In Ottawa, we wait all year for warm nights like these. When you can pile the grill with oyster mushrooms, eggplant, peppers, and lamb. When you can drink G&Ts until dinner - at which time you gamely switch over to organic merlot. And then, when you can drive home in the dark: full, tired, and good for going home.

Use Your Noodle

At Phnom Pehn for a quick and dependable noodle bowl with tofu, onions, and lemongrass. Man, I love this neighborhood.

Ever see this guy when he wasn't wearing a sling?

After Dinner

Indian Express Food & Sweets operates at a frustratingly slow pace. And there is a good chance you'll be overcharged or your order will come out wrong.

But it's close to us and the food tastes slightly better than average. Also, the sweets are well-worth popping in for. Adam's favorites are made from fig and pistachios and shaped to look like little green pears. Last night, they only had cashew apples, though, which were sweet and nutty, but didn't compare to the pears by a long shot. Lucky we got stuffed gulab jamun too, overladen with syrup, but you know what they say about a spoonful of sugar.

Dooryard

You can take the girl out of the country, but she'll never leave the dooryard.

'Dooryard' is now an organic beer by Fredericton's own Picaroon's, and I couldn't be more psyched. You can say what you want about the Atlantic provinces, but you'll never have a better pint in your life than you will in a Maritime pub.

As everyone says in Carleton County, fill yer boots!

Hino-style

There's nothing wrong with Ottawa's restaurants. People just don't eat in the good ones. And with people like Chris Knight touting the sorry likes of Social and The Wellington Gastropub, it's no wonder that Ottawa eaters choose style over substance. But if, like me, you're a little more London, England and a lot less London, Ontario, you'll love Hino -- a smallish spot whose decor is so bad it's good. Combine this with a handful of loyal barflies and made-to-order home-style Japanese food, and you may quickly become a regular.





Best: Thick Japanese curries cooked with fat shrimp and ladled over bowls of warm sticky rice; a tangle of skinny noodles; 'Hino-style' chicken; thickly-cut fried potatoes, homemade salad dressing over shaved carrots and crisp iceberg lettuce; two-layer chocolate cake doused in rum and frosted with the smoothest dark chocolate buttercream my tongue has ever tasted.

Go there.

If you know what's good for you, try making Brunch Butter by pureeing roasted sweet potato with caramelized onions, a spoon of 'real' butter or tahini, and three pinches of homemade masala. Then, spread on a thin rye cracker and sprinkle with La Baleine 's sel de mer, which comes from the clear blue Mediterranean Sea.

A New Half

Home Safe

Sending wellness wishes to Sir Pigasus Furryman, who has returned home from the hospital. There will be lots for his mama to do in the coming days, so sending vibes of strength and wisdom to both of you.

Eat This

When you're out on Merivale at lunchtime, the pickings are slim. You can get a cold cut sandwich at the European Deli or NiCastro's; AYCE sushi, or a good-old fashioned burger at Dick's.

We always choose the latter, partly because their onion rings are coated in salty panko crumbs and deep fried to a color well-past golden. But there's nothing wrong with their thick milkshakes either - made with local ice cream - or their juicy burgers, which you can order in classic beef or in more contemporary turkey, chicken breast, or black bean (all with aioli, Dijon, sautéed onions, and a whole grain bun).

Vigil

On Our Knees

My godson, Pigi is in the hospital. This post goes out to you, Pigz. Give your mama a big hug from me when you're feeling better.

Anethestized

On a whim, Adam wanted to sup at Allium tonight. Yes! I put on a fancy dress, slicked on some hot pink lipstick, and stepped into my shiny black flats. And good thing I cleaned up because this was one of those magical evenings that can only come along when you really need it.

We anesthetized ourselves with no less than four rounds of tapas plus dessert. There was a wee duck breast dotted with BBQ sauce, soft goat's cheese truffles spread over homemade crisps, and white beans on toast with melted cheese and oyster mushrooms. Oh yeah, and these curios: tempura caper berries with Parmesan and basil sauce for dipping.

Grind

Spice and Ice

The recipe for Fava Beans with Yogurt and Crunchy Bits called for a few ingredients I didn't have. I improvised with baby soy beans, a teaspoon of homemade masala, and some Pinehedge Farms kefir.

So satisfying! Biting down on those squeaky beans, tossed with chopped spearmint and fresh lemon juice. The crunchy bits - sauteéd bread crumbs, finely chopped red onion, garlic, cumin, coriander, ginger, and dried chilies - are very spicy! But that's where the kefir comes in. Cools everything off just like it's supposed to.

$2.22

So Much Better on Holiday

Some Bunny

Main Bunny, what will I do without you?

Enjoy Yourself

A Matter of Time

If, like me, your 'family tree' emerged from a pastiche of transatlantic crossings, diasporas, and house fires, heirlooms may be hard to come by. So, the objects I've inherited, I guard like little eggs.

