treasures that we seek

creating space

focusing

one-foot-in-front-of-the other

air

wide open sky

laughter

uncontrollable giggling at inappropriate times

creating

blank pages, blank canvasses, just dough -- then time, and air, and heat and pieces of life and it becomes something large enough to heal any wound, sing any song

Tonight I am very inspired and grateful for my friend & neighbour Diana and her Chair Cozy. Her creativity astounds me, and her sense of giving and community fuels me.

cucumber, an urban fairy tale

I made up a story for the kids last week, on our walk home from a birthday party.
Like all kids, they love made up stories about themselves, their friends, their environment and things they know. Here's a slightly different version of CUCUMBER: An Urban Fairy Tale.




Once upon a time, actually, just last month
there lived a five and three quarter year old boy named Sebastian who only ate cucumbers.

For breakfast he'd make cucumber, milk and water smoothies,
while his little sister preferred berries and bananas in hers.

For his afternoon snack, he'd politely ask his mom for cucumber coins,
while his little sister preferred fresh baked muffins and mangoes.

One Friday afternoon he received an invite to his friend's 6th birthday party.
The party was on August 7, from 10:30am to 1pm. Although he didn't like to eat cake, Sebastian could not wait to see Sunil's cake.

The party plans included playing at the wading pool, lunch, then playing at the park.
When it came time for lunch, there were no cucumbers in sight, only baby carrots, watermelon and sandwiches.

Sebastian had never eaten a sandwich before, but after playing in the hot summer sun with his friends, he was very hungry. So without a fuss, he picked up a sandwich just like all the other kids had. He closed his eyes, took a small bite of the crust, chewed quickly and swallowed. He heard a small voice coming from his belly that said 'that was great, can I please have some more'. So he took a bigger bite, chewed less quickly, swallowed, and then a huge, enormous, gigantic, uncontrollable smile spread across his face. He had no idea what the sandwich was made of, all he knew was that he
wanted more of the delicious new taste.

He politely asked Sunil's father is he could have another, and the answer was 'Absolutely! We've got a cooler full of lettuce sandwiches, eat as many as you like'!

And you know what, Sebastian did just that. He ate a total of 6 lettuce sandwiches, one for every year of his life.

Later that afternoon, his mother asked him to pick a cucumber from their yard, but instead of a cucumber he came back with a red pepper. THE END.

smoothie recipe: fushia!

The kids have been making breakfast smoothies all summer long. I love to watch their excitement as they tear apart bananas, dump frozen and fresh handfulls of fruit into the glass blender jar, take turns pouring milk, juice, maple syrup and their liquid vitamin into the mix. They also get a huge kick out of the varying shades of red that their delicious drink turns into.

Smoothies are fantastic because there is so much room to experiment!

This morning they both agreed that the smoothie was 'fushia'; not only is a fushia coloured smoothie gorgeous to look at, it's yummy to boot. Here's the recipe:


3 bananas
drizzle of black cherry concentrate (approx 1 tsp)
handful of frozen berries (approx 1-2 cups)
drizzle of maple syrup (approx 1 tsp)
drizzle of kids liquid vitamin (approx 2 tsp)
splash of vanilla almond milk
1 cup water
1 cup of yogurt

dump everything into the blender jar
we blend on low (because our blender is noisy) - we tend to like to let the blender whir 'round and 'round for about 3 minutes
pour into large clear glasses and enjoy!

Pub Fare Cupcake & friends @ #ironcupcake

Iron Cupcake Toronto was a great challange! Thank you For the Love of Cake for hosting; thank you to the gracious, caring and happy volunteers; thank you Brian for collaborating with me on this creative 'green & beer' focused adventure - loved the pretzel journey and your pretzel bench; thank you to little S and littler S for being so supportive of Team @foodplayground; thank you to Acts of Sweetness for encouragement and laughter; thank you KLB Cream Ale - you're one great versatile beer, great refreshing creamy ale AND great baking beer!

