Cold Weather Requires Warm & Comforting Soup

Last week Mom and I had a girls night while Dad was out with a friend of his and my brother and his wife, Dasha, were on their way back from their 3 month trip around Eastern Europe. When Mom asked me if I had any particular craving I thought of soup... but what kind of soup? One of my all time favorite soup is Tom Kha. It's so delicious that I'll order it any time we go to a Thai restaurant and I've even requested it as a birthday dinner two years ago. I was so impressed with our homemade version that I am now almost certain that we might be part Thai! It definitely stands up next to the Tom Kha soup at Khai Thai Restaurant (the best place I've been for Thai food in Vancouver so far).
Cooking with Mom is great :) Without knowing it, she and Dad raised my brother and I with a strong connection to food. Now that we're older, my brother and I are taking that love for food that we were raised with and we're passing it on to our friends and one day we'll pass it along to our own family.

Tom Kha Soup

Serves 8 (Not full meals

• 3 (13 1/2 ounce) cans low-sodium low-fat chicken broth or veggie broth
• 1 (13 1/2 ounce) can coconut milk (regular, not lite)
• 2 stalks lemongrass, sliced in large pieces
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon shrimp paste (use anchovy paste as a substitute)
• 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 3 limes, zest of
• 3 limes, juice of
• 3 serrano chili peppers, chopped
• 2 tablespoons ginger, julienned in fine,short 1/4 inch strips
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 block of Firm Tofu diced and fried
• 8 ounces white mushrooms, sliced
• 1 bunch bok choy, chopped (we used chard because we had some from the garden but I think this can be omitted all together because I've never seen bok choy or chard in a Tom Kha soup)
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (leave the stems in!)
• 1 -2 tablespoon lime juice, to taste (probably)

1. In 4qt or larger, heavy-bottomed pot, begin heating chicken/veggie broth and coconut milk on low-medium heat.
2. Add the other ingredients for the broth, down through the brown sugar, as you prepare them.
3. Bring broth to a slow simmer; never allow it to reach a rolling boil, and do not cover it at any time during cooking.
4. When broth is simmering, start stir frying your tofu cubes. Make sure to turn often so they are cooked on all sides.
5. Continue down the list of ingredients, adding them to the soup while the tofu cooks, stirring regularly.
6. Once the tofu is fully cooked, add it into the soup then add the cilantro.
7. About a minute after adding the cilantro, taste the soup and add some additional lime juice as desired to punch up the flavor (maybe 1-2 T--don't overdo it!)
8. Serve immediately.

*Some ingredients in the soup made me wrinkle my nose. Fish sauce on its own smells pretty gross! Anchovy paste too! I didn't even want to touch the stuff. When you mix it all together the smell of the fish sauce or the anchovy paste blend really nicely. I'd be afraid to try the recipe without these possible key ingredients.

The original recipe can be found here.

Feeding the critters

If you would have told me that little humming birds would fly to the 18th floor, I would have looked at you funny. If you would have told me that I would buy a humming bird feeder to feed said humming birds I would consider it but decide not to because... humming birds don't make it to the 18th floor. If you would have told me that humming birds would fly to the 18th floor in the middle of a storm or -5 weather I probably would have chuckled. If you would have told me that I'd be standing in -5 weather with my hair dryer unthawing my humming bird feeder I would have thought you were crazy.
Also, I would have seriously misjudged myself! At the sight of my first little humming bird friend in October, I bought a feeder (the very same day). I looked up how to make food for something with such a basic diet (no hash browns here) and made my new found friend dinner (and breakfast and lunch and dinner... they don't eat a lot, so one recipe will keep them fed for a while). He didn't come back. One day went by then two then three then a couple weeks! Then he came back, ate and left for a couple more. Just as I was complaining to Sean that my humming bird friends were gone, they came back! That very morning, Sean and Tugger sat on my living room floor waiting for the birds as they came and went (this was definitely a Kodak moment).
Since then I've been finding ways to keep their food from freezing. I was using my hairdryer to thaw the ice but that took too long (I kept looking around to make sure no one was watching, luckily no one in their right mind is on their balcony in -5). I MacGyvered a quick release for the feeder so that it could stay safely attached during the high winds (bird feeder falling 18 floors doesn't seem very safe) but I could also remove it during the night so it doesn't freeze and reattach it around 6am for the birds to feed. With the cold weather we've been having now, I have to take it in every 4 hours, soak it upside down in hot water otherwise their little tongues will get stuck to the giant popsickle. It's something that may seem like a lot of work but I don't mind doing it. They're really cool to watch and Tugger is really cute when he sees them (video to come).
So far it looks like there's two. A ballsy guy bird who usually comes earlier on in the morning. He will also come up to the window and go beak to nose with Tugger and chirp at him. He'll also keep me company when I am changing his feed or warming it, usually flying around my head, we've looked each other in the eyes before and I was kind of intimidated. Haha! The second one is a little fatter and paler, I think these are the females, either that or it's my morning bird with a little frost on him. She's shy and I have to move REALLY slowly when I get close to the window to watch it feed otherwise she'll fly off. There could be more than two but judging by their colours and characters, I think there's only the two.

