r&r

this week i watched the kale grow.

it's official, i took a few days off. i mentioned in the blog last week that i was thinking of doing it & i actually did. it's been pretty sweet, a little too sweet actually, i could really get used to this whole 'not working' business... fear not though. i've already ordered a bunch of fresh spring chicken from shani's farm to fuel my concoctions next week.

but this week has been dedicated to sitting/lying down, gardening, hiking, dancing, catan, single-handedly fuelling the downtown economy with my shopping addiction, watching terrible movies & eating copious quantities of pad thai. the weather has been a bit of a bummer but it definitely made it easier to fully embrace my commitment to sloth. it also gave me plenty of time to think up new menu ideas.

the experimentation begins this week with the salads. i've been having a bit of a quinoa quandary of late. i'm a little bored of making it every week, but it is the most popular salad i make. i just wanted a fun, new flavour profile & i think i've got it. my buddy shelagh at the market is pretty into food & we spend slow sundays discussing flavours & ideas. she's told me a few times about this african peanut soup that i absolutely must try & i thought i'd like to try out similar flavours in the quinoa salad this week.

this week's quinoa salad will have toasted peanuts, grated carrots, jicama & celeriac, snap peas, cilantro, lime, garlic, ginger and a mild curry dressing. it remains vegan, gluten-free, there's tons of texture & bright summery flavours - thanks shelagh.

the potato salad is also getting a makeover this week. it's taking on more of a nicoise theme. so there's olives, fennel, capers, cherry tomatoes, green beans, basil, arugula & a sundried tomato dressing. i'm still on the fence about adding hard-boiled eggs but in the end i'll probably wind up keeping it vegan & eating the eggs myself.

the bean salad & the sweet potato salad will be identical to last week. the sweet potato salad was quite a hot commodity last weekend. i think at least 7 market vendors had one for lunch on saturday & i sold out pretty quick. this week i'm making a larger batch, but make sure to pop by early if you've got your heart set on a particular flavour - or you can always tweet in an order...

today is baking day. of course the day that the sun comes out, i have to work my tail off. i'm running with the same selection i've had the past couple of weeks & i've replaced the dinner rolls with cheddar cornbread muffins one a full time basis if you need to start your day with something a little more on the savoury side.

ok time to power through this baking. maybe just maybe i can make it to the zumba-thon or the one life surf party tonight. finger crossed...

ps: the freezers are still stocked with all of the main courses i had last week. the selection of smalls is dwindling quite rapidly but there's plenty of larges. a full menu is in last week's blog post.