Cooking Simply for a weeknight dinner Guest.

We had a lovely dinner with a friend last night.  A couple of weeks ago we ran into her and her boyfriend at a local restaurant. My husband  and I had only known her casually through yoga, as some one you saw, recognized but did not speak to. The restaurant where we had our encounter was one that was dedicated to fresh, local, and sustainable food. This we thought was a sign. We loved food, they loved food, we loved yoga, they loved yoga, we are an American/Canadian couple, they are an American/Canadian couple, etc. So we made tentative plans for dinner. It turned out that he was leaving for a month and that she would be our only dinner guest this *time*. So we thought we would make it a simple affair (I am hoping that our screaming 3 yr olds who were in a form not seen since the days of Carol Anne in the movie Poltergeist last night did not scare her off).   


We (I cut and chopped, husband cooked) made a winter minestrone from Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food:Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution.  Here is the adapted recipe.

Winter Minestrone with Root vegetables and Cabbage

• 1 1/2 cups cannellini beans with 1 cup cooking liquid
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 lg finely chopped onion
• 2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 1tsp dried thyme or 5 sprigs fresh
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tsp salt plus more for seasoning
• 3 cups of water
• 1 sm leek, diced
• 1/2 head of cabbage, thinly cut, boiled in salt water until softened
• 3/4 lbs bite-sized diced turnips
• 1/2 lbs bite sized dice yellow potatoes
• 1 cup cooked small pasta, such as confetti (optional)* I made my own from the left over dough I had by cutting in strips and then making tiny squares (optional. Alice Waters' recipe does not call for it) 
• parsley leaves, grated parmesan cheese & olive oil for garnishing

In a large sauce pan or stock pot, heat olive oil, cook carrots, celery and onion until tender (sweating but not browning). 


Add in garlic, thyme, bay leaf and salt, cook another five mintues. Add water and when at a boil add leek, turnips and potatoes, cook for 15 minutes and taste for salt. 


If using, about 10 minutes from finish add dried pasta** (you may have to add some more liquid to make up for the absorption of the pasta). 


Add cooked beans (and fresh pasta** if you are using) plus bean liquid. Cook for 5 more minutes. If soup is thick add more bean liquid.


Remove bay leaf, serve in individual bowls and garnish with, parsley, grated parmesan cheese and drizzled olive oil.


** We used fresh homemade pasta, so we briefly cooked it separately to remove excess flour and added it in towards the end.




photos by me.

Taking a break.

Something really weird happened and I still don't know how I feel about it. So I took a break from blogging and twitter.


I will start from the beginning. 


I am a full time stay at home mum. I take one four hour day a week to myself, on a regular schedule so I can go to yoga, run errands and just have a meal to myself. I had one babysitter so my twins would have consistency. She was marvellous, the babies would wait by the door for her arrival and then tell me for days after all about their adventures with her. We were very lucky to have her as a constant. Then over Christmas break she had a serious family emergency that caused her reconsider how much time she was spending away from her family and studies and felt that she had to move on.  Because it was the holidays and I was concerned about contacting people during that time, I called the standby nanny service. I have used them before and though they are expensive it is nice to have a 'just in case' contact. From the last time I had used them, their prices had changed. I knew this but apparently I read it wrong. So when the 'service' called to explain their new price structuring, I said 'Thank you but NO Thank you'! 


When I got the call I was at my computer doing my twitter, facebook, blog and news check. I was on twitter at the time and I tweeted "found out that N------ O- C--- is now charging $30 just for a booking fee [every time], plus the hourly rate $15, plus a 4 hr minimum. wtf!! never again!" and " that would be $90 to do yoga and run errands... umm no thank you." 


I did find someone else but had to switch the day to make it work. I also did not think about my tweeting and kept up my online interactions. Then I got a message on my phone. I rarely answer my phone, changing a diaper, making lunch or simply just ignoring it (just a few moments of silence...please), if you want to get a hold of me, email is best. The message said (and I should have saved it, so this is just an approximation).


 "This is [so and so] from N------ O- C---, we noticed that you made a comment on twitter a few days ago and we would just like to explain... blah blah blah". I quit listening after the caller said that she noticed that I made a comment on twitter.


Again WTF? NOC is not one of my followers, I am new to social net woking and don't even have that many, in fact I don't even have any from this neck of the woods. I know this is a public forum, I know that pretty much anything one says online is fair game. People have something to say to just about everything.  So if someone sees my tweet about NOC then so be it, but to call me personally on my home phone? That is kinda creepy. I don't think I said anything derogatory, and yes I was expressing my awe at the new pricing, but why on earth (if I had already made up mind) are you calling me to explain yourself?


Needles to say I will not be using NOC again.  As for their price structuring. I already pay my babysitters $15 an hour (yes that is market price for babysitters), they have done their own self promotion and I have done the leg work to reach out to them.


Now, if only someone would pay me $30 a booking fee and $15 an hour for the rest of my week.


photo by me... has nothing to do with the post, just like nests.

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.