This picture was taken May 27, 2008 (more than three years ago, holy moly) at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. I think that the lanterns may be one of the most photographed items in the Grand Bazaar, but for good reason. I always get asked why I didn’t bring a lantern home with me, and there are two reasons. 1) It was about 2 weeks into 52 weeks, I was pretty sure a lantern wouldn’t make it all the way home, and 2) I don’t think that one lantern would work nearly as well as hundreds… and I couldn’t afford hundreds.
Second things second… A huge shout out to my friend Del for connecting with me on Google Friend Connect! Yay Del! Unfortunately the sidebar is acting up so I need to work out some kinks. Usually, you will be able to join our party way over to the right (under the heading “let’s connect”)! It’ll be fun!
And now to the meatvegetables of the post (it is a vegetarian salad, after all). It’s that time again folks! Time for another delicious recipe from my sister-in-law Debbie’s amazing cookbook. Lots of you have told me you are fans of Debbie’s steak and mushroom salad, and who wouldn’t be? It has steak, it has mushrooms, and most importantly… it has bacon. But, as the weather gets warmer and we start worrying about our bikini (or board shorts, or speedo, whatever) bodies, maybe a salad that includes bacon-fat fried mushrooms isn’t quite the best thing to eat. So today I present Debbie’s Green Bean and Barley Salad. An (almost*) equally as delicious, vegetarian (but not vegan) friendly, and much much healthier, alternative.
*Seriously guys, there is no steak, or bacon or bacon-fat fried mushrooms in this one, it’s never going to beat out the other guy in a race to delicious. But it is still pretty darn amazing.
The hubs and I eat this salad as a warm meal unto itself, but it would be just as tasty chilled at a picnic. Or as a supporting dish at dinner. It’s seriously yummy.
This is because it gets its flavour from delicious things:
Part of what makes it so yummy is barley. I love barley. Ever since I was a little kid and my grandma’s chicken soup included barley I’ve been a big fan. But only recently have I come to realize just how versatile it is. I always have a big (2 kg/4 lb) bag of barely in my cupboard, because who knows when the barley urge will strike!
I also love green beans. Is there a more prefect vegetable? Other than asparagus, I’m not sure there is.
So go off and get cooking friends, you won’t be disappointed!
PS – Go here to buy Debbie’s cookbook for more delicious recipes. Just do it. You know you want to.
UPDATE: The Giveaway has closed! I got approximately TWO entries and therefore instead of generating a winner – I’m going to send each winner one print!
Aren’t they amazing?! They live in our bathroom and I find them totally inspiring. The quote is a Henry David Thoreau quote that reminds me, every single day, to “live the life I’ve imagined”.
The California map is the first print in January Jones Prints’ ‘the CA Project’ – a collection of typographic maps of the United States. The California map’s job in life is to make me think of California, which makes me happy.
The (awesome) frames are from Marshalls, I picked them up for the amazing price of $7.99 each when we were in La Qunita. Pretty sweet deal, hey? One day, they are going to form part of an epic gallery wall with a whole bunch of diverse white frames, a la YHL. But for now, they make me smile when I am brushing my teeth.
And now for the GIVEAWAY! My very first giveaway ever! Do you need some inspiration? Do you dream of California? Can you imagine these prints gracing the walls of your home? If yes, I’ve got a second set of prints (long story) and I want to give them away to one lucky blog reader! So, if you are interested in winning a set of amazing prints from January Jones Prints, leave a comment on this post by the end of the day, Thursday, June 2, telling me what you would do with these prints! If you want an extra entry into the draw (and who doesn’t?!) follow me on Google Friend Connect (or subscribe and leave me a second comment telling me you’ve done so). It’s a sad, empty little friend connect over there –> (my only friend is myself. How sad.) So, it could use some filling up! I’ll randomly pick a winner on Friday, June 3. It’s very very exciting!
This photo was taken on November 15, 2008, in Kyoto, Japan. As I’ve mentioned before, the hubs loves Japan. In addition to his love for Japan, he has a strange affinity for moss. If he loves Japan, and he Loves me, he LOVES moss (just kidding, at least I hope he loves me more than he loves moss, but you never know). However, this love of moss turned out very well for us, because it caused him to take this awesome picture, which now graces the wall above our bed. In a somewhat wacky twist of fate, I recently learned that an etsy photographer sells an image of exactly the same moss. And it made it to the front page. Which is CRAZY TALK. So, I wanna know, who’s version of the image do you prefer? Should I start selling our photographs on etsy?
Happy Victoria Day / Regular Monday (depending where you are), people! We’re in Montreal for the weekend, and it has been beautiful! But now I’m going to fill your souls up with some deep reading. But, let’s start by telling you that last weekend on the train ride to Ottawa to visit the in-laws, I wrote an excellent post (if I do say so myself) about failure.
