Fried Chicken

** This blog was updated on April 2, with adjustments for quantities**

Fried chicken....mmm......most people love it. As Steve says, deep frying makes anything taste good. With all the fair fare you can get  these days  ....Deep Fried Butter,  Deep Fried Kool-Aid,  and check out this article on strange deep fried foods Odd Deep Fried Foods, he's not wrong. On our honeymoon in Italy  we ate at a restaurant (a famous one, I'll share another time :)) and we ordered deep-fried zucchini. I had never been a zucchini fan, but this made me one, and now I grill it on the barbecue all the time in the summer, and throw it in stirfries too. When was the last time you had stirfry, though, really, that's so 1990s!! (Yes, I am old).  It had to be deep-fried for me to try it again though.   And mmmm... Deep Fried Pickles (Cellarman's Ale House here in Midland makes the best garlic dip ever, to go with them), and Barb and I love them. She has a funny pic of us sharing one when we were ...slightly...into our cups on St. Paddy's Day two years ago, you know like Lady and the Tramp (lmao, ok, we joke about that too), but I'm not sharing it, lol.  Although I tried deep fried Mars Bar at a fair once, I was disappointed. It was sickly sweet.

Memories of Mimere

My dad is from a French Canadian family, and he grew up in a nearby francophone village, Lafontaine, where I spent most of the first six years of my life (I was born in Montreal, moved to Oakville a few months later, and then Lafontaine). My dad had four brothers and and four sisters (two of his brothers have now passed away), and even after my parents separated when I was six, and we moved to nearby Penetanguishene, I remember spending a lot of time visiting my grandparents on the concession road a little way out of the village proper. There was one wind-bent pine tree that as soon as we could see it, knew we would see mimere's house as we climbed the hill, and whichever one of us started chanting "I can see mimere's house, I can see mimere's house" first was the winner, of well, nothing. Just the first, because that is what siblings care about.

Their house was a white stucco farmhouse, with green trim, and even though there was an upstairs, it was always blocked off, and I always had the idea that dark and scary things went on up there, maybe it was haunted. After my mimere died, it was opened up for the first time that I remember, and there were three or four sunny rooms up there, with a neat landing bedroom with another just off it. It must have been a constant hive of activity with nine children growing up there.  I also remember here bathroom, with everything PINK. Pink carpet, pink toilet surround carpet, pink toilet seat cover, pink bath mat, with a lovely toilet paper doll dressed in a hand-crocheted pink dress. It even smelled pink in there. Like pink soap. (Oh, my goodness, that reminds me of a story I wrote when I was about eight or nine, and if I can find it somewhere, I'll post it at the end of the blog. Haha. I found it, it's there :)).

The South of France

The inspiration for the title of my blog is Hemingway's epigraph on his novel "A Moveable Feast". (Look up)!! Or, just to repeat, "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast." While I have never been either a young man, or to Paris, I was lucky enough to live in the south of France when I was in my third year of university, and it was an experience that has had a lifelong impact on me, as I'm sure it did for everyone who went there. It was my moveable feast. Everyone has something that inspires them, and whatever your passion it is, let it be your moveable feast, what carries you through dark days, and times when life's routines seem mundane. You always have that spring inside you that feeds the lake of your inner self. (Deep, huh?) If you're lucky enough, you have a few springs to draw strength from, and cooking is one of mine, as is reading, and love of travel. I am fortunate to be able to travel as much as I have, and while I sometimes feel like a balloon that wants to float away, I know I have the stability of my family and friends and work life (or lives, depending on whether I'm at the store or indexing), to keep me grounded and safe.

A pretty nice place to study....

Awesome Mac & Cheese

Stratford, Ontario is a beautiful town, set along the winding river Avon, just like its namesake in
England, and home, of course, to the Stratford Festival. Steve and I have made frequent trips there,
mostly in the years before children arrived, since we both love the theatre. This year, one of my favourite Shakespearean plays is on -- "Much Ado About Nothing", and Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance" is something I would really love to see as well. Check out their great site here Stratford Festival.

