J'aime...

Some things I love right now...

all these little cups



This Super Mario plant sprouting on the sill.

And most importantly....

This awesome Nina Simone video. I'm kind of obsessed with her right now. She's so Beautiful.
(Wait for minute 2:40)

Brazilian Black Bean Soup

This is one of my all time favorites. The perfect winter dish to make you feel like you're eating sun and southern latitudes. It also makes for a great dip when its cold.

Ingredients:
About 3 cups cooked black beans
1tbs. olive oil
3 cups chopped onion
10 medium cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp. cumin
2-2.5 tsp salt
1 medium carrot, diced
1 medium bell pepper, also diced
1,2 cups orange juice, diced ;)
black pepper, to taste
cayenne, to taste
2 medium tomatoes, diced (optional) ( the tomatoes, not the dicing. I've tried both with and without tomatoes and it's delicious either way)

Toppings: Sour cream, fresh cilantro, salsa, tortilla chips

Directions:

Heat/boil black beans

Heat olive oil in a medium skillet. Add onion, half the garlic, cumin, salt, and carrot. Saute over medium heat until the carrot is just tender. Add remaining garlic and the bell pepper. Saute until everything is very tender ('bout 10-15 minutes more). Add the saute mixture to the big pot of beans.

Stir in the OJ, black pepper, cayenne and optional tomatoes. Puree the soup. I recommend a mixer staff. They're great. Just don't stick your fingers in it. I did it once while making Humus in Spain and nearly cut my finger off. Simmer over low heat for another 10 to 15 minutes. Top with salsa, sour cream, cilantro, and tortilla chips.

Enjoy.

Salsa Recipe

3 medium size ripe tomatoes
2 scallions finely minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
Lots of cilantro, minced
1 tsp salt.
1 tbs. fresh lime juice
1tbs vinegar.
1 tbs. olive oil

Squeeze all the seeds and liquid out of the tomatoes. Chop. Mix. So good and fresh. You'll never want to eat the supermarket jar crap again.

Source: Mollie Katzem The New Moosewood Cookbook

In honor of this recipe, here's video with my favorite Brazillans, CSS. Their video makes me so happy every time I hear it. Eat and dance my friends.

Fresh Tomato Sauce (rulz)

This summer I went back to Ontario and spent a day visiting friends in Guelph, the town of my undergrad and a place that gets me irrationally nostalgic. It is also home to a really great place called "The Bookshelf" which is a cafe/bookstore/bar/ cinema. I basically spent 4 years in that building since it provides everything I need for life. On my last trip there I bought the coolest pioneer book ever called Country Wisdom & Know-How: Everything You Need to Know to Live Off the Land. It doesn't come with a bonnet and butter churn, but it might as well. This book is life changing and covers such timeless topics as how to properly skin a rabbit, roofing your horse barn, and proper incubation techniques for duck eggs. It also has a lovely cooking section.

I made the fresh tomato sauce recipe and immediately swore never to buy the pre-made stuff again. Sadly, after contemplating getting rid of all my furniture to make room for a deep freeze solely for frozen tomato sauce preservation, I realized that this might have to be a summer treat. It rulz. Seriously.


Ingredients:

2 Pounds or about 6 medium ripe tomatoes
2 Tbsp extra-virgin oilve oil
1 sweet onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic (or as much as you can handle), crushed
1 Fistful of fresh basil including flowers
2-3 Tbsp fresh oregano
1 Fistful fresh parsley
1-2 Tbsp honey
salt 'n pepper to taste



Do it:

With a sharp knife, make a shallow cross-shaped cut in the bottom of each tomato.
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Turn off the heat and drop the tomatoes into the water and let stand until the skin looks baggy. Remove tomatoes and let them stand until a little cool (or else they feel like pain-filled hot water grenades when you try and remove the skin), and then just peel off the skin with you hands. Discard skins (or place them all over your face and play "Hannibal hiding in the closet" with a friend). Coarsely chop tomatoes, reserving any juice.

