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.

What I wanted to write about today is aloe vera. Everyone knows that the gel of this lovely plant is useful for calming skin irritations like sunburn, insect bites, rashes, etc. However, aloe’s benefits go far beyond topical applications. It can be used to calm and soothe the digestive tract, has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties, boosts absorption of vitamins and minerals from food and supplements, and is highly nutritious; aloe contains many vitamins, minerals and amino acids that our bodies need to function optimally.

If you’d like, you can read more about the benefits of aloe vera here. It’s an article from a natural healing website called Uncle Harry’s.

Aloe vera juice is really popular in Korea, which is where I first started drinking it regularly. But, the sort of aloe juice popular in South Korea is more like a soft drink than a health drink–it has a lot of added sugar. I did find a natural version of this beverage in a health food store in Seoul, which was sweetened with pure apple juice instead of the usual sugar or fructose.

Here in Canada I usually drink my aloe juice straight-up: undiluted and unsweetened (as in the bottle to the far right in the photo above). I find it really refreshing, and it really feels like it soothes me from the inside out. I love drinking a few tablespoons in the morning before breakfast.

If you are at all familiar with traditional Korean ‘teas’ (contains no tea!), you might recognize this one. These jars of syrupy ‘teas’ are more of a sweet, dessert-like drink. In Korea you can find many different types. A citron syrup is probably most popular, and it looks exactly like a jar of marmalade to the untrained eye. Other types of sweet Korean tea concentrates are: pomegranate, onion, quince, jujube, ginger, and aloe & honey (pictured above).

Traditionally, this aloe gel & honey syrup would be stirred into hot water to make a sweet, tea-like drink. However, I like it best on top of plain yogurt! Unlike regular aloe gel, I try not to eat this one too often because it is very sweet. It does make a nice treat on occasion, though, and despite its sweetness has a strong aloe flavour that I really enjoy.

Soon, I want to try fresh aloe gel, which I’ve never had. I’ve seen it at a few grocery stores around. The only thing that has kept me from buying it so far is my reluctance to carry home an aloe frond as big as my arm!

Finally, I also love to use aloe gel as a moisturizer and toner for face and body. It never irritates my sensitive skin, and makes my face nice and soft. Plus, it’s only about $5 for the tube in the photo. Frugal facial care, anyone?

So, how about it? Have you tried eating aloe vera, fresh or otherwise? What did you think & how did you use it?

love,
meg xo

just a few simple ingredients...

These chocolate-balls-of-goodness are so amazingly simple and sinful that I’m sure I’ll be making them all the time. They are quick and easy, and will completely nix the most insistent chocolate craving in minutes flat! I was inspired by this recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie. She has many variations on the original Fudge-baby recipe, and I’m sure the others would be equally good. These snacks are very much like the Jocalat Larabars, only much cheaper and homemade, which is always better, in my opinion.

rollin', rollin', rollin...

The first time I made these I followed the recipe to the letter, and they were delicious. However, I now find that I can taste the chocolate better when I skip the vanilla, and I like using a variety of nuts and a few less dates (since I don’t like things that are very sweet).

No matter how you like to eat, these should fit into your diet. They are gluten-free, contain nothing processed, are vegan and even raw if you buy raw cocoa. So, what are you waiting for?

Cocoa bliss balls adapted from Katie’s fudge baby recipe
1 cup pitted dates (I used honey dates, medjool are even better)
1.5 cup nuts or seeds (I used 3/4 cup raw cashews, 1/2 cup raw almonds and 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds)
4 Tbsp. cocoa (your finest!)
pinch of fine sea salt, and a few drops of liquid (almond or rice milk, or water), if you wish.

Throw all ingredients into your blender or food processor, and let the work be done for you. If your food processor is lazy like mine, it might protest a little by making lots of loud noises and vibrating madly. Continue blending. The mixture will turn into small stuck-together bits. Keep blending. After a minute or two more everything will be well incorporated and the bits will start to stick together. You could roll them into balls at this point, but I like to add a few drops of almond milk and then blend it once more so that everything sticks together in one big clump. Then, roll this ambrosial mass into balls, or any shape you would like.

