All About Felix

First published Mar 31, 2011

These photos are from Sydney, November 2010.  I meant to post them after Christmas, but time has flown by this year, and here I am posting them in March!  Anyway... it was a pleasure to meet sweet little Felix after hearing all about him from family and friends.  He's a happy little guy, and who can resist those curls!  Hopefully we'll meet again before too long!

Creamed Spinach

First published Mar 29, 2011

The other day, a friend remarked that she had a new favourite thing; creamed spinach.  My first thought was, Ick, that’s something you get at the old folk’s home!  Once she started listing the ingredients however, I was hooked!  I’ve been trying to eat a load of greens lately... I need something to balance all those sweets!

Creamed Spinach

Ingredients: A pack of spinach, butter, cream, a block of Parmesan cheese and sea salt.

Method:
Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat.
Add half a container of spinach and toss gently until wilted.
Turn heat down to low, add a couple tablespoons of cream and a handful of grated Parmesan cheese.
Cook on low heat for a few minutes.
Season with sea salt and serve.
Serves one... this is the gist of the creamed spinach... you can adjust according to however many you are serving.

Now that you've got your daily intake of greens, you can have a cookie or two guilt free.  That's my justification, anyway!

Peanut Butter Marshmallow Bar

Peanut Butter Marshmallow Bars

½ cup butter
½ cup peanut butter
1 pkg (6oz) butterscotch chips
1 bag mini marshmallows

Melt butter and peanut butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Stir in chips until melted. Cool until you can hold your hand on the bottom of pot. To speed process, stir while cool enough . Add marshmallows and stir until all are coated. Pack down in a 9x9 pan that has been lined with wax paper. Refrigerate. Cut into squares.

Note: You can make this bar using homemade marshmallows... just cut the marshmallows into bite size squares before adding in to the mix.

Toasted Coconut Marshmallows

First published Mar 24, 2011

Homemade marshmallows rolled in toasted coconut.  Recipe adapted from Thomas Keller's French Laundry cookbook... click here.  Marshmallows are surprisingly easy to make.  The trick is to keep all utensils and surfaces lightly oiled once you start to work with the marshmallow.  I forgot to oil the plastic wrap in the pan last time... it was not fun trying to rescue the marshmallow directly off the plastic!

Paper Bag Tulips

First published Mar 20, 2011
Had a special moment when shooting these flowers... the spring sun lighting up my favorite shooting spot and the birds singing in the trees outside.  Spring is a welcome relief; it's colors washing over the monochrome of winter.

White Cake with Brown Sugar Icing

First published Mar 17, 2011

White Cake with Brown Sugar Icing

White Cake
1 cup sifted cake flour*
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar**
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup milk, scalded***
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 350F. (180C)
Sift flour once, measure and resift twice with the baking powder and salt.
Beat eggs with a rotary beater until very light.
Add sugar gradually and continue to beat until thick and lemon colored.
Fold dry ingredi ents into egg mixture, gently but thoroughly.
Combine butter with scalded milk and vanilla and add to batter, stirring until blended.
Pour into a greased 9 by 9 by 2-inch pan and bake about 25 minutes, or until done.
Remove from oven and cool.

Brown Sugar Icing
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
4 tbsp milk
2 tbsp butter

Place above in saucepan over heat until full rolling boil. Take from heat and beat until stiff.
*Cake Flour: An easy way to do this is to put 2 tablespoons of the cornstarch into the bottom of a 1 cup measure, then fill to the top with flour.
**Recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, but mom switched it to 3/4 as 1 cup is too sweet. But if you like it really sweet, by all means make it 1 cup!
***Scalding: Many older recipes called for you to scald milk, that is, to bring it nearly to a boil and stirring. Scalding served two purposes, to kill potentially harmful bacteria in the milk, and to destroy enzymes that keep the milk from thickening in recipes. Pasteurization, however, accomplishes both of those goals, and since almost all store-bought milk in Western countries is pasteurized these days, scalding is essentially an unnecessary step. Another reason some recipes continue to call for scalded milk is that they simply want you to heat the milk first, as it will speed the cooking process, help melt butter, dissolve sugar more easily, etc.

