Scenes From A (gastronomical) Canadian Winter Holiday

I've been rather unplugged the last few weeks, in the wintery wilds of Québec. My slothful existence has mostly starred red flannel snowflake pajamas, a reading chair, exquisite food and drink, late mornings, a stack of books, my mother, Tobie, his family, strong coffee, a grand piano, and a few brief appearances by friends (that means you, Liz, Lisa, and Not House!)

Other than my uninterrupted, daily rumination on what will I be when I grow up, will I ever get accepted in a Canadian residency, and how can I somehow turn lead into gold to pay next year's tuition...I threw medicine on the back burner and let other areas of my life simmer. It's been great.

Shortly after my arrival in Québec, Tobie and I swept the car off and made our way to Montréal.

When we were car-less, job-less, penny-less and living in residence 2 years ago, we'd sometimes go on imaginary dates in Canada, pretending our purple comforter was a magic blanket that would take us anywhere. We would try to outdo one another with elaborate descriptions of these dream dates. Montréal was a frequent destination when Tobie was choosing the city. We took our magic comforter to go Christmas shopping at Simon's after a crammed lunch at Schwartz's deli. Then we'd walk the dark and snowy streets looking for a quiet place to duck in for some nice wine or sugary treat. After that, it was a chilly ride back across the Atlantic.

Finally, this year we were able to live some of our magic carpet dreams. And probably shorten our lifespans a little in the process. (Apologies for the double photo posting, but until more than 10% of you look at my tumblr account, I won't feel too bad...)

I give you the lean smoked meat sandwich at Schwartz's.

 Belly up, boys! Take a moment to imagine pure deli chaos: the clink of dishware, the holler of orders, scrape of chairs, splash of fries into the oil, murmurs of 'mmm', the ring of the cash register, the smell of spiced and cured meats, salty pickles, and cherry soda. There, you have it now.

I call this photo of Tobie below, "Quintessentially Canadian".  Next to that is Perside, his sister, presenting her Jaime Oliver turkey recipe extravaganza. This was Christmas dinner, when I ate until I developed an upper right quadrant cramp. Similar to a running stitch, only this one was from eating instead.

Below is the classic 'driving home from Christmas dinner' scene. I miss being five years old, falling asleep during the ride home, having mom carrying me (while I pretended to be asleep) into the house, and being put to bed. These days it'd be an improbable feat of superhuman strength for Tobie to haul my somnolent butt out of the car, coat and all, to tuck me in.

Me proving that yoga can indeed be done in yoga jeans. Tobie reading a rag while we were waiting for our table at La Paryse. Seriously, seriously great burgers. The poppy seed bun is well worth the risk of post-meal embarrassment.

Below we are back at Schwartz's for more smoked meat love, this time with my momma-bear. She was fresh off the plane and ready for a week of gastronomical delights, including our own 'food tour' of Montréal. We all should have worn jogging suits for the trip. Not because we were jogging, but because elastic waistbands would have suited our needs a little better. Mind you, we did stand outside in -20 degree Celsius weather for over 20 mins waiting in line and shivering does burn calories. Oh yes it does. Pretty sure my lips were frozen onto my teeth in this photo.

Dinner that night at DNA. OK people, take your bucket lists out now and add, Eat At DNA in Montréal.

No, I am not getting any kickbacks for the endorsement (I wish!) I just need to convey that this was one of the most fabulous nights of dining I can remember. You need to experience this place before you die. Period.

Momma-bear had the lamb (on the left), Tobie and I had the suckling pork loin, slow cooked for 7h and then topped with salsa verde, sweet spaghetti squash, and some pureed goodness that tasted like possibly butternut squash and apple. The photos poorly represent the outstanding presentation, but it was the best I could do.

Tobie tucks in. 

The dessert was no disappointment either. 

Tobie and MB had the lime-tart (I was thinking, lime tart? What, are we eating at a hospital cafeteria in the 1950's??) But the joke was on me because the lime tart should have been called, 11 Minutes of Uninterrupted Eating Bliss involving light and (quite) sharp lime, tempered with soft, fluffy whipped cream, and a crust that would make most pastry chefs weep.

