A while back I tried to have Thursday articles a bit out of the ordinary to celebrate the end of a work week. I did not stick to it. So today I thought (a) I am going to try it again and (b) I am going to run a survey to find out if you like this feature or not.
So please vote on the poll to the right before you read this wacky Thursday article.
Any guesses as to what's in those bags?
It is somerville kitchen's wacky cereal created exclusively by and for somerville kitchen (trademark procedures in progress).
Here's the story.
Dad left behind a humongous box of Kellogg's Corn Flakes. I thought perfect - this will force me to have a healthy breakfast every morning without running out of cereal. Since by the time I buy another box I run out of the cereal eating habit all together.
Until I read its Nutrition Facts. You get 190 mg sodium to only 50 mg potassium and no proteins or fibres. In other words, you are eating fluff.
Okay, so what to do with this huge box? Throwing it out was not an option. I tried feeding it to the birds, but it didn't fly.
A light bulb went on. Mix it with other cereal.
I kept it in the family and went to the other extreme - Kashi Organic Cinnamon Harvest.
You get no sodium whatsoever but get 180 mg Potassium and 6 g fibre. Now this is more like it.
And the fact that it is all organic, sweetened with evaporated cane juice and has no added colour was even more appealing. The organic cinnamon is an extra bonus.
I just cannot believe that Kellogg's Corn Flakes have survived this long and remains to be THE cereal of choice for most families.
I still needed something more interesting than just mixing Kellogg's and Kashi (they are already mixed up with each other so there was nothing new in this mix).
And another light bulb came on - "Ershaleh" (read about it at Goodies From Abroad). These are simple flour and water Lebanese crackers sprinkled with sesame seeds. They are typically eaten soaked in milk, making them ideal for somerville kitchen's cereal.
All three went into a plastic bag in equal proportions, shook till mixed and a cereal was born.
Only $19.99 a pound.
No, those are not space pods that landed from Mars on my counter.
Those are fancy desserts from Meinhardt that were served at the end of the salmon dinner on the weekend (read Weekend with Bon Appetit). These included a decadent Molten Chocolate Cake with raspberry puree; a Lemon Meringue Tart; and a humongous marshmallow-tasting Pavlova.
There were three of us, three of them, and the idea was that each will choose their favourite. Market research was brought into the equation and surveys around like most and like least were conducted. But results were not conclusive given this vision below.
Sharing sentiments surfaced and delicate hands cut each piece into three and grouped the three different thirds to make a new Martian looking dessert.
All enjoyed all. My favourite remained the Pavlova. Meanwhile, cats enjoyed playing baker.
Thank you C!
Meinhardt
3002 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC
Last month somerville kitchen made it to the Urban Spoon's top 100 Vancouver blogs. I wanted to celebrate and give a restaurant gift certificate for free, but no one even took the effort to play (read Recruit Followers and Win). Many complained the contest was too complicated (or is it that no one wants to work for anything these days?).
Well now that I am ranked in Urban Spoon's top 90 Vancouver blogs, time to try again (and I am making it real simple for you all this time).
Step 1 - Reach out (or plead) to a handful of your close friends or family members and ask them to do one or more of the following (it doesn't have to be all and you don't need too many to win):
- Click on the somerville kitchen Facebook Page link - http://www.facebook.com/SomervilleKitchen - and Like the page
- Click on the Twitter link -https://twitter.com/#!/somervillektchn - and follow somerville kitchen on Twitter
- Click on Join This Site on the right hand side of the blog and Join
Step 2 - Send an email to somervillekitchenwindow@gmail.com with the handles or names of those friends you asked to help out with this.
Leave the rest in my hands. I will track what your friends have done. The person who generates the most combination of likes and followers by the weekend will win a gift certificate to one of your choice of close to 60 restaurants featured on somerville kitchen and linked to Urban Spoon (click Here for those restaurants).
And since I'm bragging about somerville kitchen, see the press from this weekend.
Thank you all for your support and good luck with this contest.
Yesterday, I capitalized on the sunny day with a BBQ recipe from Bon Appetit (read Day 1).
Tonight it was a warm indoor meal that comprised 3 parts; again from the last issue of Bon Appetit Magazine.
The recipe included a series of herbs - thyme, chives, parsley, dill.
A bonus that those herbs have been growing over winter, just like the lettuce, so jardin provided all.
Part 1 of the meal included salmon steaks baked over a bed of olive oil and herbs (dill, chives and thyme) in low heat oven .
Part 2 of the meal included couscous mixed with cherry tomatoes, olive oil and za'atar (and I was lucky to have had fresh za'atar from Lebanon - read Goodies from Abroad).
