You and I

I have a huge back log of food adventures that are begging to be posted so let's get started!

Coconut Red Lentil Soup
This lovely recipe is from 101 Cookbooks, and it was definitely everything that it claimed to be. On the first evening it had the consistency of a nice, thick soup so I had it with some toast and coconut butter.


Lunch! brown rice, The Soup, bok choy and red onion
After a night in the fridge, and each day after that it had the consistency of a curry. It was super addictive. I would say the best part of this soup was how the golden raisins would become delicously plump, giving each spoonful a note of sweetness. They curry powder was very subtle in flavour, and I'm considering doubling the amount next time.

I was also surprised at how this recipe used only green onions instead of a regular old white one. Beware that the amount listed actually uses half in the soup and the other half for the garnish. I made the mistake of cutting everything up at the same time and ended up with a massive pile of garnish. Essentially everything I ate that week was toppped with green onion.

If you have two hours to spare to make a tasty dinner and lunch for the rest of the week, reach for this recipe!

The Hurt Locker

Just watched The Hurt Locker, and am in such a pensive mood. It's kind of the same feeling as when we watched Hotel Rwanda in gr. 11 (I think that was the year). I still remember exiting that dark theatre into the weak spring sunshine, and having that feeling of overwhelming gravity.

Everything seemed so trivial and juvenile. What was I doing? How could I possibly live my life and think that anything I did or thought was important in comparison to the suffering and war-torn lives of others in these countries.

We go about our lives with our eyes half closed sometimes. We go through the motions and fail to think, really think, about what it is that we have in life. How amazing it is to live in the first world, and how much gratitude and happiness we have. Also, we fail to remember just how quickly our lives can change.

In an instant the comfortable familiarity that we knew a second ago can be completely shattered.

The worst part about watching this type of movie is that I will be pensive for a day, or at the most two. I will look at everything with eyes wide open, and feel grateful for the life I have. I will feel wonderment at the bed I sleep in, the cherry trees that I pass by, and the gentle sun that shines on me. But inevitably I will lose that brooding feeling and move on with my life.

Sometimes I think that taking things for granted is the only way we can live without being totally crushed and overwhelmed by everything else that goes on in the world.

Heirloom tomatoes, focaccia and strawberries

I love going to market. Even if it's just going to Superstore, I will get excited by the thought of visiting the bulk aisle. This morning I was so giddy with excitement that I woke up on my own at 7:30am. I am not a morning person. This was an amazing feat.

I made a quick cup of apricot black tea, and headed out the door. The weather was grey and chilly with the clouds threatening to rain. After being here for a few months I am finally gaining confidence in taking transit to unfamiliar destinations. I had a proud moment today where I intuitively found north. Growing up in Vancouver is a treat when it comes to knowing your compass points. The mountains always loom to the north, the ocean is on your west, and the rest is fairly easy to figure out as the streets run as a perfect grid. When I first came to SF my internal compass was completely lost. I would feel disoriented every time I got off a bus, or had to find a transfer. And the streets here, oh my. The streets run every which way but north/south or east/west. So getting to the Alemany Farmers Market this morning was a pleasant surprise.

I staved off breakfast for the specific purpose of eating at the market, and it was a good decision (despite my tummy protesting otherwise). I chose a beautiful, flaky, fragrant cinnamon twist made from puff pastry, and dusted with powdered sugar. Numerous other vendors offered free samples of hummus, focaccia, and fruit, but our absolute favourite was this twenty-something vendor selling bolani. She was by far the best sales person there with a friendly attitude and an insistent nature to feed you every flavour and accompanying stuffing that she was selling. It was delicious.

I bought (all organic):
3/4 lb. golden raisins
bunch of carrots
bunch of orange beets
kale
red fingerling potatoes
yellow onion
madarin oranges
strawberries
kalamata olive and artichoke focaccia
portobello mushroom
shiitake mushrooms
baklava (this was so sweet and tasty and vegan)

I'm off to cook a farmers market inspired dinner with S&J. This week we made beef, mushroom, parsley stuffed ravioli from scratch (J is a pastry chef, which helped a lot), and we'll probably make pasta again tonight. We bought some lovely lemon basil today and are hoping to make herb pressed noodles :)

Happy Saturday!

