Planting Season!

Image of "mini melons" and write up courtesy of Amanda

Toronto is classified "zone 5a". This means no annuals sown before May, and perrenials must be equal to the challenge of -25C. Ouch. Like my oat-grass and climbing roses, I'm small, reedy, and none too excited about October darkness or April frost. But, this week, I stopped hunching my shoulders and sent out feelers, testing for warm currents drifting below the chill.

Two summers ago, I inherited a peony bush from a friend. His grandfather planted it sixty years ago, and it has since been divided in three, one cutting to each of his daughters. When my friend's mother moved house and gave up her garden, the peonies took up residence in the clawfoot bathtub on my balcony. I've yet to see the blooms first-hand--the first summer, the plant was miffed at the soil change and withheld its flowers. Last year they were glorious...while I was in Brooklyn. I returned home to one brown and drooping blossom and a litter of mushy petals. Yesterday, I noticed three dark-red stems poking above the dirt, and cross fingers that this year, the flowers and I will enjoy a few warm evenings together.

This weekend, the forecast is perfect: hot and clear today, rainy overnight, sunny and blazing tomorrow, then a moderate Sunday. Ok, not quite "perfect" for people who want to bask like lizards and scorch their winter-pale arms, but just the thing for fledgling sprouts. Not one to do things halfway, I've thrown open my windows, declared Kneesock Season open, tuned up my bicycle and zipped to the office in a lovely scarf, A-line skirt and red high heels. I intend to cut a dashing profile as I ride home this evening with my basket crammed with seedlings, a bottle of tempranillo, a good book and a bag of planting soil.

This year's crop:

thyme

sage

basil (three kinds)

tarragon

heirloom cherry tomatoes

catgrass (for my sweet kitten, Birdie, to nibble)

oregano...

...and mint, segregated in a pot to itself, to prevent it from choking its neighbours. Have you seen the roots on that thing?! Good grief! I had to brace myself with one boot against the planter when I tore up last year's spearmint.

And you? What are you planting this spring?

Favourite food moments in cinema

This will be a little ongoing series of two things that complement each other quite nicely, food and film. Good films explore universal questions we all ask of ourselves regarding relationships between each other and the world we live in. Food (of any kind) provides a means to explore and demonstrate how some of these questions are answered at an individual and collective cultural level.

Let's start with a film that has been recently released by the great Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki, "Ponyo on the Cliff", an anime film part "Little Mermaid" and part combination of Japanese myths and folklore. B and I went to see it as we are big fans of Miyazaki, "Spirited Away" being arguably one of the best in the anime genre. "Ponyo on the Cliff" is less complex in the story telling than some of his other films as it was intended primarily for small children, around 5 years old. The story revolves around two main characters, Sosoke, a young boy who discovers a very strange creature, a mermaid of sorts, one day on the beach. He names her Ponyo (I thought it very funny when it was revealed that she was originally named Brunehilde) and they become fast friends. Unfortunately forces are at work to keep them apart and the film describes what they encounter and how they resolve a number of trials to be together.

The story is charming and light, perhaps a wee bit overload (ok ok, quite a lot) on the cutesy, though the imagery always remains imaginative. What I was most attracted to were the depictions of the delight of very simple things, seen mostly through the eyes of Ponyo. The ordinary becomes magical because she is experiencing everything human for the first time. I know personally that my first powerful childhood memories are associated with scents, mostly of food. In the film we see the same rapport develop when, for instance, they are dining on noodles.

(Admittedly I too look a bit like this when I get served a big bowl of delicious noodles.)

Ponyo and Sosoke are safely tucked into their home during a tsunami and are served steaming bowls of noodles with garnishes of egg, what I assume to be okra, and ham. What can be more primordially comforting than that? Sheer comfort and delight, something we always try to get back to with whatever comfort foods we prepare, usually something hot and simple.


The other food scene I quite liked is when Ponyo is offered food for the first time. Initially Sosoke offers her bread from his sandwich, which she refuses. She then jumps out of her pail of water to gorge on the ham filling instead. There was a taboo in Japan until the Meiji period (late 19th century) on the consumption of pork, the ban being instigated initially as a result of what I imagine to be counter to Bhuddist beliefs. The ban was lifted as a result of foreign forces (namely American) forcing the Japanese to open their ports to an influx of new trade and external influences. It would not surprise me if Miyazaki was trying to demonstrate with the ham scene a conflict between traditional Japanese beliefs and the changing attitudes of a modern population. Whatever the reason may be it is quite hilarious, especially when, like any child who finds a new affection, she goes on and on about it.