In a sauce pan, saute onions and garlic until somebody says "hey...that smells good". Add tomatoes and juice. Stir in honey. In a blender or food processor (what I hope to get for my b-day. Hint hint.) blend herbs and contents of the sauce pan until desired smoothness is achieved. Return everything to the sauce pan, and add salt, pepper and perhaps even more garlic, herbs, honey, love (if possible).



Serve over fresh spelt pasta with kale, carrots, spinach, chickpeas and asiago, or just drink it directly out of the pan. There's no shame in that.

***Oma's tip for this recipe: Don't forget to share with your baby gorilla, and why don't you call more often (sorry Oma).

M & H Bagels!!!!

The Goldsteins got together to make bagels!!!! For me, bagels have always been the food of NYC. Magical food for a magical place. I never ever thought you could make bagels on your own. But my sister has made some and so we gave it a go. They were the delicious. As soon as we started eating the N train came through our window, Woody Allen started to complain, hipsters were too cool, Williamsburg jews appeared, the Mets moved in after their final year at Shea, the leaves on the London Plane Trees started to turn and we wondered how they'd light up the Empire State Building that night, and we all spoke Yiddish.


Homemade bagel recipe

Ingredients:
4 cups bread flour
1 Tbls sugar
1 1/2 tsps salt
1 Tbls vegetable oil
2 tsps instant yeast, or pack of fresh yeast.
1-1/4- 1-1/2 cups of warm water.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. The dough should feel stiff, but add the extra water if it's really stiff, or you can't get all the dry flour incorporated.
Plop the dough down onto the counter, and knead for about ten minutes, or until the dough is uniform and smooth.
Cut the dough into 8 equal sized balls, and let rest for 10-20 minutes.
Pre heat your oven to 425.
Now, take each of the dough balls and using two hands, roll it into a little snake on the counter. When the snake is longer than the width of your two hands, wrap it around your dominant roiling hand. The dough rope should be wrapped so the overlapping ends are together at your palm, near the start of your fingers. Now take the two overlapping ends, and use your palm to squish/roll these two ends together. Once the dough is fused, you should have a perfectly circular bagel-to-be!
Let your bagels rest on the counter for about 20 minutes, and meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil, and grease a large baking tray lightly. You can just rub a splash of vegetable oil and rub it around.
After the 20 minute wait, your bagels will start to look puffy, and it's time to get them boiling! Add them as many at a time as you can to your boiling water without crowding them. Boil for about a minute, turn them over, and boil for another minute. Take them out a let dry for a minute and then place them on your oiled baking tray. Repeat until all the bagels are boiled.

Add the tray to the oven, and after 10 minutes, flip the bagels over, bake for another ten minutes; and they're done!
Let them cool for at least 20 minutes.

You can add any toppings you like to these. To make sesame, onions, poppy seed, caraway etc. etc. bagels just have a dry plate ready with the seed or spice topping spread out on it. After the bagels have come out of the boiling water, place them face down onto the seeds, and then place the seed side up onto the baking tray. Bake and flip as for plain bagels.

This is such a great simple recepie. Original can be found here.

that's just souper! and salad

    

This is one tasty tomato soup! It is so creamy - but to the delight of vegans or lactose intolerants there is no cream or dairy to be found. Read on to find out the secret 'creamy' ingredient ...

As for the salad, there is nothing I enjoy more than a fresh bowlful of tabbouleh; the best I have ever come across is made in the High Level Diner restaurant in Edmonton - a lovely spot with tabbouleh so green and zesty it will knock the wool socks off your feet and the fleece scarf off your face.

Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

1 medium onion, chopped medium (about 1 cup)

3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed (about 1 tablespoon)

Pinch hot red pepper flakes

1 bay leaf

2 (28 ounce) cans whole tomatoes (important: do not use diced or halved as they usually include calcium chloride and do not break down as well)

1 tablespoon brown sugar

3 large slices of good quality white sandwich bread, crusts removed and torn or cut into 1-inch pieces*

2 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth

2 tablespoons brandy (optional)

Table salt and ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

*So, the bread is used here because dairy products dull the taste of the tomatoes, while adding nothing at all leaves the soup tasting too sharp - the bread thickens the soup, cuts the sharpness, and leaves the soup silky and tomatoey

Directions:

1. heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large pot over medium high heat until the oil shimmers. add to this the onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, and bay leaf. Cook, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent (around 3 to 5 minutes). Stir in the tomatoes and their juice. Using a potato masher, take out your aggression on the poor tomatoes (smash smash smash) until no large pieces remain. Stir in the sugar and the bread; bring the soup to a boil (DO NOT add the broth yet ... be patient little cooks). Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until bread is completely saturated and begins to break down, about 5 minutes. Remove and discard bay leaf.

