Roasted Potatoes and Carrots

In my previous post, I said I served the Salmon with lemon and herb top crust with some roasted potatoes and carrots. It's such a simple recipe, but my only complaint is that it takes a while to roast. The first time Kev had it, he thought i used frozen home potatoes. It's a relatively healthy side dish...When I made it with the salmon, Rachelle really liked it.

3 potatoes, cubed

1 red onion chopped

2 carrots sliced, medium thickness

Olive oil

onion powder

salt & pepper

dried thyme

dried rosemary

1. Preheat to 400F. Mix all ingredients. Pour everything on a baking sheet (with foil or parchment paper) or greased casserole dish. Bake for 20 min. Take out, move them around. Add a bit more olive oil if needed. Bake for another 20 min. Carrots and onions will shrivel, but don't let it burn.

It's a really easy side dish to make. And it's really hard to mess up. You can add pretty much whatever spice you like. Maybe some cayenne pepper to spice it up? Or make it a garlic potato...i've been in a thyme phase. So I just use it in prettu much everything these days.

Salmon with a Lemon and Herb top crust

Two Fridays ago, Rachelle and I had both taken the day off. So she trekked over to the West Island in the cold to join me at the day spa. We both got a massage, then had a nice hearty brunch. I had originally planned on making Curried Honey Dijon Chicken, a recipe I found on Closet Cooking, which I posted about previously (i know my blogs are all over the place). But Rachelle doesn't eat meat, except fish. So we went to the grocery store and bought a piece of salmon. I decided to try out a recipe I had seen online. I made it without the recipe, I vaguely remembered what went into it. Now I remember where I saw the recipe. It's from Soy and Pepper .


Since I was making it without a recipe, I didn't really pay attention to the measurements, but it's pretty foolproof.



Salmon Fillet
Panko breadcrumbs (japanese breadcrumbs, or regular breadcrumbs)
dried chives
dried parsley
dehydrated onion
garlic powder
salt & Pepper
Lemon juice
Olive Oil

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Mix breadcrumbs and all other dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix in Olive oil and lemon juices to just moisten the dry mixture. Place the mixture on top of the salmon fillets, press to make sure it stays on the salmon. Cook the salmon in the oven for 8-10 minutes until the breadcrumbs are crisp and golden.

In the original recipe, the temperature was lower and baked longer. I don't quite know how long or what temperature is ideal for cooking salmon. When I took my salmon out, the middle was a medium rare, but the fish continues to cook a bit after you take it out. So by the time it got to the table the salmon was just perfect for me. I hate overcooked salmon. I served this with roasted potatoes and carrots, which I will post later on.

Creamy Cajun Risotto and Smoked Salmon

Since we had half a pack of smoked salmon left in the fridge from the other day, we wanted to use it up before it dries out. I looked up online for a recipe with smoked salmon, but I kept coming up with pasta, chowder, or hors d'oeuvres. On the train ride home, I remembered I have one of those fast sidekick-type risotto mix in my cupboard. So I ditched the parmesan seasoning mix (with dehydrated milk products) and used the aborio rice that came in it. I used whatever I had in the fridge to make it. Here's my improv meal:



1 cup of cream
3/4 cup of milk
1 cup water
1tbsp of cajun spice*
1 cup of aborio rice (approx)
dehydrated garlic or 1 garlic bulb
1 tsp of butter

* Make your own cajun spice (makes 1 tbsp)

1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp Paprika
1/2 tsp Dried basil
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper

1. On medium heat, melt butter in a pan, add aborio rice and coat with butter.
2. Add liquids (cream, milk, water), stir.
3. Add Cajun spice and garlic. Turn up to high heat until it boils.
4. Once boiling, lower to low-medium on a slow simmer. Let it simmer for 20 minutes or until rice is tender. If liquids evaporate before rice is done, add more liquids (I added water). Stir constantly.
5. once done, let it sit for 5 minutes and serve with smoked salmon on the side.

The amount of liquids you use really depends on how much rice you have. I based my liquid on how much was required on the box. It asked for 2 1/2 cups of liquid, but I guess cream counts a bit less. I had to add 1/2 cup of water midway through. I made my own cajun spice and I think i'll use less cayenne pepper next time. It was quite spicy. Other than that, i think it went well. Kev had no comment because he didn't have any. He thinks it's too fancy and weird, so he had cream cheese and smoked salmon on bread. lol

Risotto is actually a lot easier to make than i thought. The only thing is that it requires a lot of attention. You need to constantly stir it.

