Where did the weekend go?

Apparently all the cooking I haven't been doing over the last little while caught up with me. I spent the better part Sunday morning, afternoon and early evening cooking up all kinds of meals, soups and veggies for the coming weeks. So much in fact, that I have run out of plastic containers to store them all.

Before I get to the stuff I cooked yesterday, I still need tell you about one of my favourite curry dishes. Why sent me this recipe in 2000 (oh my god - I cannot believe it was that long ago!). Meant to post this last week after making a batch, but kept forgetting the recipe at home. I love this dish. It's so easy, it smells wonderful, it's filling and tastes better every day. Haven't been able to find the equivalent online. (Maybe Why can help out ...)

Chick Pea Curry

2 onions, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp oil
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp paprika
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp ground coriander
2 x 439g cans chick peas, drained and rinsed
440g diced tomatoes
1 tsp garam masala

Heat oil in a medium pan. Add onion and garlic to pan; cook over medium heat, stirring, until soft. Add chili powder, salt, turmeric, paprika, cumin and coriander. Stir over heat 7 minutes. Add the chick peas and undrained tomatoes; stir until combined. Simmer, covered, over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the garam masala. Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Delicious wrapped inside a warm flour tortilla (or also a pita).

Note from me: I also like to add mushrooms to this. And by the way, the quantities for the tomatoes and chick peas don't have to be exactly those indicated. I usually use one can of chickpeas and 1 big can of the tomatoes and it all works out fine.

Have I told you yet that I love you?

Cashmere, that is. I recently purchased my first cashmere sweater (yes, first, and I still can't believe it's taken me 37 years to start wearing cashmere). I feel like I've been wearing 100% polyester all my life and suddenly nothing else will do but cashmere.

Here's why:
it's soft (it feels "like butter")
it's warm (especially in horribly cold places like Montreal)
it's light weight (doesn't add 10lbs to me when I wear it)
it's dressy (can wear it to work)
it's casual (can wear it with jeans)

So, I think I need more cashmere in my wardrobe. Like, underwear too maybe, if that were possible (is it?). Or how about sheets? Definitely a shawl, a blanket, more turtleneck sweaters, mittens, gloves ... I could go on.

Where Am I?

Snow + Extreme cold = Nefertitia hibernates

Who Farted?

I don't know which one of the five guys immediately surrounding me it was, but one of them might be interested to know that the other people at the gym may not appreciate his stench making abilities. Some people (i.e. me) have a pretty weak stomach first thing in the morning and find the hideous odour of farts quite nauseating. Honestly, try working out another muscle - like the ones in your butt and hold in those foul farts.

Spa Therapy

Last Friday I was lucky enough to take the afternoon off work and indulge in a little spa therapy (even better, it was at someone else's expense!). The people at Spa Diva treated me f-i-n-e.

And how did I indulge myself you may ask? By having a 50-minute facial, followed by a Chocolate Body Wrap.

Can you hear me laughing??? I still can’t believe I was lucky enough to get this kind of treatment!

When I first found out that the facial was 50-minutes, I thought for sure I’d be bored after about 10. I can now safely tell you that this was not the case. Quite the opposite in fact. I wish it could have been longer, I wish the facial-lady could have done more wonderful things to my face. Who knew?! Looks like there’s a new area of the touchy-feely business for me to get hooked on.

Following the heavenly facial, I was bundled off for my chocolate body wrap. I’ve had a body wrap before (seaweed) and found that to be pretty decadent (if a little fishy/sushi smelling). I loved the way my skin felt after the wrap. This chocolate wrap was great too. Imagine having somebody exfoliate your body from shoulders to ankles with sea salt, then slather you in melted chocolate, wrap you up in plastic, cover you with a heavy heated blanket and let you simmer for 15 minutes. I kid you not – if I could have licked the stuff off me, I think I would’ve. It smelled that good. After 15 minutes you rinse it all off and then go home smelling like chocolate! All I did for the rest of the day was sniff myself. And soft skin? My, oh my, oh my! My skin has never felt so smooth, so soft, so ... so ... I don’t even know how to explain it other than "soft" but that just doesn’t come close to how soft my skin was. Do you get the idea?

