Foodie Goes North

After a completely crazy week of packing, the end of school and general craziness, late last night the family packed it up and headed north.

Every July, just in time for Jim's birthday, we head to South River and hang with Jim's Dad (also a Jim) for a week.

Instead of Foodie on the Hunt this week, I'm going to head into town today and see what kind of local food I can find in the North. I already know that there is a microbrewery in town that I have to hit for Kathy at work.

Currently, I'm sitting here, having a coffee, watching the ducks on the lake as Cody makes friends with Jager (the resident dog here). The trailer has a slight lean to the left, so Lucy is navigating her way around while trying not to fall. Mina is watching cartoons on the flat screen TV and Jim is cleaning.

I like this kind of "roughing it". I'll like it even more when we get some breakfast.

Found: Krug's Meat Market and a Father's Day Feast

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

To celebrate, I made Jim a big dinner last night, filled with stuff he loves: pork, the BBQ and chocolate.

Before I get into the menu details, let me tell you about Krug's.

There is something heartwarming about finding a local "hot spot" that is so well loved in a small community that the line extends out the door. This is Krug's.

Found: Meat Market Extraordinaire. Also known as Krug's Meat Market. 28 Woodstock Street, South Tavistock, Ontario. 519-655-2221.

I love this place. Located about 15 minutes outside of Woodstock, it has a huge selection of really great quality meat (plus, bakery items, cheeses, pantry items as an added bonus). What I enjoy more though is the hospitality and charm. The staff are nice and helpful. Which I assume rubs off on the clientele, because they too - while waiting in a long line of anxious meat eaters - were kind and considerate. Refreshing.

What I got? A huge pork shoulder roast (more on that later), ground beef, a huge cut of their garlic smoked sausage and an even bigger cut of the candied sausage. Price tag? $25. Sweet.

What did the girls get? A Krug's wiener. Heaven for them and I think Lucy won the award for quickest to inhale a hot dog. Here they are, post-wiener, looking all happy and content.

I was starving, so I ate a huge chunk of the candied sausage on the way home. I'll take pictures of it today, since I'm bringing it to the Father's Day BBQ. It's smokey and sweet and chewy and all kind of yum.

Of course, my work wasn't done when we got home. I had to do Jim's dinner. Since the shoulder roasts looked pretty good at Krug's and I snagged one, I decided to do an Apple Glazed Pork Shoulder on the BBQ with grilled veggie kebabs and Chocolate Pots for dessert. All Jim's favourites. Dinner was delicious, but I still have a bit to learn on proper cuts of meat. While I use the shoulder cut often for pulled pork, it doesn't make that perfect roast. It was good, but next time I'll use a loin roast. Chocolate pots.. well.. nothing ever goes wrong with them other than my eating a small second helping. Ouch. My hips didn't thank me for that. My taste buds did though.

Apple Glazed Pork Roast

You Need (rub):
- 2 tbsp of ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp of paprika
- 2 tbsp of brown sugar
- 1 tbsp of celery salt
- 1 tsp of dry mustard
- 1/2 tsp of cayenne
You Need (glaze):
- 2/3 cup of apple sauce
- 3 tbsp of orange juice
- 1 tbsp of grated ginger
- 1/4 tsp of dry mustard
- Pinch of ground cloves
- Pinch of cinnamon

To Do:
1. Cook the pork using indirect heat. Place pork on far side of grill where there is no direct heat. Leave it cook for 4-5 hours (internal temp around 145-150), rotating side to side every 30-45 minutes. When there are 2 hours left, start to glaze with every turn.

2. Tent pork for 10 minutes before serving.

3. To make the rub, combine all ingredients. Rub over pork roast and let sit minimum 3 hours, or overnight.

4. To make glaze, combine all ingredients and bring to a simmer for 10 minutes. Once cooled, use to glaze roast.

Chocolate Pots
You Need:
- 7 ounces of high quality semi-sweet chocolate - chop fairly finely
- 1/2 pint of heavy cream
- 2 egg yolks
- 3/4 ounces butter

To Do:
1. In heavy bottomed sauce pan, heat cream until *almost* a boil. Remove from heat.

2. Add in chopped chocolate, stir until melted. I often notice if there isn't enough and will add a good cocoa or another ounce of chocolate to thicken.