 Stratford has some quaint restaurants (think of getting a "Hamlet" for breakfast at one little place, haha), and it is  also the home of two of the best restaurants I've ever been to, "The Church", (which is in a renovated church, as you might guess, with its upstairs dining room called "The Belfry") (their website is Church Restaurant; and "The Old Prune" (now called "The Prune," and their website is The Prune). They are expensive to eat in, but provide such an amazing dining experience. The Old Prune has a lot of charm, and on one of our very first visits there, we were served our bread by a tiny blond person with pointy ears, who we immediately called "The Bread Elf", and in fact, it was a name that stuck for any person who brought us bread in restaurants in subsequent years, at any restaurant. I also remember it feeling like we were eating in a greenhouse conservatory.  There are other restaurants I'd love to try there, like Rundles, and hopefully we will get there this summer!

Fleur de Sel, and Salted Caramel

Quite a few years ago, back in university days, I heard about a salt called “Fleur de Sel”, and it was prohibitively expensive for me at the time, but I have wanted to try it ever since. It comes from the sea, as most people probably know, and genuine fleur de sel is kind of greyish, and wettish (I could be imagining this, but that is what I remember), like it was just freshly cultivated from the sea…see? Fresh is important, even with salt !

Pepper Steak (and beer)

After a nice long walk along the waterfront, and a quick stop at the LCBO on the way home, Barb and I were set up for nice long evening of chatting, and cooking, with a few drinks to go along with it.... our standard modus operandi on any given evening when we get together. Last night we brought two new treats home from the liquor store....Strawberry Beer, called Fruli (also available at The Beer Store), and Grower's Peach Cider. The winner of the evening was the strawberry beer, light and refreshing, with enough strawberry flavour to quench the bitterness that I usually find in beer, also a beautiful earthy pink colour.

I was a little disappointed in the peach cider, I love peach-flavoured drinks, but it fell a little flat. I'd still love to see a good lime and lager come out, because even though I've tried the Bud Light and Lime, there isn't enough lime flavour, and the best one is the one I make with lots of Rose's Lime Cordial in whatever beer we happen to have on hand. Anyway, we also figured we should practice a little for today's St. Paddy's day pub session, where I'll meet Barb later, and spend the day drinking green cider (Strongbow), and eating things like deep-fried pickles and sweet potato fries.

That was the bit about beer, which I normally don't drink, but I did try some Innis & Gunn (or Innocent Gun, as it sounds to others who haven't heard of it) which was given to us at Christmas (two years ago). It was a variety pack, one of which was winterberry, another raspberry, and a rummy one, along with its regular beer. So that is also beer I can drink without grimacing too much, lol. I did really enjoy the winterberry one (although I can't really think of any actual berries that grow normally in the winter, guess there must be something out there somewhere). And last summer, when Barb and I went to the Scottish Highland Games in Uxbridge, we definitely decided some Innis & Gunn would have to be our end of day drink (our breakfast drink was Gatorade and vodka, shhh., definitely put us in a happy mood to stand all day trying to sell Wordstock to crowds people intent on hitting the beer tent). We really aren't super-lushes, it's just that trying new wine or drinks definitely lends itself well to trying new food and recipes too.

Roadside Dining Serendipity

Since I am still recovering from an especially taxing indexing project (for anyone interested in delving  into mysticism of all kinds, Jewish, Hindu, Gnostic, Sufism, Alchemic ....to realize wholeness of the self through a mathematical equation developed by Jung, this is the book for you. And,  well, yeah, cramming that all into my brain in three days, and trying to tie it up nicely into an index format, well, my brain is bacon-like at the moment, crispy). So, just a simple post, to share a recent culinary experience on a road trip we took to Florida a few weeks ago.

Well, we were somewhere close to the Grand Ol' South (yep, that's all my brain could come up with), West Virginia or North Carolina, somewhere like that, when we decided that we should stop somewhere for dinner, after a longggg day of driving, so we delved into our trusty GPS to search for somewhere that was not fast food, preferably serving Southern food, since we had been wanting to try some authentic south-of-the-Mason-Dixon-line food since we had crossed it. So, Steve discovered a restaurant called "The Velvet Hammer" and our curiosity got the better of us, so we decided that a restaurant with a name like that would have to be checked out, we would find Southern cooking another time.  I thought it must have once upon a time been (or still was) a strip club, so I had a feeling we might not end up dining there, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Unfortunately, we never found it, ( that reminds me of another GPS let-down but I'll save it for another day and another recipe). There was some big building there instead and a side road to some motel, and well, we got a bit scared and wanted to get the hell out of there and back to the highway.

