Tag: cooking

The Spice Of (Peter’s) Life

There used to be very little garlic in my cooking world. It was a spice I used sparingly, not wanting to offend close friends and relatives with my bad breath. Until I met Peter.

In Peter’s cuisine, garlic goes into everything. He puts it on meats, in veggie dishes and salads, and especially on crunchy bread, where he rubs an entire clove all over the surface. It is such a favourite that he even grows it in his garden. He plants it every fall and then watches patiently as the cloves begin to sprout in the spring.

So when we read about a garlic festival happening in Toronto, of course we had to go. On Sunday morning Peter even skipped over a couple of sections of the newspaper just so we wouldn’t be late. We took the subway to the festival entrance on Spadina Ave, and then wandered up the crowded street. Who knew so many people love garlic?

On sale were numerous garlic products: condiments, preserves, oils, baking, wellness products, even decorations. Garlic growers competed for the attention of shoppers. Peter avoided the bad breath contest, and spent his time searching for free samples. He especially loved one booth that had crunchy bread smeared with garlic butter.

There were other interesting attractions – garlic talks, garlic face-painting, and a garlic poet. But we had timed our visit to coincide with lunch. We were overwhelmed with choices – garlic chicken tacos, vegetarian dishes enhanced with garlic spice, garlic hot dogs, garlic lamb on sticks. We finally settled on crunchy chicken skewers dressed with a garlic mayo sauce. Yummy!

After that it was dessert time. I had my heart set on garlic caramel ice cream. But the line-up was long. Just as I got to the front, the booth ran out of that flavour. The clerk said it would take 10 minutes to re-stock. I decided to wait, and Peter went off to look for other delicacies. The wait turned into 15-20 minutes and the line-up grew longer and longer. Soon the booth had sold out of ice cream entirely. What to do now?

I stood my ground, while Peter entertained himself with more free garlic bread samples. And finally – the ice cream supplies arrived!

YES – it was totally worth the wait – the perfect combination of sweet and garlic. When we go to the garlic festival next year, I plan to head to that booth first. Who says you can’t have ice cream for breakfast?

Sue

Food For Thought

An acquaintance dropped by the other day for a coffee and, as he was leaving, he mentioned that he had to go to Bruno’s to pick up something for dinner. The he said “My wife and I don’t cook any more.” Just like that!

A couple of days later, as I was going through my recipe book and meticulously making up my grocery list, I found a recipe for BBQ’d chicken wings that I wanted to try. The recipe recommended using wings from COSTCO. In the COSTCO meat department I found the wings for $23.99. Right beside them were wings in the same sized package, which had been skinned and seasoned, for $27.99. Did I really want to buy all that skin and do all that extra work to save $4? Definitely Not.

Then I started looking around some more. In another bunker I found bacon-wrapped chicken medallions. I had tried this myself with bacon strips, tooth picks and chicken breasts, and what a finicky job it was. I picked up the COSTCO version and added it to my cart. I found some lamb chops on sale too. I loved the idea of these and other meats that Peter could cook on the BBQ, leaving no kitchen mess. Now I was on a mission. Salmon steaks? Why not!

I looked into another bunker and found peppers stuffed with ground beef, something we had tried once and loved. Then I spied a 3-bean salad – three kinds of beans and a vinegar dressing: lots of protein and a work-saver for me. And then, staring me in the eye was lasagna.

Now every cook knows that lasagna is one of the most time-consuming recipes on the planet. You need at least 4 containers – one pot for boiling the noodles, another for sauteing the onions, spices and meat for the sauce, and a third container for grating and mixing the cheeses. Then you need the lasagna pan for the oven, plus other spoons and measuring cups. When you’re finished, the kitchen looks like a death trap – with red splotches all over the counters and stove. The COSTCO lasagna went into my cart too.

By this time my cart was getting full, and I was feeling guilty. It was not so much because I was giving myself a break from tedious kitchen work. But I was thinking about my rule to “Buy Canadian!” Although COSTCO is an American company, there are a lot of Canadians employed in every Canadian warehouse. But what about the products? I went home and checked online. Here’s what I found:

COSTCO beef comes from Alberta. Lamb comes from Australia. Salmon comes from the Atlantic but where in the Atlantic is not clear. I have my fingers crossed that the salmon don’t want to be part of the US either, and probably swim to Nova Scotia to be caught.

But chicken? Chicken comes from a farm in Nebraska! How can this be? Chickens are pretty easy to raise. I have a friend who has chickens in her back yard for heaven’s sake. Anybody can raise chickens. How many chickens would I have to raise to get a meal of wings for 2 of us, plus a few medallions for the BBQ? Probably about 7. Plus the cost of the chicken coop and the feed and straw. And fighting off the coyotes in the neighbourhood. More problematic than cooking.

As for the 3-bean salad? Made in Canada! A small victory in my quest to make work in the kitchen a little easier.

Sue