Playoff Special

Vancouver started its series against Chicago tonight. Chili seems to go along with a hockey game. And maybe the chili is even a little Canucky as it's made with ground buffalo.

I'm not sure what the three kinds of beans might represent. Offense, defense, coaching staff??

Whatever. Go Canucks.

Fusionesque!

What a mix tonight's supper is! There were a few cheese enchiladas left over from last night, so I freshened them up with a sauce that was really just the end of a jar of V-8 juice. Because that seemed too much like a re-run of last night, I opened a packet of pre-made emergency food, a spicy Indian eggplant dish, and poured that over top of the enchiladas, and let the whole thing bake until it was thoroughly heated.

There were a few spears of asparagus that begged me to steam them. And, of course, a salad of fresh greens. For something slightly different, I took the last of the vegie dip from Sunday, added a bit of milk and a drop of vinegar. The result made for an interesting salad dressing -- one that complemented the spicy eggplant(ed) enchiladas.

Hot stuff

The meat from last night's leftover chicken went into tortillas, becoming enchiladas in sauce. There's cheese and onion in the rest of the roll-ups in the pan.

The Dear Man prepared some jalapeno peppers -- some of them just baked in oil, but another batch stuffed with ricotta cheese and baked in the same as sauce the enchiladas.

Salad, for what it's worth is chopped up lettuce accompanied by some freshly made guacamole. Ole!

Lazy Mediterranean

Ah, if only it had been a lazy Mediterranean day. Instead, it was a plain old work day.

Supper is nice and lazy though. Some chicken thighs baked with olive oil, the last of a hot sauce from yesterday, some chunks of garlic, and the juice of a lemon squeezed over top. A baked potato for sharing, some store-bought dolmades from a tin. Leftover bread and homous.

Sort of a Greek salad -- a tomato, pepper and cuke with feta.

Lazy, and just fine for a demanding Monday.

Another birthday celebation!

This supper honours one of our extended family members, Mark. He's turning 41, so it isn't as spectacular the meal as he got last year. Still, because he's vegetarian, there won't be any meat or chicken or fish on anyone's plate tonight.

The appies are spinach and portobello mushroom treats, plus a plate of assorted raw vegies and dip.

The main dish is tortellini in pesto, then covered with a mushroom and broccoli sauce. There are green beans on the side, homous for the bread and, of course, a big green salad.

The birthday cake is an experiment with raspberries. A little on the flat side, but considering the ingredients, I expect that it will be scrumptious!

Get-healthy Saturday night

Another of those cravings, but maybe not such a weird one. It turns out that fermented cabbage, more commonly known as sauerkraut, is one of those healthful 'probiotic' foods. Where the Dear Man is still taking antibiotics to fight off a respiratory infection, it's important to try to keep his internal chemistry balanced.

The sauerkraut cooked all afternoon with some country style pork ribs. The topper is whole-wheat dumplings with caraway seeds in them. For salad, a bit of cottage cheese and chunks of fresh peppers.

Two-parter

It's a beautiful evening, so tonight's supper is happening in two segments.

The Dear Man went out and bought the outrageously huge takeaway meal for us to share.

For Round One, it's sushi. And with it, assorted tempura and a bowl of sunomono, the Japanese salad of noodles, cucumber, and prawn in cool sweet vinegar.

Intermission's a photo walk at the prettiest local golf course. Right now, so many trees and shrubberies are in bloom, it'll be one steady click-click-click.

Part Two is the warm part of the meal: miso soup, beef teriyaki with rice and vegies. We're even adding a piece of gomae and heating it (even though it can be eaten at room temp). This part is for back at home, as the sun is going down, and we're snuggled in front of some lazy Friday night tv.

Second time 'round

While I was out last night, the Dear Man had one of those all-inclusive barbecue chicken dinners from the supermarket. Even though he'd shared it with a friend of ours, there was still a lot left.

I took the meat off the bones and simmered us a broth from them. A few Chinese dumplings make it more of a meal. The salad is filled with chunks of the chicken meat.

Especially where the chicken dinners were on sale this week, two nights meals mean a really good bargain!

Rec Centre Eats

The Community Rec Centre in Mission was the site of a Poetry Planet/Earth Day event for National Poetry Month. I went out early to meet with my friend's class. Between the class and the reading, we ate at the Rec Centre's snack bar.

Apparently, when I was really little (like 3), when we'd go out for a meal, I'd always order "a grilled cheese sammich and a glass of choc'lit milk." Not much has changed. I had a grilled cheese along with a side of Caesar salad, and washed it down with a cup of hot chocolate. You can't really see it, but tucked under the top corner of the sandwich is the place where I poured a schlurp of ketchup onto the plate. Dipping the sandwich into it makes the experience complete.

The bottom of the barrel

Or, in this case, the freezer. I have another commitment in Vancouver tonight – one that means another early bus into the city. Cooking (or shopping – still not done!) hasn’t fit itself into the day.