Suffice it to say it was a great afternoon. I need more afternoons/days/weekends like that.

Julie/Julia Project

You may have noticed from the links to the right here that I have recently read Julie & Julia. It was light and entertaining. It was also quite an ambitious project for anyone to take on, let alone an amateur cook. Well done, Julie. You rock!

My mother’s own copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking has been in her kitchen as long as I can remember. I have picked it up to skim through a couple of times over the years. But I have never, ever been remotely inspired to take on the entire book. Not in a lifetime, let alone a year! You’ve inspired me to maybe, perhaps “borrow” my mom’s copy for an extended period of time to see what’s in there that does interest me and advancing my own skills in the kitchen ...

Dinner party anyone?!

Yes, they really are that good

Here we are. Last cookie for this year. Or is that last year? Whatever – it’s the sixth and last type of cookie/bar/candy/thing that I made for Christmas 2006.

Don’t really remember if I saw this being made on a cooking show or just read about it. Whichever it is – I like to say that these are now my signature Christmas cookies. (Chocolate chip being my rest-of-the-year signature cookie). They do take a little bit of time to make. But other than that they are surprisingly easy and un-fussy to make. Really – they are to die for. My brothers have been known to steal them right before my eyes, while I’m preparing their own individual bag-o’-cookies (you know who you are, Muddler). Married men have proposed to me after tasting these cookies (well, they’ve proposed to me at other times too, but maybe those are stories for another post).

May I introduce you to ...

Brutti ma Buoni (translation – Ugly but Gooooood)

4 egg whites
1 cup granulated sugar (250 mL)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (50 mL)
1 teaspoon vanilla (5 mL)
2 cups coarsely chopped Toblerone chocolate (500 mL)
2 tablespoons icing sugar (25 mL)

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC).

Line 2 rimless baking sheets with parchment paper or foil; grease foil. Set aside.

In large heatproof bowl over pot of gently simmering water, cook egg whites with sugar, whisking occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until opaque. Remove from heat. With electric mixer, beat for about 7 minutes or until cool, thick and glossy. Fold in flour and vanilla; fold in chocolate.

Drop by heaping tablespoons (15 mL) onto prepared pans. Bake in top and bottom thirds of oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until light brown, rotating and switching pans halfway through. Let cool on racks. Sprinkle with icing sugar. (Make-ahead: Store in airtight container for up to 3 days.)

Yield: 24 cookies

There you have it. Hopefully next year I will not wait until 2 days before Christmas to start my baking.

Molasses Spice Crisps

These cookies are a little fiddly to make, but absolutely worth it! They taste great and I will even drink a whole glass of milk just to dunk them. Thanks to Martha.

Molasses Spice Crisps

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup solid vegetable shortening (this makes my heart jump every year)
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 large egg
¼ cup unsulfured molasses (what is this unsulfured business? I just use whatever molasses I can find at the grocery store. Seems to work fine.)

Pre-heat oven to 375º. Line baking sheets with Silpats (I just use parchment); set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine shortening and 1 cup sugar (Careful here! This is the first year I’ve ever actually remembered to only pour in 1 cup of sugar. In the past I usually dump the whole 1 ½ cups in and then have to get more sugar out later …). Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and molasses, and beat to combine. Add dry ingredients, and beat on low to combine.

Place the remaining ½ cup sugar in a small bowl. Using a 1 ½ inch ice-cream scoop (any old teaspoon or tablespoon does fine too – don’t bother going to some fancy-shmancy cooking shop to spend $20 on a teeny-tiny ice cream scoop), form balls of dough. Roll dough balls between the palms of your hands until smooth. (Do all the cookie rolling first, then all the cookie in sugar rolling.) Roll in sugar. Place about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are set in the center and begin to crack, about 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheets once after 5 minutes. Transfer the baking sheets to a wire rack to cook, 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to rack until completely cool. Store in an airtight container up to 1 week.

