Peter Doig & Summer Rolls

The weekend started off on a good note. We went for drinks (5a7) in Old Montreal on an outdoor terrasse that had beautiful views of the Saint Lawrence and Old Montreal. We may have been a bit too enthusiastic for patio weather as it was pretty chilly but we warmed up quickly after a few drinks. 

 For months I've been trying to get to the Peter Doig exhibit at the Montreal Arts Centre. I had never heard of the British artist before but the publicity surrounding the event had me intrigued. On Saturday we finally had the time to go (no paper writing, yay!) and it was very rainy so it seemed like the best use of our time. His work really impressed me (not that I'm hard to impress). After taking an oil painting class early in the year we were a bit more knowledgable as to how much effort goes into creating a painting. It really is a long and well thought out process! This one above was one of my favourites.

 I also really loved this one. Peter Doig uses lots of vibrant colours but also uses the colour white in a very stark version of the colour. I loved how he drips paint down the canvas, so neat!

Above is his most famous work, the red canoe. We thought it looked like Alcatraz in the background. 

 Saturday night I finally got around to making fresh spring rolls or Summer rolls as they're also referred to. I have intended on making these healthy treats for YEARS but for some reason they always seemed too difficult. After making them I can assure you they are anything but difficult, very easy in fact! What I love about them is you can really make up your own recipe as to what fillings you would like. Picture above (in very dark and dim lighting because it was raining and our kitchen lighting is brutal) are all the veggies, noodles, herbs and egg chopped up uniformly, all ready to be rolled up!

 For our spring rolls we included a scrambled egg pancake, julienned red pepper, carrots, avocado, rice noodles and basil or cilantro (A really dislikes cilantro but I love it, compromising here was very easy!).

 Yum!

And voila! The finished product all wrapped up and ready to be dipped in a delicious homemade peanut sauce.

Summer Rolls a la Brooke: makes 5 large rolls
5 sheets of rice paper
2 eggs
Half a red pepper, julienned
2 medium sized carrots or 10 baby carrots, julienned
1 avocado, julienned
1 cup of vermicelli rice noodles
Basil (either 4 springs for 9 springs depending on the ratio with cilantro)
Cilantro (about 1/4 cup finely chopped for 3 rolls, more if using in all 5 rolls)
*I also think green onions, baked tofu, julienned cucumber and/or a lettuce of some sort would be a great addition!

Peanut Sauce:
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, coarsely chopped
3 cloves of garlic
1/4 teaspoon-1/2 teaspoon of red chill flakes depending on your spice preference
1 tablespoon agave nector
1/2 cup coconut milk
1-2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons of lime juice (I only had lemon juice and it worked just fine!)
1/2 cup all natural peanut butter

1. First make the peanut sauce, blend all the above ingredients together and add a little bit of water if the mixture needs to be more creamy. Set aside until rolls are all made.
2. Make your egg pancake: whisk two eggs together and fry them in a small frying pan, flipping over once to evenly cook both sides. After the pancake has cooled, chop in half and then chop julienne style.
3. While making the egg pancake, make the rice noodles as instructed on the package (usually place in salted boiling water and let sit for 5 minutes, strain, dry and set aside).
4. Make rice paper according to the package instructions.
5. Assemble! I placed the rice noodles first onto the rice paper in the centre, then placed the red pepper and carrot on either side. After I put the herbs (either basil or cilantro but you could also put both) on top of the noodles followed by avocado and egg. To fold the paper, fold either the right or left side of the paper over the filling, tightly. Then fold the top and bottom of the rice paper leaving only the right or left side. Then fold the right or left side tightly over the other folded parts.
6. Cut in half or keep whole, serve with the peanut sauce and enjoy!

We really liked these summer rolls and I will definitely be making them again in the warmer months. I may also use this peanut sauce recipe and fiddle around with it to make Pad Thai, updates on that to come!