The New York cheesecake was no slouch, topped with their house-made rhubarb jam and a wafer of almond and caramel. And by no slouch I mean that it was the 'Goldilocks and Three Bears' of cheesecake--not too heavy, not too light, not too cheesy, not too bland. Juuuuuuuust right.

Not only was the food brilliant, the decor was very chic in an unpretentious way, as were the house staff. They cure their own meats in the basement and sell house-made pickles, jams, chutneys. All ingredients are locally sourced and seasonal. WIN!

After dinner we cabbed our way over to Pullman wine bar and took in the people watching, deliciously fermented grapes, and their funky atmosphere which included a chandelier of inverted glasses.

Then we returned to the hotel, drank some water, and went to bed.

Just so you don't think we're food snobs, I'd like to direct your attention to the place-setting at the restaurant where we ate dinner the following evening. Let's just also mention that the walls were wood paneled, the waitress was passive-aggressive, no, just straight-up aggressive, and all meals came with white buns and gravy. 'Nuff said.

This is what happens when Tobie chooses the restaurant.

New Year's Eve heralded the invention of a new cocktail (see my recipe posted here), more homemade gourmet feasting (courtesy of Tobie's phenomenal sister), watching fireworks from the living room window, and drinking herbal tea while discussing novels with my mother. It was all very serene. 

Speaking of serene have you ever seen how pretty a preserved hibiscus flower is when it is sitting in a little puddle of gin?  Feast your eyes.

Also, when was the last time you had a drink mixed for you by a blogger in a solar system blouse? Too long ago I bet, too long ago.

And so, another year came to a close. The last few days of my holiday were spent trying to fit into my clothes, packing, and saying goodbye to my near and dear ones. I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to unwind a little. I know this will be the last long Christmas holiday that I will have for years, which is why only a small dose of daily guilt for my slovenly and sub-academic behavior crept into my awareness.

I'm hoping that 2012 will bring new recipes and races, great reads, light westerly winds, mentorship, adventure, and a few surprises...good surprises. And of course the answer to some of my questions...

Here's to you, 2012, whatever you will be.

Cheers!

Where Am I Going Again?

As I mentioned on twitter this afternoon, when I pack I am sort of like a dog circling a spot before lying down. Only my ritual seems to involve spinning around for hours. Packing has the tendency to flare up an attention deficit problem and I find myself vacuuming, baking, cleaning my hard drive, flossing, and online shopping while stuffing random articles into my suitcases.

This trip home is exciting and a little unsettling at the same time. I haven't been back to Canada for Christmas since 2008 so naturally I am looking forward to watching some crisp moonlight snowfalls with the Nana Mouskouri Christmas album playing in the background. I can't wait to see my mom, Tobie, his family, my good friend Liz...the Arab grocery store in Montréal that I love.

The unsettling part is that I don't know how long I am going for, and where I'll be for January. It is a little difficult to pack when you don't know if you'll be spending a month in Arizona or Nunavut, a GP office or an O.R. We're talking a lot of variety here. Heels? Hikers? Nylons? Blouses? Scrubs? Sneaks? Not to mention which books I'd bring based on the place / rotation. I am still trying to arrange something but my most recent lead is looking unlikely now as well. I found out this week that I also didn't get any electives at the University of Ottawa for the summer. Have I mentioned that I am tired of feeling like a medical pariah an outcast? Is this blog post turning into a pity party? Maybe...

So now, instead of coming back to Ireland at the end of January it looks like I might be flying straight back after New Years. Sigh. I just want an opportunity to learn, and to get some hands-on experience.  It is really disheartening to constantly feel doors close in my face when I am working hard and putting myself out there. It is true that at every turn medicine asks, how badly do you want this??

OK. That is enough whining. 


On a happier note...the ginger cake that I made today turned out beautifully. I may be turning a corner in this whole baking thing. Yes, yesterday my kitchen did look like I'd had a seizure in it while holding a bag of baking soda and I probably ate 4000 calories of "broken" brownies oh I can't bring the broken ones to the Christmas party...but with each event the baking part gets a little easier and the results get a little more edible. Maybe I should try to get an elective at a pasty school...hmmm...

