by Krista | Mar 4, 2010 | Plucky Thursday
Tonight is my first night in my new apartment! I’m surrounded by boxes and cockeyed furniture and piles of pillows and I’m happy as can be. 🙂
Mums and I organized my kitchen on my lunch break, then she and Pa surprised me by working like troopers this afternoon hauling load after load from one place to other while I was at work. I couldn’t believe it!! There’s still much to be done but wow, they eased my burden tremendously. Then my friend Jon brought his truck around to cart over the way-too-heavy-for-me things – yay! Mid-packing Pa brought us burgers and that gave us the burst of energy we needed to accomplish our top three goals for this evening:
- Assemble the bed.
- Find my clothes. 🙂
- Clear one counter.
Now everyone is gone and the house is quiet save for the ticking of the clock. I’m back at my old place, clearing out my fridge and freezer, collecting toiletries and writing to you dear folks. 🙂
I’m afraid I have no lovely recipes to share, but I do have some pictures from around my new place. 🙂 I hope they delight you. 🙂
The view from my bedroom.
Another bedroom view.
The wild and wonderful creek.
Another view of the creek. I can’t wait to sit on the bank on sunny afternoons writing, reading, just looking.
Not to be outdone, my old apartment said farewell with a gorgeous sunset on my last night.
by Krista | Mar 3, 2010 | Compatriot Wednesday
Merciful heavens, am I ever tired. 🙂 Between physical therapy, moving and working two jobs, I am tuckered out! Thank goodness I’m not alone in this crazy life of mine or I’d be an absolute wreck. 🙂 Tonight Mums, my pal Deborah and I started moving, getting as many lighter things transferred before the menfolk arrive to haul the big stuff. Phew. It feels so good to get this process started. 🙂
Now I’m resting on the couch, icing my back, letting a glass of Riesling relax my aching self while I nibble on warm banana bread slathered with butter. 🙂 It’s so lovely to be sitting down! 🙂
Monday night I signed my lease papers and arrived at CEC with a shiny new key and a merry heart. 🙂
It was so great to see everyone, and we had a laugh at our crazy menu – the result of half the group thinking it was Soup Night and the other thinking it was Date Night. 🙂 Everything was cockeyed and any hope of proper courses was thrown to the wind. We didn’t mind a bit though, because we got to start with dessert first! 🙂
Selwyn made Chocolate Pecan Date Balls rolled in toasted coconut and we scarfed them down while the rest of the food was prepared.
Next up was my appetizer, Bacon-Wrapped Medjool Dates Stuffed with Blue Cheese. They were great, but next time I don’t care if the recipe calls for only half a slice of bacon per date, I’m going for a WHOLE! 🙂
Darren made crunchy, chewy Gluten-Free Parmesan Bread Sticks to go with the soups that weren’t quite ready, so we ate them with our wine instead and that worked out just dandy.
Mike brewed up creamy Tomato Soup with Colby Cheese – just perfect for dipping the breadsticks in.
Kat made a delicate Wonton Soup topped with sprouts and fresh basil.
Then we dug into Deb’s sprightly Moroccan Carrot Salad with Oranges and Medjool Dates.
We rounded out our feast with Toby’s piping hot Gluten-Free Cornbread Muffins.
Toby’s Cornbread Muffins
(From Recipe Zaar)
Ingredients:
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Spray muffin tin with nonstick spray or line with paper muffin cups.
- Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Stir well.
- Combine beaten egg, milk and melted butter (if using normal butter add less salt).
- Stir into the dry mixture and combine just until blended.
- Chopped jalapenos (from a tin) can also be added, as can chopped red pepper and/or tinned corn kernels.
- Scoop batter into prepared muffin pans.
- Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top of muffins before baking if desired.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes .
Krista’s Bacon Wrapped Medjool Dates Stuffed with Blue Cheese
(From All Recipes)
Ingredients:
1 pound sliced bacon, cut in half
1 pound pitted dates
4 ounces blue cheese
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Slice dates in half, and open them up. Pinch off pieces of blue cheese, and place them into the center of the dates. Close the halves of the dates, and wrap a half-slice of bacon around the outside. Secure each one with a toothpick.
- Arrange in a baking dish or on a baking sheet with sides to catch any grease.
- Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the bacon is crisp. Turn dates over after the first 20 minutes for even cooking.
Deborah’s Moroccan Carrot Salad with Oranges and Medjool Dates
(From Food and Wine)
Ingredients:
4 navel oranges, 1 orange zested and juiced
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
1 pound carrots, cut into 3-inch matchsticks
1/2 pound Medjool dates, pitted and thinly sliced lengthwise
Directions:
- In a medium bowl, whisk the orange and lemon juice with the zests, sugar, cinnamon, cumin and cayenne. Gradually whisk in the olive oil and season the dressing with salt.
