Canadian Milk

Good, Better, Best

Our prenatal classes emphasized the importance of pregnant women getting enough protein in their diet, and they especially argued that pregnant women should be getting at least one egg a day to get proper nutrition.

I do not like cooked eggs very much. Never have, ever since I was little. The make or break factor of food for me is texture. And eggs, like mushrooms, are just...wriggly. Not my favourite. [Caveat: I do like a good omelette or eggs Benedict or some other exceptions].

That said, I can fully appreciate the nutritional benefits of good eggs.

So, I offer you a comparison. On the outside of the bowl, generic store-bought egg yolks. In the middle, one free-range heritage-breed egg yolk specially delivered from the farm by my mother. Guess which is better for you?

Jam

Of course we came back from BC with fruit. How could we not?Apricots and blackberries to be exact. The blackberries were a little worse for wear after two days of plus 35 prior to getting home, but the apricots survived the trip perfectly.

So, seeing as the blackberries were going bad fast, they were my first order of business.

Blackberries + sugar + apples + boiling + cooking + boiling = black berry jam.

Not only that, but they sealed really well in the canner.

Then, apricots.

I divided them in two groups. The first group were made into apricot "butter" (Brent doesn't like this term as there is actually no butter in them).

Apricots + cinnamon + cloves + allspice + zest and juice of 1 lemon + white wine

+ boiling + mashing + baking + stirring + stirring

= apricot "butter"

And they canned well too.

Finally, batch two of the apricots:

Apricots + pectin + LOTS of sugar + boiling + blendering = yummy apricot jam.

And they canned well too, making 100% canning success.

I really like this jam-making business.

Where's the beef?

Good friends of ours belong to an old ranching family from the Nanton area and are continuing that ranching tradition into the fifth generation. Their cattle are grass-fed and, if I say so myself, very tasty. So here's my pitch on their behalf: - The meat is lean and flavourful. - If you haven't bought part of a beef before, I highly recommend trying it. I love having a quarter of a cow in our freezer...so much more variety to choose from when it comes time to make a meal than if I have to buy the cut at the grocery store ahead of time. - They're just plain great, friendly and trustworthy people. By buying from them, you support local and you support people who deserve to be supported. So without further ado, check out Trails End Grass Fed Beef.

Rhubarb farming

I like that rhubarb has a silent h in it. Sometimes I want to pronounce that h. R-hubarb. Say it with me. Speaking of silent h, I realized this morning that in my head, yogurt should be spelled yoghurt. But that's not the proper way to spell it, at least not according to the Mozilla spell-check. But I like it better. It looks more...ethnic. Yoghurt. So there. Anyway, what I came to say was that we harvested our second crop of r-hubarb today. Mostly because it was shading the oregano and squishing the carrots, not because we needed r-hubarb right at this moment. So I chopped it up, measured it, and put it in the freezer in a labelled bag. And tonight we went to the Hillhurst-Sunnyside farmer's market and got raspberries. They're laid out on a cookie sheet in the freezer. I'm looking forward to a bounty of fruit this winter.

Pleasures of Blueberries

One of my greatest joys and pleasures of summertime is fresh fruit. Especially with cereal and yogurt.

The recipe:

1 part small or chopped fruit

1 part plain Greek-style yogurt (not low-fat)

1 part Harvest Crunch granola

I prefer this with raspberries, blueberries or chopped nectarines. But peaches or cut-up strawberries will also work.

Mmm. Fruit is my favourite.

Clafouti, anyone?

Yesterday I made an experiment dessert and tested it out on the women from Bible Study. It was called Cherry Clafouti and I got it from Simply Recipes. This was the first time we've purchased cherries this year. I managed to resist the urge to just eat the whole bag of them raw. The colour of cherries and cherry juice is almost as good as that of cranberries. Almost. A lot of juice gets splattered when you de-pit cherries. Especially when you're using a chopstick to de-pit. I am a fairly freckled person to begin with, but I added to the collection with some lovely purple freckles courtesy of the cherries. Too bad we didn't get a picture of the finished product. It didn't look quite as good as the recipe picture, I think because we cooked it too long. It was supposed to be a baked custard-like dessert, tasting of cherries and almonds. I think I need to buy a bag of cherries just to eat soon. But I thought it was a little early for cherries yet. I wonder when BC cherries will be ready?

Lemon and Vanilla With Fresh Strawberries

The other night we had K&K over for one last hang-out night before female K moved back to Lacombe for the summer. We've had them over a number of times in the last while, once where we made supper and then went out for dessert, once where they made supper and we made dessert, and now this last time, where we made supper and they made dessert.

Fortunate for us, K&K are both really good at cooking and baking. They made chicken cordon bleu from scratch the night they cooked. AND they're particularly fond of cheesecake. So cheesecake it was early this week.

And it was good. Very very good.

Thanks guys, you can come over anytime. :)

