Sunday, February 25, 2007

A Beautiful Day for a Heart Attack

The other day I whipped up this tasty little a.m. treat because I was starving after being awake most of the night with my superdaddy duties. If you have a heart condition or any other medical problem, I highly suggest that you stop reading now lest you fall into greasy temptation.

Ingredients:
1 fresh Portuguese bun
Dijon mustard
mayo
sliced fresh tomato
1 fat, fabulous sausage (chorizo or something of the like)
2 slices bacon
1/2 small onion, sliced
1 potato grated or leftover baked potato deskinned and chopped
2 cloves of garlic
handful of fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1 egg, whipped with fork
a few slices of cheese
salt and pepper to taste
hot sauce

Start by frying the sausage and bacon in one frying pan. In another pan, slowly fry the onion and garlic in a splash of oil until soft and buttery. Keep meat and onions warm in oven. Fry potato into hash browns with oil and garlic. Once browned, toss in parsley. In other pan, pour in egg and sizzle into omelet, add slices of cheese on top. Meanwhile slice open bun, do the mayo and mustard thing, and add tomato, maybe a bit of fresh ground pepper. Now comes the fun part. Carefully remove cheese omelet from pan. Wrap sausage and bacon in the omelet like a burrito. Place into bun. Ladle up fried onions and hash browns. Add a splash of hot sauce and warm up the defibrillator. Consider yourself warned.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Sushi Samurai

The other day Soph and I were playing toddler computer games on the CBC kid's website and I found this awesome game. Of course, I can only play it after she has gone to sleep.

In the game you are this little Japanese dude who climbs ladders, drops slices of fish and cucumber to make nigiri, and throws wasabi at your enemies (shitake, diakon, and fugu). Fun all around and just the thing for a good 10 minutes of distraction.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

(Local) Food for Thought

I haven't been cooking a lot lately because it taken all my energy just to keep things barely resembling normalcy around our house. Many of our friends have also brought over meals for us which has been a tremendous help. Thank you so much all of you.

I am also getting emails and comments from many of you who are really enjoying the blog. Once again, thank you for all your encouragement. But just because my life is now firmly entrenched in new parent craziness and I am not cooking as often as I usually do, I still don't want to disappoint my faithful readers. So I was thoroughly interested when our friend Audra (oops, I mean Guerrilla-Love-Hands) sent me this link.

Apparently these people are all about eating only locally produced food. I read though their page and it is a very interesting idea. The following explanation is taken from their web page (www.100milediet.org). Check it out...

About

carrots

When the average North American sits down to eat, each ingredient has typically travelled at least 1,500 miles—call it "the SUV diet." On the first day of spring, 2005, Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon (bios) chose to confront this unsettling statistic with a simple experiment. For one year, they would buy or gather their food and drink from within 100 miles of their apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Since then, James and Alisa have gotten up-close-and-personal with issues ranging from the family-farm crisis to the environmental value of organic pears shipped across the globe. They've reconsidered vegetarianism and sunk their hands into community gardening. They've eaten a lot of potatoes.

Their 100-Mile Diet struck a deeper chord than anyone could have predicted. Within weeks, reprints of their blog at thetyee.ca had appeared on sites across the internet. Then came the media, from BBC Worldwide to Utne magazine. Dozens of individuals and grassroots groups have since launched their own 100-Mile Diet adventures. The need now is clear: a locus where 100-milers can get the information they need to try their own lifestyle experiments, and to exchange ideas and develop campaigns. That locus will be here at 100MileDiet.org—turning an idea into a movement.


Why Eat Local? 13 Lucky Reasons.

carrot

1. Taste the difference.

At a farmers’ market, most local produce has been picked inside of 24 hours. It comes to you ripe, fresh, and with its full flavor, unlike supermarket food that may have been picked weeks or months before. Close-to-home foods can also be bred for taste, rather than withstanding the abuse of shipping or industrial harvesting. Many of the foods we ate on the 100-Mile Diet were the best we’d ever had.