Makes approx. 50 cookies (using a small spoon)

Chocolate Bark

In the past I’ve usually made 2 or 3 kinds of chocolate bark. Thanks to my lazy ass this year, I only made one type. This was it. Thanks to Canadian Living.

White Chocolate and Cranberry Bark

1 pound (500g) white chocolate
1 cup (250ml) each dried cranberries and pistachios, shelled

In bowl over saucepan of hot (not boiling) water, melt chocolate, stirring occasionally. Stir in cranberries and pistachios. Pour onto foil-lined baking sheet; using palette knife or rubber spatula spread into 12- x 9-inch (30 x 23cm) rectangle.

Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until hardened. Break into pieces.

Makes about 32 pieces.

Note from me: this year my budget advised me to just use the chocolate I had at home (semi-sweet). This worked fine too.

P.S. This is also good for breakfast – it has fruit, nuts and milk product!

Better than I thought, I guess

Have been making this cookie for about 5 years or so and while I think it’s an OK cookie, I always get lots of compliments on it, which is probably why I keep making it. Anyway, thanks to Martha for this.

Cranberry Noëls

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
½ cup sugar
2 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon salt
2 ½ cup flour, sifted
¾ cup dried cranberries, finely chopped
½ cup pecans, toasted
1 ½ cup coconut, finely chopped (Note from Stef – I omit this because it doesn’t friggin’ stick!)

Directions:
Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add milk, vanilla and mix until combined. In separate bowl, mix salt and flour together. Gradually add flour and salt mixture to butter mixture. Stir in cranberries and pecans. Divide dough into two balls. Form each ball into a log. Roll logs in coconut. Roll logs in plastic wrap or parchment paper. Chill several hours. Slice and bake in pre-heated 375ºF oven for 10-12 minutes. Cookies will not spread or turn brown.

Off for an afternoon of Spa Therapy at Spa Diva. Will let you know how the facial and chocolate body wrap (!) feel next week.

Icebox Orange Pistachio Cookies

This is a new recipe I tried this year. I like it. Like the citrus flavour and like the pistachios round the edge. Turned out better than I thought (i.e. the nuts stayed on the cookie). A keeper. After tasting one of these, Grandma said to me "Oh, Stephanie! What would I do if you were a bad cook?!" Well, Grandma, I don't know - what would you do? Probably tell me that I was a bad cook.

Icebox Orange Pistachio Cookies

¾ cup regular Becel margarine
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp finely grated orange rind
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup corn starch
1 tsp salt
⅓ cup finely chopped toasted pistachios

Frosting:
2 ¼ cups icing sugar
¼ cup orange juice
1 tsp melted regular Becel margarine
Orange rind (optional)

Beat the margarine with the sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg, orange rind and vanilla. Stir together flour, cornstarch and salt. Add tot eh margarine mixture and blend on low speed until just combined. Divide the dough in half and roll each piece into a log, about 1-inch (2.5cm) in diameter. Roll the logs in the pistachios to coat. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap; freeze for at least 30 minutes or until ready to use.

Preheat over to 350°F (180°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Slice each log into 30 rounds. Place cookies about 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake, in batches, for about 10 minutes or until golden on the bottom. Cool completely.

Blend the sugar with the juice and margarine until smooth. Use a knife to spread a thin layer over each cookie. Garnish with orange rind (if desired).

Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

Note from me: I just bunged the orange rind straight into the frosting and swished it over the cookies with a pastry brush. Turned out fine.

I did try to find this online but so far no luck.

Happy New Year and all that jazz

I made it through, so I guess that’s a good thing.