- In a large bowl, toss the carrots with all but 2 tablespoons of the dressing and let stand at room temperature for 40 minutes.
- Using a very sharp knife, peel the remaining 3 oranges, carefully removing all of the bitter white pith. Cut in between the membranes, releasing the orange sections into the bowl with the remaining dressing. Add the dates and toss.
- Arrange the carrot salad on a platter, spoon the oranges and dates around it and serve.
Selwyn’s Chocolate Pecan Date Balls
Ingredients:
2 cups pecans
1 cup Medjool dates, pitted
6 Tbsp Special Dark Cocoa Powder
1/2 cup to 1 cup toasted coconut
Directions:
- Put pecans in a food processor and chop until fine and almost powdery.
- Add Medjool Dates and cocoa.
- Process until it is well blended in and sticking/clumping.
- Form into roughly tsp size balls and then coat in coconut.
Darren’s Gluten Free Bread Sticks with Parmesan
Make the Boule Recipe for dough, then flatten the bread, bake, top with parmesan and bake until cheese is toasted.
by Krista | Mar 2, 2010 | Autumn
This past fall I spent a lovely couple of weeks in Europe visiting my brother Ry, his girlfriend Melissa and our sister-in-law Kendra. After a jolly afternoon spent tasting our way through Volksfest in Stuttgart, Germany, we drove to Munich where Ry and Kendra were competing in a 10 km race the next morning.
We arrived very late, and even after our ravenous adventures at Volksfest, we were famished! We walked down a dark street bundled against the icy wind and found a little nook glowing with so much warmth and cheer that we simply had to go in. It was a Persian restaurant filled with happy diners hunkered over all sorts of intriguing dishes.
We secured a spot at one of the last open tables, our seats against a rugged brick wall made perfectly comfortable by the provision of velvet and tapestry pillows.
Dimly lit by jewel-toned lamps, the room felt as cozy as it looked with wine bottles tucked into nooks bordered by old books, the flatware resting in filigreed silver cups on each table, and sugar cubes were mounded in a gold footed bowl.
Even the simple paper placemats had beautiful burgundy scroll work to take them a step above ordinary.
We started with a large platter of stews: savory greens sprinkled with pomegranate seeds, spicy lentils, another legume dish, and cooling cucumber yogurt, all scooped up with warm slabs of flat bread. We nibbled on glossy olives and crisp cucumber spears, slurped a hearty soup, and dug into lamb kebab over saffron rice with a baked tomato. We ended our meal with sparkling water and Persian mint tea and leaned back in our seats sated, content, and happily sleepy.
Early next morning Melissa and I waved good-bye to Ry and Kendra from our oh-so-warm beds as they headed out to run the Munich 10-km race. While they were out hoofing it through the Olympic Park, Melissa and I had a great visit over a leisurely breakfast then made our way to the metro station, figured out how to get tickets and found our train. (It is always such a thrill to me to figure these things out and not get hopelessly bamboozled! :-)) The Olympic Park is a gorgeous place of lakes and canals with velvety green hills and big, leafy trees. We arrived in time to cheer and hoorah our runners – we were so proud of them!! 🙂
There’s talk of us training this year to join them in next year’s race! That sounds perfectly ghastly. 🙂
by Krista | Mar 1, 2010 | Bootstrap Monday
Thank you SO much for your encouragement and well wishes on Friday. Much to my surprise and delight, I found a new cozy little apartment that very morning before work! 🙂
It’s a lovely spot, clean as a whistle with new carpet, new tile and NO MOLD! Hooray! 🙂 It has a fireplace and a bright, cheery kitchen, a yellow forsythia is blooming by the front door, and – the best part of all – it is surrounded on two sides by trees, a meadow and a meandering creek. 🙂 It’s run by a kind elderly man who looks just like Santa Claus without a beard, and I feel safe. 🙂 It is peaceful, quiet and the perfect little nook for me. I’m so happy and grateful! 🙂
I confess I was a rather weepy girl on Saturday, overtired, hurting from my accident, and sorting through my things, deciding what to part with and what to keep. On an empty box run to Mum and Dad’s, Mums gave me a hug, sat me down with a gorgeous cup of tea and talked things through until I felt heaps better.
I realized my expectations of myself were far too high, so I brought them down to manageable levels and things got MUCH better. 🙂 I made dark hot chocolate, popped in Brit murder mysteries to listen to and got down to business. 🙂 I decided to use this move as a good time to downsize as much as possible, hanging onto only the things that matter most to me. Initially difficult, it has been tremendously freeing, a wonderful beginning to a fresh start.
