snow still melting, lots of good food, waiting for spring, licquers...and a prepping tip for all of you!

it's been a couple of grey days...but we don't mind...it's been mild, the snow is still melting and we are waiting for spring with much anticipation!

here's jambaloney's favourite meal - steak and shish-kebabs! with beet-pickled turnip, corn sprouts, and spring sprouts - yummeh! i, of course, had lamb.

the lamb here is terribly expensive but jambaloney got me a couple of flats when it was on sale. i have to admit that it's kind of "blah" - i am used to getting really good lamb back in the city and it always had a nice gamey taste to it. this lamb is just kind of "blah". so we won't be purchasing anymore unless we can find an organic farmer here on the island that will sell us some. we have a couple of names to check out and then perhaps we can enjoy lamb again!

here's a beautiful sunset from the other night!

sorry kids - more sushi! 1 tamago at each end of the plate, 1 shrimp, 1 tuna and 1 tofu.

on the second plate is our version of a california roll - avocado, carrot strips and cucumber strips - deelish! now that we have regular access to THE FISH GUY, and the fact that we have learned to make the rolls without a bamboo mat, and the fact that we ate sushi regularly back in the city, and the fact that it took us several attempts the first 2 yrs we were here to make our own - needless to say, sushi is on the menu at least twice a week! we looooove sushi!!!

in keeping with our love of soups for breakfast - here's a thai soup with coconut milk, lemongrass, mushroom, shrimp, carrot, lime, crushed chilis, a ton of garlic, cumin, turmeric and cayenne soup. the base of the soup starts with a pint of homemade broth.

jambaloney used to be a bartender for years and can make all kinds of fancy cocktails. as i only drink wine (red, lindemans bin 50, shiraz), i have never been interested in any cocktails or stuff - i hate pina coladas, daiquiries and margaritas. but jambaloney has recently introduced me to cointreau - oh me oh mi - i love it! on special occasions (having sushi for dinner or supper is a special occasion to me - that's how boring my life is - bahahahahah!), i now have a cointreau.



he puts 3 ice-cubes - i must have 3!, an orange peel twist, and a squeeze of an orange. deelish! and goes so well with sushi in my mind!

what is this, you ask? i bet you can smell it through your screen!

it's a mixture of grated onion, chopped parsley, chopped cilantro, ginger, cumin, turmeric, cayenne, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and salt and pepper. it's a standard mix for various middle eastern dishes including kofta. you mix the spices with ground lamb to make the koftas. as we can't find any ground lamb on the island, i made it using ground beef. and the twist i added was throwing in about a half cup of left-over quinoa - it was a great addition and provided a real nutty taste.

the koftas are put on the grill on skewars and served with hummus and my cucmber/mayonnaise dip which is sort of like tzatziki minus the yoghurt.

here's a fantastic and spicy breakfast for any vegetarians out there. this is korean dobu-jorim which is tofu and onion cooked in a very spicy sauce - it'll kick you in the head and get your day started!

you can prepare the sauce to go with beef, chicken or pork.

now on to the prepping tip - one that i want all of you to consider. many preppers talk about having spices on hand - but mostly, in my experience, they mean salt, pepper, oregano, rosemary, thyme and maybe some garlic powder, onion powder and chili powder.

but i say instead of another flat of canned tuna - stock up on a pile of spices. and not just the regular spices - stock up on the exotic ones too! spices are the "actual" spice of life. learn how to cook using your more exotic spices like cinnamon (which is excellent for your metabolism!), turmeric, cayenne, cumin, nutmeg, cloves, creme of tartar, ground mustard, sage, bay leaves, coriander, korean red pepper flakes, cardamom, wasabi powder, celery seed, mustard seed and more! from these spices you can make custom spices of your choice - like allspice, garam masala and a variety of curries. there are so many delicious basic foods that you can make if you have the spices on hand - such as something as simple as a potatoe curry from potatoes that you grow yourself!

all of the spices listed above have incredible health benefits and i strongly believe that we are what we eat and that including a variety of spices in your daily diet IS prepping for your health! for example - including turmeric in your daily meals or taking it as a tea has many health benefits. here is a link to a simple google search on turmeric.

you can do the research yourself, as in some cases, certain medical conditions are prohibitive of some of these spices. but not many. and the health benefits of these spices, if you don't have a prohibitive medical condition, ARE TOO MANY TO COUNT!

all right, stepping off of the spice soap box now. just remember - you ARE what you eat.

anyway, we are having a really nice day - jambaloney is moving the freezer and clothes washer around in the basement since we were able to put a lot of stuff that was cluttering the basement in the new shed. moving the freezer and clothes washer will really open up our dirt-floor, small basement and provide him with a sorta-kinda work room of sorts (Ed - after seeing your workroom and all of the stuff you build in there, and the fact that i am now screaming for a murphy bed - i think jambaloney has cut you off. bahahahahah! naw 'jes teasin'. but he's close, buddy!). i just made some delicious savoury croutons for - SNACK! we love snacking on croutons! and guess what i use to make croutons? i use old bread, EVOO and wait for it - SPICES!!!! (see how i turned that around and brought it back to spices? bahahahah!)

allrighty then - off to take a walk around the yard, get Frankie Blue Eyes off the roof. again. third time today. but hey - it's exercise and you don't want to get me started on how important exercise is to prepping. that's another post for another day!

hope you are all having a great day too!