Salt of the Earth

Here we go. It’s time for a salt blog. I separated my original entry into three separate blogs, since I was pretty sure no one but me would want to sit and read that much about salt all in one shake!! Salt is something that is part of our everyday vocabulary, even when we’re not referring to salt as food, although you can't really separate the foodiness of it.  For example:

“worth your salt”....."take it with a grain of salt"....."it's like rubbing salt into your wounds"....and of course, "salt of the earth"....

  Well, I looked up the expression “salt of the earth” (in Wikipedia) and it comes from the Bible,: the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus said "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, werewith shall it be salted."  So let me extrapolate. Salt has so much value in itself, and we know "salt of the earth" has come to mean "good person", if you lose the salt, or goodness, well, you have to find it again. Life is worthless without salt :) That is what I wil take from that.  In common usage it can mean humble and unpretentious or another definition is a “person of admirable character”. Anyway, if you get to the end of this blog, I've lifted a page of other salty grains of info for you. I found this picture so I had to include it. Subtle, hmm? My religious philosophy on life comes from that truly inspiring and uplifting movie, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, and you know what's coming now: "Be excellent to each other".

Steve will say that adding salt makes food taste salty. Well, exactly. That’s the point. Think of the tastes our tongue can detect: acid, sweet, bitter, umami (haha, funny word, and we certainly had never heard of that one back in elementary school science), and of course SALT. Really though, I like my popcorn, and chips, and pretzels to be salty. Otherwise I just want things to taste
that little bit better that salt helps out with.

He means that adding salt makes things unpleasantly salty I guess, and yes, I agree that too much salt is not good. A little bit of salt enhances the flavour of your food, though. It’s true. Because I say so (and well, so do most chefs that I know of). A lot of foods are bland without it. And since it IS  a preservative too, if you add a little to your water for vegetables, whether boiling or steaming, it will help them retain their colour, so your broccoli doesn’t look like it’s in camouflage and going off to fight in a jungle somewhere. I mean, cooking it to death will still result in an unpleasant side dish, so try not to overcook. We all try to, but then our kids come up to us with a bloody nose or some other hypochondriachal injury or somethig else distracting, and we don’t get back to the poor old broccoli on time. I mean who’s kidding who, really, I hardly ever cook vegetables. That’s really because I prefer them raw though.

Jamaican Beef Skewers

 The sun is out, spring is in the air, and some of us might be digging out our barbecues if there is still any snow blocking them. Mine is accessible most of the time and I do like to barbecue in the winter.  So here is a recipe for you to whip some time this March Break, since the great weather is supposed to continue!

This recipe originally belonged to a cookbook which came with a now dearly departed barbecue.  While I distinctly remember the name of the recipe to be "Jamaican Jerk Beef Skewers", Steve disagrees, as there are lots of Oriental flavours, and I do agree that it does not taste like some Jamaican Jerk flavours I've tried, though it does have some of the key ingredients, like jalapeno, cinnamon and allspice. So I've taken the liberty of renaming this recipe, since I have made it my own, and I don't remember all the original ingredients or their quantities.* Over the years, among friends and family, it has become one of my signature dishes, as well as one of my all-time favourites. It can be made in huge batches for parties, and it is always a crowd-pleaser!!! Since I never worry about strictly measuring ingredient, you shouldn't either, but I will attempt them for you. Fresh ingredients are always key for me, and in this recipe especially so.

Humble Cooking Guidelines

I mentioned in my first post the “rules” that make for a great cooking environment…. Really, just guidelines, and if you have at least one of them, you’re good to go, whether you’re trying a new recipe or making one of your old standbys. I'm not here to tell anyone how or what to cook, just telling you how I cook, and maybe something will work for you. And for most people who already love to cook, a lot of this is hardly going to be news, just my humble perspective. Maybe not really humble, but you know, not trying to be bossy or anything.

