I was writing myself a note: BRING GROCERY LIST TO WORK. Tomorrow, I am being treated to a rare ride out to Loblaws, which means: GROCERIES! Laura and Scott have the luxury of a car and have graciously let me climb aboard to go buy food tomorrow. I know they go right before supper, which means I'll have to be ready immediately after work. So I don't forget and freestyle buying groceries (we all know this ends badly, especially right before dinner...), I decided to write myself a reminder note and stick it to my fridge. In an attempt to grab a magnet, I smashed the locker mirror I have on my freezer door. Great.
Normally I wouldn't post about smashing a mirror because naturally I'm not really suspicious. I am a scientist and so I believe in natural causation: science is freaky sometimes and weird coincidences happen. Yes, I believe in karma, but in some ways I believe that treating everyone the way you want to be treated is rewarding not because of the good treatment you will receive from others in return but rather the good treatment you will receive from yourself. Isn't it a nice concept, to think that we do good deeds in life to feel good about ourselves? Isn't that reward enough? Surely if you feel good about yourself it doesn't matter if others treat you unfairly or cruelly, because your compassion towards yourself overcomes any mistreatment from others?
Regardless, I smashed a mirror. This should result in seven years of bad luck for me. This is about the length of a combined MSc-PhD program. Coincidence? Hmm...
I realize that this blog is turning more into a personal blog about what's going on in my brain than what it was originally intended for: to share my thoughts on food. A line from Eat Pray Love springs to mind: "Say it like you eat it," the notion of describing things simply even though they may be complex. In much the same way as I spare you the stupid details about the flavour balance in the food I eat, and lately the descriptions altogether, I am trying desperately to spare you the details of all the shit going on in my head, and laying it all out.
Unfortunately, this isn't going over so well. Either I haven't got one simple idea in my head, and am describing to you with great accuracy the complexity of the brain-jumble occuring in my mind, or, my ideas are very simple and I'm overdescribing them. I cannot decide which is worse.
Come to think of it, I think the mirror, if it were to represent anything, would represent that grad school is not only going to be long, but is going to feel long as well. Further contemplation of the phrase tells me that, indeed, I should learn to parla come magni. The next post will be about food, I swear.
PS. Everyone should watch Madagascar. Just sayin.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
The Possimpible
This weekend I had a healthy dose of awesome girlfriends two ways: Lisa and Leslie. To mark the occasion, I decided on a menu for Lisa and I. I normally come up with some sort of new meal for when guests come over, and this time I had the pleasure of exposing my victim to my new diet. Fortunately for me, Lisa is aware of my quasi-vegginess, and is also health-conscious. This means that she doesn’t mind (at least, I think she doesn’t mind…) trying new veggie dishes with me and skipping the meat for 24 hours or so. Meat-eating friends of mine, rest assured; if I knew you were coming over and would die before you tried TVP I’d be glad to cook you some meat and would gladly enjoy it with you. Thought I’d make that clear before 95% of you never came over ever again…
Anyway, I made 4 new dishes while Lisa was here. Two were desserts, one was a main course, and one was a breakfast item. All four were a first for me, two were completely successful, one was decent and one was a huge flop. I’ll leave it up to you to guess which ones are which after you read the recipes…(Lisa, no cheating).
Vegetable Curry
2 cups baby carrots, chopped
1 medium zucchini, chopped
1 medium onion, diced
4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 can green beans, drained and rinsed
1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
4 tbsp corn starch
3 tbsp garam masala
½ tsp salt
2 cups vegetable stock
1 small can diced tomatoes, with liquid
2 cups spinach, chopped
In a large slow-cooker, combine all ingredients except for tomatoes and spinach. Cook on low for 7-9 hours or until vegetables are tender. Add tomatoes and spinach, cover for 5 minutes and serve over cooked couscous or basmati rice.
Also great with a dollop of sour cream and fresh cilantro, as well as fresh papadums.
Easy Strawberry Mousse Pie
For the crust:
1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup sugar
6 tbsp melted butter
Combine ingredients until crumbs are moistened. Press into a greased pie plate. Bake at 375degF for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Set aside to cool completely.
For the filling:
1 tub CoolWhip
1 pkg strawberry Jell-O
1 cup chopped strawberries
Combine ingredients, stirring well to completely incorporate Jell-O powder.
To finish pie, spread filling into cooled pie crust and refrigerate.
Caramel Oatmeal Squares (recipe courtesy of Lisa Kileeg)
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup icing sugar
¾ cup cold butter, cubed
½ cup rolled oats
pinch of salt
1 pkg Skor chips
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 375degF. Grease an 8x8 square pan, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, icing sugar and salt. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the mixture until the mix resembles coarse crumbs. Press all but ½ cup of the flour mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes until pale golden.
3. Mix the Skor bits and chocolate chips. Spread them on top of the base and sprinkle remaining flour mixture over the chips.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes until bubbly and golden brown.
5. Cool completely.
Eggs Florentine (for two people)
2 English muffins, halved
4 eggs + 2 egg yolks
2 cups spinach, chopped
1 cup unsalted butter + 1 tbsp
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 ½ tbsp water
green onion (or chive if desired) chopped
For the hollandaise sauce:
1. Melt 1 cup butter. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes.
2. In the top of a double boiler containing barely boiling water, whisk the yolks, water and lemon juice until mixture is light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
3. Remove pot containing the yolk mixture from the double boiler. Slowly, and while whisking constantly, add the melted butter to the yolk mixture. Continue whisking briskly for about 5 minutes. Add a pinch of salt.