Humming Bird Feed

1/4 cup sugar
1 cup boiling water

• Pour 1 cup boiling water in a measuring cup, add sugar and stir until all sugar is dissolved.
• Measuring the water after it's been boiled makes it so that the solution is more accurate.
• Regular refined sugar is best. Colouring, honey or any other fancy stuff (which of course I looked up because the original recipe seemed too basic) can be bad for them.
• The sugar water mix needs to be changed every week to every two weeks otherwise it gets moldy.

So don't be shy, put up a humming bird feeder. Those little guys don't have a whole lot to eat this time of year and they really appreciate it. If none come by initially, maybe put some red leaves or something around it. It was my fall leaves on my balcony that initially attracted them.

Hash browns & Avocados

A week ago, my cousin Nadine posted on facebook 'its a hashbrown + avocado breakfast combo kinda day'. This sparked an OMG I want hash browns craving. It's strange. I don't like hash browns. I don't like potatoes. Ok. It's not so much that I don't like them it's just I don't have potato cravings or a desire to eat potatoes. My brother on the other hand, LOVES potatoes!
So on November 19th, my brothers 22nd birthday, I celebrated him in style and made a hash browns and avocado breakfast. My brother has been traveling Eastern Europe with Dasha for the past two and a half months so this was as close as I could get to celebrating with him.
The recipe is a dum dee dum* I created so feel free to use your own creativity.

Hash browns & Avocado

1/2 a tsp butter
a little more than a pan full of hash browns
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp butter
a pinch of oregano
a pinch of an other green herb (this is the mystery herb in my herb collection... I have no idea what it is. Chances are you have it too)
a fair good sprinkling of paprika
1 tsp butter
1/2 avocado

• Heat the butter in the pan, it should be enough to cover the bottom of your pan, if not, add more.
• Add enough hash browns to cover the bottom of the pan (a little more as they'll shrink). You won't want to over do it here, otherwise they'll be mushy (I think mushrooms and hash browns have this in common, which is why Julia Child said 'Don't crowd the mushrooms! Otherwise they'll steam instead of fry.').
• Fry your hash browns until they're just about ready. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• While the hash browns are cooking, dice the avocado.
• Add a little bit more butter, oregano, other green herb (you can omit this), then sprinkle all of the hash browns with paprika (not too thick, just enough to cover them). Toss everything together.
• Serve hash browns (makes about 1 serving), add diced avocado, mix, enjoy!

*term Dad uses for a recipe made up as he goes along. Usually it's impossible to duplicate the original but you can come close.

Oh so yammy!

I like yams. I also like corny jokes. You can blame my Dad for that. :)

I've made this recipe before and I liked it so much that I made it so many times that I got bored of it. I think that's about to happen all over again. I was hoping to have enough patties for dinner, for a post soccer snack for Sean and for lunch tomorrow. Looks like Sean's snack is going to be a teenie one and so is my lunch. These things are phenomenal! The photo doesn't look overly appetizing but it is! Enjoy.

chickpea, squash and yam patties

• 1 1/2 cups mashed chickpeas (16 oz can or you can use dried that have been soaked over night and then boiled for an hour)
• 1 cup of squash grated (Erin and I use acorn but you can use any variety: banana, butternut, pumpkin spaghetti)
• 1 cup potato grated yam (or sweet potato)
• 2 tbsp fresh diced green onion
• 2 tbsp fresh diced parsley (this time I used cilantro because I grabbed cilantro instead of parsley)
• 1/2 tbsp dried dill (optional, I didn't put any in because I don't have any... plus dill is one of those things I don't like...)
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• ½ tsp red pepper flakes (more if you like it hot or less if you don’t)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
• Safflower oil for frying

Mix all ingredients together in large bowl.

Add flour and use clean hands to work mixture together. Don’t over work it or it will not keep together.

Form patties in a size of your liking and fry in medium heat pan until browned on each side.

Thanks Erin for an other great recipe!

Getting ready for hibernation?

