I just got a new camera... this one.  D bought it 'cause he knows I would never spend that much on my own.
I'm playing with it and it's fun.  I can take pictures again.
I wish that I could show you pictures of the caramel brownies that I made earlier this week... but I can't because I had no camera.

I just got a boat load of these...

and this...


and now I'm going to do something with them.

I'll take pictures.

I'm supposed to be talking about food and recipes here.  Most of the time I do or at least I manage to tie it in.  Sometimes, I fail miserably and just rant about something or other and then stick a recipe on the end of it.  I make you guys work for the food... you have to sift through all these words before you get there. Unless of course, you are like me and scroll through most of the sites that you check out to get to the interesting stuff.  I'm not sure where this post falls but either way, our neighbours have just had a baby.  Their second.  A boy.  Everyone is healthy and happy and it's wonderful news.  I would imagine that since this is a food blog that you would expect me to be writing you about all the tasty, awesome things that I made for them to get through the next month or so.  Well, I haven't made them anything yet.  I will make them stuff... but I haven't done it yet.
What I did do though is help them out with their own Kid #1.  We looked after him for a few hours here and there to help them have a little transition (sleep) time quietly.  Here's where my insecurities kick in.  I can run a marathon.  I can perform in front of a lot of people.  I can talk in front of a lot of people.  I can cook and bake and take risks.  I typically cannot deal with other people's kids.  I get all freaked out.  I don't know what to do with them.  I end up talking to them like they're babies (even if they're 10).  I might ignore them and let my kids deal with them... if I can get away with it but I usually can't.  I don't know why other peoples kids scare the &^%t outta me.  So, there I am agreeing to have their kid with us and feeling my anxiety levels rising as the words come out of my mouth.  What will I do with him?  Will he like us?  Will he get bored and only want to stay for 10 minutes and then cry to go home?
I got hot dogs for the kids to eat.  Wait... let me say that again for you.... HOT DOGS.  What the hell???
They watched some 'Diego show' that my kids never get to watch.  What?!
I took them to the park.
I never take my kids to the park.  NEVER.   I hate kids parks.  Unless it's the middle of the night and I'm with my friends and we're... I won't explain why I hate kids parks but I do.  There we were (D was good enough to come too)... at the park.
I played choo-choo train and airplanes with them... what?  And I was super paranoid that my neighbours kid was going to hurt himself.  Which he did when he ran into a tree.  That was cool.  I kissed it better and he was off and running... to grab fistfuls of dirt and throw it into his own face... that was cool.  Then when he said he wanted to go home I lied to him and told him that his Dad wasn't home yet (he was) because I knew his Dad only had 4 hrs sleep the night before.
While the kids were in the bath (I couldn't send this poor kid home with a bruised head, ketchup all along his arm and dirt smeared across his face).  I confessed all to his Dad.  They were cool.  The really exciting part for me was that he wanted to come back the next day.  Who wouldn't have fun doing all that stuff (including the hot dogs - both my kids looked at me wide eyed and then Kid #2 yelped).

These gorgeous babies are being harvested daily from our garden now AND guess who likes raw purple beans.... Kid #2!!!!!

On another note:  This recipe is from the archive so to speak.  D broke our camera and although we will hopefully be getting a replacement very soon... we don't have one yet.  So, I made this stuff last summer and it was RAD it was easy.  Go for it.


Raspberry Mousse
serves 4

2 cups fresh raspberries
1 1/4 cup superfine sugar
2 egg whites
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Combine the raspberries and sugar together and set aside for about an hour.


After the hour, mash them together until they form a chunky sauce.  Set aside.

Whip up the egg whites in one bowl.  Whip until they form stiff peaks.
Whip the cream in another bowl until it forms stiff peaks.
Gently fold the two together.


Swirl about 3/4's of the raspberry mixture into the cream mixture.
Spoon into 4 serving bowls.   Top each with the rest of the raspberry mixture.
Refrigerate for at least an hour or up to 3 hours.

