Our Christmas Promise

 

When Donald Trump was elected in November, I was gutted. I didn’t sleep that night, and cried more than I’d like to admit over the next 24-48 hours. “President-Elect Trump” kept being repeated, and it felt like salt in the wound. And this is not because the Republican candidate won and I was pulling for the Democrat.  And it was not because I proudly wore an “I’m With Her” t-shirt and button and was rooting for America to have its first female president.

The United States of America had just elected a man who terrifies me.

As an American living in Canada, I can’t tell you the number of times over the last 12-18 months I’ve been asked about Donald Trump. “Is this guy actually going to win?” people would ask. “Why does he have so much support?” At first, I would laugh it off – – “I have more faith in Republicans than for him to actually get the nomination – he’s nuts!” and “Well it’s not like he can actually get elected” I’d reply. I obsessively watched fivethirtyeight as the graph got scarier and scarier, and then less and less so.

As the election day neared, and he was the Republican candidate and debated Secretary Clinton, I watched the debates with a glass (or three) of wine and would get angry. I listened to commentary on CNN and would yell at my radio – – “THIS IS NOT NORMAL” I’d yell. How could this man have such support? So much of what he said was factually false, and so little of it was taken to task. Not even debatable – not “grey” or “half truth,” but just… not based in reality or fact. At all.

I’ve heard it said that Trump supporters took his words “seriously but not literally,” while the rest of us took his words “literally but not seriously.” And I think that really, that seems to sum it up.

And yet, he’s won. He’s going to be our president.

I’ve moved past mourning, and have tried to move into action. I’ve already contacted the Democrats Abroad and am looking to ways I can get more involved moving forward.  Adam and I have vowed to do what we can to make a positive difference and counteract some of the terrifying things we are seeing. My extended family decided to forego Christmas gifts for the adults this year and instead donate to causes in the US that can help. As for Adam and I, we’ve given what we can to:

1. The Sierra Club – to help protect the environment from a man and administration who believe climate change is a “hoax perpetrated by the Chinese.”
2. Planned Parenthood – to help protect women’s basic health care and rights from someone who clearly doesn’t have a clue about how an abortion actually works (btw, no babies are “ripped from the womb the day before they are due” – that’s called childbirth).
3. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) – to help protect civil liberties and make sure basic rights that Trump doesn’t seem to understand are protected.
4. Anti-Defamation League – to help fight against anti-Semitism as leaders in the alt right (*cough* Neo-Nazis *cough*) are emboldened and given cabinet positions.
5. Communities in Schools – to help provide a bridge to education and fight against drop out rates. Maybe a higher educated populous is the biggest thing we need right now.

I’m not sharing this to look good or for a pat on the back. I’m sharing this to encourage you to do the same. We can’t stand back and expect things to change on their own – we have to be that change. We have to get involved – make phone calls (calls to your state and federal representatives *can make a difference*). Voice your concerns and peacefully protest when needed. Make it clear that we will not stand for racism. We will not stand idly by while rights are dismantled. And we must fund the groups doing that work.

Bread without a Bread Maker

We used to have a bread maker and rarely bought bread, opting for homemade instead. The bread maker takes then guesswork out and really means you don’t have to know much about making bread… it does all of the kneading, times the rise times, and even bakes it right in the machine. We loved it!

It stopped working quite awhile ago, but I’ve found a recipe that makes pretty tasty bread pretty easily. Two loaves even! And my family of four can go through two loaves pretty quickly. If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, it’s pretty fool proof:

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-basic-whole-wheat-sandwich-bread-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-167267

A few recipes to remember

I’ll try to properly post something at some point, but saving these so I don’t forget them..

Gingerbread cake: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2015/12/gingerbread-layer-cake/
So so much messier than she made it, but so so tasty. And I had leftover candied cranberries, so made these for New Years:

Cranberry Moscow Mule: http://girlinthelittleredkitchen.com/2014/12/cranberry-moscow-mule/

 

Antipasto Mushrooms: http://www.food.com/recipe/antipasto-mushrooms-275693
Simple, tasty, easy. A keeper!