This morning I woke up to a foggy, wet and windy day. Being my first client isn't until 4:30, I decided to take today to finish what I started yesterday.
While doing the Grouse Grind this summer, I overheard two moms talking about how they prepare dried garbanzo beans. One of them was talking about how it took a lot of prep time. Soak overnight, boil for an hour then they're ready to use. It's so much easier to grab a can from the cupboard, open it and you're ready to rock. The Mom #2 said that what she did was that she put a whole bag of dried beans to soak, then she'd boil them, let them dry out on a towel for 30 minutes or so then bag them and freeze them. I thought her idea was brilliant so I did just that this morning. I put my beans to soak before yoga last night, boiled and bagged them this afternoon.
I also took the odds and ends of breads that had accumulated in my freezer (I tend to abandon the crust ends), dried them in the oven and made bread crumbs with them. I froze 5 lunches from last nights lasagna too. During my venture in my freezer I found 3 fossilized black bananas. Now I knew they weren't that colour when I put them in there so I knew they were good. I had yogurt that needed using up too so I decided to make my banana bread recipe. My apartment now smells so delicious! I don't know what I like more, the smell of baking banana bread or the banana bread itself.
Once that's baked, I'll probably freeze a loaf into lunch size slices. Yeah, I think it's official, I am getting ready to hibernate and eat well this winter.

Beautiful Banana Bread

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I mix all-purpose flour and whole wheat, sometimes I throw in spelt, sometimes I throw in buckwheat... it all depends on my mood).

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs at room temperature for 30 minutes

2 1/3 cups sugar (I used brown sugar and used only a cup)

1 cup vegetable oil (I mix veg oil and EVOO*)

3 cups coarsely mashed very ripe bananas (6 large)

1/4 cup crème fraîche (yogurt works too)

2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 2 (9- by 5- by 3-inch) metal loaf pans, then dust with flour, knocking out excess.

Sift together 3 1/4 cups flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl.

Beat together eggs and sugar in bowl of electric mixer at medium-high speed until very thick and pale and mixture forms a ribbon when beater is lifted, about 10 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add oil in a slow stream, mixing, then mix in bananas, crème fraîche, and vanilla. Remove bowl from mixer and fold in flour mixture and walnuts gently but thoroughly.

Divide batter between loaf pans, spreading evenly, and bake in middle of oven until golden brown and a wooden pick or skewer comes out clean, 1 to 1 1/4 hours.

Cool loaves in pans on a rack 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack. Turn loaves right side up and cool completely.

YUMMMM! Enjoy!

*Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Photo - the 'a table...' decal is part of my new kitchen decor. I love that it was available in French :)

Tofu and lemon juice in my Lasagna!!!

Inspired by my little crimini mushrooms that were begging to be used up before they withered away and dried in my fridge, I decided to make a vegetarian lasagna. Most recipes are unappealing and lack protein. I snooped through Erin's blog and found the following recipe. I was intrigued by the use of tofu (both firm and soft) instead of ground beef and ricotta cheese. And lemon in lasagna! I'd never seen that before. The oddity of this recipe made me want to try it... and you know what? It's pretty darn delicious!
The recipe here is Erin's recipe. The only changes I made was that I used cow mozzarella instead of vegan mozzarella. I also didn't used a food processor or blender to blend the tofu mixture instead opting for the more basic, hands on technique of crumbling the firm tofu by hand and whisking the soft tofu. I've changed the way I cook a little. I've found myself cooking with my senses a little more. I want to touch my food. I want to feel the tofu break apart beneath the pressure of my fingers. I want to smell the basil and garlic (which I used raw instead of dried/powdered) on my hands after I've cooked. I'm now soaking garbanzo beans because I like the snapping and cracking sound of them expanding in the bowl as they fill themselves with water. I also cook by smell and not by timer (which has failed occasionally and resulted in accidental testing of my smoke detector... lesson learned, use timer when you have a cold! You can't smell) relying on the smells that fill my kitchen and the look of something cooking instead of a beeping sound.


9 whole wheat lasagna noodles
1 pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (one bunch fresh spinach)
5 large Portobello mushrooms, sliced (or little crimini mushrooms)
2 small zucchinis, sliced into rounds
1 tbsp safflower oil (or EVOO - extra virgin olive oil)
1 pkg soft organic tofu
1 pkg pressed organic tofu
1/4 cup organic soymilk (or almond milk)
1/2 tsp garlic powder (or fresh)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp dried basil (or two sprigs fresh, chopped)
2 tsp salt
1 jar of organic tomato sauce
2 cups mozzarella or Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella Cheese Alternative, shredded

• Prepare the lasagna noodles according to package directions. Drain carefully and set aside on a towel.
• Heat ½ tbsp oil in a large pan over medium heat, sauté mushrooms until soft and dark. Remove from heat and set aside
• In the same pan, heat remaining oil over medium heat. Add zucchini rounds and sauté until soft and lightly browned. Remove from heat and set aside.
• In a blender, combine tofu, soymilk, garlic powder, lemon juice, basil and salt and blend until smooth.
• In a large bowl, mix tofu blend and spinach until well combined
• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Cover the bottom of baking pan with a layer of tomato sauce, followed by a layer of noodles.
• Add layer of tofu spinach mix and then another layer of noodles.
• Evenly layer mushrooms & zucchini, then tomato sauce, followed by another layer of noodles
• Use remaining tofu spinach mixture as final layer, ending with the remaining noodles covered by the remaining tomato sauce.
• Top with shredded “mozzarella”
• Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, or until tomato sauce bubbles.