If feel like I've been a real downer for you all lately.  I gotta lighten things up a bit because even though I feel like it's the end of the world most of the time, we still need to laugh and live our life... right?  So, I'm trying to think of subjects that are fun and good for a laugh.  Things that people like and that makes them feel warm and fuzzy inside... not like they want to contemplate their own demise.
I guess that I could talk about my kids.  Kids are always cute and funny.  Unless they're those annoying kids on airplanes or restaurants.  The ones that talk really loudly and tell the entire place that they want to go home NOW or that they don't want rice and they HATE mashed potatoes.  Most kids are fun though and mostly cute too... awwww.
I could talk about biking or running or yoga because I'm passionate about those things in my life.  I could tell you that I love getting up early every morning to bike or run to work.  I could tell you what a gas it is to run to work in the winter.  I would be lying though.  Most of the time it's hard and I just don't even ask myself if I want to do it because the answer would always be no.  But even when it blows hard it's still one of my favourite things to do... cool, so that paragraph ended on an 'up beat'.
I could talk about my friends because I love my friends.  They're the best... who else would buy me copious amounts of liver and gall bladder tea while in Germany.  Who else would make Sangria and invite me over to drink way too much of it with them.  Who else would take you to the King Edward for champagne AFTER you've been to the pub together.  It's the friends who are still friends with you after stupid-too-much-sangria-conversations.

I could write about summer and how awesome it is and how I would take 31 degrees C over winter any day.  I would much rather sweat than shiver.  I don't use air conditioning because I want to feel summer. I want to hear it... because my windows are open.  I want to feel the breeze or the lack of it.  I want to have the challenge of cooking outside or having cold food because it's just too damn hot to put on the stove or the oven.  I don't mind dealing with allergies because that means it's summer.  For me, it's part of fully embracing the seasons (running in the middle of winter being my way of 'embracing' that particular season as well)
See... I can do 'up'.  I can.



What I need to also tell you though is that this recipe makes a truck load.  I made it on a tuesday.  D left for Trinidad the next day.  For a whole week.  So that left 3 of us finishing the dish.  Two of us are under 10 years of age.  Now this dish is good.  It was really good but by Saturday we were so sick of eating the thing that we all groaned when I pulled it out again and I had to promise Kid #1 and #2 (and myself too 'cause... damn) that this was the last time and we would compost the rest (it wasn't much, really it wasn't).   So (to keep things on the 'happy side of life') I would recommend that if you want to make this and you don't have a family of say about 8 give or take then you might want to have a party.  Invite some of those friends to come over during the summer... maybe they could ride their bike or run to your place.... and bring their awesome, wayyyy cute and polite kids with them and they could all drink some sangria or champagne without any air conditioning.  It could be like a whole lotta 'happy'.


Creamy Meatball and Chard Pasta
serves 8 - 10

Seasoned Meat
1 1/2 lbs ground meat (I used a mixture of ground beef and pork)
1 egg
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tbsp Dijon Mustard
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (or more) chopped fresh herbs (I used oregano, basil, parsley, chive and mint)
3 tbsp brown sugar or honey
dash of cayenne or pepper sauce

5 cups large pasta (rotini, shells - something big), cooked al dente
1 medium onion, sliced
3 large cloves of garlic minced (or use garlic scapes if it's in season)
1 large bunch chard or spinach (about 5 cups - it cooks down a lot)
1/2 cup minced fresh herbs (I used basil, parsley and oregano)
1 vegetable bouillion cube (dissolve in a little bit of hot water)
2 tsp salt
dash of fresh lemon juice and zest (if you have - I didn't)
800 ml ricotta
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup milk or cream
1 1/2 cups mozzarella shredded

Meatballs:
Combine all the ingredients in a big bowl.  Form balls the size of large marbles.
Heat a large dutch oven over medium heat.  Add a little oil (just to cover the bottom of the pot) and then add in the meatballs.  Turn frequently and heat all the meatballs until they are just browned and cooked through.  Remove from the pot and set aside.

Assembly:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Using the same dutch oven (and save the grease so that you don't have to use any more) add in the onion and garlic.  Cook over medium heat until the onion is started to brown.  Turn the heat down to med/low and add in the spinach.  Cook until the spinach has wilted.
Add in the herbs, bouillion liquid, salt and lemon juice/zest.  Mix.
Add in the ricotta, parmesan and milk/cream.  Mix.
Turn off the heat and check the tastes.  Adjust if needed.

Mix the cooked pasta and meatballs together.  Pour into a large baking dish.
Add the vegetable mixture and mix everything together well.
Spread evenly in the baking dish.  Cover with the shredded mozzarella cheese.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until the mozzarella is just beginning to turn golden on the top (it will be bubbling)
Remove from the oven and cool for about 15 minutes.

These are the things that I wake up to sometimes.  Ummmmmm.

