Rhubarb crumble - from Canada this time.

 One of my greatest delights is being a Grandmother.  We've been visiting our son Justin, his wife Courtney and their almost one year old daughter Anabel. They live in Calgary, Alberta Canada. 

We also had the blessing of going to the beautiful town of Banff.  What  majestic mountains, forest, lakes and rivers.

One of the joys I have while visiting my children is cooking up a storm.  One of the many dishes I've made while here is Rhubarb crumble.   I love the sweet/sour delight.  You could hear me saying  "mmm....oh this is yummy"  This dish reminds me of my own grandmother........from many years ago.

 Chop the washed Rhubarb into 1 inch chunks.

Mix 1/4 c flour, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 c sugar into the rhubarb in a large baking dish.

For the topping mix:

1/2 c brown sugar

4 Tbsp butter

 2 c oats

Recipe

Heat oven to 375 oF

6 c chopped rhubarb
1 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c flour
Mix together in a large baking dish.

Topping
2 c oats
4 Tbsp butter
1/2 c brown sugar
Mix in a food processor, or rub together with your hands.

Bake for 45 mins.

Shrimp tacos

Shrimp tacos represent Baja California to me in every way. My friend Patti Lee requested this recipe from me on facebook today, so here it is.  This is what we had for dinner last night.
Toss some pre cooked or raw shrimp in fresh lemon or lime juice, salt, pepper and 1/4 tsp cumin.
Grill until pink, about 2 mins.  If the shrimp is already cooked, then just heat through, very quickly in a pan with a little oil.

                                Chop some cilantro, avocado, cabbage and green onions.

                                        Heat corn tortillas in a little oil.

 Mango salsa goes great with shrimp tacos.  Ingredients are mango, cilantro, green onion, jalapeno, red bell pepper (orange segments and pineapple also work well if you don't have mango) and lime or lemon juice, salt and pepper.

                   This can also be served on flour tortillas if you can't buy fresh corn tortillas.

Asian Lettuce Wraps

One of my great joys is having a garden.  Right now my lettuce is in abundance and I'm loving not having to buy any in the store. I'm getting ready to go to Canada for a couple of weeks, so I'm thinking of lots of ways to use my lettuce before it goes to waste.  So this was the inspiration for today's meal of Asian Lettuce Wraps.  Its very low in calories, is super healthy and has all those yummy Asian inspired flavors that I adore.

 ingredients

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 c carrot, shredded
• 6 - 8 mushrooms, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 Tbsp of fresh ginger, grated
• 2 Tbsp oil
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp lemon or lime juice
• 1 generous pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp dark sesame oil
• 12 butter lettuce leaves, washed and separated.

directions

Heat a large frying pan with the oil.

Add the onions, carrots, mushrooms and bell peppers and saute until tender for about 5 mins.

Add the ground turkey and stir for another 5 mins until cooked. Add the garlic, ginger, honey, fish sauce, lemon, sesame oil and pepper flakes and simmer for 1 min until bubbly. Turn off the heat.

Prepare the lettuce and serve with your favorite dipping sauce, such as oyster sauce, sweet chili sauce, or my own recipe for cilantro sauce.

Story about my Mother's Morris (car) and a close call with a cemetary.

 My mother Joy is legendary for her love of speed........she loves to drive fast, loved to go up in small airplanes, ride motor bikes and ride in speed boats.  This Morris was the type of car she had when I was a small child. 

 I was at a park in Perth Australia a few years ago and discovered a showing of these antiques, and got a few pictures.

The speed limit in my neighborhood in Hillsborough was about 30 mph.  That was the trial of my mothers life.  I think I was only three years old when I accidentally opened the car door while we were going  along and hung on for dear life as I swung out into the street.  I let go and rolled into the gutter. No seat belts  or child safety seats in those days.

 This was right in front of the local cemetery.  A nice man ran over to me and picked me up, while my mother had to drive away a bit to turn around and come back for me.  I skinned my hands and knees but recovered just fine.  However I scared the heck out of my poor Mom.

 This cemetery is on a hillside overlooking the harbor.  Its a very popular spot to take photos.

 My life long friend Su' lives right across the street from this memorable spot to this day, and whenever I'm in Auckland I always go back there.

  One of the favorite childhood breakfasts in New Zealand involved baked beans.  Usually served  heated up a bit, right from the can on  buttered toast.

 You'll find lots of British cultures serve beans as part of the breakfast plate.

However my current favorite way to have baked beans is the BBQ version that have been truly baked in the oven, with a rich deep flavor that can't even compare to the straight from the can version.

Here's my recipe:

• 2 cans of baked beans, drained and rinsed clean.
• 1 c ketchup
• 1/2 c brown sugar
• 1/4 c prepared mustard
• 6 pieces of cooked bacon crumbled

Preheat oven to 350 oF

Combine the rinsed off beans with the ketchup, brown sugar, mustard and bacon in a large baking dish.

Bake for 30 mins until bubbly and top is caramelized.