For spinach mixture:
1. Melt 1 tbsp butter in a frying pan.
2. Once melted, add spinach and sweat down, about 1 minute.
To finish:
1. Toast English muffins.
2. Top each half of muffin with a spoonful of spinach mixture, then one poached egg (see Wed., Aug 11th post entitled “Awesome Breakfast” for directions on poaching eggs), then a tbsp of hollandaise. Garnish with green onions or chives.
It was a long weekend, despite being quite productive. Lisa arrived Saturday around 2:30pm, and before that, I spent my Friday night and Saturday morning in yoga (both days…I’m glad to report that Michelle is feeling much better and taught the best core stability class I’ve been to yet. Order is restored to my chakras…) and reading Eat Pray Love. I’m about half way through the book, fyi. I’ll refrain from commenting until I’ve finished the whole thing. I also finally finished organizing my “office,” otherwise known as the one wall of my living room that somehow contains all my work/school stuff, awesomely spread out in boxes, binders, little plastic organizational drawer sets and modular shelving. Even though I won’t be doing much writing this semester, other than (hopefully) marking undergraduate labs, there’s something soothing and hopeful about an organized office space…like somehow the work you’ll be doing there will be fulfilling and effortless. For as long as I can remember I’ve loved those few weeks leading up to September, when the binders are new and full of blank loose leaf. Back when the binders have neat stickers on their sides that still say “BCHM 432” and “BCHM 411.” Only around mid-October do those labels no longer seem accurate but instead mentally translate to “goddamn this is a lot of memorizing/best mark of my university career…how did that happen!?” and “wow if only Mueller’s notes were in chronological order…/I hope I never have to TA this course.”
Anyways, I digress. What was I talking about again? Oh yeah, what I did this weekend. I also helped my friend Leslie move into her place, which is a basement like mine except newly renovated. I am immediately jealous of her dishwasher and stacked washer/dryer, but also not jealous of the crack-your-face-open death-stairs leading down into her place. Of course, I’m going to be so busy in the upcoming months that I won’t ever be intoxicated and at her place, so I’m likely never to have to worry about those stairs. Watch, now that I’ve said that she’ll need me to come rescue her one night and I’ll forget about the steps, bail and nom some concrete on every step on the way down. Hopefully someone will have almost done so and wisely lined the wall at the bottom of the stairs with toilet paper or that insane-person wall padding.
I digress again. … Ok now I’m just rambling. I’ve been watching too much House and my brain is stumbling on a few things. I know this blog isn’t meant as a place to vent and expose my sad little feelings to everyone, so I’ll spare you the gory details and keep it brief:
1. One of my best friends is moving away for two years very soon and I’m having an impossible time dealing.
2. I have a scary meeting with Steve (my supervisor) tomorrow, where he’s going to help me kick my data analysis into overdrive, but that also means I have to be up to speed on my NMR theory. I did some today but with Steve you never know.
3. I have a HUGE semester/year coming up of which I am terrified…solving this structure, TAing BCHM 317 (hopefully), taking a time-consuming writing and analysis course come January (the prof for it says it will take up two full days a week to get a comparable handle on…there go my weekends) and gearing up for my friend Laura’s wedding, which I am a bridesmaid in.
I’m also going into my first year of no-Bands, which will be a huge adjustment. I have a million things going on in my head. It’s interesting how the rest of the world is spinning at a hundred miles an hour, people are leaving and experiencing and meeting each other. Grad school and the single life move at the pace that grass grows, it seems.
Also, this is completely and utterly unrelated to today’s entry, but it made me giggle so here it is.
NB. With Lisa around I sort of forgot to take pictures of anything but the first thing we ate (curry). Apologies!
Anyway, I made 4 new dishes while Lisa was here. Two were desserts, one was a main course, and one was a breakfast item. All four were a first for me, two were completely successful, one was decent and one was a huge flop. I’ll leave it up to you to guess which ones are which after you read the recipes…(Lisa, no cheating).
Vegetable Curry
2 cups baby carrots, chopped
1 medium zucchini, chopped
1 medium onion, diced
4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 can green beans, drained and rinsed
1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
4 tbsp corn starch
3 tbsp garam masala
½ tsp salt
2 cups vegetable stock
1 small can diced tomatoes, with liquid
2 cups spinach, chopped
In a large slow-cooker, combine all ingredients except for tomatoes and spinach. Cook on low for 7-9 hours or until vegetables are tender. Add tomatoes and spinach, cover for 5 minutes and serve over cooked couscous or basmati rice.
Also great with a dollop of sour cream and fresh cilantro, as well as fresh papadums.
Easy Strawberry Mousse Pie
For the crust:
1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup sugar
6 tbsp melted butter
Combine ingredients until crumbs are moistened. Press into a greased pie plate. Bake at 375degF for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Set aside to cool completely.
For the filling:
1 tub CoolWhip
1 pkg strawberry Jell-O
1 cup chopped strawberries
Combine ingredients, stirring well to completely incorporate Jell-O powder.
To finish pie, spread filling into cooled pie crust and refrigerate.
Caramel Oatmeal Squares (recipe courtesy of Lisa Kileeg)
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup icing sugar
¾ cup cold butter, cubed
½ cup rolled oats
pinch of salt
1 pkg Skor chips
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 375degF. Grease an 8x8 square pan, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, icing sugar and salt. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the mixture until the mix resembles coarse crumbs. Press all but ½ cup of the flour mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes until pale golden.
