Sorry!

People who've emailed me: I've read them, but have been really swamped with worked and haven't been able to find much time to reply. I'm hoping next week is better.

In good news: despite how crazy work is, being back just reminds me how great it is to work with reasonable people again. So, it's going well.

Homemade chocolate-dipped marshmallows!



I've needed to use up my bottlegreen Elderflower Cordial for longer than I care to admit, so I decided to adapt this marshmallow recipe, replacing the corn syrup component with the cordial, and omitting the vanilla. This was my second attempt at making marshmallows from scratch — the first attempt being overly dense and syrup-y — and I was hoping that the ingredient substitution in this instance created a more satisfying final product.

The resultant marshmallows were satisfyingly light and gooey, but the fact that the cordial is as old as it is resulted in a strong citrus taste from the relatively increased citric acid content in a slightly-evaporated cordial. Nonetheless, the citrus seemed like it would pair nicely with chocolate, so tonight I hand-dipped my marshmallows in melted, dairy-free chocolate chips.

For the record: they're yummy.

Tomorrow's baon



Homemade sushi bento,
made with:

• organic brown rice and seasoned rice vinegar


• vac-packed unagi


• store-bought, pre-made inari


• homemade tamago-yaki, using four drops of stevia extract in place of the sugar (it still wasn't sweet enough)


• the pièce de résistance, a smoked salmon maki with nori, cucumber and avocado

Helluva talent

A Week in Review
Culinary Edition

Dairy-free chocolate mousse ice cream with candied kumquats and a sprig of mint

• Non-dairy chocolate mousse ice cream, using up the chocolate from the Cashew Butta Twixt, plus 7(!) whole eggs, two 500mL soy creamers, about 1 tbsp. of sugar and some sea salt


• Rice paper wrapped fresh spring rolls with smoked salmon, alfalfa sprouts, cucumber, yellow bell pepper strips, baby spinach and mayonnaise


• Thai green veggie curry made with coconut milk, a pre-bottled green curry paste, minced garlic, (Assi brand) fish sauce, pureed ginger, a frozen veggie mix (containing broccoli, carrots, red peppers, green beans, mushrooms and baby corn), king oyster mushrooms, bamboo shoots, yellow onion and snow peas

Another, another day...
...another dollar

Well, it looks like I've taken the plunge back into the world of full-time freelancing (an oxymoron, obviously). After having spent most of the past week experiencing mild anxiety at returning to contract work, the fact that I was going back to a familiar 2-month gig with familiar co-workers (7 of the 8 full-time team members I worked with last time are still here) was a great relief. I'm pleased to report that I got along well with everybody the last time I was here, and find that I'm doing so again.

That said, it's been an adjustment to jump back into the same project, at a different point in the project's timeline. I'm also finding that, coming up with solutions to problems I'm encountering provides me with a a strong sense of deja vu, until I realize that I've already developed the exact same solutions to the exact same problems, just 3 short years ago.

It's also been surreal to be with familiar co-workers, but in a completely new environment. Apparently, the company changed offices over the summer from the building I was originally in — in the Yorkville neighbourhood, — to the environs of Queen & University. The huge upside being that I've got a wealth of lunchmates to meet up with while I'm here, the downside being that I'm still largely unfamiliar with how to get around in this neck of the woods.

The last time I worked here, I found it stressful to try to balance last-minute overtime with an active social calendar, but I'm optimistic that the lull in my social life which has come about in recent years will make it easier this time out.

First homemade meal of the New Year

Matt had been craving lasagna, so I made one with:

• homemade, fresh pasta made with organic all-purpose flour, half "regular" eggs and half "Nature's Best" eggs and sea salt


• canned, crushed organic tomatoes


• 3 organic onions, chopped


• slightly less than one head of garlic, minced


• organic beef, ground, seasoned with salt and pepper


• goat cheese, seasoned with an Italian a "Provencal" herb blend


• buffalo mozzarella

I'm told that the goat cheese is well-balanced by the other ingredients.

I also combined and modified these two recipes to create Cashew Butta Twixt, which I've yet to sample (curses, foiled again by chocolate setting time!)

Finally, I'm making Candied Kumquats with the vast quantities of kumquats I was able to grab at the Chinese supermarket two weekends ago.

Maybe tomorrow I'll get around to making myself baon, even.