Salade Niçoise

It’s salad weather here, so I thought I’d share some of our favourites.

Often our salads are a kitchen-sink affair, made with whatever vegetables we have in the fridge. But sometimes it’s nice to follow a recipe and have something a bit more distinctive.

Here’s our paleo ode to Salade Niçoise:

lettuce (shredded) – we tend to use Romaine or Butter lettuce
asparagas or green beans (lightly steamed and cooled)
tomatoes (quartered)
olives (we prefer kalamata)
tuna (canned or fresh) – when we use fresh tuna, we pan fry it
eggs (hardboiled and quartered)

1. Arrange in a bowl for each person.
2. Lightly salt and pepper.
3. Drizzle with olive oil and red wine vinegar.

Delicious!

Pistachio Pesto

Yesterday I went to Surrey Reads and Writes at the Surrey Central Library to attend a couple of writing workshops and listen to some authors reading from their books. The ferry sailing over to Vancouver was a little rough because of the strong wind and accompanying swells, but nothing like as bad as some of the trips I’ve had crossing Cook Strait in New Zealand. It was a fun day, hanging out with other writers, and just getting out and about to see the world instead of sitting at my desk all day.

When I got home, Patrick had cooked dinner already. What a treat! He’d decided to try a new recipe, lamb burgers with pistachio pesto, from our new favorite cookbook – Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals. We’d found a roll of minced NZ lamb at Fairway, so he pulled that out of the freezer to use in the burgers, and he roasted brussel sprouts and hazelnuts (another Mark Sisson recipe), steamed asparagus, and made this tasty pesto from pistachios and mint.

1 clove of garlic
1 c unsalted shelled pistachios
1/2 c olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 c fresh mint leaves
a pinch of salt

Blend everything together in a food processor.

Patrick suggests processing the nuts first before you add the other ingredients for a finer pesto.

Delicious! You should try it!

Pizza frittata

Once in a while, I get a hankering for pizza, topped with Italian sausages, fresh basil, tomatoes, and mushrooms. When I was a kid I loathed mushrooms. Just the smell of them cooking would send me out of the kitchen. But on pizza, they’re magical.

Since we’re not eating wheat, pizza has been off the menu; that is, until we discovered a recipe for Pizza Frittata in Mark Sisson’s Quick and Easy Meals. This book is filled with all sorts of yummy recipes, so you should seriously think about buying a copy.

This Pizza Frittata is so delicious, we’ve even shared it with non-paleo friends to rave reviews. You should try it too!

2 Mild Italian sausages (definitely better with mild rather than hot, we’ve tried both!)
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 tomato, chopped
6 eggs, beaten
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped
a sprinkle of grated Mozzarella (optional)

1. Slice the sausages, and cook them with the mushrooms in a little olive oil in a cast iron fry pan.
2. Add the tomatoes and cook for just a minute, just enough to heat them through.
3. Mix the oregano in with the beaten eggs, and then pour the eggs into the pan.
4. Stir quickly to mix everything through.
5. Sprinkle the basil and grated Mozzarella on top.
6. Let the mixture cook until the eggs start to set on the bottom.
7. Take the pan off the stove and place it under the grill (broiler) until the eggs are firm and the cheese is golden brown.

This makes two servings.

We’ve also made a Greek Pizza version, using ground beef, tomatoes, pitted olives, and crumbled feta, which was equally tasty.

A wild day

Growing up on the west coast of New Zealand, I thought a bit of wind was no reason to stay indoors. So I convinced Patrick we should go for a walk along the beach at Island View. But it was a little wilder than I’d imagined.

If you look closely, you’ll see a kite boarder out there.

Three crows sheltering from the wind.

After a brief stroll, we decided the west coast of the peninsula might be a little less exposed, so we drove over to Butchart Gardens. Just along the road a bit, there’s a trail that leads down to Tod Inlet. It’s one of my favorites because there are often boats anchored down there, and it lets me imagine what it would be like if we had a sail boat and could anchor up in places like this.

But maybe not when it’s this icy!

To finish the adventure in grand style we stopped at Fantastico for coffee and a strictly paleo (not!) pain au chocolat.

Road home from Saskatoon

After a relaxing week in Saskatoon, it was time to head home. It was an uneventful trip across highways 7 and 9, through Drumheller, into Calgary.

I love the colors of the prairies.

On Sunday morning, we set out from Calgary.

It was all good, until I decided we should stop to see Lake Louise…when the timing belt snapped.

Fortunately I’d charged the cell phone for emergencies and there was cell reception so we could call CAA for a tow. While we waited, we watched the sun move across the sky. Just as it was about to disappear behind the trees (90 minutes later), the tow truck arrived. We got a tow down to the Petro Can in Banff, then set off on foot with the bird stuffed inside my down jacket, to find a place to stay. The chap at the Information Center got us a deal at one of the hotels ($119 instead of the regular rate of $169). I noticed in their pamphlet that pets are not allowed. “Shhh Carlos!”

The next morning, Monday, we found on Booking.com that the hotel across the street was pet-friendly and considerably cheaper. The woman behind the desk was VERY sympathetic and checked us in right away, so we had a warm dry place to hang out while we figured out what to do next.

