that I have every single time I'm in the kitchen cooking. Comfort zone people, comfort zone.

Any-who, I asked Rob as to what he would like for dinner tonight: barnyard, ocean, garden or combo. He said no to ocean as I did just make the most amazing seafood linguine anyone will ever have on Saturday, so he elected my delicious peanut butter pork burgers. It's been awhile since I had meat so, why the hell not. Plus I did just get back from a run. So the challenge tonight was the dish to accompany the burgers. Which brings me back to what I mentioned in the first paragraph...a winner!

As I mentioned I grabbed a magazine, the 2006 August Chatalaine. Yes, 2006. Like I said, I have a collection of magazines and cookbooks that I need to utilize. Wasn't joking people. Anyway, I made this salad that had a simple dressing (honey, lime juice & cumin) over greens with peaches, avocados & blueberry's. Rob wasn't sure about the blueberry/avocado mix but holy cow.... let me put it to you this way: Rob loves my peanut butter pork burgers. He eats the burger first. Always. However, tonight I kindly reminded him that he had to eat the salad at some point and give me feedback. If he didn't want it after a few bites, I would just take it for lunch tomorrow. I'm happy to report, he ate the salad first. All of it. I didn't actually finish my salad. But he did. A first. Well, except for that one time I was afraid his vegetable intake was down and made a salad and got him to eat it only because I sprinkled bacon on it (men eat anything with bacon on it, in it or beside it).

So tonight's cooking challenge was a success, thanks to August 2006 Chatelaine. I wonder what other gems I have hidden on my shelves...........

Tomato Tomato Tomato!

My most favorite tomatoes are heirloom tomatoes. They're expensive so I have them as a treat every once in a while. They're in season right now so I have been making the odd trip to Whole Foods to buy one or two.

I usually make a salad that consists of chopped tomatoes, S&P, fresh basil, goat feta, olive oil & a touch of balsamic vinegar. This is pretty much my lunch that I have everyday at work. I sometimes use heirloom, or just plain orange/yellow/red tomatoes off the vine.

I was reading a magazine I had randomly bought one day, Women's Health, and in there was my salad recipe. Which didn't really surprise me as it is extremely basic. BUT they had added one ingredient I hadn't ever even thought of.....peaches! Yes, a chopped peach.

So I decided that yesterday I was going to make this salad, add a peach and that would count as a recipe that I haven't made before (sort of) from a magazine or book that I own that I haven't made something from.

Well, let me tell you folks......I will never eat that salad again unless it has a peach in it. It took it to a whole new level. So get out there, treat yourself to a heirloom tomato or two, chop up a peach to go with it, mix it with fresh basil, salt & pepper, drizzle with a touch of olive oil and balsamic, sprinkle on some feta.

YUMMY!!!!

Mmmmm.... Salt!!!!

Last night I had the pleasure of dining with my bud Dianne at our favorite spot for wine and cheese: Salt Tasting Room. If you haven't been here before, you_must_go. It's located in Blood Alley. If you don't know the history of Blood Alley, I suggest you click my link and read. Very interesting.

Anyway, Matthew and I started going to Salt the day they opened their doors back in 2006. It truly is a gem hidden amongst the rats and homeless people.

They have a wonderful menu of beverages mostly consisting of wine, sherry, port and the odd beer. You can have a glass, bottle or do three tasters of wine, 20z each. They list their wine by having the most light to the most dark and chewy. So for instance, if you want a light wine, look at the top of the red list. If you want dark-chewy-stain-your-teeth, look at the bottom. Once you pick what you want to drink, you proceed to order your food.

You get a choice of three things: meat and/or cheese. You can have two meats and one cheese, or two cheese and one meat or three cheese (I think you get the idea). With each of these items comes a condiment such as quince paste, local honey, relish, Guiness mustard, etc. Very tasty. Oh, and a delicious assortment of bread.

Now for me, I believe in doing Salt the way it was intended: pick your wine, let them pick what you eat. The reason? Because the experts know best as to what goes with what. The whole point of Salt is to explore wine and food. So last night I let our lovely waitress pick and I wasn't disappointed! BTW, you can tell them what you don't want, like head cheese. :)

I would also like to let you in on a little secret......Salt carries wine that isn't on the menu. When Matthew and I go we love to ask for their favorite that's not listed and we have NEVER been disappointed. Some of my favorite wines have come from doing this.

So don't be shy, ask!!!!!

An Ending.....

As some of you may know, I am in LOVE with the show Deadliest Catch. If you haven't seen DC or have any idea as to what I am talking about, it's a show on the Discovery Channel about crazy men that fish for crab (voted one of the most dangerous jobs in the world). Boats sink, crab pots are empty, drama on board, coast guard rescues....it's really an exciting show.

Anyway, I bonded with the captain of the Cornelia Marie. Phil Harris. He reminds me so much of my step-dad Bill it's almost creepy. On one episode, Phil said that he found the right kind of fishing grounds based on the fact that he could smell the crab fart bubbles. Ahhh.. fart bubbles. I understand his humor. After spending most of my life floating on a boat on the west coast of Vancouver Island, I know all about fart bubbles (although mine were from fish, not crab).

I remember sleeping on the boat just so I could go out at 5am with Bill in order to catch the big ones. The boat would fire up, he would let it run as he checked his gear and prepared bait by stabbing a toothpick through their eyes.... Finally, I would feel the boat slowly pull away from the dock....

Anyway, back in January, Phil, my beloved captain, suffered a stroke. He passed away in February. The new season started in June and now, almost finished, Phil has now suffered his stroke on the show and is in the hospital. Discovery Channel has been advertising that tonight is going to be a two hour episode, Phil's last....