D has been away working.  For a week now I've been off work/single Mom/cook and canner/friend meeter/Sangria and champagne drinker.  D broke our camera.  It might not be a big break but it's a break.  So, this post is going to be about words way more than pictures.  I found some random crap, some old and some new, rolling around in my iphoto library.  So, I'm sharin'.

My brain has been buzzin' lately.  It's been taking me a while to get to sleep which is an unusual problem for me.  Maybe it's the longer days.  Maybe it's the end of the school year.  Maybe it's just a miraculous flood of energy and thought that I need to stop wondering about and do something with it instead.  I did spend the entire day house cleaning yesterday thanks to said energy.
Here are some things that have been distracting my brain lately:

This blogger kinda just makes me crazy.  She is just so raw and honest about her journey.  I wonder how it feels to just let that go out into the virtual world.  I find her writing not just inspiring but deeply thought provoking in an almost spiritual way.  I also share her feelings of frustration, depression and despair about our planet.  Happy times.

I don't have a picture of my beans or tomatoes.  I have a picture of these beets though because I thought that they were pretty.

I know that tomatoes and beans are not going to stop world hunger, ok?  But they are what's growing in  my backyard when everything else is just kinda limping along.  So I'm finding that multiple times (I kid you not) each day I'm going out there and checking out their progress.  I touch them, I talk to them and give them little bits of water.  I have these fantasies about being able to provide for my family's tomato and bean needs for the entire season through our own backyard.  Looking at those little green globes and the tiny little purple beans somehow helps me cope.

Kid #2 brought all this crap home on the second last day of school.  This picture is now in my office along with Kid #1's Mother's Day card.  This stuff is priceless.


I'm signing up for this half-marathon in October.  It will be my third one.  I'm making it a goal to come in between 1:49 and 1:59.  I've got some work to do but that's fun work.

Kid #1 took these random shots of our Xmas tree by running past it.  We must have about 50 of these kinds of shots but I  think that they're actually kinda rad.

I went here on the weekend.  I sat for quite a while in the park where people were playing, reading, talking, smoking up, laughing, sleeping, getting a tan and eating... maybe not all at the same time.  I was completely by myself... for a while at least.  It's strangely empowering, to be with people and not be with them all at the same time.  Somehow, in the warm Toronto sun at Kensington Market during pedestrian Sunday it felt like 'ME'.  It can take a long time to get to 'ME'.  You've got so many 'suppposed-to's' and 'shoulds' to do.  I guess some of us never get to 'ME'.  On Sunday though, I had fun with 'ME' there in the park, with my sandals off and getting grass stuck to my ass.  Feeling life all around me, feeling comfortable in my place there on the grass, not wishing I was somewhere else or with someone else.  Just 'ME'.

Kid #1 took this one too.  Totally untouched.  She's got an eye that one.

I just watched 'The Yes Men Fix the World' which was a great ending to my day.  I don't mean to blow the ending for you or anything but they don't actually fix the world and to be honest even though I think that they're awesome I still felt a little bit depressed afterwards.
I felt a little bit depressed after reading this book too.  In fact, sometimes the whole state of the western world makes me feel suicidally depressed.  I think about these things a lot.  I'm wondering where all the hippies have gone.  The seventies was an amazing time for new ideas and freedom (of speech not necessarily capitalism although it got in there too) and then the eighties happened.  Are we still protesting?  Are we still involved politically?  Did we just get jobs and move to the burbs?  Shouldn't we be more pissed off?
I had a conversation with a friend recently in which he told me that he knew I was high because we were talking about world government, free trade and the environment.  Here's the clincher though.  I wasn't high.  Damn.  Is that the only time people talk about this stuff?  I actually talk about it... a lot.  I think about it... a lot.  I wonder if things are just going to come crashing down around us... and then I wonder if it might not be a bad thing after all.  I wonder how long the gravy train in the west can continue and how long we can keep our heads in the sand.  I feel sad for my kids and for their kids and I'm not even sure what kind of world they are going to have.
Doomsday crap aside.  I went to my friends C and B a couple of days ago.  They've got this rad place in the middle of nowhere.  They've got dogs and cats.  They've got space for a small orchard and a huge garden.  They've got mondo solar panels set up outside the house.  Wild strawberries, elderberries, blackberries, gooseberries.  Damn.  That's only the beginning.  They work not only in their community to effect change but on a larger scale too.  They believe that thinking  and living environmentally can be financially viable if not as lucrative as we have been accustomed to the bottom line being up to now (well at least up to 2008).  It was good to talk to them about feeling depressed because they were able to pull me up and remind me that even if we can't change the world today we can do something.  Lots and lots of people are doing 'somethings'.


