Nouveau-Brunswick

It was just enough time for me to unwind, maybe not completely, but significantly: four nights and five days in Wicklow, New Brunswick with my mum and Megan.

We spent it watching Wheel of Fortune, drinking cheap beer, getting manicures, eating at diners, grilling pork, reading inexcusably dumb magazines, shopping for Christmas presents, trying on clothes, walking to the garden and back, sharing jewelry, going to bed early, and snacking on potato chips and ice cream.


Garden tomatoes: so sweet, you could eat them like apples.
Noticed in my dad's workshop: unused golf balls and evidence of his dog, Megan.
Fancy Marimekko stockings from Helsinki via Ottawa to New Brunswick. In the background: Mum and Dad's pink-painted plywood deck.
Two cutie pies. You know it.
Thanks to Dad, even the birds eat well. This sits outside the living room window and attracts all manner of teeny birds, plus a couple greedy jays.
Toasted tomato sandwich with sides of bacon and sliced cucumber. The bread, notably, is called 'brown' (a.k.a. molasses bread) and was baked by Grandma's Bake Shop in Centreville. Veggies are from Dad's garden. Bacon is from a pig.
My mum and dad's last New Brunswick grape of the season. But I'll be getting a jelly delivery at Christmas. Seriously, who can grow organic grapes in New Brunswick? They both have green thumbs, although they deny it.
Keith's was the beer of my university days. Over the weekend, I drank it chilled while wearing gloves outside. It was crisp!
Made-to-order Grammatizer. What in it? Grandma's Restaurant and Bake Shop's own hamburger roll, two ground beef burgers, bacon, several slices of processed cheese, lettuce, tomato, and Gramatizer sauce. So decadent (if you look just to the front of the burger on the plate you can see a delicious drip from the bacon).

Saturday the 27th

Missing Link

Hungry Day

Here's some rare roast beast from Il Negozio NiCastro on Wellington. For dinner last night, Adam piled it it between two slices of baguette -- one of which had been buttered and the other slathered in Lady Ash Burnham pickle.

It was a hungry day, as Lucy's dad would say.

Nine Years Later

Saturday the 13th

Already Autumn

Adam's been eating these little open-facers every day for a week. To make, just slather a piece of salty baguette with any mild goat's cheese and top with spoonfuls of fig compote.

To cook your own compote, gently simmer a large handful of halved, black figs with a few splashes of leftover white wine, two pinches each cinnamon, crushed coriander, chili flakes, cloves, and nutmeg, plus a small knob of chopped fresh ginger. Oh yeah, and add a couple spoons of brown sugar to sweeten the pot.

Bondable

Found

Ladies Night

Holding On

It's back-to-school time, but I'm not ready to say good-bye to summer yet. 30 degree weather demands light-tasting food and delicious drinks.

So, refresh with a green smoothie! Just blend together one banana, a peach or nectarine, a couple handfuls of raw spinach, a half cup of plain yogurt or kefir, and a half cup or so of water. Oh, and throw in a little cube of peeled, fresh ginger. Surprisingly healthy and delicious!

Or fill up on arugula salad topped with fresh figs and magic beans. I served this with smoked turkey breast sandwiches and red quinoa dressed with truffle oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon.

Better Butter Tarts

Lucy says her mum's butter tarts are "so good people talk about them for years after they try them." She even dreamed about them the other night, not knowing that her mum had been cooking a huge batch the very same day.

Magic Beans

Remember the fable of Jack and the Beanstalk? Conveniently, my father (née John) goes by 'Jack' and his organic vegetable garden is the stuff of legends.

Last week, Sarah and Jeremiah delivered two bursting boxes from Dad's garden. Since then, we've been stuffing ourselves full of cucumber sandwiches, cucumber crudités dipped in tzatziki, and Japanese salads with cukes, mirin, and black sesame seeds. Plus, Jeremiah brought over a container of his roasted carrot soup -- perfect with crusty bread and garlicky string bean salad, which we've been eating by the bowlful. And yesterday, the last of our red and yellow chard was sauteed and served alongside black olive pasta with three mushroom marinara.

The purple string beans, shown above, are a wax variety well-suited to New Brunswick summers. Want to know what makes them magic? You'll have to watch them while they cook to find out.

Bear's Berries

Tiny Tims

The other day Christina oh-so-generously handed me a bag of tiny red tomatoes from her Gilmour Street Garden.

"Adam's get-well-soon present," she explained.

Well, Christina, he ate them with chopped fresh basil and a splash of balsamic. To Adam, this is the salad of gods.

Fresh Production

On Shawna's advice, Jeremiah and I made a lunch reservation for today at Fraser Cafe. I forgot my camera, so you don't get to see the local cheddar cheeseburger with house-smoked bacon that I ordered. Or the panko-breaded haddock that Jeremiah scarfed down (hey! I thought we were sharing!). Mine came with house chips; Jeremiah's was on a bed of warm fingerling potatoes, roasted baby fennel, and grilled cherry tomatoes. Everything was, as my dad would say, scrum-diddly-umptious.

The Fraser brothers claim they'll be focusing on seasonal ingredients, and by the looks of the peach cobbler on the table beside us, tis the season!

Also, the Fraser brother (which one is which?) who was at the grill is kind of a hottie.

Yeah, she is.

August 22, 2008

Shouts out to all the people (and pets) who helped me love the age of 27. I probably forgot about fifty people, but rest assured, you all make my life a lot cooler, just by hanging around.

Adam, Allen, Andrea, Anna, Aunt Susan, Cathy, Christina Paradiso, Christina Riley, Cindy, Corn Ear, Cousin David, Emilie, Flora, Gillian, Jamie, Janet, Jeremiah, Jitka, Jules, Kaka, M, Mary Lynn, Megan Soucie, Megan Dewar, Pappie, Pigasus, Sarah and Dave, Sarah Waterston, Stucy, Suni, Tony, Tim, Ty, Vanessa, and Wendy.

Much love and gratefulness.

Late Summer

Is it really? Already?

My birthday is tomorrow. When I was a kid, that meant I had just started a new school year. Now it means string beans, slow-roasted tomatoes, Kirby cucumbers, big bowls of blueberries, new potatoes, and the promise of crisp Cortland apples from New Brunswick.

Tonight, faced with the overflowing bounty of my last trip to the market, I made this simple salad for my recovering patient.
To DIY, simply stir together green and yellow beans (snapped to bite size and steamed just until al dente). Drizzle in a bit of walnut oil and a generous squeeze of lemon. Add a clove or two of minced garlic, fresh basil, and fresh hot pepper. Garnish farm-style with good old S&P.