food blog love: food. weekly. (an interview)

food. weekly. is a food blog written by a college friend of mine. we met in a 'writing for the media' class, where we discovered a shared love of dry humor and cynicism. we share other interests too, of course. like coffee. food. friends.

her name is emily.
emily is a writer.

emily has written for and interned with geez magazine, where she is currently a sections editor for letters. at the moment, she works in the arts industry, while exploring - and loving - the awesomeness of domesticity in southern manitoba with her husband, taylor. at the moment they are experimenting with weekday vegetarianism. you can read about her thoughts on that here.

samosas*

emily has graced my blog with her presence by answering a few questions i asked her over email:

me:
what's your day job? do you love it?

emily:
By day, I work for an Arts Council in rural Manitoba. I'm officially the administrative assistant, but the bulk of my days are spent running their concert series as well as their volunteer program. I work with some really awesome people, and I love being able to bring concerts and live theatre to people who might not otherwise experience it. My office runs in a system of organized chaos, and sometimes the chaos wears me out. That's one of the reasons I started the blog, to have a reason to do things that relax me - writing and baking!

why did you decide to start blogging about food? what was your inspiration?

I could spend days reading food blogs and searching recipes online. I have years-old food magazines that I pull out and look through. I love creating something that others can enjoy. Cooking and baking are somethings that I find really relaxing, so after a particularly stressful day at work, I made biscotti and started the blog. It's an outlet for my food obsessions and my stress levels.

cranberry white chocolate biscotti*

what's the weirdest food you've experimented with?

I honestly can't think of a weird food that I have tangled with. I do have a tendency to make substitutions in recipes that seem logical to me...but really don't work. I made peanut butter rice crispie bars once with corn flakes. It seemed to work perfectly....until they cooled. I had a pan of corn bricks that I spent 20 minutes chipping from the pan.

favorite dessert?

A really ooey-gooey, smothered-in-icing cinnamon bun would be my top pick for dessert any day.

if you had to choose: chocolate cake or french fries?

My husband would love to eat chocolate cake day after day, so he would probably be upset to hear me say french fries. There is this great little diner about 20 minutes away that serves the best homemade fries. So good.

top 3 places you want to travel to purely for culinary reasons:

My top three culinary travel destinations would be:

1. Seattle. If for no other reason than to visit Pikes Place Market and sip on some fresh coffee.

2. Vancouver, BC. There seems to be a lot of really cool, trendy food shops and eateries there that I would love to explore. (And Joey could show me some of them!)

3. Any farmers market. Going to a good farmers market is like my personal disney world. I love to look at the all the stalls, buy fresh, local produce, and if I'm really lucky a lovely, fresh bouquet of flowers. It's the perfect day.

homemade chicken soup*

favorite food blog: (of course mine, wink wink, but you aren't allowed to use it)

(No fair! I was going to pick your blog!)
TasteSpotting is my (2nd) favourite foodie site to visit. It's not a food blog per say, but a catalogue that is updated daily with awesome finds from a variety of food blogs. I've found so many awesome new recipes to try, and discovered some great new blogs in the process.

what's the one food item you refuse to eat no matter what the circumstance?

I really can't handle any sort of weird cut of meat. If someone put beef tongue or sheep brain in front of me I would probably lose it. I'm grossed out even thinking about it.

--

homemade whoopie pies*

thanks emily for the interview! you will have to come visit me in vancouver, and we can try all my favorite joints as well as start on my list of places-yet-to-eat-at. also, you would love the farmers' markets here. and i mean LOVE them.

so check out food.weekly. and comment on emily's blog if you have any comments or questions for her!

*all photos in this post courtesy of emily's husband, taylor, who happens to be a photographer inspiration to me. check out his website or follow his blog. his 'squares' portrait series are particularly awesome.

becoming a southeast asian foodie

i used to live in singapore. but i was a teenager, so you can imagine that i ate a lot of fast food, most of which i make sure i avoid these days like most people avoid h1n1.

i will be spending a couple months in the south east region of asia - mainly singapore and indonesia - and i am hoping to be a bit more adventurous with food this time around. i've been here over a week now, but sadly i didn't have my camera on me for many of my meals. lugging that heavy contraption around is just more pain than its worth sometimes. i'm still coming up with a solution to that....

