Meshuga
Tangled hair, freckled face and tousled clothes. She leans on the edge of her chair, peering into the distance; ahead of her stand endless worlds to explore.
A blog about a girl whose passions carry her away.
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What better way to ‘roll up’ to our annual Oscar party than with a plate of refreshing Cold Rolls. Oscar parties tend to deliver to our deepest inner desires of cravings, housing a buffet of naughty nibbles. Instead of getting gluttonous for my dish I decided to bring something on the healthier side.
I could eat cold rolls everyday. They’re fresh, extremly easy to make (once you get the rolling technqiue down) and literally you can stuff it with anything. Did I also mentioned they’re super healthy. I love getting creative with these; surprising my palette each time I make them with a new flavour. Get creative and don’t be shy, this is a dish where you really need to get in there and use your hands. I made the vegetarian variety as you never know at these parties whose a: vegan, vegetarian, non red meat eater, pescetarian and so on, so on. Tofu has also become my new obsession, which I used to hate because of the high amounts of estrogen; but meh, you live once! My partner, not as thrilled with the sudden bouts of emotion and hysteria…Related?
California Style Cold Roll
- A Package of Round Rice Paper Wrappers
- Vietnamese Rice Noodles (thin variety)
- Red Pepper (cut matchstick thin)
- Cucumber (cut matchstick thin)
- Mache Mix (or another green, sprouts also work great)
- Carrots (cut matchstick thin)
- Mint
- Coriander
- Tofu (thin strips)
- Avocado (slices)
- Ginger (chopped)
- Red hot pepper (chopped)
- Lime wedges
Note on Sauces: I made my own peanut sauce which you can find a recipe for, virtually anywhere on the web. I used this one, but I wasn’t blown away. I personally love using hoison, sirachi, but it’s typical to have a sweet chilli sauce for these rolls.
If you’re challenged with the task of making over two dozen of these, a system is integral. Set up to your right a bowl of hot water. In front of you put down a dry cloth (this is where you’ll place the wet rice paper wrapper). My line order was as follows: rice noodles (cover them with sesame oil, the chopped ginger and hot pepper), the mache mix, carrots, red pepper, cucumber, avocado, tofu, mint and coriander, crushed peanuts and lime wedges (squeeze some juice to keep it fresh before you roll). I worked from right to left. Now go on, grab a wrapper, dip it in hot water till it gets soft and a little firm around the edges and roll up!
Here’s a video on how to roll the wrapper. He doesn’t let his sit in the water as long and uses a turning method. I personally let it sit in the water until it softens almost completely but with a firmness around the edges.
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Photoset reblogged from Panic & Bob Editing
Congratulations to my incredible boyfriend for you logo competition win. That cherry red looks so good on you.
Pick your Panic, pick your Bob. Well, we just picked Lorne Covant as the winner of our PB15 logo redesign contest! (Click to enlarge)
His mix-and-match campaign just won him a brand new Vespa S50 scooter.
Thanks again to everyone who send us their awesome logos!
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Thanksgiving evokes the chaotic visuals of treacherous cold windy days, where families across states, scramble to make it to their in laws or parents for a feast of Thanksgiving turkey and all the fixings. We’ve seen the movies like “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” or “Home for the Holidays” where everything seems to go wrong - but it all seems to be worth it for that that iconic meal around the table, where everyone’s eyes feast on the honorable guest - a fresh out of the oven bird.
I personally experienced the American Thanksgiving holiday on a few occasions while dating an American and can say most of those movies don’t lie. Something always goes wrong, but somehow all heads are accounted for by the beginning of the meal for the gathering of thanks and to usher in the long awaited guest. During that time I never thought of where the bird came from or what kind of life it had. I was disillusioned by classic movies where the bird seemed to come straight off the back of a farmers truck.
Over the past couple decades the business of turkey has changed. It’s a 2.2 Billion Dollar business, that’s responsible for millions of genetically modified Turkey’s that unnaturally speeds up the growth rate for a plumper, larger and unhealthier bird. These Turkey’s, who once lived a full life frollicing in fields, having a chance to grow to a natural mature state before it’s ultimate death, has now had life cut short for an over-consuming society that chooses saving dollars over the humane life of an animal.
To my American Neighbours, please shop ethically when purchasing your Turkey this Thanksgiving holiday. Help stop the malicious, over zealous commercial farmers and corporate greed. Buying a 100% organic turkey can do it. We may not be able to save the world or single handidly stop every injustice and inethical practice that takes place, but with one purchase you’ll be surpised in just how much of a DIFFERENCE YOU CAN MAKE. If not for the animal, do it for your health.