3. Lightly beat egg yolks in seperate bowl. Temper into chocolate.

4. Cool a bit and stir in butter until glossy.

5. Serve in small glasses (it's rich, you don't need a lot) with your choice of fruit. My favourite? Raspberries. Mina loves banana though.

Weekly Meal Plan

Since it's been a crazy week, I glanced through the flyers and found a few things of interest for the plan this week. That said, we're leaving for camping at the end of the week, so I want to use up as much pantry/fridge/freezer items before we go. So, it's kind of a mixed bag this week.

Tonight: Haven't decided. It's Jim's Father's Day dinner that I'll make just for him. Some kind of grilled meat, grilled veggies, coleslaw and homemade ice cream sandwiches for dessert. He'll get blueberry pancakes and BBQ bacon for breakfast in bed.

Sunday: At my brother's house. Sausages, hot dogs, greek salad, antijitos, shrimp and lots of fruit and veggies. Typical 'Que fare.

Monday: Steak sandwiches with spinach salads. Jim's favourite meal.

Tuesday: Homemade pizza. It's soccer night, of course.

Wednesday: Homemade "Hamburger Helper" (ground beef, pasta, veggies).

Thursday: Bangers N' Mash with steamed peas (make mine mushy)

Friday: We're LEAVING for camping!! Dinner will be on the road.

Dinner last night: Baked chicken wings. I did a sauce with soy, hoisin, garlic, ginger, hot sauce, paprika and a bunch of other stuff. It was fantastic. Served with steamed brocolli it was a good, quick dinner.

And since I missed it - Dinner on Thursday? Grilled steaks with compound butter served with cheesy mashed potatoes and peas.

Foodie on the Hunt - Week 2

It has been nothing short of fantastic that when I tell my friends and co-workers about my summer plans and desire to find local food what a good resource they all become. Everyone knows someone or somewhere I can hunt down local food treasures.

This week? My friend, and co-worker, Tara, has a family member who owns Krug's Meat Market in Tavistock. After hearing her rave about the illustrious "candied sausage", I'm making meat my treat of the week.

This actually works out really well. We're doing a BBQ for Father's Day for my Dad (Murray) at my brother's house. Sausages were on sale, so we went and snagged a bunch and are going to serve all the typical, great BBQ food on Sunday for the "Dads". Grilled sausages and hot dogs for the kids. Greek salad, fruit platters and undoubtedly a nice dessert from my brother's family, my stepmom's classic cold pasta salad (I still use her recipe), my sister will find some great cheeses (she always does) and we'll bring the meat and they have requested my antijitos and my spicy shrimp.

This means I have to do a nice dinner for Jim on Saturday. It also means that I can't do anything "new" or "funny" - he doesn't do well with new experiments for his big meals. I'm hoping to find inspiration at the meat market for our main BBQ'd element. Of course, Jim adores my grilled kebabs. I'll either do grilled potato skins or my infamous whipped potatoes and a grilled ratatoille that he loves. Dessert? He loves my chocolate chip cookies and has been hounding me for weeks for a batch. I'll kick it up and use some to make little ice cream sandwiches.

Looks like a busy weekend already.

Dinner tonight - Chicken fajitas. Again, nothing fancy and Mina likes them. Unfortunately, she did NOT like the whole grain tortillas. Whole wheat she's usually okay with. When she can see the grains, not so great. I also tried the PC Fajita spice pack when normally I just make my own sauce. Big mistake. Don't mess with what's already good. Especially when it's too spicy for the baby.

Foodie Mail Day!

Under normal circumstances, I abhor the email forward. I usually delete on sight, which never ceases to drive my Mother mental as she brings up the hilarity of the jokes or the shocking nature of some random snopes-already-debunked-it urban legend.

This one, sent to me by my co-worker, TK, made me chuckle. Then it made me want to go on a trip. And try some of the things listed. Maybe not the toe. Which shouldn't surprise anyone, since I'm the one who very happily - and willingly - ate the bacon and cheddar flavoured cricket. Yum, yum.

I've posted the email in it's entirety, although I may have removed names in the interest of privacy.

From:
Sent: June 12, 2009 10:31
To: ;; Elizabeth House-Burnett; ''
Subject: FW: Mmmm Food

Hey Beth, maybe you could try whipping up a few of these recipes.

