Easter egg salad with capers

Easter egg salad with capers Originally uploaded by yellaumbrella

I can only eat one or two Easter eggs. Ohh there is a an upside to those left over gem colored eggs. Egg salad feels even more special with specks of dye peeking out. I think so anyway. I have found that peeling the eggs in ice water seems to help them come off better. I bought a piece of crap egg slicer but it died a few months ago. Ever since I have been using a wire pastry cutter to break up the eggs. I love to add celery, green onion, spicy stone ground mustard, mayonnaise (homemade or Hellmann’s), ground pepper and salt. Melba toast adds crunch while letting the eggs sing. I like to add some capers for a briny and bright punch.

Apple Fritters

We took a chilly March weekend trip to the touristic village of St. Jacobs, Ontario. This 1.5 hour drive from Toronto is a beloved trek into agrarian times past, especially with the active Old Order Mennonite population in the area. On Saturday morning the biggest tourist pull is the Farmer's market. We browsed the jams and the sheepskin mittens ("not cheapskin" is their motto). By far the most popular stall at the whole market from early morning was that for fresh apple fritters. Before our eyes a team of teenage girls peeled, sliced, battered, fried and drenched the apple fritters in cinnamon sugar. After waiting so long in the slow line which trailed out the door into the chilly March wind, most people ordered at least a dozen crispy, decadent fritters. We chose our 2 fritters with vanilla ice cream And a generous dousing of maple syrup!

The Great Pierogi Disaster of 2008

So you might wonder why there isn’t a picture of the finished Pierogi. I was waiting to take a picture at Easter dinner. Well as I was stepping out of my car I dropped the bowl. The glass shattered and the Pierogi fell into the street. I almost cried. Thankfully I brought some to work and ate a few myself before the great pierogi disaster of 2008. Next year I will take pictures at every step. Happy Easter!

Pierogi

This year I made pierogi all by my lonesome. I was a little homesick and some how doing this labor intensive family tradition soothed me. The walk back and forth to stove to table, stove to table. The boiling pot, the rolling and filling. It all felt familiar and bittersweet. We are the forth generation of our family out of Poland but yet making the same beautiful dumplings as the generations before.

mushroom pierogi

I’m making mushroom, cheese, sauerkraut, and plum pierogi. For the mushroom filling I’m using dried morels my father picked. The morels add a woodsy note when added to the button mushrooms. I tried to get as much moisture out of the mushrooms as possible. I mash the mushroom with some potatoes and a little ricotta.

Easter eggs

Turkish egg cups Originally uploaded by yellaumbrella

Dyeing Easter eggs really makes it feel like Easter. I love the truly unnatural colors. But, I would like to dye eggs with natural colors sometime. Maybe next year I will use onion skins and beets. These beautiful Turkish egg cups are a present from my sister. And of course the best part of Easter eggs is the promise of egg salad.

egg dye

Puttu-Steamed Rice Flour Cake with Coconut

One of my favourite breakfasts from Kerala, India is puttu- especially when it is made with roasted brown rice flour and served with tiny bananas. Here you can see Jijesh's first lesson in how to make puttu (yes, I am the teacher after learning from my guru- Amma, Jijesh's mom). Jijesh is alternating putting in 1 tablespoon of defrosted, frozen coconut and the moistened roasted brown rice flour mix into the puttu tube. Then the puttu tube is steamed on top of the bottom vestal. Jijesh made a delicious cherupayar (moong dal and coconut) curry to accompany the tasty puttu and bananas.

The Bud again...

 

Did I mention they have temporary tattoos in the bathroom?

Bud Olson Bar

  Free corned beef and cabbage on dark rye with spicy mustard. I really don’t think this picture can truly tell you how delicious it was. I washed it down with a Boulevard Stout. Only on Saint Patrick’s Day.

Avial & Pineapple Pachadi

Jijesh made Murali and I avial and pineapple pachadi in celebration of Holi. Avial is one of Kerala's special dishes: a savoury coconut, spice and chili based sauce coating a long list of vegetables including carrots, yams, beans, snake gourd, peas, and drumstickss (a long fiberous vegetable shaped like a drumstick). Pineapple pachadi is a sweet and sour dish where the fruit (mango is also common) is cooked in a savoury yogurt sauce. These dishes were delicious with white rice and papadum on the side.

sweet sour tofu

sweet sour tofu
Originally uploaded by yellaumbrella

I really wanted some Chinese food but my refrigerator was full and I really didn’t want to go out to dinner. I had bought a can of pineapple on a whim and it got me thinking about sweet and sour sauce. I had never had sweet and sour tofu even in my co-op days.

I roughly followed the recipe from Eating Well. I changed up the vegetables to whatever I had on hand, added more ginger and some Sriacha. Then cut the tofu a little different, I like it in triangles more than cubes for some visual reason. The recipe is simple and can easily be adjusted to taste. I served it with some steamed broccoli and barley.

miso soup

miso soup
Originally uploaded by yellaumbrella

I have been sick and been eating tons of soup. Miso has been tasting so good to me. My relationship with miso has been rather cold since a cup of miso soup jumped out of my hand, and landed on my sisters keyboard.

But I’m sick and it’s the only thing I’m not to lazy to make. I know that diakon is traditional in miso soup so I tossed some radishes in. I liked their crunch and color.