Curried Honey Dijon Roasted Chicken

I can't remember how I discovered Closet Cooking, but one of the recipes that intrigued me a lot was the Curried Honey Dijon Roasted Chicken that the blogger discovered on another blog. His food porn picture of this recipe looked absolutely delicious. Not knowing if Kevin would like this, I hesitated for a month about this recipe. Kev is not a big fan of sauces and condiments, besides Ketchup. I think he's just way too safe. So sometimes i'll be brave and make him try all these new recipes that I discover through the beautiful world of food blogging. I also hesitated, because I don't like Dijon. I don't mind mustard and I love honey mustard and sometimes even honey Dijon if the dijon isn't too overpowering. And then the odd addition of curry made me wonder if I should skip that step in the recipe, but decided to try it. I used a mix of Closet Cooking's measurements and the original recipes measurements.






1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 tablespoons soy sauce
cayenne pepper to taste (or some other form of heat)
pepper to taste
10 chicken thighs (with bone and skin)


1. Mix everything but the chicken in a bowl.
2. Add the chicken, cover and marinate in the fridge for at least an hour. (I did it for nearly 6 hours)
3. Place the chicken in a baking dish (reserving the marinade)
4. Bake uncovered in a 375F oven for 20 minutes.
5. Brush on some of the marinade.
6. Bake uncovered until the juices run clear, about 20-30 minutes, brushing with the marinade periodically.



If you are afraid that the chicken will burn, please cover the chicken with foil for the first 20 min of baking. Closet Cooking and orginal recipe recommended this, but I didn't cover it and it didn't burn, just golden. But some ovens run higher. So be aware of this. You can also use chicken breast for this recipe, but like closet cooking, I think chicken legs are not as dry. The results were great. I think we both enjoyed. I served it with boiled vegetables and white rice. The recipe was supposed to use equal amounts of honey and dijon, but I didn't want to taste the dijon too much, so I used more honey. I also did not use as much curry as Closet Cooking (he used 1 Tbsp), instead I followed the original blogger and use 1 tsp. You can taste the curry, but it's not overbearing. I think this would make delicious chicken wings as well.


Kevin comments:
"Smells spicy" (referring to curry) while I was preparing the marinade.
"This is something different!" when he sat down at the table
"I like." while eating it.

Beef Stew

A few weeks ago, my boss told me I had a few more personal days left that i could take before they get cancelled out Jan 1st. So I decided to take a long weekend. While Kev was at work, I had time to think about what to make for dinner. We have this pack of stewing beef that Kev's parents had given us a while ago. We didn't quite know what to do with them. So I looked up online for a stew recipe. The recipe i found actually didn't even have the veggies in it. So I tweaked the recipe as I usually do and took some advice from reviews of this recipe. I've never made stew before and the only stew i've ever eaten is my mom's. That day, I had a lunch/shopping date with my friend Judy. So I didn't want to rush home to make this...knowing that stew takes a lot of simmering. So Kev's slow cooker from the 80s (from his parents') saves the day. This thing is so old that i'm sure it'll burn down the condo one day. lol The very first time Kev and I used it, we stayed home...just so we could watch it.

1lbs Stewing Beef
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup of beef broth
1 pack of onion soup mix
2-3 potatoes, cubed
1-2 Carrots, sliced or cubed
1 Onion, cubed
2 stalks of celery, chopped
salt & pepper
dried thyme
garlic powder
onion powder
cayenne pepper

***Please note that vegetables should be cut into big chunks as to not turn to vegetable mash in the slow cooker.

1. Brown meat, this is supposed to keep the juices in the beef when being slow cooked.


2. Put Potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions at the bottom of the slow cooker. Add the meat on top.


3. In a bowl, mix mushroom soup, beef broth, onion soup mix and pour it on top of everything in the slow cooker. Set on medium heat and cook for 6-8 hours.


4. Before serving sprinkle the spices and mix.

To begin, I just want to mention that i'm actually a bit fuzzy about how much beef broth I put in. since mushroom soup was a bunch of goop, I was afraid my mixture wasn't liquid enough, so I improvised and used beef broth to thin out the soup. I wouldn't recommend adding much more salt into it since the Onion soup mix gives it enough saltiness, but I think I added a little bit for taste. I served it on rice. Kev wasn't raving about, but asked me what I put it in. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. But I think he didn't mind the recipe. By now, you probably know that i always use the same old spices...i guess everyone has their base cooking style. My mom's is soy sauce, salt, pepper, and sugar. lol I'd also like to emphasize that it's important to put the veggies at the bottom so that the liquids will cook it properly. I didn't know because the recipe I used doesn't have veggies in it. So I had put it on top of the meat and after 6-8 hrs of cooking the veggies still weren't quite done. So I have to cook it on the stove top for an hour before Kev got home. And since the veggies are at the bottom, it would be wise to cut your veggies in big chunks so they don't disintegrate in the soup.

Note about the picture: I took the picture the day after our dinner...the stew is actually cold (right out of the fridge) in the pic. I simply forgot to take a picture of the stew and only remembered to do so when I wanted to write a post about it.

Chunky Cream of Potato Soup

I'm carb queen. I'm pretty sure that if I gave up carbs, i'd lose a lot of weight, however, I just love carbs too much...One of the ultimate comfort foods for me is a nice bowl of potato soup. It's just sinful. One of my favorite places to have potato soup is at Baton Rouge. Last week, when Kev and I were trying to decide what to have for supper, I had suggested a soup dinner. Kev was hesitant because he was afraid it wouldn't be filling. Potato soup is extrememly filling. I just had this for lunch in a tupperware of about 2 cups of soup and i'm about to fall into a coma. I can hardly eat the celery sticks i brought in. Finally, that night, we didn't have soup dinner. we had steak. So the other night I decided to make it while he had his leftover char siu from Chinatown. I found the original recipe online, but tweeked it a little. This is the first time i've made my own potato soup.

4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 1/2 cup of water
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 small carrot, chopped
2 garlic bulbs
1/4 cup chopped celery
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons butter, cubed
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups milk/half & half/ cream
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley/ dried parsley
3/4 teaspoon salt (more if needed)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon of dried thyme
dash of garlic powder
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese / cheddar
bacon bits (optional)

1. In a large saucepan, combine the potatoes, onion, carrot, celery and broth + water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until vegetables are tender; lightly mash.
2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt butter; stir in flour until smooth. Gradually stir in milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir into potato mixture. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Add parsley, thyme, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Remove from the heat; stir in cheese until melted. Add bacon optional.

When I made the recipe, I only had one can of chicken broth in the pantry. It's about a bit over a cup of liquids. So I topped the required 1 1/2 cup of chicken broth with water, but the liquids hardly covered the vegetables that need to be tender enough to mash. So I added an extra cup and half. Knowing this would make the soup more bland, I had to add more salt. At this point, it's taste over health. I'll try a healthier version of this soup on my second try. I added dried thyme to the recipe for more taste and a dash of garlic powder. I also chopped some garlic and probably added more celery than needed. The result was absolutely delicious. I had co-wrokers try my soup and one said it's restaurant quality and another said i should open my own restaurant. LOL I'll call it Carb City. LOL

Tatami

I discovered Tatami through Kevin's aunts around this time last year. We had a Capricorn birthday dinner there. Since Kanda became a popular sushi eatery in Montreal, I haven't been to many à la carte sushi restaurants. But since discovering this place, it's the only à la carte sushi place i've been to in 2008. The selling point is the ambiance. The tables are aquariums. You can see different tropical fishes, sea horses, and shrimps while you eat their fishy friends.

But the most impressive thing about this place is the presentation of their food. Every plate is garnished with flowers, herbs, and fruit...it's like a garden. One time, they hid the wasabi inside an apple. I believe pictures speak for themselves. And yes, they do taste as good as they look.

My favorite is the salmon tartare. I have it every time i'm there. On our last visit, Kev and I shared the handroll special (the actual menu name escapes me). 4 handrolls (chef's choice) for $20. The very first time we came here with kevin's aunts, some of them had the steak teriyaki. Instead of steak strip stir fried in the teriyaki sauce, they served you a big huge steak. Since that time, Kevin has been wanting to try that plate, but every time we go, the steak is not available. Perhaps next time we make a reservation, we will special order it. My sister had the chicken teriyaki. She's a picky eater and she likes to try the chicken teriyaki at different places. She liked this one. Although, I think I heard her rave more about the teriyaki at Zenya. The service is always good there. However, every time i've gone, it's very quiet. I fear that the lack of customers will make this little gem suffer.

This is a place I would definitely recommend. The prices are reasonable for a restaurant in the Old Port and for the quality. It's a quiet and romantic place for intimate dinners. Although, i'd definitely recommend a new music selection. The music is not bad, it just never changes. I can imagine how crazy it makes the staff.

