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Reads: Salt
This would be me checking out of Capers last night as I finished the book…book, then order for a small soy cappuccino, and then of course a box of my fav kosher salt
Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky
Great great read. Favorite so far in 2010.
My Input
This post will make sense to only a few, but I wanted to share something.
I had the pleasure of attending a meeting on Vancouver’s New City Market/Local Food Hub, one that I was honored to attend a few weeks ago. At the end of the workshop they handed out cards for everyone to write in 7 or so words what they hoped the New City Market/Vancouver Food Hub would become.
I totally forgot to drop my comment card off at the end of the day, so meanwhile I thought I would post what I hope it will be someday.
You can tell the ink got smeared a little in my rain wet butt jeans. Boosh.
slow sandwich
I spent a great deal of time last November into December creating my very own sourdough starter. It involved essentially letting some Organic Local Red Fife Wheat (from the Flour Peddler sold at the East Van Farmers Market) and yeast from the skins of some local Ambrosia apples rot and ferment, then slowly adding bread flour until the paste I created started to bubble. Feed, dump, feed, dump, rot, feed, dump, feed, dump.
Several attempts at creating a loaf resulted in under performing yeast. One big reason may be the amount of chlorine in the water I was using. I’ve posted pics of the experience, as well as some very dense loaves of bread here. Fail.
I have since dumped plans at creating my sourdough bakery :-), but I did want to at least make a sandwich, so here we go (warning: it’s got meats).
Same process as with the sourdough starter, but with instant-rise bread yeast… create a loaf of Montovana-style bread.
Salt and roast a boneless leg of lamb from the Winter Farmers Market (Jay Springs Lamb), and then use a mandolin to slice it as thin as lunch meat. Then season with a little more salt.
Cut two slices, toast them, rub dijon mustard on one side and an assortment of sweet roasted peppers. Take the other side and dab on a garlic aioli or mayo and an assortment of hot pickled peppers. Marry the two with a pinch of the lamb lunch meat and…
Bam! You gots a slow sandwich. My favourite of 2010 so far!
pantry raid: Kosher for Passover Egg Noodle Tuna Casserole
I’ve been dying to try some local canned tuna for months. Since August actually, I’ve had this premium can of Thetis Queen albacore tuna from the Main Street Station Farmers Market.
One thing we’ve been working on is to use up (or donate) shelf-stable food on a regular basis to keep our pantry “fresh” (as a pantry can be) by rotating dry goods.
This week, in the back of the pantry, we came across some Kosher for Passover Egg Noodles (probably from Passover last year). You take some tuna and some egg noodles, and even though it’s made with matzah instead of semolina flour… the end result was tasty and comforting. The only downside was that the egg noodles turned out to be more like rice noodles, so some imagination had to be used to transcend rice-matzah noodles into a country home classic. I kept the base of the casserole dairy free, using a combo of cream of mushroom soup and veggie stock with a roux to thicken. Addition of some smoked cheddar and sweet paprika and we had a smokey comfort tuna casserole…nice!
The tuna was amazing. The photos don’t do it justice, but you could tell that they canned the tuna in its own juices instead of filling the can with saline or crumby soy oil. I recommend it, although I doubt the tuna will be in the pantry as long again.
Here’s a shot of the tuna can.
Now that’s a solid piece of tuna! Mean! mean!
homemade: shower soap gel
2009 was a big year for me in terms of creating some awareness about food. I ate a lot of organic foods and until November, from spring on I pretty much ate most of my food from local sources. It was great. I lots 10 pounds, felt better than I had in years, and got a lot of joy working with the local farmers market and growers in Vancouver.
2009 ended with a huge epiphany that I was spending, sometimes premium dollar on healthy eats and real foods, yet I was buying ultra-chemically filled bottles of shampoo & conditioner (l’oreal) and shower gel (axe!). I was putting nature in, and then exposing my skin to lots of extra chemical additives that I didn’t really need.
A little over a year ago I had switched from years of using pretty nasty stuff on my hair to using 99% pure aloe vera gel. It was time to source some healthier soap. First try is something that Shal found out about…dissolved Ivory soap bars into a shower gel. The ivory soap used is their classic bar with no perfumes, lotions, or other additives.
After letting the bars sit in water for over a day, the water started to form a gel-like consistency. There is a photo set below of the creation. I’m going to go hop in the shower and come back with a review.
Click here to see the photo set.
Big thanks to Shira for mentioning something on her visit.
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