The World’s Grossest Food

By Robin Esrock

Robin Esrock looks at a Menu from Hell.
Reader Warning: Some of these descriptions may ruin your appetite.

I compiled this definitive list with two very simple rules:
a) The items mentioned below should be available to members of the paying, mostly insane, public.
b) To qualify, the thought of each dish should make my stomach swill over, my throat seize up, my nose twitch in, and my eyes rattle out. On behalf of us all, my thanks to the Editor for not requesting a photo gallery.

The Sour Toe Cocktail
Let’s begin in the Yukon Territory, in the long-past-its-boom town of Dawson City. The Downtown Hotel bar serves up a drink of straight whiskey, with added flavouring from a real life severed human toe. A big, gnarly one too, shrivelled and yellow, with the nail still on. I joined the Sour Toe Cocktail club, and to qualify, the toe must touch your lips. I can still feel it today, like a pickled, phantom limb. Everyone gets the same toe, and in the past, some toes have been swallowed. Feeling icky yet? Just wait…

Balut
Duck can be delicious, and eggs can be delicious, so why does it get nasty when you mix the two together? Balut, a popular delicacy in the Philippines, is a fertilized duck egg; that is an egg with a crunchy, sometimes feathery baby duck inside. You peel the shell, slurp up the embryonic fluid, add some salt, and bite hard into the crispy mushy goodness. Apparently, balut goes down really well with cold beer. Slugging back a few bottles might make this gourmet treat go down better, and for that matter, up again too.

Deep Fried Hairy Spiders
Personally, I just didn’t have the stomach for arachnoids when I was travelling by bus through Cambodia. A popular roadside snack, the large spiders are eaten in big bites, or pulled apart, leg by leg, and consumed like French fries. Black bug juice dribbles down the chin as you reach the best part of meal, the pincers and the bulbous back. All the poison is removed when the spiders are fried, and apparently the appeal lies in its crunchy-chewy texture. Along came a spider, and sat down beside her, and so Little Miss Muffet just ate the damn thing.

Ox Penis Soup
Let us just be grateful that, due to conservation laws and human evolution, it’s no longer Tiger Penis Soup. Some Chinese restaurants serve up this delicacy, known for its mythical and powerfully arousing properties. The broth is serviceable, but the reality of eating ox or deer penis is that it tastes like a hard, impossibly chewy sponge. Tourists wishing to partake in this dish may find themselves forced to spit it out, or swallow it whole.

Fermented Shark (Hákarl)
Moving over to Iceland now, where they like their sharks rotten, stinky, and air-dried out for 5 months. Oozing the odour and taste of powerful ammonia (think urine-scented cleaning products), hákarl is an acquired taste, even in Iceland. Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay puked on it, a common reaction for first-timers, who are advised to hold their nose to avoid detecting the disgusting stench they’re about to put in their mouths. Those who eat it are associated with being strong and brave. As someone appalled by the shark fin trade, I reckon anyone who eats the fins of these increasingly endangered fish should be forced to try this Scandinavian delicacy first.

Cats and Dogs
Widely condemned by the West and pet owners everywhere, it’s a sad fact that Fluffy and Fido are still on the menu in parts of Asia. Breeds of dog are raised specifically as food, and as my friend Naomi will testify, having adopted and therefore saved one such puppy from the roast, they remain viciously tempered. Dog has been eaten in China for thousands of years, and the meat is famed for medicinal properties. Meanwhile, Singapore’s Strait Times reports that up to 10,000 cats are eaten every day in the Chinese province of Guangdong. Brings a disturbing new meaning to the concept of “cat food”. Hug your Fluffy and Fido a little closer tonight.

3 Squeak Dish
By now, I hope you’re warmed up for the really gross stuff. I am not making this one up, because I am just not that creatively sick. Served in some remote parts of China, the 3 Squeak Dish is a plate served with 3 pink, freshly born baby mice. The first squeak is when you pick them up with chopsticks. The second is when you dip them in soy sauce. You can guess what the third squeak is. Apparently they’re easy to chew because the bones have not hardened yet. Excuse me. I have to run to the bathroom now.