And part 3 of the meal was yogurt with dill (lots), chives (lots) and lemon zest. It went perfectly with the couscous.
Dinner was served with a quatro jardin green salad (two types of lettuce, green mint and green wide-leafed thyme).
And I cannot forget the appetizers - guacamole with fried zucchini, eggplants and green peppers. While the first two vegetables are typically fried at somerville kitchen - read The Story of This & That - this is the first time I deep fry green peppers. Not bad at all.
As for dessert, that is a story for another day - come back.
A long weekend + A weekend of changing weather + A weekend at the end of a 60-hours working week = A weekend of fun cooking with Bon Appetit Magazine latest issue.
Two recipes stood out, one perfect for the sunny day of the weekend; another ideal for an indoor cozy dinner for the rainy day of the weekend.
The recipes were cut out; the shopping list made; grocery shopping done and then it was time for a nap.
But before napping, the first recipe necessitates marinating meat for hours on end, so I better start with that.
The recipe for today is called Tony's steak. It requires marinating thin steaks in a mixture of chopped scallions (3), chopped garlic clove (1), soy sauce (1/3 cup), fresh lime juice (2 Tbsp), olive oil (1 Tbsp), hot pepper sauce (1 tsp) and sesame oil (1 tsp).
All are mixed in a plastic bag to which the steaks are added, mixed with the marinade and shoved into the fridge.
Now I can nap for hours, blog for hours, knowing very well that the longer I wait, the tastier the meat will become.
Few hours later, the smell on the grill was divine.
Those delicious steaks were served with one type of jardin lettuce on a bed of another type of jardin lettuce (more about those jardin lettuce at The Lettuce Experiment).
A fancy salad like this is best served with a fancy home-made Thousand Islands dressing (read all about this somerville kitchen specialty at Alf Jazeera Dressing).
And just because it feels like summer, a fun fried mini potatoes were added to the mix.
The dinner was eaten on the picnic table to capitalize on our first (and probably only) warm evening of the season.
Even cats wiped his grumpy grin off his face and enjoyed the nice evening.
Jardin is the lab; lettuce is the test species. Let the experiments begin.
Experiment 1: Planting Lettuce Seeds in the Fall
Null Hypothesis: Lettuce will not survive the winter.
Alternative Hypothesis: Lettuce will survive the winter.
Test Period: 8 months.
Null hypothesis rejected!
This is the same lettuce plant today.
Experiment 2: Planting Those "Live" Lettuces You Buy in Supermarkets
Null Hypothesis: They will wither and die.
Alternative Hypothesis: They have roots, they are alive, they should survive.
Two test subjects were used.
Subject 1 was stripped of all the edible leaves and put in the ground.
Subject 2 was put in the ground as is.
Test period: Two months.
Null hypothesis rejected.
Both grew and survived. One even went to seed. The leaves were more edible and fresher tasting than if eaten from the package two months earlier.
Experiment 3: Planting Lettuce Seedling Bought This Spring.
Null Hypothesis: They will grow.
Alternate Hypothesis: Our spring this year is too cold for them to grow.
Test Period: 4 weeks
Null hypothesis accepted.
And they made a delicious salad.
With my favourite Indian restaurant that used to deliver burnt down (read Raving about Tandoori King), finding a good Indian restaurant that also delivers is proving to be a challenge.
One find was Palki Restaurant on Commercial Drive. Great phone service when placing the order, but when the food arrived they wanted to charge $5.00 because I'm outside the delivery area. I refused, of course, since this was a surprise charge that I was not told about on the phone. The delivery guy was gracious enough to accommodate "since I was a first time customer".
As for the food...
The vegetarian samosas were tasty, but nothing special to warrant $2.50 each when you can buy the same quality at 3 for a $1.00 on Fraser Street.
The butter chicken's flavours were fresh, not extremely spicy.
The chicken pieces were exceptionally taste. You could tell quality chicken breasts were used.
I ordered the Hari Bhari Sabzi simply for the appealing name and the chef's special sauce.
It was special alright. Packed with all sorts of vegetables, nicely spiced. I bet this will get even tastier if left overnight.
The lamb Vindaloo was a disappointment. Something amiss with the spicing that I'm not sure what it is.
Rather than waste it, it is now freezing nicely in my deep freeze. I am hoping to bring it out one day, add some spicing, maybe a bit of yogurt, some vegetables. Then, the combination of enhanced spicing and sitting in the freezer for months may turn this into a fun tasty experiment. I will keep you posted.
At the end of the day, it was an alright picnic. In the absence of other recommendations from you my readers, I may end up ordering Palki again.
Palki Indian Restuarant
1130 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC
