The New Adventures

She & Him - I Thought I saw Your Face Today

First and foremost I want to introduce you all to possibly my most favorite blog ever. Her name is Aura Joon and her blog is filled, packed in fact, with so many interesting reads and beautiful pictures. She has great decorating sense, goes on awesome vacations, cooks amazing fresh meals and has her own garden. She might as well be a superhero in my mind. Inspired by her post on food and clean eating, I have decided to start cooking more meals. I have been inspired to buy fresh, organic produce, and to focus on quality more so than quantity.

Let me tell you lovelies, it feels so amazing to know the meal you just prepared is fresh, clean, straight from the ground and straight onto your plate. But before I get ahead of myself, let us first begin where it all begins...at the Farmer's Market.

I went to Findlay Market downtown with Victoria and it was such a lovely day. While there I bought tons of fresh veggies and some herbs that I can continue to grow and use. I got cilantro, rosemary, spicy oregano and basil. I also bought a lovely house plant called a neon pothos (but I think I will call him Henry.) I can never have enough house plants. I just love Findlay Market and recommend it to anyone in the area. It is so over looked because of its location downtown and while I admit that it can be a little rough in places, the adventure is so worth it.

Okay, now for the good stuff: the food.

I have come to the conclusion that you cannot be fearful of sounding naive when it comes to cooking. Every person I have asked has been very supportive and helpful. After all, every cook starts out having no idea what they are doing.

So for my first meal I stir fried some red bell peppers, onions, garlic and an egg white and served it over couscous. I have a new-found love for couscous. It is so easy to make, goes really far and is really healthy for you. I think it turned out really well. I used lemon juice and lemon pepper to flavor the couscous and a little bit of garlic pepper to flavor the stir fry.

For my next culinary adventure I made some chocolate covered strawberries as a snack (don't worry I didn't eat the whole plate. I shared it with V.) I have to admit that I didn't have any fancy cooking chocolate or anything so I only had hershey kisses. I melted them in the microwave with some milk and stirred until the consistency was right. I then dipped the strawberries and put them in the freezer. Yes I soon realized that when putting strawberries in the freezer they turn rock hard. duhhhhh. so i moved them to the refrigerator. They were delicious although the chocolate never really hardened. Nonetheless, it is hard to go wrong with chocolate and strawberries.

My next meal was my most adventurous yet. Last night I decided to follow one of Aura Joon's recipes and made pateer. It is Iranian and it is delicious. It is really simple to make; so simple in fact that I was worried I was doing it wrong. It is just flower and water. You add flower and water in a bowl bit by bit until it becomes a pliable dough. You then flatted it and fry it in a skillet. You can use oil or butter. I decided to use sesame oil (because that was all I could find.) Aura Joon suggests that you can eat it with stir fries, veggies, jam or fruit. It is really versatile and a great staple for any meal. I then stir fried some veggies (red, orange and yellow bell peppers, onions, zucchini, cherry tomatoes and garlic.) I was so excited to use my new herbs so I threw in some rosemary, spicy oregano and basil. I was so excited to discover that my stir fry needed no salt or pepper because the herbs did the job. I used to always use too much salt and pepper while cooking so I am in love with these new herbs. It is such a good feeling to know that everything you are cooking with is fresh and good for you. I finished the stir fry and added some plain yogurt on the side. I ended up piling the veggies on top of the pateer with a dollop of the yogurt and let me tell you, it was amazingggg. I was so proud of myself. I am quickly discovering that cooking can be a very fun process and that it makes you appreciate your meal even that much more. This meal took me about 45 minutes (although I am sure it will be quicker next time now that I know how to make pateer. While enjoying my meal I made sure to chew slowly, appreciating every scrumptious bite that I had created. It was a new experience entirely. For dessert I had my left over plain yogurt with some blue berries.

Finally, this morning I decided to fix myself a little treat for breakfast. Well actually, by the time I sat down to eat it was more like lunch time. I decided to make myself some french toast. Growing up I had always seen my mom cook french toast but I had never attempted it myself. I was nervous to make it but they turned out really well. I also added some cinnamon to the egg mix. Once fried I added some honey, bananas and strawberries (heart-shaped because it makes me happy.) I then added some cinnamon to top it all off. It was so delicious and definitely a new breakfast staple. What feels so amazing is that I don't feel guilty about eating the food I am preparing. I know it is all good for me, all fresh and something I can definitely stick with.

Wrapping it up

Okay lovelies well that was my food post. I will most definitely keep you all updated with this new adventure. I love photographing the food I make and sharing it with you all. Hopefully I can inspire others to perhaps take a dive into some culinary adventures of their own.

Also, soon to come is a photo diary of the past few days. I am going to try and do weekly or bi-weekly photo diaries to keep you all updated with my oh so exciting life (right ha.) Anyways, I love taking photos so I should have no problem with that.

Finally, but definitely not last, I wanted to thank everyone for their support and comments. The stats are showing that more and more people are becoming interested in the blog. Please please please do me a favor and click the little follow button to the right of this post if you haven't already. Even if you read the blog but don't "follow" it, do me a favor and just click. Seeing my supporters is what motivates me to spend hours on posts like this. This blog is for everyone to read and is not just a personal blog. Meaning you don't have to know me to follow me. Thanks once again for the support lovelies!

I'm off for a bike ride on this lovely day.