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The Perfect Cup of Tea
Want to make the perfect cup of tea?
Know what not to do, such as overboiling the water or using too small a strainer for the tea leaves.
Read about The Top Seven Mistakes Tea Drinkers Make and learn simple tips for preparing a delicious cup of tea on Tea Party Girl’s blog. You’ll find lots of information and ideas for enjoying tea on this blog.
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.
As much as I love ice cream, it’s not something I tend to scream about.
I scream while riding rollercoasters. (Jump aboard the Millenium Force at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio and you’ll likely agree that full-blown hysteria including top-of-the-lung screaming is perfectly acceptable behaviour before, during and after the ride! Apparently, riding the Behemoth at Canada’s Wonderland (just north of Toronto) also produces high-pitched screeching. I haven’t yet experienced this particular fear-inducing ride.)
Snakes and creepy-looking bugs also make me scream. (Did you hear about the woman in Montreal who found a python under her bed earlier this week? I had to stifle a scream just hearing the terrifying tale on the radio.)
I scream – inwardly, mind you, so as not to alarm my co-workers – when I inadvertently delete something or forget to save something on my computer and there’s no “undo” feature available to retrieve what I’ve lost.
I’d probably scream if I won the lottery. (Guess I’d have to buy lottery tickets for that to be a possibility!
Strawberry Lychee Ice Cream
But let’s talk ice cream, which according to that old familiar rhyme from childhood (I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream) is supposed to incite cries of joy!
Creamy textured homemade Strawberry Lychee Ice Cream with its sweet, perfumed flavour is definitely worth at least a loud “yahoo” or two.
If you’re the lucky owner of an ice cream maker, you’ll know that the warm days of summer are perfect for enjoying homemade ice cream.
Actually, I take that back. There’s never a bad time to savour a batch of homemade ice cream or another frozen concoction such as gelato or sorbet.
So then! Strawberry Lychee Ice Cream. Strawberries you probably know all about, but are you wondering what lychees are and whether they should be added to the list of things to scream about? Rest assured they are in no way related to leeches, although lychee is pronounced ‘LEEchee’. It can be spelled ‘litchi’.
A lychee is a small fruit with a rough, reddish shell. The flesh is creamy white, juicy and sweet, and it surrounds a seed or pit. To eat lychees, you peel them and remove the seed. Eat them as is or add them to salads or desserts.
I tend to purchase canned lychees as they’re already peeled and seeded. And, I am lazy.
This recipe calls for superfine sugar. This is a quick dissolving sugar also known as berry sugar, fruit sugar, castor sugar or instant dissolving sugar. If you wish, you can make superfine sugar by processing granulated sugar in a food processor for 15 seconds.
I have a dual canister Cuisinart yogurt-ice cream-sorbet maker. It makes one or two quarts (1 or 2 L) of ice cream. This Strawberry Lychee Ice Cream recipe makes 8 cups (2 L) of ice cream. Once the churning/freezing cycle was completed (this took about 15 minutes in my machine), the canisters were full – to the brim – with ice cream.
If your machine has a single 4 cup (1 L) canister, halve the ingredients.
Freeze homemade ice cream in a tightly-sealed container for up to a couple weeks.
Be sure to freeze homemade ice cream with a tight-fitting lid to prevent freezer burn and an ‘off’ flavour. Label the container so it’s contents don’t become mystery food.
Although this ice cream tastes great even before “ripening” in the freezer for a few hours, some time in the freezer will further improve the flavour. It’s best to enjoy homemade ice cream within a couple weeks. (Now there’s a problem. Not!)
Strawberry Lychee Ice Cream
Makes 8 cups (2 L)
2 cups (500 mL) strawberries
3/4 cup (180 mL) superfine sugar
1 can (530 mL/20 ounces) canned lychees in syrup (about 2 cups)
2 cups (500 mL) whipping cream (36% butterfat)
1-1/2 cups (375 mL) milk
6 egg yolks
Hull and roughly chop strawberries; place in a bowl along with any juices. Stir in 1 tablespoon (15 mL) of the sugar and set aside for 30 minutes.
Drain and finely chop lychees, reserving 1/2 cup (125 mL) of the syrup. Set lychees and syrup aside.
Place cream, milk and remaining sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Stirring constantly, cook for a few minutes until sugar dissolves and mixture is just about to boil. Remove from the heat.
