The hunt for kale....and how I organize my recipes

I have a confession: I went to Pete's Frootique today. I know it's Sunday, and usually I try to keep Sundays as a shopping-free day, but yesterday was busy and I didn't get a chance to get into stores at all. Instead, I spent the day with my grandparents, and even got snowshoeing!


But back to Pete's Frootique...

For those who aren't familiar with Pete's, it's a market-style (organic) grocery store filled with wonderful things! Pete Luckett is the fellow that started it all, and he has a farm in the Valley. For my Toronto friends, Pete's is a lot like Whole Foods or Pusateri's. It's an experience, more than a grocery store! The market is beautifully laid out, the displays are artfully done, and you can find a lot of imported food, mostly from the UK.

Today I was on a mission though. About a month ago, I went to the Wolfville Market with a friend, and picked up some kale. After about a week of sitting in my fridge I decided it was about time I did something with it. I'd never cooked kale before, but it's supposed to be one of the healthiest foods to eat, so I thought it'd be worth a try! I found a recipe online that sounded decent: Sauteed Kale with Garlic Onions & Lemon. (I didn't get to participate in Sherrie's food challenge this week, but if I had this would've been my entry for Thursday's vegetarian recipe.) It was delicious!! In fact, I had to restrain myself from eating the full amount of sauteed kale in one sitting! Since then, I've haven't been able to find kale - I tried my local Sobey's and Superstore, the Halifax Market and Wolfville Market (to find locally grown), but no luck. Well, fortunately, Pete's had lots! I bought a big bunch of kale for 2.49. Yay!While at Pete's I picked up a few other things (it's almost impossible not to!): a new tea, Clipper Organic White Tea with Raspberry, grapes and pineapple. And I also stumbled upon a rack of recipe cards. So here's my 2nd confession of the day: I'm not at all creative when it comes to cooking. I need inspiration, and I need instructions. So when I come across recipes that look good, I'll try to make sure I get a copy of that recipe. The result has been an accumulation of so many scraps of paper, labels and recipe cards that were stuffed in my recipe book. Each time I picked it up, a million scraps of paper would fall out.

So here was my solution: Now, I know this may be a bit too obsessive-compulsive for most people, but I thought this was brilliant. I spent an evening in front of the TV, putting together this recipe box system. Sure, it took a bit of time to figure out what groupings I wanted, and to print and trim the labels to fit (thank goodness for my label maker!), but the end result was worth it.

Supplies: box with lid from Dollarama ($1), 3 pkgs of card dividers (only 1.5 used) from Dollarama ($1 ea.), blank coloured recipe cards from Dollarama ($1).

And here they are in their permanent home: I think there's a lot that can be said about someone from their recipe collection. My recipe book is full of family favourites, and recipes I've gotten from family (like great-grandmother's molasses cookies, or Bear River chocolate cake...). It's also full of my regular rotation of recipes - meatloaf, baked beans, risotto, etc. And often the pages are splattered with batter, and then there was that one unfortunate incident where I left a can of frozen orange juice out on the counter overnight and it exploded leaving a sticky orange goo all over my recipe book and walls..... .
So, I'm curious to know what other people do with their recipes. Do you collect recipes? transcribe them onto cards or in a book? where do you put/stash them?

(It's probably the Archivist in me that makes me just a little bit curious about how you organize your recipes.)

M is for Markets

Yesterday I made a trip home to the Valley. One of my many stops was to the Meadowbrook Meat Market in Berwick. Mom picked up delicious honey garlic sausages for supper and some ground hamburger, and I picked up a pre-cooked ham and maple sausages. I've heard rave reviews from my mother about how fresh the meat is, and she's been shopping for her meat there for years.

I was really impressed with the market - a large space with freezers and cooling units full of meat, like the meat section of a grocery store. They're obviously doing very well, and I hope they're business continues to thrive. There was a mishap this fall and they lost a lot of hogs in a barn fire (just imagine the smell!! eww!!), but I gather that's not going to hurt business too much.

I also got a real kick out of one of their parking signs. All of them were different. Here's the one for my parking space....

"For those feeling disgruntled". :D

And speaking of markets, I also stopped in to the Wolfville Farmer's Market. During the winter months it can be found in the Student Union Building at Acadia. There weren't as many vendors there as usual, but I managed to buy a bit of produce (brussel sprouts, a variety of carrots, a big bag of kale), and some pastries from the German Bakery to treat Mom and G. as thanks for being willing to store my All-Season tires for the winter (and alternately, my Winter Tires during the non-winter months, I hope....though that may require more pastries).

Running Around the Valley

Another weekend in the Valley. Only this time I could take my time getting there. Dinner was planned for 5:30ish to celebrate my grandparent's anniversary and my grandmother's birthday, so I had all day to get there.

First stop: JustUs! outside of Wolfville.
As far as I can tell, this is the closest place where I can find Ten Thousand Villages products (there's no store in the city!). I went in the hopes of finding something specific, but alas, I didn't find it. I'll have to order it online, I guess.

Second stop: Wolfville Farmer's Market.
I love Farmer's Markets, and this one certainly didn't disappoint. I left with 4 maple sausauges, a package of lamb chunks, delicious veggie samosas with a spicy cilantro chutney, a sampling of several apple varieties I hadn't heard of (I bought four Prima apples). And while I was there I had my lunch - a $3 hamburger made from fresh beef, and an apple turnover.

Third stop: Corner of Commercial & Valley View Dr. in New Minas.
Girl Guides were there flagging down cars to sell boxes of GG cookies - the mint chocolate cookies. One of the Girl Guides made eye contact with me and sold 2 boxes without so much as a word. Hey! It's for a good cause...

Fourth stop: a quick visit with the grandparents, a great aunt and uncle who were in town for a short while, and pick up my aunt for a trip to...