but here are a few of my favorites (from my teen years, and still now) that i managed to sneak photos of:

kopi - malay/indonesian for coffee

i think kou fu is a chain of coffee shops here. its not that i care specifically for THEIR coffee, i just like coffee in general. sadly they do have starbucks here, and sadly, i have ventured into not one, but two of them. at least. overpriced. and i can't even use my starbucks cards so i actually have to pay for the coffee i buy there. but i digress. kou fu, and other coffee shops here like kopitiam, yakun, and other nameless shops here make coffee the traditional malay/indonesian way, which is strong, sweet, and made from a sock. and often made with either sweetened condensed milk or evaporated milk. if you ask for coffee, they will give you coffee with sugar and condensed milk. if you ask for coffee 'o' it is black with sugar. if you don't take sugar or milk you have to be very specific, and ask for 'kopi kosong' which means 'empty coffee.'*

guava - a type of fruit.

this stuff is pre-cut, peeled and conveniently bagged for me, so you can't see the green skin or the seeds inside. its a crunchy fruit, comparable to an apple but not really.
some people think its bland, but i love it.
its even better with salt.
oh yeah, i grew up on this fruit in the jungles of indonesia. i'm pretty sure it was one of the first words i spoke as a baby.

roti prata - oily goodness.

that's not what it means, but seriously, oil never tasted so good. it's an indian delight you can get for roughly 80 cents a piece. (curry included) literally roti prata means 'flat bread.' this is one of the cheapest, most satisfying dishes one can get in singapore.

here's what i gained from wikipedia:

"Roti prata is the Singaporean evolution of the Pakistani and Indian paratha, a pancake bread made of dough composed of fat, egg, flour and water."

please, avid readers (i know you exist! don't worry i am going to write more often than every few months), stay abreast for more exciting foodie adventures with joey.

*important note: i may not actually know what i'm talking about. just general observations. if i write any untruths please, please tell me. this way i can be irritated that you brought my faults to my attention and proceed to correct my naivety and assumptions.

even dirty dishes can look good after a couple glasses of wine...

i had a lovely evening. we had people over for dinner. today was the fall equinox. apparently something to celebrate? (my sister thinks so) luckily, i'll celebrate almost anything if there is good food and wine involved. even when everyone leaves and you are faced with this:



it manages to look beautiful because you have that warm, fuzzy feeling inside - you know, from the tasty food and wine. even dishes can't put me out when i've had a good evening.

leftovers omelet

i realize that a 'leftovers omelet' doesn't exactly sound appealing, but it is, in fact, quite tasty. also, quite practical. not sure what to do with the leftover stirfry you made last night because you have no rice left? use it up in an omelet! sounds like i'm advertising a product... when i'm actually advertising your own creativity and innovativeness (not actually a word, but it should be).

i used 3 eggs for my omelet (free range, organic), beat them with salt, pepper, milk, chopped basil, grated parmesan. fried the omelet (some people flip the omelet before throwing the insides + cheese in, some people don't flip... i'm not sure which one is right, and i sometimes do one, sometimes do the other. the risk you take with flipping is cooking the eggs too long and getting a rubbery omelet.), threw in the leftover stiryfry (after nuking it in the microwave), havarti cheese, and closed the omelet. after the cheese melted, i sprinkled more parmasan on top for effect. then i enjoyed my omelet with some toast, avocados, and coffee. and that was my dinner. the end.

rosemary-lemon white bean dip

my obsession with rosemary has taken up again. i made rosemary-lemon white bean dip again, but this time i had time to take pictures. and pictures i took.

i found the recipe while trying to find ways to use up the rosemary i got last time at my local farmer's market. i bought some more fresh rosemary on saturday (along with sage, lemon verbena & fresh garlic). and seriously, the fresh garlic was amazing. i'd never had it before, but it smelled great, and i'm pretty sure tasted more amazing than the regular dried garlic i normally use. (also, the lemon verbena makes fantastic tea)

back to the dip. i'm sure you can follow the link to get the recipe, but i'll copy it here with a few modifications i made. which aren't many.



ingredients:

* 2 cups cooked white beans, like cannelini, drained but moist (i used 1 can of white cannelini beans)
* 1 to 3 cloves garlic, peeled
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
* 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
* 2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
* Grated rind of 2 lemons (i used only 1 lemon, & i added about half of the juice from 1 lemon)

- Blend the beans & garlic (start with 1 clove & taste to see if you need more) & a pinch of salt. (add some of the oil & lemon juice if your food processor doesn't blend dry stuff very well). process until the mixture is smooth. then taste & see if you want more garlic. if so, add more, blend more.
- Scoop the bean mixture into a bowl & beat in (with a spoon or spatula) the chopped rosemary, lemon zest, & the rest of the olive oil, along with salt & pepper to taste.
- Garnish, & serve with chips (i prefer rice chips)

basil scrambled eggs...