2. transfer half the soup to a blender. Add one tablespoon of oil and blend until soup is smooth and creamy. Transfer to a large bowl and repeat with the remaining soup and oil. Rinse out the soup pot and return the blended soup to the pot. Now add the broth and the brandy (if using, and only if you haven't finished off the bottle while cooking the soup). Return the soup to a boil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve the soup, sprinkle with chives and drizzle with olive oil. Serve alongside crusty tasty bread, I used fresh greek flax bread when I made it the first time. 

From: Alt, Keji. J.Cook's Illustrated. Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup. October, 2008.

I cannot rave about this soup enough, I don't even like tomato soup but I could guzzle an entire pot of this. It is especially good when eaten with the following tabbouleh salad ...

Tabbouleh Salad

2 cups couscous

2 cups vegetable broth
3 cups chopped flat-leaf parsley*
1/2 cup chopped mint
4 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 large cucumbers, chopped
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

*This may seem like an excessive amount of parsely, but I like parsley - you got a problem with that?

Directions:

1. Add the couscous to the boiling vegetable broth, stir with a fork, remove from heat and cover. Allow the couscous to sit covered for five minutes, then fluff with fork. Set aside to cool. 

2. Once the couscous has cooled add the rest of the ingredients. Put in fridge until cold. Add extra olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste, top each serving with a kalamata olive. Serve and enjoy

   

Country Bread

Ingredients:

Day 1

25 g fresh yeast

3 dl rye flour (rågsikt - a mix of rye and white flour)

3 dl water

Day 3

7dl water

1/2 dl oil

1 tbl. sp. salt

2.5 liter (about 1.4kg) rye flour

Day 1

Crumble the fresh yeast in a bowl. Mix it with luke warm water (37 C). Mix in the flour. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let stand at room temperature for about 48 hours (less is fine). After 24 hours add another 1/2 dl of flour.

Day 3

Mix the first dough with lukewarm water, oil, salt, and flour. Kneed the dough into a smooth dough, first in the bowl and then on a table with flour on it. Let rise under a kitchen towel for one hour. Gently kneed the dough on a table with flour. 

Make two big round loaves. Put the dough on an oven tray covered with oil or baking paper. Let rise again for 30 mins. under a kitchen towel. Make some cuts in the bread with a sharp knife. 

Let the bread bake in the oven for 45 mins. (Set the oven for 250 C. When you put the bread in the oven lower the temperature to 200 C). 

Let the bread cool on a metal rack under a kitchen towel. 

(source: Lindgren, Barbro & Andrews, Birgitta (ed.), Vår kokbok, Raben Prisma, Finland, 1994)

 My dad and I baking bread when I was a kid

Cendrine's Sesame Delight

Our friend Cendrine was here on a visit from Israel. She is doing her Ph.D. in Public Health and her research is tied to my old work, the Suicide Center (National Prevention of Suicide and Mental Ill-Health at Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm County Council's Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental Ill-Health (you can see why I call it the Suicide Center)). She made this great and simple desert based on sesame seeds. 

Ingredients:

halva

tahini

vanilla ice-cream

Serve and enjoy. Don't be afraid to go heavy on the tahini. Cendrine brought organic whole wheat (?) tahini. We had a great time and Cendrine also told us about her organic food co-op in Israel. And cooked us a delicious chicken with a ton of herbs. 