There were 16 competitors, yet the focus wasn't on competition it felt more like a celebration of how truly versatile cupcakes are. I admire all of my fellow participants' ingenuity and dedication to baking.

FYI, for those of you interested in participating, next month's secret ingredient: COFFEE!

summer cookies

This week is all about celebrating Village Papa's birthday, all week long! He's a super human being and deserves all the cookies in the world (not to mention love, and all that gooey stuff...). Today we made Sparkled Ginger Cookies, VWAV p192, but we only added ginger - not the cinnamon and cloves because they remind me of Christmas baking, and given the shortage of hot summer weather 'round these parts I want to keep it strictly summery. We'll make these again, but next time we'll double the recipe.

lunatic lemonade

get the elf/elves to wash 14 organic lemons
chop up all lemons into quarters
let the elves take turns placing lemon pieces, yes skin and all into juicer

what you will end up with is the lemoniest pure lemon juice you will ever taste, you will want to add, at least 2 cups sugar, and once you dilute the juice with water, look out: you will have enough juice of lemons to make about 4-6 pitchers of lemonade!


Village Papa did not enjoy this type of lemonade; the kids are drinking it, and I LOVE it - but then again, I eat food that hangs out on the floor, and week-old leftovers with suspicious, I mean, exotic odours...

trail mix marinade, take 2

Trail Mix Marinade, take 2


* 1/4 cup almond butter

* 1/4 cup tahini

* 1/8 cup olive oil

* 3/4 cup water

* 1/4 cup Bragg All Purpose Seasoning


- pour all ingredients into a large bowl, and stir until smooth
- makes enough dressing/marinade for about 4 meals!


The first night I used the marinade for the tofu and veggies (featured in the picture) which I cooked on the BBQ, on medium, for about 15 minutes - to ensure even cooking toss bbqables every 1 to 2 minutes.

trail mix marinade

At our house the issue isn't 'what's for dinner?' it's 'when is dinner?' - when is mom going to realize that it's almost 7pm and there is no hint of dinner in sight'. If a productivity coach/organization guru where to analyze me I'm pretty sure the analysis would be two fold: 'the mother is showing signs of fatigue i.e. she has yet to clean up the all-day-buffet bag; 'the mother enjoys/thrives on the challenge of making fast and delicious meals'.

Saturday night was like most other nights:

I knew we had tofu, broccoli, and garlic, I knew we had items to marinade with, I knew we were going to BBQ, but, I was feeling drained and wanted it all to magically appear; waved my wand and nothing happened. So I took a deep breath and broke down my dinner task into many mini tasks.

First I washed and trimmed the broccoli; then I sliced up tofu; then I peeled a whole head of garlic; then I decided on a tahini dressing, which turned into a 'trail mix marinade' (see recipe below); once the marinade was ready I poured it over the veggies and tofu and let them marinade for about 30 minutes. Then while waiting for the brown rice to cook the 'a ha' moment came to me: ask for help. So Village Papa bbq'd the bbqables, and we ate happily ever after...



TRAIL MIX MARINADE
Warning: I did not measure any of the ingredients, you will need to tweak to your desired consistency and to suit your palate.


2 generous/overflowing tablespoons of tahini
1/2 cup tamari*
1/3 cup water**
3 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 tablespoons of almond butter*** (ours is very runny)

- place all ingredients in a large bowl and stir by hand with a fork; or you can use any type of electrical appliance that blends

*no salt needed because tamari is very salty
** add more water as required
*** play around with different types of nuts butters and oils and enjoy!

market bag

Contest winners are:

Laura

Cheryl

Stephaie


Yes(!!) a prize to the 3 of you because all proceeds from the sale of St. Lawrence Market market bags are donated to Epilepsy research.


Thanks so much for participating! Email your snail mail to: 'susana@gahan.ws'

The Empanada Baby

Juan Reda, Owner/Butcher Juan Meat Market - never met a harder working man in my life. Talk about ironies, I'm a vegetarian and he's one of my childhood idols!