Tatami Sushi Bar Restaurant / 140 rue Notre-Dame Ouest / 514.845.5864

Pecan Shortbread Cookies

As mentioned in previous posts, Rachelle and I took a baking course at my local Loblaws. We made Hazelnut Chocolate Orange biscotti and the Irish cream filled cookies. Since the class was only two hours and our chef likes to talk and socialize, we didn't have enough time to make the pecan shortbread. She showed us how to make it, but there wasn't enough time for the students to make their own. However, she prepared the dough for us to bring home and I rolled out the cookies during the weekend. A few days before making these, i bought these super cute little cookie cutters from Stokes. I had a mini gingerbread man and a mini star shape. I think I made 200+ bite sized cookies, so of course, I brought them in to work to share with my co-workers. Most fo the time when I bake, I don't have enough to share with the entire office, but with 200+ cookies, I was able to. Everyone loved them and a few have asked me for the recipe. I am now known as the cookie lady at work. Kevin calls me Betty Crocker. lol

• 3/4 unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp pure almond extract
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped peacans (lightly roasted before chopping)
  

1. Mix butter and sugar with electric mixer until fluffy
2. Add vanilla and almond extract
3. In differetn bowl, mic together the flour, and salt. Add butter mixture.
4. Add nuts and mix slowly until dough comes together
5. Divide in 4 sections. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
6. Preheat oven 350 degrees
7. Roll out one section on a floured surface to about 3/8 inch thickness. Use cookie cutters of your choice.
8. Place cookies on parchment lined baking sheet and cook approx. 20 minutes or until edges are golden.

Due to the size of my cookies, they only needed to bake for 5-6min. You can serve them as is, or dust some icing sugar on top. I think they would look very cute in a gift box.

Aged Cheddar

I'm a big cheese fiend. Kevin not so much. I think that's one thing I miss most about not living with Rachelle anymore. She's a cheese fiend as well. We always had cheese in our fridge. During my 2 years living with Rachelle, I went through several cheese phases. At one point, I was obsessed with swiss cheese. Then I fell in love with Goat cheese for some reason. Lately, i've had a growing affection for aged cheddar.

The first time I knew I had aged cheese was when Rachelle invited me to a marketing party hosted by one of advertising companies ourcompany deals with. They had plates of cheese on the table and one of aged cheddar. Rachelle exclaimed that she did not like it and when i had it, all i could think was how strong it was. Not the kind of cheese you just pop into your mouth.

I didn't think to try it again until Kevin told me he had aged cheddar with some pasta at his friend's place. When Kevin made his bowtie pasta with peppers, i bought a small block of aged cheddar. I was a bit overwhelmed with the choice. Aged 1 year, 3 years, 5 years...not to mention all the different brands. I finally settled with Canadian Reserve Agropur 5 year aged cheddar. I went for the most mature cheese they had because I didn't want to end up with something that tastes almost like the regular cheddar cheese we have. The more aged, the more pungent, crumbly, and acidic the cheese is. The agropur website states that the 5 year aged cheddar is not available in the UK...I wonder why?

The aged cheddar went great with Kevin's pasta. Kev didn't try any with his pasta. He says he doesn't like mixing cheese in his food. But he cut himself a piece after dinner and made a face when he ate it. "Why is it crunchy?" I actually noticed it too, but I remember noticing this kind of crunchiness from other cheeses i've had in the past. So I decided to do some research. The following is what I found:

Those bits are called tyrosine, and they're actually amino acid clusters that form with age. Tyrosine clusters are signs of a well-aged cheese, which is why you'll find them in some of the world's most loved cheeses like Parmigiano Reggiano, aged goudas, and mountain cheeses like gruyere.

Tyrosine is a non-essential amino acid found mainly in casein, the dominant protein found in milk. The word itself is from the Greek tyros, meaning cheese. What's most fascinating (from a dorky cheese fanatic perspective) is the reason that these protein clusters form.
When cheese is made, fats and proteins are trapped within chains of proteins that have bonded together during acidification. Groupings of these fats and proteins make up the solids, or curds, that form cheese. When cheese spends a long time aging, these protein chains begin to unravel, leaving small, crunchy deposits behind.

Tyrosine lends a distinctive textural charm to cheese, and is a welcome interruption within the body of an otherwise smooth paste. And sometimes it even compliments the beverage you may be drinking with your cheese, as in the case of pairing a full-bodied stout with a super-aged cheddar; the crunchiness of the cheese somehow matches the fullness of the beer by contributing its own textural intensity.