"For me, loving food is being alive"

Halva and Tahini

pioneer arms (strawberry rhubarb jam)

I finally made jam this Sunday after months of hoarding strawberries and rhubarb like an OCD pioneer woman. I’ve been making jam for a few years now and after browsing the old www for recipe ideas I have found that there are only 2 real rules. Jam = fruit and sugar boiled to oblivion AND make sure you properly sterilize and can everything properly (i.e. keep everything HOT). Maybe a third tip would be don’t worry about giving everybody you know botulism, if you sterilize and make sure all the seals have worked you should be fine. I swear, reading too much about canning will never make you want to do it, there is a lot of paranoia out there. Jam is so fun to make and it is the best gift for hipsters and old world German uncles alike

Ingredients:

15 cups organic rhubarb
15 cups local strawberries
11 cups organic cane sugar
Juice from 2 organic lemons
Zest from half an organic lemon (make sure the skin is not waxed)

Tools:

2 very large pots (I used a 7 litre copper bottomed beauty I picked up for 5 bucks at a garage sale for the jam, and a huge 16 litre monster I got for 3 bucks from a friend)
Wooden spoon
Ladle
Mason jars
Snap lids and Rings (Rings can be used, but all literature says that snap lids must be new)
Tongs
Oven proof bowl
Jar lifter (will make your life so much easier)
Potato masher (optional)

Disclaimer:

If you are a first time canner, make sure you do some reading before you start. Generally, the sugar to fruit ratio is about 2:3, but that all changes if you use pectin or other sweeteners like apple juice (I have yet to do this). I didn’t exactly follow this ratio for this recipe, because as I was tasting the jam during the whole process it tasted sweet enough to me (also, 11 cups of sugar felt excessive) Also, I have only used the boiling water method, but steam-pressure canners also exist. Boiling times for jar sterilization and canning differ depending on your altitude; at sea level the general rule is 10 minutes. I’m not an expert, so do a little research and get boiling.

Process (the n-1, n and n+1):

Thoroughly wash all fruit, hull strawberries and chop them and the rhubarb into small pieces. These can be frozen for a long time in freezer bags for canning later.

Defrost all frozen ingredients. Put the rhubarb in the smaller pot with all the sugar, mix and let sit while you thoroughly wash all your tools in hot soapy water, including all jars, lids and rings. The rhubarb will absorb the sugar and start to break down a little. Turn the heat to high and allow rhubarb to boil for a few minutes. Add the strawberries, lemon juice and zest (warning: make sure you leave a few inches of room at the top of the pot, when this baby starts to boil, it will rise. You can always transfer the mixture to two pots and then reunite them when the jam has boiled down). Use potato masher to break down the strawberries if you’re into that kind of thing (i.e. chunky jam).

Boil the mixture at medium high (should be bubbling constantly) for a few hours, stir often (this activity is a life commitment so be prepared!), and keep skimming the foam off the top. The jam should start to thicken and its level should drop over time. To check the thickness of the jam, take a small spoonful, place it on a plate and put it in the freezer for a few minutes. Once cooled, this should indicate the thickness of the jam. The longer you boil the thicker it will get.

When the jam is reaching its desired thickness (for me this took about 2 hours), turn down the heat, get out the bigger pot, fill it with water and put in your empty jar and rings (NOT the snap lids though!). Boil on high (rolling boil) for at least 10 minutes. Boil some water in a kettle. Put snap lids in the oven proof bowl. When kettle boils, let it stand for a few minutes and then pour the hot water on the lids (these need to remain hot during this process, so you may need to add more hot water).

Once you have sterilized your jars and rings, remove a jar from the pot with tongs, use a ladle to fill the hot jar with hot jam (the jam must be kept hot), leaving a head space of about ½ inch from the top of the jar. Use a clean cloth to wipe any spillage from the jar’s rim (this will compromise the seal), and then use the tongs to remove a hot snap lid from the oven proof bowl. Place the lid on the jar, and the ring around the lid. Tighten until you just meet resistance with your finger tips (do not over tighten).

Repeat this process with all the jars in the pot. Use jar lifter to put filled jars back into the pot of water and boil on high again for another 10-12 minutes. Remove jars from the hot water and leave them up-right for 24 hours. If the seal forms you will hear satisfying little popping sounds coming from your jars as the seal is created (my favourite part). Repeat this whole process until all the jam is in jars.

