Monday 18 May 2020

Revival under Covid19 Self Isolation

THE MASTER SOURDOUGH RECIPE




It's definitely a new world since my last post. Life has changed considerably and even now is changing daily. I've decided to restart writing this because I find that it's a cool way to track where I was at a point in time - kind of like a snapshot of my own personal history. So, here it is.


On Thursday, March 12 we were told that we would be working from home for an indeterminate amount of time starting on Friday, March 13. As of Friday it has been 9 weeks of this "shelter in place" new normal. Prior to last week, I hadn't left the house other than to get groceries...about 5 times.

I have been trying to create balance despite not leaving the 500 square feet of my humble little abode. Working out thanks to gyms like Oxygen Yoga and their amazing workouts on their Facebook Oxygen Everywhere page, Zwift rides on my bike which is on the indoor trainer and working out with my mom from a far doing Zumba with a few different instructors.

My amazing cousin gave me a sourdough starter at the beginning of the 7 weeks (one of my trips outside) and so I've been baking pretty much non-stop as well. I thought it would be a good idea to start recording some of the recipes that I've been making so that I have a record of this moving forward and many of my friends who have gotten starters have something to refer to if they want to make some of the recipes I've made along the way.

Starting with the standard recipes for the loaves of sourdough I've been making

The Cheese Board Collective 
The Cheese Board Collective is a co-operative based in Berkley, California. On my last visit to California I dragged my family on a "tour" of co-operatives in the Bay Area including both the Cheese Board and Arizmendi Bakeries around town. Opened in 1967 and was sold to its workers in 1971 forming a workers co-operative. My mom and god mother speculate that this is the same store they used to venture to when they were roommates before it grew into its new space.

1) Adapated from The Cheese Board Collective Master Sourdough recipe and the original recipe I got from my cousin

Make sure to read the whole recipe and the recipe for the bread you are making.

Preparation time through the first rise: 5 hours
(unless rising overnight); active time: 45 mins
4 cups (450 g) all purpose flour
1/2 cup (50 g) whole wheat flour, spelt etc.
1 1/2 cups (100 -125g) sourdough starter
1 1/4 cup (320 g) room temperature water (I usually pre-boil water and then let it cool)
1 TBSP + 1 tsp sea salt (the Cheese Board recipe calls for kosher salt)

Mix flour and water together and let stand for 10 mins
Add sourdough starter
Let rest for another 20 mins
After 20 mins fold dough and then let sit for another 20 mins (repeat this step 4 times) then let sit for 2 additional hours.

Adapted from the The Cheese Board Collective City Bread
Using 1 Master Sourdough recipe

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and split into 2 pieces. Gently form each piece into a loose round and cover with a floured kitchen towel. Let rest for 10 minutes.

Shape the dough into large rounds. Flour the inside of 2 proofing baskets, seam side up, or seam side down on a floured pan). I don't have proofing baskets so I just form my rounds and let them rise on the prepared parchment and floured cookie sheet. Let rise for 4-5 hour - until a finger pressed into the dough leaves an impression.

15 mins before the loaves have finished rising I put a shallow roasting pan on the bottom rack.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees F

Slash the tops of the loaves in whatever design you want - I've done everything from flowers to a baby (for a friends baby shower drop off). Be creative!

Pour 1/2 cup cold water into a measuring cup and add enough ice cubes to bring the volume to 1 cup...if you don't have ice - just make sure the water is really cold. I often just put the water in the freezer while I'm doing the final preparations on the loaves. Place the pan in the oven. Pour the cold water into the pan and close the oven door quickly to maintain a steamy environment for the bread.

Bake for 5 minutes, then prepare another round of ice water and repeat the process.

Bake for 15 mins then rotate the pan

Total baking time, depending on your oven, should be around 45 minutes, or until the bread is a deep brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Monday 17 September 2012

A SkyGarden Culinary Adventure - Gnocchi and Pesto with Chef Hubertus Surm



About our Chef : Hubertus Surm was the founding chef for Isadora's restaurant in the early 80's on Granville Island. Isadora's was Vancouver's first cooperative restaurant and ran successfully for 20 years.  Hubertus moved to Saturna Island 14 years ago and established a small cafe serving local, innovative cuisine.  He also produces his GoNuts burger (a vegetarian walnut burger) on Saturna and distributes it to the mainland (can be found at Whole Foods, Capers, etc.)