 

Traditional Lasagna

A recipe from my dad – – he made this at our family Chrismas last year, and we immediately asked for the recipe. It freezes well, so we’ve made it in double or triple batches. Need to get a photo next time we make it, but wanted to put it up here so we don’t have to search through emails every time we want to make it!

Traditional Lasagna:
Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef
• 3/4 lb Bulk Pork Sausage
• 24 oz tomato sauce
• 12 oz Tomato Paste
• 2 pieces Cloves Garlic (Minced)
• 2 tsp white sugar
• 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Pepper
• 3 Eggs
• 3 Tbsp Minced parsley
• 24 oz Small curd cottage cheese
• 8 oz Ricotta cheese
• 1/2 Cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 9 pieces Lasagna noodles cooked and drained (or buy the ready-to-bake kind, like we always do)
• 6 pieces Slices provolone cheese
• 3 Cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. In large skillet, cook beef and sausage over medium heat until no longer pink: drain.
2. add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, garlic, sugar, seasonings, salt-and-pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for one hour stirring occasionally.
3. In large bowl combine the eggs and the parsley. Stir in the cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, and Parmesan cheese
4. Spread 1 cup meat sauce in ungreased 13″ x 9″ baking dish. Layer with three noodles, provolone cheese, 2 cups cottage, 1 cup mozzarella, three noodles, 2 cups meat sauce, remaining cheese mixture and one cup mozzarella. Top with the remaining noodles meat sauce and mozzarella.
5. Cover and bake at 375° for 30 minutes. Uncover; bake 20 minutes longer or until heated through. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.

Basement Renovation

Our blog has been neglected for quite awhile – trying to get back into it as it’s been a great resource for us for re-finding favourite recipes. It’s also a fun outlet for various home projects, and I just found this draft for a blog I wrote a year ago but never published. Our basement renovation, for anyone who may be interested.

Pad Kee Mao

I had my suspicions when Mark Bittman claimed this would “give Pad Thai a serious run for the money,” but I’m sold. This is super delicious, super quick and easy, and satisfied even our somewhat picky almost-4-year-old. We did omit the chilies to keep it kid-friendly, and next time we’ll have sriracha on the side! I’m sure chicken or turkey would sub in fine.

Blogging it so I don’t forget!

Pad Kee Mae (source)

INGREDIENTS

• 4 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons dark sweet soy sauce(kecap manis)
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
• 6 cloves garlic
• 5 bird’s eye chiles
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• ½ cup sliced onion
• 1 pound ground pork
• ½ cup sliced bell peppers
• 12 ounces fresh rice noodles
• 2 handfuls of holy basil leaves (or Thai basil, in a pinch). [Okay, Mark Bittman… regular basil works fine here!]

PREPARATION

1. Whisk together the fish sauce, soy sauce and vinegar, and set aside. Roughly chop the garlic and 3 of the chilies together. Smash the other two chilies with the flat of a knife, and set aside.
2. Put a wok (or a large frying pan) over medium-high heat; when it’s hot, add the oil, the garlic-and-chile mixture and the onion. Cook, stirring constantly, until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the pork and a splash of the sauce. Cook, stirring to break up the meat, until the pork is cooked through, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the peppers and noodles. Turn the heat to high, and add almost all of the sauce (save a spoonful or two to add later if needed). Cook, tossing everything together and separating the noodles if necessary, until the noodles are coated in sauce and take on a slightly charred flavor from the wok. Taste, and add more sauce if needed. Toss in the basil and the smashed chiles, and serve immediately.

Spaghetti Pomodoro

It’s tomato season, which means you really have no excuse to turn to canned or jarred tomato sauce when you can create something much fresher and tastier out of your garden or local fruit & vegetable market.

This recipe is one of several that Cari and I have stolen from a cookbook my mother-in-law has at home.  Its greatness lies in its simplicity… fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil, a little bit of seasoning and that’s it.  We’ve made it with spaghetti and linguini, both of which are immensely satisfying.  Generally Cari and I both prefer tomato sauces that are chunky and resemble real tomatoes, rather than the liquefied form.

Here’s the recipe:

Spaghetti Pomodoro

1 lb dried, store-bought spaghetti (though we have also made it from scratch for this recipe)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons thinly sliced garlic
2 lbs fresh ripe plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and thinly sliced lengthwise
salt
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn by hand into 1/2 inch pieces
pinch of red pepper flakes

1. Put all but 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and all the garlic in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook until the garlic begins to sizzle.