2. Know what you’re eating.

Buying food today is complicated. What pesticides were used? Is that corn genetically modified? Was that chicken free range or did it grow up in a box? People who eat locally find it easier to get answers. Many build relationships with farmers whom they trust. And when in doubt, they can drive out to the farms and see for themselves.

3. Meet your neighbors.

Local eating is social. Studies show that people shopping at farmers’ markets have 10 times more conversations than their counterparts at the supermarket. Join a community garden and you’ll actually meet the people you pass on the street. Sign up with the 100-Mile Diet Society; we’ll be working to connect people in your area who care about the same things you do.

4. Get in touch with the seasons.

When you eat locally, you eat what’s in season. You’ll remember that cherries are the taste of summer. Even in winter, comfort foods like squash soup and pancakes just make sense–a lot more sense than flavorless cherries from the other side of the world.

5. Discover new flavors.

Ever tried sunchokes? How about purslane, quail eggs, yerba mora, or tayberries? These are just a few of the new (to us) flavors we sampled over a year of local eating. Our local spot prawns, we learned, are tastier than popular tiger prawns. Even familiar foods were more interesting. Count the types of pear on offer at your supermarket. Maybe three? Small farms are keeping alive nearly 300 other varieties–while more than 2,000 more have been lost in our rush to sameness .

6. Explore your home.

Visiting local farms is a way to be a tourist on your own home turf, with plenty of stops for snacks.

7. Save the world.

A study in Iowa found that a regional diet consumed 17 times less oil and gas than a typical diet based on food shipped across the country. The ingredients for a typical British meal, sourced locally, traveled 66 times fewer “food miles.” Or we can just keep burning those fossil fuels and learn to live with global climate change, the fiercest hurricane seasons in history, wars over resources…

8. Support small farms.

We discovered that many people from all walks of life dream of working the land–maybe you do too. In areas with strong local markets, the family farm is reviving. That’s a whole lot better than the jobs at Wal-Mart and fast-food outlets that the globalized economy offers in North American towns.

9. Give back to the local economy.

A British study tracked how much of the money spent at a local food business stayed in the local economy, and how many times it was reinvested. The total value was almost twice the contribution of a dollar spent at a supermarket chain .

10. Be healthy.

Everyone wants to know whether the 100-Mile Diet worked as a weight-loss program. Well, yes, we lost a few pounds apiece. More importantly, though, we felt better than ever. We ate more vegetables and fewer processed products, sampled a wider variety of foods, and ate more fresh food at its nutritional peak. Eating from farmers’ markets and cooking from scratch, we never felt a need to count calories.

11. Create memories.

A friend of ours has a theory that a night spent making jam–or in his case, perogies–with friends will always be better a time than the latest Hollywood blockbuster. We’re convinced.

12. Have more fun while traveling.

Once you’re addicted to local eating, you’ll want to explore it wherever you go. On a recent trip to Mexico, earth-baked corn and hot-spiced sour oranges led us away from the resorts and into the small towns. Somewhere along the line, a mute magician gave us a free show over bowls of lime soup in a little cantina.

13. And always remember:

Everything about food and cooking is a metaphor for sex.


... well then, at least you are still paying attention if you have read this far. Heh, heh, heh, heh... they just said "sex".

So anyway, that is something to think about. Now, I'm not about to give up olives, or especially coffee just because it is not grown in the Lower Mainland but I am definitely going to sign up for their newsletter. I dare you to as well. I double-dog dare you.

Friday, February 16, 2007

The Trials of Bedtime and a Good, Stiff Drink

We are all slowly adapting to life as we now know it with our latest family addition. Sophia has been doing awesome and loves her little sister, but as expected, has been testing all of our parenting boundaries and rules. In my pop psychology, touchy-feely, I've-read-all-the-right-books, birth prep class intellect I know that this phenomenon is called "normalizing" but the rest of me wants to call it "Do as I say or I will shake you like a British nanny!" (That was a joke everybody. It is a little device we call... sarcasm. Please don't call any child protection authorities, ((by the way, Maria doesn't work there anymore.)) I'm not going to shake a specific cute little girl, although it has been very tempting the last few days.)

