Corn Tortillas in Ottawa

So unless anyone can direct me otherwise, finding fresh(ish) soft corn tortillas in ottawa is impossible. You can get frozen packs from herb n spice and they are very affordable. However, a recent awesome puchase of a book called Tacos parlayed to avoid frozen corn tortillas at all cost. It also seemed to indicate making your own isn't so bad... so i decided to try it!

And it is easy, theres just a few things you need, and some investment involved.


A skillet i believe is key. I bought cast iron as it has the best heat distribution (and i've always wanted one). And they're not nearly as expensive as other stainless steel or fancy nonstick pans (this 12" was 50$ from Grace).



Masa mix. This is basically ground white corn with a bit of preservative (calcium hydroxide in mr gouda, lime in the maseca brand). I used the goudas, but wasn't sure if it was stale (it had been in my cupboard for a while) so i bought the other... it definitely was not stale. I think it was 4$ for these 2kg bags. I would recommend the maseca brand as it has a more complete "recipe" on the back.

UPDATE: Geez, i forgot to mention where to GET masa mix! Thanks to a local blogger (thanks Minty!) the Sultan Supermarket at bank and hunt club carries this stuff.



Tortilla press - this is a requirement. This one was the cheaper of 2 available from Grace (~20$ vs 30$). It was lighter, but larger, and larger and cheaper normally wins with me. Having something a little heavy may help to make flatter/thinner tortillas, but i think this one was fine.

I won't go into the nitty gritty of how to make em (the recipe is on the back of the Maseca brand), but after a bit of practice i'm pretty sure i could turn out dozens of amazing tasting, fresh, and versatile tortillas within 30 minutes or so. Highly recommended!

The one thing i will need to work on is keeping them warm while cooking - i've never been very good at that. They need to stay moist so i'm thinking wrapping in a wet towel and leaving it in the over at 200 or so... any tips or ideas would be appreciated.

dog days

Summer is here!! It feels like this summer will never end, this heat and this sweat. I love it, and hope it never does!!

I stopped in at the lcbo after work tonight and picked up a bill and a half's worth of booze. Mostly white wine (the white henry of phelam sibling rivalry is quite nice, 2 bottles), some bacardi rum (for mojitos of course!), a few stellas and some strongbow. Since the lcbo might be striking tomorrow night, i don't want to take any chances of a dry canada day. There is always hull/gatineau, but i figure i might as well get it here while i can. I urge you to do the same!

Now i'm out on the side patio, which i've been spending a lot of time on recently, drinking a beer, cooking some spontaneous meat and doing the first blog entry in many moons. I've been quite busy, but a very good busy.

The spontaneous meat is from "Olympia Market Center" on gladstone. The place gives me the creeps but i'm comitted to give it a few more chances as it is so close to my house. The guy in there is creepy, but if you know what you want i'm sure he can help you out. I didn't know what i wanted, but ended up leaving with a few small lamb chops which i'm sure will be tasty once cooked. For under 4$, you can't really go wrong. If anyone else goes to this place, please share your tips as to whats good, and whats a goiter.

I ran the half marathon a few weeks back, and am now actually still excercising which is very unusual - normally i just give up and start training again in the new year. Not this year!! I'm also doing yoga a few times a week... its on my own, but its better than nothing. I'm definitely healthier than i've been... well probably ever!

Happy summer to all!! Get the hell outside (if you're not outside already :))!!!

first bbq of 2009 - a photo essay

pre




intra




imminent




post





Now that the test is done, i'm ready for the 2 racks of ribs that have been marinating all day, yes!!!!

pantry stocking

Some good links for stocking your pantry.

I know i'm supposed to throw out spices that are over a year old, but i never have! Dried basil is NOT worthless, but arguably does give very little (it can be had in a tube, which seems to work a bit... a good substitute would likely be refridgerated pesto).

I've never even TRIED cooking dried beans, i should!

Tomato paste in a tube, check.

1/4lb of Prosciutto at all times - now THATS some stocking i look forward too!!

