tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802709242358305302011-12-20T22:01:21.368-08:00Kitchen trials of a reluctant, recalcitrant, recidivist domestic goddess.Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.comBlogger361100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-82317526506406495532011-12-20T22:01:00.000-08:002011-12-20T22:01:21.382-08:00

So, I went Paleo about three months ago, and to my continued astonishment, I'm finding it really easy not to eat grains, or sugar. Industrial seed oils are harder to get away from, given how much we eat in restaurants, but I'm working on it. My Beloved is not on board with the whole paleo thing, sadly; he's a grainivore to the core, and has not even entertained the idea of giving up bread,

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-55092821277616985952011-07-02T12:20:00.000-07:002011-07-02T12:20:02.043-07:00

Yesterday was Canada Day. July First. Used to be called "Dominion Day" when I was a kid, but has been modernized to minimize the British Colony implications. (And to people in Quebec it's still secondary to St. Jean-Baptiste day, which comes later in the month. July 24th, I think.) A day of parades, Salmon Festivals (well, in my 'hood, anyway), face painting, underage public drinking (again,

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-76442961645748618452011-05-21T21:49:00.000-07:002011-05-21T23:21:26.641-07:00

Someone I work with brought this for lunch one day, and declared it her new favourite thing to eat, so I had to try it. The video is worth a watch, because the written instructions are full of hilariously unhelpful things like "fry further for another minute till the rawness disappears and the flavors come out", and if you can understand Chef Sanjay's accent, the visuals and spoken instructions

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-71182977494418650492011-05-21T16:35:00.000-07:002011-05-21T16:35:52.279-07:00

*blows dust off this blog*  (Hey, the tag line does say 'recidivist'.) Oh, hi! It's been a while, hasn't it? This is only the third post this calendar year! Yes, well, obviously I haven't been doing much in the way of new and interesting cooking. Isn't it sad? I don't know why I lose my interest in cooking when the weather is cold and there's not as much fresh produce available... oh wait. Yes,

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-10377718115730030462011-02-22T20:37:00.000-08:002011-02-22T20:37:23.548-08:00

OK, let me start by saying that I don't have much spinach trauma in my life (well there was that horridly weird bacon-fat dressing on a spinach salad once, but that wasn't the spinach's fault), but we've mostly been nodding acquaintances. A salad here, some frozen chopped spinach used in a pasta dish there, that was about it. And in general I preferred spinach raw or - if cooked - unidentifiable

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-45939375409810052942011-01-18T20:39:00.000-08:002011-01-18T20:39:32.463-08:00

For a really long time - let's call it forty years, give or take - I didn't eat green beans. The green beans of my youth came from a can, were a drab olive colour, and had a thoroughly objectionable texture. I still recall the revulsion excited by the sensation of the outer layer of the bean sliding off the 'meat' of the bean as my tongue pushed it against my teeth. *shudder* Blagh! Ick. I

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-76117419038808879762011-01-02T08:41:00.000-08:002011-01-02T08:41:29.953-08:00

I was asked to bring scalloped potatoes to a group dinner on New Year's Eve. Well, I claimed that I knew how to make them (because, really, how hard can it be?), and didn't mention that I had hated scalloped potatoes (scalloped potatoes and ham, as my mother made them) growing up. Because I hated ham, growing up, too. But I like it now. So why not give scalloped potatoes a shot? A search of "

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-35657031123669406592010-08-25T19:37:00.000-07:002011-02-13T19:53:57.514-08:00

You know I made that rosemary pesto a while ago, yeah? It was good, but holy crap powerful. Fortunately, my 2010 herb garden also features a couple of robustly healthy basil plants who have been enjoying our lovely hot dry July and August. And basil + pine nuts + parmesan cheese + garlic = pesto. And Rouxbe has this rockin' recipe for pesto, and the video that goes with it (which I think you

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-73081241772809245382010-07-29T11:23:00.000-07:002010-07-29T14:22:37.505-07:00

