library loot

So it was my first time visiting the library in a long time. I was so happy to go! Just the pleasure of seeing and browsing among all those books. Wonderful!

 I wanted to get a book about fermenting foods and there were a few. This one, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Fermenting Foods, seemed to be comprehensive and full of easy ideas. Also I've been taking a more structured approach to trying wine lately and I realised that just figuring out what the bottles on the shelf contain is quite tricky. So I got Understanding Wine Labels to help me out. Finally, the Kitchen Reader book this month is Below Stairs, the memoir of a 1920s kitchen maid.

This post is a part of a weekly blogging event called Library Loot. It is co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Linda from Silly Little Mischief that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. I was introduced to it by our new Kitchen Reader member, Vicki from I'd Rather Be at the Beach.

how to get out of a bad mood

Why isn't living more of a science? It would be so much easier if sometimes there was just a formula such as "If this, then that". I feel out of sorts and cranky and I don't know how to stumble forward. I would prefer the rule, "If you feel cranky, then mope for a day and the next day get on with being excellent." But it doesn't seem to work that way.

I feel out of sorts for a number of reasons. I hurt my knee while trail running and by the end of the last three working days it has been throbbing with a hot pain. In addition to this, I have had some setbacks at work that should just be minor bumps but somehow have grown to little mountains. My marking is piling up; also I am late with a few tasks that people depend on. A few parents criticized my teaching methods last week; also my students seem to be confused by things I thought they had learned.

At home I have failed to get a grip on the laundry and it seems to be taunting me from the overflowing baskets. I forgot to buy toilet paper for one day too long. And all I can find in the fridge for dinner is three red onions.

For now I am making my own life formula. It starts with "choose the success criteria for tomorrow". Since I know that I can't solve all these problems, including my foul mood, in one day, I have chosen just four tasks for tomorrow that will be the way I will judge my success. Two are for work, and two are personal tasks. One of them is to talk to God. If I can accomplish those four things, I will celebrate the day as a small success. And then tomorrow I'll set new success criteria for the next day. This is my small effort to structure my bleak days.

maths and vegetables

My two favourite topics come together again! Look at this gorgeous romanesco cauliflower. Its florets make a fractal pattern. Fractals are self-similar, which means that as you zoom in on any section, you see the same repeating pattern as in the larger view. Fractals are quite common in nature. For example, pine cones and ferns both have fractal growth patterns. Also, on a map of the coast you can see a lot of wiggly ins-and-outs, and when you look closer and closer at stretches of the coastline you see the same wiggling line.

Thanksgiving

Canadian Thanksgiving seems to sneak up on me each year. A few times I have missed it by forgetting until after it has passed. Since it's not marked on any calendar here, it can be easily overlooked. This year, though, I wanted to host a big meal and this I did! But I accidentally invited everyone over one week too early. Silly me! In my excitement and determination not to forget, I didn't actually check (or remember correctly) the date of Thanksgiving. No matter, we had a delicious and thankful day anyway.

In fact, I was so excited about having people over that I probably invited more than I should have. We had eleven eating in the end (with one more who popped over for dessert) and we had a really hard time getting them all in the kitchen to sit down. We had to put our large desk next to the kitchen table in an L shape and a few people were a bit cosy. But that family feeling is a bonus, in my mind!

The night before I roasted two small butternut squash and then pureed it to make a pumpkin cheesecake. I made it last year as well, and it is definitely my Thanksgiving dessert of choice. The crust is made from ginger biscuits and pecans, stuck together with butter.


The other item I prepared the night before was the nut bake. It's a vegetarian main dish that is often served at Christmas. It was so easy to make with the help of my new immersion blender, which also has two mini food processor attachments, as well as a whisk. The nut bake is a mixture of cashews, almonds, hazelnuts, and Brazil nuts, layered with breadcrumbs, onion, and fresh herbs.


Ant and Matt were both a huge help to me on Sunday. Ant peeled about 3 kg of potatoes and ironed the tablecloths. Matt hoovered and went to the small Sainsburys down the road twice for emergency supplies.