In the spirit of new beginnings, I also got my hair lopped off! 🙂 My fabulous Auntie Janet snipped and scissored her way through my locks leaving me with a perky do that makes me feel quite saucy and chipper. 🙂
In between resting and packing, I also cooked up enough food to last me the week, starting with a Cauliflower Gratin. The ingredient list fascinated me with things like capers, honey, and cinnamon alongside tomatoes, garlic and onion. Crazy, yep, and utterly delicious. 🙂
While it cooked I dined on fresh squeezed orange juice and a slice of Quark Quiche studded with green chilies and sausage. And, much to my delight, I discovered that I am really, really excited about this next phase of my life. 🙂
Cauliflower Gratin with Tomatoes and Feta
(Adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone)
Ingredients:
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp cinnamon
5 fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced or one 15-oz can diced tomatoes
1 tsp honey
1 Tbsp capers, rinsed
salt and freshly milled pepper
1 large cauliflower, broken into florets
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2-4 ounces crumbled feta
Finely chopped fresh parsley
Directions:
- Preheat broiler and lightly oil a 2-quart gratin dish.
- Heat olive oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, oregano, and cinnamon and cook until the onion is wilted, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, cook for 7 minutes more, then add honey, capers and season with salt and pepper.
- Steam cauliflower for 5 minutes. Mix with sauce and pour into baking pan. Season with salt and pepper, squeeze lemon juice over top and add the feta.
- Place 5-6 inches under the broiler until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is beginning to brown, about 10 minutes.
- Garnish with parsley and serve.
- If you are assembling the gratin ahead of time, cover and bake it at 400 degrees until bubbling, about 20 minutes, then brown under broiler.
Easy Quark Quiche
(Adapted from the British Columbia Egg Marketing Board)
Ingredients:
2 cups sausage (or ham)
1 cup Quark
4 eggs
1/2 tsp dry mustard
3 Tbsp mild green chilies
1 green onion, sliced
Dash pepper
Directions:
- Fry sausage and drain.
- Combine with remaining ingredients and pour into greased 8-9 inch pan.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Serve warm.
by Krista | Feb 26, 2010 | Fabulous Friday
So last night I found out that…nope, let me back track.
2 years ago I moved into my fabulous country apartment that I love so much. Second floor, lots of windows, big open rooms, enormous kitchen, a wooden deck overlooking trees and fields. I fell in love at first sight. 🙂
A few months after moving in I started to get sick. Really, really sick. For the last year and a half I’ve been to numerous doctors, all of them running myriad tests before sitting me down gently and saying those oh-so-encouraging words: “We have no idea how to help you.”
Fast forward to this week. New doctor, same result, but instead of giving up she asked me what I thought it might be. I suggested that perhaps there was something in my apartment making me sick, perhaps I was allergic to mold. Well, turns out I was right. I am allergic to mold and the apartment building is apparently riddled with the stuff and as of last night I have to move. Ack!
My first response was to immediately think of everything that had to be done, which, of course, completely overwhelmed me and made me want to find a soft spot to hide with a blanket over my head. So I did what I always do when I’m similarly bamboozled: I cook. 🙂
I popped in a Hercule Poirot mystery cd, collected bananas, a treasured bar of Scharffenberger dark chocolate, and other assorted ingredients, and mixed up enough batter for two loaves of whole wheat banana bread. Within thirty minutes my Evil, Naughty, Moldy Apartment smelled perfectly heavenly, and I forgave her for all the misery she’s caused me. 🙂
Then I scoured Craig’s List and have a few options that I’ll be checking out today. Phew!
So in the spirit of “when one door closes, another one opens” I will share with you some of my favorite Italian door photos. 🙂 I will not, however, be sharing a photo of the banana bread because, in all the kafuffle, I neglected to take one. Grrr. 🙂
The entrance to an Italian villa I stayed in last spring.
A door in Perdifumo, Italy
A door in Laureana, Italy
A door in the abandoned home of a runaway countess in Laureana, Italy
A rather rundown, but lovely doorway in Laureana, Italy
An artist’s doorway in Laureana, Italy
Banana Bread with Dark Chocolate Chunks
(Adapted from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking)
Ingredients:
1/2 stick unsalted butter (I used salted. Next time I’m using oil and apple sauce for moisture)
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3)
1/4 cup honey (I used agave syrup)
2 large eggs
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I used ground almonds)
I added 1/4 cup desiccated coconut and 1 bar dark chocolate, chopped
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans.
- Beat together butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth. Add the banana, honey, and eggs, beating until smooth. Add the flour and nuts, stirring until smooth.
- Spoon batter into prepared pans and let rest at room temperature, uncovered, for ten minutes.
- Bake the bread for 40 minutes then lay a piece of foil gently across the top, and bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 10-15 minutes more.
- Remove bread from oven and allow to cool 10 minutes before turning it out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely.
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