The Coconut Chronicles / My Dad's Teriyaki Salmon!

Tweet

Hi all!

Just writing to let you know about the spotlight on Playing With My Food over at the Coconut Chronicles blog.  Man, I think this is so cool!  

Coconut Chronicles was created in 2003 by the globe-trotting, spontaneous, cat-loving, opinionated (in a good way), and very funny Kristene Perron, as a weekly newsletter to help family and friends keep up with her while she was living with her hubby in the Caribbean.  It has turned into a smartly-written blog about whatever happens to be on Kristene's mind, from observations about human nature and life, to travel, to cats, to writing, and all sorts of interesting gems in between.

Kristene!

Kristene is a family friend and my former next-door neighbor.  In a past life she was a stunt-woman, and is now a published author of her first novel, Warpworld (www.warpworld.ca).  Warpworld is the first instalment in a five-part sci-fi book series, and if you like The Hunger Games you will love this book!

Jill's Fresh Cut Mango Salsa

Tweet

Every year The Hubby and I go to our friend Jill's family's cabin for a weekend at the lake, and every year I request that Jill make her mango salsa while we're there.  And every year she does.  And this is it.

 

And this is her making the salsa.

Drunken Vodka Gummy Worms

Tweet

Do this.



It's magic how it works.  You take a container of gummy worms, dump a mickey of vodka over top, close the lid and refrigerate for 24 - 48 hours, and - VOILA! - the gummy worms soak up the vodka and you have delicious vodka gummy worms.

I realized that I just used the word 'mickey' to describe how much vodka to use, and should probably define this 'Canadianism' for any non-Canadian readers.  A mickey is a Canadian term used to describe a small 13-ounce (375 mL) bottle of any hard alcohol.  Read all about it at this cool website that I saw that translates some common Canadian terms - America's Guide to Canadianisms.  Do you know what a 'chesterfield' is?  How about a 'toque?'  My mind was just blown when I learned that 'Kraft Dinner' is a Canadian term...they don't call it that anywhere else?!  My friend from San Francisco was razzing me for calling our new garburator just that, a 'garburator.'  Apparently they are called garbage disposals in other parts of the world.  We also don't say 'soda,' we say 'pop,' we don't say 'whole milk,' we say 'homo milk (the short term for homogenized, people!),' and we don't say 'candy bar,' we say 'chocolate bar.'  Also, our new 100-dollar bills smell like maple syrup.  I'm not even joking about that - Google it.  I personally think that they taste like chicken.

Heirloom Tomato Caesar Salad with Parmesan-Bacon Crisps

Tweet

Have you noticed that Heirloom Tomatoes are starting to 'crop up' everywhere these days?

Well, not everywhere as in at the gas station or library, but almost every produce store and supermarket seems to carry these beautiful fruits at a reasonable price, whereas in the past they seemed like something you would have to seek out at Whole Foods.  They come in all colours of the stoplight rainbow - bright yellow, striped red, lime green - and look absolutely mouth-wateringly beautiful in a salad.  The coolest thing about them is that all of the various types are so different from one another in terms of acidity, texture, sweetness, crunchiness, and of course, attractiveness, which makes a salad like this one so interesting.

Watermelon Salad with Feta and Fresh Mint

Tweet

I'm back baby! (said me, not the watermelon salad)

I know, I know -  I should have called, I should have written.  But it's rare that we get a summer this outstanding where I live, and so I let myself downward spiral away from this blog and cartwheel (imaginary cartwheel because I never learned how to do a real one) towards BBQs, beer, golf, friends, family, weekend trips, backyard parties, important celebrations, one very productive closet overhaul where I offloaded four garbage bags of old clothes, and one extremely shockingly productive weekend gardening-o-rama where The Hubby, my mom, and I did all of the sprucing up to my house's back and front yard that we have been meaning to do since we moved in four years ago.  Please excuse my run-on sentence, but that was a lot of stuff.

Warm Potato Salad (Earls Restaurant Copycat Recipe)

Tweet

You know the Warm Potato Salad from Earls Restaurant?  The one that I sometimes dream about?

 

I think this is it.

To figure out how to make the Warm Potato Salad, I had to go to Earls Restaurant (twice, or maybe three times) to do a little 'research.'  While doing the recon (more than once, just to be sure), I got to hang out with friends and drink wine and eat delicious potato salad.  It was a very labour intensive education process, as you can imagine.  Here is what I learned:

1)  Huge pieces of bacon are necessary.  You can't just have little bits of bacon in this salad, you need a large mouthful of bacon.  Also, if a little bit of bacon grease happens to accidentally spill into the dressing, that is not a problem and people will like this salad and you more.

2)  Roast that *#@$!  Roasted corn and roasted baby potatoes and roasted garlic are key.  Flavour central.

3) Dill is such a great herb.  Sour cream is such a great dairy product.

  

4) This is really not a salad at all.

Cantaloupe Gin Cocktails

Tweet

I know what my mom wants for Mother's Day...

 

I seriously almost can't even concentrate on the cocktail at hand because of the stunning view in the background.  Just a 40-minute ferry ride away from downtown Vancouver is paradise at my friend Cleary's vacation home in Sechelt, BC, where she, my friend Ashley, and I spent last weekend sipping on these Cantaloupe Gin cocktails.  There were dolphins out swimming around (I couldn't see them - I can never easily find cool stuff in nature when people point things out to me - but my friends told me they were there), the temperature was nice and toasty (and it's only Maaaaaaaay!), and we were enjoying some girl time and these Gin Cantaloupe Cocktails in front of a beautiful view of British Columbia (mountains, ocean, trees - oh my!).

Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas, Avocado, and Feta Cheese

Tweet

Quinoa - we can't get enough of the stuff in this house!

 

I've also discovered that 'Quinoa Salad' is by far the most common search item typed into Google to direct people to my blog.  But, I've only got two quinoa salad recipes on the website so far (here and here), so the people have spoken and why not give them more of what they want, right?!

15-Minute Spring Pea and Pesto Soup

Tweet

This soup only takes 15 minutes to make - are you kidding me?  I just spent 15 minutes alone picking out a new mascara at the drug store today!

I needed for my Souper Sunday soup to only take 15 minutes to make today after being a little bit of a wild party animal last night at a small local pub in my town.  Because I still live in the town that I grew up in, a visit to a place like that is always an interesting version of a high school reunion (sometimes in a good way and sometimes in the exact way that you would expect).  Last night was no exception.  My girlfriend Kendra and I were definitely on the dance floor flopping around to 90's rap music (and one thing that you have to understand about that is that I never dance), and laughing hysterically until the ugly lights came on and we went home.  There's nothing like a great friend to be silly with.  So, today this is why my cloudy head needed a very, very easy soup.

Goat Cheese Pesto Dip

Tweet

I found this recipe on Pinterest, and it immediately caught my eye because of the words 'goat' and 'cheese' used in succession.

 

Goat cheese is one of those foods that if I see it on a restaurant menu, then I have to have it.  It doesn't matter what it is served in or on or with, I'm getting it.  I love it.  I ate goat cheese last night in fact.  So, when I saw this recipe I knew that I had to try it and its delicious, simple, fast combination of goat cheese, cream cheese, and homemade pesto sauce.  You can serve it with bread, crackers, or vegetables, or even with just the old '1, 2, straight to your mouth with a spoon' technique (not that I did that more than like 4 or 7 times).  This would also be really good spread onto a chicken sandwich, or toasted open-faced on bread and served with pasta.

HealthFare Restaurant Review

Tweet

Last week I was invited in as a 'food blogger' to do a tour and menu tasting of a new local healthy fast food restaurant, HealthFare.

HealthFare Burnaby

I arrived not knowing what to expect...would they be nice?  What if they noticed that I didn't have a fancy food blogger camera, business cards for my blog, and an extensive knowledge of...well, food?  What if I didn't like the food or the restaurant - would I have to fake it?  Would they be able to tell right away that I've never done this type of thing before?

I needn't have worried, because the mother-son owner team of Jenni and Shaun Saini were completely welcoming, the restaurant was beautiful, my point and shoot camera did the trick, and most importantly...the food was fan-freaking-tastic!

Souper Sunday #17: Low-Fat Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Tweet

This soup totally tastes like you are eating the inside of a chicken pot pie, but with a spoon, and with the type of reckless abandon that I normally reserve for things that are not low-fat at all.

 

Bonus points if you go to the additional effort of making a puff pastry topping to dip into the soup.  That would be amazing.

The Hubby has been asking me to make him chicken stew for a few years or weeks now, and so I finally caved and made it for him today.  Only, chicken stew is so not what my waistline needs right now, so instead I cheated and made this Low-Fat Chicken Pot Pie Soup from the Skinny Taste website. (with a few small tweaks),  He took it to work for lunch, and isn't home yet so I haven't been able to hound him about how he liked it.  But, speaking for myself, "Daaaaaaaaaamn."  You would not even know that this was made with skim milk and without the addition of any butter or oil.  At about 250 calories for a 1 1/2 cup bowl, it's a super filling lunch or dinner that won't totally demolish your calorie allotment for the day.  I especially like that fact today, since I really need to get back on track with eating healthier after eating 'a lot' of the Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Bars last week.  I can't even talk about those bars because it makes me think about those bars which makes me want to go to the store and buy the ingredients for those bars which makes me want to eat almost the entire pan of those bars again.

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Bars

Tweet

These are sooooo good for breakfast!!!!

 

I literally told one of my co-workers that I wasn't a sweet-tooth last Friday, and then on Sunday I made these Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Bars.  It's like me saying that I wasn't a sweet tooth was a personal challenge for myself to not give up on the idea of one day choosing a chocolate bar over a bag of chips in the vending machine.  And wow, I was totally like "sorry, salty treats who?' when I started diving into the pan of these things for the first time.  Delicious! 

Souper Sunday #16: Beef Lentil Soup

Tweet

There's something about eating lentils that makes me feel like I'm being healthy, no matter what they are mixed together with.

 

Using this logic, I could add any ingredient to the soup - whipping cream, a bucket of salt, icing sugar - and it would still be healthy.  Lard and potato chip lentil soup?  Sounds nutritious!  French fry and mayo lentil soup?  Nothing wrong there!

White Wine Sangria Jello Jigglers

Tweet

Remember Jello Jigglers?  These are the even more fun version.

Why didn't I think of this before?  I love Jell-O Shooters.  I love Wine.  Why not make Wine Jello Shooters, or even better...White Wine Sangria Jello Jigglers?