the sandwich & its glory

sandwiches are glorious inventions. so many, many options. and so easy (not too easy - a good sandwich requires a little bit of time & effort).

this particular sandwich consisted of organic turkey deli meat, alfalfa sprouts, fresh basil leaves, chorizo, pickles, mayo, & wholegrain mustard. my favorite accessory to add to a sandwich is a slice of mango. especially when smushed together with turkey, spinach, and ranch dressing. you should try it next time you want an amazing sandwich.

my new napkin friend:
found at rags & dishes - discounted kitchen linens etc on main street
i heart napkins.

alfalfa sprouts - what did i do before i knew who you were?

well, hello

have you met my newest family member?

:)

another horrible culinary experience

i haven't been blessed in the culinary area this week so far. disaster cupcakes, and now this. ratatouille. it looked so easy. and it was easy. but it wasn't great. i found it flavorless, a bit bitter, and had to get a dish just to put the eggplant & tomato peels in because they were tough and icky. moral of this story: when you are wondering what to do with the vegetables that have been sitting in your fridge for a while.... don't use them in a dish that calls for 'fresh' vegetables. you will be horribly disappointed. and maybe just stop trying new recipes. or stop cooking full stop. wait... maybe that's a bit harsh. lets just say i haven't been inclined to cook or bake in the last couple days. hopefully that will change soon. :)

at least i got pretty photos out of my culinary horribleness.

a baking re-incarnation

a couple days ago i had a craving for chocolate. i made some sort of mini chocolate cake, essentially cupcakes. i didn't like them. at all. i still stuffed my face, but i thought they tasted horrible, and not chocolatey at all.

do i eat them? do i throw them away? no! i make them into another kind of dessert! a trifle! i chopped the cupcakes up, and layered them in a container with whipped cream, chopped chocolate, and raspberries. problem solved. next time i might add some chocolate sauce in there though, moisten it up a bit. wait... next time i won't make those cupcakes, that's what!

anyone else have a disaster-averted story? or a re-incarnation of something that didn't initially turn out?

best pasta concoction ever

i was walking on main street on wednesday, near king edward, and randomly walked into a deli store. maybe i was hungry (likely. i often am), maybe something caught my eye that made me think "i want some deli meat!" or maybe it was something else. anyway, i'm glad i did. i was greeted in a friendly manner, and immediately was offered to try some chorizo. i'm not a huge chorizo fan, and i don't buy/eat lots of meat. it was tasty, however. i bought some. i also bought some organic turkey deli meat, and a cute jar of maple mustard. to be honest, the guy was so friendly, and knew his product, and was passionate about it. if i stayed any longer than i did, i probably would have bought some of their handmade pastas, too, or some other condiment in a cute jar. luckily for my wallet, i left at some point before it was too late.

on my way home, i excitedly thought about my dinner plans. i wanted to incorporate chorizo somehow, meanwhile wanting to use up some kale in my produce drawer. i also had a weird craving for mushrooms. i stopped for a few quick groceries at donald's (i love donald's), and went home with a rough plan for my meal. it was to be a pasta dish.


"joey's best pasta concoction so far"
serves 2 big meals, or 4 small ones
measurements are roughly estimated - i don't measure things when i cook
cooking directions are also roughly estimated - i don't follow rules & half the time don't know if what i'm doing is actually the right way to do what i'm doing...

ingredients:

• mushrooms (i used organic crimini mushrooms because i hadn't used them before and they looked tasty) - about 2 cups chopped mushrooms
  
• garlic - 2 or 3 cloves, minced
• onion - 1 medium sized onion, any kind you like baby
• sage - 2 teaspoons chopped, fresh sage or 2 teaspoons dried (use fresh, its so much better)
• butter - lots
• kale - de-stemmed, roughly 2 or 3 loose cups
• cream, or coconut milk
• parmesan cheese - lots. freshly grated
  
• chorizo - 1 link, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• pasta noodles - 1 to 2 cups? i need to start measuring! i just poured out of my pasta jar until i was happy. i used emmer pasta, an ancient variety of wheat - tasty!
• salt & pepper - "to taste," soo.... lots. :)
  

to do:

boil water with some salt for your pasta noodles. when water is boiled, add a tiny bit of olive oil to deter pasta sticking to the pot bottom. add pasta & cook according to package directions. don't drain them when they are cooked. if your pasta is ready WAY ahead of everything else, set a bit of the pasta water aside and then drain the noodles so they don't get soggy & icky.