Yay food!!!

don't wok this way

I've always had issues with this wok. Basically when it dries or is dried, it always develops rust spots. Right before use i always have to reclean it to wipe off the spots, but this seems weird and leaves me feeling unsettled.

I've "tried" seasoning it, but i don't think it worked, or i did it horribly wrong. So the question is - do i throw it out and get a new one, or can this thing be fixed??

pasta from the gods

Desperately low on substance in the fridge, i needed to eat something... and i needed it fast.

One of the beauties of having a house, and some yard, is the veggie garden. This year i planted a bunch of tomato plants, basil, red peppers, lettuce, and cilantro. The tomatos have been good allthough a little sparser than i would've expected (considering i planted 13 plants), the basil has been great, cilantro had its times (remember to pick flowers!!!), and the lettuce much the same as the cilantro. The peppers are just coming in full force now.

So back to lunch. I needed some, and had very little in the fridge. Some sundried tomatos was about all that was in there. So i went out to the garden, picked a bunch of basil, and the one tomato i could find. I came inside, pulled some shallots out, and sauted them down with some balsamic till tender. Then added sliced sundrieds and garlic. Of course s & p and oil al mucho. Once done, i took the whole bit along with the pile of washed basil, into the cuisinart with you!!! They had a bit of a pesto party in there they did. Cooked the de cecco pasta (the spooled fettuccine, best dried pasta money can buy), spooned directly into the original saute fry pan, added the pesto, and voila, lunch. Chopped my one tomato on top, some red pepper flakes, and now it is in my tummy, but not before taking this pic on top of my new filing cabinet. What a way to kick off what will likely be paradigm shiftastic weekend.

more home working

I've been the worst blogger every lately. Can't really clasify myself as one. Classification blows anyways.

I ate about 2/3 of:
- 1 cup organic white flour
- 1 cup vanilla soy milk
- 1 egg (1 yolk, then 1 folded egg white)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (ya, its organic too)
- 2 tsp of baking powder (don't know what this does)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- lots of grade a maple syrup
- some organic margerine
- banana

Banana waffles rule.

Checked out a new thai place last weekend, Sacred Garden. Its vegitarian, its on bank, ottawa south but before riverside. It was very tasty, as most ottawa thai is. The soup - the tom yum - not up to massive par, but tasty. The most striking part is everything had a frickin meat substitute "protein" in it!!! I think its ridiculous!!! Apparently there's an art or something in coming up with things that look and taste like shrimp/beef/lamb/whatever that is made from plant, i'm not a buyer of it. Plus it all has wheat in it, and some people i know can't eat that cause they're celiac. So just substitute everything for tofu!!! Ok!!!! Which is good, but why not, i dunno, massively creative veggie/fruit dishes? Try some squash, eggplant, mangos, appples, hell roasted thai chillies!!! The food was good, the service was amazying, but holy crap, your special really isn't "lamb protein" is it!!! Geez. Please correct me if you think i'm being unfair.

when i work from home i get a lot eaten

So i worked from home today. Lobsters were made last sunday, and the carcases have been sitting in a pot on the stove since then. I was home today, so i boiled the shit out of them, adding some other brothy items (onion, celery, carrot, salt). Eventually strained, and i had this kickass fishy broth... then i roasted a tomato, some garlic, and an onion, pureedished them, then added, and there you go. Some lobsteresque whatever soup. It's pretty damn tasty. I had that round 4.

Stepping back a sec, i did have lunch too. I'm onto this silken tofu stuff for spread purposes. I had about half a block, mixed with minced pickle, tomato, shallot, and... was that it? O, and some kimchi, that stuff is awesome!!! Added a bit of rice vinager, s & p, mixed, and it works as a good filler. I had some tortilla shells, plopped it on top, rollled, consumed. Very good. Only prob is those tortilla shells are NOT good for you. 2 shells (and they were the small ones) had like 500 mg of sodium or something outragous. Hence, i took in a full days worth of sodium at lunch. And chances are, if you go to lone star, that fajita meal is enough for the day too.