Juan Meat Market aka "El Gaucho", 18 Beverly Hills Dr. (Wilson & Jane), Toronto,
416-248-2808


Portrait of a stern lookin' gaucho with mate gourd in hand.




Juan's sells meat plus it's a delightful Argentine food boutique - empanadas, dulce de leche, soccer jerseys, cold cuts, fresh bread, mate products, facturas (pastries), and much more!



Bought 'tapas de empanadas' (empanada shells/covers) and stuffed them with mostly Ontario veggies.



Village Papa took one bite, slow-motion nodded with controlled delight and purred 'these are good'. I'll share the recipe later this week, and I'll explain the title of this post.

Will announce winner of the contest tomorrow. Wishing you all a sweet night!

hummus hamos houmous hommos hommus

There are hundreds of reasons I love Village Papa; in the early days, the two primary reasons (besides his handsomeness) were his gorgeous cat, and his homemade hummus. Gush. xo. Seriously, the way to my heart was via the space in my stomach for homemade hummus. Now, thanks to His Handsomeness, that space is always full. xo

I have never been to the Middle East, so I can't confess to ever having eaten "authentic" "traditional" hummus, but I am a certified hummus addict, and there's one thing I know for sure: homemade hummus will always win out over store bought. The End. Seriously, even those batches I've made when there's 'nothing in the house' taste 1 million times better than the "best" pre packaged stuff. I should mention here that Village Papa taught me how to make 'his' hummus, and for the last ten years I've been tweaking the recipe to find one that's 'mine'.


Here's last night's version:

- dump 1 can of chick peas into a large colander and rinse under running water for about 2 minutes (yes, wasting water, but who wants chickpea can scum in their dip?)

- dump immaculately rinsed chickpeas into your food processor

- 2 generous tablespoons of tahini

- juice of half a lemon

- scavenge for garlic, none to be had [yell at self: never go garlic-less again, NEVER!!, scavenge for 'something tasty in fridge' find an unopened jar of sundried tomatoes in oil, yay, add 6 large tomatoes to mound of goodness BTW adding this type of flavour is very North American of us according to Chef Solomonov

- less than an 1/8 tsp of salt

- 1/4 cup of water

- generous olive oil, about 3 tablespoons

- flick machine 'ON' and let the miracle that is hummus happen for about 4 minutes

- turn 'OFF', unplug machine, taste test, pour into a handsomeish bowl, and serve with crackers, bread, crudites (raw veggie slices); save unused hummus and use as sandwich spread, to dollop over steamed veggies, or for kids' pasta


PS hummus can be spelt many different ways: hamos, houmous, hommos, hommus, hummos, hummous or humus

St. Lawrence Market, Field Trip

Last week I promised you a field trip, and voila(!): St. Lawrence Market, Toronto's largest year round indoor market.










Some women are into shoes and jewels, me: olives, spreads, tapenades...



Golden Orchard has been a huge supporter of organic farmers for years, and you always get a smile.










Domino-Foods Ltd. is a delightful bulk food boutique, specializing in abundance and joy, seriously, they sell thousands of items and should you spend a mere $2, they'll treat you like you spent $200!


You can't tell in this photo, but these children were trembling with delight because I agreed that they could get more than one mini bag of treats.




I am anxiously awaiting Village Papa's arrival so that I can test the 'chocolat bonnat' - Giovanni who served us today told me it's his favourite. I confess that this chocolate bar costs $6.99, and it's definitely one of the most extravagant things I've ever treated myself to.


Tell me what your most extravagant food item purchase has been, and I'll include your name in a draw for a St. Lawrence Market reusable shopping bag. Contest ends next Tuesday, May 27.

reduce-reuse-resalad!

