birthday blunder

I just had a birthday and thanks to Facebook there was no way my husband was forgetting (not that he ever has, I would never let him). What to get me is usually met with panic, frustration and sheer terror. I am a 'little' hard to shop for and as my birthday falls a mere week before christmas. I insist that he does not combine gifts, but this year that is exactly what he said he was going to do. Gasp, an eleven year rule broken just like that. But as luck or karma would have it, "it's more expensive" present didn't have an appropriate delivery by date so he had to alter his strategy and break up the gift giving into two segments.


My gift was Thomas Keller's ad hoc at home: family-style recipes cookbook. Something my husband knew I would appreciate, would spend hours pouring through looking for tips, tricks and inspiration. 'ad hoc' is collection of recipes based on Keller's food from the restaurant of the same name. The philosophy is to use fresh in season produce for family style meals, one four course menu each day.  'ad hoc' is in good company with the French Laundry, Per Se  and Bouchon (my second favourite restaurant). True to the family-style nature both my husband and I can share this book. He was even the first to make a recipe from it, giving me another invaluable gift, mummy time.


I don't know if ad hoc at home was ever part of the original intent but here it is now in my collection. I may not ever get the "it's more expensive" present, I'll have to wait and see how Christmas plays out, but this simple thoughtful gift will get a prominent place amongst my other cookbooks. Already it is getting stains and spills and all the other tell tale signs that a book is well loved. 

For dinner last night my husband made chanterelle mushrooms: with pea shoots as a bed for seared Qualicum Beach scallops and a buttery fat laden pommes anna. 


*as a note, Keller suggests Pan-Roasted Halibut from his book. However, we are consciously eating seafood that does not have a high environmental impact on our fisheries and though Halibut on the pacific coast is a safe choice if we don't know where it comes from, we avoided it all together.


photos by me.

F is for fish....and thats good enough for me

First a disclaimer.... I call myself a vegetarian even though I am not. It simplifies things. I have had the same diet since I was 16 yrs old and it has pretty much worked for me. I am a pescetarian, I eat fish. As much as I despise the modern food system, I have never been able to completely give up fish. I naively believed that ocean based animals were not in the same perils of their land base distant cousins. With the collapse of many fisheries it became fashionable to eat farmed, then with disease it once again became fashionable to eat wild. All this flip flopping (no pun intended) boggled the mind. I have since reconciled to eat only those fisheries that are not endangered, fished sustainably and are suggested by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood watch or the Vancouver Aquarium's Ocean wise as safe to eat. I live in British Columbia, getting fresh local fish should never be a problem.

That brings me to what I ate tonight and what I am reading. After yoga this evening I decided to stop on the way home and pick up dinner for the family. My husband is sick and had been watching the babies all afternoon while I down dogged and mountain poised myself into health (we have already started our holiday eating), so cooking he was not. After doing a pretty intense workout I am always craving a healthy helping of tofu and veg and as I have permanently

ruled out the Naam as that source, the ever faithful standby the Noodle Box was en route. The servings are huge but unlike the the Naam are re-heatable and often better the next day. Tonight they had several specials one was an awesome sounding Kung Pao but instead of chicken was Prawns and Qualicum beach Scallops. The Prawns had no such identification - so I asked. The server said "Atlantic" (Why would we get Atlantic prawns and not Pacific?) and when I looked at him in disbelief he asked a cook; the verdict was Vietnam. Really Noodle box? This is what your website says about your ingredients "Searing hot flames combine with the freshest local ingredients and classic flavours from Thailand, Malaysia, China and Japan". I can't tell if the server was laughing with me or at me when I said "So they are the rape and pillaged kind".

I am currently reading Bottomfeeder: How to eat ethically in a world of vanishing seafood by Taras Grescoe. In the book Grescoe investigates the world's love affair with seafood, the devistation of the ocean's bottom and it shrinking stocks. He looks at fads that create the drive for singular species, such as a Julia Child episode where she manhandles a 25lb monkfish, the historical context of the oyster and the traditional attitude that the sea is ours to plunder generation after generation. With all of this swirling about my head like a shoal lost at sea , I forgo the prawns and scallops and opted for the tofu. And in future I will be more attentive to my seafood choices, be it a fish and chips stand or my favourite restaurant.

photo by me.