If a seal doesn’t form apparently you can try re-canning the jar with a new snap lid, but I would read up on this. This time, only 1 of my jars didn’t seal, so I just stuck it in the fridge to be eaten right away.

Every good jammer needs an enthusiastic helper

This whole process took me 7 hours so here’s what I listened to:

“Blueberry Boat”- Fiery Furnaces
“Wire Tap” (Theme: the universe) - CBC Radio 1
“The Inside Track” (Theme: Ping pong schools in China)- CBC Radio 1
“Writers and Company” (Theme: Scottish Writers)- CBC Radio 1
“Dispatches” (Theme: India; the nano car, Pan and IT)- CBC Radio 1
“C’est La Vie” (Theme: Partie Pris; the separatist movement in Quebec in the 60’s and 70’s)- CBC Radio 1

What can I say, I love public radio. And jam. And you.

* Oma’s Tip for this Recipe *
Keep everything HOT, do your homework, and nice girls get married before living with a significant other.

tiger cake and rain

It finally rained here so I decided to bake this classic Swedish "tigerkaka". And I've also been listening to Final Fantasy a lot. 

50 g butter or margarine

1.25 dl milk

2 eggs

2 dl sugar

3 dl flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla sugar or some vanilla extract

2 tbl sp cacao

bread crumbs

Turn on the oven to 175 C. Butter and bread a cake form. Melt the fat and add the milk. It's ok if it's a bit warm. 

Beat the eggs and sugar. Add the milk and melted butter and the vanilla sugar. Mix in flour and baking powder. Pour 2/3 of the batter to the cake form. Add the cacao to the remaining batter as well as 1 tbl sp water. Drizzle the new chocolate batter into the first one. 

Bake in the lower part of the oven for 35-40 mins. Let the cake cool off some before you take it out of its form. 

(source: Lindgren, Barbro & Andrews, Birgitta (ed.), Vår kokbok, Raben Prisma, Finland, 1994.)

Here are two videos to the same Final Fantasy song. They're both so nice (and they both have cities in them!). Especially with raindrops on your window and some nice tiger cake. 

red and green gazpacho

It's been so warm out that gazpacho has been a popular choice. And eating two different soups at the same time is both fun and colorful, as well as colorful and fun. More flavor than a bag of candy. 

GREEN

1/2 cucumber (about 20 cm)

1 green pepper

1-1.5 green chili

5 lime leafs

1 dl fresh coriander

1 garlic clove

1 squeezed lime

1 tbl. sp. rice vine vinegar

1 tbl. sp. sugar in the raw

salt carefully

RED

4dl strawberries

1/2 red chilli

2 tomatoes

1/2 cucumber

1/2 red apple

1. tbl. sp. sugar in the raw

1 dl water

salt and pepper carefully

4 tbl. sp. champagne or ginger ale added at time of serving (if using ginger ale exclude sugar). 

Combine all ingredients (in blender or with mixer staff) and cool in fridge. Serve and enjoy. 

[Recipe adapted from Sjöö, Björn and Sjöö, Kristina, Matkultur: Världens Kök, Max Ström, China, 2006.] 

basil ice-cream

The last time I made this was for a good-bye dinner for my friends before I moved from Stockholm to Portland, OR. It tastes even better now than it did then! 

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1.5 dl white sugar

3 dl cream (40% fat - yum!)

1.5 tsp. vanilla sugar or some drops of vanilla extract to taste

1 dl of basil leaves

Separate yolks and whites. Whisk the yolks with sugar until its white and slushy. Whisk the whites well. Whip the cream together with the vanilla sugar until its nice whipped cream (but don't overdo it. You don't want to make butter!). Chop the basil leaves finely and mix add them to the bowl with the yokes. Add the whipped cream and egg whites carefully. Place in a container (or ice-cream machine) in the freezer for at least 6 hours. I found that the ice-cream tasted even better after 24 hours. Then the basil had really infused itself. Don't be afraid to really add lots and lots of basil. It's not the most common ice-cream flavor but the basil is so fresh and sweet. Serve with extra basil leaves (and do eat them. They're not just garnish.).

(source: recipe leaflet from konsum store)

I used basil that my mom grows on her balcony. So fresh and local!

