Bay Tree

I impulse purchased a little bay tree this Spring and planted it in our garden. 

I've done no research into if it will survive the winter, but it was only $10. 

I am hoping it will survive, I've long envied European cooking books and shows that flaunt their fresh bay. 

 In other garden news, I added another type of mint, bringing my total to 3. 

The chives are trying to take over the garden, and for now I'm letting them. We've cooked with chives this year more than any other. 

The oregano has been neglected the past few years, and I'm thinking of pulling it out; we never use it. 

Peas and raspberries are our big crops again this year. 

They are the boys favorites; it's a fight for anyone else to get any if he's around.

Jacob's Noodle and Cutlet

I finally got to eat at Jacob's Noodle and Cutlet a couple of months ago. 

 They've been open about a year now, in the former Felix on Fourth location at 260 4th Ave. 

The place was busy, the service was pretty good. 

I had the Spicy Chicken.  It was spicy!  But delicious.  Served with rice on the side.

The Mister had Lunch Special A - pork cutlet, tempura, salad, and miso soup.  

His was served with 3 dipping sauces, plus sesame seeds in a mortar and pestle that were to be ground up and sprinkled over.....something.  

Our waitress told us nothing about the sauces or what to do with the seeds.  We survived, but some advice would have been nice.

Website here - Jacob's Noodle and Cutlet

Mountain High Pizza

One of my favorite things about a trip to Sun Peaks is pizza at Mountain High Pizza. 

SO good!

I love to get the pizza to go and eat outside and people watch.

I've been lucky enough to have made 3 day trips to Sun Peaks this summer already, and 2 of those visits included  pizza.

The Bryndian (pepperoni, bacon, garlic, olives, mushrooms, OMG YUM) (below) is delicious.  

My current favorite.

Visit them here: Mountain High Pizza

How to: Freeze tomato paste

Just like I freeze ginger, I do the same with tomato paste.

Most recipes I make that call for tomato paste only need one or two tablespoonfuls. 

So annoying to open up a can for only a little amount.

I occasionally buy tomato paste in tubes, but lately I haven't been using them fast enough before the tubes spoil, so I'm back to freezing the paste in spoonfuls.

This is much faster and less messy than the ginger.  No prep required!

I lay out a piece of plastic wrap.  

You want to leave a couple of inches between each blob of paste 

and down the side for the sealing step.

Spoon the paste onto the plastic wrap.  I did mine in one tablespoon blobs.

Fold the plastic wrap over the paste onto itself, like you're making ravioli.

Press the plastic wrap all around the paste to seal.

Cut the plastic wrap between each tomato paste package to separate.  Fold over any extra wrap to seal up.  Place the blobs in a freezer bag, and put in the freezer. 

Instagram mini reviews

I joined Instagram a while back.  While I'm still not completely sold on posting there, I am loving the photos of the people I'm following.  

I've been working on a cookbook review/purge project over there the past few months - partially to pare down my cookbook collection and get rid of the books that I don't and never will use, as well as to get us out of the cooking and eating rut we've been in the past year.  

So far I've reviewed 26 cookbooks from my shelf.

The taco meat recipe from Maui Tacos, maple candied bacon from 5 Ingredient Fix, Mad Dog Salad from Jamie's America, peanut sauce from Little Saigon cookbook, and chocolate coconut pudding from Family Meals have been standout dishes so far.

I started off feeling bad about saying I didn't like a book, or that it would be going to the donation pile, but I'm feeling a little more cutthroat lately.
More mini reviews coming soon, so you can breath a sigh of relief.
It's so damn hot here, who wants to cook, much less read recipes???

If you're interested head over to see here.

 

Arigato Sushi - again.

14 months ago I wrote my last post about lunch at Arigato.  

We were there last week, and it's just as delicious as ever. 

After Miso soup, which I managed to get 3 spoonfuls of before the boy had mine finished, we shared the Biminbap, and a Bento Box A.

Biminbap is one of my most favorite meals. 
We've become kimchi addicts,
so we now happily dig into the little dish that comes with the rice bowl.
My only quibble would be that the kimchi is in such large pieces.
Am I supposed to eat giant pieces of spicy cabbage,
or try to cut them smaller with my
chopsticks???

Good food, good service.

Still open Sundays.

Pickled Beets

I have a love/hate relationship with beets.  

For a long time there was only hate.  My mom would make borscht every fall.  Pots and pots of it.

Not my favorite.

I like them better now, although I mostly like them grated into veggie pancakes or diced in salads.

What I don't like is the mess.  The mess!  The red fingers.  The stained cloths and towels.  Grabbing my white cutting board instead of the black one.  The juice splattered everywhere from little dye bombs masquerading as vegetables.  

I am horribly messy in the kitchen without the added fun bonus of beet juice.

I'd bought a bunch of beets recently to use in a pork recipe, and the rest sat in the fridge ignored.  I didn't want to put off using them too long, but nothing was inspiring me to use them.  And then I thought - pickles!  Easy and guaranteed to be eaten by my husband, who has never met a pickled vegetable he didn't immediately devour.

I used this recipe at My Recipes.  With 6 ingredients and less than an hour we had a jar of pickled beets in the fridge, a happy husband, neon pink fingers, and another stained shirt.

Recipe: Easy Pickled Beets