Arden Wohl

Vogue August 2011

Oh to have a career where "foraging for flowers" is part of your job description! I do like the recipe for making candy thyme to garnish ice cream. Click on the picture to enlarge and read!

LaDuree New York

Vogue August 2011

Discovered this fabulous bakery in Paris... can still recall biting into a raspberry macaron... the thin crip exterior and the perfect raspberry marshmallow-y interior. Worth another flight back! Except now you don't have to travel as far, as LaDuree, is opening it's first NY store on the Upper East Side... 864 Madison Ave. Defintely worth another trip to NY!

Kitchen Scales

Fell in love with this Ethos Dulton Headlight kitchen scales in a kitchen store in Rome, Italy. Sadly, it was too bulky to bring home in my luggage... but I'm still on the hunt for it!

Butter Baked Goods

Walk into Butter Baked Goods store in Dunbar and you'd be forgiven for thinking you've walked into your grandma's kitchen. The old-style screen door squeeks open, and you're enveloped into a warm cocoon of baking smells. The walls are covered in a rose-printed wallpaper and the cookies, cupcakes and bars are presented on the cutest vintage cake stands and plates. Luckily, you can purchase their marshmallows across North America!

butterbakedgoods.com

Mushrooms on Toast

I cannot believe I eat mushrooms on toast! For the majority of my life, I turned my nose up at cooked mushrooms... ick! Now, I'd happily eat 5 servings of mushrooms on toast... must be all the garlic and butter!



Mushrooms on Toast (aka Mushroom Bruschetta), Jamie Oliver style

Extra virgin olive oil
Handful of mushrooms
Clove of garlic
Chili
Butter
Salt/Pepper
Woody herbs
Lemon cheek

Oil in pan (extra virgin olive oil).
Slice mushrooms, then toss in pan (medium heat).
Add a clove of shredded garlic once the mushrooms have browned a bit.
Add some chopped up woody herbs... thyme, rosemary, etc.
Throw in a bit of salt and pepper.
Add tiny bit of chili.
Bit more oil.
Don't crowd the mushrooms; this causes them to sweat and they don't dehydrate. Give them a couple of minutes, until they start to caramelize.
Add a knob of butter.
Add 12 drops of lemon juice to add some twang.
Add a bit of water to create a sauce.
Then get the pan off the heat before the sauce evaporates or worse, separates!
Serve on buttered toast.
MMMMmmmmmm

Blueberry Muffins

Here's a cute idea I read about in a magazine ad... cut 12cm x 15 cm squares out of parchment paper to line muffin tins for muffins, cupcakes, etc. I thought it looked cool... but turns out it has a practical purpose as well. My dad has Parkinson's disease, and has troubles with his fine motor skills. It's hard for him to get a grasp of the ruffled edge of store bought wrappers. With these wrappers, there's a large corner to grab to tear the wrapper off. I imagine it would be helpful for kids as well.
It's also a good trick to have up your sleeve when you're in the middle of making cupcakes and realize you are fresh out of paper baking cups. Not that that has ever happened to me, because I am so organized!

You Are What You Eat

In recent cooking demonstrations, magazines and newspapers articles... I've noticed a huge push to really make people understand the importance of eating healthy and the direct impact on their health, and the environment.

One night during practice, my yoga instructor told us to "Remove the factory between you and your food." I guess you could say that I've been fortunate that my body rejects the chemical-ly food I try to put into it. I've sat on the floors of bathrooms, and have woken up in ill sweat in the middle of the night more times than I can count after drinking sodas sweetened with aspartame, sweet popcorn sweetened with sucralose, Bits and Bites and Cup O'Soup with ingredients you can't pronounce... the list is long. I say 'fortunate', as after having to deal with the effects of eating garbage (which is what it really is) it has made me think twice as to what I put in my mouth.

Last night, I was flipping through the January 2010 issue of the Martha Stewart magazine. There was a small book review for a new book: Food Rules by Michael Pollan... "If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't." It's a how-to manual for weaning oneself off the Western diet of processed foods, meat, sugar, fat. I made note of it, and continued with my magazine reading. I had an article to finish in October 2010 Vogue: Force of Nature, about a doctor who discovered the world's healthiest diets, and wrote a book about the therapeutic power of food, and how she prescribes recipes for such ailments as the common cold and depression. In the article it mentioned "Michael Pollan-ized foodies'! I had not heard about Michael Pollan before, and now twice in five minutes on two random magazines! Coincidence?

I've learnt so much about healthy eating, and how we have the power to control what we eat in order to feel good. All we need to remember is how the food made us feel after we ate it. There's the sick (not to mention guilty) feeling you have after consuming a bag of chips. Then there's the satisfying contentment in your belly after eating a yummy, nutritious meal. Maybe remembering this will help us all adopt a healthy eating lifestyle.