Escamoles
I’m back, and in the mood for a little insect caviar! In Mexico, escamoles refers to the larvae of the giant, particularly ferocious Liometopum ant. Its eggs are collected from agave plants, spiced, and served in tacos. Escamole has a cottage cheese texture, and a buttery finish. I’ve eaten ants and termites in various jungles, and they taste surprisingly like walnuts. Perfect for anyone into nuts, or just plain nuts too.

Casu Marzu
Those who have read this far -- and therefore possess iron guts -- will appreciate the hop over to Sardinia, Italy, where we can spread some thick sheep’s cheese onto a slice of toast. Only problem here is it’s been purposely allowed to rot and gather maggots, which adds to the soapy, writhing texture. Next time you have a cheese and wine soiree, think maggots!

Lutifisk is a Norwegian fish weapon of mass culinary destruction. Laos Snake Whiskey is sold with farm-bred cobras at the bottom, some with scorpions for extra zing. On my menu from hell, there’s also fried cockroaches, haggis, and of course, our famed prairie oysters.

For dessert, let’s just recognize that we will eat whatever we are culturally conditioned to consume, and whatever creature with the distasteful misfortune to be around us if we are hungry.

For dinner tonight: Ox penis pizza. Ha! Really it was regular pizza. Boring enough with pepperoni, bacon and mushrooms per Mina's request. She has soccer tonight, so it was a quick dinner. She'd better score me a goal for making boring food.

Generational cooking - Bananas in my Bread Make Me Feel Warm & Fuzzy

Growing up, I remember so many recipes and meals that were made memorable. Foods that were made into traditions. Like my Mom's pork chops and scalloped potatoes or the ever-easy macaroni and tomato. My Grandma's cheesecake or her meringues. My stepmom's risotto with chicken gizzards. Even my stepdad's meatloaf.

These are the foods that give me the warm fuzzies. My version of comfort foods. Foods I enjoyed immensely growing up where the recipes were handed down to me from the people I love most. These are the recipes you just don't mess with. There is no need for improvement or "twists" - it's all good cooking made with that little something extra.

It's with this in mind that I'm sharing my banana bread recipe. The original recipe came from an old UCW (United Church Women) cookbook. One that was compiled by my Grandma with the help of the women in my family and my Uncle's illustration talents. It's the cook book that featured recipes from me and my two siblings. My first foray into the Foodie world, I suppose.

I've never changed this recipe. And it never fails to impress. Most of all, it impresses my family and it is my #1 requested recipe. I've baked this banana bread for friends, soccer team snack day, Mina's school, family functions.. the list goes on and on. And never once has it failed me.

If I had to pick a "Recipe BFF", the banana bread would be it. My hope is that, one day, Mina will look back on her childhood and thoughts of warm banana bread, straight from the oven, and the jokes of how quickly it was gobbled up will encourage her to master the recipe herself. And share it with her family.

Aww. So cheese. I must be hormonal.

The Best Banana Bread You'll Ever Make

Please note: There is a certain way to make this recipe. You can't change it or do it differently. It's never as good.

You need:
- 3 bananas (bananas must be frozen and then defrosted. They MUST be gooey and just a bit disgusting when you squeeze them out. The watery banana juice - it's your friend. Embrace it and include it.)
- 1 cup of white sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 cups of flour
- 1/2 cup butter - melted (NOT 1/2 cup of melted butter. Cut 1/2 cup of solid butter and then melt it in the microwave).

To do:
- Preheat oven to 350.

- Grease a loaf pan. The deeper the better, it's a big loaf (if you're using small disposable ones, you'll probably need two).

- Mash the bananas in a smallish bowl. Take out some frustrations and mush the hell out of 'em. Lumps are okay, but completely mushed (not pureed) is best.

- Melt the butter in another small bowl in the microwave. Then cream in the sugar. This just means whip the hell out of it (I use a fork to do it) until it's somewhat creamy.

- Add in a beaten egg. The egg must be beaten before adding it to the butter/sugar mixture. And add it slowly and temper it in. You don't want scrambled egg in your loaf.

- Sift in the flour, baking soda and salt into a separate large bowl. If you can't sift it, whisk it to incorporate it all together.

- With a wooden spoon, stir the butter/sugar/egg mixture into the flour. Stir to incorporate - try not to overmix.

- Add in the mashed banana. Again, stir to mix.

- You may think that the mixture is too runny - it's not.

- Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake at 350 for 1 HOUR.

Enjoy!