Last Day

Tomorrow is my last day in the hospital. I cannot believe that I am halfway done third year already.

Does life always move this fast? Everyone said it would, but I didn't believe them.

I am really going to miss the hospital. I've only just figured out the best shortcuts through the wards, the codes to all the change rooms, where the best coffee is served, the names of the nurses, the passwords for the diagnostic reports, lab results. Not to mention I'll miss some of the lovely working relationships I've made and friendships that have formed.

Now I will be in GP land until May. A new set of people, codes, computer systems. Another adventure.

I was hoping to go to Dalhousie for a 3 week elective in January, but unfortunately it fell through just recently. Now I am trying to figure out what I should do with that time. I need as many weeks of electives back in North America as I can get. So many schools don't even take international students, and the ones that do want you to apply 9 months in advance. I don't know where or what I am going to do now. (And no, a holiday isn't an option. With international medical graduates the competition is so fierce I am going to have to basically invent my own specialty and write a textbook on it by next fall if I want to study in Canada once I graduate!)

I shouldn't be thinking of all this now, it is so late, and I'll never sleep. Reflecting instead on the past 18 weeks...

Have you learned the lessons only of those who admired you, and were tender with you, and stood aside for you? Have you not learned great lessons from those who braced themselves against you, and disputed passage with you?
 

-Walt Whitman

Indeed, Mr. Whitman, some great lessons...

Little Things, Like Spicy Pickled Eggplant

"I'm Paul Kennedy, and this...is Ideas"

Because sometimes it really is a collection of little things that make me oh so happy.

And I Shall Call It: Margaret's Game

So last week I hosted a birthday dinner for my friend Eileen. Tobie told me I had to change things up and not cook anything Asian for once (wha?? But I love CILANTRO!!! All meals MUST contain CILANTRO!!!)

He advised a traditional turkey dinner instead.

Pfft.

Easy for him to suggest since I was the one cooking. Anyway the turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, roasted carrots/parsnips, Whitewater salad, salmon and horseradish-crème-fraiche toasties, triple berry bread pudding...all happened. Yeah, because nothing says "Summer" like a roasted turkey dinner. And yes, that is a French press with gravy in it, plastic cutlery, and coffee cups being used for wine glasses. Eat your heart out Martha Stewart.

Dinner was pretty good and Tobie actually helped out quite a lot in the gravy and mashed potato department. More proof that he's a keeper.

After dinner we played a game. G'head and roll your eyes but it's quite entertaining. So I will pass on the instructions to all of you for your next social gathering (and no, you are not too cool to have fun playing this).

1) Get everyone in the room to write down on 2 scraps of paper a word, collections of words, or saying. That is, each person makes 2 contributions. It can be anything from nonsense to novels. Some of our (less offensive) examples included:

-sarcoidosis
-waving daffodils
-candle wax dripping
-PBL
-spider babies
-doodad
-big and juicy
-everything you ever wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask

2) Put all the scraps of paper in a bowl

3) Make 2 teams (we naturally did girls against boys)

4) Start the timer at 2 mins, the first team tries to get through as many of the papers as possible before the time runs out. In this first round you can do or say anything you want (other than the actual words) to convey the clue, i.e. if your clue was "spider babies" you could say, "arachnid children".

Lise, in quiet contemplation.

 5) When timer runs out then it is the other teams turn. They go through what is left of the clues (if any). Each team tallies up how many papers they successfully got in the first round. All clues go back into the pot and round 2 starts.

6) Round 2 starts with team who didn't start first round. Now this time it is like charades, you can do any movements you want but can't speak, at all. Go through as many clues as you can in the 2 mins, next team gets remainder.

Big and juicy?? Did I mention he wants to be the plastic surgeon?

 7) Round 3 now you can not use your hands, just body. Same rules as above.

8) Final round you can only use your eyes.

Waving daffodils?? Spider babies???

It was fixed, I tell ya, fixed.

So you add up all the points from each round. Or alternatively you can just keep track of who won each round. But some people like a pack of overly competitive medical students enjoy having a breakdown of individual points for each success.

