Walk Widely. Eat Wisely. Live Gratefully.
On this chilly Saturday we’re fueling up for a day of painting and home improvement. The irony is not lost on us that we’re dining on an English muffin and cream cheese, topped with smoked salmon from our favourite French charcuterie, Ratinaud.
Délicieux!
On the side, local hothouse cucumbers and baby tomatoes. C’mon sun!
Yesterday was Christmas tree day…the local Lions Club had set up shop in the parking lot of our nearby grocery store. We stopped first for some provisions, including some delicious-looking peppered smoked salmon, from St. Mary’s Bay.
So this morning, surrounded by the gorgeous smell of balsam fir in the house, we made smoked salmon bennies on homemade English muffin loaf. We’re all set for a day of decorating. On a day like this how can we help but feel grateful?
What a day! We worked a good part of the afternoon on our garden,then retired to work on our Christmas cards. For dinner, a lovely slab of local salmon, which will continue to feed us in the days to come.
We started by making a modified “Potatoes Anna”, with sage and some Old Growlet cheese interspersed. Halfway to done, we popped the salmon in the oven, rubbed with olive oil and sprinkled with chipotle powder. A few lightly-cooked carrots on the side, and we were satisfied.
One of the tastiest things we have added to our new local menu since moving is smoked salmon. Here in Nova Scotia there is a plentiful supply! This morning, we mixed some flaked smoked salmon with cream cheese, spread it on a whole-wheat English muffin (made right here!) along with some grainy mustard, and topped it with a free-range egg. What a way to start the day. Yum!
. This morning’s breakfast: a feast of colour. Tandoori cured pickerel from Hooked, some heritage tomatoes from the farmer’s market and the first from our garden, and a scrambled egg. Watching the Olympics. What a great start to the day. Go Canada!
How to start the day? Perhaps like this! For two, begin by poaching two fresh, large eggs. Meanwhile, toast a whole wheat English muffin.
Spread some of Kozlik’s Dijon by Anton on each muffin half. Top this with some Char Pastrami from Hooked. Next, a thick slice of fresh yellow tomato and a basil leaf from the garden. Finish the stack with the soft poached egg and a sprinkling of paprika. Serve with a cup of Prince of Darkness coffee…we got ours at Better Bulk on the Danforth. You’ll wake up your mouth!
Nothing about today’s lunch is local, with the exception that all the groceries came from less than a block’s walk of our house. That’s what the walkable feast is all about.
Today’s salad starts with a couple of good handfuls of spinach, tossed with lime juice and olive oil. Then for the topping, two pink grapefruit, peeled and diced, an avocado, about 15 dry roasted un salted almonds, chopped, half a shallot, minced, and a can of albacore tuna in water, drained and broken into chunks.
Even if the spring weather isn’t cooperating, it makes us feel like it’s a sunny California day.
Yesterday when we were at Hooked we also discovered this tasty smoked mackerel. It seemed like the perfect breakfast…even fit for Toronto’s Archbishop,Thomas Collins, who became a Cardinal today in Rome.
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Thanks for to the Archdiocesan Blog for this photo…which really says it all about this “ordinary guy who turned into a Prince”.
What a week! I had eye surgery on Thursday so I am now experiencing the world in a whole new way…without glasses. Even the food looks different. To clarify, I still need a little tune-up in the reading department, but I am gratefully having a chance to re-learn the gift of sight. On Friday after my Day One checkup, we swung by the Purple Purl to pick up some needles, then Hooked for the fish (halibut fillets). Oven-baked fish and chips made good use of some multicoloured potatoes we had on hand. They’re so easy to make…highly recommended!
Lent is nearly here. As usual, that means that just as we need to be taking stock, counting our blessings, and engaging in some introspection, the world of work is starting to get spring fever. Of course our personal commitments are also on the upswing. Projects are underway, and to-do lists are multiplying. One way to slow down the hamster wheel is to simplify wherever we can. Like Friday’s fish dinner…the perfect way to put the brakes on a hectic week.
Simply prepared, the meal includes black cod, cooked in a little olive oil and butter, and dressed with a squeeze of lime juice. On the side, a salad of local greenhouse veg (lettuce, tomato, cukes, green onion) topped with a couple of spears of visiting asparagus. For the dressing:
1T/15ml olive oil
1T/15ml Maille Dijon with hazelnuts and nutmeg (or add some nutmeg and ground nuts to your own mustard
1T/15ml sherry vinegar
I feel calmer just remembering it…