Not from my collection! Since it seems I'm going to be subjected to yet another iteration of Gordon Ramsay bitching people out about food, I thought I'd put a few thoughts about him and his shows down on paper. Er... electrons. My introduction to Chef Ramsay (whom I'm going to call Gordon, because it's my blog and I can) was on the UK version of Kitchen Nightmares. It was an interesting peek

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-42891857254030491572010-07-21T21:04:00.000-07:002010-07-21T21:04:21.316-07:00

We ate the first of our organic, grass-fed beef tonight. T-bone steak. Grilled. With grilled asparagus. And salad. Thawed the steaks in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Air-dried overnight. Seasoned with salt and pepper only. Grilled to rare, and served with aforementioned sides. The beef was tender, juicy, and both more intensely and more delicately flavoured, if that makes sense. (The

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-25587336288495705742010-07-18T22:14:00.000-07:002010-07-18T22:16:11.637-07:00

I may have mentioned that I have a little bit of a herb garden on my deck. I've already made rosemary pesto from one of my pots, and we've have numerous salads from our tiny lettuce garden. Haven't come up with anything yet for the fresh oregano, but I'm sure I will. And it hasn't really produced much yet, either, so I'm content to wait until it does. The basil plants have recovered from their

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-4328977653869121202010-07-11T21:11:00.000-07:002010-07-11T21:11:05.390-07:00

This potato salad involved a lot of chopping, and thus gives a novice chef plenty of opportunity to practice her knife skills on potatoes, onions, celery, peppers and eggs. One of the earliest lessons at Rouxbe Online Video Cooking School is on knife skills, and the words that stuck with me from that one are to the effect that, when your knife is in motion, you need to keep your eyes on the area

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-78272694213886201352010-07-09T18:39:00.000-07:002010-07-09T18:39:33.376-07:00

I did it. I enrolled in culinary school. Quit my job, reconciled my husband to the temporary loss of income, and committed the next two years of my life to becoming a professional chef. Okay, not really. But I did buy a year's membership to the Rouxbe Online Video Cooking School. My 14-day free trial ended today, and in the last two weeks, I have viewed 67% of the online video cooking lessons,

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-84649133689272982402010-07-04T22:10:00.000-07:002010-07-04T22:10:33.568-07:00

There are a few recipes the Beloved and I have been antsy to try, and this weekend - well, today - was our chance! Our football team was playing an away game today, so we had our football friends D&D over for a barbecue. And, like my mother always does, I pulled out the "try ASAP" file and plucked out a few recipes. (What? Doesn't everyone experiment on company? Why else have anyone over?) Full

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-52950187298376038792010-06-30T12:03:00.000-07:002010-06-30T17:20:47.278-07:00

Yon Saucy Wench's comment to my last post, to the effect that "what's key with cooking... is to play around, have fun, and figure out what works for you" flicked on a light bulb for me. It made me realize that, though I have had enjoyable cooking experiences, the words 'cooking' and 'fun' aren't an immediate association in my brain. I know plenty of people who love to cook, but I've never been

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-89792958224212900902010-06-27T22:08:00.000-07:002010-06-28T14:12:19.042-07:00

This newfound interest of mine, in food and cooking, has brought me up short on a couple of occasions. The more I learn, it seems, the more I realize I have to learn. I thought I'd learned most of the basics from my mom, my friends, and in school, but with the preponderance of cooking shows and websites, I realize that, although I know a good deal more than some people, I know a good deal less

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-58818428450602618302010-06-23T18:12:00.000-07:002010-06-23T18:14:53.819-07:00

Here's how my freezer looked last night, after I did a hasty review and rearrangement of the contents ("Coffee? What's this doing in here? Rossana would be horrified! Oh, man, did you know we had all these burgers? Good thing we have all these burger buns, too! And wow, we need to eat this shrimp at some point..."). This was necessary because I got an email advising that my Freezer Pack was

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-33181948951306776612010-06-23T09:59:00.000-07:002010-06-23T09:59:33.120-07:00

My beef is ready. The 30 pounds of roasts, steaks, cubed, and minced beef I ordered in April is now ready for pickup. I have to pick it up today, after work. I let my beloved talk me out of buying a chest freezer to accommodate this purchase. I hope I don't live to regret that. We haven't eaten nearly as much of our fridge contents as we intended, over the last couple of months. The weather has