I don't think we need to get into who won (by only TWO points) it is more important to say that a great time was had by all. 

Even Margs and I had a good time, despite being unable to look at the camera.

I think from here on in, this activity will be (cleverly) called, Margaret's Game. It was, in fact, the lovely Margaret that introduced us to it last year on a bus to Killarney and again got it going after the birthday dinner. 

Not only is it hilariously fun, it is also a fairly good way of ensuring that the evening will not spiral into a long, dragged out discussion on some random medical topic which completely alienates all the non-meddies around.

Ask...

Last night we had some friends over for dinner. The subject of food came up and Kevin there were foods that I missed from Canada which were hard to find here. 

I didn't have to ponder that question at all.  I started describing this type of chili garlic sauce which I have an addiction to. Seriously, I put it on (and in) everything from eggs, sandwiches, soups, salad dressings, stir-frys...oh it is divine. In the past year and a half I have combed through deli's, farmer's markets, grocery stores, Asian corner shops, giant Tesco's...all to no avail.

So today my doorbell rings and Lise, Ryan's girlfriend who arrived on Saturday from Montreal, presents me with...wait for it...

My precious.

Awwwww yeahhhhhhhhhhh.

She also came with real Montreal bagels for Tobie, but no smoked meat sandwich (his other request). Thanks Lise!!!

Life is good.

Now if someone would just turn up with a crate of GoLean Kashi cereal I'd be sorted.

Better Late

I sort of dropped the ball on Valentine's Day this year. Tobie had planned to get me a massage as a gift (wicked!) but then I fell in love with this scarf in Galway. And I was given the option to choose.

Chose scarf.

I couldn't find anything for him and I didn't want to buy something just for the sake of buying it.

So I cooked him a Valentine's Day dinner. But like most important meals I make, it was chaos on wheels. I had to go to four different stores to find everything. Buckwheat flour? Ceramic ramekins? What? Oh, and about 2 hours to do the shopping and cooking. I almost always try new things when I am under the gun. No idea why.

Thankfully I had some of the more exotic things on hand (well, exotic by some Irish standards). See I knew those vanilla pods, dried mustard, and bakers chocolate from AVOCA would come in handy some day! Mwahahahahahah!

Initial chaos. Bad idea to try 3 new recipes at once? Um. Yeah. And yes that is a washing machine in my kitchen. Welcome to Ireland.

So these were the appetizers--buckwheat and cheddar blinis with smoked salmon. The recipe is here. Possibly the finest achievement of the night was that MY version actually looked BETTER than the Food and Wine magazine photo! That was definitely a first. Seriously, go look at their recipe. The below photo is mine. Also, I used mascarpone cream mixed with lemon juice, lemon zest, and snipped chives instead of sour cream (as the recipe called for).

The main course was supposed to be this scallops with brussel sprouts dish. But for the life of me I couldn't get my hands on fresh scallops. Of course, the one day I am looking for them, nary a scallop is to be found.

So after much angst and gnashing of teeth, I decided to substitute smoked coley for the scallops in the recipe. And HELLO NURSE! It was actually quite nice, the smoked flavor went well with the pancetta. Not to mention the starving student budget points for saving money on le cheap fish instead of les scallope!

  Oh I should mention, Food and Wine kindy offers wine pairing suggestions. Conveniently I was doing a creamy, fishy appy and main (which probably goes against all the laws of 'treating your arteries right') so one wine cut it. I bought a mid-ranged Cabernet Sauvingon Blanc. I grabbed blind though because my white wine knowledge is even more limited than my red.  It was probably something that had a 'hand selected by SuperQuinn' sticker and '10% off' label on it. But, I have to say, the magazine's grape suggestion was bang on. The crispiness cut the cream and didn't bring out the fishiness.  So good work there Food and Wine magazine on the wine pairings! Do not quit your day jobs.

Dessert was a bit of an adventure as well.  I managed to find these ridiculously cute ramekins on sale. They even came with little lids. God I am a sucker for little lids, it must be a throwback from my early Easy Bake Oven days or something. 

I am a terrible/hopeless/pathetic baker so it is always a gamble when I get on the other end of a measuring spoon. But! My desserts turned out looking like some kinda fancy-schmancy little pots of heaven when I took them out of the oven! (Pictured above). And then I covered them with dessert-wine-soaked cherries and vanilla mascarpone cream--and made them wickedly evil.

A little HDL never killed anyone, right?

So despite the fact that the molten cakes weren't quite as molten as I'd like, and that my timing was a bit off (was whipping the cream while serving the main course, as evidenced by the flecks of mascarpone all over my microwave and backsplash). Tobie was a happy man. And I think I have regained both my sanity and my title as 'best girlfriend evah'.

Tobie was happy. I was happy. Lesson learned. 

Even though I should have been memorizing what antibodies are specific to systemic lupus erythematosus and drawing out the pathways of auto-immunity...I made buckwheat blini.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the gravity of SLE and the importance of keeping up with school work. But you know, sometimes you just gotta make buckwheat blini.

Spicy-Boyfriend-Is-Away Burgers

Tobie is, a bit of a picky* and somewhat regimented eater. For example, he'd never cook burgers if we didn't have green lettuce to put on them.

Tobie's Law--all burgers must have one or two crisp slices of lettuce on them or they shall be deemed inedible.

He thinks chicken on pizza is an abomination, won't eat any meat unless it is cooked to hell (I told him what chefs think of people who order steak 'well done'), he hardly touches left overs, and is lukewarm toward Mexican food.

I, on the other hand; love things bloody/nearly raw, hate to throw out food, could happily survive on Mexican food alone, have fairly loose rules on what foods ought to be eaten together, and think chicken on pizza is a nice way of getting lean protein into a meal.

Yet, we somehow make it work. 

But ground turkey is a major point of contention between us. I LOVE cooking with ground turkey. I used to make shepherds pie, burgers, meatballs, lasagna, chile--all with ground turkey.

Tobie loathes it. To the point where he practically gags when he tries it.

So I am back at the homestead alone now for a week while Tobie and his family cavort in Dublin. I had to stock up on groceries (I have a car for another 2 weeks until Terrence gets back and reclaims it) so naturally I bought some ground turkey breast because Tobie wasn't there to stop me!

[Cue maniacal laughter.]

Anyway, I frittered around with it and came up with this killer (IMHO) recipe. Enjoy!

        Spicy-Boyfriend-Is-Away Burgers
-1 egg

-

-3 inch piece of dried chorizo sausage, peeled and finely diced
-handful of bread crumbs (if you are making your own dice them very small, or grate frozen bread)
-2 tbsp chipotle chile flakes (or one med. sized chipotle chile in adobo sauce)
-1 tbsp chile paste (or dried chile flakes/tsp cayenne)
-1 tbsp garlic powder
-1 tbsp chile powder
-salt and pepper
-2 green onions, diced

Mix everything up, form into patties, cook on heated/oiled pan or in the oven until salmonella/E.coli risk free!

I ate mine with pita bread, radicchio, salsa, purple onion and a bit of mayo. It was pretty damn delicious. Also, I wasn't really measuring things so all of that is a rough estimation. If you're worried about spice level then put in 1/2 the spices and fry up a spoonful to test it. I like a pretty strong kick.

--
*He is definitely going to disagree with me that he is a "picky eater" if he reads this post. Sorry Tob, I calls them as I sees them!

The Only Accurate Thing About Grey's Anatomy

I used to watch Grey's about 3 years ago when I had gone back to do my pre-req courses for medical school. I'd spend a lot of time yelling at the screen when seriously inaccurate events were depicted (several times per episode) but yet I couldn't tear my eyes away. Yes, it was my television version of a train wreck.

The only thing they got right was the baking. Izzie used to bake when she was stressed and for me, that is bang on. Only I rarely bake, I cook.

action shot

Hence yesterday being rather therapeutic.

It was Ryan's birthday on Thursday so I offered him a birthday dinner as his present from me. I love cooking for people anyway, so it's like a double-edged gift sword of goodness (poor mixed metaphor? Whatever, I like it).