Like this Osterizer, which my parents gave to me when I 'left home' for the first time. Apparently, almost thirty years prior, Lorraine had been daydreaming about making her own baby food (if, someday, she happened to become a mother). Jack, thinking that sounded like a plan, bought her a twenty-speed blender the day she telephoned him to say that she was pregnant.

And did they ever make baby food. My brother and I ate what they ate: fried eggs, Swiss chard, elbow macaroni - helped along by this shiny locomotive. Later on, the blender was pressed into use as a smoothie maker when the little girl of the family turned out to have a 'sensitive' constitution (and palate).

Now the blender is over 30 years old. And that little girl still loves every single thing about it: the bent faceplate, the powerful motor (encased in that sexy chromed base), its heft, the colors of the plastic buttons, its old-fashioned two-prong plug, the chip in the glass pitcher, the story of its birth, the sound of its churring and chewing, and its unfailing dependability. Adam and I use it every single day.

A long way from home, but not so far when you think about it.

As You Wish

Hansel und Gretel

"It's really hard to get German chocolate in Germany," Paradiso tells me. "It's all from Belgium!"

But she managed to find Hachez, a company that makes 'feine vollmich-chocolade' wrapped in this cheerfully-designed paper. And 'feine' it is. Smooth and soft as Gretel's bum.

Mojito Man

1. Bash up 6 mint leaves.
2. Pour 1 oz simple cane sugar syrup, 1.5 oz white rum, and 1 oz lime juice into glass.
3. Add mint.
4. Top with club soda and ice.
5. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes before drinking. You have to do this step to get the full flavor of the mint oil into the rest of the drink.


Adam figures he churned out about 40 of these last night for our party. Then tonight, he made a geriatric version for us just by omitting the liquor. They really capped off the slow bike tour we did around the neighborhood at dusk. Did you feel how warm the air was tonight?

In the Nick of Time

Good thing Cindy and Tony made a housewarming of this German paring knife! Already, I've had fun imagining myself dicing and chopping on those days when nothing soothes the stress better than 4 inches of razor-sharp stainless steel.

And for self-defense, of course. A girl can't be too careful these days.

Half of Me

Welcome Home

I've blogged before about Paticceria Gelateria Italiana (where Christina and I got that loving feeling last November). And I've blogged about my friends Julie and Amirali (who have since generously delivered a large tin of individually-wrapped Gaz candy).

Well, at our long-awaited housewarming last night, Julie and Amirali brought us a load of treats from Paticceria Gelateria Italiana, which happens to be smack-dab in the middle of Julie's new neighborhood. First was a shiny chocolate fish and a pair of love mice, complete with chocolate ganache bodies, almond ears, and dark brown eyes. Then came a cardboard box filled with piped butter cookies in orange, mocha, coconut, chocolate.

I feel utterly spoiled and, as always, grateful for dear friends.

Sail Away With Me

Pre-lunch Snack

Vilmas Handbakat Knackebrod is available in Sweden. This one was Rag Havssalt flavour. You can substitute with a Ryvita-brand rye crisp if you like, but it won't be quite as delicate. Either way, slather whatever you've got with a thin layer of Gorgonzola and some sort of sticky jam. I used quince paste on my first try, but this one is organic New Brunswick grape jelly. Who knew you could grow grapes in the Maritimes?

Fruit Salad

The little bean on the right is Bananica: a chocolate coated 'foamy dessert' from The Bosnian Deli on Merivale. The electric-yellow insides taste like children's medicine. Stick to 'Bananko' brand, which is lighter and less artificial-tasting.

If you won't go for banana, how about the most delicate candied orange peel covered in fine milk chocolate? Purchased at Made in France on Dalhousie.

Long Lost

If you see this man, tell him to call his sister.

Leaving So Soon

Feels Familiar

In Season

This cold salad was one of those dishes I made in my imagination first and then put together in a bowl. Lately, we've been dutifully eating bunches of short-lived asparagus. The latest way was with Scotch barley, green onion, a pile of fresh mint leaves, a good glug of hazelnut oil, S&P, and the juice of half a lemon.

Main Bunny

I bake for you!

TLA

When we give from the heart, we do so out of a joy that springs forth whenever we willingly enrich a person's life.
- Marshall Rosenberg

A whole pineapple upside-down cake was baked just for me this morning and hand-delivered by my darling, dearest Main Bunny. She packed this bunny-sized skillet-cake with fresh pineapple, pureed oranges, coconut oil, ground cardamom, and Demerara sugar.

Really nothing makes me ever feel so loved as being fed.

Giving a Fig

A sun-dried Shirazi fig. Another classic Iranian snack introduced to me by Amirali, via Jules.

Just Friends

Adam and Travis out on the town at Vina del Mar, Hintonburg's spiciest new spoon.

Milky Baby

Another guy who brews a nice pot is my very own Adam. He just boils up some hot water and steeps whatever kind of loose leaf tea he finds in the cupboard. Once it cools, we keep it in the fridge, mixing it with milk and buckwheat honey or maple syrup each morning.