So, “what’s fer supper” tonight? A pre-packaged, microwavable packet of what I think of as emergency food. I guess today qualifies as that unforeseen emergency. I’ll admit to adding some frozen peas to the packet, then dosing the lot with a big shake of Parmesan and some hot sauce.

At least there’s enough lettuce left to put together a bit of salad. And yes, those are a few blueberries in there too.

Not exactly the way I like to eat. Tomorrow? Who knows.

A wild little sandwich

The Dear Man’s cold has taken a turn for the worse. There’s a pot of turkey soup simmering on the stove, ready for him whenever he is able. (Remember those turkey drumettes from the Cacciatore? I stuck two from that batch into the freezer. Today, they seem to have found their calling.)

As for me, I’m catching a bus to Vancouver for a workshop tonight, so I have to haul out of here much too early for a normal meal.

I figured a sandwich would probably tide me over. What fun though – rather than peanut butter or tuna salad, my wild little sandwich is filled with ice cream.

Not quite the usual Sunday fare

It isn't a family dinner tonight. Too many cold germs and sneezes around here.

It's a night for spaghetti and meatballs, or, as probably every kid has called it, 'pasketti'. But as always with us, it isn't quite what the mind might conjure. For one thing, it isn't spaghetti, it's twirly egg noodles. And the meatballs aren't made from beef or pork, they're made with ground buffalo.

There's a salad dressed with mostly oil, and the last coloured egg for us to share as part of the meal. After all, today is Orthodox Easter. Hristos a inviat.

Starting a tradition?

It wasn't so very long ago that we had a camping-at-home supper for one of our weekend meals. Looks like that's what it is again.

A pot of beans, slurped up with extra molasses, plus homemade bockwurst cooked over the fire. There are some beautiful Portuguese buns, so we're set for another camping supper here in our little parkland.

Really, there are more difficult traditions. This one is both easy and fun.

Mexi-Fuse

A weird name for an odd supper. As things turned out, I didn't go grocery shopping, so I had to get creative with what was in the fridge.

There was still a bit of last night's chicken in curry sauce and even some of the rice. I added the last of the V-8 juice to the rice, along with some chili powder and cumin and put that into a little casserole dish for the oven.

Then I pulled the chicken meat off the bones and piled it into some wheat tortillas. Those went into the curry sauce, then into the oven with the rice dish.

Like I said, I'm not sure what to call it, Curried Enchiladas, anyone?

Burning Chicken

I'm not calling it that because of anything that happened in the oven. It's just that tonight's chicken is in a very strong curry sauce. It's still the stoopid cold thing going on here, and hot spicy food makes me think I'm burning away the germs in my body. Whatever, it's a good excuse for spicy food.

The recipe is sooo easy -- from the sister of a girlfriend. Pretty much equal parts juice (she said orange, I'm using some tropical blend), orange marmalade (mine was the last bits of a lemon-orange-peach combo that had been made by a friend) and curry paste. I went heavy on the curry paste. Besides the chicken, the pan's filled with the last few mushrooms as well as bits of yellow and green pepper. Tomorrow is shopping day, so all of it goes in tonight.

Rice with cumin and peas, plus a salad plate: lettuce, tomatoes, green pepper and cottage cheese -- always good for tempering the spicy heat...

An evening for comfort food

It's been a difficult day -- one of frustration and what felt like spinning wheels. Good thing there are some perfectly ripe avocadoes in the basket. There's only half a lemon, but there's still a decent lime, so the reliably comforting 'guacamole pasta' it is.

Just enough green beans to make a bit of a side. A simple salad with oil and a splash of vinegar.

And to top off the pasta, a sprinkling of the season's first chives.

Bravo for the comfort of comfort food...Mmmm.

Busy night, easy supper

It's been a full-on day and I have to attend a meeting tonight, so there's not a lot of time for fussing with a nice meal. Luckily, there are leftovers (both quinoa and rabbit in sauce) from Sunday. To fill in the gaps, a pan of store-bought cabbage rolls heated up in the oven, alongside the two pans of leftovers.

Bit of an odd combination, but it's warm and an interesting (if nothing else!) blend of foods. Salad? A tomato and an avocado, both sliced. How daring, eh.

The High Price of Lazy

It's been a while since we've been for what we used to call 'cheap takeaway'. But yikes, it sure isn't cheap any more. It's doubled in price, almost to the penny.

I've been noticing the price of food going up and up, but doubling -- this is the first time I've spotted this trend. I hope I won't be seeing more of it.

Still, because we were both outside for most of the day, we were hungry. And because we were tired out by the fresh air and wind, this seemed easy. But even though this is what we're having tonight, you can bet we won't be going back again soon.

Lapin a la biere

I thought 'lapin au biere' would sound better, but it turns out 'beer' is feminine in French, so 'a la' it must be, even if I can't figure out how to include the accent marks.

And yes, 'lapin' means 'rabbit' -- probably a politically incorrect choice for Easter dinner. It's cooked in a beer-based sauce, along with onions, garlic and a handful of wild (lobster variety) mushrooms.