This here is what i had for dinner. Of course i was hungry by 5 (little meat == little stay fulledness) so i went to that groc store on somerset near... shit i can't remember, its the massive one whose name is a number i think? Its west of preston, just west of that city center bridge. Anyways, i got some tofu balls and veggies and stuff. And some vermicelli, the straight kind, its much better for saladish dishes. So i made that cut up some cuke, carrot, tomato, bok choyish, and got some sprouts. For the dressing i went vietai, into a little over 1/2 cup hot/warm watter dissolve 1 tbsp. sugar, add 1 tbsp. fish sauce, juice of about half a lime, and this up coming thai mixture - 4 chillis, 2 cloves garlic, a good tbsp of ginger, 2 inches of lemongrass, salt, all minced and mortle and pestles till you're bored (which isn't long enough, but who wants to work!!!). Mix it all together, and add a few tbsp. to the tofu balls, refrig the rest. Then fire up the q, and blacken the tofu balls for kicks. Once done, add vermicelli to a bowl, the tofu balls, then veggies of your choice, then drizzle with sauce. I like it, its got bite, and is very lite!!!!!

Yay for working from home!!!! But now i actually have to acomplish something... i think i'll check the updates from the wsop.

super easy a olio

Made this before my 10k race 2 weeks ago - dang, its been 2 weeks since my dang race. Anyways, if you want a light, easy, superb pasta meal, heres whatcha need:
- de cecco fettucine, its like 3 bux for a 500g 'box', when i say box its cause it comes in spools, its the cheapest, best, dry pasta money can buy, typically at nicastro type italian grocs - below recipe uses about half a box
- 3 or 4 cloves garlic, coarsly chopped
- 3 spring onions, chopped, 2mm at the oniony part, 2 cm at the green part (for flare!!)
- a can or a bunch of oil soaked artichokes
- 15 cherry tomatos, halved
- holy crap fresh sweet basil too!!!, roughly chopped
- olive oil!
Then do this:
- fill a big pot with water, a bit o salt, start it to boil (not if you're lucky and have gas though, you could probably wait a bit)
- get your fry pan (large, or use a wok), put 2 tbl of oil in, heat it on medium
- toss in the chopped onions, saute for like 2 min
- then the garlic, in she goes
- saute for a bit, don't burn or really cook the garlic too long!
- then toss in the rest, and bring the heat down so as not to overmassively cook
- put the pasta in when ready, cook 5 min or so (it doesn't take al long to become dente)
- when its done, skoop it directly into the pan/wok, retaining some juices, but not too much
- mix up as best as can, add more oil if you want, serve immediatly with fresh parma and fresh pepper.
Yes, very tasty, my idea of a perfect meal really. This'll serve 2 for lunch, or me before a 10k race (i had a bit left, but only cause i didn't want to get over stuffed).

working from home

Working from home rules. For lunch i bbq'ed some sausages and tossed some onions shrooms and garlic some dried basil and rosemary and a bunch of organic olive oil in a pan. Once the veggies were good to go in went 2 cans of too salty but good unico chopped tomatos. And some pepper and hot red peppers. Eventually the sausages were charred n juicy so they came off, and cooled, and then sliced and into the sauce which was simmer super bubbly like. O ya. Boiled some water and tossed in some whole wheat spaghetti. Once complete and all done i topped my meal with some parma. O baby. All the while i had my laptop poised in the kitchen and answered msn's and edited code wirelessly on the battery. Damn working from home rulez. Now its a long weekend and i'm feeling fine. Super kickass, time to get my framing on (tomorrow). But tonite, we drink and play cards and be merry!!!!!

i left my wallet on clemow ave.

So since i've been training now for this 10k i'm running in a few weeks, i've gotten quite used to running through the glebe in the evening. I just got back from a relatively eventful sprint run and thought i would share my delightful experience with y'all.

