don't let it pass
outdoor foods and post-dentist fried rice
Despite being only 4 days long, it’s been such a long and difficult week that last weekend already feels like ages ago. But what a wonderful treat, to have had a long weekend with so much sun and warmth. On Saturday, I rode to the Shipyards to find Jeff a birthday gift— usually I’m more on top of things than this, but first half of the month seemed to disappear in a flash. It felt so great to be back on my bike again and I need to go for a longer ride soon. I met up with Jeff at the brewery on the way home so I could buy him a beer, and we could get a growler fill for Sunday’s barbecue. In the evening, after playing games on Zoom with some friends, I was regretting not getting ice cream while we were out during the day, so we hopped back on bikes and rode to Earnest at 9:30 to pick up a pint (we got vegan mocha brownie) before they closed at 10. There was still a lineup almost 20 people deep when we got there!
On Sunday, Jeff’s birthday, we decided to go for a patio breakfast at House of Funk. The great thing about it being only a short walk from our house (and a bit further from the hubbub of Lower Lonsdale) is we don’t have to leave super early to make it there before the crowds; we rolled in at 10:30 and there were only three other tables. The staff of Crack On serve brunch out of HoF’s kitchen on weekends and they make creative and perfect egg sandwiches, something I think this city is majorly lacking, despite all the other good brunch options. The hash browns are also excellent, a little fried patty made with shredded potatoes that are super soft inside and crisp on the outside— definitely worth the $2.50. Or, get the vegan breakfast sandwich, which has a hash brown in it!
The barbecue we hosted for Jeff’s birthday was nice because we didn’t have to be responsible for all the food, so we actually got to spend some time catching up with family and relaxing instead of running back and forth between outside and the kitchen. We provided Beyond patties for the grill and someone else brought condiments and buns, someone else brought tortilla chips and assorted bean dips, and Jeff’s mom made two salads: cucumber in yogurt-dill dressing, and orzo with pickled vegetables. Both of these are great for a pot luck because they don’t wilt or get soggy easily. We had a good afternoon but definitely aren’t used to hosting a bunch of kids (our piano may have sustained some damage), and I was thankful to have some quiet time in the evening after we’d tidied up.
Since we had two birthdays to celebrate for people of wildly different ages, I went for a classic cake: golden vanilla cake with chocolate icing. The cake recipe showed up in Alicia Kennedy’s From the Kitchen column on Friday, which was perfect timing. I’d also been wanting to make her chocolate mousse ever since I saw its impeccable texture on instagram, and it’s thick enough to use as a cake filling or frosting. Chocolate mousse always makes me weirdly nostalgic for my high school’s cafeteria— the food was made by the grade 12 cooking classes and was actually good. I treated myself to the chocolate mousse with whipped cream many times between ages 13-17 if I had an extra $2.25.
I went for an 8” single-layer cake with a swoosh of the mousse on top. Both the cake and the mousse are vegan and easy to make, and I’d never made mousse before so I was excited to try. I had agar flakes, not powder, so I increased the amount to a tablespoon to make sure it'd be enough to set the coconut milk. Despite my vigorous whisking it still had a handful of small undissolved lumps, but they weren’t too noticeable, and the texture and flavour were overall just incredible. Our nephew did remark, “the chocolate is a bit too chocolate,” which I guess means 70% dark salted chocolate is a little much for those under 10, but that didn’t seem to stop him (or any of the other kids) from eating it.
I had to get dental work done this week, which is absolutely the worst thing that can happen to me, so I took the rest of the day off work to watch television and feel sorry for myself. I now have a temporary crown on my tooth and was given bunch of cautions on how to ensure it doesn’t come out during the two weeks while I wait for the permanent one, so on top of being tired and grouchy with a sore jaw, I also had to make sure I didn’t cook or eat anything too crunchy or sticky. Can you believe I was warned that even eating chips is kind of dicey with one of these? Chips! The base of my personal food pyramid!
But anyway, I had a bunch of plain rice and some salmon thawing in the fridge, which seemed pretty safe. And fried rice is a reliably easy and quick dinner: I was ready to talk myself into eating a frozen pizza or ordering poutine, but by the time I’d taken all the ingredients out of the fridge I figured I was basically halfway done so I might as well go for the gold. I bought Eric Kim’s book Korean American recently, and was inspired to make kimchi fried rice while flipping through it. I didn’t use his recipe exactly, just some of the elements of it— the beauty of fried rice is you can use whatever you have and still make something super tasty almost every time.
The salmon was a spring salmon steak given to us by my aunt, and I baked it whole and then flaked it apart to add on top of the rice. While the fish cooked, I sautéed onions, mushrooms, and zucchini for the fried rice, and added lots of chopped kimchi. I really like Wildbrine, which is vegan, but now that I have this cookbook I do want to try making my own soon! Usually with fried rice I like to scramble the eggs first, move them to a plate, and then fold them back in at the end, but I liked the idea in the book of serving it with a raw egg yolk on top. Rather than passing it back and forth between the shell halves, separate the egg by holding it in your hand and letting the whites fall between your fingers— it works better and there’s less chance of contamination from the eggshell.
I didn’t make the full nest of roasted seaweed (aka gim), but I chopped a couple little sheets up for serving and they added a fantastic flavour. Dried seaweed can sometimes be a big no for me texture-wise, but I loved it here with the spicy rice and rich egg, and would definitely use more next time. Maybe this dinner didn’t make me feel better about my dentist visit, but it did make me feel pretty motivated to make more things from this cookbook.
Also this week, I made my version of Deb Perelman’s crispy chickpeas & zucchini with herbs and yogurt, a delightful mix of fresh flavours and satisfying textures. This was a warm weather fave from last year which I look forward to making multiple times this summer, too. I always make tzatziki for the base instead of the yogurt because I like the extra crunch, and it adds another vegetable as well which is nice. Then we scoop everything up with pita or another flatbread. I’ve included my method for the tzatziki below, in case you want to try it my way. This was really the perfect meal to eat on the patio on the last day of the long weekend.
TZATZIKI
1 long English cucumber or 3 small Persian cucumbers
about 2 cups plain Greek yogurt (or a thick vegan one like Yoggu)
2-3 garlic cloves, pressed or finely grated
salt to taste
finely chopped mint, dill, or parsley (optional)
Shred the cucumber using the grater attachment on a food processor, or the large holes of a box grater. If you have time, you can salt it and let it sit in a colander for 15-20 minutes before the next step, but it’s not 100% necessary. Wrap the cucumber in a clean tea towel and squeeze out as much of the liquid as you can (if you don’t want to waste it, squeeze it into a glass and make an approximation of agua fresca). Really squeeze the hell out of it, otherwise your dip will end up thin in both flavour and texture.
Add to a bowl with the other ingredients and mix well, adjusting the salt to taste (if you didn’t salt the cucumber before straining, you’ll need more). If you’re using a vegan yogurt you may want to add a little lemon juice or wine vinegar to increase the acidity, since vegan yogurts can sometimes be on the sweet side.
I love fresh mint in tzatziki, but use another herb if you like, or you can not add any. The dip tastes best if it can sit in the fridge for a few hours or overnight, but if you need to serve right away, you can— the flavour will just be less developed. Makes 3-4 cups and lasts up to four days in the fridge.
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