People often tell me they'd 'love to eat more salad, but, it's sooo much work'. I won't lie/try to disguise the amount of elbow grease involved: there are m-a-n-y small steps involved in making salad, so the more things you prep, and have readily available, the more salads you'll eat. Here's the salad we ate on Saturday night, it took me about 3 minutes to assemble:


leftover prepped salad stuff:
baby spinach
red leaf lettuce
romaine lettuce
cranberries
red and yellow peppers

+

leftover olivey-feta salad dressing

+

fusilli bucati
that the kids didn't finish eating (yes straight from their bowls)

+

freshly grated Monterey Jack


* * * * * * * * * *


IMPORTANT REMINDER: The Farmers' Market at the East York Civic Centre (Coxwell Ave. @ Mortimer) kicks off tomorrow, 9am-2pm. Hope to see some of you there.

best salads

In my book, the best salads are the ones we make at home. Even on those nights where it seems there's just not enough goodness to make a great salad, even a basic leaf lettuce salad with yummy homemade dressing is lovely. As summer draws closer, there is more and more to layer on bowl of raw delight.


Last night our salad consisted of: red leaf and romaine lettuce, red and yellow sweet peppers, cranberries, red onion, and shavings of L'Allegretto. Simple, but delicious dressing of: balsamic vinegar, olive oil, organic sugar, sea salt, minced garlic and joy. Seriously, joy is a huge factor in making our meals zing. Every single one of my bad moods has produced bland dinners and worse raw-in-the-middle muffins.

What's your favourite salad?

Domino Foods Inc.

Next week I'll take you on a field trip to Domino Foods Inc. Photo essay will include my children gazing into fields and fields of bulk sweet stuff that their mama places STRICT limits on, instead she buys fancy pasta and cashes.

This place is dried & glazed fruit/roasted & raw nuts, spices, coffee & tea, all types of fancy assed flavoured salts paradise, and the staff is genuinely kind and welcoming. Oh and there's all this irresistible chocolate from all over the world...and rippled 'rosemary and thyme' chips from Italy...forget the spa, THIS place is bulk food heaven.


If you live in Toronto, or are planning a trip to our great city, stop by Domino Foods Inc. located on the lower level of St. Lawrence Market, 93 Front Street East, tel 416-366-2178.

fast pizza dough

My youngest sister is about to have a baby, yes, a-n-y minute now...and the crazy thing is I'm baking as much as I did while I waited for our kids to be born. Luckily Sunday was Mother's Day, so I had an excuse to marathon bake/cook.

At my place I baked 2 dozen chocolate chip scones, and cooked pizza sauce; then I packed up half my kitchen, and continued the dough frenzy at my sister's: made pizza dough x 2, brownies, scrubbed dishes, then came home and made quinoa salad (will post later this week) for our dinner.

I normally make our pizza dough with 'active dry yeast', but Sunday I was on a mission, time factors etc., so I used 'instant yeast'. Here's how:

- in my large stand mixer bowl I mixed 1 package (8g) of 'instant yeast', 1/4 tsp salt, 1.5 C unbleached flour, 1 tblsp olive oil, 3/4 cup water, mixed it all up with a wooden spoon, then finished the dirty by hand
- didn't have a rolling pin or enough space to roll out dough, so I hand pressed it out onto a greased pizza pan
- added garlicky homemade sauce and fried onions and sweet peppers
- baked at 450 for approximately 16/17 minutes


My mother's day gift was hearing my husband tell me that it was the BEST pizza I've made to date.

Happy Belated Mother's Day! xo

Jim Lahey's No Knead Bread, WOW!

Darling Mama K gave me the 'no knead bread' recipe months and months ago. She raved about how easy it is to make this bread, the kind of bread one who loves bread would pay big bucks to buy at a bakery. I kept putting it off because of the words '18 hours'. Sometimes I let the silliest things turn into crippling road blocks (once you make it I know you'll appreciate how I could have gotten, stuck).