Whisk egg yolks in a large bowl or 8 cup (2 L) measuring cup. Whisk in 1/4 cup (60 mL) of the hot milk mixture until smooth. Whisk in remaining milk mixture, then return mixture to saucepan and stir constantly over medium-low heat until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon, about 8 to 10 minutes. Do not allow this custard mixture to boil. (To test if the mixture coats the back of a spoon, place a spoon in the mixture. Remove and run your finger through the middle of the custard. If a clear path is left and the custard left on the spoon does not run, the mixture is ready.) Do not allow the custard mixture to boil.
Strain through a fine sieve and set custard aside to cool, stirring occasionally. (If desired, cover and refrigerate overnight.)
Gently stir strawberries and strawberry juice, lychees, and lychee syrup into custard. Transfer to an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. (Alternately, transfer to a shallow metal tray and freeze, whisking every couple hours until frozen and creamy.)
Pack ice cream into container(s). Cover tightly, label and freeze for at least 5 hours or overnight before serving.
Allow ice cream to soften at room temperature for about 15 minutes before serving.
Recipe Source: Adapted from Iced – 180 very cool concoctions by Jane Lawson, Thunder Bay Press, 2006
Food is not meant just for our dining pleasure or the nourishment of our bodies.
It’s also an artist’s tool, as evidenced by the “creations” on British photographer Carl Warner’s website. Using foods like fruit, vegetables, herbs, pasta, cheeses, breads, and dried peas and beans, Warner creates and then photographs inventive landscape scenes. His work amazes me!
Heads of cauliflower are used as clouds, mushrooms turn into stones, loaves of bread stand in for mountains, broccoli become trees, stacked pine nuts make fences, blocks of cheese are used as buildings…and so on. I’ll bet you’ll be astonished and impressed too!
I could stare at each image for a long time, awed by the creative way he has re-imagined foods to create landscapes. He calls the scenes ‘foodscapes’. Apparently, he creates and photographs the images in stages so the foods don’t wilt or dry out by time the scene is completed.
But enough chatter from me! Have a look and see what you think. Once on Warner’s site, click on the orange box labelled ‘fotographics’. The first set of images that will pop up are the ‘foodscapes’. To view each one in closer detail, click on the image.
Don’t be surprised if after viewing this amazing art, you feel like heading to the fridge – for a snack! Or maybe to work on your own piece of creative foodscaping!
Berry Banana Smoothies
When it’s too hot to cook, a thick, smooth, cold, creamy beverage can fill me up and chill me down – all at the same time!
I’ve always got the basic ingredients to make smoothies (frozen fruit and ice cream, yogurt or sherbet) in my freezer. Fresh fruit can also be used to make these creamy smooth beverages, but for a really frosty, thick drink, I prefer frozen fruit. You can freeze fruits like berries and peaches during the summer and fall when they’re in season so you have them on hand year round. Or, you can purchase bags of prepared frozen fruits.
Since I always seem to buy too many bananas and their yellow skins darken and flesh softens before we get around to eating the bunch, those that have ripened beyond my preference automatically go into the freezer. To make it easier and less messy to use them later in smoothies (or baking), and to keep them from turning brown, before they get added to the large resealable bag of frozen bananas in my freezer, I peel them and wrap each one individually in a small piece of plastic wrap.
Frozen yogurt, sherbet or ice cream will also help add thickness to a smoothie. If you don’t have any of these options on hand, but you have some yogurt in your fridge, place the required amount in a plastic container and put it in the freezer until it’s firm (about 4 hours), stirring occasionally.
You almost can’t go wrong blending ingredients to make a smoothie. And experimenting is half the fun!
Here’s the recipe for a smoothie I enjoyed last week while sitting on our deck – book in one hand, beverage in the other! (I used the last few blueberries from last season to make the smoothies.)
Berry Banana Smoothie
(Makes 2 servings)
2 cups (500 mL) milk
1 cup (250 mL) orange sherbet
1 cup (250 mL) fresh or frozen blueberries, raspberries or strawberries
1 frozen banana, cut into pieces
In a blender, combine milk, sherbet, berries and banana. Process until smooth. Pour into two tall glasses. Serve with a straw.
Variation: Instead of orange sherbet, try another fruit-flavoured sherbet or vanilla or fruit-flavoured frozen yogurt. Vanilla ice cream can be substituted too.)
