Just Like Home

Firstly, I think you are all lovely people.  I really do.  Secondly, LOOK AT THE BUTTON. —->

My awesome friend Josh made that.  Seriously – who makes an avocado look cute??  It only took him one try and one night until past 2 AM.  Uh, like I said, he’s awesome.

Furthermore, I’ve decided to award double-entries into the Spiralizer contest for those who make Greenola by the end of this month (April 30, 2010)!

I guess you could call me a slave-driver.

But I’m really just concerned that I’ll be left alone with this spiralizer.  After all, what would I do with such a thing?  Make the most incredible zucchini pasta and apple spirals??  Someone please save me.  Oh, the horror.  The horror.

OK I’m switching modes now.  (At this point you should be imagining Sufjan Stevens’ “To be alone with you” playing somewhere in the background.)

I believe that I have always loved Waterloo.  Even when I was a little girl, and my parents would take us here and try to seed the notion of taking on Waterloo-ian postsecondary studies  into my yet pre-pubescent brain, I would understand.  I would understand much more than I thought – than they thought – I did.

It’s a been a decade (er, yes I am old?), and I’m here now.  And Waterloo is perhaps more beautiful to me than ever.  With each passing month, I secretly watch for tell-tale signs of new scenery and new foliage.

These promises seem to reside in the grub of winter and the smell of sweet summer.  Spring rain and fallen pine cones.  Everything in between.  Oh, and colours.  Glorious colours.

But something’s amiss.

Maybe this place is too pristine for me -

or maybe I’m just trying to escape this feeling of having to write exams -

but I miss home.

I miss the ghetto streets of my neighbourhood in uptown Toronto, and all that it represents to me.   (What does it represent to me, though?)  Lately, I haven’t been able to shake this feeling of wanting to go home.  Yes, I believe there is a term for this feeling.  It is called homesickness.  I’m supposed to be studying for my Public Health Microbiology exam (occurs this evening!), but I can’t look at the term “nosocomial infection” without thinking of home.  Nosocomial looks an awful lot like nostalgia, doesn’t it?

And of course, I can’t finish this post without posting about food.  So a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I had some special people over.  I am not allowed to say too much, but I will divulge that the show involves students trying to make something “just like home” – ie. a classic “sig” dish that only Mom or Dad can make (or grandma or grandpa!), that just exudes that classic essence of home… (How fitting for me right now.  Where is Mom when I need her?  She’s on the other end of my inbox, telling me that I should come home on the 23rd.  You think I’m kidding, but I’m not.)  So I can’t share with you just yet what I decided to make for the show, but I will share with you what I made for my little get-together with the producers.   Here’s how the deed was done, my friends:

Savoy Cabbage Wraps with Apricot Tahini

INGREDIENTS:

6 savoy cabbage leaves
2-3 c. raw whole sesame seeds, ground with a coffee mill
Handful of dried apricots, diced
Splash of almond milk (alternatively, any milk will do)
Sprigs of parsley, julienned red peppers and carrots (or/and any other vegetable crudité or herb you might have on hand)

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Grind the sesame seeds with a coffee mill.  Toss in dried apricots.  Add a splash of almond milk until the consistency of the crumbly mixture resembles a thicker paste.

2.  Spread evenly into centre of 6 savoy cabbage leaves, topping with crudités.

3.  Roll ‘er up.  And you win.  Roll ‘er up 6 times.  Win 6 times.

If you have any leftover paste, stick it between two thinly sliced beet sheets.  (Beet sheets. Beet sheets. Say that out loud – weird!)

Voilà!  I know, I know.  I’m a genius.  Try it yourself first, thank me later.

Seriously, 3-step recipes rule my existence.

Unrelated: so I’m experimenting with writing out in advance what I’m going to be posting in the upcoming week.  I am notoriously bad at following rules and plans though, so we’ll see how this experiment goes.  For now, in the coming week, I hope to:

Show you where I work.
Follow up on the Random Social Experiment #1: Study Pack Distribution. (Hopefully with a video!)
Celebrate the termination of EXAMS. WAHAHA.

As always, throw any suggestions you might have my way.  Suggestions and questions about anything and everything: from people, to food, to places, to topics of discussion.  I’m willing to answer just about anything.  I’ll even describe the intricacies of cheesecake Cheesecake, if you want me to.

2 Questions and 1 Command:

Question #1: What is one dish that reminds you of “back home”?

Question #2: Why aren’t you making Greenola already?

Command #1: Make Greenola already.