Conversations with Cats - Dry Food

I see you on the dining table. Is this where you eat?

I try, I go up, day 1, day 2, wait for all to sit, but get kicked off. Am I part of family or humans are animalists?

You are philosophical for a cat. Would love to have some conversations with cats. 

We cats has no copyrights, you publish my mewos and make money. Human still feeds me same boring eats.

Tell me about it.

One time long time, I was size 10 times small than size now, one scary woman in white pokes, opens my mouth, says to human, feed this to cats.

What is it that human feeds you then?

I no know label read, I call it food crunchies, crunchies for 4,410 days now, so bored of crunchies. Human tries tricks, puts crunchies in funny blue thing, but cats knows. Same crunchies.

And where do you eat those crunchies?

Same day long time ago when scary woman in white pokes me, human goes and do art. Human thinks art is of me, but cats know cats is much cuter.

My question was where do you eat, not in what. So where is this not-as-cute-as-you dish?

Human has it in cats room, big room for cats running, desk climbing, sofa scratching room.

And why is the food next to the not-as-cute-as-you dish and not in it?

I told you me bored of crunchies, me throw them around when eat. Crunchies taste nicer and nicer on floor.

Is this your only food dish? somerville kitchen is a big house. 

Nein, human worries me eat no enough crunchies. Human has crunchies everywhere. 

And who's that next to crunchies?

That my xes toy for 4,230 days now. Toy like crunchies, is everywhere.

Hmm...back to food, do you eat from this dish?

You forget fast human. Cats just told human crunchies taste nicer and nicer on the floor, any floor.

Any last words for us cats?

Yes, tell human fill funny blue thing with party mix crunchies. Cats LOVE party crunchies. Cats too old to jump high for party crunchies.

Dinner with The First Lady of Georgia

My dinner inspiration is the classy Mrs. (Mildred) Ellis Arnall, the First Lady of Georgia from 1943 to 1947.

She seems to have been a popular public figure during her time. But my relationship with her is one of the recipes she contributed to a cookbook I have called Taste of Georgia.

The dish - Casserole Chicken.

The ingredients (other than cooked chicken) are a bunch of packages including sour cream, mushroom soup, dry onion soup mix and chow mein noodles.

I expected it to be heavy, but it exceeded all my expectations on this.

You mix all the ingredients together, cover with the chow mein noodles and bake for 1.5 hours in a 325 degrees oven.

It looked kinda boring. But I still had hopes for it.

While tasty, it felt missing something like vegetables of sort, or more creaminess to make it feel less than a chunk of gooey chicken.

But food is never wasted at somerville kitchen and the cassarole will be consumed one way or another.


At least I learned a bit of history having dinner with the 69th First Lady of Georgia.

Family Dinner with Guest Correspondent Xuan

Note - Blogger is still busy looking for a Date for International Picnic on Sunday (click HERE to win a free ticket to Joy of Feeding). Thus tonight's article is courtesy of a Guest Correspondent; Thank you Xuan.

Last weekend, my parents and I went to Toronto and had an amazing dinner. We went to 93 Harbord, a Middle-Eastern restaurant in the Annex. My mom started off with a delicious smelling litchi martini which she wouldn't share. The first thing we got was grilled pita bread with olive tapenade.

For appetizers, we had seared shrimp with cumin caramelized apple rings and dill, along with sour grape coulis. The apples were buttery and melted in your mouth while the shrimps were succulent. 

Our second appetizer was grilled calamari with Turkish fig salsa. The calamari was sooo tender and the salsa on it was tangy and sweet with the strong fig flavour.

For mains....

Mom had lamb and shiraz fig tagine with steamed couscous and ginger red wine coulis. The lamb was really tender and the figs were delicious.

Dad had vine wrapped grilled salmon with saffron-infused basmati pillou and tahini lemon dressing. Being the salmon lover my dad is, he loved it.

I had the special which was a rack of lamb with sour cherry sauce and roasted potatoes. The cherries were sour and went really well with the spiced lamb. The potatoes were fantastic too. 

Finally, we had three amazing desserts. 

We had a créme caramel with pistachios and strawberries;

pistachio yogurt stuffed apricots with strawberries;

and a chocolate caramel torte with walnuts and strawberries - they were all fantastic but my favourite was the torte.

Everything was great at 93 Harbord and I'd happy to go back if we have a chance.

93 Harbord

93 Harbord Street

Toronto, Ontario

www.93harbord.com

Thank you guest correspondent Xuan, write again.

 

Blogger Looking For Date At International Picnic

Yes, you can be my date and receive a free ticket ($50 worth) for the Joy of Feeding - an international food fair and fundraiser for UBC Farm taking place at UBC this Sunday.