I'm really grateful for the friends who came over to celebrate with me and share with us all the things for which they are thankful. God has really blessed Ant and I this year with new ideas and opportunities, and continuing health and jobs that we enjoy. We've grown in faith together and we've enjoyed getting to know our friends better.

new food blog!

I have been reading and writing about cooking so much recently. It has become a real passion. So I have decided to start a second blog, a blog devoted to cooking at http://www.simplycooked.blogspot.com/ called meals with sarah.

To keep all my recipes in the same place and as a complete, searchable database, I copied all my cooking posts from this blog across to meals with sarah. This blog has not changed at all, but on the new blog I have edited the posts to be more food focused. Also I have made a new set of post labels, for example, desserts, bread, veggies, holidays, and so on, to make finding a recipe you remember easier and quicker.

I'm so excited to be starting this new blog. Please add it to your reading list and pass it on to anyone you think might be interested. As always, I value your feedback. Thanks for reading!

relaxing

Micah and Anna have a big world map on their dining area wall. They have small sticky dots that mark the places they have been (which is defined as at least one night). Ant and I were talking at dinner today about where we have been (Micah and Anna were out so we were on our own.) Until now, we have visited places only in Europe and North America. And this is the first time we have visited the Southern hemisphere. On our return journey we get to spend three days in Hong Kong. This is a picture we took in the Hong Kong airport because of the rising hills behind the plane. We are looking forward to a totally different cultural experience when we go there.


Australia feels like quite a similar culture. The supermarket feels Canadian and the train stations feel English. Today we slept really late and relaxed at the apartment; we didn't go into the city at all. (Daytime TV seems to be the same types of things as well.) We picked up a few things at the grocery store across the road for dinner. On the way back we walked through this small park. Micah and Anna's apartment building is the white brick building hidden behind the trees at the end of the park on the left. (You might need to click on the picture for a bigger view!)


I cooked up a small storm in the small kitchen.


I was trying out a recipe I read online today, Butternut Squash and Red Lentil Dal. Yum. Micah and Anna have the biggest and most diverse spice and herb collection I have ever seen. I could make anything using their supplies.

a day of rest

I spent a lovely Sunday today. A few weeks ago we were studying the Sabbath in our home group. I think we all become much more convinced that a day of rest, worship, and serving God was an essential part of our lives. Today I really had a good day or rest. After church I bought The Observer (the Sunday version of the Guardian). I had planned to do this because of the Observer Food Monthly magazine that I wanted to read. After lunch Ant was trying out his new Wii game and I was curled up on the couch with my many newspaper sections, including the Food Monthly. I think I sat there, reading, for about an hour and a half. It was so nice to relax properly--quite often I am quite driven to do chores when I am at home, or to worry about them if not actually do them. This was a nice change that I think I will repeat again soon.

Other parts of my nice Sunday included a great church service, veggie laden food, baking a loaf of Irish Brown Soda Bread (below), and doing a little clearing of clutter. How was your Sunday?

upcoming baking?

I have never been a big baker. But I am starting to warm to the idea of making some bread (Mum, are you proud?). Here are a few recipes I reckon I could try since they are all rated easy in some aspect--time spent or work involved.

Irish Brown Bread--It's a quick bread, so I think it will suit me. No proving time required. And it's whole wheat.

No-Knead Bread--You mix it in the evening and bake it the next morning, in a pot. Sounds strange. It is talked about on every food blog.

Faster No Knead Bread--An adaptation that takes a lot less time.

Mother, don't be too proud, though. I am still just thinking about making bread. No dough has yet been made!

recipes

It has happened that I am desperately behind with blogging. So many big things have happened that being behind is putting me off starting again. There is nothing for it but to take up from here, filling in the holes bit by bit. The two big events that have happened since last time: seeing Jayme (and Donald and their darling Maya) and visiting with my parents.

Well, so let us turn to tonight instead. I wrote a new recipe in my new recipe book. I made this amazing chocolate cake for one in a mug--Ant's special dessert to celebrate the end of a hard work week. What a nice treat that only took moments to make!

Chocolate Cake for One
4 T flour
4 T sugar
2 T cocoa
1 egg
3 T milk
3 T oil (or half oil and half applesauce)
pinch salt

Grease the inside of a mug. Mix the dry ingredients in the mug. Combine the wet ingredients and then add them, mixing well.
Microwave on high for 3 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before turning onto a plate.

Ant was very impressed and so was I! And so I wrote it into my new recipe book. I really love it--Mum and Dad bought it for me when they were here. I filled my first cooking notebook (the pink one) a few months ago and wasn't sure what to do next. But this lovely lemon book solves my problem!


The only difference for this new notebook is that I am only going to write in recipes after I make them. I ended up with a few too many in the old book that were inspiration but that I never made.

On Dad's suggestion, here are the top recipes from "Sarah's Kitchen, Volume 1".

Ginger Noodle Soup
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Beans and Bacon Casserole
Cuban Black Bean Soup
Mushroom Paprikas
Sonya's Minted Lamb Burgers
Bacon Fried Greens
French Onion Soup
Roasted Onion & Parsnip Tarte Tatin
Spicy Red Lentil Soup

shrove tuesday

Ant and I had a little pancake picnic after dinner today. I used a recipe I have been saving for several weeks from the NY Times blog, Bitten, by Mark Bittman. They were the tastiest pancakes I have ever eaten. A bit fussy, though, with egg whites to be beaten separately and three dirty bowls in the end. But they were so yummy!

We ate them with fresh lemon juice, whipped cream, and maple syrup. So decadent. I told Ant this was my one big treat this week!

cooking and relaxing

Since we both stayed home from work today, we kept ourselves busy with the internet, books, a movie (Michael Clayton), a bit of TV, some organising, and cooking. I made these zucchini/courgette muffins to eat with tea as we curled up under the duvet on the couch. They were a bit dry and I ate mine with Greek yoghurt.

For supper we had some slow-cooked beef and a coleslaw (recipe from Sarah's gift of How to Cook Everything). Mum and I managed to talk with the webcam again and she used her new headset and did some ironing at the same time while I was filing in the study--very productive for us both and we got to chat about more "random" things. It was more relaxing that some of our busier chats.


I finished my book club book (for February), Then We Came to the End, the first book I have ever read narrated in the first person plural. It's set at work in an advertising agency and I found it a bit depressing from time to time with the ennui and drudgery. And I started a book I picked up at the little second hand book store near the station: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. It's a family story, which is more my style. Our next book club book (for March) is the new Sebold read, The Almost Moon.

practical matters

I have several things I have been thinking about posting over the last few days. In fact, looking forward to posting. But writing them down seems to be a barrier sometimes. I am so tired that typing seems like an effort, let alone attempting to write something that will be coherent. I have successfully been battling a cold this week--with the help of my new bottle of ColdFX. (Thanks, Mum, for a very practical present that has already kept me from having a sick day.)

I have had a small timetable change this term that has resulted in a change in my marking days and now I am swamped with marking at the end of every second week. Here is the pile I was working my way through today and I ended up having to take a fair amount home this weekend. Taking work home is something I try to avoid at all costs, but I am simply going to have to do it, or use my time better in the week. I had a really profitable afternoon, though, and managed to get all the photocopying done for the next two weeks.


One thing I've been meaning to mention for a while now is that I bought a slow cooker at the beginning of January. I have used it a few times to great success. I am not a big meat fan in general but the meat cooked in the slow cooker comes out so tender and flavourful that I do enjoy it. Today I made black bean curry with gammon (ham) cubes and it was mighty tasty. Paired with a fresh salad of rocket, watercress, and cherry tomatoes it made a really nice (low fat and low GI) meal.


Well, there I got over my writer's block and wrote this post. So I will have to take the "little and often" approach and try again tomorrow to tackle some other things I want to reflect on and write about.

vegetables

Paul gave me a new cookbook for Christmas--yay! That means more tasty ideas for meals are in my future! And I went out and bought two new kitchen gadgets; one was this new palm peeler. It slips onto one finger and then you hold it in your palm. Ant and I both tried it out and found that it worked well once we got the hang of it.


And we also bought a lovely mini mandoline--which has a very sharp double-sided blade in the centre. It makes perfect eighth of an inch slices, as seen in these photos.