Do you have any cinematic film moments that have made an impression on you? If so, share, share, share.

And quiz results #4!

And another questionnaire comes across the finish line with Jon and his chica Heidi (image above of infamous boule bread. Personally I haven't had it, but how could anything that good lookin' not taste amazing?).

What's rotting in the back of your fridge right now?

Cilantro! We never go through it quickly enough, in spite of our best efforts.

Who inspired you to cook?

Armandino Batali and his sandwich shop in Seattle, and Mark Bittman from the NY Times.

What was the first dish you remember cooking as a child?

For Jon: scrambled eggs, from the 'Mickey Mouse Cookbook.'

Heidi: Hamburger helper.

What ingredient(s) do you always have in your refrigerator or pantry at home?

Olive oil, cumin, cinnamon, pork.

What dish or dishes would you say you have mastered?

Jon: Balsamic roasted chicken, various breakfast breads (nothing too fancy, waffles, french toast, etc), and a simple no-knead boule bread. Oh, and various pork chops and pork tenderloins.

Heidi: Pumpkin bread, blood orange-olive oil bread

If you could have dinner with three people from any time in history, who would they be?

Limiting ourselves to living persons just to help narrow it down, here are a few options we've considered:

A) Werner Herzog, Salman Rushdie and Ricky Gervais

B) Mike Tyson, Rem Koolhaas and and Sasha Baron Cohen

C) anyone who asks if they can gnaw on the bone of the entree, anyone who asks for extra pan drippings, and Mario Batali (to cook the dinner for us)

What ingredient do you despise?

Jon: ditto for me on the eggplant. Too slimy!

Heidi: mayonnaise

Favourite kitchen tool?

Jon: Iitala salt and pepper grinders (when they work), the silicone spoontula, or the pressure cooker.
Heidi: pyrex shot glass measuring cup

What's your one weakness as a cook?

Jon: Does an allergy to all seafood count?
Heidi: How about an allergy to dairy? Beyond that, occasionally leave things to languish on the stove, and portion estimates when cooking for guests can be way off.

And your strength?

Jon: My love of bacon, of course.
Heidi: Improvising!

Best music to cook to?

Anything poppy, since you can use it as a rough timer. One song equals 3-4 minutes.

What new dish are you planning to try in the near future?

Not sure but it will be reliably pork-infested.

Where and what was your last great meal?

Jon: New Orleans red beans and rice, corn bread, wilted greens and pecan pie all made by Heidi last week as a late celebratory birthday dinner for me.

Heidi: Three carnitas tacos with tomatillo salsa from the El Tonayense taco truck, just this afternoon. Divine.

What snack food can you not live without?

Jon: Salt and pepper potato chips. And marcona almonds with rosemary and sea salt. I've been given a monthly limitation on those...

Heidi: Dried mangoes.

Dessert or cheese?

Dessert, fo' sure.

Judging salt by it's box...

Write up courtesy of Kurt

I hope I'm not the only one out there sensitive to package design. It doesn't influence all of my buying decisions (I've got a friend who only stocks her fridge and pantry with 'pretty' things) but it certainly plays a part. I have a lot of open shelving in the kitchen and what I see there is very important to me.

Case in point: I still have my Windsor Salt Box circa 2005 which I now refill with another company's salt since they 'updated' the design in 2006. It's getting a little ragged, but gives me so much more pleasure than the graphic train-wreck it has become. Chris Yaneff designed the box in 1966 and it was a Canadian package icon until it got messed with by the company. The current version features a floating board of chopped vegetables, script fonts, and spheres instead of the signature colour dots. It reeks of design-by-committee executed by the summer intern familiar with Photoshop.

I did the same thing when the French earplugs 'Boules Quies' replaced their apothecary style graphic with a ridiculous photo of a woman sleeping. My old box stays in the nightstand, but still gets refilled with their product (can't beat a French plug).

Am I turning into a curmudgeon at an early age?

Am I the only one who cares about this stuff?

Validate me - what will you buy because of the box it's in?