3. Mix the Skor bits and chocolate chips. Spread them on top of the base and sprinkle remaining flour mixture over the chips.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes until bubbly and golden brown.
5. Cool completely.
Eggs Florentine (for two people)
2 English muffins, halved
4 eggs + 2 egg yolks
2 cups spinach, chopped
1 cup unsalted butter + 1 tbsp
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 ½ tbsp water
green onion (or chive if desired) chopped
For the hollandaise sauce:
1. Melt 1 cup butter. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes.
2. In the top of a double boiler containing barely boiling water, whisk the yolks, water and lemon juice until mixture is light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
3. Remove pot containing the yolk mixture from the double boiler. Slowly, and while whisking constantly, add the melted butter to the yolk mixture. Continue whisking briskly for about 5 minutes. Add a pinch of salt.
For spinach mixture:
1. Melt 1 tbsp butter in a frying pan.
2. Once melted, add spinach and sweat down, about 1 minute.
To finish:
1. Toast English muffins.
2. Top each half of muffin with a spoonful of spinach mixture, then one poached egg (see Wed., Aug 11th post entitled “Awesome Breakfast” for directions on poaching eggs), then a tbsp of hollandaise. Garnish with green onions or chives.
It was a long weekend, despite being quite productive. Lisa arrived Saturday around 2:30pm, and before that, I spent my Friday night and Saturday morning in yoga (both days…I’m glad to report that Michelle is feeling much better and taught the best core stability class I’ve been to yet. Order is restored to my chakras…) and reading Eat Pray Love. I’m about half way through the book, fyi. I’ll refrain from commenting until I’ve finished the whole thing. I also finally finished organizing my “office,” otherwise known as the one wall of my living room that somehow contains all my work/school stuff, awesomely spread out in boxes, binders, little plastic organizational drawer sets and modular shelving. Even though I won’t be doing much writing this semester, other than (hopefully) marking undergraduate labs, there’s something soothing and hopeful about an organized office space…like somehow the work you’ll be doing there will be fulfilling and effortless. For as long as I can remember I’ve loved those few weeks leading up to September, when the binders are new and full of blank loose leaf. Back when the binders have neat stickers on their sides that still say “BCHM 432” and “BCHM 411.” Only around mid-October do those labels no longer seem accurate but instead mentally translate to “goddamn this is a lot of memorizing/best mark of my university career…how did that happen!?” and “wow if only Mueller’s notes were in chronological order…/I hope I never have to TA this course.”
Anyways, I digress. What was I talking about again? Oh yeah, what I did this weekend. I also helped my friend Leslie move into her place, which is a basement like mine except newly renovated. I am immediately jealous of her dishwasher and stacked washer/dryer, but also not jealous of the crack-your-face-open death-stairs leading down into her place. Of course, I’m going to be so busy in the upcoming months that I won’t ever be intoxicated and at her place, so I’m likely never to have to worry about those stairs. Watch, now that I’ve said that she’ll need me to come rescue her one night and I’ll forget about the steps, bail and nom some concrete on every step on the way down. Hopefully someone will have almost done so and wisely lined the wall at the bottom of the stairs with toilet paper or that insane-person wall padding.
I digress again. … Ok now I’m just rambling. I’ve been watching too much House and my brain is stumbling on a few things. I know this blog isn’t meant as a place to vent and expose my sad little feelings to everyone, so I’ll spare you the gory details and keep it brief:
1. One of my best friends is moving away for two years very soon and I’m having an impossible time dealing.
2. I have a scary meeting with Steve (my supervisor) tomorrow, where he’s going to help me kick my data analysis into overdrive, but that also means I have to be up to speed on my NMR theory. I did some today but with Steve you never know.
3. I have a HUGE semester/year coming up of which I am terrified…solving this structure, TAing BCHM 317 (hopefully), taking a time-consuming writing and analysis course come January (the prof for it says it will take up two full days a week to get a comparable handle on…there go my weekends) and gearing up for my friend Laura’s wedding, which I am a bridesmaid in.
I’m also going into my first year of no-Bands, which will be a huge adjustment. I have a million things going on in my head. It’s interesting how the rest of the world is spinning at a hundred miles an hour, people are leaving and experiencing and meeting each other. Grad school and the single life move at the pace that grass grows, it seems.
Also, this is completely and utterly unrelated to today’s entry, but it made me giggle so here it is.
NB. With Lisa around I sort of forgot to take pictures of anything but the first thing we ate (curry). Apologies!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
I can't believe it's not beef!
One of my favourite vegetarian recipes comes from my friend Alison's "low-fat cooking" cookbook, one that sat in our house in undergrad on the kitchen shelf (the one with all the unused coffee mugs accumulated from everyone's respective grandmothers' basement storage bins). It's a very simple recipe for vegetable lasagna, and it goes like this:
Vegetable Lasagna
1 medium zucchini, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and grated
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 pkg fresh spinach, washed and coarsely chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
4 cups canned pasta sauce
1 pkg lasagna noodles (not oven ready!)
1 large tub cottage cheese
4 cups shredded mozzarella (I usually just use the whole brick because I'm addicted to cheese like that)
Preheat oven to 350F.