Dinner tonight: Pork tenderloin with Sauteed Apples and Leeks. In a word: Outstanding. I have a few tweaks to do to the recipe (I think I'll grill the tenderloin next time instead of broiling it...), but it was pretty darn good. Recipe to come once it's perfected.

Sunday Dinner: Roasted chicken with lemon, aparagus and potatoes

Sunday is the one guaranteed day that I take time to do a proper dinner. Today's recipe? Roasted chicken with potatoes, lemon and asparagus. I got full use out of my locally grown asparagus and the meal, in a word? Delicious.

Recipe is as follows:

Roast Chicken with Lemon, Asparagus and Potatoes

You Need:
* 1 1/2 pounds of new potatoes, halved (I use those handy little bags of baby yukons)
* 3 tbsp butter
* Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
* Olive oil - a couple tbsp
* Chicken pieces or 1 whole chicken, cut up
* 1 bunch asparagus, trim the ends and cut up into 2" pieces
* 1-2 lemons, cut into wedges
* 4 sprigs fresh thyme (plus more for garnish if needed)

To Do:

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Drizzle olive oil in pan - brush over entirety.
2. Put potatoes and half the butter in a roasting pan; season with salt and pepper. Roast, tossing once, until potatoes are golden, 20 to 25 minutes.
3. Place chicken, skin side up, on top of potatoes; season with salt and pepper. Roast until chicken begins to brown, 20 minutes.
4. Scatter asparagus, lemon, remaining butter, and thyme around chicken. Roast until asparagus is tender and chicken is opaque throughout, 12 minutes. Serve chicken, vegetables, and lemon drizzled with pan juices.

Mina at least tried the asparagus this time. Jim quite enjoyed the meal - so both of the picky pants eaters gave it a thumbs up. Lucy loved everything. Including the asparagus. Success!

I'll definitely be adding this one to the repertoire. I hope your family enjoys it as much as ours did. Such and easy Sunday dinner. For dessert tonight? I found great chocolate croissants at the bakery, so we enjoyed them thoroughly. Perfect.

'Tis the Season: Asparagus

In search of: Locally grown asparagus

Found: Red Barn Berries, 519-537-3756, 744716 County Rd 17, Woodstock, Ontario

The Trip: Saturday, June 12, 2009 Normally I like to have both girls with us when hunting down great food. Mina in particular. I find if she can see where her food is coming from, the increased chance I have of convincing her to try new things. Today, however, Mina had a birthday party at Millside Stables to attend. Luckily, Red Barn is conveniently located on the way back from Millside. We dropped her off and headed to grab some asparagus. Lucy, obviously... very excited. She was hungry. Snacked on a Mum Mum. The nice thing about Red Barn Berries is how easy it is to find. Well signed, and blatantly obvious. If you miss the giant red barn, call your optometrist - it may be time to up that prescription. Of course, strawberry season isn't quite here yet, so Red Barn is fairly quiet. After wandering around for a few minutes, I found the asparagus, snagged some and went inside the store.

That's where I found really lovely little yellow tomatoes. Of course, impulse buyer I am, I snagged a basket. The girl who helped us was sure to let us know that, at Red Barn, they are hoping to start "pick your own" next weekend, depending on weather. She made sure we had a card with their number and encouraged us to call next Saturday before heading out to see how the week went. We didn't go strawberry picking last year. I think a return trip to Red Barn is in order. I have a wicked strawberry shortcake cookie recipe I've been dying to try. Speaking of little strawberries, check out this one.... If there's one thing Lucy loves it's exploring new places. I'm excited to see how well she can pick strawberries. Of course, I'm pretty much betting on her eating most of what she picks. Now I have my asparagus and my little yellow tomatoes. I think the tomatoes will be breakfast. Of course, the asparagus will be featured in Sunday dinner. As we left with my wares, it occurred to me how happy this new project has made me. I'm teaching my girls all the great things about supporting local producers whenever possible. And how delicious seasonal eating can be. It looks like this is going to be one exciting summer!

Dinner tonight: We kept it simple. Grilled sausages (honey garlic for me, Italian spiced for Jim and Mina) with coleslaw. I cut up a few of the yellow tomatoes for Lucy - who loved them.

Weekly Meal Plan

It's that time of the week again....