Can You Feel the Beet (Pesto)?

Ingredients:

½ kg beets

2 dl grated parmesan cheese

1 dl olive oil

1 dl peeled almonds

1 garlic clove

ground black pepper

1 tsp. salt

1 tbl sp lemon juice

 

Boil the beets and then peel them by hand under cold running water. To peel the almonds boil them in water for a few minutes and after that you can just kind of squeeze them out of their skins. Combine all the ingredients (cut the beets into smaller pieces) and blend in a food processor or with a mixer staff.

 

Serve with pasta. Pretend you’re eating your meal with Lisa Lisa ca 1985. In her video she wore purpleredish gloves, top, and  headband at different times. And her date takes her to a diner called roast beet. We all know what vegetable kept the Miami/NYC freestyle scene pumpin’.

 [Recipe from Sjöö, Björn and Sjöö, Kristina, Matkultur: Världens Kök, Max Ström, China, 2006.]  

little ears, big stomach

this tasty summertime pasta dish is traditionally made with orecchiette pasta, which means 'little ears' in italian - I have used corkscrew cavatappi noodles here, which are equally as delicious ...

Ingredients

1 package (500g)  of orecchiette pasta (or any pasta that you like, though I would not use long pastas like linguini or spaghetti as they will not hold the sauce)

4 cups of arugula, spinach, or any variety of mixed greens

10 (or to taste) sun-dried tomato pieces packed in oil, chopped (you could also use olives as an alternative or as an addition - the key to both is the NaCl)

1/4 to 1/2 a cup of feta cheese (cow or goat) or any kind of soft goat cheese - i love the Macedonian feta from the Parthenon deli in Vancouver, but I am not sure if it can be found elsewhere?)

1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup of flat-leaf italian parsley and/or basil

pepper and salt to taste

Instructions

• put a large pot of water on to boil
• cook the pasta, 8-10 minutes or until pasta is cooked but still has a bite to it
• drain the pasta but reserve 1 to 1 1/2 cups of the pasta water for later

• in a medium bowl combine the greens, feta, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, most of the parsley, and most of the parmesan cheese (leaving a little of each of the last two for garnish)
  

• top the above mixture with the hot pasta, add the reserved pasta water a 1/2 cup at a time, combine the ingredients adding the hot water until the desired 'sauce' consistency is reached 
• finish the dish off with salt, pepper, parsley, and parmesan cheese

• serve with crusty buns
• stuff in your gob and enjoy

stay tuned for a Kaslo Caswell cook-off coming later this week

midnight tea

This recipe was inspired by the mint patch in my Oma's old backyard on Shaw street in downtown Toronto. I kind of made it up a few weeks ago during a rare and lovely hot spell in Vancouver and have been making it every few days since. I like this recipe because you can modify it to taste, and experiment with different teas/herbs/ types of honey and thus it nerdily makes me feel like a witch when I "brew" it.

Midnight tea is best made before bed (and easily fits into a nighttime regime!) so that the ginger can soak in the tea overnight for an added zing for days to come. This is my first time writing a recipe so here goes:

Ingredients

Roughly 1 litre of tap water

4-6 "thumbs" worth of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped into 2 cm chunks

1 tea ball/ bag dried chamomile flowers (easily found at progressive grocers)

1 tea ball/bag jasmine or jasmine green tea

2 c. loosely packed fresh mint leaves (including tips)

4 wooden spoonfulls honey (4-6 tbsp.)

Instructions for tea (and bed)

Put tap water and ginger into a pot, cover and boil on high for 2-3 minutes (brush teeth). Add tea bags/ balls (insert joke while doing so), turn down heat to a simmer, uncover, and let jasmine steep for 5 minutes and chamomile steep for 10 minutes (floss, get into jammies). Add mint leaves and make sure all are sumbmerged. Let them soak for about 10-12 minutes. Leaves will turn a dark greenish grey (wash face, brush hair 100 strokes, arrange teddy bears on bed, etc). Remove all leaves (but not the ginger!) and add honey with wooden spoon for more witchy effect. Turn off the heat. Leave the pot on the stove covered and let ginger soak overnight (get someone to read you a bedtime story). In the morning, remove all ginger chunks from the pot and transfer tea to a 2 litre glass bottle or jar (apple cider bottles work well). Add an additional liter of tap water. Chill. Drink up, its hot out.

