borscht

these last few days my cravings for sweets have been through the roof, and i've joined adam as a night shifter once again. i can't sleep, too excited waiting for this amazing baby!



how to stay grounded, stay healthy?



the mother of all soups. borscht. this stuff is the best.



my grampa once made my brother and me pick the ingredients out of the garden, then he made us a batch. this concept blew my golfer, banker brothers mind. awesome.






until the summer grows me some beets out in the parking lot back yard soon to be transformed by me and my kid, i settled for four big red beets from the store, red potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, garlic and dill. cheap cheap.


sweated that onion and garlic in grapeseed oil. added salt, fresh ground pepper. added 2 stalks celery, then carrots and potatoes, all cubed. cooked at medium heat for 4 or 5 mins.









then my adam who shares the kitchen as dishwasher today helps make a broth. this man is serious about dishes, he was a professional and takes pride in his work. it's cute. so, i asked him to take a break from scrubbing and add 4 cups of (non-dish) water to my veggies. bring to slow boil.

then comes the BEAUTIFUL fully jelled chicken foot stock that i made earlier in the week (seen in the yoghurt container). about two cups of this stuff will make any soup taste amazing and heal your soul from the inside. my stock actually makes our skin softer, and i get a buzz off it sometimes when it's really fresh. yea, recipe coming soon.






i added cup or so of red wine, silly me, forgot to add it earlier as a deglaze. ah well. brought to a boil, added peeled, cubed beets. then simmered for over an hour while i parked my pregnant butt on the couch with the kitties.



when the broth is blood red and veggies are soft, it's time to dish out this wicked stuff. sprinkle with TONNES of fresh dill. repeat, as much DILL as you can afford. the more the better.



enjoy scrubbing that lovely red off the dishes, and expect a period the next time you deuce!






love,


flood family!

yam pie

aka. how to make the house smell cozy.

i'm feeling a little depressed today, if only because i'm getting used to my maternity leave. it's harder than one would expect to end the rat-race and always hauling my pregnant butt to a full time job in the downtown east side. now with the time to BREATHE and THINK, go figure, my adrenal glands aren't totally worn out with the tension of other peoples problems. i reckon, this low feeling is just me shifting gears. that's my new mom brain figuring stuff out!

here's how to properly cook on a vancouver rainy day.

start, roast three big organic yams un-peeled, chopped. tossed in grape-seed oil. put some water in the bottom of the roasting pan for steaming. an hour max, 350 degrees. until they're getting soft.

let them cool in a covered bowl for half and hour, to soften them more. meanwhile, make the pastry.

half a stick (or slightly more) of cold butter. YUM. cut into cubes in a cold bowl. sift unbleached white flour gradually, mashing into butter with a whisk. keep adding flour and mashing until there is a meal, grains of flour coated butter chunks smaller than corn kernels. add a few tablespoons of cold water and knead lightly until the meal makes a ball. wrap in wax paper, stick in fridge.

mash up the yams using a fork. it'll take a while but oh well, it is a good action for working out emotion. i felt better after doing it, i promise, so will you. mix the mushy yams with half a cup of goat milk, a free range egg, some melted butter, cinnamon, fresh nutmeg (tonnes, it smells like heaven) and bunch of brown sugar. DOUBLE YUM.

then roll out the pastry ball on the floured counter. keep rolling, folding with flour so it doesn't stick, until the pastry is easy to handle and will overlap the pie plate.

chill pastry lined plate 10 mins, go pet the kitties. return and add the filling.

roll a nice crust, sprinkle with a tonne of brown sugar. bake 350 for as long as it takes to golden the crust.

cool to set. smell the love. when the time is right, eat that yam pie! make a cream cheese sauce if you really want to lose your damn mind.

LANA*

mustard wings

hello and hello!

welcome to the first installment of the new flood family food blog, a place for photos and words about stuff that comes out of our kitchen.

i call this the quitters guide to eating. adam and i made a baby in june and are getting ready to push it out in march. the last 33 weeks have left a lot of addictions behind and added healthy pounds to both of us. i recommend that everyone replace garbage in their lives with delicious, inspired, indulgent food. lots of it!

tonights dinner.

non-medicated chicken wings from famous foods market, marinated for two days in bc white wine, hot mustard, olive oil, salt and fresh ground pepper. these babies drank up almost the entire marinade, and went into the oven puffy and soft with flavour. i baked them for an hour or so at around 350 degrees. didn't have to flip them. took them out when they gained a crispy red crust. let those sweeties cool for 30 mins.

made a tomato, cucumber, sunflower seed, cracked black pepper salad. lemon juice, grape-seed oil (i'm out of our $30 a bottle olive oil), apple cider vinegar and salt.

toasted up those cool wings in the warm oven, then tossed them in a sauce of one part honey to three parts dijon mustard, and black pepper, cornstarch, salt to taste.

plated. ate-ed.

now off to the hidden jazz venue 1067 to see adams band Yellowthief play.

peace!