Happy New Year everyone! Between work, nurition school, and culinary school, 2009 just flew by! I hope 2010 is a great year for everyone and I’m very excited for it. As you guys probably know, the 2010 Olympics are being held in Vancouver/Whistler, so I am thrilled at the thought of spending a couple weeks in this BUSY city during that time. I can also look forward to graduating from culinary school and also getting my Registered Holistic Nutritionist (RHN) diploma in 2010! Aside from that, I have no plans …

I love Japanese food and I go out for Japanese food almost weekly. There are some great local sushi places that are super cheap and produce great food- I’m addicted. Some of my favourites are the crab miso soup, gomae (spinach in a peanut dressing), sunomono salad, california rolls, spider rolls (sushi with deep fried soft shell crab in it) and sesame broccoli salad. Instead of going out tonight (the Canucks are playing, I can’t miss that!) I decided to stay in and create a Japanese inspired meal of my …

Hello everyone! It’s been a little while since my last post and at last….something NOT pumpkin! After making a New England style clam chowder in my cooking class, I wanted to try to make MY version at home so I could actually taste it- sans pork, and chicken stock. I used vegetable stock with a bit of fish sauce mixed in because I could not find fish stock. The soup turned out fantastic, though not quite as thick as the one we made in school, the flavour was very nice …

I love fish and although I am a vegetarian, I still eat seafood. It’s just what works best for me- I have tried being vegan, tried different forms of vegetarianism and have found that having access to fish and seafood as a protein source works well for me. I love halibut but I find it has very little flavour. I wanted to kick things up a notch with a great asian-inspired flavour. It turned out fabulous, especially for having no recipe or measurements. (I’ll try to estimate how much of …

When you’re in need of a light meal, salad seems to be the number one option. I say, why not add a little protein to boost your energy and make that small meal last. I love a good salad with some sort of seafood- prawns, crab, calamari. In this case, I chose a recipe for a spinach salad with scallops. The baby spinach is delicate enough to be used with scallops. A crunchy romaine would not go well with this. I also added in some arugula for it’s peppery taste. …

I’m not going to lie…..I don’t feel like using an oven the past few days. I sit here sweating, but ready to blog. The temperatures in the Vancouver area have been OFF THE CHARTS lately. We are setting records left and right, and let’s just say that none of us here are used to 35-40 degree weather. At least I’ve been getting a ton of use out of my pool! That’s why I only wanted a dinner that would take a couple minutes to make in my boiling house. A …

Kaeng Khiaw-Waan Kai…or Green Curry with Chicken for those of us who are struggling with their Thai language skills is an absolute must-try meal. When I first arrived in Thailand, I ate a lot of Pad-Thai and stir-fried vegetables or seafood until I discovered this winner. I can’t count how many times I ate this dish over the course of my five weeks in Thailand- I couldn’t get enough! This curry varied from restaurant to restaurant and I tried some with purely vegetable ingredients, and others that had seafood from …

This is the first recipe from my February Cookbook of the Month. The prawns I happened to use were GIGANTIC. They were meaty and beautiful. This recipe was incredibly easy, the longest task was peeling, deveining and butterflying the prawns. The cooking takes no time at all. These prawns taste sweet, tangy, and garlicky. If you’re easing yourself into Thai food, give these a try!
Stir-Fried Garlic Prawns (Kung Phat Kra-Tiam)

500g ( 1lb 2oz) large raw prawns
18-20 coriander (cilantro) root, roughly chopped
4-5 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
10 black peppercorns
1 tablespoon light soy …

This was an absolutely delicious recipe from the Cookbook of the Month (Giada’s latest). It seems like several things to make but it’s quite easy. The pea puree is one of the best flavours I have tasted recently. It was an extremely refreshing flavour, especially for the middle of winter and I would definately use it in other dishes. The lemon brodetto was nice, but I felt the salmon and the pea puree were all that were needed for a great dish. I served these with Orzo Stuffed Peppers (which …