Grilled Pita Pizzas
Grilled pizza on the barbecue is one of our favourite ways to prepare pizza.
Although you can grill a pizza made with a homemade pizza dough, store-bought frozen pizza dough (thawed to room temperature, of course), flatbread or even tortillas, our preference is to use whole wheat pita bread for the crust.
For a variety of good reasons. Or so we like to think.
* A pita pizza cooks quickly.
* Depending on how hungry you are, one or two pita pizzas (or more if you’re a lumberjack!) make a perfect lunch – or served with a green salad, a filling supper.
* A pita pizza is a convenient size to cut into small wedges to serve as an appetizer.
* It’s also a perfect size for making individual pizzas to suit personal tastes. In fact, we often have grilled pizza on the menu when we’re entertaining during the summer. We put out the toppings and have our guests make their own pizzas. Sure, we might be shirking our hosting responsibilities by making our company prepare their own meal. But this way, no one can complain that they don’t like their pizza. Or if they do, no one can blame the irresponsible hosts!
To make a grilled pizza, start by heating the barbecue on High. Brush one side of the pita bread with olive oil. This will help crisp and flavour the crust. Then spread on the sauce of your choice – pizza sauce, pasta sauce, sun-dried tomato pesto, a flavoured olive oil, roasted red pepper dip, a combo of hoisin and barbecue sauce (very nice when you’re putting chicken on your pizza), or vegetable-flavoured cream cheese (goes well with a veggie pizza). Think outside the pizza box a little, and use whatever “sauce” you like!
Then add the toppings of your choice. Keep in mind that the cooking time for this pizza will be short, so it’s best to slightly pre-cook hard vegetables (e.g broccoli, asparagus, sweet peppers), or at least cut them into small pieces. Unless you want a crunchy pizza, that is. Hey, you’re the pizza chef! You can make this pizza however you prefer!
Once the pizza is loaded with ingredients and the barbecue has been preheated on High, turn the heat down to medium-low. Slip the pizza on to the grill, close the barbecue and heat until the toppings are warmed through and the cheese has melted, about 5 or 6 minutes.
Pizza is served!
a Year in Niagara by Kathleen Sloan-McIntosh, Whitecap Books, 2002
After our trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake last weekend (see July 10th post), I was really pleased to find a Year in Niagara by food writer Kathleen Sloan-McIntosh (Whitecap Books, 2002) on my book shelf. Not that I didn’t know I had the book, but with the bookcases in my home office crammed with cookbooks and food magazines (and a serious case of age-related bad memory!), sometimes I need to stumble across something in order to remember I have it.
a Year in Niagara is a wonderful tribute to the foods, wines, chefs and farmers of the Niagara region. And it’s an interesting read. The book follows the seasons in the Niagara region of Ontario – month by month – highlighting foods grown in this area each month, and featuring recipes that use those foods.
This morning we picked up Ontario strawberries, asparagus and cherries at Herrle’s Country Farm Market in St. Agatha. We don’t live in the Niagara area (we’re a little over an hour away), but as I flip through a Year in Niagara, lots of the recipes intrigue me considering what’s now in the fridge. How about Warm Asparagus Salad with Watercress & Radishes in Rhubarb Riesling Dressing or Asparagus Ravioli with Basil Butter? Anyone for Lemon and Strawberry Cake with Lemon Curd Cream?
I spotted some lavender at Herrle’s and considered putting a bunch into my basket along with the fruit and aspagarus. But I didn’t and now I don’t remember why (why is that not surprising?!). I’m wishing I had purchased some so I could make Pink Lavender Lemonade or Cedar-Planked Salmon with Lavender Butter.
And these are just a few of the enticing recipes from the May and June chapters!
Then there’s July – Risotto of Grilled Summer Vegetables, Pork Ribs with Niagara Apple Ale & Mustard Glaze, Niagara Peach Wine, Watermelon Maragaritas…
I can’t wait for August…
Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL) is one of the prettiest towns in Ontario, and one of my favourite places to spend an afternoon, a day, or a weekend. With orchards, wineries and restaurants in abundance, the area is paradise for food and wine lovers. For me, the attraction is also the Shaw Festival, billed in promotional material as “one of the world’s great theatre companies”. From April to November each year, the Festival showcases plays by Bernard Shaw and other great playwrights.
