that canadian girl

The baking grump is over – I’ve finally made the (very adapted version of) Daim Bars cake Clotilde I’ve wanted to make for a few days. Granted, not a Daim or Dime bar in sight, but rather some nutty nougat chocolate bars chopped in pieces, but the cupcakes are sooo yummy.

They’re bound to make a good office bribe tomorrow…

Grrr it’s Sunday afternoon, I’m in the mood for baking after reading Clotilde and Jen’s amazing food blogs, doing part two of our Spring cleaning (of how many parts? I don’t know but it’s looking better every time!) and scheming since Friday to make muffins that resemble Clotilde’s Daim bars cake [Daim bars are like Dime to Brits, or Skor to Canadians, but can also be bought as Daim in IKEA].

I really fancy baking something sweet, but without eggs or milk (caused by a misunderstanding when dividing the food shopping list with Andrew yesterday…) the odds are against me.

Muffin issues aside, it’s been a good weekend. Relaxed at home on Friday evening, had a BBQ at some friends’ house yesterday (it really does look like my life revolves around food, doesn’t it?) and spent the best part of today Spring cleaning, including borrowing a Vax carpet cleaner from a friend (Maybe not exciting, but certainly worth doing!). Tonight will involve watching Sky Plus‘ed Doctor Who and eating a cheat’s Thai Green Prawn & Asparagus Curry (Cheat because it’s canned sauce this time. I swear I don’t usually do that!).

Shame the weather wasn’t clement enough to allow for a good bike ride as that would’ve made it the perfect weekend, but we’re getting to the end of April, so the rain showers should make way for long evenings sitting in the garden with a drink. I hope so anyways!

I’ll let you know how the muffins turn out when I get around to making them, hopefully tomorrow night! Enjoy your Sunday night, there’s no reason to be grumpy in the end!

It’s cute, buzzing with conversations without being overly noisy, and no one’s making you feel guilty for having only a cup of green tea and a plate of spicy chips with garlic mayo (which, by the way, were very tasty!).

I was planning on blogging about this place from the moment I walked in – but I expected to have to wait until I got home. Local Secrets describes it as an Internet Bistro, but to me, it’s akin to the now defunct Steaming Bean, which was on Besserer Street in Ottawa.

The Internet factor is just a bonus. A big bonus in fact! I vaguely recall a few colleagues mentioning that this place had wireless Internet, but it’s only 5 minutes ago when I pulled out my Powerbook to make a few notes that a notice asking me if I wanted to connect to the network reminded me of it.

I feel this may become a second home this summer… Haven’t yet tried anything off their menu other than those spicy chips, but seeing meals being wheeled around by the waiters, they definitely look and smell gorgeous!

[Note: If any Cambridge regulars call me an idiot for not going to CB2 until now, even though it's a 2 minute walk from work, I'll borrow the guns from the company paintballing event tomorrow night and make them repeat what they just said.]
[Note 2: The above includes you, Patto. I'll come find you in Oz if need be!]
[Note 3: And no, I'm not taking part in the actual paintballing activity. I'm a total wuss.]

The hungry programmer has the option to either learn to make this recipe or to work with me.

Because I’m nice. And I make cookies for my team. Sometimes, anyways… Maybe Thursday if they’re good boys (and girls).

PS – find the three errors for me, I couldn’t write a line of code to save my life, let alone spot the errors the author points out at the bottom of the post!

(Found via Digg BBC JP at work…)

So today, I could’ve done like any other Sunday and sat around watching tv, recovering from whatever we did on Saturday (which, in this instance, wasn’t much to be honest) and thinking about work the next day.

Granted I still ended up doing a bit of work (tsk tsk!), but I reconnected with my kitchen, by baking cookies and, for once, doing something in there just for the hell of it. I spent most of the time daydreaming of a bigger kitchen and wondering how fat my ass would get if I ate the two batches of peanut butter cookies I made. But I had fun doing something simple, unexpensive and mighty relaxing. It’s got to be cheaper than going to therapy, and probably more effective!

And it’s nice to have fun on a Sunday.

Mr. O is at it again! This time, he’s run off to Italy to learn to cook from the best!

For once, I’ve managed to catch a TV series right at the beginning, and I highly recommend it to food addicts. Jamie and the infamous hippie van visited Sicily’s Palermo for a first cultural shock.