Michael Pollan - books
Dr. Daphne Miller

Cherry Tomato Standby

We all have a 'go-to' dish when we can't/don't want to think about dinner. My Cherry Tomato Pasta comes from Donna Hay Off the Shelf... which in itself is a great 'go-to' cookbook when you can't/don't want to think about dinner.

400g rigatoni or penne

60g butter

2 gloves garlic, sliced

350g cherry tomatoes

Handful of basil

Balsamic vinegar

Cook pasta till al dente, then drain.

Melt butter in fry pan over medium heat. Add garlic and cherry tomatoes and cook, stirring, for 8 minutes or until tomatoes are soft and golden. Add a handful of chopped basil and toss through the hot pasta. Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar, pepper, sea salt and grated Parmesan.

See! Easy peasy, no brain required... and it's sooo yummy.

Variation 1: I'm not always in the mood for balsamic vinegar, so I'll just add extra butter. If you chop the tomatoes in two at the end of their cooking, and add the butter, you'll get a nice little sauce to toss with your pasta. Add Parmesan and sea salt on top and yum!

Variation 2: You can use larger tomatoes in this dish as well... just chop them into large chunks to start, and follow recipe as you wish.

The other thing nice thing about this dish is that you can just wing it for one person or five. Get a feel for your ingredients and give it a go!

Creamy Mushroom & Prosciutto Pasta

From Bill Granger Everyday, p 180

CREAMY MUSHROOM AND PROSCIUTTO PASTA

SERVES 4

400 G (14 OZ) TAGLIATELLI OR PAPPARDELLE
1 TABLESPOON OLIVE OIL
1 GARLIC CLOVE, CRUSHED
4 SLICES PROSCIUTTO, CHOPPED
200 G (7 OZ) BUTTON MUSHROOMS, SLICED
80 ML (2V2 FL OZ/1/3 CUP) CHICKEN STOCK
80 ML (2i/2 FL OZ/1/3 CUP) CREAM
SEA SALT
FRESHLY GROUND BLACK PEPPER
1 TABLESPOON CHOPPED FRESH PARSLEY

TO SERVE
GRATED PARMESAN CHEESE

Cook the pasta in a large pan of lightly salted boiling water until al dente.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and prosciutto and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3—4 minutes, or until the prosciutto is crisp. Add the mushrooms and cook for 4 minutes, or until they are light golden. Add the stock and let it reduce by half, then add the cream and simmer for a further 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Drain the pasta, add to the sauce and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the parsley. Serve immediately with grated parmesan.

Being very naughty in scanning and posting copywritten material... however... made this recipe for dinner and it was soooo good, I wanted to share. An easy weeknight dinner. Not bad for someone who doesn't like to eat pork, and up until a couple of years ago, wouldn't touch mushrooms!

A Good Egg

Boiled Eggs

I'd been cooking for a long time before I learnt how to boil an egg. Turns out, you don't actually boil the egg, but instead, place the egg in boiling water, cover and remove from the heat.

From Martha Stewart... you'll get perfect eggs every time.

Instructions:Place eggs in a single layer in a saucepan, and cover with 1 inch of cold water. Bring to a boil, cover, and immediately remove from heat. Let stand approximately 1 1/2 to 2 minutes for soft-boiled, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes for medium-boiled, and 12 to 13 minutes for hard-boiled. Remove eggs from water.

Soft- and medium-boiled eggs should be served immediately in egg cups -- perfect for cracking and scooping the egg right from the shell.

Hard-boiled eggs should be removed from the pot and plunged into a bowl of ice water. This prevents the yolk from discoloring due to overcooking and facilitates peeling. Let stand for 2 minutes, then crack by gently pressing the egg against a hard surface. Peel under cold running water. Serve.

Cafe Medina

A friend had raved about the fabulous waffles at Cafe Medina on Beatty Street. My brother was in town, and I thought this would be a good time to check it out for breakfast. A quick internet search revealed that Cafe Medina is located next door to Belgium restaurant, Chambar, another restaurant that I am fond of. I started to get really excited about breakfast; especially when I read the online menu that the waffles are served with, amoung other items, dark chocolate and raspberry caramel.

Upon looking at the menu once we were seated in the cafe, the waffles were forgotten as we read over the main breakfast list. I ordered the omelette of the day: potatoes, tomatoes, cheese, mixed herbs and eggs baked in a cast iron skillet. The potatoes were divinely flavored with herbs and there were large chunks of cheese melted throughout. My brother and father had the fricassee, which is also baked in a skillet and includes 2 fried eggs, roasted potatoes, braised short ribs, arugula, caramelized onions and applewood cheddar.

I'll have to go back another day for the waffles...


Medina Cafe
556 Beatty Street
Vancouver, BC