Guilty Pleasures

Image and write up courtesy of Amanda

Guilt is a shifty construct--it of course comes with the weight of judgment. The implication that you ought to be doing something better, avoiding something more diligently, including something more regularly in your diet. Hitched to the word "pleasure", it becomes almost cute, possibly forgivable, a lesser transgression. No one is proud to confess simple guilt, but most people take a cautious pride in revealing their "guilty pleasure."

Perhaps, we admit our love of Justin Timberlake in hopes that our friends are also secretly his fans. And, there's a chance that your thing is nowhere near as dreadful as someone else's--you love to slather peanut butter on pickles and cram them into your mouth as fast as they will fit? Sure, that's a bit questionable, but at least you're not the one who celebrates the third Friday of each month with a microwave chicken dinner. And oneupmanship can also come into play--each confession setting the bar of grossness higher. There's street credibility to be earned in boasting the nastiest habit, the oddest taste, the most hilarious drinking story, the biggest social gaffe.

So then--what's your culinary guilty pleasure?

Things to eat in the countryside

Yes, we ate the wild asparagus (quite bitter and best in small quantities) and yes, we let the poor fellow in the shell continue with his promenade in the grass.


And what did you have on the Easter spread this past weekend?

Quiz results #3

J joins in the fray!

What's rotting in the back of your fridge right now?

Not sure, will have to check. How long does it take for konnyaku to go bad?

Who inspired you to cook?

A dame named Necessity.

What was the first dish you remember cooking as a child?

I was forbidden to cook as a child. Children studied.

What ingredient(s) do you always have in your refrigerator or pantry at home?

Rice, flour, eggs, butter, milk, olive oil, salt, sesame seed oil, red wine vinegar, mirin, soya sauce, konbu, bonito and a bottle of champagne (does that count?)

What dish or dishes would you say you have mastered?

Well, none. But I do feel very comfortable preparing quite a few.

If you could have dinner with three people from any time in history, who would they be?

oo, hard question. For the moment Josephine Baker, Shakespeare and my maternal grandfather.

What ingredient do you despise?

Natto is difficult.

Favourite kitchen tool?

That's a toss up between my kitchen scale and décalotteur.

What's your one weakness as a cook?

I tend to get carried away with my aperitif...

And your strength?

Lot's of enthusiasm.

Best music to cook to?

None, I can't concentrate on two things at once.

What new dish are you planning to try in the near future?

Bittersweet chocolate cake with boiled marshmallow frosting.

Follow up to quiz à la Amanda

And here's another one...

What's rotting in the back of your fridge right now?

Nothing! This is not to say that I am never wasteful; certainly, I get too excited about all the peas, beans, sprouts, kale, etc and over-purchase for my single-girl household, then end up chucking a wilted bag of ick now and then. But, as a Virgo, I keep my fridge operating like a well-oiled machine of organisation…once something even flirts with expiry, it’s gone.

Who inspired you to cook?

First, my mother, and later my (now ex) boyfriend. My mom taught me the basics, and my ex encouraged me to let go of the cookbook rules.

What was the first dish you remember cooking as a child?

Shake ‘n Bake! It was my show-off dish since I was allowed to prepare it for the most part without supervision, and could serve it to my parents and brother like I had created the ultimate culinary masterpiece. No one coated chicken legs in bread crumbs like me.

What ingredient do you always have in your refrigerator or pantry at home?

Butter. Flour. Eggs. All I need to prepare fresh shortcrust pastry, anytime, any day, at a moment’s notice!

What snack food can you not live without?

Hmmmm…hmmmm…now that I think about it, there isn’t one, really. I’d say “bourbon”, but that might give everyone to wrong idea.

What dish or dishes would you say you have mastered?

Roast chicken (not the Shake ‘n Bake variety of my youth, now we’re talking a perfect lemon and thyme basted bird, slow roasted while the kitchen grows steamy and delicious smelling).

Pastry (pies, tarts tatins, etc, all built from the ground up).

Quick pastas made from whatever vegetables, bits of cured meat, olives and random things that are loitering in the fridge on evenings I just can’t face the supermarket and didn’t have time to shop at better shops on my way home. This is not to say I am a grocery store snob—but remember, this is Ontario, land of monster-malls and supermarkets with one aisle of veg and thirty acres of boxed, frozen and processed crap.

If you could have dinner with three people from any time in history, who would they be?