I have found the perfect device to get me through the preparing-for-bedtime-tribulation. It is called... the evening cocktail, and last night I perfected my recipe. I call it...
The Burning Ring of Fire. It is essentially a tequila martini, and here is the recipe for all you parents of toddlers out there.
The Burning Ring of Fire
1 shot tequila
1 shot vodka
juice of 1/4 lime
1 dash Tabasco Chipotle sauce
1 dash Tabasco Habanero sauce
1 drop liquid smoke (mesquite if you can)
fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
slice of lime for garnish

Mix chili powder and salt on shallow plate. Use this mixture to rim a chilled martini glass. In a cocktail shaker toss in ice cubes and add tequila, vodka, lime juice, hot sauces, and liquid smoke. Shake like a disobedient toddler. Pour into martini glass, garish with lime slice, and finish with a smidge of fresh ground pepper on top.

Warning: This is not your average pastel-polo-shirt wussy martini. It does not come with an umbrella. It tastes like kerosene distilled through a sulfur-fired blast furnace. It is deliberately designed to be strong, harsh, and uncomfortable to remind one that just like life, somethings are hard to swallow but the pleasant, lingering warmth afterwards makes it all worthwhile.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Cute Girls and Guns.

Today I was emailed pictures of my 14 year old niece at her junior prom. She looked absolutely stunning and I was once again reminded that all too soon I will be in the position of dealing with prepubescent boys, up to no good, sniffing around my daughters.

Yo, zitface, don't even think about even looking in the direction of one of my little princesses. Or else.

And thanks to our friend Audra, I have a plan. DIY crossbow. Oh yes, my friends, check it out here or here. Apparently, you don't need a license for a crossbow and they leave a much more ragged, brutal, less surgical wound than a 9mm. And isn't that just what you want when dealing with horny teenage boys? This is what the DIY revolution needs. Brutal handmade weapons! To arms comrades! Next target... McDonald's!

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

The Embodiment of the DIY Spirit

As some of you know, it has been a busy few days around our house. Our daughter Eleanor was born at home at 9:25 pm on Feb 12. We are ecstatic and overjoyed. In a few days the grandparents are going to show up and our house will be baby-centric for quite some time.

So, I wanted to take some time to brag about my eldest daughter Sophia and how awesome she is. On the weekend we were doing some errands and we stopped by the Evil Swedish Empire. They had a special Valentines' Day craft organized for the kids, but rather than let some giant multinational corporation tell us how to have fun, in a flash of parenting genius I took Sophia over to the help-yourself-packaging-and-packing station and we made a very stylish crown for her to wear. Check it out below! She breathes the DIY ethos.

Soph Does It Herself

Sophia stickin' it to the man!

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Laptop Techno Will Rule the World.

I finally managed to get my own songs onto this blog. It took me a while and a great recommendation from my friend Ben, the greatest laptop DJ in the world. He specializes in caffeine-fuelled, rain-drenched glitchcore. Check him out here and get your DIY groove on.

So scroll down and click on the mp3 player on the right, download my tunes, and tell all your friends. Rave on!

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

One Night In Bangkok

I haven't posted for a while and I apologize. So many of you checked out my last BBQ post and left wonderfully kind comments that allowed me to relive all the wonderful meals and memories that we have shared together. Thank you so much. (By the way, Knight TV hasn't called me yet.)

This last week has been insane. Our baby is due in 3 days and I am trying to get as much soap work done as possible before the joyous occasion. When I get really busy, sometimes I forget to eat. I know, it's stupid because I love eating! Somewhere in the insanity I whipped up the greatest Pad Thai ever made by a white guy.