Back in the Kitchen

After having taken a break from my adventurous cooking sessions, I'm back. While cooking up a Vegetarian Lasagna this afternoon I pondered my absence in the kitchen. It's not to say that I wasn't cooking, I just didn't have the passion that I did a year or so ago. That, I think I will attribute it to this past year being the hardest I've been through for a while.
It all started with the letdown of not going to Europe, followed by an intense two weeks of studying, passing my written RMT exam, failing my oral practical, working at something I knew wasn't quite what I wanted to do in a place I didn't really want to work, getting into a relationship that was temporarily satisfying but ended up turning my world upside down and testing me like I'd never been tested before. I remember one of my friends chuckling and asking me if I needed to be taken care of. I paused and said yes. She laughed and told me I was being unreasonable. We're no longer friends. I can't think of too many times when I've asked for someone to help me be strong. I always try to do it on my own. I may show weakness but I always insist on staying grounded, on my own.
I passed my board exams, lived with my ex, started my own business, worked at the spa and at a medical clinic. I was working seven days a week without the volume of clients I wanted. I worked my ass off trying to get clients, marketing, making my own website (with a little help from a friend) all of which exhausted me because all I wanted to do was work as an RMT and treat people.
With all this, I just wanted to escape, I wanted to travel, go somewhere and do something new. Be in control of some aspect of my life instead of living with the unknown of what daily life would bring (both at home and at work). I started hosting couch surfers from couchsurfing.org. Several travelers stayed at my place and each and every one of them brought something special into my life. I was able to travel vicariously through them and though I was often tempted to join them on their journey, I stayed grounded. One couch surfer was Kamil from Hawaii. Because he only had about 48 hours in Vancouver, I had to find a quick, easy and fun way to see the city. We rented bikes and cycled the seawall to Granville Island where we had lunch and lay in the grass under some trees. The combination of cycling, food and Kamil's easy going company made for an absolutely wonderful day. I hadn't been on a bike in several years and I was reminded what fun it could be.
By August my ex finally moved out. I got rid of my business thinking that it would be better to work full time at the medical clinic (which I love working at! The women there are amazing and the clients are the kind of people I want to treat). Letting go of my business, something I had worked so hard at, was difficult. Remembering the carefree feeling and freedom I felt when Kamil was here, I bought myself a bike. I was thinking that my world could collapse around me and everything and everyone could leave me but I'd still have my bike. I found a freedom riding my bike (named him Othello). My commute to and from work became a time for me to let go and feel life surround me and refuel me. I enjoyed watching my growth as a very very rookie rider who wobbled on her bike when she started up to someone who could ride in traffic with ease and confidence. My bike was great! It felt so right. Not a week after I had my bike, it was stolen.
By now I was epicly deflated. I still had more than a lot of people do but I felt like I was grasping for things blindly. I don't know what has changed but something has. And it's for the better. I'm finally feeling established at the clinic I work at. The feedback I am getting from clients is positive and we're seeing improvement. I still work at the spa but I've managed my schedule so that I am in and out. I actually enjoy the work there, especially because I have a new bike and cycle to and from work.
Now through all this, not all has been negative. My brother got married, I passed my board exams, went to Hawaii and Winnipeg. I learnt a lot about life, business and myself. I had the support of many friends and family. I realized how absolutely fantastic the people that surround me really are. I found strength within myself to tackle the Grouse Grind over 20 times. Sixteen of those times raising money for the BC Children's Hospital. I adopted Tugger from the BCSPCA. I moved out and made my apartment my own little heaven. I met Sean and have enjoyed spending time with him (though I'm quite gun shy... but maybe that's a good thing).
So to those people who have been in my life for the past year and a half while I slowly work things out, thank you. Whether I see you every day, once a week, once a month or whether we just crossed paths on our own journey. Thank you. Each and every one of you have brought a special something in my life. Whether you've given me strength, reminded me of a value I may have had but forgot about, taught me about the world, anything... what you brought into my life is immensely appreciated.

Now let the cooking begin!