in a large saucepan, or a wok (i used a wok), on low heat, melt a gob of butter, add your onions & saute until translucent. add half the garlic. turn heat up to medium & add them mushrooms & sage. until the mushrooms are browned and/or cooked to your liking. add the kale & cook for a few minutes. set aside mushroom concoction, in a bowl or something, and keep the wok/saucepan on the heat. you may want to turn your heat down a bit at this point, and add a larger gob of butter & the rest of the garlic. you don't want to burn the garlic. add a couple cups of cream (i used coconut milk, it seemed to work fine!), and cook until bubbly. add your grated parmesan, stir it around and cook for a bit. now add the noodles, a bit of the pasta water, and your chorizo. and everything else - including salt & pepper. cook for a bit longer, and make sure everything is coated in sauce. if not, add a bit more cream & cheese. serve, & garnish with more grated parmesan cheese & maybe a sprinkling of freshly chopped parsley if you have it.

essentially, i made an alfredo sauce, but i'm not a cook who follows rules well, so i cook things the way i cook things, not necessarily how they are supposed to be done. so if you want, find a good alfredo sauce recipe & try that! (this recipe looks decent)


i preemptively did a photoshoot with my bowl of pasta before tasting it, assuming it would be decent enough to validate being hungry for a few more minutes. while eating my delicious pasta dinner, i decided it was the best pasta concoction i had thrown together yet. thus, it deserved a blog post dedicated to it.

and here it is. enjoy. :)

giveaway winner & a tale of 2 pumpkins

last night, november 3rd, at 11:11pm, i wrote 9 names on pieces of paper. i tossed them in a hat, got my sister to mix them up, and i stuck my hand in and grabbed one piece of paper. on that paper, was the name 'ty.' congrats tyler on winning my contest!

... if you are wondering, i did in fact pick the winner randomly (out of a hat, the good old-fashioned way). i did NOT pick ty just because he called me cool. :) for those of you who haven't heard of this music blog, mp3po - another music blog, check it out! tyler is a contributor to the blog and has great music taste.

tyler, please email me your shipping info & pick any* photo (or 5) from my flickr, of which you'd like cards made out of.

*if you pick something i don't like, i have the right to overrule your decision :)

i am excited to have finally reached 100 posts. i can't wait to do another giveaway. i also am excited to attempt to make fudge. thanks for the suggestion, tyler!

and now i'd like to tell you a short story. a story of 2 pumpkins.


here they are, happy. well, the one is. the other one is bored, or constipated.. but happy enough. they were enjoying fall, and the halloween weekend. they went out halloween night...

... and came back the next morning with makeovers.


what happened?!

summer is over, but today was quite nice

these yummy tomatoes were purchased from the last summer farmer's market i went to this year. summer is officially over. summer has been over for a while, but i am still dealing with it. today was a bizarrely unusual fall day, and it hit 17 C. i only had a light sweater on, walking on main street today, and was in my own little private bliss.

i do know that when fall begins to hit harder, i will cope by staying inside, baking lots of things and keeping my oven on a lot (not just for heat, but it's a bonus for sure). i don't have proper wear for rainy wintery vancouver, my boots and my jacket are both with broken zippers, so staying inside just seems like the right thing to do. how do you cope with fall/winter (if you have it)?

oh yes, this is my 99th post. my contest is officially closed & i will draw up the name & post the results next post. woo! please stay tuned... you may be the winner.

sufjan stevens on my mind

went to see sufjan stevens at the orpheum last night.

incredible.

i was really looking forward to it to begin with, but he overwhelmed my expectations. in a few words, i would describe the experience as beautiful, disturbing, complex, intense.

he mostly played from his recently released album, 'the age of adz' (pronounced odz), which Punelson magazine describes as '...frustrating... impossible to play in the background... but fascinating, intriguing and – once you get over your first, bewildering listen – actually very enjoyable.' i agree. i didn't love the album the first time i listened to it, but after a couple times through it, i couldn't stop the melodies from lingering in my head all day.

but as much as i love age of adz now, listening to it on my laptop is dull compared to the live performance. when sufjan talked about his new album, he talked about exploring emotions, and the psychological. the album suddenly made more sense to me, and i connected with it.

it was not a relax-and-fall-asleep-in-your-seat kind of concert. he kept me on the edge of my seat. he was on stage with an ensemble of 11 people. himself & his many instruments were joined by 2 guitarists, 2 drummers, 2 trombones, 2 backup singers/dancers, 2 pianists. the orchestration was amazing. the songs were intense, well-timed, and thought-provoking. songs about love, songs about volcanoes erupting, songs about schizophrenics, songs about the apocalypse. there's a theme of 'whining and consternation,' sufjan noted.