Tyrosine is not to be confused with the crunchiness you can find in some washed-rind cheeses. Since this category of cheese is usually washed in some kind of salt water brine, residual salt crystals are often left behind on the crust of these cheeses. When you take a bite of rind and inner paste together, the crunchiness from the outside can be mistaken for existing on the inside.Now go and impress your cheese-loving friends with your new vocabulary word!

Source: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/the-cheesemonger/the-cheesemonger-a-bit-of-crunch-in-your-cheese-047988

Massage therapist tried to steal my soul

In late November, Rachelle told me she was booking 2 massages a week until Dec 31. She exclaimed that our insurance company takes a lot of our money, why shouldn't we get something back. Our policy allows us a maximum of $500 worth of massage treatments in one calendar year. Since I had already paid my deductible for massages, I forgot I could still continue claiming until i reached my $500. So I began my massage-a-thon.

In our building, there's a spa, EQlib. The one-hour massage was $80 + tax and tip. This is not my first massage, i've had a few, but this would be my first time at EQlib. I was quite disappointed. I had booked my appointment for after work. My massage therapist asked me a couple of health questions. Then she left the room to let me get undressed and settle under the soft blanket on the massage table. While undressing their system was playing these oldies music, not really the new age stuff or nature sounds I normally hear at a spa. No matter. It was pretty soft, so I knew i'd be able to relax anyway. Lights were dimmed and it was a pretty nice setting, even though the room seemed a bit small. I figured that my surrounding wouldn't matter since i'll be in bliss when she gives me my massage. I was wrong.

When she began the massage, the music stopped playing. Perhaps the CD finished and no one noticed. So the remainder of the massage was done in total silence...no, i'm wrong...not in total silence. My massage therapist is a loud breather. You'd think she was doing Tai chi or something. If the music was on, I think the breathing could have been more bearable. But would the breathing matter if I had an amazing massage? No, of course not. But did I get an amazing massage? No, I did not.

Now, I know I have knots from stress. I mentioned to her that I have recently been a bit stressed, but only wanted a general massage. I didn't have any pains in any specific area. She told me she felt some knots between my shoulder blades. Since it's not my first massage, i know that when a massage therapist finds a knot, they go a little harder on that spot to loosen the muscles. It would hurt, but only for about a few seconds. This is the first time that I had a therapist really rub their thumb into my entire back the whole time. Instead of relieving my stress, I felt more tense. When she asked me if it was ok, I told her that it hurt. She softened for about 20 seconds and continued running her thumb up and down my back, sometimes in a circular motion on the shoulder blade. Since I was getting tense and rigid from the pain, maybe she thought I was very stressed, so she worked even harder to relieve it. Perhaps this is what a deep tissue massage would feel like, but I didn't ask for one.

After 20 minutes of this painful experience, I wanted to turn around and punch her in the face. I was just so angry. So between the annoying breathing and the painful massage, I was ready to scream and tell her to get away from me. I woke up today feeling achy. My shoulder blades hurt. They feel bruised. WTF!

I am now contemplating on writing a letter of complaint to the spa. I'm usually not one to confront people, but for the price they charge for a one-hour massage, you'd expect a good one. I am never going back there for a massage. When she asked me if I wanted to make another appointment the next week, I said "no, not at the moment"...really, i'm not into masochism.

Irish Cream Filled Cookies

As mentioned a previous post, Rachelle and I took a baking class at my local grocery store, Loblaws. I blogged about the much raved about biscotti, now here's the second thing we baked in the class; Irish Cream filled Cookies.

Cookies:

• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 oz. semisweet chocolate melted, slightly cooled (2 baker's chocolate squares)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup flour
• icing sugar
  

Cream Cheese filling:

• 1 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup icing sugar, sifted
• 1 oz semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled (1 baker's chocolate squares)
• 1tbsp Irish cream (Baileys) or Strong coffee
  

Chocolate icing:

• 3 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 tsp butter
  

Cookies:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a bowl, whisk egg, egg yolk, sugar, chocolate, oil, baking powder, and vanilla.
3. Add flour and mix until combined
4. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours or until firm
5. Remove from refrigerator and shape into 1/2 inch balls
6. Cook for 6-7 min on parchment paper
7. Allow to cool and dust with icing sugar
   

Filling:

1. In small bowl, with electric mixer, mix cream cheese, icing sugar, chocolate and irish cream until combined.
2. Spread 1/2 tsp of filling on the flat side of a cookie and cover with another cookie.
   

