Sloppy Sushi

An oxymoron, maybe. I have always admired the Japanese culture for creating such beautiful, neat, precise art and food. I am not Japanese. Nor am I neat.

In trying to keep with my sushi-obsessed husband when he's Jonesing for sushi, I created this salad one day. It's basically a big California Roll in a bowl, and I've found it to be a hit at Potlucks and BBQ's.

Micki's California Un-roll Salad

1 pkg imitation crab meat
2 cups Sushi rice, cooked and cooled
1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
1 cucumber, cut into thin strips
1 ripe, mashed avocado
toasted sesame seeds - I toast mine myself in a toaster oven
toasted nori leaves, crumbled - the dark roasted seaweed. You can find it at most grocery stores, or any Asian market

Dressing: - Measurements are all to taste. Experiment with what you like best. It's hard to screw up.

rice vinegar
soy sauce
minced ginger
wasabi

Mix salad ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix dressing ingredients together, pour over salad and mix. Refrigerate. Measurements are all to taste.

Namaste

I first heard this in Yoga class. The instructor defined it for us as 'the light in you greets the light in me.' I have since found the full definition and I think it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever read.

Namaste: I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells, I honour the place in you which is of love, of Truth, of Light and of peace, When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One.

Commercial Break Cookies...no kidding.

I invented these commercial break cookies. Why do I call them that? Because you can whip these up during one commercial break and stick them in the oven. They'll be ready by the next commercial break. It's so easy to have these ingredients on hand, in case of an emergency bake sale situation, sudden company coming over, a quick hostess gift or just a plain-old craving for home baked cookies- and they're usually cheaper than a box of store bought cookies, especially when you stock up on boxed cake mix when it's on sale. You can modify the recipe to use whatever flavours or ingredients you like best.

Micki's Commercial Break Cookies
1 box cake mix (whatever flavour you want)
1/2 cup oil or melted butter or margarine
2 eggs
Optional: Whatever you have on hand: chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit, M&M's etc...

Mix all ingredients together with spoon. Shape into cookies on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

Faux-tons Galore!

I like bread. I like bread as more than just a friend. I try to limit, and most days I do quite well but then others lead to blog posts that are relegated to the 'off the wagon' list.

Anyway, I'm always on the lookout for ways to make salads less hateful, and after so many years of salad-eating, I've gotten quite good at it. Tonight when making my dinner caesar salad, however, I was craving the crunch that only croutons could deliver. I discovered the most wonderful (healthy substitute)...are you ready for this...Fibre One Cereal! A handful tossed into my bowl transformed it into the most heavenly caesar salad. I figure you can also substitute Fibre One for crispy noodles in Asian-style fast food salads. I'm definitely going to be continuing this trend.

My other favorite summer pairing

My dad taught me this one. Apparently it's popular in Israel. Watermelon and Feta cheese. Not in a salad, just plain. A bite of one, followed by the bite of the other. The saltiness of the cheese intensifies the sweetness in the fruit, and vice versa.

Try it. It's yummy.

A Gastronomical Match made under campfire stars

One of my favorite food pairings is dark chocolate and beer. I discovered this quite by accident on a camping trip five years ago. A friend was working in the food importing industry at the time and she had brought a huge bar of dark Toblerone to our camping trip. Sitting round the campfire sipping beer, we passed the bar around, breaking off pieces. The bitterness of the beer with the bitter-sweetness of the chocolate enhanced eachother, sending shivers down my spine.

I've been searching for a recipe that used this combination, when I came across this recipe for brownies, using my favorite beer: Mill Street Coffee Porter. I got this recipe on a Canadian news site (and I think they got it from the Mill Street Brewery). I do omit the white chocolate chips when I make this. These are spectacular with vanilla ice-cream - or better yet - more beer!

MILL ST. COFFEE PORTER BROWNIES
1 cup (250 mL) all purpose flour
¾ cup (175 mL) unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ tsp salt (1 mL)
6 tbsp (90 mL) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into cubes
8 ounces (250 grams) dark bittersweet chocolate, chopped
¾ (175 mL) white chocolate chips
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (250 mL) granulated sugar
1 ¼ cups (300 mL) Mill St. Coffee Porter
1 cup (250 mL) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325F (160C). Line a 13 x 9-inch (3 L) metal cake pan with parchment paper.
In a bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder and salt until evenly combined. Set aside. Melt butter, bittersweet chocolate and white chocolate chips in a double-boiler over very low heat, stirring constantly until melted. Remove from heat.

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add melted chocolate mixture, beating until combined. Beat reserved flour mixture into melted chocolate mixture. Whisk in coffee porter beer. The batter will seem a bit thin. Drop semi-sweet chocolate chips evenly on top of batter. Stir in gently.

Pour into prepared baking pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes on centre rack in the oven, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out almost clean. Let brownies cool, uncovered, to room temperature.

When life gives you lemons, design a pretty centrepiece.

It's been almost 2 years since my wedding, and some days I think I'm actually over it. The bridal mags warned of 'post-wedding withdrawal' but I don't think they intended it to last this long. The truth is, I had the best time ever planning my wedding, and although I had many many bridezilla moments, planning my wedding was the perfect opportunity for me to showcase my fun ideas. (oh, and acquire a significant other...yada yada yada...)

now back to me. I still look at my wedding pictures at least once a week which is an improvement...it used to be daily. What my guests still remember most about that day, were the centrepieces. The design was a collaboration between me and my wonderful florist, Fiona from Stemz . I was looking to incorporate sliced lemons and sunflowers into one piece. I loved the idea of doing monochromatic yellows throughout. With a rough sketch and an explanation of my vision, Fiona made it happen.

My invitation was designed with a photo of a single lemon. It confused people. After all, lemons are symbolic of something sour, not love and marriage. Ok, maybe marriage. But once they saw the finished piece, they were amazed. Hundreds of photos were taken of this thing - I know because for the next 3 months, they were emailing pics to me. Clear cellophane is the trick to keeping the lemon slices from falling to the

bottom.