A Little Boy Lives Here

First published Feb 25, 2011

I walked into the bathroom at a friend's place and had to smile at the little shoes that were lined up there by an 18 month old boy...

Tuna Surprise

First published Feb 22, 2011

Tuna Surprise

Picky eater that I am, I've always avoided tuna sandwiches.  Mixed with mayonnaise and some chopped celery tossed in, these sandwiches make a nasty habit of showing up at buffet luncheons and the like. I almost missed out on the sandwich below, as my cousin had dubbed it Tuna Surprise (which I mistakenly confused with a nasty casserole from the 60s).  It shouldn't come as a surprise that it's so yummy, given that it comes from Donna Hay "Off the Shelf", which is my go-to recipe book for simple yet tasty meals.  This sandwich also makes the perfect picnic food.  Make up the flavored tuna ingredients before leaving the house, and grab a fresh baguette on your way to the beach.  Easy and refreshing!

Ingredients
425g can of drained tuna
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp rinsed salted capers
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1/2 finely sliced red onion
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

Combine in a bowl, then spoon into baguettes (or toss through hot or cold pasta).

Sparkling Water

First published on Feb 20, 2011

I love to be mesmerized by the sun sparkling on the water.  I turned this series of Lensbaby shots into a mini movie at www.picasion.com.

White Rock Beach

First published Feb 20, 2011

I've been fortunate enough to live within five minutes of the ocean my whole life.  However, how much do we take for granted the beauty in our own neighborhood?  Sometimes we end up with more images of other places, than we do of our own backyard.  White Rock Beach is a natural beauty, which is particularly appreciated on a stunning sunny day after a long bout of ugly winter weather.

Peanut Butter Valentine

 

 

First published Feb 15, 2011

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ok... so peanut butter cookies aren't the first thing you think of when you think of Valentine's Day.  However, these tasty morsels are like a hug for your mouth... so bring on the love!
Giant Peanut-Butter-and-Jelly Thumbprint Cookies (From Anna Olson in Chatelaine)
Prep 15 min. Bake 12 min. Makes 36 cookies.

1 cup (250 mL) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (250 mL) granulated sugar
1 cup (250 mL) light brown sugar, packed
1 cup (250 mL) peanut butter
2 large eggs
2 tbsp (30 mL) sour cream
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla
3 3/4 cups (940 mL) all-purpose flour
2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder
1/2 tsp (1 mL) baking soda
1 cup (250 mL) grape jelly or strawberry or raspberry  jam

1. Preheat oven to 350F (180C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the peanut butter and beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in the sour cream and vanilla. In a separate large bowl, stir the flour with baking powder and baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the peanut-butter mixture, stirring to blend.
3. Scoop large tablespoonfuls of dough and shape into balls. Place balls at least 2 in. (5 cm) apart on each baking sheet. Indent the centre of each cookie with your thumb. Bake cookies until lightly browned for 12 to 15 min, then cool completely before filling indentations with jelly.

Note: For these cookies, I just pressed them with the back of a fork dipped in sugar.  Sometimes I’ll indent the top of the cookie, and add half a marshmallow, or a Hershey’s kiss when it comes out of the oven.

Asparagus

First published on Feb 10, 2011

Asparagus arriving at the green grocer's also heralds the arrival of spring. Parboiled, steamed, sauteed, roasted... with some butter and salt... asparagus is the perfect vegetable!

The Happy Pear

Mischief

 

 

 

First published on Feb 9, 2011

Under tables. Over chairs. Across couches. Under boxes.  Stack of blocks. Ride on musical car.  Daddy's cell phone.  What's this high on this shelf here?  Such is the life of a busy 18 month old.

My Own Photo Line

First published on Mar 6, 2011

I had seen a photo line in a magazine ad, so was inspired to make my own line from what I found in my collection of little things.  Once it was completed, I was moved by how personal it turned out to be... cards and photos with special messages, family moments and travel memories.  I used some of my favorite pink card pictures, some tiny vintage pics to fill in the spaces, as well as enlarging some travel pics and converting them to black and white.  I found cording at the fabric store, and used mini clothes pegs to attach the images to the line.