1. Boil water and cook the lasagna noodles. Drain and drizzle with some oil so they don't stick. Set aside.
2. In a large skillet, heat the oil. Cook the onion, carrot and zucchini until the onion is translucent.
3. Add the mushrooms, cook until sweated down.
4. Handful by handful, add the spinach, mixing well to wilt down the spinach.
5. Add the tub of cottage cheese, mixing well and cooking until cheese has melted.
6. Grease a 9x13 baking dish. Coat it with a thin layer of tomato sauce.
7. On top of the sauce, lay down ingredients in layers in the following order: noodles, vegetable/cottage mixture, some shredded mozzarella, sauce.
8. Finish lasagna off with a final layer of noodles, followed by the rest of the mozzarella.
9. Cover loosely in aluminum foil and bake for about 40 minutes. Remove foil and broil until cheese is golden and bubbly.
Variation: TVP :)
Reconstitute 1 cup TVP according to package directions. Add to tomato sauce before using.
This is my first experience with TVP (textured vegetable protein) so let me tell you a little bit about it. TVP is made from defatted soy flour. It has a protein content equal to that of meat and is fat-free. Reconstituted, it smells like corn flakes, and has the approximate texture of some hybrid of crumbled cooked ground beef and squishy fresh curd cheese. Like tofu, you can make it taste like whatever you want, but really it tastes a lot like what bland chewy ground beef would taste like. This batch of lasagna was made using TVP in the sauce.
I'm bringing the last piece of this lasagna for lunch tomorrow. One of my coworkers is the biggest meat-eater on the planet. He claims that salad is "what real food eats." I know full well that using TVP doesn't replace meat in a good hearty meat lasagna. Beef and/or pork fat is impossible to duplicate. However, this lasagna tastes great and has the texture of a meat lasagna, so my challenge is the following: have Craig taste this lasagna and see if he can tell that I haven't used ground beef. This is a pretty tall order, but I'm fairly confident I can pull it off.
Regardless, this is a wonderful lasagna and is one of the rare vegetable pasta dishes I've tried that doesn't taste like a forced vegetable dish (you know, packed with every part of every plant possible, and completely flavourless..) and that doesn't leave you uncomfortably full. I guarantee you'll like this fresh, light, nutritious lasagna and quickly adopt it into your weeknight repertoire!
Vegetable Lasagna
1 medium zucchini, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and grated
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 pkg fresh spinach, washed and coarsely chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
4 cups canned pasta sauce
1 pkg lasagna noodles (not oven ready!)
1 large tub cottage cheese
4 cups shredded mozzarella (I usually just use the whole brick because I'm addicted to cheese like that)
Preheat oven to 350F.
1. Boil water and cook the lasagna noodles. Drain and drizzle with some oil so they don't stick. Set aside.
2. In a large skillet, heat the oil. Cook the onion, carrot and zucchini until the onion is translucent.
3. Add the mushrooms, cook until sweated down.
4. Handful by handful, add the spinach, mixing well to wilt down the spinach.
5. Add the tub of cottage cheese, mixing well and cooking until cheese has melted.
6. Grease a 9x13 baking dish. Coat it with a thin layer of tomato sauce.
7. On top of the sauce, lay down ingredients in layers in the following order: noodles, vegetable/cottage mixture, some shredded mozzarella, sauce.
8. Finish lasagna off with a final layer of noodles, followed by the rest of the mozzarella.
9. Cover loosely in aluminum foil and bake for about 40 minutes. Remove foil and broil until cheese is golden and bubbly.
Variation: TVP :)
Reconstitute 1 cup TVP according to package directions. Add to tomato sauce before using.
This is my first experience with TVP (textured vegetable protein) so let me tell you a little bit about it. TVP is made from defatted soy flour. It has a protein content equal to that of meat and is fat-free. Reconstituted, it smells like corn flakes, and has the approximate texture of some hybrid of crumbled cooked ground beef and squishy fresh curd cheese. Like tofu, you can make it taste like whatever you want, but really it tastes a lot like what bland chewy ground beef would taste like. This batch of lasagna was made using TVP in the sauce.
I'm bringing the last piece of this lasagna for lunch tomorrow. One of my coworkers is the biggest meat-eater on the planet. He claims that salad is "what real food eats." I know full well that using TVP doesn't replace meat in a good hearty meat lasagna. Beef and/or pork fat is impossible to duplicate. However, this lasagna tastes great and has the texture of a meat lasagna, so my challenge is the following: have Craig taste this lasagna and see if he can tell that I haven't used ground beef. This is a pretty tall order, but I'm fairly confident I can pull it off.
Regardless, this is a wonderful lasagna and is one of the rare vegetable pasta dishes I've tried that doesn't taste like a forced vegetable dish (you know, packed with every part of every plant possible, and completely flavourless..) and that doesn't leave you uncomfortably full. I guarantee you'll like this fresh, light, nutritious lasagna and quickly adopt it into your weeknight repertoire!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Shanti shanti shanti
Having someone replace Michelle for Wednesday 5:45pm Peace at my yoga studio has to have been the most disappointing part of my day. I'm not feeling well, I'm headachey, my emotions are all over the place, I just feel like crying for no good reason, I had a really bad day at work where nothing is working, and that got me stressed out even more about my MSc (which, after a year's work is nowhere near where it should be in terms of progress...). Needless to say, I was really looking forward to this class.
