A food tale

A very interesting thing happened last Friday when I joined a group of volunteers to prepare the food for a community dinner sponsored by the nonprofit where I work parttime. The helpers were all different backgrounds and profiles; we were like a microcosm of the world with someone from Egypt, Jamaica, Fiji, Turkey and Hong Kong. The chef was from Fiji. The coordinator of the whole event (I'm guessing) is from Eastern Europe. And of course there was me.

One of the helpers apparently worked as a professional cook, and changed into her chef's whites before we started. I was making small talk and espying some fresh ginger that we were supposed to grate down, I quipped, "In my country we boil that up and make a tea that's excellent for sore throats and coughs."

She replies, as though as I were an immigrant fresh off the boat: "Out here we just go to the doctor and ask for some pills. Why bother making tea?"

Clearly she had never heard of how traditional folk medicine, practiced even in developed countries, uses natural ingredients for common ailments. So, undeterred, I shot back and explained that it's actually pretty common practice in many cultures, and quite effective too.

Later on (because I am too sociable and conversational for my own good) I happened to ask if she was making mint jelly to go with the roast lamb she had offered to prepare. Her reply: "No mint jelly. You only get that in four star restaurants".

Well excuuuuuuuse me! Home cooks prepare mint jelly in a flash -- I've not made it myself but that's only because we don't eat lamb at home, but look it up on the Web and you'll see that even beginner cooks can whip it up.

I may be wrong but Ms Cook clearly had a chip on her shoulder as she reacted so negatively to nearly every overture. Patricia says maybe she had something against Southeast Asian women. H thinks she may not have been very educated and might have thought I was being "posh" -- that she probably had five kids to feed and a hard life and there I was swanning in and talking about mint jellies. I had to roar with laughter at this, as it was so ABSURD. I've been lucky in having the opportunity to experience different cuisines and cultures but I certainly wasn't being "posh". Just goes to show that you can't please everybody! Everyone else was friendly.

On the bright side, assisting and watching the Fijian chef prepare chicken curry was an informative experience and one of these days I will try out his recipe!

The Great Grind

I did it! I did the Grouse Grind! As some of you might know it's a nearly 3km ascent up one of Vancouver's peaks, with an elevation gain of over 800 metres which makes it quite steep and vertical, though there are steps and handholds and a clearly marked path. Literally hundreds of thousands of people of all ages have made the trek over the years. It's considered one of the must-dos for both visitors and residents of the city. Last year I failed in my first attempt to make it to the peak -- H and I had to turn back at the quartermark as my legs were starting to fold and I was too exhausted.

On Sunday morning, in fact, I had no intention of climbing at all, though I did show up dressed for an active day, thinking I could do some gentle walking and wandering while waiting for H and our companions to finish the climb. But I was persuaded into joining the group by three things. One, I was slightly fitter than last year as I have for a few weeks now been incorporating near-daily walks with the dogs into my weekly schedule. Two, we had two "seniors" with us who were gamely attempting the Grind. I thought I should be no less brave! And three, if I were to take the gondola which was the only other way up to our peak rendezvous, I would have to shell out nearly 40 bucks.

And so I did it. While H and the two other guys streaked on to the peak, my walking companion and I made it in three hours in fairly good shape (I was barely sore the day after). The view at the peak was, of course, as stupendous as always. But more than that, that's one thing crossed off my list to things I must do in Vancouver!

I swore as we finished that I would never do it again. But then again, who knows? :-)

In pictures...

The gondola as seen from the base of the mountain



Hard slog all the way as parts of the path were steep, slippery and wet:



Seeing this gave us a second wind:



By this point we could glimpse the peak:



Just a few more steps!



Victory!!



You can come up but you can't go down. Coming down Grouse Mountain means a $5 gondola ride.

Dark and green

What's dark and green and intensely chocolate all over?

This one-egg chocolate zucchini cake, which used some of our last zucchini harvest. Moist, tender, and deeply chocky. The grated zucchini melds with the chocolate and the batter so that you won't even see it after!

There are loads of zucchini cake and zuke&chocolate cake recipes on the Web and I based mine on that motherlode of information -- with one change: I was sure with that much zucchini in the batter you wouldn't need two eggs. And I was right.



One-egg chocolate and zucchini cake
Makes 3 loaves if you use 8x4 pans; also excellent as muffins

1 1/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup yogurt or buttermilk
2 cups grated unpeeled zucchini (about 2 1/2 medium), most of the water squeezed out
About 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour your baking pans. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into medium bowl. Beat sugar, butter and oil in large bowl until well blended. Add the egg and beat well. Beat in vanilla extract. Mix in dry ingredients alternately with yogurt or buttermilk in 3 additions each. Mix in grated zucchini, chocolate chips and nuts. Pour batter into prepared pan.* (You can also sprinkle more chocolate chips and nuts over the cake before sticking it into the oven).

Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool cake completely in pan.

*Tip: Try to get the nuts and chips to the sides of the batter. I didn't do it this time but this extra step will increase the oohhh factor!

PS I know, I know. There are pumpkins in the background again. They're from our garden, a dwarf variety that probably is good only for show. I am excitedly waiting for true pumpkins to arrive in the market. Next year, H and I plan to have a real pumpkin patch.