After finishing up a work obligation at the Niagara Culinary Institute in NOTL last Saturday morning, Murray and I went into historic NOTL for the afternoon.
We lunched on the outdoor patio at The Epicurean Bistro where I had no trouble polishing off a grilled vegetable (eggplant, onion and sweet pepper) panini and Murray noshed on a turkey sandwich. The desserts were enticing – they included a mile-high pecan pie that looked like each slice weighed more than my miniature poodle and contained enough calories to fuel me for at least two days – but we were going for tea later in the afternoon so I refrained from indulging. I had to keep the tea in mind a few minutes later when we strolled past the large windows of the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Everything is covered in chocolate in that place, including huge apples that, after their chocolate coating, get rolled in nuts, sprinkles, smarties, marshmallows……
It was a beautiful day and the sidewalks and shops were busy with tourists. We had tickets to a matinee performance of The Little Foxes, a play by Lillian Hellman. We were happy not to have to fight the crowds for sidewalk space, or a place in the line-ups for ice cream.
The Shaw Festival has a great roster of plays again this year. The Little Foxes, which we quite enjoyed, was the third production I’ve seen of this season’s offerings. Getting Married by Bernard Shaw was also good (lots of talk, little action) as was An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestly (a great mystery and thought-provoking ending).
Prince of Wales Hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
Enjoying afternoon tea at the Prince of Wales Hotel
Victorian elegance is evident in the guest rooms at the Prince of Wales hotel.
Following the play, we headed to the Prince of Wales Hotel to enjoy Afternoon Tea in the drawing room. We had made reservations for 5 p.m. but they would not have been necessary as there weren’t many guests at that time. (Tea is served daily from noon to 6 p.m.)
I ordered the Traditional Afternoon Tea and a pot of China Green Jasmine tea and Murray had the Prince of Wales Afternoon Tea and the Golden Tippy Assam tea. Tea for one includes sandwiches, scones, dainties, preserves and cream, and a full pot of tea. Murray’s tea included a basket of assorted crackers and a plate of cheeses and fruit. It will set you back about $35.
We had stayed at the Prince of Wales for a weekend in early April as a surprise birthday destination for Murray. It’s a charming hotel, well appointed and very victorian in its decor. Not cheap, and definitely not the type of lodging we typically choose, but nevertheless, a nice change and definitely a treat.
During that visit, we dined in the Churchill Lounge (great steak and frites) and ate breakfast in the Escabeche Restaurant (the poached egg breakfast was very nice). We also ate at the Tiara Restaurant, located in one of the Prince of Wales’ sister hotels, the Queen’s Landing. The Tiara offers a tasting menu which we didn’t have time to enjoy that evening (our server suggested three hours were necessary). We put this on our list of things to do in NOTL on another visit.
As part of that weekend’s itinerary, I had booked a couples massage at the Secret Garden Spa at the Prince of Wales. Murray was not keen about having a guy as his massage therapist so I promised that if one of our therapists was male, I’d ask him to work on my sore muscles so Murray would have a female as his therapist. Unfortunately for Murray, we never discussed what to do if both therapists were guys!! You can guess how this story ends!
There’s lots to do in Niagara-on-the-Lake whether you enjoy shopping, golfing, visiting historical sights, wining, dining, or reading a book in the pretty park across from the Prince of Wales Hotel. Fun foodie stores in the historic town include Greaves Jams and Marmalades, Cheese Secrets, Pairings Specialty Food Market and Kurtz Culinary Creations.
Words to live....ah, eat by....on the walls of my kitchen.
Sadly, the Dansk Factory Outlet, a great place to pick up interesting dishes and kitchenware (and where I bought foodie signs for my kitchen last fall), was having a 50% off closing out sale. Well, nice if you were looking for a deal, but too bad the store is closing. On future trips to NOTL, I’ll be watching to see what appears in that space.
See you in NOTL some time!
A strawberry huller efficiently removes the fruit's stem and green cap.
If you want to remove strawberry caps and hulls quickly and cleanly, I recommend investing a buck or two in a strawberry huller. This small inexpensive kitchen tool, rather like a fat tweezer, will pinch off the green tops of strawberries efficiently so you don’t waste fruit or stain your fingers.