So out of the menu options he chose Hearty Wine and Beef Stew with Dumplings, I deviated slightly from the recipe because I loathe parsley, so the dumplings had green onion and basil in them instead. There was garlic bread and home made ceasar salad to start, and for dessert this berry custard and ginger cookie bowl of yumminess. And, naturally some mulled wine--hey, it is almost December. We have a farmers market here on campus I was able to get all organic veggies and even local organic meat (a.k.a happy meat) for a decent price.

Since I started making the stew at 1400h, it was great to study and breathe in the aromatherapy all afternoon. Somehow the different types of collagen and epithelial adhesion mechanisms just weren't that hard to bear.

By the time dinner was on the table I had been able to shake off the horrible feeling that had been churning my stomach all week. This was also in part due to the comments and emails of encouragement from the blogosphere---thank you! I definitely needed that pick-me-up.

School is hard, and most days yes, all encompassing. But somehow when there are people around that you love, delicious stew on the table, and mulled wine in your glass, life seems more than ok.

Caught with a mouthful of Ceasar. 

Bloggers Block

I realize that there has been a dearth of meaty content lately on the blog. Mostly photos of my surroundings and anecdotes showcasing me losing my grip on rational thought.

I have to say though that lately all I feel like writing about is how bogged down I feel with school and how completely overwhelmed I feel most days.

So I start to write. Then read it. Stop. Throw it into the trash.

*She drums fingertips on keyboard.*

Things that are currently annoying me:

-mouth ulcer (the inevitable red flag of rising stress levels)

-the fact that the International office ticked the wrong box and said that I was in a "correspondance program" on my loan application for Canada, thus resulting in me not qualifying for the $15000 loan I received last year...a fact that only came to my attention when I noticed that it was about the time when my disbursement notice should be showing up (6 weeks after submitting forms) and it still hadn't arrived. I called the loans people in Canada to find this out: cue more paperwork, more waiting, re-processing, re-mailing, re-faxing. Hopefully I will still a) qualify for the loan and b) receive said loan before Spring....Inshallah

-neuro knowledge from last year is apparently no longer in lodged in my CNS

-zero motivation for weights/gym x1 week, not aided by the fact that my shuffle ear-buds died resulting in me having to listen to a smattering of Glenn Gould, David Grey, Brian Eno, Bill Frisell, and the Baraka soundtrack during my last workout. Granted, all brilliant songs/artists/albums, but not so brilliant when you are trying to crank a hill on a treadmill!!!

-boyfriend? Who is that? You mean the person I never get to spend any time with that lives in my home with me?

Things that are currently pleasing me:

-my squirrel-like behaviour last week resulted in many frozen meals ranging from beef and Guinness stew, to seafood paella à la-student-who-is-missing-most-vital-ingredients-including-saffron-and-rabbit, to red lentil curry. This means easy-happy-healthy meals all around. Yay for procrastination cooking!

-the school is paying for 2 of our consultant lecturers to teach a kaplan USMLE prep course. It starts in November and will be one three hour session every week, as well as free access to the q-banks, two full length mock exams, videos, prep books, a diagnostic exam, etc. This pleases me greatly as I was just about to invest in a bunch of study materials which I will now get FREEEEEEEE. Well, possibly "included" in my 38500 Euro/year tuition. Ahem.

look into my eyes...you WILL learn
about ligand-gated channels

-which brings me to this guy...Dr. Conrad Fisher. I've spent the last few days watching the kaplan videos for physiology and he's the instructor. Ok I will admit he is completely over the top but HEY! he's the first person to make action potentials make sense in my pea-brain...and he quotes poets like Walt Whitman and Rumi randomly throughout the lectures. You can't fault a guy who fits in poetry between shouting about calcium channels, you just can't.

-Tobie and I celebrated our anniversary on Saturday. We met on Thanksgiving (CDN) last year, but our first big official date was on the Saturday after. Our first date was epic and grand in every way. He picked me up at 10am and we spent the day in town, checking out the bookstore, some shoe shops, Irish pub...then we went to a great Indian restaurant which we closed down around 2300h, and tea at my house after.