I go every week, and it's my favourite class. I've been doing yoga for 8 months now, and this is the only class that is successful every single time. Michelle, the instructor, is a godsend. This woman is gentle, compassionate, kind, and humble. She is generous in class and has the most beautiful voice of any woman I've ever had the pleasure of listening to for an hour. Her classes flow gently and with purpose, she doesn't explain anything in detail but instead lets you experience the poses on your own and to your degree, she offers support and adjustment when it is needed. She is one of the most peaceful people I've ever known, as well as the best yoga instructor I've come across. Many instructors will impose themselves on your hour of restoration, explain too much about why you do certain poses, show you how bendy they are for no reason, speak with command in a class meant to de-stress...but not Michelle. One of her best qualities is her consistency; Michelle varies the poses but always begins and ends the class in the exact same way. Her endings are my favourite. Resting shivasana...music is turned off, temperature down to cool calm, the dark room illuminated by dozens of tealights only. And when you just start drifting into your peaceful away place, she beings to sing in Sanskrit.. something short and without ceremony, a sort of lullaby for the resting but mindful. We then begin to deepen our breaths, noticing how we feel, knowing that this is who we are. We curl up onto one side, and give thanks for the space, the teachers (positive and not so positive) and to ourselves for the space we have created in this hour. We sit up, take the mudra of her choice (usually anjali mudra or the mudra of kindness, hands resting in the lap) and dedicate our practice to someone we love and to someone we have some trouble loving in our lives. Om shanti shanti shanti...peace peace peace.
One becomes used to these kinds of rituals as a sort of mid-week cleansing. Now I feel like I didn't get it. The girl who replaced Michelle wasn't bad, don't get me wrong. But Michelle is to Wednesday Peace like my mom's tarte au sucre is to my vacations home. It's the same every time, delicious and perfect in every way, and you look forward to it just as it is. But when the recipe is changed, it is a soul-crusher. I would liken this feeling to the way I used to feel when my mother tucked me in at night as a kid. I would look forward to her rhymes and her gentle hand on my back while she spoke softly to me, but one day she had a babysitter come in because her and dad were going out and I didn't get my nightly ritual.
It's amazing how dependent I am on this class. I hope Michelle gets her voice back soon, so she can sing me to back to life on the days I need it most.
I go every week, and it's my favourite class. I've been doing yoga for 8 months now, and this is the only class that is successful every single time. Michelle, the instructor, is a godsend. This woman is gentle, compassionate, kind, and humble. She is generous in class and has the most beautiful voice of any woman I've ever had the pleasure of listening to for an hour. Her classes flow gently and with purpose, she doesn't explain anything in detail but instead lets you experience the poses on your own and to your degree, she offers support and adjustment when it is needed. She is one of the most peaceful people I've ever known, as well as the best yoga instructor I've come across. Many instructors will impose themselves on your hour of restoration, explain too much about why you do certain poses, show you how bendy they are for no reason, speak with command in a class meant to de-stress...but not Michelle. One of her best qualities is her consistency; Michelle varies the poses but always begins and ends the class in the exact same way. Her endings are my favourite. Resting shivasana...music is turned off, temperature down to cool calm, the dark room illuminated by dozens of tealights only. And when you just start drifting into your peaceful away place, she beings to sing in Sanskrit.. something short and without ceremony, a sort of lullaby for the resting but mindful. We then begin to deepen our breaths, noticing how we feel, knowing that this is who we are. We curl up onto one side, and give thanks for the space, the teachers (positive and not so positive) and to ourselves for the space we have created in this hour. We sit up, take the mudra of her choice (usually anjali mudra or the mudra of kindness, hands resting in the lap) and dedicate our practice to someone we love and to someone we have some trouble loving in our lives. Om shanti shanti shanti...peace peace peace.
One becomes used to these kinds of rituals as a sort of mid-week cleansing. Now I feel like I didn't get it. The girl who replaced Michelle wasn't bad, don't get me wrong. But Michelle is to Wednesday Peace like my mom's tarte au sucre is to my vacations home. It's the same every time, delicious and perfect in every way, and you look forward to it just as it is. But when the recipe is changed, it is a soul-crusher. I would liken this feeling to the way I used to feel when my mother tucked me in at night as a kid. I would look forward to her rhymes and her gentle hand on my back while she spoke softly to me, but one day she had a babysitter come in because her and dad were going out and I didn't get my nightly ritual.
It's amazing how dependent I am on this class. I hope Michelle gets her voice back soon, so she can sing me to back to life on the days I need it most.
Awesome breakfast
Hi everyone!
I'm sorry for the lack of posting recently. I was in Montreal for a weekend with family and before that, was getting turned around and back on my feet after this apartment thing. I have so much to post! I have to tell you all about my first week or so as a "vegetarian" and share with you some recipes I've made up/discovered.
I have to head to work pretty soon, so I'll stick with my adventures in cumin-tomato-cilantro-avocado land.
My brother for Christmas one year gave me the Williams-Sonoma cookbook and I instantly fell in love. I've made all kinds of recipes from this book and each one better than the last. This recipe is one I've made twice now, once with chicken breast and with nothing to blend the soup but a coffee grinder (tablespoon by miserable tablespoon), and second with some ground chicken and a magic bullet blender.