I run started like most others, slowly and with intent. However, the intent this eve was a sprint one, a 10x400m thingy where i run "as fast as i can" for 400m, 10 times. During this training i've only had to do this 2 times prior, and both times it was tuff. I had hopes of going to the track next to the school on glebe ave. near bronson. I got in, but after one lap some dude told me "if you stay in here you'll have to hop the fence to get out". This didn't seem too appealing. So i wussily left to roam the streets of the glebe and do approximated 400m.

You know whats sweet about running through the glebe in the spring in the eve? The smells. Damn, them rich glebe folk sure bbq some fine meats. I think i like the smell of meat more than the taste these days. I'd rather devour a pound of the table's avacado salad than a pound of any meats these days, a mix of veggies and spices is way more appealing than chewing thru fatty parts of a steak or having to cut through bone where you thought there shouldn't be any on a cheap cut of ribs. Don't get me wrong, i enjoy that, just not as much anymore...

I digress. From what? O ya, my run, not much happenned after that. Lots of people that walk on glebe ave just west of bank have mean looks on their faces. Everyone looks at you when you run, and i look at most people back. Some of the old dudes give me the feeling that "damn, no runners on my streets, i'm gonna raise this up at the next community council meeting that i'm on my way to right now". I'm probably just being over sensitive.


Then i got home and had a shower. Then i ate what you see beside this, the first half of my dinner (2nd half tbd). This is last nights spinach, red onion (soaked to sweeten), cuke, and grape tomato salad with a 5:1 rice vinager to olive oil dressing. Surprisingly, super kick ass!!! The milk, in bk's old lotr glasses, is so good's chocolate mixed with fat free. Its good shit too. Hot damn i'm getting old.

Thanks for reading this far, if you really did - with some local bloggers out of the country or the blogging scene altogether, there seems to be less inspirational reasons to blog, but recent comments have refeuled some fire. Or mabye thats my colon. Naw, its the comments, thanks for getting this far, and thanks to those that originally inspired me to babble endlessly to no one in particular about nothing in particular for what would seem to be no particular reason but no doubt is actually quite reasonable. Ahhhh, thats better.

obligatory cute animal picture

This is my friends new baby. Say hi to taco grande. He's pretty cute. I'm not even a sucker for cute animals, but this one is pretty cute. Kinda useless and incredibly high maintanence, but cute.

In other news, the poker has not slowed down. Thanks to one of my friends being born 30 years ago yesterday, we convened at my house after the tavern for a gigantic ad hoc 19 person tournament. I of course, finished 2nd. It was lots of fun. Now the real question - do i toss the 30 or so empty touborg cans in the recycle bin for the folks that'll come scrounge, or do i return em? I'm pretty lazy, and o so giving, i think i'll leave em in the bin.

But wait!!! That was not the real question. The question i ask myself, is what kind of flour should i use for gnocchi tonite? I bought a flimsy potato ricer last weekend from domus. Fifteen bux compared to the stainless steel ma cuisine one. Which was, much nicer, but do i need to spend 50 bux on a stainless steel potato ricer that i might use 3 times a year?? I don't very well think so. So the flour, yes, that is the question...

And let me just say, springtime comes and leaves are back on the trees again, i know not of the snappers, but they're harder to see my friends, i will not hide from my close friends, i will live long on the weekends.

insignificance

Just because something isn't mentioned, or isn't discussed, does not mean it is insignificant. Nor is the inverse always true.

Some people thrive on insignificance, discussing what may seem mundane, trivial, or just plain boring to some. This kind of exploration can often lead to promising, significant ends. This implies significance can have insignificant roots. Much of what i discuss here (perhaps even this), is quite insignificant in and of itself. But it helps me explore my thoughts and my observations in a forum that my brain can not as easily provide.

Back to my initial assertion. Much of what goes on in my life is not discussed here. This is a forum mostly for exploration of the insignificant, in an effort to derive significance. What is already significant may not be explored here, mostly for privacy reasons, but also because my brain, and in its communication with other brains, is a better forum for their exploration, if any is necessary.

There are significant things in my life that are not discussed here. Simply because they are not discussed here means nothing of their significance. I guess thats all i wanted to say. O wait. I have some bagettes in the oven. I ran out of regular flour so the leftover dusting is being done with corn flour... we'll see how it all turns out.