Check out this helpful info-graphic on “The Anatomy of a Genetically Modified Turkey”
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Food Truck Info-Graphics
Been thinking a lot about food trucks lately….
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I have a lover! I have a lover!” she kept repeating to herself, reveling in the thought as though she were beginning a second puberty. - Flaubert, Madame BovaryFirst few pages of Tom Perrotta’s “Little Children”, so far I feel like the protagonist is speaking to me.
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We all have the long laundry list of dishes we aspire to make. Granola is one of those for me. I eat it everyday. I think one of the most satisfying snacks is a handful of granola; wouldn’t you agree? Each handful brings a new surprise of flavor to your mouth. In one bite you might get a Brazilian nut flavored with maple with chewy dried cranberries stuck to the side of it to a flaked piece of coco and twirls of coconut curled up between some baked oats. I love nothing more than giving my mouth a whirl of flavor. Over the past year granola has become a big part of my everyday diet: breakfast, snack in between work and sometimes on dessert. I noticed this ‘healthy’ snack wasn’t that healthy as I was buying the grocery store variety, which is packed full of secret additives. To be specific; President’s Choice Organics Granola. The oats are covered in sweet cane sugar and brown sugar and probably more sugar. I love it, but it’s not the kind of granola where I can eat a whole box and I week and feel good about it. I started buying the high end granola from places like Evelyn’s but $9 for hardly 150 grams was killing me. I tossed the overpriced granola to the side and told myself I could make an even better granola for half or even less of the price. Besides the price, by making my own granola I can control the ingredients that go into my granola which is not only healthier but also super creative. There are a million varieties. I took a trip to the closest bulk barn and let the aisles of bulk food be my pallet and began devising my own granola. Bulk Barn can get pretty expensive so be careful on how much you load up on. The price was $30 for all dry ingredients. Plenty o’ handfuls and two bowls of cereal every other day I say it lasted for about three weeks. The total batch, around 6-8 cups. At least 800 grams. It was a lot of fun to make and actually fairly easy. For my second batch I got carried away in a conversation and burned it. TIP: Don’t turn your back on an oven bake of only 15 minutes, even if there’s a really funny scene of Golden Girls on.
INGREDIENTS DRY:
- · 2 cups of rolled oats
- · 1 cup of spelt oats
- · 1 cup of raw walnuts chopped
- · 1 cup of raw pecans chopped
- · 1/2 cup of hazelnuts
- · 1/2 cup of raw sunflower seeds
- · 1/2 cup of raw pumpkin seeds
- · 2/3 of a cup of coconut flakes
- · 1 tbsp of nutmeg
- · 1 tbsp of cinnamon
- · 2 tsp of salt or to eye
INGREDIENTS WET:
- · 3/4 cup of good quality maple syrup
- · 4 tbsp of brown rice syrup
- · 2 tbsp of coconut oil
- · 1 tbsp of vanilla
- · 1 cup of packed brown sugar
- · 2tbsp of olive oil is very dry
ADD IN AT END:
- · 1 cup of dried yellow raisins
PREPARATION· Preheat Oven to 325 c on Bake.
· In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the wet ingredients. Stir well. Bring to a low boil and then simmer on low for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Do not burn.
· In a very large mixing bowl, Mix together the dry ingredients.
· Add the wet mixture (while still warm!) over top the dry mixture and stir well. It will be very thick and hard to stir, but keep at it until everything is thoroughly combined.
· Spread onto a pan lined with parchment paper or a non-stick mat and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven every 15 minutes and give the granola a good stir to ensure even baking. If it starts to stick together ans is hard you know it’s almost ready. Try some as you cook.
· Allow to cool for 20-25 minutes on the pan before serving. The granola will stiffen up as it cools.
