29 April 2010 by pat.

They had the cutest spoons at T&T Supermarket. I couldn’t resist. Somehow, I just pictured serving a lovely little amuse gueule on them at my next dinner party. So tonight, when I was cooking up scallops and edamame for dinner, I… decided to play a little.

Posted in Photography, Food | 4 Comments »

29 April 2010 by pat.

Here we go. I spent the afternoon clearing the back yard of goutweed… it was all through the bed on the right side of the image. Required a lot of care to try to pull all the stolons without killing the daffodils (so few of them are in bloom that I’d like to enjoy them this one last time before I yank them in a couple of weeks).

When I get the astilbes, ferns, and hostas from Vesey’s, I’ll be filling things in. I’m also going to get a few plants from East End Gardens.There are three roses in this yard, and I’m not sure if they’ve really survived winter. I’ll give them a couple of weeks to prove themselves. If they’ve survived, I’ll move them to the front garden. If not… well, compost time.It looks like some of the roses in the front garden are also a bit slow or haven’t made it. I’ll have to give them some time to see how they do:

There’s a clump of grass growing in the lavender bed that I have to get rid of, and some perennials that materialized from nowhere in the raised bed that I’m not fond of and am thinking of destroying. Going to get rid of the pots of sedum (plant the sedum in the back yard). Might ditch the two half-barrels: after 14 years, they’re looking more than a little tired. The alliums should be flowering within a few weeks, by the looks of it.  What an early spring!

Posted in Home gardens, Gardening, Uncategorized | No Comments »

27 April 2010 by pat.

Like, an ingredient you’ve not used before? Something you have no idea how to prepare?I need to look some things up.I love anchovies. I like white anchovies, I like salted anchovies, I like salted anchovies in olive oil… and then I saw these at T&T supermarket (I biked over there yesterday afternoon).

I have no idea what I’m going to do with them. Maybe they’re something that I add to soup, or grind up, or just munch on for a snack (like dried capelin, which my Dad used to buy long ago in Montreal).

I’ll do some research and let you know what transpires!

Posted in Food, processed, Food | No Comments »

25 April 2010 by pat.

I’m exploring all the professional groups associated with photography through Linked In, and found a group for members of the North American Nature Photography Association, which led me to the association’s website.There’s some truly inspirational nature photography on their 2010 Member Showcase.

Posted in Photography - documentary, Photography sales and marketing, Photography | No Comments »

25 April 2010 by pat.

But forgot to blog about it!

It ended up taking the whole evening to make the stock, so I made the soup the following evening.

I had two bunches of wild leeks, and I cut them apart at the bottom of the leaf.

Sautéed the bulbs and stems along with a couple of onions, and then added the stock from the previous night together with some potatoes, cut into 6 to 8 pieces each, depending on the size of the potato. There were probably about 3 pounds of potatoes. Also added some black pepper. Would have added some nutmeg, but I seemed to have used it all up. Must remember to buy some more.

Simmered until the potatoes were cooked, and then roughly chopped and added the leek leaves to the mix, and cooked for about 5 more minutes.

Removed from heat, waited for it to cool a bit, and then used my stick blender to turn it into a homogenous soup.

It’s good hot, it’s good cold. I like it cold with a little drizzle of white truffle olive oil!

I’ve frozen it in two sizes: hefty meal and soup appetizer.

Posted in Food, recipes, Food, SOLE food | No Comments »

23 April 2010 by pat.

Last week I bought myself a long zoom: 125-400mm.I’m practicing with it on birds in my backyard, and posting some of the results at my Flickr account.

Posted in Urban nature, Photography - documentary, Photography | No Comments »

22 April 2010 by pat.

Just went on Veseys‘ website and placed an order for

• 10 hostas
• 10 astilbes
• 2 bleeding hearts
• 10 ferns

for my shady backyard.I’m also buying 3 blue sea holly for the front garden: the blue will be a nice cool contrast to all the warm colors of the roses. I thought of buying some foxgloves, too, but I think I prefer the foxgloves at East End Garden Centre, so I’ve got to hop on my bike and make a trip over there.I’ve reconciled myself to pulling up the daffodils in the back yard: I’ve got lots of greenery, but only 4 flowers this year, and because there are so many of them, it’s difficult to (a) plant around them (b) get rid of the goutweed that has spread among them.

Posted in Home gardens, Gardening | 1 Comment »

20 April 2010 by pat.

I’m starting it! I make some chicken stock before getting into the potatoes and wild leeks.

On the stove I have a big pot with

• 3 onions, quartered;
• 3 stalks of celery, chunked;
• 6 (very small) cloves of garlic, smashed;
• 1 kg of chicken backs from Rowe Farms (was only able to get those today: their stall at the north St. Lawrence Market was out of them on Saturday).
• 2 big pinches of kosher salt;
• A flat palm’s worth of basil
• Same of savoury.

So after that simmers for a few hours I’ll have chicken stock.

Then I’ll start making the soup.