Gnocchi

Potatoes - boiled with skins on and then pealed
note: choose potatoes with a lower starch content eg. Yukon Gold
Approximately 1 cup of flour

Let the potatoes cool, then peel.  Press the peeled potatoes through a potato ricer into a bowl.  Combine flour with potatoes until you have a moist, dough like consistency (note: should still be a little sticky)
Roll the dough into a ball.  Cut the ball into 4s to make a more manageable piece.
Take one of the 4 pieces and roll into a “sausage”.  Cut the “sausage” into 1 ½” pieces.  Roll each 1 ½” piece with a fork to give it a nice texture.  Repeat for the remaining 3 pieces of dough.

Cooking




Drop into boiling water until the pieces float then remove with a slotted spoon.
Pesto
½ c olive oil
A few cloves of garlic (2)
3 Tbsp pine nuts
2 c washed basil
½ cup parmesan
3 Tbsp butter

Combine all ingredients in a food processor.  Serve.

To Freeze: Combine olive oil, garlic, pine nuts and basil and freeze. To serve thaw and combine with parmesan and butter

Note: You can also substitute the basil with other ingredients such as Kale and pecans, roast peppers, cilantro, garlic scapes etc.

Gorgonzola Sauce
1 c whipping cream
Gorgonzola
3 Tbsp butter

Combine in a saucepan to make a delicious sauce

Tuesday 13 December 2011

December Vacation - Week 1

Ok ok so I know that some of you are tired of hearing about me being on vacation, but get over it!  I work for Vancity and there is a reason why it is a top place to work ;-)

Vacation Week 1


Hooper-Taylor Christmas Decorating


I started my vacation by spending the evening with Lisa and Bill getting all ready for Christmas!   Bill and Lisa had already setup their beautiful tree, but we made it multicultural by adding Christmas Crackers, chocolate ornaments and orange crush candy canes.

The beautiful Hooper-Taylor Christmas Tree
Bill got to have his first Christmas Cracker ever, and the puzzle from inside kept him quiet and busy for about 20 mins afterwards!
Bill opens his first Christmas Cracker!
Bill then decorated stockings for his little family!  Even baby Taylor got one!
Lisa, Bill and Baby!
The whole while we watched Adam Sandler's 8 Crazy Nights.  I love this movie!  It is super cute and is great for getting you in the holiday spirit whether it be Christmas, Hanukkah or whatever.

U.S.A. Christmas Shopping!
Perhaps one of the most dangerous things I have ever done in my life is shop with Lisa!  Ok, that is not saying that I don't take risks or do exciting things, but...have you seen Lisa and I shop?!  It can be very scary!  We could definitely be professional shoppers with the speed and ease that we find sales ;-).

We set a clear focus for the day - Christmas Shopping and Charlia's Trainers - and we headed down to the Seattle Premium Outlets at 6am.  We crossed the Aldergrove/Lynden border in about 10 mins and talked to a hilarious border guard inside when we stopped to get Lisa's visa then were off on our way. (Lisa don't forget you still have it!!).

We were fairly successful at the outlet - I bought a lot of new work clothes at Banana Republic...oops I thought it was supposed to be Christmas shopping...anyways I did manage to pick up some presents, but you will have to wait to find out what they are.

After our excursion we headed across the highway for some food DJ's Barbecue which had been recommended to us by the US border guard.  The food was huge, but delicious!  They had a lot of different types of sauces and Lisa and I sampled them all!

All of the Different BBQ Sauces at DJ's Barbecue
Liddell Christmas Open House
Sunday saw Ryan and I working/enjoying 8+ hours at the Liddell open house/Renate's birthday.  It was great because we got to see a lot of old friends including Terry and Phil, Jean and Mike, and DOM and Donna.  
Ryan helps prepare some appies
We then cooked a ham for Renate's birthday...or should I say Jean Lewis helped us prepare Lizzie's ham.  The ham was amazing!  We poured a can of gingerale over it and then covered it in aluminium foil and cooked it for 2hrs at 300 degrees as advised by our friendly, neighbourhood butcher ;-).  It was super delicious and we will definitely be repeating it soon!