On Christmas Eve Ant and I were out with Mum buying our vegetables for our special dinner. We were at Farmer Clem's and we saw this fantastic squash! I wish we had bought it but really, we would be eating squash for days.

recent cooking

In my continued quest to find meat dishes I enjoy I have discovered this recipe for lamb kofte. My recipe books has it as "middle eastern meatloaf" and one of its variations is to grill it it in small cylinders to use in pittas. We like the taste better than the ones we buy at the kebab shop.

400g lamb mince
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t allspice
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t ground coriander
Mix and then shape into cylinders. Grill and serve in pitta pockets with tomatoes and parsley salad.
--From Simply in Season

I made Borscht, a Mennonite dish, for the first time yesterday (also from the Simply in Season cookbook). It is made with beetroot and so it comes out really pink in colour. It's really easy to make with chicken, carrots, potatoes, dill and parsley. Justin is staying with us for a while and we enjoyed it together last night with toasted pitta.

birthday

It has been a lovely birthday this year. Two close friends came over last night and helped me eat the Harvest Cake that I have been dreaming about for quite some time. Matt and Helen and Ant all agreed that it was very tasty--success! it is a recipe that really suits me; it starts off with grated beetroot, carrot, and courgette.



The batter is a mellow pink colour, not unlike the beetroot spice cake I made recently.



The icing is made with goat's cheese and cream cheese sweetened with maple syrup. So delicious. Although I chilled the icing as directed it was still a bit runny and so I tried to convince everyone that it was really a sauce. We served it with some Merlot, and enjoyed it heartily. (Nice photography, Helen!)


Ant gave me these lovely flowers for my birthday, along with the Wii Fit, which I am quite excited to try. (I was so tired from work on Friday that I opened the box but didn't set it up. I hope to use it most of this week, though.)


Other plans for my half term week: dentist, optometrist, new washing machine delivery, and a hopefully a trip to Liverpool next weekend with Ant to see his family. Also, a half day of marking, a book review to write, and some sightseeing to do!

lunch salad

Another recipe, this time by request. :) I made this cauliflower and chicken salad at lunch today, from the Moosewood cookbook.

Roasted Red Pepper & Cauliflower Salad

1 roasted red pepper, sliced
1/2 head cauliflower, cut into florets
1 large russet potato, sliced into rounds
2 T olive oil
dash of salt

4 c spinach or salad leaves
2 T chopped parsley
8 olives

Dressing
2 T vegetable oil
2 T olive oil
1 T fresh lemon juice
2 T cider vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 t fennel seeds
1/4 t salt
pepper

Roast the cauliflower and potato slices, tossed with olive oil and salt (about 20 minutes). Whisk together the dressing ingredients. Arrange the salad leaves on plates or a platter. Mix the red pepper and roasted vegetables and place on the salad leaves. Drizzle the dressing on top, sprinkle with parsley and olives.

When I made this salad today I increased the quantities of cauliflower to a whole head and used several potatoes. I omitted the olives since Ant is not a big fan (and hence we never have any in the house). And I added grilled chicken on top to make this into a meal. I cooked the chicken on our new, bigger George Foreman grill.

two recipes

I am so obsessed with food that I plan our week's meals in advance. I do this so that I can decide which recipes I want to cook and make sure I have all the ingredients on hand. Tonight I had planned two recipes to make from my new Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special cookbook.

The Tunisian pumpkin soup was delicious and came with a "spice swirl" (pictured below). The spice swirl is an essential part of the soup, I discovered. It was the tastiest little thing I have ever eaten! And I served the soup with a bulgur salad with artichoke hearts and a little feta. The steak on top is not part of the Moosewood recipe but is an addition to satisfy my carnivore husband.


My food obsession means that once I find a cookbook that fits my style I start working through it pretty regularly. I have been fortunate to get three new cookbooks in the last two months and I am using them to plan all our meals at the moment. On a quiet evening, I make a list of all the things currently in the cupboards, fridge and freezer. Then I pick recipes from my current favourite cookbooks that use up these ingredients. I add in a few more recipes and ingredients and order it all online. I keep the planning notes on the fridge so that when I get home from work I know can get to work without the dreadful feeling of having to think up what we are going to eat each night. We get to eat a lot of different things this way and I get to try out loads of new recipes.