Finally, enjoy.

Pure bliss.

What are you snacking on these days?

love,
meg

A few days ago we made a big pot of turmeric-ginger tea. I’ve made turmeric tea before, using powdered, dried turmeric, and even wrote about the tea and it’s health benefits here in this post. This time we used fresh turmeric and fresh ginger, and it was much better than using the dried powder. Using fresh turmeric also means that more of the potent anti-inflammatory properties of the root are preserved, making it even healthier. It’s not difficult to make, either, as long as you are able to find fresh turmeric. It looks much like fresh ginger root, except it has a smaller diameter and is bright orange (especially when cut open).

Keep in mind that turmeric stains, so be careful not to get it on anything that is very precious to you. I even find that it leaves a yellow-orange residue on the knife blade that it is cut with, so use a knife that can take a lot of scrubbing. Aside from that, it couldn’t be simpler to make. Just slice equal amounts of turmeric and ginger root (or just turmeric, if you’d prefer) and put it in a pot with several cups of water. Bring this to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for ten or fifteen minutes. Pour the tea and you’ve got a mugful of sunshine-yellow, comforting warmth. I keep any leftover tea in a glass container in the fridge, and drink it diluted throughout the day with either hot or cool water. Also, I find that the turmeric and ginger can be simmered twice. The second pot will not be quite as strong, but is still nice to drink.

I do hope you try turmeric tea, either the powdered or fresh sort. It’s a nice change from ginger tea, and considering all the health problems that are caused (directly or indirectly) by inflammation, it surely can’t hurt. The flavour of this brew is earthy, and spicy from the ginger. It is also good for digestion and caffeine-free, of course.

What is your hot drink of choice?

love,
meg

Winter is like that for me. My dad used to refer to it as my ‘blue fog’ (or was it fug?) anyway–I don’t necessarily feel sad or SAD (seasonally-affected) in wintertime, just very passive, very quiet, and very low-key. I suppose that I don’t do much of anything. Like a bear, I hibernate and try to keep warm. Unlike a bear, I do a lot of reading.

I came across something by Doris Lessing today, that seemed to fit my current mood perfectly;

Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy.

Quite.

Not to condone laziness, but we don’t all have to be busy-as-bees all the time. It’s nice to take one’s time, to move slowly, to do exactly what one wishes. And to do an awful lot of reading.

I didn’t really set any New Year’s Resolutions as such this year, but I did decide that I should read a book a week. Yes, one book per week. Likely, I was already reading that much and have been since I learned how to read, more or less, but it seemed an obtainable goal, and goal-setting is likely good for me. I’m keeping track of these books in a little reading journal, which my dad gave me when he was visiting this summer. So far, it’s going well. Since this experiment has formalized my reading in a way, I find that it’s helping me choose books that I might not pick up usually–since I’m keeping track of them all, I find that I crave more variety in my reading, and that feels like a good thing.

As for food, I’ve been eating a lot of stir-fry and rice, lots of soups, warm & hearty things. We’ve been eating our way through a great, big red (purple) cabbage, and laughing about our purple-tinted tongues at every meal.

Stay warm, friends. Spring is right around the corner.

Read any good books lately?

love,
meg

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.

Anyway, as Salinger has claimed to be writing, writing, writing away all these years, hopefully he does have some work that can now be published posthumously. There are many articles to be found on the world wide web about his death, and the one I read is here, if you’re interested. The portrait of him is nice.

Thank you, Mr. Salinger, for sharing what you could of your life, your voice.
—-

Also, I’ve been wanting to say something about Haiti. I won’t post a link to sites you can visit to donate money, because I’m sure you’ve seen them/donated already. Though I’d like to say something meaningful about the earthquake and the devastation it has caused, I can’t. My heart goes out to all those touched by this tragedy, and I wish there was more I could do to help.
—-

In other (non) news, this is what Montreal looks like today, right outside my window. I stayed in and read some feminist/race/class theory today, which was somewhat relaxing. I also had a very good lunch, and discovered that stir-fried daikon is delicious.