Egg Drop Soup

Last week I decided to make an old favourite based on a recipe I discovered on pinterest. A few years back I worked as a caregiver for a Chinese family and the mother would make this soup once a week for lunch for the kiddos, it was always a big hit! This modification to the old one I used to make includes sesame oil, green onions and delicious ginger. It is incredibly easy and was so flavourful. I think we will be making this a lot now!

Ingredients:

4 cups or 1 pint of good quality chicken stock/veggie stock 

2 tbsp corn starch

1 tsp ground ginger (or a little more if you love ginger like me)

1/4 tsp of garlic power or garlic salt (just make sure you don't add too much salt at the end!)

3 eggs

1 tsp of sesame oil

4 green onions sliced thinly (you can use both the green and white parts)

1/2 cup of frozen corn

salt and pepper to taste

* I also think you could use fresh garlic and ginger for this recipe but it would be more work and would include chunks.. to each their own though, chopped finely I think it could be good!

To begin with heat the chicken stock over medium heat and whisk together with the cornstarch, ginger and garlic power in a medium saucepan until there are no lumps left. Then bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally.

While waiting for the chicken stock mixture to boil, whisk the eggs in a bowl.

When the broth comes to a boil remove from the heat. Whisk the broth in a circular motion and slowly pour the eggs into the soup to create those lovely egg ribbons. The whisking must be relatively slow too to get lots of ribbons.

After you've poured all of the eggs and made egg ribbons whisk in the sesame oil, green onions (save some for the garnish) and corn.

Serve with green onions and fresh grated black pepper on top. Yum!!

Based on this recipe with a few modifications: http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/egg-drop-soup/ 

Low-key weekend

In so many ways I am glad this week is over. It's been rather stressful here due to my semester coming to an end. After a day spent in the library studying I came home to Huevos Rancheros and A and I went walking in the cold for a hot chocolate. Both were amazing. It's really winter here now. The temperature drop is always hard to get used to but I'm really looking forward to the snow. Apparently Montreal really shines in December before it gets unbearably cold. 

Went out for a nice breakfast this morning and found a lovely note from an old, great friend of mine. I love snail mail and I loved hearing her stories and adventures. 

new birks

I finally got some much needed birkenstocks! Its been years since I've had a new pair and the past few summers I've been getting by on knock offs or pretty but less walkable sandals and man, does it feel good to have some practical shoes back in rotation! I will never be getting knock offs again, they are not even close to as good!

In other news, I had a lovely patio party with some of my social work friends last night. It was my first time having this circle of friends over and it turned out to be a lovely time. I had planned to serve an almond cake with balsamic strawberries and ice cream but my cake burnt due to me awful oven (this oven has ruined many a good dessert). I also served veggie kebabs though and they were a big hit. I made my dear friend Gillian's famous Sangria and that was also very well received. Over all it was a great night, we may have waken the neighbours being loud and talkative on our porch but oh well! It was nice to hang out with my friends without the stress of school looming over us, everyone seems much more relaxed and at ease.

Today some friends and I went to a lake nearby and soaked in some sun. We've been having some lovely weather lately and it felt so good to be in the wilderness, even if there was a highway a few kms away. We even went swimming, which was so refreshing! I can't wait to bring Alex and show him this gem of a spot.

Heres Gillian's famous Sangria recipe:

Liquids:
1 bottle of white wine (preferably Sauvignon Blanc)
1 bottle of peach schnapps
1 bottle of gingerale

Fruit:
1 cored pineapple, cut up into 1.5 inch pieces
I pint of raspberries
2 or 3 kiwis cut up
1 large pint or 2 smaller pints of strawberries (preferably when in season!) cut in half's or quarters depending on their size.

First cut up all the fruit and place it in a large pitcher. Then add a few ice cubes, about a third of the peach schnapps, half of the white wine and as much gingerale as will fill the pitcher. Stir and let the drink sit in the fridge for around 10-15 minutes before serving! When serving, make sure you scoop some fruit into everyone's drinks for a yummy treat at the end! Once the first batch is done, continue adding more peach schnapps, wine and gingerale with the old fruit until you are content.

And there you have it, the best (in my opinion) white wine Sangria there is! I think I may have drank a little bit too much last night...