Williams-Sonoma Tortilla Soup with Chicken & Avocado
1/2 c. + 2 tbsp canola oil
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic
1/4 c. cilantro, chopped
1 c. drained canned plum tomatoes
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
4 c. chicken stock
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces (or as much ground chicken as you feel like)
salt & pepper
4 corn tortillas
1 ancho chile, seeded (optional)
1 avocado, pitted, peeled and diced
1/4 c. shredded jack cheese
2 tsp fresh lime juice (optional)
1. Fry onion, garlic and 2 tsp of cilantro in a frying pan over medium heat, until golden brown, about 10 minutes.
2. Combine onion mix and tomatoes in food processor. Blend until smooth.
3. Return mixture to frying pan and continue to cook in the other tbsp of oil. Add the cumin and cook until darkened, 5-6 minutes.
4. Transfer to a large saucepan over medium-low heat and add the stock. Cover partially and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the soup has thickened slightly, about 20 minutes. Add the chicken and simmer until they are just opaque, 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Garnishes:
- cut tortillas into thin strips, and fry in 1/2 c. canola oil, barely 20-30 seconds until golden
- toast the chile in a dry frying pan until fragrant, around 7 minutes, shaking pan often so chile does not burn. cool, crumble and set aside.
6. To serve, ladle soup into warmed bowls. Top with tortilla strips, crumbled chile, remaining cilantro, avocado, cheese and lime juice. Serve immediately. (Image from www.williams-sonoma.com/recipes/tortilla-soup.html. You'll notice that the recipes are slightly different, so pick whichever variation you like best I suppose...cookbook and internet didn't do the same thing!)
This soup has a lovely fragrance, especially my portions, which are heavy on the cilantro. This soup keeps well in the fridge (without all the toppings on it of course) and I'd say the only downside to a bowl of this light southwestern gem is that preparing the toppings for a single bowl of soup can be time consuming. When I have this recipe on the go in my fridge I usually have a container of chopped cilantro, chopped avocado and shredded cheese at the ready. I often omit the tortillas since I don't always have time to clean up oil spatter.
Everyone hates leftovers. I had a lightbulb moment yesterday morning while deciding on breakfast. I had the idea for a bagel with cream cheese, then I wanted a bowl of this soup, then I wanted a poached egg on toast. I decided to combine all three for a yummy breakfast treat that is quick and easy if you have all the ingredients ready from your soup handy (or take a lazy morning and prepare them all!)
Southwest Bagel with Poached Egg and Cilantro
1/2 bagel, toasted
1 egg
2 tbsp salsa
1 tbsp shredded cheese
1 tbsp diced avocado
cilantro
1. While the bagel half is toasting, poach the egg:
- Get some water boiling in a medium saucepan. Add a sprinkling of salt and a tsp white vinegar. Once the water is boiling vigorously, turn down the heat to medium until just barely boiling. Using a slotted spoon, make a whirlpool in the centre of the boiling water. Gently slip the egg in (best to crack it in advance into a little bowl so you don't destroy the yolk). It will swirl around but should stay intact. After 10 seconds, use spoon to gently move the egg in the saucepan just to make sure it hasn't stuck to the bottom.
2. Top toasted bagel with half the cheese, then the salsa, then the avocado, then the remaining cheese.
3. After about 90 seconds of poaching, the egg should be ready. Carefully remove it from the water with the slotted spoon, gently shaking off any excess water. Top the bagel with the egg.
4. Garnish with as much cilantro as you want.
Enjoy :)
I'm sorry for the lack of posting recently. I was in Montreal for a weekend with family and before that, was getting turned around and back on my feet after this apartment thing. I have so much to post! I have to tell you all about my first week or so as a "vegetarian" and share with you some recipes I've made up/discovered.
I have to head to work pretty soon, so I'll stick with my adventures in cumin-tomato-cilantro-avocado land.
My brother for Christmas one year gave me the Williams-Sonoma cookbook and I instantly fell in love. I've made all kinds of recipes from this book and each one better than the last. This recipe is one I've made twice now, once with chicken breast and with nothing to blend the soup but a coffee grinder (tablespoon by miserable tablespoon), and second with some ground chicken and a magic bullet blender.
Williams-Sonoma Tortilla Soup with Chicken & Avocado
1/2 c. + 2 tbsp canola oil
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic
1/4 c. cilantro, chopped
1 c. drained canned plum tomatoes
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
4 c. chicken stock
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces (or as much ground chicken as you feel like)
salt & pepper
4 corn tortillas
1 ancho chile, seeded (optional)
1 avocado, pitted, peeled and diced
1/4 c. shredded jack cheese
2 tsp fresh lime juice (optional)
1. Fry onion, garlic and 2 tsp of cilantro in a frying pan over medium heat, until golden brown, about 10 minutes.
2. Combine onion mix and tomatoes in food processor. Blend until smooth.
3. Return mixture to frying pan and continue to cook in the other tbsp of oil. Add the cumin and cook until darkened, 5-6 minutes.
4. Transfer to a large saucepan over medium-low heat and add the stock. Cover partially and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the soup has thickened slightly, about 20 minutes. Add the chicken and simmer until they are just opaque, 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Garnishes:
- cut tortillas into thin strips, and fry in 1/2 c. canola oil, barely 20-30 seconds until golden
- toast the chile in a dry frying pan until fragrant, around 7 minutes, shaking pan often so chile does not burn. cool, crumble and set aside.
6. To serve, ladle soup into warmed bowls. Top with tortilla strips, crumbled chile, remaining cilantro, avocado, cheese and lime juice. Serve immediately. (Image from www.williams-sonoma.com/recipes/tortilla-soup.html. You'll notice that the recipes are slightly different, so pick whichever variation you like best I suppose...cookbook and internet didn't do the same thing!)
