Posts Tagged ‘Treats’

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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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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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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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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30.09.2009

Rustic Apple Galette, and why ‘The Cider House Rules’

Two days ago I finished reading John Irving’s novel The Cider House Rules, and it really had me craving apple pie like you wouldn’t believe. The majority of this post is going to be novel-oriented, but we’ll start by assembling the following rustic apple galette:

another reason to love autumn.

another reason to love autumn.

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22.09.2009

Moon Cakes: shine on, shine on Harvest Moon…

still life with moon cake and blue plate

still life with moon cake and blue plate

Today, September 22nd, is the autumnal equinox in the Northern hemisphere, aka the First Day of Fall. Mother Nature has chosen to celebrate with a rainy day here in Montreal, but after a busy weekend I’m not so bothered by that. It’s a good excuse to curl up with a cup of tea and a book. And a moon cake! (more…)

18.09.2009

Chocolate and zucchini muffins, with lavender

Farewell, summer. We hardly knew ye.
This week we’ve had the sort of weather that encourages baking, at least among those partial to baked goods. I don’t know what this kind of weather encourages among those poor souls who have no interest in baked goods. Probably shopping for fall fashions, or taking hot baths.

ginkgo

ginkgo

This week the weather outside in the afternoon has been ideal for autumn. In the sun it’s nice and warm, but cold in the mornings and evenings–summer is decidedly over, despite the calendar insisting otherwise. So much so that I was cold in our apartment this week, especially in the mornings. I was looking for things to bake, just to warm up the kitchen! We finally put a second comforter on the bed, and I even had to close the kitchen window two days ago. (more…)

03.09.2009

Vegan Truffles: made simply with chocolate and coconut cream

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I’ve made a lot of truffles in the past year (hundreds for Christmas presents!), but these ones are my favourite. I actually prefer them to the usual truffles that I make with cream! The coconut cream used instead of cream and/or butter goes really well with the dark chocolate, and they are healthier, besides. Their only downfall is that they are a little bit more difficult to shape into balls/truffle shapes, because when it cools the coconut cream has more of a tendency to crumble than regular cream truffles. They are indeed worth the effort, though. Before trying these I made vegan truffles with oil instead of cream, and these ones are yummier and have a nicer texture. (more…)