These go great with fresh sweet corn on the cob, BBQ steak, chicken or hamburgers and a green salad.  Now we're talking  the traditional American way to have these beans.  I will still eat  them the  British way whenever I'm served the traditional breakfast.  But to my friends in New Zealand if you're reading this, give this American way a try too.

English morning and afternoon tea ritual

 It's done every day, twice a day..........I am so glad I grew up with this ritual of taking the time to sit and enjoy a good conversation and relax a bit, before going back to work. May not be quite so fancy as these pictures depict, but its still practiced, none the less.  You don't have to be having any guests. I often see my parents, aunts and uncles doing this ritual daily, no matter what the occasion.
Since I live in the USA, its more of a ladies get together, special event........but I love that its just a daily thing for so many of British decent.

You always serve your guests a pretty table with a variety of choices.  My grandma and mother        would keep a tin filled with shortbread, ginger nuts or fruit cake handy, for just such an occasion.
But to rock my Dad's world, there would have to be scones involved.

 That's the proportion of jam to butter ratio that I remember.  And the tea always has milk/cream.

                                                                   Current Scones

                                                            Maple Date Pecan Scones

                                                             Cranberry orange scones

                                        
                                       Raisin scones with whipped cream and raspberry jam


So the scone recipes are endless.  Too many to mention here. 

Again the basic scone recipe is:

2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp butter
3/4 c milk

Variations:
1/2 c Dates chopped, 1/2 c pecans, 1 Tbsp maple syrup

1/2 c Raisins, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 Tbsp brown sugar

3/4 c Currents, 1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 c Cranberries, 1 Tbsp orange zest, 1 Tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 475 oF
Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it is just course granules.
Add your other special ingredients and coat with the flour mixture.
Make a well in the center and add the milk.
Toss lightly until just moistened and combined.
Fold very gently onto a floured surface and press down slightly...do not knead.
Cut into wedges, squares or circles.  Or just spoon from the bowl and drop on a
parchment paper covered baking sheet or just a lightly floured baking  sheet.
You can give the top an egg white wash or melted butter wash and add granulated sugar sprinkles.
Do whatever you like to make it the style you desire.  Be creative.
Of course you can also use fresh fruit like chopped apples, blueberries and strawberries in the mix
as well. 
Bake for 10 mins and serve immediately.  To check for doneness, just press the top lightly and they should bounce back.  If you can smush it down, it needs to cook longer.
The outside will be very crunchy and the inside very soft.
Serve with butter, and jam. and for special occasions whipped cream.
If you aren't going to serve them right away, then store them in the freezer.  They don't keep fresh for very long.  You don't want them to go hard.

Try Lemon Curd too.  That's always a special treat.

And yes, even cucumber or watercress sandwiches. 

Chinene food from the back door of the restaurant....

Stir Fry

One of my favorite memories in the late 1950's and early 1960's is of eating 'take out' or 'take away' as they called it then.  My Dad and Mom would drive us into the city of Auckland on a Friday night.  We would go to the back door of a Chinese restaurant and get the food served into our own pots and pans that we'd brought from home.

 Then we'd drive up Mt. Eden, which looked over the city, and eat the meal on our own plates from the back of the car.

In those days 'take out' was a pretty new thing.  But for us picnicking was a way of life.  We would eat from the car or outside with a blanket at every opportunity.

Mt Eden is an extinct volcano, so it has a nice crater for a kid to roll down into then climb back out.  That was always a high light of our outdoor adventures.

As long as there was a pretty view, we were there. It rained an awful lot, so whenever the weather was good, we were always heading outside.

Since then, I've lived in Asia and learned to make that distinctly delicous style of food for myself. 
Here's something I would make about once a week for my children when they were growing up. I would say  this is my signature dish.

Stir Fry

1 onion, sliced thinly
1 carrot, sliced diagonally
1 handful of broccoli, sliced  long ways
1/2 red, yellow or orange bell pepper sliced, veins and seeds removed
 1/2 c pea pods, whole
1/2 c mushrooms, sliced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
2 Tbsp oil
3 Tbsp Yoshida's Gourmet sauce (or your favorite stir fry sauce)
1 c chicken, cooked or raw, cubed

Heat the wok with the oil until really hot then add the onions and carrots and stir well, (tossing is more the technique) for about 1 min.
Add the broccoli, garlic, peppers and mushrooms and stir well.
Add a little water to the pan if it looks like its getting too dry, but not enough to boil anything.
Once the colors of the vegetables become very bright, they are done.  You don't want to cook them too long, until the color turns dull again.  They should be crisp tender.
 Cook the pea pods very quickly at the end. with the  pre cooked chicken and add the sauce. 
If your chicken was raw, cook this first in the wok with oil, until it is no longer pink then remove to a plate.  Do not over cook the chicken as it will become rubbery. 

You can omit or add any vegetables you like. This recipe is a bit heavy on the vegetables.  Three of them is usually fine.  Just choose something, green, red or orange. And always have onions.
The key thing is to have everything ready and handy, because everything gets cooked so fast, right before you serve it. 
Serve over steamed rice.  I prefer Jasmine brown rice.

In my previous blog I told a funny story about a cooking fiasco that took place on Great Barrier Island.  Hope you read that too.