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Growing up sucks. I can hear Douglas Coupland laughing already, prescribing my current rambling as a ‘mid twenties breakdown’, also known as the quarter life century. Well so what. As cliche as it is, I wish I could press the rewind button to when time didn’t feel like one long perpertual hangover. When did day’s slip into weeks and weeks into months? I remember as a kid walking home from school counting the days left till summer. 148 days, 147 days, 146 days; I would perpertually chant as I daydreamed from the bus to my driveway. I remember being warned by ‘wise’ adults that soon those days would become shorter and years turn as quickly as leaves in autumn. With a hand to the sky I would walk away with a puff, not fully grasping what they meant by it. As a 25 year old woman, a few years into work, noticing the first lines creeping beneath my eye lids, I think I finally took a real hard look at what they were saying. And this reality check…not so hot. Now it’s more like 148 days, 148 days, 148 days - especially on a Sunday. Whoever thought it would be difficult to schedule playdates with your friends? I’m shocked that I struggle to find the time to think up the next best invention like an egg carton with aluminum antenas and old tv wires. I get tired of putting off the voice inside me that thought up the most unusual of parallel universes or the same voice that made me do crazy things like sneak into haunted houses. Is it true? Does life just get in the way? Or do we let it get in the way? Is time meerly just a creation of our own state of being or a figment of our imagination used as a tool to keep us in an inescapable existence. I started this post wanting to apologize to the small (very small) handful of people that follow me for not writing in awhile but somehow landed into a perpetual jaded tailspin of time and life. Let me stop there. As kids, we didn’t talk about the things we wanted to do. We did them. “I want to rake that pile of leaves and jump in it”, “I want to tell the boy in class I like him”, “I want to leave class for a washroom break and never come back”. They may have not all been the most wise desires but I did them. I acted on it. Every friend I get together with, has the same woe, ‘I wish I danced more’, ‘I wish I finished school’, ‘I wish I learned another language’…DO IT. I talk about never writing enough or not finding enough time, but I’m the keeper of my time. I have the luxury of that. So after all of this, I really hope you hear from me soon.
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Quinoa Latka with Flat leaf parsley and a Poached Egg.
On my list for my next brunch indulgence.
(Source: dietcokeandasmoke)
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You know how Fresh gives their bowls and salads personalities based off of the types of vegetables they put in it. Or perhaps they just get high and pick names out of hats. I guess we’ll never know. Well, I’ve decided to give my Quinoa a name as well. While Fresh has got the Beach, Green Goddess and Power House - I’ve got, The Mighty. No real event or vegetable compelled me to this name , but I do feel pretty mighty after a few spoon fulls.
I don’t eat red meat. Haven’t for close to 16 years now, so I’m always looking for healthy alternatives to power up on my protein. Back in elementary school I used to microwave white bread with cheese. Those were the days when my body could take a beating from whatever I put in it. I quickly learned that wasn’t a real source of protein. And it wasn’t until several years later that I learned to distinguish what was good and clean vs. cacapoopoo for my insides.
Like many of you, I’ve jumped onto the quinoa craze bandwagon. It’s absouletly genious. I call it my blank slate. In the begining of the week I will (or Lorne will) boil a huge pot of it, let it cool and put it in a big tuperware for a morning creation. Depending on my mood during the week, I’ll make different Quinoa salads based off of what I have in the fridge. After a bit of experimenting I’ve come up with, I’d say, one of the best quinoa recipes ever. (humbleness at its best) Drum roll please…..”The Mighty Quinoa”.
Recipe
2 cups of cooked quinoa
Half of a large red onion (chopped into small squares)
1 whole avocado (small cubes)
A bunch of colorful heirloom baby tomatoes (Halved)
Two small baked sweet potatoes (recipe below)
100 grams of Feta Cheese (chopped or crumbled)
1 bunch of mint (chopped)
1 bunch of coriander (chopped)
½ cup of good olive oil ( makes a huge difference)
1-2 tbsp of a good balsamic ( I use a 4 yr old crema di glaze)
Juice from half of a large lemon
Salt to taste ( I tend to go for 2-3 tsp)
Pepper to taste
A touch of cayenne
Additions
The first time I made it I cute up some firm tofu into cubes. I didn’t really need this because the quinoa is already packed full of protein but I love different textures in my food.
The second time I made this I added shrimp to make it a more substantial dinner meal. For my shrimp I seasoned them in herb de provence, olive oil, salt and pepper. I pan seared them for 15 seconds on each side and removed from heat.
Sweet Potato Directions
Pre heat oven on broil. Cut potatoes into small cubes. Season with olive oil, salt and pepper and a touch of cayenne pepper to cover. Watch the potatoes very carefully. They burn if you don’t keep a steady eye. Let cool and combine with other quinoa ingredients after cooled.
This might sound crazy, but I believe if someone has the exact same ingredients and makes the same dish as you, depending on the love and attention you give it, it will come out tasting a whole lot different. There’s something to cooking with heart and passion. I’ve witnessed the difference a million times. Don’t just shove everything in at once. Taste as you mix. Cook with passion and you’ll notice the difference immediatly.
Have a forkful and enjoy!
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Photo reblogged from saving the world one bit[e] at a time
9 Days till I’m back in France. Day dreaming of Nicoise Salads.
