I hate that FISH! April 12, 2008

It all started so well…I was preparing dinner – what a trivial task…A simple menu of spicy Cod with some cauliflower puree.

I cut the veggies for the spicy sauce, picked some herbs from my window pane garden, sauteed them a bit with some olive oil to release the juices. 

 I boiled water for the cauliflower, added the Cod filles to the veggies and tossed it a bit to coat and to the oven. The cauliflower was added to the salted water, cooked until soft, strained and pureed with some sour cream. The fish was ready and so were the plates and when I was about to transfer it an excruciating pain pierced my left hand, I felt the blood draining from my face and I heard myself scream – I forgot to use a towel or an oven mitt and grabbed the cast iron handle with my bare hand a minute after I pulled it out of the oven. I had dinner with one hand while the other was under a constant stream of running water and the fish was a bit cold by then but it was the least of my concerns…

It was delicious nevertheless… 

Grandma’s pickles April 12, 2008

Ok Ok…the pickles I make are far behind my grandma’s pickles and will always be but…they are still good :) This is a traditional Russian food and the majority of people who had Dacha’s (a summer home in the country) made it at one point or another to preserve the cucumbers they grew in their gardens; same was done with tomatoes, mushrooms and other vegetables. Every summer there was a frenzy of making all sorts of different preserves – all the ripe berries that weren’t eaten fresh were made into jams or just milled with loads of sugar for them to last for a long time providing the taste of summer as well as some “fruits” in the winter months. Mushrooms were pickled and dried while hanging near the stoves and fireplaces. Whatever could be preserved was made into relishes and other tasty things like dried or smoked fish. People cooked in their houses and made improvised outdoor kitchens where they would make jams in enormous pots making the air smell so damn good letting us kids eat the foam that formed on the top as it would damage the preserves and they wouldn’t last – what a treat!

I am getting carried away here…so back to pickles.

Those are not the traditional pickles you would find in the store, they are not sour and they have no vinegar; those are simple lightly salted cucumbers which are delicate and delicious.

The principle of the preparation is simple: 

 

Lots of Dill (an underutilized and unappreciated here in North America), lots of crushed garlic, some chili flakes, some black pepper corns, a couple of bay leaves, a few fennel seeds, some mustard seeds and lots of salt (I use coarse sea salt), pickling cucumbers and a large jar preferably one that does not leak when you turn it upside down…

The jar will determine your course of action; if its good (=does not leak) put all the spices and salt then arrange the cucumbers so they feel a little tight in the jar and stuff some dill under, between and on top.

 

Fill the jar with boiling water, close it and shake and turn to dissolve the salt and move things around a bit. If your jar is less good, do the cucumbers and dill and then in separate bowl mix the spices and salt with boiling water and then pour it into the jar, close. Let cool on the counter and transfer to the fridge for a day or two……..

EAT!

Hidden Gems – Vancouver April 12, 2008

In every city, in every community, there are hidden gems when it comes to food; you have to either hear about them from someone or just stumble upon them by chance. Since I have moved to Vancouver only recently I am slowly discovering what it has to offer and want to share this on my blog so you can enjoy it as well whether you are just visiting or didn’t have a clue :)

Right near my house there is a Gelateria called Yaletown Gelato Espresso Bar, on Homer street the corner of Davie. Two large fridges full of colorful boxes of gelato – my personal heaven…By the way did you notice women like icecream much more than men do…? I wonder why….

So anyways….One fridge seems to always be filled with the water based fruit flavoured sorbettos such as wild strawberry, rose, green apple, lemon and grapefruit and the other with cream based chocolate, vanilla, malaga (rum and raisins), canollo siciliano, straciatella, tiramisu and many more changing varieties. Since I drop by fairly frequently I have met at least three different Italian guys behind the counter which was a pleasant surprise. The coffee is good too by the way.

Address : 1210 Homer Street

WWW: http://www.yaletowngelato.com/

* Open till 9pm 

Lugano swiss chocolates….oh…mmm….aaahhhh…located in Park Royal, the huge shopping complex on Marine drive, behind Whole Foods. The lady who works there is super nice, the coffee and hot chocolate are delicious and the various chocolates imported from Lugano are amazing. There are also very nice pastries as well as some frozen cakes which to be honest I have never tried. Be careful – chocolate is addictive!

WWW: http://luganochocolates.com/index.html

Photo adapted from http://germansinbc.ca/?q=node/view/176

Staying in Park Royal…Black Forest Delicatessen - a dream come true for all you carnivours out there this little place has a huge variety of autherntic German sousages, cured meats and condiments of all sorts and the owners are actually German so you feel you can trust them with the sausages. My husband returned lately from a business trip to Germany and when he saw this place he said – hmmm this looks authentic enough adding in his mind lets buy all the sausages we can carry out of here…..

*It is located inside the mall at the Market in Park Royal [M 25 - 1011 Park Royal South]

WWW: http://germansinbc.ca/?q=node/view/108 

Thats it for today, I will let you know if I find more yummi stuff…

*** I have deleted Swiss Bakery from this page as after making two return visits I found it to be disappointing and the pastries not being fresh nor good.