Eating the Web: Culinary To-do List

In honor of the great website - punkdomestics - and of me getting over my anxieties and contributing the following links were all discovered via punkdomestics.

1. Kimchi. I've been making kraut for years and the principle of kimchi is the same. I love the story that accompanied this recipe.

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 2. I have all of Sandor Ellix Katz's books and tried to make a ginger bug with non-organic ginger a few years ago. Here's to organic success!

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3. I've been brewing up a lot of kombucha in recent months but this Mexican Hot Chocolate Flavored Kombucha sounds crazy!

 

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Check out my punk domestics profile! 

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Thoughts: Conquering Culinary Anxiety

My to-do list of culinary goals is far longer than my list of kitchen related accomplishments. On one hand this may be a good thing - as I will continue to learn and be challenged in the kitchen but on the other hand I may just be too scared to accomplish certain things. 

I have wanted to start a underground kitchen for many years. People like Urban Acorn, Vegan Secret Supper Club, and Apiecolpyse Now inspire me but I continue to remain too scared to try.

Other things I have culinary anxiety about include:
- toasters (they literally scare me every time I use one)
- broilers (controlled burn anyone?)
- using my oven over 400 degrees (I think it will blow up)

But I'm not scared of everything. 
I can deep fry with the best of them - sans deep fryer. I use a deep skillet. 
I make marshmallows on a whim as I love seeing the boiling sugar be whipped into pillows.  
I jumped into brewing Kombucha with both feet!
  
The thing is that one person's culinary anxieties are another person's joy. If you have read about someone doing the thing you are scared of then you can do it too! You just have to jump in!

What do you have culinary anxiety about?

How do you get over it?  

       

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Watermelon Rind Pickles

Well... I didn't accomplish very many of my 2013 Food Resolutions. Oh well! I did manage to make some watermelon rind pickles this summer. I cannot find the recipe I used anymore but I do remember that there was a bowl of watermelon rinds in vinegar in my fridge for close to three days. 

The pickles themselves are interesting. They are very tart with a background of sweet. I would make them again because I like the waste reducing aspect of this pickle. I think they would go nicely on a sandwich or on a plate of pickles/chutneys.  

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Review: Toronto Tool Library (and my composter project)

On Saturday I headed to the Toronto Tool Library where for $50 bucks a year you can 'take out' any number of tools from hammers to welders to work on any type of project you desire! I love collaborative consumption organizations so we bought a membership the first weekend the library was open. This was my first project using tools borrowed from the library and having the right tool for the job is makes creating so much more enjoyable. 

I borrowed a drill and drill bits from the Tool Library on Saturday and returned them on Sunday. This project - a container composter - has been on my to-do list since I made my Garden Goals post. I bought a five gallon pail and a pot large enough for the container to fit inside. Using my Tool Library drill I quickly and efficiently drilled holes in the pail.  

Then I placed the pail inside the pot and filled in the difference with potting soil. 

Now all I have to do is throw in kitchen scraps along with 'browns' (I'm using paper) and give it a good stir. If all goes well it will soon be soil!

The Toronto Seed Library has a table set up at the Tool Library so I grabbed some free Nasturtium seeds, which are now planted around my container composter!

The Toronto Tool Library is a great organization! The yearly membership does not allow universal use of the library but the tool collection is wide (and growing all the time) and the staff/volunteers are friendly (they all laughed at my drilling jokes). I recommend them for all those projects you want to do (or as a place to donate your extra tools to!). 

We'll see how my composter does... 

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Planning: More Culinary Goals

I'm continually adding things to my Culinary Goals. Recently I've added:  

1. Villi - Read about this in 'Art of Fermentation' by Sandor Ellix Katz then saw the post and corresponding podcast on the subject.   

2. Old Water - I find this concept intriguing. Heard about it a few years ago (2008 maybe) and it's been on my mind ever since. Here is a nice blog post that explains the concept.   

3. Kefir - Since getting into Kombucha brewing I'm interested in the idea of Kefir. 

4. Homemade Vinegar

5. And finally something not fermented, Black Pepper Tofu!

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Review: Harvest Noon's ChocoSol Workshop

Over reading week, Harvest Noon held a series of workshops in conjunction with ChocoSol. I attended the second event entitled, ChocoSol Workshop Series II: Cacao, Coffee, and Commerce. The ChocoSol employee and presenter was very knowledgable about cacao and coffee as he was a biology student. It was fun to see him geek out about some of the specifics of the plants. For example, he told us that the cacao pods grow directly on the main trunk of the tree, a feature known as cauliflory.

He was an articulate and knowledgeable speaker but it was difficult to pay close attention to his speech as he was constantly passing out samples and working on preparing a crude cocao drinking chocolate. 

Exhibit A: First the cocoa beans were roasted. 

 

Exhibit B: Once roasted it is easy to separate the the bean from the chaff (pictured in the two bowls in the foreground). The beans are then ground in a warm mortar and pestle. 

