Food

I am fully willing to admit that I haven't been cooking as well as I'd like lately.  (And by lately I mean probably since when I moved downtown.)  Now, that's not to say that I don't make almost all of my own food, because I pretty much have to thanks to my somewhat restricted diet.  But there is a wide spectrum of the quality of food one can whip up, even if it's all technically "home cooking".  Some of it verges on crap, and on the other end is pure deliciousness.

After a weekend packed full of friend time and food, and a busy couple days coming up, I decided to take tonight for myself to make a bunch of good food to get me through the next few days.  Tonight's dinner was one of the best I've made in ages.  I haven't posted recipes in a long time, but thought these were worth sharing.  The measurements are rough, since they weren't real recipes, so use your best judgment if you make em.

Quinoa pilaf

1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup water
1/2 red onion sliced
1/4 cup dried currants
olive oil
Braggs soy sauce
Herbomare seasoning

Rinse the quinoa - yes rinse it, there is a white powder on it that is bitter if you don't rinse it off, picking out any stems or rocks - always a good eye to check cause they are not fun to bite on!  Then cook with the water (just like white rice, 13-15 mins on low after bringing to a boil).  In a frying pan, cook red onion in olive oil until translucent, then add currents and cook a few more minutes until softened.  Add the quinoa back in, and mix it all together, remove from heat.  Add about a tablespoon of olive oil, and a few dashes of Braggs to season.  Finish with a bit of salt or Herbomare (or other seasoning) sprinkled on top if you like.

Baked lime chicken

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (pref organic)
juice of half a lime
olive oil
salt and pepper
dried dill

Preheat oven to about 350F (I had it at 300F on my oven, but it runs very hot). Place chicken in a baking dish.  Squeeze half a lime over them, then drizzle liberally with olive oil.  Season with salt, pepper, and dried dill.  Bake for 25 mins (uncovered for the first 10 mins, then covered for the remainder).  This would probably do well marinated if you have time, but it turns out fine cooked right away.

Freya fruit salad

I've started referring to various salads by the name of whoever introduced me to it - there's a Roberta salad, a Katherine salad, and here's the Freya salad - a very summery salad, perfect after a trip to the farmer's market.  This is a modified version because the original also had apple and mint in it - the mint is a really nice addition, but I didn't have any on hand (and I can't eat the apple, so I left that out too).

2 peaches
blueberries
blackberries
raspberries
juice of half a lime
honey

Dice the 2 peaches, and mix with the berries.  Squeeze half a lime, and drizzle some honey over, then mix.  If you have the mint, chop it up and toss it in.

Hope you've all been eating well this summer, enjoy the fresh fruit while you can!  And if you have any great recipes you feel like sharing, feel free to post em in the comments.

New post up on SpendLocally.ca: Updates on your favorite local businesses! Some love for the new Nuba and reminder of Farmers Market Season starting this weekend!

A bunch of things have inspired me and lifted my spirit this past week, so I wanted to share:

An awesome A Softer World ... this one's pretty great too (remember to read the hover text!)

An awesome photo/paste-up by Basco5 (don't look if you're scared of barfing)

An awesome video by Oren Lavie (just watch it, it's amazing)

Ridiculously awesome beatboxing and flute-beatboxing (c/o @adrian_ng)

An awesome photo diptych by Rachael (read the poem she paired with it on her blog for extra awesome)

More random goodness:

1. Seeing The Weakerthans and The Constantines at the Commodore with Greg
2. The rain actually smelling like rain
3. Make It craft fair at the Roundhouse and free comic book day at Elfsar in Yaletown with Rachael and Boris
4. Second (and third?) chances
5. Work being awesome and working with rad people
6. So Delicious coconut ice cream (but why can't I find the yogurt in Canada???)
7. Getting my sewing machine un-jammed
8. Being reminded my friends love me unconditionally
9. Patting the awesome dog at my massage therapist's
10. Being okay at the end of the day

The weekend started off pleasantly, with dinner with Tall Scott and our friend Dan (from university) who's down here visiting for a week and a half.  We went out to Central on Denman, which I always forget is actually a pretty great place.  Not to mention, they were playing awesome music: MIA, old Erykah Badu, and local boys, DNA6 (whose cd I bought when I saw them play the Capers fair last year, and it's become one of my favorites, and turns out that they're friends of my boss, small world).  Great evening catching up.

Yesterday, Tall Scott, being the awesome guy that he is, took me to get blood tests (which I'd been procrastinating on) at lunchtime, and did a great job of distracting me and making sure I didn't pass out.  Afterwards, we stopped in at Momentum Grooming on Burrard, which is a really cool barber shop and mens shaving, soaps, etc. store, where the extremely helpful co-owner, Robert schooled us on safety razors (full post to come on SpendLocally.ca whenever I get it functional again, I'll let ya know).  Even though it's a mens shop, they have some pretty great stuff there, and I picked up some really nice soap and some Italian ginger-mint toothpaste.

The afternoon was great, I was feeling healthier than I had in a couple weeks and the sun was shining, so I took my bike out for a big 3 block ride to pick up a few things at the Capers.  Came home and was tidying up, then went to take the garbage out.  When I came back in, the elevator was dead (I suspect because some guys moving stuff overloaded the weight restriction).  Got to climb back up to my apartment, fun!  First 6 floors not so bad, after that, I was struggling.  Should probably do this on a more regular basis.  But considering I'm coming off of round 7 of bronchitis/antibiotic fun in 8 months, not too shabby, and my legs aren't even sore today.

By dinner time, I was starving and decided to try this (supposedly) gluten-free, dairy-free frozen chicken pot pie that I bought a couple weeks ago at Wholefoods.  I was pretty excited about it, especially cause it's from a company in North Van that makes lots of other stuff.  And wouldn't you know, it tasted like the real thing (of course with the slight grit of gf flour).  But after finishing dinner I started to feel off...  which led to a full on night and then morning of allergic reaction to what I can only assume was dairy.  It has been so long since I have eaten something I was really allergic to (something that happened frequently until I figured out what I'm allergic to) that I had forgotten how truly horrible it is.  IT IS TRULY HORRIBLE.

Needless to say, I didn't make it out to a friend's housewarming I was hoping to go to last night.  Had an allergy hangover most of the day today, but got out and got a couple errands done in my haze.  Took a big nap this afternoon, then cooked some lovely organic pork tenderloin and mushrooms for dinner.  At least I got a kick in the pants to start cooking real food again!

And just like that, the weekend is over.  Hoping for a much less eventful week this week, I could use a little less excitement for a change!

Check it: new SpendLocally.ca post on Butter Baked Goods!

But hey, shit happens. Was too busy cleaning, making food, and lazing around in a turkey coma.

1. Lovely friends (extra thanks for making Ariane-friendly food!)
2. Feeling supported and loved
3. New job (apparently it will stop feeling exciting at some point, but for now it's still up there)
4. Tasty local grapes, and crack filled yam goop, and turkey, and potatoes, and cranberry sauce, and...
5. My new sweater (I know, but I just love it)
6. Extended farmer's market season
7. Being content being in a place that I never would have predicted I'd be
8. Relatively good health of late
9. Election day (I am an election junkie, what can I say?)
10. Staying optimistic even when it's difficult
11. Good music (Adele and MGMT are on heavy rotation this week)