O and i should also mention today was incredibly productive. Drapes were hung, plumbing was pushed, shelves were assembled, floors were cleaned (a little), aquariums were brought out of hibernation, and breakfast was eaten. Very productive. That is mostly over now, the night is here, and its time to get my play on.

what else to say?

When life is good, is there any reason to lament? I guess about food i've made, which has been little... lets see, what are the food highlights of recent days:
- dim sum at yangtzee last weekend
- coconut drink and veggie pho at vietam noodle house... at least i think thats what its called
- dim sum indonesian style at some indonesian place in kanata. Interesting, hardboiled eggs that were a little green smothered in peanut sauce, vedy strange but good!
- so much pho
- gluten free corn pasta with jalepno's (no time to check spelling)
- spicey pickled eggplant from direnzo's
- the veggie sandwhich from direnzo's when they haven't run out of the good bread
- when you get to smoke in a popular ottawa indian restaurant when the staff wanna party and you're still there, but they don't wanna push you out
- lots of fruit, including fresh figs n dates
- hazelnuts
- wings...

ok i'm kinda petering out there, but you get the jist. Life is super, i just wish i had more time to.... i dunno. I guess i don't wish for anything but more of the same. And even that i don't think i can handle. I'm just gonna roll with it. I do wish i had been taking more pictures of food and other stuff. THat i should give'r on. THen give'r some more.

O, one unrelated thing that was good. "He died with a falafel in his hand". Very cool movie, totally my style, super kickass.

2 day old coconut shrimp rule

Thats about all i can say (recipe here, flour used was brown rice though). New jobs rule too. They're scary as fuck, but they do rule. Especially when you sit in a meeting where your director and lead dude babble for more than an hour about the feature you're doing, and most of it flys over your head. Thats fun stuff. O, and day old pizza made fresh with a gluten free crust including teff, ya thats right TEFF flour, is used. Super kick ass. I also tried some gluten free gnocchi using rice flour, very different, must try the leftovers to know for sure. More to say, but little time to type amidst stuffing my face. I guess i can say the predictions i made here are coming to fuition, and that i probably will be working 9 to 10 hours a day for a long whiles.

why

I often wonder, not why we're here, why we're given this opportunity, but why we are given the power to experience such happinness and such sadness. Extremes are fundamental to our existence. Some people live there lives on one end, some on the other, and some constantly fluctuate in between. I wonder if you were to take all the individuals on the planet, sum all their respective happiness/sadness scales, what you would get? Would it be in the center? On the sadness side? Happinness? Is there some global/universal quota? Perhaps me being happy means taking it away from someone else. I have to assume this is not the case, if i'm going to continue with my optimistic attitude for this new year, new life i'm loving leading.

The cleanse is done. It was a complete success, although i probably needed a few more days (not fully clean if you know what i mean). Little "easing off" took place yesterday, started with oj, then sweet pink lady apple, then some organic sweet potato soup (not mine), then veggies and salad along with some WAY too salty olives... then a banana and more soup in the aft. Dinner was succulent, tofu pho and veggies at golden turtle, holy crap, animal based broth ok, but WOW. That fried tofu they stuff in gets more flavour than any beef they could, i suppose cause of the beefy/oxxy broth, but i don't care, spectacuLAR! The night ended with an oven at 425, some walnuts and hazelnuts, and when ready, roasted chestnuts and red wine.... ok , then it ended with toblerone, lindt, and chestnuts. I really need to try/make some chocolate covered chestnuts. O baby.

holiday cheer

My holiday has begun, i have little to say but much to do and think about. My birthday is coming up, and i've got a list a mile long of things i'd like to accomplish next week. I've tried to organize it, i hope i'm realistic.