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-60016771507658905792010-06-01T09:58:00.000-07:002010-06-23T14:44:19.685-07:00

Isn't it crazy, the things that prompt us to do other things? Here's today's for-instance: last night we had chili for dinner (we're eating from our freezer! Yay for us!), and I made Baking Powder Biscuits to go along with them. The baking powder lives in the "baking supplies" basket in the pantry, and to get to it I had to dig down to the bottom, past vanilla extract (of which I have a lot, for

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-3044975216891634352010-05-27T18:30:00.000-07:002010-06-23T14:45:05.194-07:00

This is what reading foodie blogs does, you see; it points up your every ignorance and inadequacy in all things kitcheny. At first, I lapped up the tips and tricks and knife skills demonstrations along with the recipes - that's the stuff I came for, after all. But this last week has been full of food-storage revelations. First there was that clear-out of the pantry cupboard that unearthed

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-84463843743829007062010-05-24T22:24:00.000-07:002010-06-23T14:45:25.033-07:00

Did you know you're not supposed to store your potatoes and onions together? Neither did I! I learned that this week, from one of the food blogs I've started following. And of course I can't find the article now. Though the internet is replete with references to this very kitchen tip, so if you don't believe me, just look it up. I told my Beloved this, and he just looked at me and said, "Why not

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-2295427928710564992010-05-24T10:56:00.000-07:002010-05-24T10:56:11.780-07:00

So, hot on the heels of yesterday's chef-guided tour of Granville Island Public Market, I was super-stoked to go to the inaugural 2010 session of the local farmer's market. I pumped up my bike tires on Saturday afternoon, put the panniers on the bike rack, and readied for adventure! The market opened at 10 a.m., but when I showed up at about 11:00, having taken a full three or four minutes to

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-490456602365549482010-05-23T20:49:00.000-07:002010-06-23T14:46:42.296-07:00

Almost as soon as I joined Groupon, there was a deal on a chef-guided tour of the Granville Island Public Market. Which seemed providential, given my new interest in eating healthy, fresh, local, and organic-where-not-prohibitively-pricey food. I jumped at it, my Beloved proved surprising willing, and this weekend we redeemed those groupons and had our tour. There's a tour every morning, from 9

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-27031783880761121582010-05-17T20:46:00.000-07:002010-06-23T14:47:27.593-07:00

Having a husband who travels a lot for business means that I'm on my own for dinner a fair bit. And while cooking for two can sometimes feel like more work than I want to put out, dinner for one often feels even moreso. I have been known - rather, the Old Me has been known - to eat popcorn and pepperoni for dinner when left to my own devices. But since I resolved to cook more of what I eat, I

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-13919474486762605212010-05-16T17:10:00.000-07:002010-06-23T14:47:55.102-07:00

No, I don't have a cookbook stand yet. However, I mentioned it to my Beloved, and he (I think) agreed to pick me up one when he's in England in September. (I'll be on a cruise to Alaska with my girlfriends from high school.) Last weekend, we made that Indian feast, and discovered that we needed a sauté pan in a size between our go-to nonstick huge vat of a frying pan and our karahi pan. (

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-38529216491337638022010-05-13T15:01:00.000-07:002010-06-23T14:48:34.165-07:00

This new resolve to cook more is making me shop more. For food, yes, but also for kitcheny things. Like, last week I had to get new canisters in which to store the lentils, couscous, and quinoa I bought. (IKEA is marvelous for these things. I love my DROPPAR series canisters. [My local IKEA has more of the line available than the website does.]) What with cooking two recipes from the same

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-24143064373827452502010-05-12T14:30:00.000-07:002010-06-23T14:49:09.579-07:00

Golly Moses, this sounds delicious! My Granny's Chocolate Cobbler, from Tasty Kitchen. Yes, I know it doesn't quite sound "healthy". Even though the ingredients are all pretty standard kitchen staples. But I still say it sounds delish. And it's reminding me of a long-ago dessert my mom used to make, called Half-Hour Pudding, which was also self-saucing. I might have to dig that recipe out some