*Oma's tips for this recipe*

Don't let mint soak for too long or it will turn bitter. Nice girls never go to bed with dirty feet.

scalded rye bread

Today I baked bread and borrowed a RUN-DMC album from the library.

skållat rågbröd – scalded rye bread

day 1

1l (aprox. 500 g) rye flour
7dl water

Boil water and pour it over the flour in a bowl. Mix well. Place a moist cloth towel over the bowl to keep the dough moist. Let stand for 11-12 hours or over night.

day 2

100 g fresh yeast (or equivalent in dry form (two satchels??))
2 tbl. sp. water
3 tbl sp molasses
2 tsp salt
aprox. 9 dl wheat flour (white)

Dissolve the yeast in luke warm water. Add molasses, salt, and additional flour. Work the dough on a tabletop with flour on it. Knead the dough. It's kind of sticky at first. Make two loaves. Let rise under cloth towel for an hour or until cracks start to form on the bread. Place in oven (175 C.) for aprox. 1 hour. Towards the end gently brush with some water and oil for color. Let cool in a cloth.

(source: Agnsäter, Anna-Britt(ed.), vår kokbok, raben och sjögren, Stockholm, 1973.)

energy salad

My mom and I made an energy salad (energisallad) for lunch on Saturday.

ENERGY SALAD

1 carrot in thin match like shapes

1/6 cabbage head

10 cm of leek in thin strands

½ dl fresh algae (or dried soaked in water for 10 mins.)

1 sliced avocado

1 dl sprouts (lentil or some other kind)

1 dl fresh snap peas

8 strawberries in slices

8 asparagus stalks (boiled)

MIX 'EM

 

DASHI DRESSING

 

½ dl fish sauce (or other salty veg. sauce)

1 dl water

1 tbl. sp. rice wine vinegar

1 tbl. sp. finely chopped ginger

1 shredded nori sheet

 

Boil all the ingredients. Let stand for 10 minutes. Strain the dressing and pour over the salad. (We had some quinoa left over from the day before which we added to the salad. 

 

[Recipe from Sjöö, Björn and Sjöö, Kristina, Matkultur: Världens Kök, Max Ström, China, 2006.] 

My mom enjoying our lunch (and wearing white!)

And my mom's friend's niece Sara was our guest.

goodbye gazpacho

welcome to eat this!

this blog is a collaboration between three friends - max, meg, and kaitlin - planning school graduates located in stockholm and vancouver. we came together through a mutual love of dancing, cities, robots, food, bikes, and mouth trombones. 

our intention is to share our favourite recipes, to celebrate food and cities, and to keep in touch with each other.

_________________________________________________

this first post is dedicated to max. who inspired this blog, and us. come back soon.

Goodbye Gazpacho

we enjoyed this cold soup as our last supper before max flew the coop

Ingredients:

1 can of tomato sauce (15 oz)                                       

2 tbsp red-wine vinegar

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp honey

   

1 cucumber, coaresly chopped    

1 tomato, cut into 1/2-inch dice

1/2 a green pepper, coarsely chopped

1/2 a red pepper, coarsely chopped

1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped

2 tbsp minced red onion

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 tsp hot sauce

pepper and salt to taste

To Make:

Combine -- tomato sauce, vinegar, oil and honey in a large bowl 

Drink --a refreshing beer or glass of sangria (optional)

Stir -- in all the remaining ingredients

Refrigerate -- in a covered container or bowl until chilled (around three hours or around 5 minutes as we did - still tasty)

Garnish -- with parsley, basil and/or dill, and homemade croutons

Serve -- alongside salad, crusty bread, and square cubes of cheese

Stuff -- it in your mouth

*For Salad: combine favorite garden things, add the dressing your tongue and stomach like best and enjoy

recipe from: Mitchell, P. (2004). "A Beautiful Bowl of Soup: the best vegetarian recipes", San Francisco: Chronicle Books