No, it’s not for dinner tonight

Posted in Food, recipes, Food | 2 Comments »

19 April 2010 by pat.

Fixed up the water thingie in the back yard again so it’s flowing freely (catkins from the male cottonwood tree just to the south had blocked the water intake). Sat outside quietly for about an hour and a half to take pictures of migratory birds. (They’ve been uploaded and added to my Backyard Birds set at Flickr).

Came inside and wanted a grilled sandwich for a late breakfast.

Got out some cheddar that I bought from Montfort at the north Farmers’ Market at the St. Lawrence Market on Saturday. A hunk of side bacon, oven roasted, came from Witteveen’s in the south market, the baguette was from Future Bakery, and the dijon… well, I had that already in the fridge.

Assembled the sandwich, heated up the cast iron frying pan with a little olive oil and butter, and put it on at a medium-low heat, bacon side down.

Carefully turned it to be cheese side down, watched the cheese melt, removed to a plate.That was good. Now I’ll have a cup of chamomile tea while I go through the bird pictures.

Posted in Food - farmers' market, Food | No Comments »

17 April 2010 by pat.

I use Grocery Gateway to buy the heavy stuff: kitty litter, laundry detergent, milk, cleaning supplies, juice. Since I’d have to take a cab to bring it home, it’s even easier if I go online and order it and get them to deliver. I tweeted yesterday that I missed the cutoff for Saturday delivery, and now Grocery Gateway is following my tweets. They’re using the new media intelligently!

Posted in Food, processed, Food | 1 Comment »

16 April 2010 by pat.

More and more people are becoming vegetarians and vegans. When I read the linked article, I understand more of them.

I’m still doing what I can to purchase my meat from small organic establishments: Witteveen at the St. Lawrence Market on weekdays, the farmers who sell pig, goat, and lamb at the north market on Saturdays.

Please don’t buy meat from CAFOs. If you haven’t seen Food, Inc., watch it. Read some of the books that have been written in the last few years (including Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food).

Oh — that link: Tom Philpott’s Grist.org.  Michael Ruhlmann pointed to this article in a tweet today.

Posted in Food - farmers' market, Food, SOLE food | 1 Comment »

11 April 2010 by pat.

Yesterday morning I had the pleasure of having brunch with Cheryl from Autodesk at the Black Hoof’s newest spot, the café directly across the street from the original.

We arrived at 11am, which seems like a good time to go: only had about a 5 minute wait until we were seated (line up was out the door by the time we left). Yummy menu. We had difficulties deciding what to get!

Eventually we settled on tongue grilled cheese sandwich (Cheryl, who accepted the waiter’s recommendation to get that over the blood sausage & crepes, since she had not eaten here before) and pig tails & grits (Pat). Plus French press coffee (two pots thereof).

We shared :-)The tongue grilled cheese sandwich was wonderfully rich and flavourful: swiss cheese, and the tongue had been turned into a preserved meat somehow (didn’t ask for info, unfortunately) and sliced very thin — was a very rich corned beef kind of taste.

The pig tails were shredded meat that was shaped into kind of a rectangular sausage that had been crisped on the outside: yummy, rich, and didn’t have to deal with all those little bones. The grits were creamy, tasty, a little sweet, and topped by two perfectly poached eggs.  A little crispy chip (tasted like Munchos — remember them?) was on the top and gave some crunch to the dish.

We still had room for a little more, so Cheryl ordered the donut holes, stuffed with marrow and rhubarb jam. Little gems, about the size of a marble, dusted with sugar. Added that little bit of sweetness to say that the meal was done (that’s when we had the second pot of coffee).

I’ll be back. There was so much on the menu that looked good! Definitely have to try the suckling pig benny: three people at the next table all ordered it, and it looked scrumptious.

I’m also curious about fried artichokes & broth.

Unlike at the parent restaurant, there seem to be a number of items that a vegetarian could enjoy here: granola, salad, rapini pesto & pasta, and toast with jam and goat butter. Food for all!

Posted in Food, dining out, Food, SOLE food | 6 Comments »

6 April 2010 by pat.

Tonight’s dinner was scallops and pine nuts on sautéed arugula with garlic.It was good.

Posted in Food, recipes, Food | No Comments »

5 April 2010 by pat.

Had lots of leftovers in the fridge, so time to put them all together!

I had

• Diced turkey thigh (cooked)
• Diced maple smoked bacon (cooked)
• Confit of sliced mushrooms
• Cherry tomatoes
• Baby arugula
• Ripe avocado
• and some Bolthouse Yogurt & Chunky Blue Cheese dressing.

So that was dinner.

If I were to do it again, I’d probably add some pine nuts so something would crunch.

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5 April 2010 by pat.

It’s so early in the season, and yet, gardening is based on what the plants are doing, not what the calendar shows. The forsythia two yards away is yellow and almost in full bloom!

I’ve got most of the front garden cleaned up, all the roses and shrubs pruned, and started pruning in the back today. I’ll take pictures once I’ve got them both all cleaned up.One of my first tasks after that will be to move three of the roses to the front garden: it’s getting too shady in the back. I need to get some more shade-loving plants, like hostas, ferns, and astilbe (after I kill all the goutweed).

Posted in Home gardens, Gardening | 1 Comment »