Blueberry Muffins

First published Nov 27, 2010

Here's a cute idea I read about in a magazine ad... cut 12cm x 15 cm squares out of parchment paper to line muffin tins for muffins, cupcakes, etc. I thought it looked cool... but turns out it has a practical purpose as well. My dad has Parkinson's disease, and has troubles with his fine motor skills. It's hard for him to get a grasp of the ruffled edge of store bought wrappers. With these wrappers, there's a large corner to grab to tear the wrapper off. I imagine it would be helpful for kids as well.

It's also a good trick to have up your sleeve when you're in the middle of making cupcakes and realize you are fresh out of paper baking cups. Not that that has ever happened to me, because I am so organized!

Cherry Tomato Standby

We all have a 'go-to' dish when we can't/don't want to think about dinner. My Cherry Tomato Pasta comes from Donna Hay Off the Shelf... which in itself is a great 'go-to' cookbook when you can't/don't want to think about dinner.

Ingredients
400g rigatoni or penne
60g butter
2 gloves garlic, sliced
350g cherry tomatoes
Handful of basil
Balsamic vinegar

Method
Cook pasta till al dente, then drain.
Melt butter in fry pan over medium heat. Add garlic and cherry tomatoes and cook, stirring, for 8 minutes or until tomatoes are soft and golden. Add a handful of chopped basil and toss through the hot pasta. Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar, pepper, sea salt and grated Parmesan.
See! Easy peasy, no brain required... and it's sooo yummy.

Variation 1: I'm not always in the mood for balsamic vinegar, so I'll just add extra butter. If you chop the tomatoes in two at the end of their cooking, and add the butter, you'll get a nice little sauce to toss with your pasta. Add Parmesan and sea salt on top and yum!
Variation 2: You can use larger tomatoes in this dish as well... just chop them into large chunks to start, and follow recipe as you wish.
The other thing nice thing about this dish is that you can just wing it for one person or five. Get a feel for your ingredients and give it a go!

A Good Egg

First Published on: Apr 28, 2010

Boiled Eggs
I had been cooking for a long time before I learnt how to boil an egg. Turns out, you don't actually boil the egg, but instead, place the egg in boiling water, cover and remove from the heat.

From Martha Stewart... you'll get perfect eggs every time.

Place eggs in a single layer in a saucepan, and cover with 1 inch of cold water. Bring to a boil, cover, and immediately remove from heat. Let stand approximately 1 1/2 to 2 minutes for soft-boiled, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes for medium-boiled, and 12 to 13 minutes for hard-boiled. Remove eggs from water.

Soft- and medium-boiled eggs should be served immediately in egg cups -- perfect for cracking and scooping the egg right from the shell.

Hard-boiled eggs should be removed from the pot and plunged into a bowl of ice water. This prevents the yolk from discoloring due to overcooking and facilitates peeling. Let stand for 2 minutes, then crack by gently pressing the egg against a hard surface. Peel under cold running water. Serve.

Popcorn!

Long photo shoot today, working out camera settings, light settings... finished the work off with some iPhone pics... got to keep the fun going! Happy Friday!

Rome at Night

Rome, nightfall. Last night of vacation. One digital point and shoot camera down, no chance of recovery. All rolls of film have been used, save for one last lonely roll of black and white film. Tripod; borrowed. Three subway stations, several dark alleys and plenty of map-consulting. Needless to say, I'm amazed any of the shots turned out!

Scent of Spring

It's that time of year when my mind starts playing tricks on me... the sun feels a little higher in the sky and it feels that spring is just around the corner. I was working at my desk, thinking my imagination had run away with me, as I could actually *smell* spring! I then clued in that my jasmine plant must have blossomed, as I had noticed some buds on it last night. Sure thing... there are two fragrant blooms on the plant. It may be grey and foggy outside... but spring has arrived at my window garden!

Inside Looking Out

Happy New Year... here's to the first post of the year! Here in the southwest pocket of BC, the temperature in December hovers around the 0C mark, so we spend a lot of time looking longingly out the window, waiting for spring. Or at least, I do!