If you’re tempted to grill fish Sicilian-style, the recipes can be found here. My guess is that they’ll add the recipes each week after the show, so keep an eye on that link!

Channel 4, Wednesdays at 8:30pm

I shouldn’t cross post everything from my food blog to here, but this summer favourite is highly recommended! Make sure you choose nice ripe avocados, they’ll be soooo much tastier!

This is one of the best summer recipes I’ve seen in a long time, posted by Tequila Mockingbird. I’ve “cleaned up” the recipe format but essentially, it’s still her version.

Grilled avocado with balsamic vinegar

Ingredients:

* If you invest in really good balsamic vinegar, your life will be a much better and happier place. really. really high quality balsamic vinegar is a transformative elixir that makes everything from strawberries to lettuce to chicken to, well, avocados, taste like ambrosia from on high.

** Stop using that crap in the plastic jar. it’s not parmesan cheese. it’s crap. buy a hunk of quality cheese and a grater. it’s not quite the elixir that quality balsamic is, but it’s damn near close.

Method:

When I received an email from the Domestic Goddess, asking me to join her Canada Day blogging event, I could think of one dessert in particular that deserved mention.

The pouding chômeur, or poor man’s pudding, simply put, is a sponge cake with a thick caramelized maple sauce that drips through the cake during cooking time. The top becomes golden with syrup and the bottom becomes spongey and saucy. and mmmm just reaaally nice!

For the time being, I only have the recipe in French. Tomorrow if I can be bothered and if I’m not too busy unpacking more boxes, I’ll post a translated recipe (unless a kind soul wants to do it for me!) This isn’t my mother’s recipe, I can’t totally vouch for it, but it seems to be similar enough to succeed.

Also, I can’t find a good picture for the life of me, so wait till I make a batch (this weekend maybe?) and I’ll put a pic up!

Pouding chômeur

Préparation : 35 min
Cuisson : 45 min
Portions : 12

Gâteau:
1 1/2 tasse (375 ml ) de farine
1 c. à thé (5 ml) de poudre à pâte
1/4 tasse (60 ml) de beurre
1 tasse (250 ml) de sucre
1 tasse (250 ml) de lait

Sauce à l’érable:
1 tasse (250 ml) de sirop d’érable
1 tasse (250 ml) de cassonade
1 tasse (250 ml) d’eau bouillante
1/4 tasse (65 ml) de beurre

Préchauffer le four à 325 F.
Tamiser ensemble la farine et la poudre à pâte. Mettre de côté.
Dans un bol, défaire le beurre en crème. Incorporer graduellement le sucre jusqu’à consistance onctueuse.
Verser le quart du lait et de la farine. Mélanger. Répéter jusqu’à épuisement du lait et de la farine.
Beurrer un moule rectangulaire de 13×9 pouces (32×22 cm). Verser la pâte. Réserver.
Dans une casserole, mélanger tous les ingrédients de la sauce. Porter à ébullition et laisser bouillir quelques instants.
Verser la sauce sur la pâte. Ne pas mélanger.
Cuire à 325F pendant 45 minutes.

(Cross posted from my food blog as a Canada Day celebratory post!)

Following the publication of the book French Women Don’t Get Fat, Clotilde from Chocolate & Zucchini got involved in a discussion with 3 other French women. Her post about it is here along with the follow-up comments, while the transcript of the discussion on the subject is here.

What came out of the discussion was plain old-world common sense; balanced small meals, treats in moderation, walking and exercising to make up for indulgences and fresh, locally grown produce, avoiding prepared and processed meals. What struck me as something I know but haven’t been practicing recently for lack of a dining room, or a dining table for that matter, is enjoying a meal away from distractions, focussing on the freshly cooked food and conversation with dinner company.

(Cross posted to my food blog)

Following Jamie’s School Dinners tv series, the British government is finally reacting to the needs for better food in school cafeterias.

Cynics will say the money will go to the private caterers and never really reach the plates of the students or that Jamie is doing it for personal publicity. Yeah, sure! Both of those comments have truth to them, but how many parents and children will look for chicken breasts rather than re-formed chicken next time they shop for chicken nuggets after seeing Jamie’s presentation on what’s in those nuggets? A good few will at least have the memory looming about when choosing!

Awareness of health and eating habits is a start. Now, it’s up to the parents to teach their kids what good food is, both at school and at home!