2. Add the tomatoes as soon as the garlic begins to change colour.  When the liquid begins to reduce, season with salt.  Continue cooking over a medium-high heat until the tomatoes have reduced and separated from the oil: 10-20 minutes depending on the size of the skillet.

3. While the sauce is cooking, bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large saucepan or pot.

4. When the sauce has reduced, add the torn basil leaves and the pinch of red pepper flakes.  Cook for 1-2 minutes, then remove from the heat and set aside.

5. Add 1 tablespoon of salt to the boiling water in the saucepan.  Drop in the pasta, stirring until the strands are submerged.  When cooking al dente, drain and toss with the sauce in the skillet, adding the remaining tablespoon of olive oil.  Taste for salt and serve at once.

Homemade Blueberry Vanilla Soda

I love the Sodastream I got for my birthday.  Satisfying my cravings for sparkling water, I can magically turn still water from the tap into some bubbly goodness any time I want.  What I don’t like are the syrups that came with the product.  They’re overly sweet for my tastes and just don’t fit the bill as far as I’m concerned.

The good news is that nature allows for a world of fresh & tasty ingredients that make interesting soda concoctions.  My first attempt at one of these homemade sodas was this homemade blueberry vanilla soda, which I made for a recent barbecue with friends.  To be honest, I suspect you could use any combination of fruit combined with sugar & lemon juice for similar results.  In place of vanilla, you could add maple syrup, honey, or leave it out entirely.

Blueberry Vanilla Soda

1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup sugar
9 tablespoons lemon juice
Splash of vanilla paste (or extract)

1. Combine all ingredients into a small pot and mix.

2. Heat over medium heat for at least 20 minutes, or until the mixture foams and blueberries collapse.

3. Cool the mixture.  As soon as it’s at a good temperature to stick in the fridge, do it.

4. Once cool, add syrup to sparkling water.  If you don’t have a Sodastream, you could use Perrier, club soda or any other sparkling water you may happen to have on hand.  Add as little or as much as you’d like… I happen to like a lightly flavoured soda, but you may prefer yours on the sweeter side.

A note: Make sure you don’t overdo it on your cooking or sitting time.  I tried to make a variation of this recipe with black currants but made the mistake of leaving it on the stove for too long.  The result was more of a jam than a syrup.

Mediterranean Pepper Salad, two ways

Well, it’s barbecue season and Cari and I are always looking for alternatives to the standard summer salads.  This refreshing take on a Greek Salad comes to us by way of the brilliant Smitten Kitchen.  It uses many of the ingredients common to your everyday Greek salad (feta, red onion, cucumbers, kalamata olives), but because it uses an assortment of bell peppers in place of tomatoes, it won’t get soggy!  The brilliance of this dish is not only it’s deliciousness, but also the fact that you can make a relatively large batch and keep it for several days.  We’ll often make it to have with barbecue and then use it as a side for future dinners, or even as a standalone lunch.

When planning out a barbecue menu for my father’s birthday, we found ourselves in a bit of a conundrum.  We really wanted to serve this, but my Dad keeps kosher.  That means no mixing of meat and dairy.  We felt we needed something to replace the feta, but weren’t sure what.  That’s when we remembered a trick we learned from our collection of Moosewood cookbooks.  A lemon-herb tofu actually pairs quite nicely with the flavours of Greek salad!  So, either make the Smitten Kitchen version or our dairy-free take on the recipe.  Both are delicious.

Mediterranean Pepper Salad (recipe courtesy of Smitten Kitchen)

1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup cold water
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 a red onion, diced
3 bell peppers (the more colours you use, the nicer it looks – we once made a double batch and used green, red, orange, yellow and purple.  It looked glorious)
1 english cucumber
1/4-pound firm feta cheese (of lemon-herb tofu, see recipe below)
1/4 to 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives (save yourself the grief and buy them pre-pitted)
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

First, marinate the red onion.  Mix the red wine vinegar, water, kosher salt and sugar in a small bowl until the salt and sugar are dissolved.  Add the red onion and set it aside.