Julia Child, because of her foul language, pragmatic approach, and gigantic stature. I would love to see how tall she sat in her chair.

Oscar the Grouch—I mean honestly, who doesn’t want to know what one of his chocolate, relish and ice cream sundaes tastes like? When I was small, I ached to find out if such a dish was really all that bad, and how deeply I would gag after taking a single bite.

I’d love to attend a Roman banquet, complete with stuffed peacock, thirty-course meals, and pillows to lounge on while eating to the point of collapse. I don’t think I want to do all that gorging, but I would love to see the meal laid out!

What ingredient do you despise?

It’s all about context. Raw mushroom makes me feel like I am eating earlobes. But, small slices of cooked mushroom are delicious. Eggplant chopped small and stewed in a pasta sauce is lovely; slabs of it deep-fried or blobs puréed and dumped in a bowl? Bleh! Wet bread…oh my god, wet bread…No dipping or dunking or sogging or soaking. No plunging crusts into lattés or soups or stews. Bread is not for mopping!

What ingredient do you rely on most?

Black pepper.

Favourite kitchen tool?

A good knife. I wish I owned one; regrettably, I do not.

Dessert or cheese?

Dessert.

Bourgogne or Bordeaux?

Are we talking in a street fight? Knock ‘em down, drag ‘em out battle royal? I don’t know that I could choose sides in this match.

What's your one weakness as a cook?

Excess concern about things “turning out just right”.

And your strength?

Following a recipe—this sounds boring, sure, but if you can read and follow and do and make, and let the words on the page direct your hands, then baking is your kingdom.

Best music to cook to?

Shhhhh…silence in the kitchen! How else to hear the bubbling and sizzling?

What new dish are you planning to try in the near future?

Braised short-ribs.

Culinary quiz

Here's a little bit of fun. Kurt has suggested a quiz as a way to get to know each other. I think it's a great idea so here it is, this one with responses from Kurt himself.

What's rotting in the back of your fridge right now?

A jar of home-made (by my butcher, that is) Portuguese pimento sauce that I think may finally be showing signs of mold after a year.

Who inspired you to cook?

My father, who found the joy in cooking as I reached my teenage years. For my mother, cooking was a necessary chore that was part of raising four children. With Dad, it was about having fun and exploring.

What was the first dish you remember cooking as a child?

I would make myself canapés of mushrooms and melted cheese on a triscuit cracker as my own special treat before bedtime. My parents definitely should have seen this as a gay indicator.

What ingredient do you always have in your refrigerator or pantry at home?

Fresh herbs – thyme, rosemary, coriander, basil

What snack food can you not live without?

I am a salt freak – potato chips (the basic sea salt and vinegar) are my vice.

What dish or dishes would you say you have mastered?

Osso Bucco, Linguini Vongole, Shrimp Korma

If you could have dinner with three people from any time in history, who would they be?

My grandfather who died when I was a just a baby and whose wit and wisdom I never knew, David Sedaris for entertaining conversation, and Julia Child to share and savour all things French.

Where and what was your last great meal?

At my house a few weeks ago – my first Paella prepared for a crowd of 15 people was a success!

What ingredient do you despise?

Eggplant – it is tasteless, has a repulsive texture, and gave me a night of indigestion years ago that I have yet to forgive it for.

What ingredient do you rely on most?

This is a tie between Sea Salt and Herbes de Provence – I have buckets of it in the pantry sent from my French family, and it ends up in nearly everything.

Favourite kitchen tool?

Over-sized heavy wood chopping block. I feel you can do everything with one good knife, and having the chopping surface 2 inches higher is perfect for my height – I feel like a master chef when I’m preparing things on it.

Dessert or cheese?

Cheese – I could give up chocolate before I could give up Camembert

Bourgogne or Bordeaux?

Bourgogne. Mmmmmmmmmmm

What's your one weakness as a cook?

Occasionally rushing – haste makes mistakes that can ruin my cooking mood.

And your strength?

Planning / timing – I can get it all on the table at the same time and have it hot!

Best music to cook to?

Brazilian - it allows for dance breaks.

What new dish are you planning to try in the near future?

Oxtails – they show up in my butcher’s fridge occasionally and I’ve got to try them before the braising season is over.

Send me your own responses and I will be more than happy to post them, or you can just exchange them with your partner.