Frantic meal turned fabulous

Dissertation countdown: 17 days. After working on campus today (Sunday!) until 8 pm, we came home frantically hungry and a little bit cranky. We wanted food on the table and fast! Joe and I usually play tag team in the kitchen when we cook together - I contribute my dish then bow out and he contributes his. On the menu for this evening were turkey burgers and Veggies in a Thai curry, but we were too hungry to wait for the rice to cook so we decided to do the meal in two course. I threw some ground turkey in with a little finely chopped red onion, fresh cilantro and parsley, minced garlic, fresh ground pepper and sea salt and a beaten egg. While that was all cooking I sliced up some really ripe tomato and laid it out on a plate with some drizzled olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper. The piece de resistance (sp?) was this incredible orange ginger mustard from the mustard stand at the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto. Oh my god good. So good actually that we kind of forgot about the veggies cooking on the stove in Thai curry and that kind of all went to mush. (We were so hungry we ate it anyway). I have to say, the burgers were good enough that we didn't mind the spoiled course number two. The glasses of French Sauvignon Blanc probably helped with that too. It's funny how a little good food, wine and company helps put the stress of work back into perspective. Joe commented that the color didn't turn out right on the food and doesn't really do it justice. I'm inclined to agree. I guess we have a lot to learn about taking pictures of food (or pretty much anything). I suppose you'll just have to take our word for it that the food looked beautiful.

Summer Fruit

We topped some fresh berries, nectarine, mangos, and bananas with plain greek yogurt and a drizzle of local honey. This was made back in June at the height of strawberry season. Greek yogurt is really incredible (I always get the Fage brand) - it's thick like custard and doesn't have the sourness of a lot of American yogurts. I love these dishes. We got them as a wedding present from our good friends Paul and Deena. There are four in the set and each one is different. Unfortunately, one broke last time we used them, but I'd rather have enjoyed them fleetingly than have never enjoyed them at all. My mom get a set of china for her wedding and in the 22 years that my parent's were married, I recall my mom using those dishes once. She always said they were too nice to use and so they sat in a box in the unused portion of the basement collecting dust. I wish my mom had gotten more enjoyment out of them while my parents were still married.