This hearty soup is chock-full of tasty summer vegetables. I like to make this soup in August and September when veggie stores in Vancouver sell heaps of field-fresh multicolored peppers. My favorite variety is Hungarian pepper; a white pepper with a great aroma and taste. I also like long red peppers that come in both sweet and spicy varieties.
This is what Hungarian peppers and long peppers look like.
Recipe: Red Pepper, Zucchini, and Kidney Bean Soup
Red Pepper, Zucchini, and Kidney Bean Soup
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Corn, Avocado, and Lime Soup
This Mexican-themed soup is great in August when fresh corn is widely available. I wanted to counteract the sweetness of corn with lime juice, and used dried ancho pepper in the stock to add warm spiciness. Cool creamy avocado and chopped cilantro are added as toppings.
Recipe: Corn, Avocado, and Lime Soup
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Roasted Butternut Squash, Ginger, and Toasted Chickpeas Soup
This vibrant soup is full of comforting fall flavors: caramel notes from roasted squash, delicate spiciness of ginger, and the nutty flavors of toasted chickpeas. Pan-toasting chickpeas is really the secret that makes this soup taste so great; I sprinkle chickpeas with a little bit of curry powder while they are toasting to add another flavor dimension.
Recipe: Roasted Butternut Squash, Ginger, and Toasted Chickpeas Soup
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Russian Crepes (Blinchiki) –Блинчики
Crepes, or blinchiki, is a favorite breakfast food of many Russians. They are so easy to make, and are meant to bring the whole family together for breakfast. Kids love them! The best blinchiki are paper-thin with slightly crisp edges. They can be eaten with honey, sour cream, jams, or wrapped around various delicious sweet or savory fillings. My favorite fillings are meat (ground beef fried with onions), rice, egg and dill, and mushroom. For the ultimate decadency, some Russians eat blinchiki with caviar.
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Lemongrass Steamed Mussels
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This is one of the easiest ways to prepare mussels, and one of the best. Lemongrass adds a fresh and fragrant flavor to the broth, which is simply amazing when eaten with slices of crusty baguette.
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Flavourful Oyster Stew
I made this stew after I bought a dozen of fresh oysters at Goose Point Oyster Farm in Washington State. They were much bigger than the usual medium size and therefore not easy to be opened and eaten raw, which is the best way to eat oysters, of course. I'm not adding any bacon or other smokey, greasy meats, but instead keeping this stew light and aromatic with the addition of white wine and saffron.
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The Easiest Crusty Homemade Bread in Cast Iron Pot
I love the ease of using a breadmaker, but I find that the one thing I'm missing is the crust on my white bread. After experimenting for while, I discovered baking the bread in my trusty cast iron pot produces a wonderful loaf, soft on on the inside with a wonderful golden trust. The dough is made in the breadmaker first, then transferred to preheated pot and baked in the oven. That's it! Just let the pot work its magic. No grease or pot liners needed.
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Baked Eggs with Broccoli and Shiitake
This is a great way to use leftover steak or any other meat in a breakfast dish, or omit the meat altogether making this a vegetarian dish. I love the combination of crispy garlicky croutons, broccoli, mushrooms, and runny yolks. Broccoli works particularly well with shiitake mushrooms, but any other type of mushroom will do. You will need oven-proof ceramic ramekins to bake this dish in.
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Vinegret – Winter Beet and Sauerkraut Salad
Vinegret is a truly wonderful combination of vibrant colors, soft and crunchy textures, and sweet and sour taste. It uses vegetables that are readily available in the winter to provide a vitamin boost. The word vinegret originated from the French "vinaigrette", a well-known salad dressing. There is no vinegar in vinegret salad, despite what its name suggests. The main ingredients are beets, carrots, potatoes, sauerkraut, pickles, and green peas. Sometimes white beans are used instead of peas. Vinegret is a staple dish in many Russian homes; it is inexpensive to make and looks great on a holiday table!