We went to pick strawberries.  We took kid #1 and #2.  Kid #1 filled a basket on her own.  We went back to their place and made jam.  We canned.  It felt good.  Then I came home and canned some more.  I made strawberry rhubarb jam with rhubarb from my backyard.
I wish that I could fix the world.  I wish more than anything that I could clean up the Gulf, that I could put water back in the Yellow and Yangtze river, that I could refreeze the poles and keep Polar Bears on this planet.  Hell, I wish that I could keep all the bike lanes that we presently have in Toronto here for good.  I wish that public transit was viable... for everyone and that our roads weren't clogged with frustrated, angry drivers.  I wish that I could keep the people who need it in public housing and see their lives be better because of it.  I can't do any of those things though.  So... I picked some strawberries while they were still in season.  I mashed and froze some.  I made a boat load of jam and put it on my shelf for the winter.  I made ice cream.



Strawberry Ice Cream - generously adapted from Dave Lebovitz
makes about 1 litre

1 cup milk (I use 4%)
2 cups heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and the beans scraped out
dash of salt
3/4 cups sugar
5 egg yolks, beaten together

2 cups mashed strawberries (make sure they've been mashed first and then measured)
1/2 cup sugar (make it a generous one)

Combine the mashed strawberries and 1/2 cup of sugar together in a bowl and refrigerate.
Combine the milk, cream ,vanilla bean, salt and sugar in a heavy bottomed saucepan.  Heat until the mixture is just beginning to simmer and then turn the heat down quite low.  Temper the egg yolks by adding a little of the warm milk mixture to the yolks and mixing.  Add a little more and then pour the whole thing into the milk/cream mixture.  Heat until it reaches 170 degrees F or use the trusty back of the spoon method (using a wooden spoon, dip it into the milk/cream mixture.  When it comes out if you can run your finger through the back of the spoon and the liquid doesn't run back together then it's ready).
Remove from the heat.
Sieve into a bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap (or clingfilm... whatever).  Put the plastic right onto the liquid so that it doesn't form a thick skin on top.  Refrigerate until it's well cooled (at least 3 hrs but overnight is best)
Add the mixture to the ice cream maker (or whatever you choose to make the ice cream) and DO IT.
Once the ice cream is ready, pour it into a large bowl.  Combine with the mashed strawberries.
Put all of it into freezer containers.  Freeze until you want it.
Thaw for about 15 minutes before serving.

Dudes... this is growing in my yard... in a couple of weeks I'll have a nice little harvest... can't wait.

I don't like sharing.  Just generally.  It's a horrible thing to admit but the honest truth is... I don't like it.
I do feel that I need to explain this just a bit though because this recipe kinda got birthed because I shared.
I never watched 'Friends'.  Remember that show from the 90's.  I don't think that I made it through one full episode.  It had moments but just wasn't my thing - and I'm always just a little too concerned with being 'counter-culture'.  It was simply too popular for me to go in for.  However, I've been told that there is an episode where Joey Tribianni (not sure how to spell that) tells someone in a restaurant 'Joey Tribianni doesn't share food' or something like it.  Well... that's me.  I don't share... at restaurants.
It bugs the hell out of me if I order something and then people want to taste my food.  It's my food, get your paws off.  I ordered it because I want to eat it... not share it.  Dang.  Plus, I'm totally not interested in eating your food.  If I were interested then I would have ordered that.  So... NO I'm not into having a bite of yours so that you can have a bite of mine.  Then this weird thing happened  over the last year or so where I found myself wanting appetizers and not entrees.  Appetizers kinda bite though if you just get one.  So now sometimes KT and I go out together and just order a truck load of entrees (more like 4) and then share the lot.  Thanks to KT I've discovered that when it's a few things that we can nibble and share that, well, sharing can be fun.

BTW, KT just got back from Spain and Germany and brought me an entire shipment of tea... BFF!

Firm in the knowledge that old dogs can learn new tricks, I went out to this restaurant recently with another colleague of mine.  We were checking out the menu and a few things looked good to me.   She opened up the whole 'sharing' possibility by suggesting a charcuterie plate... meh... wasn't into it.  What we ended up doing though was each getting a soup and then sharing app's of calamari and cauliflower fritters (amazing p.s.).  I agreed.