apparently i'm not very original with my eating habits. i happen to like eggs. a lot. and i like eggs with toast and avocado. a lot. however, i tried something different today. in my scrambled eggs i added a bit of pesto, chopped basil, and shredded cheese. it was scrumptious. :)

sauce of apples

i've discovered how easy it is to make homemade applesauce. i used this recipe as a template, but i make modifications each time i make it.



this is roughly what i did yesterday:

ingredients:
4 large apples (i used golden delicious - they really are...)
1/2 cup H20
2 strips of lemon peel (1/2 inch in diameter)
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 -1/2 inches cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 heaping tsp honey

directions:
core & chop apples. put abosolutely everything into a medium to large pot on the stove top on high heat. bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium and simmer until the apples are mushy enough to mash with a potato masher. taste for sweetness. (this recipe isn't very sweet - if you like sweeter applesauce add 1/8 to 1/4 cup of brown sugar instead of honey. or just add more honey.) remove cinnamon stick & lemon peels. mash. serve hot or put in a jar and refrigerate.

the best part of waking up: breakfast

i had pancakes for breakfast this morning. mmm...

lately i've been using the buttermilk pancake recipe from joy of baking, except that i substitute regular milk for buttermilk, since i never have any buttermilk on hand. i highly suggest using 1/2 white and 1/2 whole wheat flour, which is what i normally do. however, i am out of white flour currently, since my grocery store isn't selling the brand i like anymore. thus, i used stoneground spelt flour. the result was a batter that was a bit too liquidy, so i'm thinking maybe the stoneground spelt didn't absorb the liquid as well? (i really have no idea). regardless, they were yummy. i ate them with blueberries, peanut butter, and maple syrup.

try the recipe here.

comfort food

my comfort food: eggs, toast, avocado
(not pictured: coffee)

fresh rosemary and some of its glory

last weekend my dear sister and i frolicked to the local farmer's market. i'd been once before, approximately one year ago, and i found the experience this time around much more exhilarating because a)this time i had a job, consequently money to buy local goodies, b)both my knowledge and appreciation of food have extensively increased.

but the point of my little farmer's market story, is that i bought some fresh rosemary. i've never used fresh rosemary before, so i had no idea where to start.

my first attempt with fresh rosemary goodness involved yams. well, technically one yam. regardless, yams are wonderful. i preset the oven to 425 F. i peeled the yam (singular), chopped it, and tossed it with olive oil, salt, pepper, and freshly chopped rosemary leaves. i read that the rosemary should be sprinkled onto the yams (or potatoes, should you prefer them) only when there's about 10 minutes of baking left, but i cheated a bit. i microwaved (gasp!) the yams before i oiled them up to speed the process (i was hungry), which meant i added the rosemary straight away. after this, i spread the yams on a baking sheet and slid them into the oven and somewhat kept an eye on them, turning them over every so often. ...all that to say that the yams turned out quite tasty, despite the few that burnt when i wasn't looking.


another fresh rosemary adventure involved wild bison steak.
i marinaded the steaks the day before with olive oil, salt, pepper, and of course, chopped fresh rosemary. we seared the steaks for a minute on each side, before placing them on a medium heated griddle. i placed a sprig of rosemary, soaked in oil, onto the griddle between the steaks, to 'infuse' the aroma a bit more. i don't know if it actually worked or not, but it sure smelled amazing. because the steaks were sandwiched between the two grill plates, we only left them on for 9 minutes. they turned out quite tender and flavorful, but if we do it again, they probably only need 7 minutes, as the steaks keep cooking once off the grill.

more fresh rosemary infused food adventures to come! my sister and i made an amazing rosemary-lemon white bean dip the other night, but alas, we didn't have the chance to get any pictures...

applecelerymint smoothie

i bought my house a beautiful book of smoothie recipes (&photography of said smoothies) for christmas (titled 'the perfect blend') and decided randomly this evening to make the 'apple & celery revitalizer.' but, with the excess of mint in my fridge, i decided to throw some of that in as well. i used coconut milk instead of regular milk for 2 reasons. one, the bottle of milk in my fridge is way past its prime. two, i wanted to share the smoothie with my sister, who can't have any dairy. the coconut milk was a great substitute though. it turned out pretty tasty, but i might add more lime next time as the drink slowly turned brownish as it sat there waiting for me to drink it up. brown smoothies just aren't that attractive. luckily my camera got to it before the natural browning process did.



here's what i did:
chopped up 1 apple (after i peeled & cored it)
chopped up 1 stalk of celery
chopped up a bunch of fresh mint leaves
blended it all up with a dash of salt, & an unknown amount of coconut milk
poured into pretty martini glass
garnished with mint sprig and strip of celery