Salmon-y lunch

GUYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYS IM SO EXCITED

We have finally moved in everything and I can actually cook with my things instead of the in between, and I am just ecstatic! Just wanted to quickly share my lunch which I was looking forward to au max! Simple, delicious, and tbh I even enjoyed doing dishes after LOL!

I made a very simple guac for the salmon, just half an avocado, 

half a lemon squeezed, and a tbsp of roasted onion hummus. So creamy.

With the salmon, a quick side salad: a small tomato and half cucumber from my aunts garden with 

some fresh basil leaves and half an avocado. Quick marinade made from o.o. and lemon juice from the other half of the lemon, along with some chili flakes.

The salmon fillet was really easy prep, it was already spiced from the fish mongers, a spicy thai paste made with hot peppers, garlic, spices, etc. Just plopped it in foil and in the oven for 25 mns and it was perfect. What a delicious meal!! 

booyah.

hai der.

Yes.

A whole. Fish. Head, everything intact.

Sam's Club. (AKA Costco)

No, seriously.



*****

I was headed to a new members' meeting for the National Speech, Language, and Hearing Association yesterday. It was my first time going to the SLP building after hours at 7:30.

I go to open the door, and I find it locked. I swipe my student ID card. Not working despite my grad student status. I can see the students, TONS of undergrads (HOW did they get in?) pooled in the lobby about 20 feet away through glass front door. I bang on the door, ring the doorbell, wave, dance, and finally get it that I'm just not supposed to be at this meeting for some reason.

So I run errands instead. I head to the giant strip mall (lol) near my house, walk into Sam's Club, and find these babies.

God loves me. 

Rainbow trout. They came loosely wrapped in packets of twos, but they looked amazing. All for $5. I was swooning. My grandmother always told me to check for two things: bright eyes (never cloudy) tinged with red; and firm flesh. In hindsight, I should have tried to find an employee to bring me to the back so I could pick some out that they hadn't wrapped yet, touched them, and given them a sniff (I have weirded out many a teenaged employee stuck working at the fish counter at random grocery stores by asking if I can smell the fresh seafood to check for freshness lol), but dude, I was SO EXCITED I ran off to the cash and the man in front of me remarked with a chuckle "Hey, whaddaya know-she found REAL FISH, hehehehhe."

Within 15 minutes, these babies were rinsed, marinated in olive oil, salt, pepper, minced fresh ginger, the juice of 1 lime, sliced fresh garlic, and lots of green onions, and in my oven on broil.

Must devise a plan to get all the rest of the whole fish from Sam's Club before the Missourians do...

The fish were each about half a pound. I don't think my oven is as hot as it should be, because it took a good 10 minutes for the fish to be ready to be turned over to the other side (for a 1 pound fish, it should start to get charred and skin bubbly in 5 minutes, then you know it's ready to turn).

The fish turned out pretty nicely! I'm sure if I had marinated it for at least 2-4 hours, or even better, overnight, it would have turned out differently. I made more fish later in the week for Matt--this time, the fish was even JUICIER! Huzzah!

date night & more!

no leeks were used, but I wanted to show you I bought some, cause you know, that's our blog name and whatnot. see see! I really buy leeks :D (using in soup tonight)

frog legs!

garlic, butter & parsley sauce

breadsticks with oil and balsamic vinegar

ready for nomming

Ambrose really enjoyed the breadsticks.

I'm experimenting with breakfast pies! These were apple, egg & cheese. I want to make some with sausage and spinach for tomorrow. they are basically like mini quiches. The little casseroles are 2$ apiece at the Dollarama, and have lids. They are microwave, oven & dishwasher safe.

Tony accidentally threw out my kefir grains a couple of weeks ago, so when I was cleaning out the fridge the other day, I decided to dig out some old kefir grains from months ago I'd been using to ferment juice. They were stored in a solution of sugar-water with ginger and cardamom. They've been dyed brown from juice, so you can see them clearly here - and you can clearly see that THEY STILL WORK! Incredible! I don't know if this is because "gingerroots are rich in yeasts and lactic acid bacteria", as are "other similar rhizomes, specifically turmeric and galangal" (Sandoz Katz, The Art of Fermentation, Chelsea Green 2012, pgs 150-151), which helped keep the SCOBY alive, or what, but... I'm impressed! I've been so sad about my lack of dairy kefir in my life I actually bought some commercial kefir made by Pinehedge Farms. It was delicious but WEIRD! Really thick and sweet, not in a sugary way but just in a mild way. The fermentation agent listed on the label is simply "live bacterial cultures", which I find a little suspicious, as real kefir SCOBYs also have yeast. I know some stores sell technically real kefir starters, as all of the components are on the label, but it comes in powder form and can't be resued the way a SCOBY can. I wonder how Pinehedge Farms, or any other large-scale kefir producer, make their products? Anyway. I'm a happy hippie here with my kefir!

As a housekeeping note to the LG crew, please try to remember to use labels in your posts so the blog is easier to navigate. Before publishing, click "labels" on the right menu, then select whatever ones we already have that apply to your post, or inventing a new one/new ones if nothing really fits. Thanks!