Two nights ago, after a couple of glasses of delicious wine, as usual, instead of going to bed, I began a baking project, this time, 'no knead bread'. Today when I googled 'Jim Lahey bread' it became obvious that I live under a huge rock, or maybe the fact that I knew nothing about this baking phenomenon can be forgiven because I don't live in NYC...Enjoy this gorgeous bread making journey. xo

shopping list X 2

We're heading to St. Lawrence Market today. My shopping list is inspired by the icicles hanging off the neighbour's roof which reminds me that our bellies are still in need of warm comfort foods, thus I need ingredients for a root soup and stews.

onions, white/red/yellow
turnips
rutabagas
bay leaves
fresh parsley
fresh cilantro
limes
squash
scallions
dry adzuki beans
yams

The kids' list is more immediate: the items they'd like for lunch.

strawberries
bananas
grapes (I'll have to say no if they've been dragged across the planet)
apples
maple syrup
Easter cookie cutter shapes (because the other hundred thousand shapes we have are not 'just right'...we'll see about these...)

Plus, I'll be sniffing around for a new cheese, some awesome Ontario farm fresh one that my hips will love ;-)

I'm always delighted/giddy to add a new-to-us-yummy item to our list(s), is there anything you'd like to recommend? Pretty please and gracias. xo

scones, soft 's'

I watched a mesmerizing interview yesterday, one of my favourite performers of all times, Sir Elton John spoke to Elvis Costello about his road to success, his favourite performers/the ones who most influence(d) him, and the topic that got me the most teary eyed was the discussion about real talent. How years ago, performers and bands would never get a record deal until they showed they could play live. It reminds me of being a kid in Argentina and having to take written tests one day, and Q&A's with your teacher the next. I loved the Q&A because it felt more normal to me to speak to someone about a topic, instead of being forced to answer a question on 2 lines.

What I'm trying to say is that real/authentic is something that I know many of my friends and some of you that read my blog champion daily. Real/authentic is the quality that Elton John values in music, and it's the quality that I value in food.
It infuriates me to see fast foods selling themselves as 'homemade', but I have no control over that; the only thing I can do is make sure that I continue to teach/model to my children that eating an apple they pick at the orchard is a gorgeous sweet miracle which they are happy to accept as a 'treat'. Speaking of treats, here's an updated version of a scone recipe we continue tweaking:



VANILLA-MILK SCONES
The kids call cow's milk, vanilla-milk, thus this recipe's title


3 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 sticks of salted butter or 3/4 cup *room temperature*
1 cup milk (I was using buttermilk, now I use 2%)
1/2 cup vanilla chocolate chips or ANY chip, dried fruit, or grated cheese

* In your largest bowl combine all the dry ingredients (with a fork or whisk)
* Add butter to the dry mixture by mushing/rubbing/it into the flour mixture, it's like meditation, do it until it's sand-like
* Add milk and mix with a fork (I mix with a fork until all milk is dried up, then I keep mixing it by hand)
* add vanilla chocolate chips, and mix
* turn dough onto a large floured surface
* flatten out dough by pressing it with heel of hand and fingers, until about 1/4 inch thick
* I cut the dough into 12 rectangular large-ish pieces, but any geometric shape is fine, you can also use large cookie cutters
* bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 15 minutes (we have a gas stove and 15 minutes, middle rack always bakes a perfect scone)

Most Sundays I double the ingredients and the results are perfect.

'y' is for yeast

Today we took the streetcar to and from my mom's house; it's 40 minutes one way, so there's always lots to see. On the way there we played a very simple alphabet game in which each of us picks a letter and then we all say as many words as we can with the chosen letter. One of the best letters we picked was 'b', so many words just whizzing by us: 'buildings', 'bank', 'barber', 'balloon', 'bridge', 'boots', 'backpack', 'brick', 'brown'...the letter 'y' didn't go over as well ;-)

Speaking of 'y', today I bought 4 packages of active dry yeast, a must-have in our cupboards. This week's menu includes pizza (possibly some baked on the bbq), no-knead bread and possibly some chocolate chip cookies.

What urban games are you and yours playing these days? What snacks are you packing? Would love to know what you are up to. xo