The flyers have landed and I'm putting together this week's meal plan. Since this is often my favourite part of the week, I knew I would share it here.

First things first, let's see what I can find on sale. Here is where I'll confess to being a bit of a grocery store snob. I've tried to shop other stores (Zehrs is usually our pick, which is about as posh as you get in this small town - no Whole Foods or Fortino's to be found). I've done the Food Basics or the Foodland. It's just not the same. The meat was atrocious (note: I am determined to find a great local butcher by summer's end) and I couldn't find half of what I wanted. Although, I will say that the ethnic food section at our Food Basics kicks Zehrs' ass. It was great.

So, the first flyer I check is Zehrs... lemme see.

Whole chickens on sale. Score. Perfect for my Sunday meal of chicken, lemon, potatoes and asparagus.

Ooh. Which reminds me. Gotta check the freezer and see what I can use in there.

Woo hoo. Jackpot. Pork loin (on sale last week) and boneless chicken breasts (again, on sale last week). There is also a steak in there... pick up another and I can do something with that.

I already know that on Tuesday we'll do homemade pizza. It's Mina's soccer night and that always means frantic dinners. Homemade pizza and a big, green salad gives Mina a really great dinner that's not too heavy before soccer. Add in Jim being on afternoons next week and it's just me and the girls. Losing the pickiest eater of the bunch opens up far more opportunties for nummy suppers.

Sunday = roasted chicken previously discussed.

And I have pork loin, chicken breasts and steak. Sausages are on sale too. Chicken wings too.

Hmm. How's this?

Saturday: Grilled sausages with coleslaw and green salad. Easy for a Saturday night.

Sunday: Roasted chicken with potatoes, lemon and asparagus.

Monday: Pork tenderloin with sauteed apples and leeks

Tuesday: Homemade pizza, green salad

Wednesday: Chicken fajitas (a favourite of Mina's) with a rice pilaf with peas and carrots

Thursday: Grilled steak with compound butter served with roasted potatoes, mushrooms and veggies

Friday: Spicy Citrus Caramel Chicken Wings with Spinach salad

Now, all I can do is hope that both girls get over whatever this bug they've picked up. Mina has been pukey all night, Lucy has explosive diarrhea (sorry.. ). I'm sticking to recipes I know Mina really likes in hopes that it will entice her to feel better about living on bananas, rice, applesauce and toast for the next day or so.

Tomorrow is the day we're hoping to hit a local supplier for asparagus. Unless the girls are still sick. Then we'll have to postpone.

Limey Bugger - A Walk Down Memory Lane

As I was discussing the lure of going back to Culinary school with my friend Tim last night, I wandered through my memories in search of when my love of food started.

I guess I can start to trace it back to the idea of generational cooking. My Grandma (Audrey) was a great cook. Most of my best memories of childhood revolve around her foods. Mostly desserts now that I think of it. But she was like the quintessential farm wife - good cook, warm, funny but firm.

That led to my own Mom letting us explore with food. We baked cookies and made cakes from the most random, weird recipes. As kids, we pored over recipe books picking out things to make.

But if I really had to nail down the point where food started becoming something of an obsession, I wouldn't pick my childhood. It, of course, led to a love of food and how it brings families together and the traditions behind that make me feel all warm and fuzzy. But it's not when I REALLY decided to take a bigger interest in more than the basics.

What did that was the Limey Bugger.

Jim and I had just moved in together. I wanted to impress him with my culinary prowess. I mean.. I was IN hospitality at school, I really wanted to wow him. Flipping through the channels, I heard a Martha-type say "Lime chicken". Hmm. I like limes. I like chicken. If we like lemon chicken, lime chicken can't be all that different, right?

Of course, this is when I was still cocky enough to think that I didn't need to know anything about flavour combinations or technique - how hard can lime chicken be?

Off I went. Bought limes. Bought frozen limeade (not even kidding). Bought boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

I took my ingredients home. I thawed the frozen limeade, added salt and pepper, tossed it with the chicken and marinated for a few hours. After a few hours in the mix, I removed the chicken, slit it open, stuffed it with lime wedges. Then I topped it with lime zest and poured some more limeade over it and baked.

As it cooked, I boiled up some noodles and tossed them with butter (budget meal.. I splurged on the limes and chicken) to serve on the side. Steam some broccoli and dinner was served.