 1. This may be the most important rule. Always use the freshest and best ingredients you can afford. That is what cooking for friends is all about, and hopefully your family too. We all have those shortcut days when we just want to throw pizza in the oven or have hot dogs and Kraft Dinner (well more ready to eat food), but if you are taking the time to prepare a great meal, buy the best you can afford. Fresh vegetables are better than frozen, and frozen is better than canned. Canned vegetables are pretty disgusting in my opinion. Make your own cheese sauce and gravies, instead of using mixes, it is pretty easy once you have the knack, and they taste way better. Granted, home-made cheese sauce is more expensive, but your guests are worth it. In fact I’d rather have my vegetables plain with a bit of butter than cheese sauce from a mix. So I’m talking fresh meat, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, fresh herbs, fresh fresh fresh….

A Bit About Butter

My mother  has been a lifelong devotee of butter, and I have inherited that from her too. I’ve never liked margarine, and for those of you who would argue that it is “healthier”, wake up. It’s fat. It’s not healthy either and it tastes like crap. Margarine is also made of vegetable oils that have been artificially inflated to gain solid form, and like most imitations is never as good as the original (and butter came first, cause all you have to do is shake some cream and it turns to butter, no technology involved), so nyah, nyah :P For those of you who are vegetarians out there, it’s a moral choice, (and I also say WHY?? Just kidding. Sometimes I go through phases where I don’t really care if I eat meat, but then I just get a hamburger craving). Anyway, there are arguments for both cases, and I stick to butter. (haha, nice pun, hmm). I'm sure there's a good debate out there, but I for one cannot be budged from my pro-butter stance.

Actually, here is one childhood margarine memory. Once upon a time, my mother decided that butter was “much too good for children” (yes, that’s a la Ms. Trunchbull from Matilda), and decided to buy us margarine because it was cheaper and we were like hoovers with food, and money was tight. I can still remember the dark turquoise container it came in with the unsightly and unnatural orange colour of the margarine glowering at us from inside. Scary. And gross. The only good thing about it for me was that it was salty. Then we discovered her secret stash of butter, and that was it. I don’t think she made us eat margarine after that. I must say margarine has come a long way from the seventies oranginess, and now actually looks like butter, but don’t be fooled, it’s still revolting. So the moral of that story, let your kids eat the good food you eat too!!

I’m not saying go out and eat butter by the spoonful, I’m just saying it makes good food taste great, and sometimes a little goes a long way, although there really isn’t any such thing as too much butter. So you only eat lettuce and drink water the next day, it was WORTH it!! Right?? Moderation. That’s when you can do it anyway.

Here I go!

Food…..it nourishes us, satiates us, and brings us together.  So where to begin a food blog??? I don’t have a lot of familiarity with blogs (I am the faithful follower of one blog….) but I do have a lot of familiarity with food (as do most of us). With foodnetwork shows and celebrity chefs abounding these days, culinary exploits have become a raging trend, hobby, pastime, and obsession!!! (while providing nourishment when we need it, how great is that??!!) I know that for me, preparing a great meal for friends or family, or just myself is a source of great satisfaction, and I know I’m not alone. Dining out in great restaurants or at a friend’s house are also some of  my favourite sources of entertainment!! The great thing about a food blog (since I’ve given it a lot of thought already) is that there is SO MUCH to write about….food I have made, recipes I want to try, recipes I want to invent, food other people have made, dining out, terrible food, travel food stories, and memories of food, and I could go on and on….

So, where did the beginnings of a foodie begin? Well, I am lucky enough to have a mother who is a good cook, despite being English (no offense, some of the best food I have ever eaten has been made by English cooks, no one can make Roast Beef and Yorkshire pudding any better) but they are not quite as well known for their cuisine as say, the French or the Italian, or the Asian, or Indian…well, you get my drift.  I’ll dish out more (haha, great pun, hmmm??) on my childhood food memories another time, but suffice it to say that my mother always SEASONED her food well, and this is so important, and for me this is especially so where meat is concerned, as well as salting the water for rice and pasta (otherwise you might as well eat glue, ugh). My mother used and still uses four basic seasonings on her meat: salt and pepper, garlic powder, and seasoned salt. (Now she uses less salt actually, but did you know…. Sea salt has half the sodium of regular table salt??? If you’re a saltoholic like me, it also tastes better, it’s not as harsh, and now you don’t have to use “No Salt” or whatever it is that has half the sodium of regular salt but tastes like sulfuric acid or something else chemical and disgusting since I have never actually tasted sulfuric acid….I’ll have a blog on salt one day!)