So tonight I decided to make a special meal, drink some wine and remember the man that has kept me entertained for the past few years. Tonight's menu: my all famous lamb burgers and a pasta salad THAT I HAVEN'T MADE BEFORE! That's right, I picked a recipe from a book I haven't used.

Ok..... I didn't realize how hard it is to A) pick a recipe you actually want to make from a book B) follow it from scratch. Apparently I have just "read" recipes and have made my own adjustments, or my own combination of recipes in order to make one. Tonight was a challenge.

After reading about 20 salad recipes, I decided on a pasta recipe from my book How It All Vegan. After it was done I tasted it and thought "blah". So I called in Rob, my handy taste testerer (that's a word in my vocabulary). He thought it needed something. I told him to have at it. He added hot sauce. Sriracha to be exact. It suddenly became tasty. I have a feeling this challenge to make something exactly from the recipe is going to be just that: a challenge.

Anyway, we finally settled down with our burgers, salad and a lovely wine, Strut Red Over Heels (everyone needs to drink this) and started watching Deadliest Catch. I was happy. Until I went to fast-forward through a commercial only to discover that it was only an hour long, not two.

Apparently Canada's Discovery Channel didn't do the two hour special. Oh no, that would be too much to ask for. So this wasn't the episode that my beloved Captain died. I mentally prepared myself. I cooked the "last meal". Only to be screwed with. Thanks Discovery Channel, thanks a lot. Now I will just have to go through this again next week!!!

UGH.

Yummy Indian Food!!!!

Last night Rob and I went for dinner with his lovely mom Jan, to celebrate our birthdays. Yes, our birthdays were in June, but Jan is a jetsetter and has spent the last month and a half in California hanging out in Napa with the occasional side trip to Vegas. Retirement is tough I hear :)

It was Rob's choice and after much deliberation, he decided on having Indian cuisine. So we went to one of our favorite places, Maurya. If you haven't been here before, GO!!!!!!! Every dish is absolutely amazing. We've never had a bad experience here. Not once. It's romantic inside even though the place is HUGE. It's still cozy and smells delicious! The website is crazy and doesn't do them any favours of showing how romantic this place is, so don't judge by the site!

As we were finishing up, Dianne & Phil joined us as yesterday was Dianne's birthday and they too had Indian cuisine on the mind. It was Dianne's first time dining there and she was amazed and raved about the Dahl (the one dish I haven't tried yet).

So if you are craving yummy Indian cusine in a romantic setting, this is the place for you!!

Three Years and Counting.......

Yesterday Rob and I celebrated our three year anniversary. It was fabulous! We were going to go out for dinner, but seeing as how we had to pay $1000 for my car to get fixed that day, we decided to stay in instead. Which is fine by me!!!

Rob and I have date nights. I believe that it's important to have random date nights. It's easy when you are sharing your life with someone to not take the time for each other. An anniversary is no different!

The night started off with our favorite cocktail of the summer, Garden Party Cocktail. Some people might say no because of the Tequila, but honestly, Tequila is not exactly the flavour that comes through. So refreshing and delicious. Anyway, after we finished sipping on our cocktails, it was time for the first round of food. Mussels. Thai Coconut Curry Mussels. Yummy!!! We also had the mussels with a delicious bottle of white wine that Heather and I discovered at Bao-Bei on my birthday.

After the mussels, it was time for our main course: New York steak perfectly grilled on the BBQ with my yummy potato "risotto". For this round, we cracked open a bottle of wine that I have been hanging on to, Mission Hill's 2003 Syrah. Yummy!!!! We had a wonderful conversation, listened to music and bonded over our favorite things; good wine & food.

The best part......no doggie!!!! Yup, we had the place to ourselves. April and Andrew so kindly took our Sadie for the weekend. Don't get me wrong, we love our dog. But sometimes it's really nice just hanging out and not having to worry about taking her for walks. It's kind of like when the kids go to the grandparents for the weekend.

All in all, a fabulous weekend. Oh, and starting this week I will be making a recipe from one cookbook and one magazine. :)

Cooking Magazines & Books

I don't know about you, but I love cooking books and magazines. It's an obsession. I love how they look, I love how they smell, I love the glossy pictures, I love reading ingredients and imagining in my mind as to their taste and what I would do differently. I don't always use the recipes, but reading a bunch gives me ideas.

Yesterday I bought the new Donna Hay magazine that just came out. I went home, settled into my chair with a glass of white wine and flipped through the beautiful pages. Roasts, cakes, cocktails....all these wonderful recipes filling my mind. After I was done, I put the magazine down and realized something remarkable. I buy these magazines, I read them, study them, and then promptly file them away. Very rarely do I actually make something from them. One exception being my favorite cooking magazine series, Fine Cooking.

So I've decided to put my magazines and books to use. Every week, maybe twice a week, I will actually make a recipe from a book and/or magazine until I have officially made something from every book/magazine I own. I kind of started last night with my favorite book, Weber's Grilling: Over 200 Recipes (a must have book for anyone that owns a BBQ). Yes, I've made lots of delicious things from this book, but I figured this was an appropriate entry because what I had made is not something I usually do.....

Rob wanted corn on the cob. Rob never wants corn on the cob. So I figured that instead of the "normal" way to have this delicious summer veggie, I would BBQ it. So I went to my BBQ bible and found a recipe for corn on the cob, BBQ style. Now, it's not that hard to make corn on the cob via the BBQ, but what I found interesting was the butter paste you put on the corn before you BBQ it. Butter, parmesan cheese, basil, garlic, etc.....it was simply the most wonderful corn on the cob.