Exhibit C: The ground cacao is then mixed with hot water in a jug and agitated with the wooden 'whisk' seen below.

    

Exhibit D: The finished product and some of ChocoSol's products.

 

The finished product was wonderful and the process is simple so I've added 'Make drinking chocolate from Cacao beans' to my culinary to-do list! 

 

Things I learnt (but probably should have known) about cacao:

- There are many varieties of cacao. 

- There are only three commercially available varieties of Cacao.

- Cacao nibs are roasted and crushed cacao beans. 

  

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Review: Trade School Toronto

(Photo courtesy of Rachel Tredon via Trade School Toronto's Facebook Group)

Trade School Toronto is a barter (or trade) system of exchanging knowledge. It is volunteer run and organized. This 'term' was held at Hart House on the U of T campus. I taught 35 people in five food related classes and I participated as a student in four other classes!

As a teacher I had the opportunity to list trade items that I would like to receive and so I traded my knowledge about sourdough bread, fermentation, and cookies for chocolate bars, tea, baked goods, vegan recipes, cafe recommendations, and recipe testers. As a student, I participated in classes after having brought chocolate bars, picture frames, sticky notes, and glue sticks to class.

Teaching or public speaking in general can be a scary thing. I am amazed at how quickly my public speaking skills have developed since I began speaking at conferences. It becomes easier with time but also depends on the subject matter. I have a fair bit of knowledge in both sourdough and fermentation so felt quiet comfortable answering questions in those areas. I am also aware of the edge of my knowledge and have become comfortable answering questions with an 'I don't know but I think...' type of answer. Teaching at Trade School Toronto is a low stress way to develop and hone public speaking skills.   

Did you miss Trade School Toronto? Interested in my class notes? Email wingedsnail99 [at] hotmail [dot] ca - and I will send you the notes!  

 

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Planning: 13 Food Resolutions for 2013

In an effort to check some things off my culinary to-do list, I've decided to make a list of goals for the upcoming year, loosely organized by season.

• Seville Orange Marmalade (January/February)
• Canned orange segments, candied orange peels, and orange pectin.
• Homemade rose water  
• Vanilla extract
• 24 one gallon batches of home brew
• Make a batch of rootbeer, gingerbeer, and fermented lemonade.     
• Make sour beets for borscht.
• Watermelon Rind Pickles (June/July)
• Successful Gardening season
• Foraging for cattails. (Camping)
• Save ashes from campfire to make Cherokee Sour Corn Drink from Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz (Camping)
• Make and use a reflector oven. (Camping
• Homemade apple cider vinegar (Fall)

Have you completed any of these tasks? Have a tutorial, excellent recipe, or hints for me? Please leave a comment below or email me at wingedsnail99[at]hotmail[dot]ca

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Planning: Garden

The dead of winter, a few weeks before Christmas seems like an unlikely time to think about the garden. I have had a few unsuccessful brushes with gardening over the years so I decided that I should actually plan ahead. I think that the key to a successful season is to keep it small, avoid large scale projects the first year, and actually grow things I eat. 

 
THE PLAN:


a. Successfully complete a growing season - motivated by An Illustrated Guide to Growing Food on   Your Balcony by lara lucretia mrosovsky
b. Start composting via a balcony composter.  
c. Grow Nasturtium flowers and harvest the seeds into capers. 
d. Grow herbs and make herbes Salees.
e. Begin growing ginger. 
 

This plan should lead to a successful gardening season as I will only be taking care of three pots. The ginger will be planted in a larger pot that will sit on the floor while the herbs will be in the balcony composter pot. The nasturtium may be in a third pot on the floor but I hope to rig a macarame hanging pot made out of a can, which would be very chic in a 70's sorta way.

It was actually quite difficult for me to keep this garden plan small as I wanted to start many projects such as a cut and come again lettuce bed, hot peppers, garlic, and container carrots. I dreamt about starting large scale projects such as seed saving, propagation, and greenhouse techniques. Le sighe! Have to start somewhere!

What am I most excited about? That definitely has to be the Nasturtium capers! I love things that are simply unavailble through the industrial food system and these 'capers' definitely qualify!

  (Source)

If you need some mid-winter garden inspiration check out my 'Growing' board!

 
 

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Cooking from VeganMoFo: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

My mother used to make these when I was a kid. I remember those pumpkin chocolate chip cookies very vividly. It's odd - the things you remember.

I made two versions of these cookies. The first was my MoFo inspiration but I ended up under baking them. That recipe also happened to not be true to my childhood memories. They were not orange enough or pumpkin-y enough. I think that was due to the inclusion of brown sugar.

The second version was amazing! I used the recipe from The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur by Kelly Peloza. A book I have been coveting for a while now. I finally picked it up for 5 bucks! These were the "Autumn Clouds Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies". They were amazingly orange and pumpkin-y.

I know pumpkin cookies are slightly out of season but a good trip down memory lane is appreciated no matter the seasonal inappropriateness of the food!

What seasonal inappropriate foods are you consuming?

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