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-79850017558743220442010-05-11T11:56:00.000-07:002010-05-11T11:56:52.510-07:00

I've been in the "but what would I use it for?" camp since the iPad was launched earlier this year. Because I have an iPhone (on which I already read books) and I have a laptop (on which I do everything else), so... what would I use an iPad for? And I finally thought of something. For cooking! Let me 'splain. I have an iPhone app called "How to Cook Everything". It's an interactive cookbook

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-19091116406703962732010-05-10T21:12:00.000-07:002010-05-10T21:13:18.641-07:00

Both of these recipes are from Vij's: Elegant and Inspired Indian Cuisine, our favourite Indian cookbook from one of the best Indian restaurants anywhere (which happens to be in Vancouver). We've made the beef tenderloin part before, but on that occasion the black cumin curry was disastrous because the very first ingredient - the black cumin seeds - were rancid. But we didn't know that until we

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-82729023792728065782010-05-04T20:21:00.000-07:002010-05-06T20:13:23.139-07:00

Had a really great workout tonight, and came home to a dinner I've been looking forward to since I made it on Sunday. A fresh green salad for a crisp counterpoint to the spice of the chili, a bed of wild rice to complement the protein of the beans, and a little sour cream and cheese to cool some of the jalapeño heat. It turned out really well, if I do say so myself (and I do). I needn't have

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-81875221757301856422010-05-03T19:56:00.000-07:002010-05-03T19:56:37.281-07:00

I got this recipe from my friend Sietske, and given how much canned seafood I have in my pantry (holy cow what am I gonna do with all that salmon and crab and shrimp?), this was a great idea for a solo dinner (and a solo lunch tomorrow!). Tuna-stuffed Red Peppers 1 red bell pepper per person, cored and deveined. Filling: 1 pepper, diced finely (I usually use yellow, for contrast with the red

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-80207193205931324252010-05-02T16:28:00.000-07:002010-05-02T16:28:37.834-07:00

It occurred to me as I was cleaning up from making this chili that it's been a very long time since I (or we) made a vat of either chili or pasta sauce - anything involving multiple cans of anything. We used to do this regularly, and always had either chili or pasta sauce or both in the freezer. I don't remember when that stopped. Or even the last time I made chili. But I did today, and this one

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-57809287997083135142010-05-01T15:37:00.000-07:002010-05-01T15:37:04.264-07:00

I shopped in an aisle of the grocery store I'd never been in before, today. The organic bulk section. I bought red and green lentils, more couscous, and quinoa there. If my Beloved had been there, he'd have been asking slightly panicky questions about what I was planning to do with those things. Fortunately he didn't feel the need to come, because he's going to be out of town this week anyway,

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-87340729027305412412010-04-29T13:56:00.000-07:002010-04-29T13:59:20.499-07:00

I was kind of a picky eater as a child, I admit it. I didn't like onions or mushrooms, particularly, and the trauma associated with green beans, yellow beans, and peas (which were always canned, until they were available frozen) took the better part of forty years to get over. I mean it; it's really only within the last twelve months that I've approached green beans with anything other than fear

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-8681595065899074812010-04-28T19:37:00.000-07:002010-04-28T19:37:18.366-07:00

I am not an imaginative cook. I quite often don't even know what I have in the fridge, the freezer, the pantry, and even if I did, I've never been the kind of person who can pull up a mental picture of the contents of those food storage areas, and think "well, if I pick up some couscous and some rosemary, there's an awesome dinner in the offing!" To stretch my cooking chops outside my half-dozen

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680270924235830530.post-66880471905744960612010-04-28T13:56:00.000-07:002010-04-28T15:04:41.242-07:00

In early 2010, the (not very original) realization dawned on me that, if I wanted to be more in control of what I eat, that I need to cook more of it. At about the same time, I read (in rapid succession) three of Michael Pollan's books: The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food, and Food Rules, which opened my eyes to a number of things, and stiffened my resolve to be more in control of what

Cooking and Screaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06501337207942186193noreply@blogger.com0