So now we’re in Vancouver. All of us, this time. It took 12 hours or so to get here, slowed down a bit by a highway closure near Golden, which caused a few hundred people to cram into the Tim Horton’s beside the intersection of the closure, all with a not so subtle eye on the situation outside, and at the first sign of traffic being allowed through the mass exodus was like, I don’t know, something really funny that I might be able to think of if my brain was functioning at a respectable level.
I got home from Toronto last night at about 7, and the next few hours were a frantic flurry of laundry, reading to W, packing, wrapping gifts, charging electronic devices and catching up on work, with of course a break at 10pm to watch Jim marry Pam.
I’m not sure how long we’ll be gone this time – definitely almost a week, possibly a bit more than. Which meant kicking everyone out of the fridge that might get nasty and stinky over time. There was half a carton of buttermilk and a half a butternut squash that needed using up, so I made muffins – when traveling with a 4 year old and an 11 year old (my niece, Emily), having a sack of homemade muffins at the ready to deflect evil drive-thrus and gas station snacks is a very good thing.
Morning Glory muffins are a little like carrot cakes – typically made with grated carrots and apples, with handfuls of nuts and/or raisins and/or coconut thrown in. I just swapped grated raw squash for the carrots – did you know you could do that? Yes you can! And with sweet potatoes too! – and a pear and a half for the apple. Same dif.
Squash & Pear Morning Glory Muffins
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar (white or brown)
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 packed cups grated raw butternut squash or carrots
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup flaked coconut, sweetened or unsweetened (optional)
1/2 cup canola or light olive oil
3 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 pear or apple, coarsely grated (don’t bother peeling it)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray muffin cups with nonstick spray or line them with paper liners.
In a large bowl, stir together the flours, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Add the carrots, pecans, raisins, and coconut and toss to combine well.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add to the carrot mixture with the grated apple and stir just until the batter is combined. Don’t worry about getting all the lumps out – overmixing will make the muffins tough.
Fill the prepared muffin tins almost to the top. Bake in the middle of the oven for 25-30 minutes, until the muffins are golden and the tops are springy to the touch. Tip them in their cups to help them cool by allowing steam to escape.
How did it possibly get to be Friday again? This week I have a really cool little item to give away – I just learned of a new Calgary-based party planning service called Party Designers (started with the idea that more people should be cooking, entertaining, and enjoying time with friends and family around food), and the owner offered us up some gift certificates for her services. (You don’t have to live in Calgary.) It seemed timely – ’tis the season to start thinking about parties!
And congratulations to Elizabeth, our newlywed newbie soup-maker, who by some culinary miracle won herself a CrockPot! (It wasn’t the pitch, honest! The random number generator did it!) We’ll fully expect her to become a slow cooker diva this winter.
Since it’s Thanksgiving weekend, I’d love to hear what’s on your menu – party or not!
One Year Ago: Pulled Pork and Baked Beans
October 09 2009 | bread and breakfast | 46 Comments »
I’m back from Toronto. I miss my clean, empty hotel room with its crisp white sheets and view of the city.
This afternoon I spent a blissful 2 1/2 hours wandering down Queen Street, through Chinatown, past the Ontario College of Art & Design, where everyone wore great-fitting jeans and cute blazers with hip, poufy scarves and rode bikes and had perfect skin…
to Kensington Market.
I bought cheese – Wensleydale, as a coming-home gift for W, who adores Wallace and Gromit and loves to say Wensweydale in the cutest sort of way, and a thin wedge of emmental – at the same cheese shop my mum brought me to when I was little and we lived there. I bought a glossy, tawny sesame seed bagel at the Market Bakery, and walked past the fish mongers, recalling having walked through that same stretch when I was pregnant and had a bionic sense of smell, and the aroma coming from that cluster of fresh fish shops had me hunched over the gutter.
And I’m pretty sure I saw Bob Geldof running to get into his car before he got a parking ticket.
I also saw a bright orange squid bra in Chinatown. Honestly – doesn’t this look like it would feel ultra-realistic? And with tassels! You’d just have to get past the smell…
And impossibly cheap produce – 5 pomegranates for $1? Three heads of lettuce for $1?
I stopped for lunch at Little India on Queen Street, temptingly close to John Fluevog, and ate spinach paneer, curried chick peas, sweet, almost ketchupy butter chicken, lamb something or other and crispy zucchini pakoras. A great deal for $11.
Back home past 7, the boys had eaten so I settled on a wedge of gingerbread I made earlier in the week using pumpkin puree and stout (like Guinness, or any dark beer) and topped with cream cheese frosting. Time to unpack, repack, and get some stuff done before heading to Vancouver tomorrow before dawn.
And wow, look at that, well past midnight already!
Pumpkin Stout Gingerbread with Cream Cheese Frosting
1 cup dark stout, such as Guinness or Wild Rose Alberta Crude Oatmeal Stout
1/2 cup molasses
1 tsp. baking soda
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
Cream Cheese Frosting (optional):
1/4 cup butter, softened
half an 8 oz. (250 g) pkg. regular or light cream cheese
2-3 cups icing sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a Bundt pan really well with nonstick spray.
In a medium saucepan (you need room for the mixture to foam up), combine the stout and molasses over medium heat. Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat and stir in the baking soda. Set aside until the foam subsides and the mixture cools slightly.
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugars, oil, pumpkin puree and ginger. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, ground ginger, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt.
Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and stir just until combined. Add half the molasses mixture, then another third of the dry ingredients, the rest of the molasses mixture and the rest of the dry ingredients, stirring after each addition just until combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for an hour, until the top is springy to the touch. Cool for a few minutes, then invert onto a wire rack while still warm. Cool completely before spreading with cream cheese frosting.
To make frosting: In a large bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add the icing sugar, milk and vanilla, beating until the mixture is creamy and well-blended. Add a little more sugar or milk if necessary to achieve a spreadable frosting.
One Year Ago: Bean Cookies
October 09 2009 | cake | 28 Comments »
