Elsewhere

Normally, I like this blog to be all about ME, but Lucy sent me a link to the sweetest blog, Pimp That Snack, where folks (who clearly have a LOT of time on their hands) submit pictures and commentary detailing their oversized recreations of popular snack foods.

My favorite is the creepy Sour Patch Kid. It looks so juicy and yet, so...red. Adam said it looks like "one of those blind, giant salamanders they find in China!"

To Be Exact

Between, Adam, our downstairs neighbor, and I, those muffins from yesterday are almost completely gone! This afternoon, I tweaked the recipe just slightly and made another batch. If you have 20 minutes to burn and some skanky bananas to get rid of, here's what I did.

Ingredients
2 large eggs
3 overripe bananas
1/2 cup kefir yogurt* **
1/4 olive oil
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup pumpkin seeds

Method
Preheat oven to 325 F.
Mix the wet ingredients and sugar.
Add dry ingredients.
Put into oiled muffin tin or line with papers.
Bake for 30 minutes.

Makes 12 biggie muffins!

* Kefir yogurt is a kind of fermented milk product, much like traditional yogurt, but it is made with kefir bacteria grains, rather than other bacterias.

** You can use regular yogurt (you might want to thin it out slightly with a bit of milk or water) or buttermilk in place of the kefir yogurt. Or, you can just use milk or water, but you might have to play with the dry ingredients just slightly if you use pure liquid).

Out of Season

Leave it to me to turn on my oven and stink up the house in the middle of the summer.

These banana pumpkin seed muffins are totally out of season. And ditto about last night's pizza pie. Must have made sense to us though because every last leftover is already gone.

Heh.

Most weekdays, when Adam is at work and I am at home pretending to work, we touch base by telephone sometime in the afternoon. Often, I ask him how he liked his lunch. This interests me because I make him a bagged lunch every night before I go to bed.

I'll never forget today's conversation about what I packed.

Me: How did you like your lunch today?
Adam: It was good!
Me: Did you like that applesauce?

[Pause.]

Adam: I thought it was BBQ sauce!

[A lot of laughter from both of us.]

Adam: I've been dipping my pizza crusts in it!
Me: Because that's how we always eat our pizza? By dipping it in BBQ sauce?

[More laughter.]

Me: Didn't you find it a bit sweet?
Adam: Well...yeah!
Me: And didn't you wonder why I gave you a snack-sized amount of a dipping sauce?
Adam: Yeah, I was going to suggest you pack me a smaller size next time!
Me: Well, it's applesauce and I added nutmeg to give it some extra flavor.
Adam: Oh! I'll let you go then. I want to go finish the rest of it.

Eggceptional Evening

We scored an invite to Jeremiah and Sarah's last night for a dinner cooked on their Big Green Egg. The pictures should give you an idea of what you can do on these self-contained grills. See Jeremiah's pecan-smoked chicken and Sarah's dark chocolate 'pot brownies' for details.

Reunited

Co-pilots

Our traveling companions, Pika and Boo, jockeying for position on the seat console.

Eryngii

Le Coprin mushrooms are local and organic. To be honest, I haven't noticed a huge taste difference yet, but I really want to! I've never seen such bright, bouncy fungi. Available at Herb n' Spice on Wellington, The Byward Fruit Market, and the Ottawa Farmer's Market.

Thanks to Chris and Megan for getting me interested in the king oysters (above).

Recent Past

Who Is This?

Feel So Bohemian

This food. These friends.

Rock Stars

The sexy Sarah Sims: Event Coordinator, Lead Vocals, and Occasional Guitar.

The Kimmy Gibblers: live, loaded, and letting it rip on the Sims Hartell Main Stage.

Found

Found this note in Adam's loose change jar. Trust that guy to squirrel away crumpled up paper covered in cryptic phrases.

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