(not sure how to credit this photo. i found it on last.fm)

as a performer, sufjan stevens is charming. a little shy & quirky, he nevertheless portrayed a confidence in himself and his music. it doesn't hurt that he's an attractive one, either. oh, and he can dance.

he told us that we had the most spirit he's seen, or something like that. i didn't believe him. he must be at the start of his tour if he thinks that. or he was just saying that to make us love him more. maybe he was talking to the front row of people, because those of us in the balconies i would not describe as 'spirited.' when he was at the end of the 20 minute long song 'impossible soul,' he was dancing on stage with the backup singers, and was singing 'do you wanna dance?' i mean, comon, if that's not an invitation for the audience to get our butts out of our seats and jump around a bit... i don't know what is. but no one moved. and i'm way too canadian to jump up and dance all by myself. oh well.

you can find another review of the concert here, if you're interested.

here's a clip from last night, when he played his (probably most famous) song, chicago:


to sum it up: sufjan and his concert have been on my mind all day. i can't wait to go to another concert of his. no, he didn't play one of my favorite songs, but i can forgive him. if i have to. i guess.

(obligatory food-related photo, since this is a food blog, not an i'm-obsessed-with-sufjan-stevens blog. also this is post #98. one more post before my contest closes!)

97: eggs eggs eggs

you can never get enough fresh backyard eggs. our awesome landlords shared some with us recently.

they. were. tasty.

oh yes, and my sister and i won the balloon doodling contest! technically she won, and i'm not technically credited at all, but that's okay, because i know she'll share the prize with me. check out how we will look in the future.

p.s. this is post #97. two more posts before my contest closes!

post # 96: alliumphobia

alliumphobia - the (irrational) fear of garlic


i don't know who could fear garlic. garlic is awesome. garlic that is super old and dry in the grocery store? not the best. garlic freshly picked and sold at the farmer's market? the best. if you haven't tried using fresh garlic before, hasten to your local farmer's market and mend thy ways.



garlic, or allium satvia in latin, is a relative of the onion. that's reason enough to include this photo:


p.s. this is post #96. three more posts before my contest closes!

an airy self-portrait

this post has nothing to do with food, but that's not the point. the point is, i want to share something with you.

my roommate - andrea armstrong - and i took a self-portrait on the weekend:


we collaborated for a doodling-on-a-balloon contest at doodlers anonymous. andrea did the doodling, we both did set-design, and i set up the lighting and took the photo. check out everyone's submissions here and fave your favorite designs! (hint: ours is super awesome) you do have to join to vote, though.

p.s. this is post #95. four more posts before my contest closes!

i am a liar (but you can enter a contest and win stuff yay!) - contest closed!

sooo.... i thought i had posted 100 posts, and even bragged about it a few posts back.

apparently, i am a liar.

this post i am writing right now, is #94. sure its close to 100, but its no merit badge like 100 is. my blogger homepage tells me i'm at 102 posts, but it's a bit sneaky and counts all my unposted drafts as 'posts' as well. i am so ashamed that i lied to you all, and let you think i was somehow accomplished in the blogging world.

but i would like to make it up to you. i'd bake cupcakes and invite you all over, but that wouldn't be fair to some of you who are far away, and it would honestly be a bit creepy for me if i invited the whole internet world over to my place. also, it would be expensive and my place is way too tiny.

instead, i will start small with a contest and see how it goes. yay contests! free stuff!

the prize: a pack of 5 specially-made-for-you photo cards. by me, of course. (i know: extravagant, right?)
how to enter: comment below, (with your name, please!) and answer me:
1. what is your favorite dessert?
2. what should i attempt to bake before christmas?
(they don't have to be different, but let's be a bit creative here)

the contest will close when i post my 99th actual post. the winner will be chosen randomly, and will be announced when i write my actual 100th post! that means you have 5 more posts of mine to read before the contest closes. AND you don't have to be from a certain country or continent to enter this contest, because cards are flat so postage won't be too horrific.

let your friends know about this contest. or don't, and then you'll have a better chance of winning. (but really, do.)

flourless chocolate cake

this loveliness is a flourless chocolate cake. (although i did use flour to dust the pan before i poured the batter in) it gets its texture from the whipped egg whites. subtle and not too sweet, the chocolate in this cake is just right to be a dessert following a rich, heavy meal. which i did last weekend when i took this cake to a thanksgiving dinner. cut up into 16 tiny slices, the serving size was just enough to satisfy but not overload.



i got the recipe from bread & honey. i won't bore you with the recipe, i'll just let you follow it from the link.

