Month: May 2011

I'd forgotten that I didn't share the pictures and story of this trip.  Randy's birthday is in the beginning of April so to celebrate we decided to rent a condo with a favorite traveling couple (Paul and Laurie Sherman) and ski for three days.

I was the only one who had never skied at Whistler before.  On the way up they told stories of skiing in fog and on blue ice.  Sometimes at the same time. Oh boy.  Anyway, we left after work on a Friday and arrived in the dark.  The instructions to the condo were confusing, as were the pathways still covered in snow.  Eventually we found it without grumbling and griping too much.  Truthfully we were all just glad to be out of the car.

The condo was nice enough, except it only had one bathroom.  We dealt with that, waited our turn patiently.  The heating system wasn't particularly straightforward so often we were either too cold or too warm.  Foxglove 26 was our condo, just in case you want to pick one that had two bathrooms.  The good news is that it was comfortable and stylish.  Plus it had a tv so that Paul didn't have to miss the Sounders game.

Our first day of skiing was wonderful!  The snow was soft and fluffy, very skiable, and the sun was out.  We skied on both sides of the mountain — Blackcomb and Whistler.  The gondola between mountains takes only about 11 minutes.  It's very cool.

I was still recovering from that long illness so pooped out a little early.  Still, I'd had a great time skiing with everyone.  And of course, I pooped out on the Whistler side and needed to navigate my way back to Blackcomb.  Paul assured me that I needed to catch the Red Chair back up to the gondola.  That was clear, until I missed a crucial turn and accidently skied all the way down to Creekside from the top where I had left them.  Getting back up to the top was straightforward and I suppose it's worthwhile to ski from top to bottom at least once.

Getting off the ski slope and back to the condo was another adventure.  Unfortunately I left the ski slope too early and ended up walking a quite a long way down the road in my ski boots, carrying my skis. At least it was a nice day.  And I found the condo.

The next day Paul, Laurie, and Randy skied in the backcountry with our friend Tobae.  I was still coughing too much to keep up with them so I opted to walk down to the cross country ski hut on the golf course and take a skate ski lesson.  It would've been nice to take a lesson at the beginning of the season rather than the end because I haven't done it since.  Still, after my lesson I got the hang of it and was able to toodle around the frozen lake.  That night we celebrated Randy's birthday at a French restaurant called Le Gros Deux.  The food was old-fashioned French and quite good.

On our final day, the weather that Whistler is famous for (fog) came in.  The snow was quite good still even though sometimes the skiing was vertiginous.  We had a great time skiing the trees from the Symphony chair until it was sadly time to head home.  The rain poured the whole trip home but we had dinner at Horseshoe Bay while waiting for Vancouver traffic to clear out.  It was a great trip and I look forward to skiing there again.

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures:

We went camping near Yakima last weekend (more on that later) and hunted for morel mushrooms.  What to do with a grocery bag of morels?  Field clean them and stir fry with garlic and butter!  Yum! What next?  Give to your friend, whose birthday you missed!  Give some to your dad.  And the rest?  Make pizza (then dehydrate the remainder to flavor sauces)!

The first pizza had too much cheese and I suffered because cheese in quantity and I no longer get along.  Still, the idea was good: saute a diced shallot in butter and olive oil, add the mushrooms and about 2 TBSP of sherry then spread on pizza crust.  Add mozzarella sparingly then bake in a hot oven for 10 minutes.

The second pizza was really really good.  Start with the same steps as pizza #1 but instead of mozzarella, tear up some proscuitto and basil to top the cooked stuff.  Again, bake for 10 minutes in a hot oven.  And really really enjoy!

This recipe was adapted/modified from a recipe I saw in Cooking Light magazine.  The original recipe called for shrimp but neither Randy or I particularly like shrimp so I used halibut cheeks instead.  I suspect that any firm white fish cut into bite sized pieces would work well.

