As promised, my new and re-branded blog is now up and running. From here on out, you can find me over at The Kitchen Front. Come on by and say hello.
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Endtroducing…
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Dog days
If the weatherman is to be believed, this week promises to deliver our very first bona-fide summer scorcher. About time, I say. My head is filled with visions of stretching out on a blanket while something sizzles over the coals of our $12 camp grill, with this number as the soundtrack.
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Spice up your life
I confess to being in a bit of a food funk of late. For the past couple of week’s my motivation to cook has been decidedly lacking, and the couple of times I did step up, the results were, well, meh. I was getting desperate. My tastebuds needed a kick in the ass. Then along came harissa.
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94 days of summer
You sure wouldn’t know it by the weather these past few weeks on the Wet Coast, but summer is here at last. Sunshine has been a commodity in short supply in this greyest of springs. Things usually turn around later on, and I’m rather looking forward to indulging in many a sun-soaked bask outside with a sweating bottle of beer or a sharply chilled glass of rosé.
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D’s Meatless Mondays Whole Bowl
I am reminded often—from Martha Stewart to the nightly news—that we all eat too much meat. Inspired by Aimée at Under the High Chair I decided we needed to try and have our own Meatless Mondays (or at least one totally meatless day a week). This recipe is my attempt at replicating one of our favourite Portland food carts, the Whole Bowl. I will never know what goes into their magic neon green sauce with its mustardy aftertaste and yeasty overtone, but my recipe does well in capturing the overall concept of the dish. As many of you know, J is very much a carnivore and wishes he could eat bacon on everything so the shift in our diet has elicited a few groans and lackluster “yeah, I guesses” at the mention of vegetarian night. However by the time it was all dished up and J was taking his first bite he was making audible mmm’s between smacking lips.
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Sounds like supper
I made bibimbap.
Bibimbap. How can you not like a dish that could be a onomatopoeia? Just say it: bibimbap!
Fun, right?
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Baked goods
A while back I mentioned my discomfiture with baking. It’s the precision that gets me. I like to work with a net in case things go wrong and I like to have a bit of freedom to ad lib. Baking offers none of those things. Knowing a bit too much flour here or not enough baking soda there can ruin everything is just too intimidating. Nonetheless, I decided to make a bit more of an effort with it, if only to keep things interesting on this blog and in the kitchen. Best to start small, I figured. Best to start with cookies.
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Sunday pub night at home
Guest post by D.
Inspired by local chef Anthony Sedlak’s recipe, I decided to try my hand at something new: pub-style beer-battered fish and chips. It is rare these days that I actually try a new dish that involves an entirely new cooking technique and it felt good to undertake what at first glance seemed a relatively simple operation. The end product was delicious, although the vagaries of deep-frying with a dollar-store thermometer meant that I should have started cooking a bit earlier than 7 p.m. since our pub night at home didn’t really begin until we sat down to eat at 9 p.m.
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Word on the street
One of the things that’s always struck me as odd about Vancouver is the lack of a vibrant street culture. One would expect a city with such a temperate climate and outdoorsy citizenry would be chock-a-block with patios, street food and the kind of street level hustle and bustle you see in places like Paris or Montreal. But that’s not the case.
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Dead simple
If asked to pick an “angle” or a theme for this blog, I’d have to give it some thought. First of all, I’m not a great cook. Complex recipes give me pause because as much as I love cooking, I also love eating. And since, by my calculations, time spent preparing food is time spent not eating it, that’s a bum deal for me. Furthermore, unlike so many of the food bloggers I read on a regular regular basis, I balk at baking. The mysterious alchemy of flour and eggs and ovens is elusive and intimidating. Given all of that, perhaps a more fitting moniker for this blog would be “the Competent Cook.”