I hope you’ll excuse me my rambling… I’m trying to get back into blogger-mode after my conspicuous absence. I have a few recipes that I look forward to posting, and a few books I’d like to write reviews of, but am having a bit of trouble getting it together these days. Part of the reason for this is that I haven’t been using recipes most of the time, so it makes it hard to share what I’ve been cooking without measurements and precise instructions. I find that a lot of the fun of cooking is in doing it ‘on the fly’, and that looking at food, something so simple and essential to us, as a precise science can make it intimidating, which is the last thing it should be.

I didn’t set out to write about cooking in a didactic way, since I do still see myself as a bit of a novice cook… so I apologize if this site is lacking in consistency. I hope to continue writing about food, books, and tea, and many other things that I find interesting along the way. I would like to write in a conversational tone, to flesh out my current ideas about feeding myself and feeding others, intellectually and physically.

And I do hope that you will join me.

Yesterday, I posted about Pennywort Juice, and in the spirit of that I tried another fresh herb drink. This one would definitely fall into the ‘on the fly’ category, and was certainly interesting.

This is Tia To Juice. Tia to, as you may know if you are familiar with Vietnamese herbs, is a Vietnamese variety of perilla. It is in the same family as basil and mint, Japanese shiso and Korean gaenip. It has a distinctive, herbal flavour that is hard to explain if you’ve never tried it… it’s very aromatic and fresh-tasting. No one recommended that I try this, and as far as I know it is not a known recipe. I happened to have some tia to in the fridge, so thought I’d give it a whirl.

tia to, up close and personal

I used the same method to make this drink as for pennywort juice. I removed the leaves from stems, put them into the blender, added water to cover, added a bit of sugar and blended it for about a minute before straining.

Although this herb has a very strong flavour, it didn’t come through very well in this drink. I enjoyed it, but would stick with perilla syrup, which I tried this summer and loved. Next time I feel like drinking this particular herb, I’ll make the syrup again, and will post the recipe. It is delicious, simple, and is the prettiest red-fuchsia colour.

How is your life these days?
Have you read J.D. Salinger?

love,
meg

Asiatic pennywort looks like this

So, I piled the leaves (there is one leaf per stem) without their stems into my food processor (a blender would work better!) and whirred them up into this lovely cocktail:

I used Wandering Chopsticks’ recipe for Nuoc Rau Ma as a guideline. It seems that you can make it as watery or as sweet as you like, of course. I didn’t make mine very sweet. I’m not going to include a recipe here, because it was very easy: wash one bunch of pennywort (wash well, it’s a swamp-growing herb) in lots of running water, remove stems and put the leaves in your blender. Add enough water to cover the leaves (or more, if you like) and about a teaspoon of sugar or other sweetener (I used chicory syrup. Again, sweeten to your taste). Blend well, the water will turn a very dark green. Then, strain the juice into glasses or a pitcher and drink! Add ice, if you like. I didn’t, but would in the summer.

How did the pennywort juice taste, you ask? It was delicious. It was actually a pretty subtle herbal quality; with such a dark green colour I was expecting a bold flavour, but it was mildly herbal and very refreshing. I thought it tasted a bit like the way carrot tops smell, if that makes any sense.

For the sake of comparison, I also tried the canned variety of pennywort juice. It was much sugarier than the one I made, and also lacked the bright herbal quality of the fresh version. I still liked it okay, but it had a bit of a swampy taste. If you’re trying pennywort juice for the first time, definitely try it fresh if you can. Here’s the canned drink:

Wonderfarm's pennywort juice.

Have you tried pennywort juice?
I’m looking forward to experimenting with other fresh Vietnamese herbs!

love,
meg

yes, that is a bicycle in the bedroom.

Our Christmas cactus is in bloom. It was really nice to wake up to sunlight and vibrant pink blooms by the bed this weekend. We inherited this cactus from some friends just a year ago, so this is the first time it has bloomed at our place. There are two flowers on it now, but there are seven more buds on it that will open soon.