Icing:

1. Melt chocolate and mix it with butter. Allow to cool.
2. Place in ziplock, snip very small hole int he corder and drizzle chocolate onver cookies.
   

These little cookies are really cute, and festive. Our chef had some on display at the class where these cookies were placed in a nice gift box and wrapped in cellophane paper. When I first saw them, I mistook them for Macaroons. Since we only had limited time in the class, we only had enough time to make one batch of cookies, which resulted in maybe 15 cream filled cookies. So we didn't have too many to share with people at work. But the few people who had it were quite impressed with them. I love these recipes that look hard to make, but are in fact as easy as baking a simple batch of cookies.

I had planned on making these when a co-worker approached me to bake something to encourage people at work to give things to the food-drive, but i guess not many people wanted to volunteer to give free food for people to give other free food to the poor... so it was canceled.

Blue Potato

A couple of weeks ago, I made a dill potato salad. Two weeks later, I made something that required dill weed, but then i found myself with some leftover dill weed in my fridge and I didn't know what to do with them. So I went out to buy some potatoes. Instead of buying a 5lbs bag of potatoes that would take us forever to finish, I decided to indulge in those little bags of new potatoes. I figured I wouldn't need to peel them and it would save me time. I had a choice of regular yellow new potatoes, new red potatoes, or a bag of what they called "mixed gems". It had a mixture of yellow, red, and blue potatoes. I've never bought blue potatoes before. The putside of the potato was a very dark blue/purple...I figured it's the same thing as red potatoes. The color must only correspond to the skin and not the flesh.



When I got home, I got to work. I rinsed my potatoes and I had a pot of water waiting to be boiled. When i got to one of the blue potatos, I cut it and I step back for a moment. The flesh was purple (or blue). It tasted the same as any other potato, but felt a little more dry and mealy than the red and yellow ones. It made an interesting presentation for my dill potato salad.



So I proceeded to google "Blue potato" to find out more about this vegetable. The potato is know by many names, one website called it All Blue. Most authorities suspect All Blue originated in the US or the UK (Scotland) in the late nineteenth century. It is also known as Congo, Blue Marker, Russian Blue, British Columbia Blue, McIntosh Black, River John Blue, Sharon's Blue. Also, probable synonyms: Blue Congo, Congo Blue, Purple Congo, Nova Scotia Blue, Himalayan Black. Black Russian, Davis Purple, Eureka Purple, Fenton Blue, and Purple Mountain. It is believed to be originated from South America. They’re an heirloom variety which means they’re not genetically modified.



All Blue is by far the most widely grown of all blue/purple-fleshed varieties. In Great Britain and Europe, it is well known as Congo and Blue Marker. It is popular in Scandinavia, especially in Finland, where it is served mashed with sour cream. Terra Chips uses it to make its famous blue potato chips. Many references state that All Blue yields small tubers, and indeed these are commonly found in supermarkets. However, if allowed to grow to maturity, All Blue easily produces large, oblong tubers quite suitable for baking and mashing. All Blue is currently being studied in Europe and North America to determine its capacity to fend off human disease and aging with the antioxidants in the natural blue pigments of its flesh and skin.

Sushi

This post is actually quite late.
About a month or two ago, I came accross a class catalogue at our local Loblaws. It seems that Loblaws offered one-night cooking classes. Prices range from $20-30. I looked through the catalogue and expressed interest in a couple of classes. As September passed, so did some of the classes. Kev finally agreed to listen to which classes I wanted to attend and he'd consider attending one with me to make me happy. So I chose to take Basic Sushi with him. (note: I took this class before the pastry class i took with Rachelle)



The class was 2 hours long (7-9pm). We were only 8 students, so it was intimate. Kev was the only male student. The first hour was observation and taking down the tips and advice the chef gave us about sushi and its garnish. He showed us how to make the rice, although we never made any ourselves due to time. All the garnishes for the maki were already prepared and laid out on the counter. So we all went through the buffet line of ingredients and picked out what we wanted to put in our maki. I can't quite remember everything I put in it, but rest assured that there was raw salmon in all of mine. I think I tried to be daring and used dill weed, coriander, basil leaves in some of mine. At the end of the class, we each had made 3 full rolls (8 makis per roll). He even showed us how to make "reversed maki", the actual japanese name escapes me at the moment.

The class was a lot of fun. We both ate one roll each and took the rest home for lunch the next day. I loved the classes so much that I ended up taking a baking class with Rachelle a few weeks after (which I already blogged about: Hazelnut Chocolate Orange Biscotti).