In the meantime, if you've never had a persimmon, get your ass to boushy's and pick one up. They're 1.50, and pretty cool. I'm waiting for the one it the pic to get all mushy, apparently then it'll be good. And if it isn't, the sensation you get from biting into an unripen one is so unique you have to try it at least once.... bitter bitter bitter. The flesh is so tasty, like a peachy mango, but your lips will pucker like crazy!!! I had a salty pistachio to cure it, but there are probably better cures. O what a feeling.

I hope you all have a merry holiday and don't let crap like not buying enough xmas crap bum you out. I've decided it just ain't worth it this year, selfish yes, but nobody thats worth anything would wish the bummering on you... i certainly wouldn't.

uberhectic

Life has been hectic. This has been perhaps the most fully featured 2 weeks of my life. In the following 4 categories i will rate the amount of activity - a relative scale is used, relative to previous life developments:

Home life: 70%
Love life: 85%
Cooking life: 54%
Work life: 90%

This is all i can say. My prediction for these numbers 4 weeks from now...??

Home life: 30%
Love life: 85%
Cooking life: 75%
Work life: ... this one, i just can't answer right now. I'll know more on friday.

Is this all to subtle? Probably... only so many details can come out at a time, and i guess now is that time for no details at all... how about this. I've got 50 or so pages left in Rohinton Mistry's "A fine balance" and i plan on lying in bed right now and finishing it. I'm exhasted, and this will be the earliest i've gone to bed in months probably. Phew.

O, and put some chestnuts in your tomato based pased sauce. Roast them first of course, then add em. They're an excellent meat substitute/replacement. Just don't add to much other jazz, except perhaps some mushrooms and cream... ya, rose that bitch up. Damn, thats what i forgot. Next time.

introspectacular!

So i stayed in today. Cooked, cleaned (a bit), listened to tunez, played some tunez, screwed up what i was trying to bake, did some laundry, watched tv, computerized, and drank some wine. I tried baking some rolls - i screwed up the first batch, cause while i did the preferment step, i forgot to add it!! Then i said "flours cheap, lets just do another load and see which tastes better" (i talk to myself all the time, so i really did say that)... i'm pretty sure the preferment load does taste better, but for the 4+ hours of prep, its definitely a skippable step! I gotta figure out how to get a thinner crust too, mine were thick. And not smooth at all. But pretty tasty, warm bread is always tasty.

I did do up the turkey broth too. Made a turkey gumbo with massive cajun spices, shrimp from the freezer, beans, golden beets (what the hell are those anyways!), and a whole wack load of other stuff. Damn kickin cayenne action knocked me in my ass, but is dang satisfying! Tons leftover, lunch and dinner for the week, woohoo!!!

Do you think i'm cooking and enjoying cooking to escape from something else? In retrospect, this is a good possiblity... on 2nd thought I'm going to ignore that moment of insight in favour of putting the leftovers away and having another glass of wine.

simple salad

Ok, so the ingredient of the week has to be: peanuts and/or peanut butter.

I only had an hour or so to chill, decided salad was the best bet. Wanted to try a new dressing, couldn't find any decent peanut based dressings, and had a peanut craving (since the recent peanut butter soop). So i remembered an old recipe for a pasta with peanut butter sauce, but of course no quantities... i could've looked it up, but what fun is that??

I put about 1/4 cup of smooth pb, some soy sauce, some honey, some red wine vinegar, some sesame oil, a bit of water, and a pinch of cayenne (not enuf to make a dif, perhaps more next time). I also added some garlic and ginger powder, again, not enuf to make a diff. Dang, it was good dressing (i'm gonna cut up some apples and carrots and finish it off as a dip tomorrow)... bought some spinach and sprouts at boushys on the way home... then i added "what i had lying around" (ha! i love reading that in recipes, you can learn so much about people by what they have 'lying around'... observe:) - a carrot, a shallot, some mushrooms, walnuts, pumpkin seeds (too salty but o well), almond slabs, a tomato, and some pepper. It was a damn good salad, and dang, i can eat a lot of salad. And i did.

Other than that i played poker tonite and lost a whole bunch of money but had a good time with my friends. Some times i wonder why i bother, other times i know its cause its fun. This is only half of one of those times.