We're having it with quinoa, squash and a salad -- lots of golden yellow foods, especially as the quinoa has grated carrots in it. Happily, after too many hours of grey skies and hard rain today, the sun has agreed to shine on the last few hours of this Easter Sunday. Golden skies, golden food, bless us all.

Saturday a la Greque

Since we pretty much always have homous in the fridge, Greek usually presents itself as an easy option. Tonight is no different. There's lamb on the barbie, lemony potatoes in the oven and a sort-of-Greek salad (as far as I'm concerned, if there's feta in the salad, it's sort-of-Greek). Hard to believe, but even after last night's fondue, there's still a butt of that baguette left. Chunks of it should be fine for lopping on the homous and dipping into the various juices from the rest of the food.

Friday Night Party

When I was little, my sister and my mum and I used to have what we called our 'Friday Night Party' every week. All they consisted of was popcorn and some kind of sweet drink, usually Kool-Aid -- and getting to stay up late to watch tv together.

Tonight's 'party' was inspired by half a baguette, still lying about from Sunday dinner. Since we've had an old fondue set on the shelf for years, I decided to pull it out -- and use some bits of cheese in the process.

Besides chunks of bread, we have apple for dipping. And to be really adventurous, we're even dipping raw oysters. The hardest part? Keeping the oysters on the little fork long enough to heat through.

Still, crazy good fun.

Not quite the Last Supper

I've been thinking about my mother a lot, and remembered her saying I'd been born on the Tuesday of Holy Week -- that'd be this week, the one preceding Easter.

That led me to think tonight must be the night of the famous Last Supper. So I got to wondering what they had for supper that night.

Among things I learned is that da Vinci's Last Supper is the most popular subject for paint-by-number kits. But aside from everyone agreeing that bread and wine were served, I couldn't find anything too concrete, besides conjecture that they probably had sauce for dipping the bread in.

For our 'sauce' I guess we're having gravy. Because the day began cool and grey, I started up a pot roast (beef) earlier. It cooked all day to tenderness before I added potatoes, carrots, onions and wild mushrooms (boletes) -- which leads to the wildest story I'd found during my research: Jesus eating psychedelic mushrooms. Really, the Internet has everything!

Germ-Burn Prawns

Over the past few days, the Dear Man has been doing his best to fight a spring cold. He's been drinking plenty of liquids -- teas and soups especially. But tonight I'm enlisting the help of hot chili spices to help him fight it.

Tonight's supper is a stir-fry of prawns with onions and asparagus and peppers and lots of garlic. The sauce is black beans and garlic sauce with chili sauce mixed in. The salad has a large dose of home-made penicillin (Danish blue cheese). If this doesn't kill the cold germs, I don't know what will.

To your good health!

Bit of this, bit of that

Some leftover cheese sauce from Sunday served as the inspiration for this not-very-inspired supper. Macaroni and cheese, the most basic of comfort foods.

Some green beans and a salad at least give it a bit of balance.

Second chance

Whew, good thing we have all those leftovers. I'm still shaking my head that I forgot to take a picture before I dug in last night.

Not quite all the bells and whistles we had as accompaniments first time 'round. Still, ribs and scalloped potatoes let you know you've eaten real food.

And one lonesome deviled egg left from last night. With a bit of veg, it works to replace the usual salad.

Oops!

We'd just finished supper when the realization hit. For the first time this year, I'd forgotten to take a picture of supper. I guess I was too busy enjoying the company a family supper means.

For what it's worth, we'll all have another meal from this, always a lucky feeling.

Kind of like camping

After a day of yard work, it feels good to sit outside to finish off the day. That's a pot of beans cooking up over a fire. They're not from scratch, just tinned ones that I topped up with a big glop of molasses. Some bratwursts go on next, so the supper is basically high-end dogs with beans.

Not quite camping, but considering we didn't have to drive anywhere, not bad.

West Coast treats for a guest from Down East

Guests are always a great excuse to splurge.

Since our company came all the way from the Atlantic side of the country, it seemed like a good idea to serve him fish from our side, the Pacific. The first of this season's fresh halibut was in the shops, so that was the focus of our meal. Polenta with mushroom sauce, perfect springtime asparagus and, of course, a salad complemented the plate.

We'd also had salmon lox for appies, always a treat.

I think our guest was glad he'd eaten here. And I was glad I'd had him as an excuse for such yummy treats.

Whatever-shows-up potluck

Another ladies' night, so it's an unplanned mix. But once again, it's a mix where things go together very well.

I cooked up the main dish, a broccoli and cheese casserole. Two others brought variations on chicken -- one brought wings, the other some saucy chicken nuggets. Yet another brought a salad made from broccoli and apples.

It even worked out that we had a dessert, no less than blueberry perogies, a first for me.

It's a celebration!

We went out to one of my happiest places to eat -- the best little sushi place I know.

Naturally, we had waaaay too many courses. Still, it was worth it. With food like this, I don't care if I overeat.
Besides, I've heard calories don't count today, because it's my birthday (no foolin').