Manufacturing Content

Mmm…. Cupcakes…

Following the ongoing theme that is being explored in recent posts, here’s another story about why K is an awesome wife.

I found out last Monday that I would need to bring food in for our office Halloween Party, or our “Fright-oriented non-specific, and certainly not satanic, gathering” – for the sensitive.  With every intention of baking, I emailed K at work to ask her for the recipe for this great pumpkin loaf she made a few weeks ago.  I like to don an apron and shmush my hands in floury dough every so often.

So, I get home after work to find her in the middle of cooking up a storm which included puff-pastry topped chicken-pot-pie. Upon further inspection, I noticed that she had cupcakes in the oven, and her mom’s famous home-made icing in the mix-master.

The end result was cupcakes topped with orange-coloured icing and green icing stems sticking out from the centre – little cupcake pumpkins.

“This kicks-ass, K,” I told her.

“Oh, it wasn’t anything special.  The icing was so simple and the cupcakes are routine.  And I really wanted to eat one, so it was a bit selfish of me.”  As it turns out I married a woman for whom making two-dozen cupcakes for my co-workers is a selfish act.

“But they’re soooo good!” I pushed on.  “The icing especially.”

“It’s nothing, I just mixed in a bit of vanilla, lemon, and cinnamon.  You know, regular home-made icing…”

Of course, the first empty tray at the “Fright-oriented non-specific, and certainly not satanic, gathering” held her cupcakes.

D.

Turkey for Thanksgiving

You know, I’ve never properly had a Thanksgiving turkey dinner.  Sure, there have been close calls such as Pietro’s noble attempt at student cooking in ’05, which will be forever known as the “pureed potatoes incident”. 

Not that I’m complaining, mind you. 

Thanksgiving dinner in my childhood home was always a culinary adventure, and I would inevitable show up to school on Tuesday morning with envy-inspiring stories of “duck a l’orange” or “braised lamb”, owing to the fact that a) we were a family of four, and cooking a whole turkey would mean eating leftover turkey for weeks and b) my dad’s a Swiss chef, and “turkey and gravy with all the fixins” is just not in his repertoire. 

I merely bring it up as a moderately clever segue into the best Turkey experience ever.  In fact, even the Thanksgiving part is merely incidental.  What I’m really trying to say here is that the best Thanksgiving turkey ever was actually honeymoon in Turkey. 

Dinner on said occasion was chicken, stuffed peppers, tuna casserole, salad, and a variety of melons for desert, prepared by the crew of our Turkish Mediterranean cruise, enjoyed in the company of two other Canadian couples, and one Turkish economist.  Over delicious Effes beers, we gave thanks to being on a sunny boat cruise instead of in the rainy fall of Canada, then we probably talked politics for a few hours before falling asleep to the gentle rocking of the boat on the calmest, clearest water in the world.

I had visited Turkey before, at the tail-end of my “Finding Myself European Tour 2001”.  At 5 am this morning, when jet-lag woke me up, I re-read my old travel-journal entries from my time in Turkey.  It’s incredible how much a country can change in seven years. 

But equally incredible is how much a person can change.  And for that, for finding my wife, and finding new strengths in myself through her, I am thankful.

D.

How to cure a summer cold

Step one: Antibacterial system overload
The more foreign substances you ingest, the stronger your immune system will be against the onslaught of the common cold.  Suggested substances include, but are not limited to: beer, wine, and Pas Slush.  Dosages vary upon time of day and proximity to more of the selected substance.  As a general rule, with a higher alcohol content the antibiotic properties increase, so seek out that forgotten bottle tequila in the back of the cupboard if the cold is particularly nasty.

Step two: O2 cleansing
Spend as much time as possible outside, preferably in proximity to water, sand, canoes, badminton sets, watermelons, and a good book.  A day at the beach is a perfect way to maximize the O2 levels, while minimizing stress, car exhaust, and tempting nearby fast food.

Step three: Nutrient influx and chemical reduction (combined)
A diet of organic, locally grown produce, mixed with whatever else happens to be available in your house, create a perfect influx of nutrients and reduction of chemical by-products.  Suggestions: locally grown broccoli with Cheese-Whiz, homemade cupcakes with super-rich icing, and eating red swiss chard raw with sugar because you thought it was rhubarb.

Step four: A good night’s sleep
‘Nuff said.

D.

Cookin’ up a storm

Despite having a chef for a Dad for the last twenty-six years, and spending at least ten of those years working in restaurants, I’ve never been able to call myself a whiz in the kitchen.  Sure, I can make a mean cheese fondue (about thirty-three percent of the time), and I know my way around a package of Sidekicks, and while I may be able to stir-fry anything in the fridge into a meal fit for a bachelor (every tried stir fried veggies and pork with VH Szechuan sauce, Franks red-hot, and melted cheese on top?  Mmmm!), the fact is that I’m not a bachelor. 

K learnt long ago that the shorted path to a man’s heart - besides “directly through his chest cavity” – is down his throat, and it was high time I reciprocated.

The thing about chefs, even those who – like my Dad – spent years teaching the art, is that they are fiercely territorial about their kitchen space. 

So the rare time when my old man would strap on his apron, don his white hat, and sharpen his knives to make the special Christmas ‘duck a l’orange’ or whatever we were being treated to, never resulted in a learning opportunity.  It was usually more along the lines of:

“Can I help, Paw?”

“Sure son, chop these onions, then stand in the corner and watch while I proceed to do a bunch of things that are too complicated to show you.  And stay out of the way.  That goes for your sister too.”

No wonder she turned vegetarian, joined not long after by my mom.

For Christmas this year, my parents finally got me some proper cooking lessons at a fantastic local cooking school / dining experience here in Ottawa.  I’ve taken two classes at the Urban Element, and both have been out of this world.

The first was themed: Bistro Favourites, and involved the preparing of steak frites, lardon salad, and apple tart-like desert.  The second, called Bruce’s Favourites, involved foie gras (an acquired taste that you need to be able to stomach before you can stomach it), venison prepared two ways, and gingerbread loaf.  For about $90, you get a four course meal prepared with only the best and freshest ingredients, about three glasses of wine (more if you drink fast!) and an invaluable amount of advice and instruction.

Not only do you learn how to make the food – how to chop shallots properly, crush garlic, mix batter, squeeze potatoes, etc… - but you also get an inside scoop on local producers and small specialty shops that you would never have heard of.  You learn about nutrition, fats and oils, and wine pairing.  You also get to take home the recipes and impress your fiancé with your cake making skills.

All that to say that if you love food and want a night out that is more than just dinner in a restaurant, give this place a try.  But sign up early, classes fill fast!

D.