Read on to learn what it would take to be my date, but first let me tell you more about the event (or visit http://joyoffeeding.com).

It is a group of 16 men and women cooking authentic food from 16 different countries. They are not professional chefs; they are simply people cooking for us like they would cook for their own family in their own kitchen.

And no worries about being food safe - all the cooking takes place at three different professional facilities donating their kitchens for these chefs - Vij's, Terra Breads and Pacific Institute of Culinary Art.

The website shows more on the countries and dishes but I am very much looking forward to treating my date to...

... Arab Spring food with Kebbeh from a Syrian chef and Koshary, a popular meal during the Tahrir square demonstration in Egypt. 

I am also particularly excited about the pastel de choclo (corn, beef and egg pie from Chile), chicken stew from Ghana, Toad in the Whole from a British guy and Peperonata from a long time Italian friend.

And we can't forget the sweets with chocolate pudding from our own city and cardamom and almond coffee cake from Sweden.

Yes, all of those and more are included in your ticket price. And the dish you really like, you can make yourself from the cookbook with the recipes that is also included in the price.


So how could you be THE lucky winner of a date for the Joy of Feeding with a free ticket ($50 worth)? Simple:

1. Go to Joy of Feeding Website and check out the 16 countries featured http://joyoffeeding.com
2. Send me an email with one of your own travel food stories from one of those 16 countries somervillekitchenwindow@gmail.com

You have 48 hours to submit your entry. All stories will be presented anonymously on Wacky Thursday and you, the readers, will vote on who will be my date based on their stories right here on the blog.

Or you can buy a ticket at Joyoffeeding.com and join us, I'm sure my date won't mind (or would you?)

Spread the word of this beautiful unique event - Like the Facebook Page. Good luck with the contest.

(Today's pictures courtesy of Joyoffeeding website - Thank you!)

Diary of a Simple Cooking Weekend

Three days of no-plans pj weekend to be fondly remembered as the busy week kicks off. Cooking was simple, healthy and respectful of the lives of animals

Friday

The captain came to the rescue with a package of breaded fish fillet (the multigrain coating was an extra bonus).

Home made "chips" were added for a nice platter of somerville kitchen fish & chips.

Saturday

Jar of lentils was emptied in a pot to produce a week's worth of moudardara.

Served with traditional moudardara sides of jardin fresh oregano and lemon salad, olives and mom's perfect lefett.

Baking Break

The fridge had a bunch of chocolate pieces waiting for a purpose in their chocolate lives.

Those were crumbled and turned into chocolate chips cookies using my favourite New Foundland cookies recipe. 

Sunday

Jardin was invaded for its organic parsley, green mints and green onions.

Those were turned into the freshest tabouleh platter in the whole city tonight. 

This was served with fried cauliflower and home made humus.

More Plate Exchanges

Eight months ago, I featured the plate exchanges taking place between somerville kitchen and the north neighbours (read Plate Exchange). Those neighbours are so nice that the plate exchanges just go on and on. 

Unlike the previous article where we were keeping track of the plates one by one, those eight months witnessed so many exchanges that the plates carrying the food become less relevant. More telling is the fact that plates coming to somerville kitchen were twice as  frequent, all home made and more interesting than those going from somerville kitchen.

Plates coming to somerville kitchen from the north

The elegant hand-made geese shaped creme puffs.

The home made rhubarb crumble (with home made cream).

The delicious pumpkin pie.

The creative coloured alphabet cookies.

The freshly baked lemon meringue pie.

 Cookies and more cookies.
















Plates leaving somerville kitchen to the north

Easter platter with Mink chocolates and Trafiq hot cross buns (Read Where Are The Easter Goodies).

BC Ambrosia apples from 910 Supermarket on Main Street.

And what was left of the 1965 It's A Wonderful Year Anita Cake.

Business Lunch aux Tableaux

A basket of hot baguette comes to your table as soon as you are seated at Tableaux Bar Bistro.

Tucked at the end of Melville street, this elegant French bistro is probably the only classy business lunch restaurant west of Thurlow Street.

Despite its hidden location, the place seems to be always packed and reservations are a must.

Daily specials are great. So are the sandwiches. Limited lunch menu but always something interesting to try.

I opted for lamb shank and risotto. 

The lamb was nicely cooked and had enough meat to feed a hungry guy. Risotto had squash in it and a tasty broth.

And I just could not resist the side of fries.

 

A very filling and fulfilling lunch indeed, I am glad my guest chose the bistro.

PS: This is not my first visit to Tableau; nor would it be the last. Specially those of you working close by who owe me a lunch or two.

Tableau Bar Bistro

1181 Melville Street

Vancouver, BC

www.tableaubarbistro.com