Remember way back on April 1st when I told you about my photo a day challenge for April? And then remember in mid-April when I told you it wasn’t going that well, but that I would report back? And then remember how I didn’t report back and now it is mid-May? Well, that excellent post I wrote last weekend explained a lot. It was honest and it was deep. It was very well written (here I go again with the pats on the back). In all seriousness, it was about failure. More specifically, it was about how I failed, and how hard it was for me to deal with this failure. It was about how I hoped this failure would make me stronger. And I was so excited (and a little bit nervous) to share it with you.
But before I had a chance to upload my post, my hard drive failed. Wop-wop. Stupid failure. Getting in the way all the time.
So, we will have to make do with this somewhat less-excellent post, which I am writing on the train to Montreal. To be totally honest, my photo a day challenge wasn’t a complete and total failure. I actually took several neat pictures in the month. I just didn’t take one every day.
So, not 30, but at least a few good ones!
And you know what I realized last week as I wrote the post? I realized that I should give myself a break. So no, I’m not going to start my photo a day challenge again (yet). I’ve already bitten off more than I can chew — I am a lawyer, I run a photography business, I write a blog, I cook and I clean, I travel, I do yoga, I really want to start running again, and I would like to spend at least some time this summer drinking beer on patios. So, instead of picking myself up, brushing myself off and trying again I’m taking a step back and I’m going to breathe. And I’m so excited.
P.S. All you moms out there who work and blog and be moms… you are my idol. Seriously.
So…I’ve mentioned a few times that I’vebeenbusy. I’ve also not been posting that much, a clear indication of busy. But in the last couple of weeks I have come to realize that in keeping a personal blog, and in posting a lot of the meals that I cook on such blog, the whole world knows what I’m eating when I’m eating it. And, when I’m not posting food, the whole world could probably deduce that lately I’ve been eating out or eating pre-packaged food (gasp) … a lot. And it’s surprisingly embarrassing. I don’t even really like eating out and I really don’t like most pre-packaged food; even my 27-year love affair with KD has come to an end.
I’ve actually cooked a reasonable amount in the last little while, but several of our meals have been taken after 9:30pm, and by that point I’m so hungry that the last thing I’ve felt like doing is whipping out my camera to blog about them. But on Friday night, I realized this had to come to an end. I need to post a meal. So, at our late dinner (10:22, but don’t feel too bad for me, we went to a patio to drink a strongbow before coming home) I whipped out my iPhone and captured a few shots of our delicious falafel so I could blog it.
A few months ago, I posted a recipe for a falafel burger on the blog; today’s falafel is like the burger’s wild younger brother. It includes lots of cheese and is fried, which make it crispy and melty and delicious. And it is served in mini-pitas. Who doesn’t like mini-pitas? (I realize now that the iPhone shot doesn’t quite demonstrate the scale, trust me, these are mini-pitas).
This is a super quick and easy recipe that is at least somewhat healthy and can be whipped together in under a half an hour. So you can make it too.
Falafel with Avocado Spread
Adapted from: [where]
Serves 2 (unless you eat like birds, in which case it could probably stretch to 3)
Ingredients Spread
1 avocado, mashed
1 tbsp finely diced red onion
2 tbsp finely diced tomato
2 tbsp finely diced cilantro
1 clove pressed garlic
1 lime, juice
1/2 tbsp sour cream
Falafel & Fixins
1 can (or equivalent rehydrated) pinto beans
1/2 cup grated montery jack (or mozerella) cheese (or more, if you like a lot of cheese)
2 tbsp finely chopped green onion
2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro (coriander)
1/8 tsp cumin
1-2 egg whites
1.5 tbsp olive oil for frying
Mini-pitas
Sliced red onion
Arugula (or your preferred greens)
Frank’s Red Hot (or other hot sauce, if you are crazy)
Directions
Combine all avocado spread ingredients in a bowl, mash together with a fork and let sit while you prepare the falafel.
Mash pinto beans with a fork (or if you are lazy like me, pulse in blender). Combine mashed pinto beans, grated cheese, green onion, cilantro and cumin in a small bowl and mash it all together. Add 1 large egg white and mash together. If your falafel mixture doesn’t stick together, add more egg white and keep mashing until you can form oval falafel patties that stick together.
Make 1/4 inch thick falafel patties. I suggest you make about 12-14 little patties with your falafel mixture, these will be the perfect size for the mini pitas. Pan fry your falafel patties until cooked through and crispy. If you want to go all healthy styles, you could bake your falafel patties instead.
Serve falafel patties with avocado spread, mini pitas, sliced red onion, arugula and Frank’s taco style and enjoy!
This picture was taken May 27, 2008 (more than three years ago, holy moly) at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. I think that the lanterns may be one of the most photographed items in the Grand Bazaar, but for good reason. I always get asked why I didn’t bring a lantern home with me, and there are two reasons. 1) It was about 2 weeks into 52 weeks, I was pretty sure a lantern wouldn’t make it all the way home, and 2) I don’t think that one lantern would work nearly as well as hundreds… and I couldn’t afford hundreds.
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