occasionally it feels as though summer has arrived in prospect village, and when it does, it's fabulous. i harvested all of my rhubarb, bought some cherry tomatoes and fennel at the market & just sort of experimented in the kitchen last week.
that's the beauty of summer - things are in season, there's selection, wicked variety & everything is just delicious. the tomatoes made their way into a quinoa salad, rhubarb is in cupcakes & also in the freezer for some 'special-request wedding cupcakes' in late august, the fennel made a bright & refreshing slaw & it was all fab.
when i decided to quit my jobs & move home to start this thing up - one of the main draws was the proximity to the ocean. being stuck in the city, in a hot kitchen, sweaty & angry is not how i like to spend my summers. seriously, cooking on the line in 40 degree weather is not fun. being back here means i can take quick breaks & they're not in a parking lot but instead i can jump in the ocean or go for a hike...
yeah - that's my hood.
summer also means i can embrace the beauty of bbq. i love bbq!
i was on a food network show called road grill. it was a wee bit cheesy... to say the least... but i sure learned a lot. previously i was just accustomed to burgers, dogs, steak & chicken breasts... but now i can rotisserie, smoke & indirect cook.
which means i can now bbq any cut of meat or poultry. off-cuts of meat are the most flavourful, however they do require more effort than a premium cut - but so, so worth it. this week was pulled pork - aka a pork shoulder or blade roast. i got mine from getaway farm/meat mongers in the market - cut to order & totally radical.
buy your meat local. it tastes a bajillion times better!
these bad boys make a mean pulled pork sandwich. they're buttermilk biscuits, loaded up with parmesan cheese. i love foxhill 'parmesran' cheese (parmesan has now gone the way of chamagne - appellation controlee). it has a sharp bite coupled with a great meltability - totally uncharacteristic of a parmigiano reggiano - but really great to cook with... check it out.
this past weekend was also perhaps the craziest cupcake insanity of all time.
this is only round 1 - i think i went through about 3 kilos of frosting this weekend...
thankfully, i have a friend in town - she loves to bake & she's the twisted chef. this week we are concocting a fanciful lime inspired baking explosion - i'm so stoked!
ok time to start the cycle again - plan, shop, bake, package, clean.... and on & on again.
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