Plan A: First off, we considered renting a Uhaul truck and dolly to tow the car back to BC. But we couldn’t find a truck or dolly nearby, and one of the UHaul people told us we’d be crazy to try to tow a car across the Rockies using an empty truck.

Plan B: Next, we considered renting a car and leaving the Subaru in Banff, and sorting out the repairs from home. But I was really reluctant to abandon the car, and renting a car was going to cost as much as getting a tow back to Calgary.

Plan C: Our third option was to find a mechanic in Calgary and get a tow back there, and that is what we ended up doing. Patrick found a mechanic in the local Yellow Pages and I phoned the CAA to arrange another tow.

Here we are outside All Makes in Calgary. We couldn’t have found a better mechanic. He and the crew started working on our car on Monday afternoon, and had us back on the road by lunch time Wednesday. Amazing, considering they had the engine out, replaced the cylinder heads, gaskets, timing belt, clutch, and all sorts of other things. If you ever need a mechanic in Calgary, I would definitely recommend these guys!

On Wednesday, we left Calgary for the second time. It was +12 degrees C, but not for long.

Once we hit the Rockies, the rest of the trip was dark and wet.

And we were glad of our winter tires.

Until we got to the gulf islands!

The hero of the day was definitely the mechanic in Calgary. Those guys rock!

But I also have to give kudos to the bird, who put up with being stuffed inside my jacket more than once, smuggled into hotels, shushed over and over, bumped and rattled in two different tow trucks, dragged out to the supermarket when we got cabin fever in Calgary (which also meant being stuffed under my fleece and held onto tightly when we had to cross the road), and fed the most meager of rations (more apple Carlos?).

And cheers to Patrick who drove the entire way back from Saskatoon while I nursed a sinus infection.

Lessons learned? Upgrade my CAA membership so that it covers more than the first 5km of a tow.

Road trip to Saskatoon

A few of the hundreds of pictures we took out the car window on our trip to Saskatoon through the Rockies and across the Prairies…

You can see the road was clear all the way. We’ve had a light dusting of snow in Saskatoon, but the temperature is hovering at around 0 degrees – warm for this time of year!

Happy Halloween

Often we go to the movies on Halloween. But this year we decided to stroll downtown for dinner. Here are some of the things we saw along the way…

Carved pumpkins…

Scary cobwebs…

And a bonfire!

Nut bars

I’ve been promising this recipe for a while, so here it is. This is our new favourite treat!

2 c raw nuts (use a mix of nuts – walnuts, macadamias, almonds, sunflower seed, pumpkin seeds)
1/4 c unsweetened coconut
1/2 c raisins
1/2 c melted coconut oil (or butter)
1/4 c raw honey (or maple syrup)
2 eggs
1-2 tsp cinnamon

1. Chop the nuts in a food processer – pulse until they are small chunks.
2. Mix the chopped nuts and all the other ingredients in a large bowl until well mixed. The mixture will look shiny and quite runny.
3. Place the mixture in a 9×9 inch baking dish lined with baking paper.
4. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes.
5. Cool completely before cutting into pieces. (I have been known to put it in the freezer to cool it more quickly!)
6. Store in the fridge.

You will love these bars, so go and make a batch now!

Thanks George!

Seattle – the rest of our trip

Like all the best best-laid-plans, my plan to blog about our trip fell through pretty quickly, didn’t it? Sorry!

Here’s a quick peek of what we got up to:

Bike ride out to Redmond. We got caught in the rain, but found this useful tree outside Microsoft to shelter under!


Two days in Leavenworth reading books and wandering around town. We ate at the best place, a restaurant called South – highly recommend their Burrito in a Bowl with Carne Asada! Just wish we’d got a photo of our hotel. It had a deck with the most comfortable outdoor furniture – the perfect spot for a late afternoon glass of wine.

More bike riding, this time along the edge of Lake Washington. On our way back, we stopped at Juanita Bay Park and saw these ducklings. They were so small they could walk across the lilypads, while Mum had to swim through them.

Lunch at the fabulous Melrose Market. This picture shows the cool foodie restaurant in the back, but we had a sandwich (yes, a non-paleo meal!) from the sandwich bar in the front – delicious!

A quick stop in Port Townsend (on our way to catch the ferry from Port Angeles) for boat pictures to give me ideas for my current WIP.

That was our week -  over all too soon!

Museum of Flight

On Sunday we went to the Museum of Flight. Every time we’ve driven down the 5 freeway past the Boeing airfield Patrick has pointed at the sign and said we must go there some time.

It was bigger than we imagined, and three hours was barely enough time to see everything. Planes ranged from a replica of the Wright Flyer, World War I and II machines, modern stealth bombers, an Air Force One from Kennedy and Nixon’s era, and a Concorde.

I enjoyed sitting in the mocked up control tower with views of the runways, listening to the radio feed from the actual control tower at Boeing field and watching the biplanes and new 787 landing and taking off. Patrick was fascinated by the Gossamer Albatross, a pedal powered plane that was flown across the English Channel.