Food Culture

So, like any good foodie would do, I always use the travelling excuse to dive into new foods that I would probably not try at home. If Im going to spend money on eating out, might as well be extraordinary things I cant find or make at home. I love to go to places and say to them, just bring me whatever it is you eat. I havent been lucky enough to go overseas yet, but Ive learnt that food can be completely different even if you live just a few hours away.

My parents gave us a vacation to Isle-Aux-Coudres for our wedding gift, which is maybe 5-6 hours away, and in the middle of the two coast lines of Quebec. And coastline doesnt mean anything to me but beautiful views and extremely fresh sea food. But what I also discovered, was their love for fresh food, and best of all, how they dont talk about eating seasonally and locally, they literally live it. As a local told me, they import all kinds of fancy food for the city folks, but they what they got in their earth and in their water (and by fancy foods, we were talking about asparagus). The hotel had their huge herb garden right in their front yard, and their menu changed every day to include whatever was freshly caught that morning and what was available.

This is the first meal I had on the island. I looked at the menu of the only restaurant not in a hotel on the island (which houses about 1000 people), and saw full of unfamiliar names, closed the menu and asked the waitress to bring me whatever it was that she would suggest I try. The fish are called perlans (which I cant for the life of me find the translation of). Tiny fishes, they roast them then fry them with a spicy batter, and then serve it as you see. To be honest, I had an issue getting over the tails, fins, partial heads and spine still being attached, in fish that grosses me out. Once you get over that, its delicious.

Lunch we had right before going on a whale cruise. CHECK OUT THE VIEW. This was a shrimp and citrus salad. What I didnt know, was that there would also be flying fish eggs on the plate. Both of which, the eggs and shrimp, had been freshly caught and extracted the morning of. The waitress even pointed out the fishing boat that had delivered them. And the price of this most excellent dish you ask? A ghastly 12$. Im sure that could run easily upwards of 25$ in the right place downtown.

There is a miniscule SAQ where non locals can get their alcohol should they need, but there is a cider press house on the island where practically all locals get their drinks from. They make all kinds of alcohol, and grow every single fruit they use in it. They had  selection of hydromels as well, using honey from their hives. I tried the mistelle au pommes-poires (a sort of light pear apple cider) which was absolutely delicious, but I found out I was allergic to it (as I sometimes am to alcoolized fruit liqueurs). Later on, I tried non-alcoolized mout de pommes gelees, where they pick frozen apples, cook them down and press them. Fantastic!

I wish we could have had more time and more meals, but we ran out of both much too fast! Definetly going to explore the coastline of Quebec again!

seafood grill a la Sam

Sam brought us marinated squid and salmon on Wednesday along with our produce basket, it was incredible. I say that as a generally hesitant seafood-eater.

In the marinade, there was, oh, coconut milk, garlic, mint, cayenne, and what else, Sam?

We also had bread, salad (largely from the produce basket), kombucha and super-simple tropical wine.

For "dessert" (eg Sam's appetizer) we had zucchini brownies. And Sam brought wonderful yogurts to share. It was good times.

Holy Mackerel

I don't quite know whether it's the Mediterranean roots, or my childhood obsession with "The Little Mermaid"...or even the treasure chest full of toys at Red Lobster, but the mention of seafood always sets my heart aflutter. Whenever I'm at a grocery chain, I find myself inexplicably drawn to the seafood counter, inadverdently flirting with the (99.99% male) poisonnerie staff as I eye the glistening rows of whole Atlantic salmon.

Seafood fever definitely runs in the family. My parents tell me of their glorious summer vacations by the shores of Alexandria, where you could buy freshly caught, grilled fish right off the beach from local merchants and savour your meal right by the rolling waves of the Meditteranean. I distinctly remember my mother and grandmother taking me to numerous fish markets, gushing like schoolgirls over sea bass and porgi, touching fish with their bare hands ("The flesh is FIRM! Take that one!" and "Sonia! The eye is RED! It must be fresh!") as the clerks desperately tried to make them wear plastic gloves....but I felt like a fish out of water. The pervasive stench was unbearable for a wee fry like myself, always contending to linger just outside the door while they were finished up.

Grandma Gabriel surveying the goods

Last week, after years and years of scheduling conflicts (and changes of heart), I was finally able to take my grandmother to Coralli's-- apparently one of Montreal's finest seafood institutions.

The place...was HUGE. They had pretty much everything you can imagine. Every condiment for every critter. They even smoked their own salmon (I don't even know why this delights/surprises me, but I guess it demonstrates the absurb degree to which we are dispossessed from the production of our food)! On the car ride there, my grandmother kept calling it "smoke meat!!!", and kept raving about how good it was, and how we were going to feast on it for lunch. And in my head, I'm thinking: "Can I really trust the brisket at the fish joint? What, are they running a boucherie on the side too? This sounds like sketchy business, man."

like butter

represent.

bahaha!!!

Action in the Kitchen -Seared Ahi Tuna

A beautiful seared Ahi tuna entrée--from the last person you'd expect on the planet...

A HIP HOP artist hailing from Queens, NY!

(obviously, courtesy of Mickey.)