Whistler - Trip 1
Monday after viewing the Kimpton - a boutique apartment building just off of Lonsdale with Ryan's parents we headed up to Whistler for trip 1.  We headed into the village and picked up Dup's Burritos.  It was Ryan's first experience with Dup's but I still couldn't convince him to have a Phatty ;-).   

The View from the Smiley's Whistler Home
The Lights in Whistler Village

On Tuesday, Ryan had a lot of work to do around the house so I headed into the village for a ski lesson!  I signed up for the adult 4x4 lessons and had a great instructor Ed Jones, originally from Saskatchewan, but lives in Black Tusk where he often does work for our family friends the Ferry's.  The lesson was a great way to get reoriented to the mountain!  There was a guy from Miami and a couple from the UK and me in the lesson and it ran from 9:45 to 3 o'clock with a half an hour break for lunch.  
My Ski Group

View from the Moutainside


We had dinner at the Garibaldi Lift co. Bar & Grill. The food was great and I love the atmosphere there!


Tuesday 29 November 2011

A Weekend Out With The Girls

She shoots she scores...or at least gets an assist!  

On Friday night I was treated to a delicious meal by Chef Taylor while we watched the new Pirates of the Carribean movie.  I thought it was a great bit of swashbuckling fun arr, and who can resist a movie with Johnny Depp in it?!

After the movie - and a brief interlude talking to Donna, Phil, Charlia and the gang - I headed out to UBC for the first hockey game of the season.  I love playing hockey!  One of these days I am going to do a skills and drills session and get better, but in the interim I can still skate (and stop gracefully) even if I do miss the puck.
Hockey Girls!
Grr!  Tara Williams - Hockey Player

The Cross Check Chicks - Check them out!
Saturday Adventures
On Saturday I bought my brand new ski stuff which I hope to try out very soon! Then I had a 4 hour nap - I guess I was tired ;-)  After my nap I joined Kristina, Karen, and Patti for a night out.  We went to the opening night of La Cage Aux Folles at the Vancouver Playhouse.  It was a great performance!  I would say that it is the best play I have seen there yet!  The two leads David Marr who played Georges and Greg Armstrong-Morris who played Albin had incredible chemistry and the music has kept me singing the songs every morning since!  If you are looking for I would definitely recommend seeing it!
Les Cagelles and Zaza
After the performance we headed to Chambar for some drinks and snacks.  Kristina and I have both wanted to go there for a really long time but never had an opportunity to, so this was a wonderful excuse!  We started with some drinks - or at least Kristina and Patti did ;-) The drinks looked amazing!

We Les Tapas
Pork Shoulder and Trotter croquettes, fresh herb mimosa.  Baby purple artichokes, white anchovies & almond rillette.  Buffalo mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes & Olive tapenade.

It was delicious!

We then broke down and ordered desert.  Craftily named Le Camping.  This delectable creation was Graham cracker ice cream, salted chocolate cremeux and toasted meringue.  Take a look

Karen attempts to attack La Camping
We all agreed that next time we will all need to order our own La Camping...either that or go there and order one for ourselves and one for our friends who conveniently don't show up ;-)

Thanks for a great weekend girls!

Tuesday 1 November 2011

Halloween Part Deux

Wow what a weekend!  From a brilliant Made in China concert to a very soggy race to Bert and Ernie stealing the show - no wonder I am ready for the next weekend already!

Friday - Sylvia's Birthday Jam Party


Rosie the Riveter visited Sylvia's Birthday Jam Party where Made in China were playing.  The vocal stylings of Mario Rea were incredible!  Who knew that with that rockstar hair came a rockstar voice?!  Kris where have you been hiding this talent?!  Made in China were excellent!  This modern Partridge family band are definitely ones to watch!  The mad bass moves of Karen Parusel and the brass rockings of Kristina Parusel were out of this world!  (Pher, Sandy and Guy were pretty good too ;-)).
Lead Trumpet Player - Kristina Parusel - You Go Girl!

There were some pretty cool costumes out that evening including Ed in a feather mask
Ed in a feather mask
Hansee and John as the farmer's daughter and...Hitler??
The Farmer's Daughter and...Hitler??
I wish I got a picture of Harmony's outfit - she was a puck bunny in a Calgary jersey...

