raspberry lemonade shandsicles

As the summer pushes on into Fall, I look back and realize I've been in Montréal for about a 1/3 of the season so far. Treks to Toronto, Los Angeles, New York and the townships have left me mulling through a haze of summer memories. Sometimes I catch myself thinking of an evening that happened last summer and placing it two weeks ago, or feeling that a city-switch can change my energy so distinctly I could have travelled months ago and not days. 

But in between all the happenings, the weddings and funerals, the jobs and other jobs, the friends from far-off places or family who pull me to and fro...in between it all I still love me some food.

There have been moments this summer where I've found myself too fatigued to cook, an exhaustion I find as emotionally frustrating as it is physically frustrating. I'm a lucky girl though, cause my boo made me some delicious cuisine (pulled pork tacos, fava bean kuku, watermelon popsicles, to name a few). However, I'm not about taking credit for someone else's work, so I'll be focusing on one day of respite when I cracked out some very fine shandy popsicles, garlic scape pesto and a MOTHER@%$ING duck-egg omelette (yea, I still got it).

On a fine summer's day, sometime this summer (I told you, I truly cannot remember anything linearly right now), my dearest friend Kristen had a car rental! Adventure, we said! Fun, we said! IKEA, we said! And IKEA it was.

So after nearly murdering my partner over shelves (let's not deal with that), we trundled back to the car with our loot and were going to head straight back into the city when Kristen had a stroke of brilliance. 

"How about the St. Anne de Bellevue farmer's market?" she asked.

What's so great about this farmer's market, you ask? Well, you smarmy asshole, YOU don't have to go, but I'll tell you anyway. 

Duck Eggs! Lardons! Fresh basil! Sundried tomato bread! Waterfront views! and cheese, delicious delicious cheese.

I wandered around aimlessly for awhile, wiping away my bitter feelings from the IKEA trip, until the sounds of Seadoos from the bay lulled me into blissful dreams of lunch. I gathered up some eggs and an onion confit soft cheese from La Beurasse (this cheese is my absolute favourite of theirs). Then I got some fresh basil and a loaf of hazelnut and fig bread, and I was ready to rumble. 

Once home I threw some garlic scapes from my CSA in with the basil and walnuts and made an awesome pesto, most of which I froze (MOM TRICK). Then I made an omelette with these duck eggs. I had never actually worked with a duck egg before, but the yolks are such a bright yellow and so large that I only used two. I put some fresh basil, shallots and cheese in the omelette, spread pesto on my bread and voila! lunch for two!

For dessert, I had been inspired by a friend's post about Pims cup popsicles and wanted to make my own boozy pops. I had always thought it was impossible to freeze alcohol, but learned that with hard liquors, you can boil off some of the alcohol and they'll freeze fine! I decided to take a shortcut and just use beer, making a raspberry lemonade shandy. They were pretty beer flavoured, but perfect for a hot summer day. 

Vegan Carne Asada

THE CLEANSE.

The journey through week one has been at times a trial, at times a revelation. The headaches, achey joints, swollen face, grouchy mornings, afternoons and evenings were just a few of the hurtles Luke and I have had to navigate; But we discovered all sorts of amazing things! 

For instance: Cauliflower rice! This might sound ridiculous, and it is certainly not as filling nor as quick and easy as regular old rice, but when looking for a light and healthy substitute, this stuff is wild and crazy. It has rice like texture and absorbs delicious sauces like nobody's business. 

To be honest, the meals on this cleanse are really simple and not at all unpleasant. The first week is a rough track because I had to give up some of my most loved and adored indulgences, namely grains (BREAD), dairy (BUTTER), and sugar (CHOCOLATE). Oh ya, and meat (EVERYTHING).

So I was behaving in a pretty hangry fashion towards the end of week one, at which point we had run the gamut of our new recipes, discovered all the pleasantries of feeling lighter on our feet, emptier in our tummies and generally much less full of delicious but not necessarily nutritious cuisines.

Out of this hangry hangover, I decided to get a little creative on this cleanse's butt. And the thing I was craving more than anything? Meat. Can't deny it people, I'm a mad carnivore. I cleansed myself off all the delicious things that I know and love, and my biggest craving is some lamb tacos, a nice roast chicken, or some M&%^$iING CARNE ASADA. mmmm.

So I did it!!! That's right peeps, I made a totally awesome, gluten free, sugar free, MEAT FREE Carne Asada dinner. Included is a charred red pepper, sweet potato fries and an avocado sauce made of fresh cilantro and lime juice.

The "meat" is portobello mushrooms marinated in the "cleansing broth" from the cleanse, some lime juice, salt and pepper, and various spices. I grilled 'em up and, in totem, a glorious vegan feast that fully satisfied me until week two began the next day and I was allowed to eat some fish.

Next up in my craving pool, sugar (really tracking what's most important to my crazy food brain). I'll get into all THAT next post. Wish me luck with the rest of week two y'all!!

Winter Chicken

I call this post "winter chicken" somewhat ironically, because I made this chicken with thoughts of the next season. Thoughts of sitting outdoors with a picnic basket and a case of beer and my hula hoop. I thought about having some fresh watermelon to go with this meal of fried chicken, sweet-potato fries and brussel sprouts. I thought of everything that brought me out of my wintery gloom, and so therefore I dub thee Winter Chicken, because you are the chicken I eat in winter to reduce my ailing for the sun.

Not that this winter has been all bad. Granted I haven't made many posts online, which might indicate I've been lazy in the kitchen and/or a bad blogger (does that equal death on the internet?). But in fact I have been making some very delicious one-pot dishes (braised lamb shanks, unnh) and most everything from my cookbook Jerusalem (lamb Kofta, kibbeh, hummus...). So there, recap done. I been bizzy, ok?
Also, looking after this little guy Billy in VT for awhile.

But I'm shortly beginning a Spring cleanse diet (ala My New Roots blogger Sarah Britton) so I figured I should indulge in one more meaty, gluten-y, fry-me-up-good-and-happy meal. And hey, if it's a Spring cleanse that means the winter's almost over, right? (where have I been?)

The fried chicken I made was a standard recipe. I brined the chicken over a few hours in the fridge with a brine of 1 cup water/ 1/4 cup salt ratio. I added some spices and peppercorns and citrus to the brine to give it flavour (improvise!). Then I had a bowl of buttermilk and a bowl of flour, cayenne, s and p and some herbs. I heated some veggie oil in a skillet, waited til it was good and hot and then dunked in the flour, buttermilk, flour...BAM into the fryer. Wait til it's goldeny brown.

For the sweet potato fries, use Sarah Britton's recipe....it's rad. And use many of her other recipes, they will totally change the way you think about food (and then you can do her cleanse with me!)

Winter is nearing it's soupy, slushy, numbing end everyone! Let's drink to that!

Polish Platter 2013

 After an incredibly easy-going New Year's, as well as a very disappointing dinner on the last day of 2012, my sister and I decided to make our favorite foods for the new year together. We chose a Polish Platter 2013, consisting of potato and cheese pierogis with caramelized onions and cabbage rolls. 

Someone visiting us last christmas made us these amazing cabbage rolls, and since then I have been wanting to remake them. Luckily, my sister took it upon herself to get this train rolling and we made the  best New Year's meal I've yet to have.