Fifth stop: Gaspereau Valley Fibres
I've been looking for a good wool shop, and the stores I've found in the city just aren't cutting it as I've mentioned before. The thing is, most of the good wool shops seem to be off the beaten path. Like Gaspereau Valley Fibres. This store is in a converted barn, pictured below, on a farm in an entirely rural area. It's highly unlikely you'd find it if you weren't looking for it.

They even have their own resident woolmakers....
And here's what I bought:

2 skeins of Casbah Sock wool
(80% merino, 10% cashmere, 10%Nylon)
hand-dyed in Canada
red and veregated blue
Project: Chevron Scarf

1 skein of Dzined wool
(55% wool, 45% hemp)
hand-dyed
Project : a hat on circular needles?

I'm quite excited about my new wool and my new knitting project. I think the Chevron Scarf is the perfect next project. The last year or so I've been knitting mainly simple scarves in a simple garter stitch, sometimes trying the moss stitch or a cable. The Chevron will be good practice for increasing and decreasing, and for using two balls of yarn in the same project.

Sixth stop: Home.
By this point it was dinnertime and all 14 of us settled in to a wonderful smorgasborg of Nova Scotia delights: scallops, shelled lobster (20 lbs of lobsters!), baked beans, smoked fish, salads and quiche (okay the last one isn't NS'ian, but it went well with the dinner).

"This little piggy went to the market...."

Hmm....I'm not quite sure I like the piggy analogy, but for the sake of having a clever title, I'll stick with it. Today I went to the Halifax farmer's market.

My friend who visited a couple weeks ago made a comment about how this is the most attractive market she's been to - and that it is. It's located in the Alexander Keith's Brewery buildings, built in1863, and modernized with a glassed atrium/courtyard. The combination of the grey stone walls, cobblestone/plank flooring and sun shining through the glass overhead onto the market stalls makes for a wonderful atmosphere. And then there are stalls: flowers, herbs, knitted wooly things, watercolour paintings, baked goods, farm produce, bottled jams and jellies, homemade jewellery, sausages, cheese, spices, and teas. You can find almost anything there if you have the time.

I arrived late in the day, so most vendors were packing up their stall before I got to them. But I wandered around for a bit just looking (and thinking about buying). Fortunately I showed some self control and left with only a bouquet of sunflowers, a sampling of homemade squares and lunch.

For lunch I figured I might as well follow the majority and get to the back of the long line-up for Cheelin Restaurant (which was actually just a table set up with a rice cooker, buffet servers and a couple frying pans).And here is what I ordered for lunch:
Yummy!

I should also mention - since I'm talking about markets - that on my way home I also stopped in to the Hydrostone Market. It's not really a market - jus a series of highend shops in the Hydrostone neighbourhood of Halifax. I've been there before, but most of the stores close at 5, so I haven't had chance to pop in.

Have Daypass, Will Travel

It was a lovely day traipsing around downtown with my daypass.

Stop #1 : Queen Street West
I wanted to go back to Romni Wools and look around a bit more. I didn't get a chance to look at the discount bins, or the knitting books on my first trip, and I wanted to pick up a ball (or two) of sock wool with the idea of practicing smaller stitches and possibly making a little pouch for my mp3 player.

To get to Romni, I passed by MissBehav'N where live models were dancing in the windows wearing nothing but pasties and lingerie. Only on Queen Street West. It was a bit shocking to walk by the storefront, look over and see these ladies happily dancing away.
On my way back from Romni, I stopped at Ten Thousand Villages and coveted everything in the store; and Outer Layer, where I sampled dirt scented perfume, and gingerale scented perfume to cover up the very convincing scent of dirt from the first sample. Why oh why would anyone want to smell like dirt?

Stop #2 : Kensington Market
Oh how I love cheese! I indulged in my cheese cravings even though I suspect I will pay for it later. I sampled half a dozen different types of cheeses: Stilton, Appledore (Lancashire w. apples & cinnamon), Oka Classique, and a mild blue cheese. Half these cheeses I probably shouldn't eat, but I really couldn't resist. $9.18 later I had a bag of Oka, Blue Cheese and the Appledore.

Next stop HAD to be My Market Bakery to get some fresh bread to go with the cheese. Fresh bread to go, and tiramisu for the road (again, I gave in to a craving).

Last stop was the South American store where I bought 6 Pupusas. I love that you could miss this little hideaway pupusa place if you didn't know it's there. It's at the back of a tiny little grocery, and two women are busy making pupusas for a good part of the weekend. I've been going there since I first found my way around Kensington 6 years ago. It's quite a little find and the pupusas are really quite lovely tasting. I bought a mix -2 cheese, 2 bean and 2 everything. They'll make good lunches throughout the week at work (and for $2 ea. you really can't go wrong).

Stop #3: Canadian Tire
On sale: 3' Lighted Christmas Tree, $7.99 (reg. $24.99). I've been looking for an artificial Christmas tree. I've tried real trees and although I like them much better, the only trees I can find are potted and can't be left indoors for more than a week (or they come out of dormancy). So off I went to pick up the little guy. It's a bit of a Charlie Brown christmas tree, but it'll do nicely for this year.

A little bit of Hallowe'en

Okay so I don't go all out for Hallowe'en, but today I went to the St. Lawrence Market and I found this perfect little pumpkin (of comparable size to a tealight as you can see in the photo). As soon as I got home from the Market, you can see what I did.

There area a few people who do take Hallowe'en more seriously though. Building management for this apartment building, for example. Look at the effort they put into decorating the building ....and just for Hallowe'en. Quite interesting. I expecially like the 2 feet sticking out of the ground below, with a sign reading "Did not pay his rent for many months".

Fortunately my landlord is much more understanding :).