Karen and Franklin the Rat
The rat still freaks me out in this picture
A couple of crazy pirates...arr

Saturday - Moving Day
I helped a couple of friends move on Saturday to a really great location...only got a couple of bruises but it was worth it.  We are now rid of the ghosts just in time for Halloween!

Sunday - Race Day!
Thanks to Sara I committed to running the James Cunningham Seawall race.  Sara and Paul came fully decked out in costume!  What good sports (I ditched the costume for waterproof running gear and it seems so did Dawn).  Jackie and Gail also ran the race.  My official time was 1:02:10.67 a personal best for a 9.5k race.  My last 10km race was 1:04:40 so I would have been almost  minute faster!
Springs!
Awe!  Running Millers in Costume
Monday - Halloween Day
I went decked out in costume to work.  Even though I barely left my desk I still got a few comments.  What do you think of my costume?

Tara as Rosie the Riveter
So believe it or not many people do not know who Rosie the Riveter is or who she stands for, including my boss, so I had to do some education with the costume but it was worth it.  I decided to dress as Rosie the Riveter in honour of my grandmother who was a riveter during the 2nd World War.

I took Bert and Ernie over to my friends and people actually stood outside their apartment and took pictures of them!

I love halloween and I can't wait until next year.  The only thing that was missing was the usual pyromaniac semantics of the Thomson clan :-)

Thursday 27 October 2011

Halloween Pt 1

So yesterday evening commenced the beginning of what promises to be a crazy Halloween weekend!  Last night I hollowed out my pumpkin in preparation for the Vancity HR Pumpkin Carving contest - an annual event of which Compensation has won the title several years in a row.
I love hallowing out pumpkins!

This year the Comp team chickened out, but luckily the Systems team still loves me and allowed me to carve with them.  Check out our amazing creations!
Bert & Ernie say Boo!
Hopefully we win!  The other teams did a great job of carving their pumpkins too.
The ER Good Money Pumpkin and the R&WFP Hedgehog
BDBR's Bad Money
Along with the pumpkin carving contest we had a huge feast with lots of yummy goodness!  My contribution was Caramel Corn made from scratch.  Here is the recipe courtesy of the Sing for your Supper and You'll Get Your Breakfast Blog.  This is a blog written by an opera singer from Dallas, Texas.  The recipe seemed to be a big hit!


Caramel Corn - Yum Yum!



Caramel Corn
6 quarts popped corn (I used about a cup and a half of un-popped popcorn) 
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Cook brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla. Pour over popcorn and stir to coat. Place popcorn in a large roasting pan or spread out over two baking sheets lined with greased foil. Bake, stirring every 15 minutes for about 45 minutes. Caramel corn will be crunchy (with no sogginess) when done. Let cool and break into pieces. Makes enough to serve a large crowd- approximately 10-12 people.



Thursday 20 October 2011

Friends not Food

Tonight is a night worthy of a blog post, one that is not about food, but about friends.  Yesterday I attended an EAP session at work entitled "Maintaining Your Positive Outlook".  What I took away from it is to be grateful for every little good thing in your life.  So - in the spirit of self wellness here is my list of 10 things that I am grateful for.

1) Mel G and the Specialists - who "imagined all the people living life in peace" while recording their first album which is destined for diamond status!  I always knew we were Rockstar's now we actually even have our own cd!
This photo is missing Whitney but it includes Mel G - our fearless lead vocalist, Harjit Pierce and Gail
2) The health and safety of L&B - luv you guys!
3) Sista K who rocked it tonight both in the studio and on the dance floor!
4) My family - all of you, the Williams', Quans, Cabalzar's and Reyer's, the Smiley's/Liddell's/Skelton's, the Hooper's (and Bill), JB, KP and Mamma Parusel and the Calder/Thomson clan
5) My iPhone which is surgically attached to my hand and is really a living breathing thing...ok that might have sounded slightly crazy ;-)
6) A brilliant place to work with incredible people who support me

7) Scotar Jackmun and Greg who drive me crazy like family sometimes but are always there when I need them!
We missed the Mun of the Scotar Jackmun!
8) Chocolate!  Let's be honest here does chocolate really need an explanation?
9) The ability to record a cd with Sam P and the Jets - I watched the video!  It is amazing!

Sam P and the Jets
10) My runners and my healthy knee!