Tunisian Pumpkin Soup

2 c chopped onions
2 T olive oil
1/2 c sliced carrots
1/2 c sliced parsnips
1 1/2 t salt
2 1/2 c water or stock
1 1/4 c apple juice
1/2 c tomato juice
1 t cumin
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t paprika
1 3/4 c cooked pumpkin (=15 oz can)

Spice Swirl
2 T olive oil
1 t minced garlic
4 t coriander
1 t ground caraway seeds
1/4 t cayenne
2 T lemon juice
2 T chopped cilantro
1/8 t salt

In a large soup pot, saute the onions, then add the vegetables. Saute for five minutes, then add stock, juices, and spices. Cover and bring to the boil, simmer until veg is soft. Add pumpkin and then puree the soup until smooth.

To make the spice swirl, heat the oil in a small skillet and briefly saute the garlic. Add the spices and cook, stirring constantly. Remove from heat after two minutes and add the lemon juice, cilantro, and salt.

Ladle the soup into bowls and top each with some spice swirl.

happy thanksgiving

I remembered (Canadian) Thanksgiving this year! And I also managed to cook my first real big meal. And we had a few friends round and we used my Canada maple leaf napkins. Sadly there are no pictures but it was a really good time--quite relaxing as well since I paced the cooking better than usual. Everything was ready in time and the kitchen was also mostly clean when everyone arrived--that contributes a lot to my enjoyment. We had some lovely rose wine (thanks, Matt and Lucie) and everyone seemed to have a really good time. Lucie and Dave had a vegetarian nut roast (which may or may not have been pre-prepared). Others had lovely turkey breast (which may or may not have come without the rest of the turkey). We had loads of food, but I completely failed to remember to make gravy, so the stuffing was a bit dry. Oh, well. The pumpkin cheesecake with whipped cream made up for this! You know a big meal, so the saying goes, by the number of vegetable side dishes. Well, we had brussel sprouts (with garlic--actually very nice); roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, and parsnips; carrot and fennel salad; and mushroom stuffing. Afterwards we sat around in the living room, chatting, watching TED talks, and yawning at each other. Mmmm. A lovely evening.

Oh, and aren't real turkey sandwiches a wonderful thing for lunch the next day?

slow release energy

Anybody tired of cooking posts yet? Just say and I will stop. I am really trying to stop my 3:30 space-out time at work. I find that at the end of the day I am exhausted and also swamped with work to do that I have a hard time motivating myself to keep going. The pile that builds up just seems so insurmountable by the end of the day but everything is also so urgent. I feel defeated and I have grown accustomed to eating mindlessly at this time. I am also in need of perking up, though, so it is hard to stop myself. So I am trying to substitute better foods at this time of day.


Tonight I made some oatcakes to try to insert into this snack attack. I think they are a bit bigger than they were supposed to be according to the recipe, since I made 12 and I was meant to make 16. But I am hoping that one will be substantial enough for me to get the energy to make it through my day. I need to have the energy to cycle home, too.

I think I will also need to take another snack food--maybe some fruit to nibble on because the act of snacking also seems to be a motivator (and it has been for me since uni days when I snacked my way through exam time). Either that or my brain needs reprogramming. It's quite bad news when there are chocolates of something left over from my tutor group and I end up mindlessly eating my way through the ten that remain in the box (after all, ten does not split between 28 students very well). Then I end up feeling ill and disappointed in myself.

greens

Mum and Dad gave me a new cookbook while we were visiting with them in August: Simply in Season. It's a companion cookbook to the Mennonite classic More with Less, which I have loved and used for years. Today I used it to make a variation of spanikopita called Chard Utopia (!) for our church harvest lunch tomorrow. It was my first time working with filo (or phyllo) pastry and very exciting it was too. First I chopped up mounds of greens, including chard, rocket, and the one that Sainsbury's simply labels "greens".


I added feta cheese, and garlic.


Then I layered the greens mixture with the pastry sheets, each one brushed with olive oil. It came out a lovely golden brown colour, but we will have to wait until tomorrow to see if it tastes good.