Archive for the ‘Treats’ Category

25.02.2010

Aloe Vera gel & juice: a favourite ingredient

Hello, dear, dear readers! If you’re seeing this sentence, that means you are still checking here for posts, and I thank you sincerely for that. I have been AWOL again, and I don’t even have a good excuse. I still think about and plan blog posts often, but have been having difficulty transforming those plans into actual, written entries.

In the past few weeks I’ve done a lot of reading, quite a bit of cooking, gone ice-skating twice, and drank a lot of tea. C & I spent Valentine’s Day in the Emergency room at the hospital (we are fine, just couldn’t get into a clinic!) which was interesting, but certainly not fun. We are not vegan (or even vegetarian) but we have been eating lots of vegan & vegetarian meals lately. Out of sheer laziness, we’ve also been eating out a few times a week. Since it has been raining and/or snowing all week here, I haven’t been buying as many groceries as I usually might. Consequently, we’ve just been using up the contents of our cupboards and fridge.

Various aloes: far left is a gel for topical use. The others are edible and delicious.

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10.02.2010

Super Snacking: date, nut and cocoa balls!

I finally got around to trying/tweaking these delicious treats that I’ve been seeing around the blogging world for the past few months. If I’d realized they were this dead-easy and delicious, I would have made them ages ago.

just a few simple ingredients...

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28.01.2010

Rest in Peace, J.D. Salinger

I was surprised to read that J.D. Salinger died today. He was 91 years old, so he certainly lived a long time. I think that the main reason I was surprised was because he is never in the press… he gave his last interview in 1980 (three years before I was even born) and was almost as famous for being reclusive as he was for writing The Catcher in the Rye. I said almost.

My seventeen year old self, like many other adolescents, was able to identify deeply with Salinger’s characters; their humanity, their yearning for a more authentic way of being in the world, the passions and recklessness of being very young. I haven’t re-read Salinger’s work in years, and look forward to revisiting it as an adult. I loved Holden Caulfield’s voice, but identified even more profoundly with Franny Glass of Franny and Zooey. The fact that Salinger’s characters inspired such devotion in fans was a source of pain for him, he who most wanted to be left alone, but it has also insured that the genius of his singular talent will continue to live on. That’s the beauty of the written word.
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27.01.2010

Pennywort juice: green goodness

Whenever I’m in Marche Oriental, our local (as in nearby, not Locavore) Vietnamese-owned Asian market, I’m always amazed by the fresh herb section. Most grocery stores always carry a few basic herbs, though they usually look somewhat wilted and abused. Marche Oriental’s herb section is another animal entirely. For one, most of their bagged herbs are filled with air (like herbed balloons!) so they don’t get squished or soggy. And the selection is wonderful. They have mint, cilantro, dill, tia to (perilla), holy basil, Vietnamese balm… the list goes on. Last week I picked up a package of pennywort, which I had heard of, but never tried.

Asiatic pennywort looks like this


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30.11.2009

Good treats from Chinatown

I’m not sure whether I’ve mentioned the following fact, but: I don’t work very much. As a consequence of this, I don’t have a lot of extra money. I buy books, food and tea. That’s it. I could work more than I do, I choose to work only part-time, and treasure this wealth of free time that I have. I’m well-aware that I won’t have the luxury of living this way forever, but for the time being, I’m enjoying it.

I suppose that a lot of the reason I began writing a blog was because of all this free time I have at my disposal. I spend a lot of my time cooking and reading, and I document some of that here in this space. With the rest of my time, I wander around the city, mostly. I’ve posted about trips to Montreal’s Botanical Gardens before, and it is one of the places in this city that I really love to visit. Another favorite wandering spot is Jean-Talon Market, and yet another is Chinatown. I go to Chinatown at least once a week, and I don’t really do much of anything there. When the weather is nice I sometimes read and drink some iced tea in a courtyard, or browse the imported food in one of many Chinese grocery stores.

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26.11.2009

Apple butter, with a secret ingredient

How are you enjoying autumn? Are you getting your fill of all the wonderful fall produce? I hope you’re not sick of it, because we’ll have to wait until spring to really change our diets again… winter pumpkins/squash, potatoes, carrots, beets and onions are here to stay.

We’ve had a wonderful fall here in Montreal. Last year and the year before that we’d already had a few serious snowfalls by this time–luckily, we’ve only had one or two little flurries so far this season! I don’t expect it to continue, but I’m certainly enjoying our mild autumn. In respect to the quickly approaching cold season, I’ve given in and started eating lots of hearty food. After all, I want to stay nice and warm during the winter months.

I made a batch of apple butter this week, and it is soothing and delicious. It’s not overly sweet, and warms with its subtle spices and…

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that’s right, whiskey! What better to keep us warm on a cool late-autumn day? Or night, for that matter. I didn’t make the whiskey taste too strong, it is more of a ‘hidden taste’, but it gives a subtle woodiness that I particularly enjoy. This is a zippy, tasty apple butter that is not cloyingly sweet.
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16.11.2009

Mmm… matcha shortbread cookies

In cookies and cake, matcha, Japanese green tea powder has to be my favorite flavour. Chocolate would be a close second, but because I’m a major chocolate fiend, I do prefer it on its own. I love matcha whisked with water for tea, and I also love it in baked goods. It is somewhat bitter (like cocoa) and is definitely strong-tasting, so pairs very well with sweet and creamy things, which mellow it out and counter the bitterness.

sifting the matcha into the flour

sifting the matcha into the flour

I. Love. These. Cookies.
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03.11.2009

Killer pumpkin waffles. Try them.

This past weekend I thought that making pumpkin waffles would be a good way to use up some leftover pumpkin puree that has been sitting in the fridge, so I began searching for a recipe. Before long I stumbled upon a blog called ‘Pumpkin Waffles Blog’, and after reading the comments on his Ultimate Pumpkin Waffles recipe, I knew I had to try them.

They did not disappoint! They are the best-textured waffle I’ve had, period. They have a lot more pumpkin than most recipes I looked at, and the flavour is perfectly balanced. Yum.

fluffy pumpkin-pie clouds...

fluffy pumpkin-pie clouds...

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30.10.2009

Sujeonggwa: Korean persimmon punch

Let’s continue on today’s Korean kick, shall we? This is something else that I first tried in Korea, and have never seen here in Canada until I tried making it yesterday. It is essentially a strong ginger and cinnamon tea, sweetened with sugar and then dried persimmons are put in, to be steeped for a day in the fridge before drinking. The dried persimmons swell up and become as soft (or softer) than fresh persimmons. The punch is topped off with a few pine nuts before serving.

necessary materials: cinnamon sticks, sliced ginger, dried persimmons

necessary materials: cinnamon sticks, sliced ginger, dried persimmons

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22.10.2009

Matcha, mooncake & persimmon: afternoon tea

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Though I’m usually an early riser these days, I don’t usually eat breakfast until almost noontime. My morning fuel generally consists of dizzying amounts of tea–sencha, yerba mate, black and herbal teas–I drink them all. Since I tend to eat breakfast late, lunch is usually small or is sometimes more of a snack, naturally taken with tea. Besides books, my main indulgence is nice Japanese green teas, especially matcha, and it is a wonderful drink to have in the early afternoon with a sweet. Matcha is a pleasantly bright-green powdered tea that is whisked with water to produce a foamy and richly-flavourful drink that is very different from steeped teas. Good matcha tastes like nothing else; it is creamy and smooth tasting, and though it has a vegetal ‘green’ taste, it is much more complex than that. If you haven’t tried it, you should! If you like fine green teas, you’ll love it.
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