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Fast Salt-Brined Cucumbers (Malossol Pickles)
Malossol literally means "little salt" in Russian. These tasty pickles are quickly cured in salt - there is no vinegar in the recipe. These are especially great in July when fresh pickling cucumbers are available. The smallest cukes have the most crunch. If you can't find pickling cukes, Japanese cucumbers can be used, or even regular English cucumbers (quartered). I'm using a lot of aromatics in this recipe, including Russian garlic, horseradish root, black peppercorns, dill heads/seeds, and blackcurrant and cherry leaves. They can be found at farmers markets during summer (except for the leaves, which you will have to harvest yourself if you want to use them).
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Skagit Valley Tulip Festival + Deception Pass Day Trip to Washington State
April is a great time to take a day trip to the Skagit Valley in Washington State, to see millions of tulips in bloom in the fields between Mount Vernon and La Conner. With La Conner being only two hours away from Vancouver by car (not counting time spent at the border), this is a […]
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3 Places to See Tulip Fields Near Vancouver
Who doesn’t love the colorful tulip fields – they are such an eye candy and provide great photographic opportunities! Here in Vancouver, we are within a day-trip driving distance from three places to see the tulip fields – Bloom in Abbotsford, Tulips of the Valley in Chilliwack, and Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in the Washington […]
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6 Great Spring Hikes Near Vancouver
Vancouver has a ton of great hikes close to town, but many of the trails are covered with snow until June or July. By late March, I’m usually not in the mood to pull out the snowshoes, and would rather see fresh green leaves and waterfalls than snowbanks. Here is a list of my favourite […]
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Weekend Trip to Leavenworth, WA: Day 1 – Sauer’s Mountain and the town of Leavenworth
This was totally a spur of the moment trip with no advanced planning, but amazingly, 13 people ended up going to Leavenworth for 2 days of hiking and 1 night of camping. For me, I confess, the whole purpose of this trip (other than spending time with my friends) was to see gorgeous balsamroot flowers […]
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Weekend Trip to Leavenworth, WA: Day 2 – Icicle Ridge via Fourth of July Creek hike
After packing up camp in the morning, we headed to the Fourth of July Creek trailhead located just a few kilometres up the Icicle Creek Road. The Icicle Ridge hike is locally infamous for rattlesnakes, ticks, dust, and the heat furnace effect in the summer. Lucky for us, this early in the season, we encountered none […]
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Cabbage Rolls (Golubtsy)
This is a classic Russian recipe for cabbage rolls (called golubtsy), which consists of ground beef and rice wrapped in a fresh cabbage leaf and then simmered in a tomato/sour cream sauce. There are countless variations of the recipe, including the use of other meats, addition of mushrooms, buckwheat, or even vegetarian versions. Feel […]
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Okanagan hikes: Mount Boucherie
Mount Boucherie hike, though given a rating of “moderate to difficult” by a local hiking website, is only 200 m in elevation gain and around 5 km in length. Unlike BC Coastal Mountains, there are few hikes with huge elevations gains in the Okanagan. Nonetheless, it was a fun hike. Mount Boucherie is actually an […]
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Okanagan hikes: Pincushion Mountain via Trepanier Creek
Some websites will tell you that there is no longer a connection between these two hikes Pincushion Mountain hike and Trepanier Creek hike, but it’s still doable, you just need to cross on an abandoned golf course. This hike begins at Trepanier Creek trailhead in the residential area of Peachland up in the hills. The […]
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Myra Canyon (KVR trail)
Myra Canyon is part of the Kettle Valley Railway trail, an abandoned railway that was converted for recreational use. A feat of engineering in its heyday, the railway was constructed over steep mountain terrain using the route of the least resistance, meaning that the grades were never more than 2.2%. Between 1920s and 1950s, the KVR allowed heavy […]
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Victoria day camping trip to the Okanagan
Back in February, I managed to snatch the last 3 campsites for Victoria Day long weekend in the entire Okanagan region. They happened to be located in the Okanagan Falls Provincial Park, just steps from the town of the same name. Each site can accommodate 4 adults (strictly enforced) and up to 4 children. I haven’t camped […]
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