Jim got home from work to a very proud partner - dinner was served on chipped china with a steaming side of anticipation.

Pucker. UP.

Thus, the legend of the Limey Bugger was born. And that was the night that I realized a few things:

1. Jim must love me. Because love would have been the only defense his tastebuds would have against the super lime.

2. I had the will to cook, but absolutely no know-how. And if I was going to feed us and spend money on good ingredients, I was going to damn well figure out how to make them delicious.

3. Next time I hear a Martha-type say "Lime" and "Chicken" in the same sentence, I should turn off the TV and pretend I never heard it.

4. Limey Bugger gives your husband YEARS of ammunition about you trying new creations in the kitchen. As in "You're trying WHAT?! Don't you remember the Limey Bastard?" Almost a decade later and this particular joke still hasn't lost that tart flavour.

Of course, the Limey Bugger wasn't my only culinary cock-up. However, the wallpaper-plaster-potatoes and the "Southwestern" meatloaf burgers didn't quite measure up to the grandiose absurdity of the lime chicken.

Dinner tonight? Take out. I know, I know. I deviated from the meal plan. But today was a shit day, it's raining, I got home late and I was generally pissy. Nothing like a little grease to appease my bad mood.

Gonna make our pee smell funny!

It's asparagus season! With that in mind, I've decided my first "local eating" challenge is going to be to find some lovely local asparagus. Probably the easiest ingredient to find as I already know the place to find it. Red Barn Berries - right outside of Woodstock, not a far drive and a great place to find some local produce. And I know they have asparagus. Easy peasy.

With asparagus, I'm usually the only one in the house with the funny smelling pee. Jim and Mina haven't been keen on my regular standby of roasting the asparagus on the 'que - they aren't fans. As this is Lucy's first asparagus season we'll see what she thinks of the scrumptious stalks. I think I have two options for my asparagus this Sunday: wrap it in bacon, because everything is better with bacon; or find a great main recipe that I know Jim and Mina will both love.

Of course, if I wrap the asparagus in bacon, chances are I will have them both tearing off the pork prize and leaving the green behind. I think I'm going to have to try this (thanks to Martha - clicky the picture):

Perfect! Meal planning at it's easiest. I already have Sunday dinner accounted for. I'll report back with pictures of our asparagus hunt and the subsequent dinner with the recipe.

Speaking of dinner: tonight is homemade pizza. It's easy and I'm tired. Plus, Mina really likes telling me exactly how to place the pepperoni. Lucy just really likes to eat it. Not even 18 months and the kid loves pizza. Totally Jim's kid.

To make the easiest homemade pizza, see if your local grocery store has fresh dough on sale in the bakery. Ours does and it's the single biggest timesaver for us - just roll and plop toppings on. A basic dough like this has saved me many a night when dinner needs to be rushed.

I am but a cliche...

In an effort to actually write something of interest to myself (although, perhaps not to others), I've succumbed to the world of the blog. Yeah. I know. Welcome to 2002.

The thing is, I'm pretty sure that all my friends are sick of my random Facebook notes of nothingness and my almost-daily publishing of food photos. What can I say? I'm a glutton. For attention if nothing else. Making the blog ideal for my need for gratification.

My problem with the world of the blog is this: I kind of feel like a cliche. It's not like the "food blog" hasn't been done. Someone far more clever than I, with more inherent foodie talent, posting up daily tidbits being all witty and cute. That's me on a really good day. Emphasis on the really.

On the not so good days, I'm the harried, frantic Mom trying to get a halfway healthy dinner shoved into my kid's faces without worrying about taking 20 minutes to snap the perfect foodie photo. I think I adopted the "everything in moderation" mantra solely because it helps assuage some of the Mom-Guilt.

So, okay. I'm best motivated by goals - this is my chance to set myself a few to start with.

My first goal is to start looking for local food. In the spirit of the whole "300 mile" bit, I think I should be exposing the girls (not to mention Jim) to local suppliers. Before Mina starts believing that asparagus is grown on a grocery store shelf and photosynthesis happens with fluorescent lighting and not sunlight.
Starting Saturday, I want to find ONE local place to get food - honey, maple syrup, produce, whatever. And I'm vowing to use what I buy in Sunday dinner. Or a dessert. Wish me luck.