Out for Supper

Last night we went out for supper with K&K. I wanted Italian but since there are TONS of Italian restaurants in Calgary, I wanted to try something different, something less mainstream than the Olive Garden or East Side Marios. So we went to a place in Kensington called Niko's Bistro. Niko's Bistro is on Kensington Road, closer to 14th Street than to 10th. It's a tiny little space in a cute little row of shops. When we came in the door the owner met us and led us to our table--a place right at the front where we could see out the window. The restaurant was not super busy, but we were far from the only people eating there. The decor was nice and understated. Heavy curtains separated the main part of the restaurant from the entrance. The windows had funky stringy curtains in front for a little privacy. The walls were painted coffee-coloured muted tones and there was local art on the walls. The background music was contemporary folk/jazz/pop of the variety that we really like. So far so good. We got our menus and there was tons of interesting things to choose from, either pasta dishes or meat-oriented dishes to which a side of pasta, vegetables or ceasar salad could be added. The wine menu was extensive too, but K&K are not wine drinkers, so we thought we would not go for wine. I think that was our first mistake, not ordering wine. We got kind of a sneering look from our waitress as she took away our wine glasses. When K and B decided later to order drinks, she brought them AND THEN asked for their IDs. Brent hasn't been IDed....maybe ever? So strange. We had bruschetta and calamari as appetizers. The bruschetta was really good--we could have had a lot more of it, though the waitress thought one order would be enough. The calamari was...calamari. I've decided I'm not a huge fan. It was well-spiced but nothing to write home about (but maybe I'm just not a calamari connoisseur?). I had a heck of a time deciding what to order, so I asked the waitress what she thought. I didn't take any of her suggestions, which was perhaps my next mistake. I ended up ordering the chicken parmigiana with vegetables. Brent ordered another interesting kind of chicken with pasta on the side, and K&K ordered canneloni and spicy spaghetti. After taking our order, we didn't see the waitress again until she came to ask if we wanted dessert or the bill (!!). The owner of the restauraunt brought us our food, and no one ever came to see if we were happy with our food or we wanted more to drink (which we all did). Finally when I was the only one still eating, and the waitress came to see if we wanted dessert, I asked her for more water. It wasn't like the place was really busy or was really big so that she could have forgotten us, we were right there. But I guess we had offended her or broken some unspoken rule (like not ordering wine at an Italian restaurant??). At any rate, the food was quite good. But good enough to come again? I'm not sure. We had way more fun when we came back home and had tea and the dessert that K made and played a roaring game of Settlers. Relaxed and we could get up and refill our own drinks. So there you have it. Niko's Bistro on Kensington Road. Take it or leave it.

Brown

I like the colour brown. It's warm and gentle and inconspicuous. It's the colour of freckles. The colour of bark. Of coffee with milk. Of decomposed compost. Of the eyes of the one-year-old daughter of friends of ours, who looks at me with serious questions and interest. It's the colour of a lot of other things too, some of which are not discussion topics for good company. ;) Finally, it's the colour of my favourite cookies. Cookies that have molasses and brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in them, all ingredients that are...brown.

Appetite-provoking

For some "food" for thought, check out "The Eleven Best Foods You Aren't Eating".

Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday

Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday aka International Day of Pancakes aka Mardi Gras. So we had skinny pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries. And it was good. Very very good. (You may remember our last years' pancaking adventures here, or here) And as of Wednesday aka Ash Wednesday aka the start of Lent, I have given up Facebook until Easter. It may not sound like much, but it is far too good of a time-waster, and already I've had to stop myself from automatically going to the site when I'm sick of translating. Check out Brent's photoblog to read about what he's giving up.

On the occasion of the inauguration

Actually, my post has nothing to do with the inauguration, but we're watching/listening to the live broadcast of the inauguration right now. It truly is a momentous occasion. Now is the time to pray for the new leadership of the United States. Tonight is my lecture at Fort Calgary. Our pastor phoned last night to talk to Brent and I compared reading speed and sermon/lecture length with him. It made me realize that my paper was too short to fill an hour, so I spent last night adding bits and pieces. I'm hoping I'm going to hit an hour now. If you're not busy tonight, I'll be speaking at Fort Calgary at 7:30 on Danish Folk Schools in the city of Calgary in the 1920s. On Saturday we went for a skate and a visit with some friends from our lifegroup. We enjoy discussing things with them as they are in a similar headspace/life situation to us. They have a beautiful little girl who at two years old is learning to skate. I got the honour of skating with her. It was wonderful looking into her trusting brown eyes and encouraging her to keep balancing. Finally, CBC this morning released its top 49 song playlist on the occasion of Obama's inauguration: music about Canada. Check it out. I agree with a lot of the choices, with Joni and Leonard and Gordon...and the Arrogant Worms. Oh, and one more thing. Last night we had muffins for supper...(yes I know, that sounds very strange, but to our defence, they had almonds and apple sauce and whole wheat flour in them). I thought I would share the recipe because they were so darn good.

Yum.

Bird's Custard Pudding + Berries [cranberry sauce here] = love

Decoding Coffee-talk

How can you argue with a drink order that includes a heart? Practically speaking, in translation the cup reads "half-sweet; Christmas special #4[gingerbread latte]; no whipping cream on top; for a customer in the coffee-shop part of the store" (I think). We can't help but grin when we think of our favourite coffee-shop people, the owners and senior staff of Coffee and S'cream. We are so thankful for the small-town feel they bring to our lives, and for their friendship and interest in our lives. And because they make such tasty lattes. That was the best gingerbread latte I've ever had. (And Brent really enjoyed his "naughty Mrs. Claus" rum & eggnog latte too!).

Sugar and Spice Cont'd

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

I like food

Want to make yourself hungry in short order?

Just a little uplifting advice for all of you dinner-eaters

Pancakery success

International Pancake Day aka Shrove Tuesday aka Fat Tuesday aka Mardi Gras has come and gone. And fun was had by all (as far as I know).

We made two different recipes, one of French Crepes and one of Icelandic Pancakes (Kirstin's ol' standby).

Sundry ingredients involved:
eggs and butter and sugar mixed.

Flour sifted.

Finished batter, with no lumps (a more difficult task than you might expect)

And away they cook.

And we thought we made way too much batter. Not so, we were all hungry.

Sparkling wine and orange juice. Thanks for the recommendation, liquor store man, it was tasty!

I think we shall have to make this a yearly tradition! And now that it's Ash Wednesday and Lent has began, anyone considering giving something up? I'm thinking it might be a good way to continually think of Easter and the God's ultimate sacrifice. Thoughts?