Thanks to my brother, The Muddler, for providing me with a great little book at Christmas. Mighty Girl (aka Margaret Mason) published a book recently called No One Cares What You Had for Lunch. Basically, it’s 100 ideas for your blog. How cool is that? So, in an attempt to focus myself, in the coming weeks I’ll be providing you with the cookie recipes I did manage to bake this year. The list is a little shorter (by about half) than what I have made over the last few years. I’m starting off with the last batch of cookies I made. It’s also the batch of cookies that I screwed up by forgetting to add the flour. And then I overcooked them. Talk about a double-whammy. They tasted like cardboard and I dumped them in the bin. Ah well, guess there’s always next year. Thanks to Canadian Living for the recipe.

Italian Amaretti

2 cups (500 mL) unblanched almonds
2 egg whites
1 cup (250 mL) granulated sugar
2 tbsp (25 mL) all-purpose flour
1 tbsp (15 mL) almond extract
1 tsp (5 mL) baking powder

Preparation
Line rimless baking sheets with parchment paper or grease; set aside.

In food processor, chop almonds until in small pieces with some powdery granules. Set aside.

In large bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Beat in sugar, 2 tbsp (25 mL) at a time, until ribbons fall from beaters when lifted. Stir in almonds, flour, almond extract and baking powder.

Drop batter by level tablespoonfuls (15 mL), about 2 inches (5 cm) apart, onto prepared baking sheets. Using fingertips, shape each into neat circle.

Bake in centre of 350°F (180°C) oven for about 20 minutes or until cookies are light brown and crisp on top. Let cool on pans on racks for 2 minutes. Transfer to racks; let cool completely. (Make-ahead: Store in airtight container for up to 2 weeks.)

More Information
Tips: Because batter is sticky, dust hands with icing sugar when shaping into circles.

Dark baking sheets are not recommended for these delicate cookies as they cause overbrowning.

Nutritional information
Per Cookie: about 54 cal, 1 g pro, 3 g total fat (trace sat. fat), 6 g carb, trace fibre, 0 mg chol, 8 mg sodium. % RDI: 2% calcium, 1% iron, 2% folate.

Starting off the year on the right foot

Not that I have anything against left feet but I wanted to start off 2007 with some good karma on my side. Over the past couple of years my family has either ended the year or started the year by serving dinner to women at an emergency shelter. This year, due to some unavoidable circumstances, I ended up serving brunch on New Year's Day with a work colleague. It was a different kind of experience in several ways, primarily because my family was not with me. But it was still a good experience and it was certainly interesting to see my colleague’s reaction to this type of environment.

Two women in particular were a sight to see. One must surely have been in her 50’s but was made up and dressed like an 18-year old punk rocker, complete with shaved and dyed hot pink hair, piercings in her ears, eyebrows, cheek, lips, nose. The other was perhaps the same age, but more "normally" dressed. She was however covered in bruises, had two black eyes and huge bruise marks on her arms. There were two, if not three other women who seemed to be going through some withdrawal symptoms and from my limited knowledge of addicts, looked very much as I would expect an addict to look.

But what I take away from these couple of hours is more than just some random anecdotal quips. We served approximately 30 women on Jan. 1. These are women, all of them, had no other place to go on New Year’s Day. I was there by choice. Each of these women was pleased to be served, smiled – despite their less than fortunate circumstances, wished me a happy new year and said thank you. This alone makes my measly 2 hours of service worth more than anything. Some of the women even came back up to the counter to wish us a happy new year before leaving the cafeteria. I don’t know on what other occasion people have been so thankful for so little.

I feel privileged to be able to give back a little something in my own community.

B.O.

You all know it. You've smelt it. You've smelled of it. There are times when it is unavoidable. There are times when it is.

At the gym I believe it is mostly an avoidable occurrence. You get up in the morning and put on your deodorant. If you go to the gym you make sure that you're suitably covered in this department because hey, the people around you have no desire to smell your sweat. If, for example, you work all day and then go to the gym, I would suggest applying your deodorant once in the morning before work and again before beginning your work out. I'll tell you why. There is no excuse why I should have to smell your nasty B.O. in a gym when I'm a good 2-3 metres away from you. Honestly.