This soup has a lovely fragrance, especially my portions, which are heavy on the cilantro. This soup keeps well in the fridge (without all the toppings on it of course) and I'd say the only downside to a bowl of this light southwestern gem is that preparing the toppings for a single bowl of soup can be time consuming. When I have this recipe on the go in my fridge I usually have a container of chopped cilantro, chopped avocado and shredded cheese at the ready. I often omit the tortillas since I don't always have time to clean up oil spatter.
Everyone hates leftovers. I had a lightbulb moment yesterday morning while deciding on breakfast. I had the idea for a bagel with cream cheese, then I wanted a bowl of this soup, then I wanted a poached egg on toast. I decided to combine all three for a yummy breakfast treat that is quick and easy if you have all the ingredients ready from your soup handy (or take a lazy morning and prepare them all!)
Southwest Bagel with Poached Egg and Cilantro
1/2 bagel, toasted
1 egg
2 tbsp salsa
1 tbsp shredded cheese
1 tbsp diced avocado
cilantro
1. While the bagel half is toasting, poach the egg:
- Get some water boiling in a medium saucepan. Add a sprinkling of salt and a tsp white vinegar. Once the water is boiling vigorously, turn down the heat to medium until just barely boiling. Using a slotted spoon, make a whirlpool in the centre of the boiling water. Gently slip the egg in (best to crack it in advance into a little bowl so you don't destroy the yolk). It will swirl around but should stay intact. After 10 seconds, use spoon to gently move the egg in the saucepan just to make sure it hasn't stuck to the bottom.
2. Top toasted bagel with half the cheese, then the salsa, then the avocado, then the remaining cheese.
3. After about 90 seconds of poaching, the egg should be ready. Carefully remove it from the water with the slotted spoon, gently shaking off any excess water. Top the bagel with the egg.
4. Garnish with as much cilantro as you want.
Enjoy :)
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Announcement
So this huge grocery...
I have never ever spent over $200 in one day at the grocery store on my own before. Ever. Until yesterday. When the nice cheap awesome Loblaws is a 10 minute drive away and the most expensive grocery store in Ontario (Metro) is 2 blocks away, it's not surprising that when I have a car, as I did this weekend, I hurry to the better of the two and spend some dollar on some nice food.
A selection of what I got that I loved and can't wait to work with: couscous, quinoa, TVP, falafel mix, salmon fillets, peaches, zucchini, tomatoes, ginger, leeks, potatoes, avocados, marinades, artichokes, roasted red peppers.....etc etc etc.
You might have noticed upon reading this list that I have made a slight adjustment to my diet. After a few days of thought and consideration for my body and how it's changing and the changes I've made in my life, I've decided to lead a mostly vegetarian lifestyle. I remember myself saying not all that long ago that I could never ever ever in a hundred million years become a vegetarian because I love meat so much, and it's sort of funny to hear myself think the opposite on this day. I want to make a few things clear here before you all freak out: I won't stop eating meat. I'm just going to cut way back and eat as vegetarian as I can. If I'm invited over to someone's house and they're serving BBQ or a nice roast or something, I'm not going to refuse to eat it. If I'm having company over, I would probably make something with meat it in to accommodate the fact that most people aren't into strictly vegetarian cuisine.
A few points to explain myself in fewer words (it's late...and I have a potato soup to make in the morning):
- I will do my best to stick to vegetarian protein sources aka. quinoa and TVP instead of hamburger or chicken
- I will eat WAY more vegetables. WAY MORE.
- I will still be eating the odd meat, especially when I'm out and about.
- I will not refer to myself as a vegetarian, but rather someone who prefers not to eat meat when given the choice. If any of you followed my facebook veggie-for-a-week adventure, you'll note that I mentioned my frustration at "vegetarians who eat meat."
- I will not cut out processed foods. Sometimes things happen and that box of KD has to come out, or you're out with friends and it's poutine time. I'm just going to be careful and conscious.
- I will not be switching to organic foods, for a few reasons...a) I can't afford it and b) within reason, it's not sustainable for our global family to eat organic always all the time. If everyone were equal and lived next to wholesome farms and raised their own lifestock, life would be way healthier. But realistically, we're going through a food crisis in our time, and we can't responsibly ALL eat organic foods.
I feel strongly after what Alex told me last week and after the thinking I've done, that being veggie is a lifestyle. I live alone and I can therefore choose exactly what I feed my body (perhaps this will change one day once I'm not alone anymore, who knows). I practice yoga regularly, if not every day whenever possible, and I hate to sound like a tree-hugging cliche but it really works wonders on one's sense of self-awareness, health (physical, mental and emotional) and faith. My decision to stick to vegetarian sources of protein is one that reflects my current single working lifestyle, as well as my yoga practice, all in addition to my opinions on the food manufacturing industries. I believe that what we feed our bodies ultimately feeds our minds, so it makes sense to me to consume vegetables and nutrient-dense meat substitutes in an effort to maintain my mental and emotional health.
It's been a roller-coaster of a year. I'm in the best physical shape of my life and I want so much to bring my mental, spiritual and emotional health up to speed to match it and continue to make me a more well-rounded, mellowed, pleasant, decent person. I feel good about myself when I feed myself well, and I want to continue on this journey in a positive way by being careful with what I fuel my body with.