I have been cooking today, but it’s nothing extraordinary and I won’t bore you with the details.
I have a bread recipe that I’ve been making a few times a week lately and am very pleased with, so will be sharing it soon. For today, though, I’ll share a tanka (translated into English) by Masaoki Shiki (1867-1902):

crowding night
weary with the work
of writing things
blew the fire to life
and drank some tea

This is more or less my plan for this evening, except I’ll likely be watching a movie instead of tending a fire. Drink tea, keep warm… wishing you well on this second week of our new year.

Where credit is due: Chris Rudmin took these lovely photos. Thanks, Chris!

With love, from Meaghan & the edible library.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday. 2009 was an interesting and peaceful year for me, and I hope it was enjoyable for you, as well.

Big thank-yous to everyone for reading this little site. It’s nice to share a small part of my world with others. I really appreciate your comments and encouragement, and look forward to continuing this little web-journey in the new year.

Over the holidays I was away in Ontario and New York state, so haven’t done much cooking in my own house lately. I did a lot of visiting and drank a lot of coffee instead of my usual largely solitary days filled with tea and books. I don’t have a recipe to share today, but will be back to my usual schedule soon, and will be posting more regularly again.

In the meantime, here’s a picture from Ithaca, NY, taken on December 27th. It was a beautiful warm day there, and the sun was shining (though the picture was taken in a shaded area). I hope you are warm and happy, surrounded by loved ones and looking forward to the new decade ahead of us.

Here is an article from CBC News about food trends in the past decade: A flavourful decade.

Best wishes!

love,
meg

I read a bit about the winter solstice here on National Geographic.

Now for a mystery:

and this is the back.

What do you think this is?

I have a little story about the acquisition of this marvel, and will share it in a few days. In the meantime… ponder, research, guess! What is it?

I hope your winter has gotten off to a lovely start.

love,
meg

Update: This is actually a brick of pressed tea, front & back.
I bought it from a very interesting man who has a gallery of Japanese ukiyo-e and other art in rural Nova Scotia (near Weymouth), when I was visiting my family this summer.
He had a lot of wonderful stories and anecdotes to share, and graciously chatted with C. & I, my mom and grandmother over cups of genmai-cha (green tea with toasted brown rice).
Chancing to find this little jewel of a gallery in such an unlikely place reminded me of how nice it can be to open up and talk to strangers. You can find the most incredible people & stories when you aren’t even looking…

this is the Vietnamese variety of bitter gourd

C. says that while he was in Okinawa (where goya is very popular) people said the reason Okinawans live so long is because they eat lots of pork and lots of goya! I can’t verify this, but it sounds reasonable enough, I suppose. One dish that is very popular there is goya champuru which is a stir-fried dish that features goya and often pork, eggs, onion or garlic and other seasonings.

This fruit may be the sort of taste that needs to be acquired, but I do like it, although I certainly didn’t grow up eating it. It’s bitter, but the bitterness is more of an after-taste to me, and it has a refreshing quality that I like. Also, I’m not really adverse to bitterness. If you’re wondering why people think this fruit is so healthy, the bitterness could be a big part of the reason: bitter things are often good for stimulating the liver, which can encourage detoxification. Goya is also thought to be a good treatment for adult-onset diabetes, as it can help to lower blood sugar.

the seeds

To prepare goya, you start by splitting it lengthwise and using a spoon to scrape out the seeds and white pulp from the middle. Then you slice it thinly, and it is usually recommended to salt it and then rinse it, or just soak in cold water, to get rid of some of the bitterness.

I haven’t tried goya champuru, but I have made a sort of goya quick-pickle called goya namashi a few times. This blog called Champuru.net has a recipe for goya namashi, and one for goya champuru.

To make a simplified goya namashi I prepared the goya as above, and then stirred in some rice vinegar and mirin (sweet Japanese cooking wine). After chilling in the fridge for awhile, it’s ready to eat, and should keep for a day or two.

The way I most often consume this funny fruit is, perhaps not surprisingly, as a tea. I buy it at the Vietnamese grocery store, and I don’t find it at all bitter. It is made of roasted goya, and has a toasty taste.

Have you tried this bitter gourd?

I find it especially appealing in this picture:

it looks like a little, green lion face, I think.

You can find more information about bitter melon on these sites:

Okinawa Hai
The National Bitter Melon Council

Have a great weekend!

love,
meg