FREE TIME & COOKING
One of the best parts of looking for a job at the moment is having a couple spare moments to go grocery shopping and cook meals. I generally cook quite frequently, but the free time is allowing me to be a bit more creative with my meals. Despite being so busy lately that I haven’t even had a chance to sit down for longer than a couple minutes, I find myself always trying to at least make time to cook a nice dinner from scratch. I generally don’t make anything too fancy. My motto is quick to make, simple and tasty!
And always using fresh local organic ingredients.
Above is the Panko and Pecan Encrusted Halibut I made last night. The crust has olive oil seasoned with ginger and green onions, a little chopped habanero pepper in the crust, and it is topped with fresh tomatoes over a bed of garlic ginger broccoli and served with yukon gold nugget potatoes. On a side note, the halibut was previously frozen but it is actually the halibut we caught when we went deep sea fishing in Tofino last summer.
Here’s what I call “The Meat Lovers Kitchen Sink“. This is definitely Allan’s favourite. It features 3 kinds of organic meats: bacon, pancetta, and chorizo sausage. The sauce is a homemade spicy tomato sauce and there’s a number of vegetables in there, including zucchini and peppers. The noodle there is a fresh tagliatelle pasta from Granville Island.
Here is my Tandoori Chicken with Green Curry Vegetables. I always try to find a way to make sure there is a large serving of vegetables with every meal, and curry sauce is one of the best ways to include them! The Tandoori Chicken is marinated and basted with coconut milk, lime juice, garlic, cumin, coriander, pepper, saffron and an indian blend of chilis and spices.
This is called “Heart Attack on a Plate“. Yummy big fresh pappardelle noodles served in an alfredo sauce made with heavy cream, parmigiano reggiano, and green onions. Mixed with my favourite of course… LOTS of double smoked bacon, and some spinach, mushrooms, and asparagas.
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On a non-food note, I’ve been enjoying Twitter very much lately. Just to clarify, I’m not planning on using this account for work purposes or anything, it’s just a life feed from yours truly when I’m in between blogging.
http://twitter.com/VancityAllie
I’ll be posting photos/videos from the trip this past weekend to Sun Peaks. Also, this coming weekend I’ll be doing a little Valentine’s stint in Victoria and then up to Courtenay for the snowboarding trip to Mount Washington every year with Allan’s friends.
Tags: bacon, chorizo, cooking, dinner, Granville Island, green curry, Halibut, pancetta, panko, pappardelle, tagliatelle, tandoori, Twitter




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February 10th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
ah dangit, I need to to figure out what to cook for dinner tonight.
February 10th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Hey I just came across your blog and saw that you switched from Fido to rogers in order to get your curve. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Fido came out with blackberry now so you could have gotten a Blackberry unlocked and still use your fido service. On top of that…fido is going to come out with the flip and curve soon. You have 15 days refund/exchange policy…see if you wanna do anything to come back to fido. It’s just a suggestion since im a fido rep
February 12th, 2009 at 6:28 am
Do you mind if I ask if you make your own Alfredo Sauce, and if you do, the recipe? Mine is quite basic and I’d like to branch out – I just use Whipping Cream, Flour, a pinch or two of garlic and pepper, and Parmesan..
February 16th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
If you want some really sweet recipe’s…check out
http://saveur.com
Best site for some really creative and just plain good food.
Cheers!
February 19th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Herbert, just pick a favourite food and create something new!
Kitty, thanks for stopping by. Thanks for the advice!
Chris, my recipe is pretty much the same. I always start by melting quite a bit of butter (helps with the thickening)… and then saute garlic and sometimes shallots… then I add whipping cream, bring it to a boil… then simmer… then I add shaved Parmigiano Reggiano (makes all the difference instead of store-bought pre grated etc)… and then I keep stirring for several minutes until it starts to thicken. I don’t use any flour (I don’t like how it makes the sauce taste)… and yes, top with freshly ground pepper, salt, and some parsely or chopped green onion. Yum!
Jedly, cool site, never seen that before. Looks like I’ll be frequenting it now