I'd love to hear your opinions on this. I'd like to emphasize that I have absolutely nothing against those who choose a different lifestyle as this one, but am making this choice for me and what I feel I need in my life. This is fluid and my ideals are going to change as I continue to grow. I urge you all to re-evaulate a little and make sure your lifestyle fits what you'd like to experience in your life.
I have never ever spent over $200 in one day at the grocery store on my own before. Ever. Until yesterday. When the nice cheap awesome Loblaws is a 10 minute drive away and the most expensive grocery store in Ontario (Metro) is 2 blocks away, it's not surprising that when I have a car, as I did this weekend, I hurry to the better of the two and spend some dollar on some nice food.
A selection of what I got that I loved and can't wait to work with: couscous, quinoa, TVP, falafel mix, salmon fillets, peaches, zucchini, tomatoes, ginger, leeks, potatoes, avocados, marinades, artichokes, roasted red peppers.....etc etc etc.
You might have noticed upon reading this list that I have made a slight adjustment to my diet. After a few days of thought and consideration for my body and how it's changing and the changes I've made in my life, I've decided to lead a mostly vegetarian lifestyle. I remember myself saying not all that long ago that I could never ever ever in a hundred million years become a vegetarian because I love meat so much, and it's sort of funny to hear myself think the opposite on this day. I want to make a few things clear here before you all freak out: I won't stop eating meat. I'm just going to cut way back and eat as vegetarian as I can. If I'm invited over to someone's house and they're serving BBQ or a nice roast or something, I'm not going to refuse to eat it. If I'm having company over, I would probably make something with meat it in to accommodate the fact that most people aren't into strictly vegetarian cuisine.
A few points to explain myself in fewer words (it's late...and I have a potato soup to make in the morning):
- I will do my best to stick to vegetarian protein sources aka. quinoa and TVP instead of hamburger or chicken
- I will eat WAY more vegetables. WAY MORE.
- I will still be eating the odd meat, especially when I'm out and about.
- I will not refer to myself as a vegetarian, but rather someone who prefers not to eat meat when given the choice. If any of you followed my facebook veggie-for-a-week adventure, you'll note that I mentioned my frustration at "vegetarians who eat meat."
- I will not cut out processed foods. Sometimes things happen and that box of KD has to come out, or you're out with friends and it's poutine time. I'm just going to be careful and conscious.
- I will not be switching to organic foods, for a few reasons...a) I can't afford it and b) within reason, it's not sustainable for our global family to eat organic always all the time. If everyone were equal and lived next to wholesome farms and raised their own lifestock, life would be way healthier. But realistically, we're going through a food crisis in our time, and we can't responsibly ALL eat organic foods.
I feel strongly after what Alex told me last week and after the thinking I've done, that being veggie is a lifestyle. I live alone and I can therefore choose exactly what I feed my body (perhaps this will change one day once I'm not alone anymore, who knows). I practice yoga regularly, if not every day whenever possible, and I hate to sound like a tree-hugging cliche but it really works wonders on one's sense of self-awareness, health (physical, mental and emotional) and faith. My decision to stick to vegetarian sources of protein is one that reflects my current single working lifestyle, as well as my yoga practice, all in addition to my opinions on the food manufacturing industries. I believe that what we feed our bodies ultimately feeds our minds, so it makes sense to me to consume vegetables and nutrient-dense meat substitutes in an effort to maintain my mental and emotional health.
It's been a roller-coaster of a year. I'm in the best physical shape of my life and I want so much to bring my mental, spiritual and emotional health up to speed to match it and continue to make me a more well-rounded, mellowed, pleasant, decent person. I feel good about myself when I feed myself well, and I want to continue on this journey in a positive way by being careful with what I fuel my body with.
I'd love to hear your opinions on this. I'd like to emphasize that I have absolutely nothing against those who choose a different lifestyle as this one, but am making this choice for me and what I feel I need in my life. This is fluid and my ideals are going to change as I continue to grow. I urge you all to re-evaulate a little and make sure your lifestyle fits what you'd like to experience in your life.
Quickly before I head to work...
Happy August 3rd everybody! (all 2 of you reading this...)
I have a few minutes to update before I head to work so I'll keep it brief.
1. I had a WONDERFUL weekend!!
2. My apartment is now mold-free and immaculate and organized and smells great and is awesome. Therefore, my stress level has dramatically decreased. Winner.
3. Congratulations to the Queen's University Pipe Band, who scored 3rd place in the grade 4 march medley contest at the Glengarry Highland Games this past Saturday! Congratulations also to any and all solo contest winners cause I'm sure you're out there guys! Wish I had been there to see it! :)
Oh yah, I did the biggest, most expensive, most inspiring grocery shop of my life yesterday since my fridge was completely vacant when I left. Update on that later...
I have a few minutes to update before I head to work so I'll keep it brief.
1. I had a WONDERFUL weekend!!
2. My apartment is now mold-free and immaculate and organized and smells great and is awesome. Therefore, my stress level has dramatically decreased. Winner.
3. Congratulations to the Queen's University Pipe Band, who scored 3rd place in the grade 4 march medley contest at the Glengarry Highland Games this past Saturday! Congratulations also to any and all solo contest winners cause I'm sure you're out there guys! Wish I had been there to see it! :)
Oh yah, I did the biggest, most expensive, most inspiring grocery shop of my life yesterday since my fridge was completely vacant when I left. Update on that later...
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