Next, chop the vegetables.  Core and seed your bell peppers and chop them into 1/2-inch pieces. Chop the cucumber and feta (or tofu) into similarly-sized chunks. Put your peppers, cucumber, feta (or tofu) and olives in a large bowl.

By now, your onions will have lightly pickled, which makes for a unique and nice flavour. Drain them and add them to the other vegetables in the large bowl, but reserve the vinegar mixture. Pour a quarter cup of the vinegar mixture over the salad, then drizzle with olive oil. Season generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper, or to taste. Toss evenly and serve at once, or let the flavors muddle together in the fridge for a few hours.  Like I said earlier, this salad can even keep for a few days.

Lemon-Herb Tofu (adapted from Moosewood Collective’s Simple Suppers)

1 cake firm tofu
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced (optional)

Preheat the oven 400.  Cube the tofu as you would have the feta, and spread them into a lightly oiled baking pan large enough to hold them in a single layer.

Whisk together the other ingredients and pour over the tofu.  Bake uncovered for about 20-25 minutes, stirring often.  For best results, cool completely before adding to the salad.

His Name Is Lee

The slaw, as it arrives to your table.

Chef Susur Lee is a legend amongst the Toronto culinary scene.  He’s opened some of the city’s top restaurants, set up shop in Singapore, Washington DC and New York and even appeared on Food Network, in a (tie) battle vs. Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America and later on Top Chef: Masters.

Cari and I decided my birthday would be a good excuse to finally give Lee Restaurant a try.  Of course, we made that decision on Thursday at which point our reservation options were 5:45pm or 9:15pm.  We dropped Violet off at my parents and opted for a late dinner.

Upon our arrival, we overheard a patron leave, announcing “What a great restaurant.  I can’t believe how good that restaurant was.”  Good sign, we thought.  We took a seat at the bar as we were waiting for our table and sampled two expensive but unbelievably good cocktails.  I had the Mayan Winter ($17), an infusion of tequila, gin and lime juice with julienned apple and cucumber and a small red chili.  Refreshing, spicy, delicious.  Cari opted for the Burnt Orange Manhattan ($18) – bourbon, sweet vermouth, Grand Marnier, Cointreau, orange cream bitters and a burnt orange peel to finish.

Once seated at our table, our waiter gave us some background on how Lee operates.  All plates are intended for sharing and for the two of us he recommended 3 or 4.  He then took us through some of the dishes he would recommend the most.  Eager to go outside of our usual comfort zone, we more or less followed his suggestions.

We started with the Singapore Slaw, a dish Susur Lee is apparently famous for.  “I know what you’re thinking,” the waiter said to us.  “Why would we waste a course on a slaw?  But trust me… it will be the highlight of your meal.”  And it was!  They brought it us in a giant pile on a plate and mixed it.  What we smelled was unbelievably appetizing.  The server took us through the full list of ingredients… green onions, taro, rice noodles, cucumber, carrot, jicama, daikon, tomatoes, sesame seeds, pickled onion, roasted hazelnuts, fried shallots, edible-flower petals, basil, beet greens, daikon sprouts, pickled ginger and a salted-plum dressing.  Phenomenal.  And of course we had to add the sashimi tuna as an add on… of course.

Up next was the Caramelized Black Cod.  Neither Cari or I are that into fish, which is part of why we wanted to order it – the whole “going outside of our comfort zone thing.”  I know black cod is often the epitome of high class dining and this dish was moist and extremely flavourful.  It was also served on a dim sum turnip cake, which is one of my favourite dim sum dishes.

Our third course was a special… a pulled beef with mushrooms, goat cheese and a marsala wine sauce.  Astounding.

It seemed like the meal came and went in a flash, probably because we were so absorbed in our three dishes that time just disappeared.  Next thing we knew it was nearing 11pm, we were full and satisfied.  Ah, but dessert.  The French & Chinese Tong Yuen was described as something of a sweet rice paper dumpling filled with  warm ferrero rocher.  That’s exactly what it tasted like!  A great finish to a great meal.

Lee is not the most cost-effective meal, but it is an experience you will remember.  If you appreciate food as much as we do, you’ll definitely want to give it a try.