All told, it was a 14h first date of loveliness. So naturally we decided to retrace some of our steps for the one year later version. This year Tobie actually walked about 4kms to the nearest florist to bring me a bouquet of white flowers. Lovely, and cute that he dressed up to give them to me when I got home from school Friday afternoon.

Greens and herbs from "the Herbman" as we like to call him.
I know, not overly original or lacking in euphemistic overtones.

Saturday afternoon was the usual farmers market adventure. 

Sigh. The farmers market. Really, the best part of my week, every week. 

We returned to the scene of the original date and had a most delightful meal--our first night out in fact since I returned to Ireland in August! (Is that pathetic or admirable, can't tell). 

-This weekend I am doing a shadowing shift with the EMS crew out of the big hospital in the Mid-West. I am going back and forth between being intrigued about how the night might unfold and being annoyed that I signed up. I am doing it more for archeological/sociological purposes than medical ones really. 

I just pray to the emergency medicine gods that it is not a slow night otherwise it is going to be a hella long 12h shift with two Irish dudes I've never met before. 

A New Low?

So now not only do I buy wine* only if it is in the "2 for 1 special" section at Tesco.

Tobie busted me buying chicken breasts** at the convenience store today.

I told him it wasn't so bad.

When I was in University (round 1) 10 years ago my best friend Keith and I used to use the FasGas card that his parents gave him to stock up on Michelenas tv dinners, the odd scratch 'n' win, and probably a pack or two of Craven A's.

Shopping at a gas station using a credit card that is only supposed to be used to buy GAS is lower than buying chicken at the Res convenience store, right? Right?

This whole student thing is really only for the early twenties. 

*Ok, so I lied in my bio. I only stay hella away from really cheap red wine.

**I normally buy free-range chook from the local farmer who comes to our Farmers Market every Tuesday so relax people.

Food!

This Easter things were a little non-traditional.

Tobie and I were getting over our colds and were a little sad at how our holiday didn't pan out as we'd hoped. To cheer myself up I went to the Farmers Market on Saturday and decided to make a fun non-traditional Easter feast.  The market here makes me happy and definitely feeds my soul in a landscape which mostly consists of the uninspiring confines of my study bunker.  If you are not a foodie this post is bound to be boring drivel. My apologies!

I call this one: 

Yummy market and Tesco Bounty

or Life is Better When You Have a Car

First is the pizza dough thanks to Jaime Oliver's Recipe.

If I can make it, anyone can. This is my fun fig pizza which I haven't made since Nature Nerd's wedding! You have to start by making the dough and letting it rise. While the dough is rising...

Slice several onions into slim rings and throw into a heavy pot with a slab of butter and a drizzle of olive oil.

Then add a few heaping tablespoons of brown sugar and several gluggs of balsamic vinegar. Stir and let the onions reduce into a pulpy mess of deliciousness. The longer they cook the better. I usually set aside at least an hour. Tweak the balsamic and sugar to taste.

While the onions are cooking...Trim the heads off a few bulbs of garlic, drizzle with olive oil and pop in the oven. They usually take about 25-30 mins at approximately 300-350 degrees F.

After the garlic is roasted (yes I did *slightly* overdo mine above) then mix into the onion jam of goodness and stir about. Roll out your pizza and spread the mix onto the dough.

I then cut up a few handfuls of figs and put them on top. Tear a few large strips of prosciutto and add to the mix. Finally put some nice big slices of Cambozola cheese (hey, I never said it was a *healthy* pizza) and a dusting of Parmesan. Bake until it looks golden and delicious.

I like to throw a handful of arugula on top at the end.

Then I made a nice salad with fresh greens and beautiful cherry tomatoes, arugula, walnuts, and a tangy balsamic reduction sauce. Balsamic reduction is cheap to buy and tastes exactly the same as what you will slave over for ages to produce. I am no purist when it comes to some store bought condiments which make my life easier.

Voila!

For dessert there was a rhubarb, walnut, prune and apple crumble. I wish there was some way to bottle up all the lovely aromas in the kitchen. And it worked! All that cooking made me forget that we were far away from our friends and families for the holidays.

Yum!

Happy Easter everyone!