Flavor Country

After a long and exhausting week, there is nothing like a visit to flavor country.

My friend suggested we begin a Sunday tradition of collective dinners. I've had this thought so many times, but lately my community seems to be shifting continuously and group activities seem an impossibility. Thank you Whitney, and thank you to this Japanese funk group and their song "SCARY BOMB."

Lasagna Bolognese (not really though)

One of my favorite food-bloggers tackled this monstrous task of making a real lasagna bolognese, and she ended up with this epic looking thing that made my mouth water. How does lasagna with fresh homemade pasta, a slow-cooked beef tomato sauce and real grated parmesan sound? Amazing right? 

Sorry guys, I didn't make that.

What I did make was super scrumptious, but a far cry from Smitten's monumental undertaking. Perhaps some day I will be classy enough to own a pasta maker and determined enough not to cut corners (I call it being creative in the kitchen!), but for now baby just wanted her some lasagna (faux)bolognese (pronounced bowl-oh-naise, by me).

Grapefruit olive oil loaf and other things using eggs!

There have been a lot of things in flux recently in my life. It has been a moment that I anticipated for a long while, but as everyone knows you can never really prepare yourself for change. 

I've always been really big at retrospectively making sense of my life, seeing an ebb an flow (in energy, happiness, money, whatever) as part of the natural trend of life. But letting go of things is never an easy thing. No matter how much I can retroactively say "yes, of course that was a good thing, yes I needed that break, how cathartic was that, bla bla," I can't feel at ease when I decide to let go. It feels sad, and it feels like a failure, and it feel like time is an enemy out to get me.

And then some things happen that truly don't make any sense at all, and make you feel suddenly  amputated from any line of rationality or faith or world design. Then I just bake, because there's a certain chemistry and magic in baking that is soothing and undeniable, and maybe if I could do math I'd solve math problems instead but for now I bake.

YUM-BO

Quick post before a longer one...first time taking pictures in a restaurant. I still feel moderately awkward sitting at a restaurant and taking my camera out and catching some shots of my food. It's a social gesture that is strangely loaded in my opinion...but I really just couldn't get over this.

Truffle Butter Chanterelle Omelette with Pancetta at Mitzi's in Toronto with two of my faves...

Check my Eggs!

I have a very talented and roguish friend who decided to start a chicken coop in the backyard of his place. He built it from scratch and bought 12 laying hens, raising them from chicks. We live in the city, so this is...on its way to being legal? But I am fortunate to benefit from his risk-taking and got nearly 20 eggs today! Gotta break a few eggs to make an omelette, amirite??

With this many eggs, I had to research again how to best hard-boil one. I think my next go around will involve some baking soda in the water (apparently this loosens the shell for peeling) and the following recipe: Put eggs in cold water, cover, bring to a boil, take off heat immediately and allow to sit for 12 minutes. I'll let you know how that goes...

Pork Chops Braised in Fresh Tomato Sauce

I've had a day full of ranting and raving about nothing and everything--Why is Lana del Rey famous? Can't Pitchfork be peer reviewed? Why are women not allowed to breast feed on facebook? Why is Errol Morris so awesome?

That last thought comes as I watch the Thin Blue Line, which if you haven't seen yet I HIGHLY recommend. I also HIGHLY recommend these pork chops braised in fresh tomato sauce from this wonderful book pictured below:

I left cooking until late in the evening, after running around to the radio station and the pool, and though I left Julia's recipe open on the counter and my chops defrosted and ready to roll, I was HUNGRY. I had this bombbbb goat cheese from the USA (thank u carolyn, sorry u didn't get any...), but no crackers. NO CRACKERS. So I prepped the chops and then trolled around the kitchen looking in every possible crevice, knowing in my brain that their was nothing but believing with my stomach that I would make those crackers manifest.

Seafood chow-down, 2012

This weekend we had some creative friends...

...and sleepy visitors... 

...to dinner! I got really lucky this last week with two of my faves peeps coming into town. I had envisioned a pure champagne and oyster dinner, light and romantic, but as everyone came together we all wanted to showcase a dish, so our little fête turned into a full-blown feast. Some of our ingredients were hard-to-come-by/ forgotten at the store/ forgotten in the fridge, but the end results were sparkling. We did a little shuckin', a little fryin', a little bone-swallowin'.

Potato Leek Soup

Last week, the temperature began to drop and as the city frosted over, I decided to get into the spirit and make a pure starchy, comfort-inducing bowl of this stuff.

I've had this soup once before. My mom nicked it off Ina (another Ina recipe!) and made it for me while I was home. The white wine, salt and heavy cream in the soup gives it a really wild flavor. I had thought to add bacon this time, but realized it already has a flavor reminiscent of bacon; a good veggie sub-in mayhaps?

Julia's Eggplant Parm

My wonderful, talented sister Julia is currently traveling around Europe, and just completed a three day stint in Roma. As I am wildly jealous and hoping to live vicariously through her, I wanted to make one of the Italian dishes she taught me to make properly: Eggplant Parmesan.

Before she took off across the ocean blue, I helped her with a catering event in which we massively overestimated portions, and therefore I was able to gorge on Eggplant Parm for days after. It also meant I had to repeat this recipe about a hundred times. I'm still not sure my Parm is up to snuff with Julia's but OMG I love trying!

Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup (extra spicy for me)

I am a big fan of Ina (as I know many people in the food-o-sphere are). I love her comfortable yet commanding presence on screen. I love that she worked in the White House before devoting her life to comfort food. AND I love that she has a mexican chicken tortilla soup recipe.

My love for mexican chicken tortilla soup is somewhat inexplicable; all I know is whenever it appears on a table I get giddy to the point where people think there's something wrong with me...it's spicy, it's mexican, AND it's nostalgia inducing, wrap-you-up-in-a-warm-blanket-when-you're-home-sick chicken soup. Heck. yess.

As it turns out, mexican chicken soup is pretty easy and cheap (yay!) aside from the various (and often necessary) accoutrement, like avocados, sour cream and cheese. I just came from my home in the toasty climate of the south-west, and returning to Montreal and its bone-tingling cold brought on a strong hankering for soup. Still, I wanted a little something to remind me of the desert heat I left behind, with its arid nights and purple sky at dusk when you can sit outside sockless in january.

BAM! This recipe perfectly combines all my desires! BAM! And it's a Barefoot recipe! BAM! (not an Emeril recipe, as the BAMs might make you believe). BAM!

I DID NOT have chicken on the bone and with skin (sorry Ina). I know, as she has said many times, this is the best way to keep the moisture IN! I did prep them the same way, roasting rather than boiling the chicken to be shredded. I gotta tell y'all, the chicken just tastes soooo much better when you do it Ina's way, for chicken salads, for soups, everything that lady touches...oof, amazing.

My bf is also a doll and bought me a magical tortilla maker for my birthday, so I made the tortillas by hand (super easy, just maize flour and water). I think these made the soup's consistency a little different than when I had store-bought tortillas in the past. The broth was a bit thicker as their may have been more starch in my fresh ones.