Wednesday, November 20, 2013

What We Eat


   My first food fantasy as a child comes courtesy of a moment in the book, "The Midnight Fox", a novel study Ms. Vibert assigned in Grade Five.

I don't remember what this book is about; never mind what part the fox plays into the story.

All I remember is that, at some point, the kids in the book decide to make something in the kitchen. Their mom hands them some leftover bread dough and tells them they have free range of the contents in the fridge. They grab jars of pickles, different kinds of cheese, and leftover chunks of sausage from the night before. They press these ingredients into the ball of dough, and work it with their hands until they are all safely housed within, and the whole thing takes the form of a sphere.

It is the description of what it was like when it came out of the oven, that has stayed with me for nineteen years. A "golden football": hot, flaky, oozing with the melding juices of the briny pickles, the spicy sausage, and the salty cheese. It must have been a well written passage,  because that singular moment when the mom slices the orb in half for the children, and they bite into this piping hot, calzone/meatpie invention.... it literally remains the most delicious thing I have ever read.

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Since then, and since always, I have loved food.

I've gone from not knowing how to boil water, to making pies and pizza from scratch.
I've gone from buying the cheapest groceries available at TESCO's (often only spending about 30 pounds a week, split between Maggie and myself) to getting stupidexcited about a $15 hunk of sheep cheese, and spending a small fortune on quality meat and organic produce.
Bry and I have navigated the waters of wheat-free, refined-sugar-free, cow-dairy free, less red meat, all within the past few years. ( It was torture to cut out cheddar and bread-- and then it was the simplest thing on earth. )

When I'm not making and consuming food, I'm taking photographic evidence of it. This stems from growing up watching my journalist parents take pictures of meals for their restaurant review columns-- long before it became stereotyped as an Asian thing, or  a heavily filterfied Instagram "foodie" thing.  (I hate the term 'foodie'.)

And so. Many years before I married my husband in July of this year, I married Food. And I have thought of him fondly ever since.

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What I want to share with you today, is what I hopefully will start posting as a regular, weekly feature. I'm always fascinated by what other people eat in the comfort of their own homes, and often turn to food blogs for a jolt of food imagination. Over here in the BeeJay household, we take pictures of meals when we are particularly proud of the effort we've made, or we know it's going to be a tasty one.

So here's a smattering of photos from dinners and breakfasts from the last few months, made either by B or me. Many of the dishes below are part of our monthly, if not weekly, rotation. Expect to see this feature become a more regular part of the blog (well, if I could just get Life to cooperate and slow the eff down for a moment).

I'd love if you would comment on the post to tell me what the tried and true meals that always make their way onto your kitchen table are! Always looking out for inspiration.



Lemony crackers with honeycomb, soft goat cheese, and fresh figs.

Wild sockeye steak with sauteed beet greens, halloumi cheese, basil and tomato.

Homemade lamb burger with feta, caramelized red onion, goat feta, on a bed of purple mashed potato cake. Buttered and lemoned steamed veg on the side.

Homemade blueberry tart with an almond crust and yoghurt.

Homemade fish cake with tartar sauce, on a bed of greens, corn, radishes.

Brown rice pasta with a homemade sweet tomato basil sauce, goat pecorino. Side of greens, feta, pumpkin seeds.



Steel cut oats with chia seeds, blueberries, honey. A breakfast staple.

Turkey meatballs (with zucchini, mint, parsley, sumac). Side of greens with mango and cilantro.



Pulled lamb on top of grilled halloumi and baguette. Green onions and cilantro.

Spinach pasta with olive oil, butter, garlic, bacon, baby kale, garlicy mushrooms, white wine.
Paprika'd and Cayenne'd roasted drumsticks, with quinoa and kale.


6 comments:

  1. can we come eat at your house? yum! we had "Death Valley breakfast today"...a mix of oatmeal and 10 grain cereal with blueberries and chopped almonds, yogurt and maple syrup. A few years ago when we camped in Death Valley we ate that every morning for 10 days and it is great hiking food. Or, since it's now "freezing cold" (ha...you say) in Victoria (-1 to 4 C) good keep warm food. Love to you both. Karen

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  2. every time i see the term "Steel cut oats" i think of steel workers cutting oats and sparks flying everywhere, but in a very zoolander style, zoolander miner, but a a steel worker, cutting oats.
    mmm go to meals lately have been stews of all sorts, i made some organic chicken meatballs with shredded apples, leeks, mushrooms, and threw it in some stew of lentils, kale, onions, leftover... what do you call it, those things in oil, peppers, garlic, olives, my leftover wine, i have no idea, i just threw everything in, balsamic vinegar. it was actually really good. haha.
    haha yes. yes. i bought a slice of mimolette at the st. lawrence market, it was like $24 dollars for a sliver... GAH. i love how i spend so much money on food and then more money to get it off my body... amazing pictures! your pulled lamb looks amazing!

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  3. You make me proud of our cooking. Sometimes I forget. Now it's like, hold the phone and get some bacon out - it's nearly the weekend!

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  4. There needs to be recipes with some of these photos!

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    1. Hester, I can do my best to link or write them up, if you really want to know! Which ones in particular? (Warning: many of the dishes that Bry cooks are from the top of his imagination, and he often forgets how he conjured it up afterwards).

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  5. as a food critic and food lover, i think your mix and match is so good.
    iris

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