I use mine when I’m facing a large batch of strawberries that need hulling, or even just a few berries, probably because the little tool works well and is fun to use!
You should be able to find a huller almost wherever kitchen tools are sold.
What’s my favourite new piece of equipment for cooking outdoors?
Why, an “outdoor fire bowl”, as it’s so labelled on the box in which it was packaged. (There are pictures further down this post.)
When I was growing up, my family did lots of camping. I’ve roasted many a wiener and toasted many a marshmallow around many a camp fire in my day. But the fun came to a crashing halt when Murray and I made a trip to western Canada a few years after we were married. On our return, we stayed in a municipal campground in Edmonton for a night. As I recall, there were no other campgrounds in the area to choose from.
Campers were crammed onto the grounds like sardines. Our tent was pitched mere inches (okay, perhaps a couple feet) from the neighbouring campers’ fire. We could hear every word our neighbours said, and every breath they took, all night long.
This was not camping to Murray. He called it “alternative accommodations”. That night, he made a solemn vow never to camp again unless he was in a remote location, with none of the commercial accoutrements (like flush toilets, showers and other campers within too close proximity) that come with traditional camping. As I scanned his face that night (clearly visible from the glow of the flames licking at our tent), hoping he was just making a rash decision in the heat (!) of the moment, I knew he was serious. Although I was also not amused at spending the night wedged between a bonfire and another tent, I figured that never camping again was a rather drastic decision. Surely there had to be a happy medium somewhere in the camping world.
It’s been over 20 years since that fateful night. Although Murray has since done some “true camping” on fishing trips in northern Manitoba when we lived in Norway House and Cranberry Portage, Manitoba, the two of us haven’t camped together since.
One of the joys of camping I’ve really missed is the smell and sound of a campfire, and being able to roast and toast things over an open fire. Barbecues, fondues and flambes have their place, but they don’t quite provide the same ambiance or end result!
We’ve been talking about building an outdoor fire pit in our back yard for a few years now, but we’ve held off doing so for a couple reasons. For starters, we fancy ourselves to be law-abiding citizens and city bylaws haven’t allowed open fires until recently. Secondly, we want to extend our deck and figured we’d wait to put in the fire pit until that was done. Other home reno projects have somehow taken priority each summer.
This weekend we finally got tired of waiting for the deck to be redesigned. We decided to invest in an inexpensive outdoor fire bowl. Yippee! Find some matches and get out the wieners!! At long last!!!
We plunked the fire bowl in the middle of the yard on four sidewalk blocks we happened to have around. Aesthetically, the set up has left a bit to be desired. But the thought of sitting around a crackling fire quickly erased nearly all concerns about how things looked.
As luck would have it, the night the fire bowl was unveiled, we found wieners, cheese sausages and hot dog buns in the freezer, and chocolate in the cupboard. A quick trip to the store netted some graham wafers and marshmallows. We had plenty of fire wood as neighbour Dave had bequeathed a stash of it to us a while back since, sadly, he’ll be moving in a couple weeks. Neighbours Bryn and Judy were willing to help initiate the fire bowl.
Being a true camper(!), Murray knew how to make a fire. Once we had flames, the pressure was on to see if we remembered how to roast wieners and marshmallows so they actually were edible. Like riding a bike, apparently it’s a useful skill you learn for life (although admittedly, I will need a little more practice and a few more test samples before I can turn out a perfectly roasted wiener and marshmallow).
And so that night, with the sometimes ear-splitting, always rapid-fire sound of firecrackers being detonated by neighbours celebrating Canada Day ringing in my ears, I enjoyed a perfect fire and the best hot dog I’ve ever eaten (or at least in about 20 years!), followed by more than my share of gooey, sticky s’mores. (For non-campers or those without fireplaces or outdoor fire bowls – a s’more is a roasted marshmallow stuffed with a piece of chocolate and sandwiched between two graham wafers.)
We’ll be doing this again very soon!
Murray builds a fire.
Murray builds a roaring fire. (OK, it became a roaring fire soon after this picture was taken!)
Grilling cheese sausages with the rotisserie attachment for our barbecue. Note to self: buy or whittle a few more sticks for roasting wieners. This gadget more closely resembles a dangerous weapon than a cooking utensil!
There's nothing like an ooey, gooey, sticky, chocolatey s'more
Photography by Bryn Donaldson.
