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Tea Poached Fish and Oven-Braised Yam Fries

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Occupy Our Food Supply is a day of global action (today) to think about where your food comes from, who produces it and how safe it is.  The fact of the matter is that our food system has undergone a massive consolidation in the last thirty years.  A shockingly small number of corporations now hold the reigns of our food chain.

A recent article in the Huffington Post lists some sobering statistics:

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Tuesday Dooze – Walk on the Beach

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The Dooze and I go for a lot of early morning walks on the beach.  You can find us there most mornings, pretty much year ’round.  But we both agree that our favourite walks are on those special winter mornings when the sun shines clear and the water is as still as the surface of a drum.

One of the best parts of winter on Pender is that we’re often left to enjoy it on our own.  Summer has a wonderful energy — full of visitors discovering Pender for themselves –  and it’s satisfying to share our calm harbours with others.

But winter on Pender, for me, is all about luxuriating in our beautiful home, alone.  And by alone, I mean in the company of those I love.

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Top Five Friday – 5 Easy & Delicious Treats for Valentines

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I’m on a bit of a K.I.S.S. kick at the moment.  Two blogs will do that to a girl.  I’ve been spending a lot of time in front of the computer, which means less time in the kitchen…and dinners that are less than elaborate.

With that in mind, I’ve already planned our Valentine’s dinner — I’m way better off when I have a plan, aren’t you?

My plan consisted of phoning Howard at work and asking him to take me to Pender Sushi next Tuesday.  He made the reservation that very afternoon, and now my plans are complete!

Like I said, I’m way better with a plan.  The simpler, the better.

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Blueberry Frozen Yogurt on a Cold Winter’s Night

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I eat a lot of ice cream in the winter.  Don’t get me wrong…I love a soft serve on a hot August day as much as the next girl…but I seem to eat a lot more of it at this time of year for some reason.

I suspect it’s the wood stove — we rely on our cast iron fire box as our primary heat source in January and February — and the fact of the matter is that it’s a little big for our cozy living room.  Nine years of experience means we now light small, low fires that burn slow.  But at some point almost every night, we have to open the front door for a few minutes to let the heat escape.

And, since one of us is up, we may as well have a bowl of something cold to lower our core temperatures, right?

Call it medical necessity.

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Pork Scallopini with a Porcini-Gorgonzola Pan Sauce

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Actually, what you see pictured is more a schnitzel than a scallopini.  But I’m going to do something radical here, and suggest that you not do what I did.

We love a good schnitzel around here.  Pork tenderloin, chicken…I make a lot of schnitzel around here.  So I kind of went on auto-pilot here until it got time to dress it up a bit.  I’ve been working pretty hard, locked up in my office, and our meals haven’t been as elaborate as late.

As I was dredging the pork, I remembered the dried porcinis and gorgonzola in the fridge.  Immediate visions of this glorious pan sauce burned my third eye, and at that point I realized I had over-breaded.  Too much breading (and too much clean up too).

So, like I said, don’t do what I did.  A simple dip in some seasoned flour is all there is to it.

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