This soup I made at home happened because I ordered something very close to it and it was good.  The white beans... yeah, perfect for summer... what.  The kale... delish.  The tomato broth... perfect.  And I learned a valuable lesson... sharing isn't always bad.


Kale and White Bean Soup
copied from Mercatto but made up from my head which sounds dumb
serves 8

1 lg onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic (or garlic scapes if it's the season), minced
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 med/sm zucchini, chopped
1 lg bunch (about 3 1/2 cups) Kale, sliced
1 lg tin diced Tomato (although I found the chunks a little too much - maybe reserve half the chunks)
4 cups vegetable broth
4 tbsp basil, coarsely chopped
2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 large can (about 400 g or so) white beans (cannellini, navy... just white), drained and rinsed
2 - 3 med/lg Parmesan rinds (my friends idea - a great one - I didn't do it though)

Heat a large soup pot.
Add in about 2 - 3 tbsp of oil (your choice).  Add the onion, garlic, celery and zucchini.  Cook for about 8 minutes over med heat.  Stir frequently so that nothing sticks.
Add in the kale and heat until the Kale wilts.
Add in the broth, chopped basil and salt.   Throw in the parmesan rinds.  Heat for about 20 - 30 minutes over med/low heat.
Serve.

I think that I need to learn how to 'tie in'.  Lately I've been sucking at it.
My last post, for example, had nothing to do with the recipe.  I didn't even explain the recipe.  Was there even food?  I talked about tv, about maybe not watching tv for a while and complimenting a kid in a way that sounded like it was an insult but it wasn't.  A proper blog should tie everything together.  Start by writing something interesting that pulls all you readers in and then expertly steers the writing to the recipe of the day.
I seem to want to use this blog as my journal or something similar.  In theory I like the idea of that.  In practice however it's kinda weird.  I have had a lot of journal years in my life.  It's awesome having a journal and it's especially awesome going back to your journals year later. Is journal writing a girlie thing - that concerns me.  I used to write a lot of crap in my journal that absolutely nobody should ever read.  Remember when you wrote in your journal (maybe you still do) the stuff that you needed to get out... about life, your friends, your parents, your boyfriend.  How you really felt about all that crap you were supposed to do but were fighting with still because you were 16 yrs old and just not ready to take it all on?  Or how about the stream of conscious ramblings.  The stuff that, when you go back to it years later, not even you can get your head around what you were trying to articulate.  Yeah... that's what I still do sometimes.  Only I do it out here, in public (well kinda public).  I wonder if I were you would I read me.  So I'm going to try to be better.  A proper food blogger and not a self-absorbed-journal-writing-wanna-be.

Fingers crossed.  Here is my 'tie in' attempt:

A while ago I promised you all yet another asparagus recipe AND my last for the season (wiping away a tear).  I know that you've all been waiting with baited breath for this and I've been holding out on you.  Asparagus is amazing.  Asparagus is green.  It tastes good when you cook it and you can cook it many different ways.  I like asparagus.  The asparagus season is short but you can make pasta in any season (ok, that was random - I'll give you that one).  If you like asparagus, garlic, mushrooms, spinach, pasta and cheese then maybe this is just the recipe for you.  It was easy.  It was FUN and it was tasty.  Try it and it will change your life forever.  If you have kids they will write for your and paint you awesome pictures.  If you make this for your partner he/she will never leave and your life with him/her will be 10/10 all the time.  Asparagus is the best.

I got so jazzed about this stuff that I put some in Kid #2's bowl and ate it straight up.

What do you think?  I'm not sure that this translated well.


Quick Asparagus, Spinach Pasta
serves 4

1 lg bunch asparagus, chopped into long chunks
3 cloves garlic (or garlic scapes if we're goin' the seasonal route), crushed or minced
3 cups mushrooms, halved
4 cups spinach roughly chopped
paprika
4 tbsp herbs (I used basil, parsley, chives and oregano) - using fresh herbs, about 1/2 cup, chopped
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne or pepper sauce
1 cup cream
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Heat a large pot over medium heat.
Add about 2 tbsp of oil.  Throw in the asparagus, garlic and mushrooms.  Keep it moving in the pan and cook for about 6 minutes.
Add in the spinach.  Stirring regularly, let the spinach wilt.  Add in the paprika, herbs and salt.
Add the cayenne or pepper (if you want to go there)
Turn the heat down to low.
Add in the cream and the grated parmesan.
Check the taste and adjust if necessary.
Serve over pasta (I like the penne kind but go with your heart on this one).