Spicy Cauliflower and Peanut Soup

 

This isn't a recipe, it's the realisation of an idea.
When I worked at the Stock Market, one of my favourite soups was a spicy cauliflower and peanut with cilantro.
I found a huge(really, its the size of three heads) head of cauliflower in the 1$ bin on Granville Island, it was a cool fall day, so I decided to give it a shot.
I started by throwing 2 cloves of garlic and couple of cups of cauliflower florets in a pot with a tough of water. I steamed it until the cauliflower was tender, then threw it in the food processor with some milk, water, salt and pepper, peanut butter and sambal. Once the soup was smooth, I adjusted peanut butter and sambal levels, thinned it a little more and reheated it. Right at the end, I threw a generous handful of finely chopped cilantro.
The result? a huge success. Warm, rich, spicy and very satisfying.

A tale of two films

The Vancouver International Film Festival ran for the last couple of weeks and I was fortunately able to take in several movies. Two that I chose ended up being interesting complements to each other. I promise, this is about food...













The first was HomeGrown, an interesting look at an american family and their attempts to live off the land. Check out the details here and their own website here.
The second was eatrip, a Japanese documentary looking at people's relationship to food. A trailer here, but no subtitles, and a summary here.
HomeGrown was a fascinating look at what can be accomplished if you just but your mind (and back) to it. An inspiring film, I was ready to leap up out of my seat and run home and plant things...
Eatrip was a visual love letter to food. Every person interviewed was passionate about eating and all for different reasons. My favourite was a 90 year old priest who said
"We eat 3 times a day. I have eaten three times a day for 90 years and I am still not sick of it." All the interviews were interspersed with beautiful footage of cooking, stark photos of food and the places it comes from.
One of the interviewees was a homemaker from Okinawa, a woman who raised her two children on a homestead, growing all their own food, not using a refrigerator, living the simple life. As I watched her speak with joy about eating the seasons, enjoying what her garden gave to her, I was reminded of the Dervaes family (HomeGrown) gently complaining about eating the same thing day in and day out when it was in season...
I would reccommend both of these movies to anyone who cares about food and where it comes form, as well as the impact that we have on our planet.

SF Notes: Dotties True Blue Cafe

Yes, I realise I have been home from San Francisco for 3 months. But I can pretend that it hasn't been that long by looking through my trip pictures and notes. Its like I was there only yesterday..
I ate at Dotties with a friend. It was her choice, I was just along for the ride and what a ride it was! We waited in line for aprox 30-40 minutes (I didn't mind, I was on vacation) and ended up with seats at the counter. Which meant we were about 4 feet from the griddle. The daily specials all looked fabulous, but I settled on housemade pork sausage scramble with jalapeno cornbread toast and hash browns. Lisa ordered eggs with black bean cakes and toast and we also tried a blueberry pancake. Everything was delicious, but the standouts were the cornbread and Lisa's black bean cakes.
Would I go back again? Absolutely... but if I lived in San Francisco, I probably wouldn't bother to wait in line for breakfast that long....

English Style Breakfast

English style breakfasts are usually found in B&BS. This isn't everyday fare, this is I don't plan on eating for 8hrs kind of breakfasts. I posted about the one that we enjoyed on our recent trip to England.
Today, disheartened by the sad offerings of our farmer's market, I was wandering around Granville Island trying to decide what to make Rob and I for breakfast. I bought a few Pine mushrooms on a whim and that is when I decided to go full english. With a Linda twist of course..

Free range eggs sunny side up, Gammon bacon from Oyama Sausage, homemade baked Rancho Gordo beans, fried heirloom tomato from my garden and sauteed pine mushrooms. The kind of breakfast I would serve in my fantasy B&B.

Not food: art

Look at that, another 2 months with no blog post... I still cook, really I do! I just don't feel like writing about it all the time...

Today, I swung by the One of a Kind Show at the convention center. Its on till Sunday and full of, well, one of a kind things.
I stopped by the Hob Snobs booth and picked up 3 adorable cards by The Beautiful Project. I was also eyeing the laptop bags by Track and Field and was thrilled to hear that she makes netbook bags as well. I will be picking one of those up when I have a chance to make it to Cambie and 13th.



After that, I was drawn to the Luved Clothing booth, where I ended up purchasing the wrap hoodie (left) in a dark green. So warm cozy and comfortable. I decided after that I was cut off from purchasing, but that didn't stop me from ogling all the other wonderful objects/jewellery/art/fashion.
Check it out!