And while you're at it. That towel you keep wiping your sweaty brow with, you know how it's kinda grey, brown and just not terribly clean looking, well, you can buy these kind of towels for less than $2 and wash them. In fact, they wash very well and can be used over and over again. And if you wash the towel every week it's possible that it will remain white for a long time to come. I know it's a lot to ask - doing your wash and all, but I'm assuming here that you wash the socks you're wearing and your t-shirt too. You could throw the towel in the same load of laundry. Although, given the smell coming off you, maybe you don't wash your t-shirt and socks and that would explain the crunchy brown towel and the vile stench of B.O.

P.S. You can shower for free in the locker room, but I suppose if all you have to dry yourself is that mangy dirty towel, you might be happier changing into your clothes still sweaty.

Girls Night

Girls Night tonight with Cecilia and Sina. Am looking forward to much cackling, giggling and snickering.

On the menu:
Salad with homemade dressing, pasta with a shrimp and spinach rose sauce, crusty bread, and a surprise dessert that Sina said she'd pick up from M&M. And of course, a little vino to get the party started.

Gonna be a good night!

Nightmare

It had been a while since my last nightmare. But thanks to last night's new episode of CSI: NY, I am back to square one.

Watched the show from 10-11pm, went to bed, fell asleep within about 30 mins. and then woke up at 12:30am in a start from the terrifying dream I had, sweating like a pig, heart racing.

The opening sequence of the show showed a deaf mother getting up to go check on her baby in the middle of the night, going back to bed and then feeling some vibrations on the floor. As she was walking down the hall to get back to the bedroom, all you see is a brief glimpse of a dark shadowy figure crossing the hall behind her (hello nightmare). Well, of course, by the time the mother comes back out to investigate the vibration she felt, her eldest daughter is dead on the floor. The show ended with a happy ending - they found the killer.

That wasn't good enough for me. I had to go and dream about that opening sequence. I had my own version though. I'm at home, it's the middle of the night, I get up to go to the bathroom, as I'm reaching for the bathroom light, I notice there is the shadow of someone standing in the hallway of my building, in front of my front door. As I switch on the bathroom light suddenly some guy with blond curly hair up in a pony tail on the top of his head, charges into my apartment. I'm too scared to scream and wake up as he swings to hit me. It took a while before I was able to fall back to sleep. Go figure.

Think I will have to start taping these shows and watch them on Sunday afternoon or something.

Something weird going on

Is it possible that the elliptical trainers at the gym are, I don't know, calibrated differently or something? This morning I worked out at level 8 for 30 minutes. I worked hard. My heart rate was up in my cardio training zone (approx. 165), I had on average about 80 rpm, I was sweating buckets, my legs were tired and hurting by the end. However, after all this, I only burned 427 calories. I have burned that many calories on other machines while working at a lower levels and not going as fast. What is up with that?

Think I will stay away from that machine from now on. Hmph. Am so going back tonight to do the muscle toning class.

More Where is my Head?

Good thing it's Friday. On my way to the gym this morning I was practically falling asleep on the metro. At the very last second I realised we were already at my stop and I made it out of the doors just before they closed. It is entirely possible that I made some kind of "wha ...?!?!" sound when I realised where we were.

Think maybe I should sleep in tomorrow. Yeah, until like, 7am.

Where is my head?

Apparently not on me.

Seems I left the house this morning without my exercise pants. This I did not realise until I was unlocking my locker at the gym when I suddenly pictured them hanging over the back of a dining room chair. Bugger.

I exercised anyway, albeit at a very low pace, wearing my t-shirt and my black pants that I'd worn for work. Not much sweating or burning of calories this morning (only about 350) and I will be heading downstairs at lunch to pick up a new pair of exercise pants so I can at least do the muscle toning class is proper attire.

Last Reminder

Eric, Marc, Cecilia - I need your Christmas wish lists by the end of tomorrow. No list, no present.