First Salad

I grew the lettuces next to the peas so it stays tender and sweet in the sun. Add some tomato, so smoked salmon and balsamic vinaigrette, and I have my favourity salad!

Fresh sweet peas

First pick of the season. I am growing these peas in a pot and it works. They are so easy to grow.

Gravlax Maki

Gravlax also makes good sushi. The original sushi was made with pickled fish, so this is quite appropriate.

Ham Fried Rice with Sambal

I used sambal oelak for this fried rice, gave it pretty colour and light spiciness. Good summer dish.

Gravlax Crepe

A nice way to eat gravlax. I tried something different with ricotta cheese. Not bad at all, a lot lighter than sour cream.

Yam

I left this yam on the dying coal and forgot about it. I didn't get to it until three hours after dinner. It was creamy and sweet, sort of a late dessert.

Lamb Shoulder

This shoulder is from Jay Spring Lamb. I rolled in rosemary, sage, garlic, salt, pepper and parsley. I was hot today, so I cooked it outside. Tasty as can be.

Beef Kabaps

The beef was marinated in garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, chilli power, paprika, cumin, fennel and olive oil. The beef wasn't the best but after some grilling it is quite tasty. The soup is stock made with shrimp shells, salted eggs, winter melon and ginger. Very summer.

Lamb Shanks

The shanks is from Jay Spring Lambs over at Kamloop. They are so much more superior to the New Zealand vacpacks. I braised them with cumin, fennel, cinnamon, cloves, raisin, carrots, onion, salt and pepper, garlic and chicken stock. First time I used this combination and I think it is the best I have even done.

Spagetti with Smoked Salmon

Since I smoked that coho, this is my favorite dish. The ricotta make it lighter and fresher than cream.

Grass Fed Beef

This beef is 100% grass fed. I bought it from the bio-dynamic farmers the Forstbauers. I guess it was their fertilizer producer once upon a time. It is tasty but lean. I wish they had cut it thicker so it can be easily cook to a crispy rare. As it is, it is good but not as soft as can be.

Silky

They call this bird silky. Well that is the case with the snow white feathers on; but underneath it is all black, skin, meat and bone and all! Make a wonderful soup though. Just don't look at it.

Caracolillo

This coffee is from Cuba. I roasted it dark and it is bold and tasty. I find it my favorite coffee with sugar.

Blacken

I have a piece of Coho left so I blackened it. How tasty and moist it is!

Gravlax

The coho from a few days ago, after two days of mummification, turned into very good gravlax. Great lunch between games.

Congee

Congee is a great thing to have for breakfast particularly when I am watching the World Cup. Cure some lean pork with salt for a couple of days in the fridge, parboil it first then simmer it with a little rice and a lot of water, I added a perserved egg, dry scallop and aged orange peel. Just like my mom makes it.

Roast Game Hens

Roasted a cornish game hen with thyme, parsley, rosemary, garlic, lemon and salt and pepper. Added some roasted yam and sweet peas. A little spring and winter before the arrival of summer. I can't think of anything more satisfying to eat than a well roasted bird.

Smoke Salmon

I used the branches I trimmed from my plum tree recently to smoke the cured coho. I put the charcoal and the wood in a foil baking tray on one side of my Ducane and the salmon sit in the other end. After a couple of hours I set them up on the upper rack to ge hotter to finish in just under four hours. This is my first time smoking things and it is very good. It is a little more salty than I like but not overwhelming. The smoke is mild and sweet from the plum. And they certainly look pretty.

The Second Roast

I turned on the convection this time and let it go darker. More to my liking.

Coho

I have never cooked Coho before so I bought one from Iron Maiden at the farmers market to try. After a couple days of thrawing in the fridge, I cut it up. The meat seems to be a little softer than Sockeye and Chinook.



The bits and pieces are good for ceviche. What a happy dish this is, just some parsley and chervil and onion and lemon juice and tomato and salt and pepper. Added some tobasco too.









One big piece is mummified into gravlax with dill, salt, sugar, pepper, vodka and lemon zest.









The other is brined for smoking tomorrow.











The bones are made into tofu and miso soup and the belly strips are the best for grilling, creamy.

Chaozhou Congee

Chaozhou congee is not as cooked as cantonese ones, sort of a rice soup. I have some lingcod in it, very good on a hot day.

Fried Rice

Ham, egg, bean sprouts, scallion, a little hot sauce and soy sauce. Good lunch.

Lingcod

One funny thing about steaming fish is that if it is really fresh it will curl up quite a bit; and this curl up good. When I bought it, it was still moving.

Nostalgia

This reminded me of something I would eat when I as a little kid, panfried ham steak and turned over eggs with sweet soy sauce over rice. Somehow quite comforting.

Crossing Borders All Over

Curried cauliflower with yogurt, cloves, cardamom, onion, garlic, chili pepper, cumin, cinnamon, black pepper, coriander, bay leaves and salt. The pork chop is just salt and peppered and sauteed on a pan. Turned out to be a rather nice combo.

Potato Chips

I for no apparent reason wanted potato chips. Since I don't have any at home, I decided to make them myself.

Unagi

I was moving huge bookcases around and reorganized my library so I had heat-and-eat unagi with winter melon and salted eggs soup. Simple and energizing.

Cuttlefish balls

Now this is more traditional. Cuttlefish balls, seaweed and rice vermicelli in a light chicken stock seasoned with a little fish sauce.

Brine?

I tried to brine these pieces before grilling. Not a good idea, got really smoky and not the good kind of smoke. So, remember, brinning is for the oven!

Poached Halibut

I recently taught this so someone who wanted a easy way to cook halibut. I figure since I have not make this for a while, I should do it again to make sure I did not make a mistake.

I put chicken stock, a mixture of dry wild mushrooms, white mushrooms, ginger, salt, peanut oil, white pepper, and halibut all into the pot. Bring it to a low boil and then turn the heat off with the lid on and wait till the fish is done. In this case about 10 minutes. It is the silkiest halibt ever and there are so many way you can season the stock. I added chervil and cilantro at the end.

Ham and Cheese what?

Is this a ham-and-cheese? Or a cold weather quesadilla? Or a bastard shawarma? I am not sure but ham and mozzarella and Parmesan and herbs grilled in bread can't be bad.

Sleeping

I poached this free range chicken with its head on. It looks like it is just sleeping.

Baru Latino, Vancouver

I had not been to Baru for a while, since I moved away from the neighbourhood. I took some relatives who do not usually eat non-Chinese food there today and every plate was cleaned to a shine. Now that is a sign of a good restaurant.