for those of you who don't care to follow the recipe, here's some more pretty pictures! (i'm really happy with how these photos turned out)

une omelette (100th post!)

for some reason i feel like celebrating, because i just realised i've written 100 posts on this blog. but, over a span of 3+ years. really joey? you want to celebrate mediocrity? yes, yes i do. :)

sub-thought:
i am realising that i will never get to the point where i feel like i am amazing at what i do, unless i decide right now that i am okay with NOT being amazing. if i don't take risks because i'm afraid of failing, i won't ever get better at what i do because i'm not trying. if i take risks, i may fail, and if i fail, then succeeding the next risk will feel even better.

okay, back to my post about omelets.

i love eggs. any style of egg, i love (not actually true: i don't like raw, and i don't like it when the whites are still runny). but, there's something about the omelet that takes an egg from being good to being deliciously decadent. ever wake up feeling meh? make yourself an omelet (if you have time and are not running off to work) and you will feel like a king. or queen.


i still haven't perfected the omelet. it often falls apart on me... but whatever, it still tastes amazing, so who cares? the great thing about omelets is that you can put anything inside. fried onions, veggies, meat, herbs, cheese... be creative. any kind of cheese, many kinds of cheese, or no cheese at all if you are lactose intolerant. but the best part of the omelet is the cheese, really.

i like to whisk my eggs (2 or 3)with salt, pepper and a bit of milk, though some people just whisk the eggs. i find the milk makes it a bit fluffier. better yet, yogurt, for a richer omelet (can an omelet with eggs and cheese, fried in butter get any richer? yes... it can, and its amazing). put your pan on a medium-low heat. when its heated, grease your pan and pour your egg mixture in. make sure its even on the pan, and wait a bit, making sure nothing is burning. when it looks partially cooked (still gooey, but you can lift the edges with your turner), sprinkle cheese of choice throughout the entirety of the omelet. on one half only (if your pan cooks unevenly like mine, choose the side that is less cooked) add your filling. carefully edge your turner under the other half of the omelet, make sure its not sticking anywhere, and flip over the filling. if some of it falls apart, just patch it up. cook a minute or 2 longer, remove from heat, and serve.

i used to make omelets by flipping the whole thing BEFORE adding the filling, but i always found them over-cooked and rubbery. not flipping your omelet makes for a perfectly-cooked omelet that is fluffy, gooey, and melts in your mouth. but try it out and experiment! every pan and stove-top is different, and everyone's preferences are different, too. find what you like best and enjoy the heck out of it.

anyone have a favorite omelet filling? or great ideas for one?

disturbed by processed, fast-food chicken. i can't believe i used to eat it..

warning: disturbing images below. please continue to read!

i am not a vegan, nor am i a vegetarian. i do highly respect all vegetarians and vegans, however. so this is not about me not eating meat. its about me not eating fast-food meat, like chicken nuggets, chicken burger patties, etc. see photo below:

photo from this blog. read more here.

they mechanically separate the chicken, grind it all up, remove the bacteria (apparently by soaking it in ammonia), add food coloring and flavor... its disgusting. why go through that much bother to make something that doesn't really look like chicken, doesn't really taste like chicken, and is so unnatural? and yet we consumers totally buy it. its fast, its easy, and we put it in our stomachs anyways.

jamie oliver does these experiments where he shows kids the process of making the chicken nuggets, and then has the kids decide between the nuggets and the real chicken afterward. worked well in the UK (see video below)...




... but then he tried it in america. (see video below).



...failed. which is really sad what it says about america. i think he'd do a lot better in canada, but i still think there's a good number of people here who would react just like those kids in the video. sadly, i think i know of a few people too who just might not care where their food is coming from.

would you still eat the chicken nuggets? i want your thoughts and opinions!
i won't condemn you if you would still eat them. i'll just shake my head and invite you over for some real, homemade food. or you can answer anonymously and i'll never know.

update: october 11, 2010

some more posts to read:

huffington post
peas and thank you - hilarious, have to read it
potted meat product - i can't believe anyone would buy or eat a product (it doesn't deserve the title 'food') called 'potted meat product'!?

yam fries

yam fries: delicious, not that hard to make, and just plain awesome.

to do:

• wash yam(s)
• peel or don't peel (i didn't peel)
• pat dry (if wet, they will be soggy fries)
• chop up to whatever size you like (just make sure they are roughly similar sized)
• toss with olive oil, salt, pepper & whatever other spice you'd like (i added a pinch of coriander; you could add minced rosemary or cayene pepper for example)
• spread evenly on a baking sheet (normally i put parchment paper down, this time i didn't do anything & they didn't stick), make sure you don't crowd them too much
• *bake anywhere between 375 F and 415 F; take them out every 8 minutes or so to check them & to turn them; bake until they are soft on the inside and crispyish or nicely toasted on the outside.
• once cooked to your liking, remove from oven, and sprinkle with some fleur de sel if you have it. i just bought my first jar of it, so i am now allowed to be snooty and talk about fleur de sel all i want to. :) serve with some kind of dip. i wish i had an awesome dip recipe to share with you. i used some old (probably too old to use, honestly) curry powder dip mix and mixed it with yogurt and mayonnaise. its a great dip, i just can't tell you what's in it or how to make it yourself. :(
  

*if you bake fries normally, do what you normally do and pay no attention to my baking instructions. i really didn't know what i was doing and just winged it. if you are someone who needs to know exactly what temperature and exactly how long it takes... then stop reading my blog :) just kidding, maybe try and look up another recipe & see what it says! (that's right, i AM too lazy to google it myself at the moment...)

beerish bread

this is beer bread. want to make it yourself? it's easy, and quite delightful to eat.

ingredients:

3 1/4 cups flour (i use 2 cups plain flour, 1 1/4 cup whole wheat)
3 tsp baking powder
1 Tbs sugar (Tbs = tablespoon. not sure if that's the correct abbrevation, but i'm usin it)
1 3/4 ounce (just under 1/4 cup. or 50 grams) butter, chopped
1 1/2 cups beer

directions:

• preheat oven: 415 F
  
• mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt. cut in the butter until crumbly. (alternatively: process all those things in a food processor. i don't have one)
• add the beer slowly, and mix it in. i just use a wooden spoon and i mix until it comes together to form a soft dough.
• knead dough on floured surface until smooth.
• divide dough, into 4 or 6 portions, and form ovals or spheres. place on a greased pan, slash the tops with a knife, brush with a bit of water (or milk or whisked egg).
• bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350F and bake for another 10 minutes. bread is usually ready when you can tap the bottom and it sounds hollow (please use an oven mitt when holding the bread. otherwise you will scald your hand and it will probably be quite painful).
  

love this recipe. (which i got from the book baking: a common sense guide) it's quick, easy, hard to mess up. no fussy yeast, no waiting for the yeast to do its magic, no worries. instead of yeast as a rising agent, this recipe uses beer, and beer has its own yeast already in it. the only downside to this bread recipe is the slight taste of beer, but i noticed that using a honey lager instead of a pale ale helped lessen the beeryness of it. makes fantastic sandwich bread, and goes great with mustard and pickles and all things savory. however, does not go as well with jam or peanut butter or other sweeter bread toppings. try it at home and let me know how it works out for you!

apple cinnamon muffins

do something for me. take a quick peek at what katie ate and tell me you do not want to devour everything katie makes and photographs. i know i do.

in case you are too lazy to click on links, here are a few of her photos:

gorgeous!

i wanted to bake something with apples today. my sister and i ordered a large box of gala apples from the okanogan valley last week and we've already made 2 batches of apple sauce, one pan of apple crisp. we still have copious apples left. so, i wanted to bake something with apples today. and i did. i looked to katie for inspiration, and was debating between this apple tea cake and these apple cinnamon muffins. the tea cake looks amazing, but my relationship with my springform pan is a bit dubious and i would like to avoid using it until i find a better replacement. so i made the muffins. loved that the recipe didn't call for any butter or oil (don't get me wrong, i love butter. LOVE it. it's just that it costs so much money and i'm trying to be a bit more frugal than normal these days), but called for applesauce. hey, i just made some last week! anyway, they are pretty quick and easy. the result? not bad. a bit chewy, (maybe i over-stirred), but pleasantly moist and good-tasting. you can look at katie's lovely photos here, and compare them with mine. i like hers better, but i'm pretty happy with mine too.


here's the recipe:

1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup applesauce
1 cup peeled, cored, chopped apple

topping: sugar & cinnamon (just guess at the amounts, however sweet you want it, baby!)

preheat the oven to 390F

i always like to mix all the dry stuff before i mix in any wet stuff, no matter what the recipe tells me. so i mixed the sugar, cinnamon & ginger together, then sifted in flour, baking powder and salt in a big bowl. add the milk & applesauce and mix with a spoon until it comes together. don't overmix! add the apple pieces. spoon into muffin cups or a greased muffin tin. sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar on top and pop into the oven for 20-25 minutes. makes about 12 smallish muffins.


enjoy!