S's house where the flowers change every week. I think this week's are white lilies.

Ohayo

Changed my blog layout. Do you like? This wonderful new layout is courtesy of yummylolly.com, and was directed to my attention by Jen.

So tonight I planned to sit down and get some serious journal reading done as my genetics journal club is tomorrow. It`s a pretty great paper (The Genetic Landscape of a Cell, Science 2010), but I just haven`t had the time of day to read it.

Journal reading is one of the most difficult tasks I can undertake. They are these unassuming 5-8 page papers with figures and tables that, by the looks of them, should only take about an hour to read. Boy is that a horrible assumption.

Each sentence itself is a minefield of jargon that leaves me puzzled, and itching to search it up on Wikipedia. Every time I finish a paragraph I`ve already forgotten what the previous one was about. If I actually make it through a single paper (a month later), I`m still not sure what the authors were trying to say. It`s awful.

So to motivate myself I made a nice little snack/second dinner. (The first dinner was also an assortment of snacks, but on a much larger scale.)

fuji apple, mini oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, mint tea, choco
And then I went on skype for 3 hours. #fml

Some of that distraction did actually consist of skyping with my Dad. He e-mailed me this morning about some flight deals and my return date in August/September. It really got me thinking about how I`ve almost reached the half-way mark of my stay here in SF, and what it would be like to go home in the Fall. Don`t get me wrong, I love Vancouver, and hopefully I`ll be excited by my upper level courses. However, I don`t look forward to living at home again. It`ll be nice to be around family, and have the luxury of my parents at hand, but I know I`ll miss the absolute freedom.

And what freedom I enjoy living in the foggy city. There`s a lot to complain about what with being underage, and living in the most party heavy house on the block. Yet, I`ve already come to take for granted the simplicity of coming home at the end of a day`s work to a house devoid of parenting. I absolutely love waking up in the morning with the house to myself and making one of my favourite breakfasts.

I guess I`ll just have to appreciate the time I have left, which is a lot, but already my weeks fly by in an instant. San Francisco, I will savour you like being cocooned in a blanket on a chill, rainy morning. Like that first burst of sunshine you taste when you bite into a blood orange. Like a velvet storm of cherry blossom petals in a rain shower.

A few of my favourite things

Woke up this morning to this lovely weather

Om nom nom

All of my housemates were away this week for their spring break, which meant that I got the entire house all to myself. Such solitude.

There have been snippets of time when I would have the house to myself for an afternoon or so, but this was the first time where I would have a solid chunk of that freedom.

At first I was hesitant to be alone at night, to come home to an empty house. But I quickly got over that feeling. I absolutely love living all by myself. It is so nice to wake up in the morning to the quietude of small rays of sunshine peaking through my window. Loafing around the house is a natural event, and doing it in my pyjamas is a common occurrence. Also, there is this satisfaction in picking my own music for the evening to listen to while I make dinner.

Arman and his girlfriend came home last night, and while no loud, drunk, obnoxious partying occurred I was still mildly resentful at having my Friday night suddenly intruded upon. Oh well, what can you do. We ended up watching The Invention of Lying, which was hilarious with Ricky Jervais, and I recommend you watch if you have an hour and half to spare. After that we saw The Time Traveler's Wife. My feelings were mixed about this movie when I first heard about it coming out as I've read the book, and wasn't sure how it would translate on screen. It turned out that the movie was surprisingly good. Definitely a chick flick (as in it made me tear up), but the plot flowed quite well and didn't leave me bored at any point.

I had every intention of going to the farmer's market this morning, but sometimes you just need to sleep in. It's 1pm and I'm still in my pj's. Today is just going to be one of those beautiful days.

My go to breakfast: toast, peanut butter, nanner, raisins, sweetened coconut, drizzle of honey, and cinammon. Mmmm.