I lost my Pad Thai virginity when I was 19. It was the first time I had ever been in Asia, and I spent an amazing 6 weeks in Bangkok that changed my entire world, and most importantly, my tastebuds forever (the 4 days straight of heartburn were worth it!) Of course, Thai food tastes best in Thailand and everything else just pales in comparison. Until you can save up enough pennies to get to the best eating in the world, this recipe will have to do.

A big sloppy kiss for anyone who knows who this dude is.

Ingredients

Sauce

1 oz tamarind paste
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice cooking wine
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 can tomato paste
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
juice and zest of 1 lime
2 stalks lemongrass smashed
5 kaffir lime leaves.

Stir fry stuff
1 pack rice stick noodles
chicken, cut to stir fryability
handful of shrimp
1 block firm tofu, cubed
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 huge thumb ginger
1 onion
4 green onions, chopped
2 eggs

Garnish
beansprouts
fist of cilantro, chopped
lime wedges
crushed peanuts

Soak noodles in plenty of cold water for at least 1 hour.

Combine tamarind paste with a 1/4 cup hot water in a small bowl and let soak for at least 15 minutes. Mash it and transfer the mud-like mixture to a strainer set into a bowl. Mash and push with a spoon, forcing liquid to strain into the bowl. Scrape off the juice that clings to the underside of the strainer. You will have about 5 tbsp of tamarind juice. Add to all the other sauce ingredients and simmer in small saucepan.

Heat oil in a wok. Add garlic, ginger and stir, letting it cook for about 30 seconds. Add chicken and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add onion, green onion, tofu and shrimps and stir-fry for 1 more minute. Break eggs into wok and let them fry without breaking them up for 1-2 minutes.

While eggs cook, quickly drain the noodles and then add to wok, giving them a quick fold, stir-frying for 1 minute from the bottom up. Continue stir-frying, mixing everything together for 1-2 minutes. Add all the sauce. Stir-fry for 30 seconds and take off heat.

Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with beansprouts, ground peanuts, and chopped cilantro. Stick a couple of lime wedges on the side and serve immediately.

Serve, eat, repeat.


Thursday, February 01, 2007

The glories of BBQ.


The other day my brother-in-law forwarded me an email about auditioning to be the next TV BBQ guru for a new show that is being developed by the same production company that has already made some great shows for the Food Network. The company is Knight TV and they are responsible for The Great Canadian Food Show, License to Grill, Cook Like a Chef, and This Food That Wine. Check it all out here.

Anyway, is seems to me that I was born for this exact gig, so I sent them an audition tape. Then I started getting all philosophical about why I love to BBQ and I wanted to share these happy thoughts with y'all.

I love to BBQ because I believe it is the fastest and most reliable method of producing guaranteed warm-fuzzy eating memories with people that you love. I mean, that is essentially why I cook. Sure it all tastes great, but I do it because food is the currency that we trade in exchange for the services rendered of unforgetable memories, quality conversation, and the shared joy of time spent together. Culture, life, love, family, celebration, and the entire fabric of our society all happen around the kitchen table. BBQ just happens to be one of the best ways to do it.

There is something about the magic alchemy of flame, smoke, and meat that transforms the neurological reaction between the tastebuds and brain into a transcendental glimpse into heaven. But most importantly, BBQ is the food of celebrations, summer, vacations, birthdays, backyard parties, going to the beach, and long weekends. Good BBQ takes careful preparation, diligence, patience, and a lot of love. Hmm, that sounds alot like the real meaning of life, doesn't it?

So friends, I have told the good people at Knight TV to check out this blog to see what I am all about. If I have ever made you amazing BBQ, now is the time that I'm calling in my favours. I want you to leave a comment to this post about the happy memories and great BBQ that you have shared with me. If you don't have a Blogger account you will have to register so that way we all know who you are. Don't worry, that takes way less time than making a good Jerk Chicken marinade. Make sure to add a cool picture of yourself to your Blogger profile so that way when you comment, I can see your pretty face and relive the BBQ good times with you.

Until the next time we grill together...
your friend,

~pwade