Here goes:

3 TBSP canola oil

1 lb of firm white fish fillets cut into bite-sized pieces

1/2 c. unsweetened shredded coconut

3/4 c. gluten-free bread crumbs (I used rice bread, whirled it around in the food processor)

2 egg whites, beaten

1 can of black beans, rinsed

3 TBPS chopped cilantro

1 ripe mango, cubed

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

3 scallions, sliced

2 TBSP gluten-free, sweet salad dressing (the recipe called for GF poppy seed dressing for example.  I used a citrus dressing made by Black Swan in Seattle.  You could try mixing equal parts fresh oj, rice wine vinegar with a little less canola oil and agave or honey.)

lime wedges

Make the salad first, starting with the black beans through the salad dressing.  Make in advance and refrigerate as long as possible.

Combine the coconut and bread crumbs in one shallow dish.  Beat the egg whites until bubbly, frothy in another shallow dish.  Heat the oil in large frying pan over medium to medium high heat.  Dip the fish pieces in the egg whites then the coconut bread crumb mixture then fry approximately three minutes per side until the fish is done.  Be careful to not burn the coconut.  Serve the fish along side the black bean mango salad with lime wedges.  Enjoy!

This is for Sandy M., because she asked.

The recipe is from "Veganomicon" by Moskowitz and Romero.

Pineapple Cashew Quinoa Stir-fry

Note: this works very well with leftover quinoa.  If you don't, quinoa only takes about 15 minutes to cook but you need to let it cool a bit.  You'll need 1 cup of quinoa.

Ingredients:

4 oz cashews, raw and unsalted

3 tbsp peanut oil

2 scallions, sliced thinly

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 hot chile (e.g. jalapeno), seeded and diced

½” piece of ginger, peeled and minced

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 c frozen green peas or cooked edamame

½ c fresh basil, rolled and sliced thin

2 tbsp fresh mint

10 oz fresh cut pineapple (about 2 cups)

3 tbsp soy sauce (I use wheat-free tamari)

3 tbsp vegetable stock (I use vegan bouillon)

1 tbsp mirin

Lime wedges

 Use the largest non-stick skillet you have (at least 11”) or a wok.  Have all your ingredients chopped and ready to go.  Place the cashews in a dry pan and toast over low heat, stirring, for 4-5 minutes until toasted.

 Remove the cashews from the pan, raise the heat to medium and add peanut oil, scallions, and garlic.  When the garlic starts to sizzle, add the chile pepper and ginger.  Stir-fry for about 2 minutes, then add the bell pepper and peas.  Stir-fry for another 3-4 minutes.  Add the basil and mint and stir for another minute before add the pineapple and 1 cup of quinoa.

 In a measuring cup, combine the soy sauce, vegetable stock, and mirin.  Pour over the quinoa mixture.  Mix gently and thoroughly.  Continue to stir-fry for 10-14 minutes.  You may need 2 spatulas to move the quinoa around.

 Serve with lime wedges and additional soy sauce.

After my last, not particularly interesting adventure I've had three weekends of family obligations and one weekend of work.  Plus we've had relentless rain for the most part.  Some of my friends are getting out to ski mid-week but that's not an option for me.  To say I'm restless might be a bit of an understatement.

However, there are some things that need to happen before I can get back out for adventures.  In March, I found out that my thyroid took a haitus, I'm anemic, my digestive system is out of whack, and I'm reactive to about half the foods in my regular diet.  Figuring out how to cope with all that has taken some time.  Thanks to probiotics and enzymes my digestive system is working fine.  The jury is still out on my thyroid but I've been instructed to take a break from those supplements for a little while.

My diet has been the most interesting.  It turns out that I'm reactive to all those things that I thought were good for me: almonds, salmon, broccoli, tuna, asparagus, oats, bananas.  All those things that you're supposed to include in your diet several times a week.  So what can I eat?  Soy, peanut butter, rice, pork, eggs, most berries, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, the ancient grains that are ancestors to modern wheat.

This last week I had a mini-rebellion and ate nachos one night.  Corn and cheese are definitely on my "avoid" list.  I have suffered since and it is so difficult to go back on the wagon but I must if I ever would like to have my life back in the way I know it.  Or at least remember it.  And I need the patience to let the iron supplements do their job.  Sixty more days of patience.  Sixty long days.

I need a new hobby until I can get back to the outdoor adventures that I used to love and live for.  Maybe that new hobby ought to be my diet.  Thankfully Asians have been doing marvelous things with soy and rice for possibly thousands of years.  My new adventures may be less about scaling peaks (or attempts at the very least) and more of the interesting culinary variety.  Stay tuned.