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Monday 30 July 2012

Pinkberry Frozen Yogurt

Aditi eeeee, and me too were very excited when we recieved our invitation to the opening of Pinkberry Frozen Yogurt in West Edmonton Mall. My daughter's only four, but considers herself quite the frozen yogurt connoisseur (and yes, she can say 'connoisseur' too, insert proud mommy emoticon here) and she was pretty sure that the invitation was hers actually, and I was her accompanying guest :) Which, of course, I was proud to be.

As it turns out, Pinkberry couldn't have chosen a better week to open in Edmonton. With temperatures soaring in the mid-thirties, it was hot outside and all thoughts were always with cold, frozen treats. Aditi and I were pretty hot when we arrived at WEM, even though we were sitting in the back of the bus where, ocasionally, there is a breeze happening. We were both, therefore, rather relieved when we entered the air conditioned environs of WEM, and we skittered along to the Pinkberry booth.

Saturday 14 July 2012

Home grown parsley and potato soup

Its been a weird week. I've had news that's made me hugely happy, and then we've had events that have made both Kay and I sad. Lets start with the good news. See that shiny new badge on my right sidebar?
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Yes, I've been voted into Babble's Top 100 Mom Food Blogs for 2012, and I am number 24. I am so chuffed and I want to thank you all so much for putting up with my constant begging, begging, whining, guilting requests for votes from you all. Its been an incredible journey, and I am finally beginning to feel settled and happy with myself and this little space I've created. 

So thank you all from the bottom of my cooking pots and pans! I couldn't have done it with your constant support and encouragement.

Tuesday 10 July 2012

Lemon Limoncello Cream Popsicles

I am such a smart one, aren't I? Edmonton is having a massive heat wave, with temperatures in the mid thirties all week, and I decide that one of the hottest days of the decades is the day I need to photograph my delicious, but incredibly fragile and melty, limoncello creamsicles. Oh, clever me!! Or, better still, what a idiot idea that turned out to be. I got about 2 photos before those creamsicles started turning into a puddle of cream (oh, the cream was pretty delicious) and it was a frantic chuck-them-in-the-freezer... omigosh what am I going to do... CAT! KID! stay away from those, those are alcoholic, they are, oh, misery, what am I to do??

All this drama... while the answer was blindingly obvious, of course. Eat the damn things and sod the pictures :) Oh, and when you're at it, drink all the limoncello as well, you'll need it!
 
Limoncello

That said, can you think of a more perfect way to beat the heat? Fresh, tangy citrus teamed up with a delicate liqueur, all in a delicious creamy popsicle?

Thought not.

The idea for these creamsicles came from David Lebovitz's book. I've been addicted to his lemon ice cream for years now, but I also wanted to change things up a bit, as some aspects of it weren't quite working for me. The ice cream kept turning slightly powdery (delicious, nonetheless) and obviously some ingredients just weren't the same here. So I worked and reworked it several times, before coming up with this version, which, to be honest, is pretty close to perfect. The alcohol keeps the creamsicles smooth and creamy, while dissolving the sugar and lemon juice prior to blending in the half and half got rid of the powderiness. And of course, you can always freeze this in an ice cream machine, like I did, and serve with a sprinkling of lemon zest and a splash of limoncello.

And how did I stop them melting enough to take some pictures? Well, I cut out some paper towels in the shape of these popsicles, and placed the creamsicles gently over top of them. Solved part of the melting problem, but these pics were still taken in under five minutes :) Sometimes, photography has to take a backseat to more practical considerations like, how do you keep these treats away from sneaky li'l hands? That, I haven't yet figured out!!

 Lemon Limoncello Cream Popsicles_DSC0093
 
Recipe:
(Printable Recipe)

½ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
½ cup caster sugar (berry sugar) *increase to ¾ cup if you like your creamsicles sweeter
2 cups half and half (10% cream or 1 cup single cream + 1 cup whole milk)
Pinch of salt
1½ - 2 tablespoons limoncello

Method:

Place the lemon juice and sugar in a bowl, and whisk together until the sugar is reasonably well dissolved.

Whisk in the half and half and salt. Transfer to a blender and blend for 1 minute, until the mixture is lovely, thick and creamy.

Stir in the limoncello.

Pour immediately* into popsicle moulds and freeze overnight until set completely. Run water over popsicle moulds to release.

* If you leave the mixture in the fridge before pouring it into moulds, it could separate. Give it a good whisk to combine before pouring into moulds or freezing in an ice cream machine.


Sunday 8 July 2012

Beet Greens Fugath (Spiced Beet Greens with Shredded Coconut)

I've been absolutely loving the weather in Edmonton this summer. Its been in the low plus thirties all this week and its due to last into next week, and for me-from-the-tropics, its heavenly weather. The husband and kid complain that its too hot, but I tell them both to suck it up, cause I'd rather it be plus thirty than minus thirty.

All this beautiful weather has meant that the garden has been doing extremely well. We've had some nice rainy weather on a few days, and this has helped everything grow, and the sunshine means that fruits and vegetables are ripening up beautifully. I don't have much of a berry crop this year, as we onlt just planted our strawberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants and raspberries, but my highbush cranberry bush has gazillions of berries on it, and I can't wait for them to ripen. The pin cherries only need a couple more days, and then... mmmm... pie.

Wednesday 4 July 2012

Bombay Potatoes

Update: Yayy, this recipe won in the Main/ Side category of the BCfresh 'Be Fresh' Recipe Challenge! Huge thanks to the organisers and to Food Bloggers of Canada :)

There is a reason why my blog didn't really start taking off until I moved here to Canada. It can be summed up in three words. Marks and Spencer. Hehe. I frequented M&S while living in England, and in my personal opinion, it does some of the best ready meals in England. Which, to be honest, after a day's work, are very very tempting. I did cook a lot, but the proximity and quality of M&S food meant that I stayed with my classics and rarely ventured out of my comfort zone.

M&S was also one of those supermarkets that did really good Indian food as well, even if I didn't know what half of the meals on their shelves were, as they really were all about English Indian food. One of those 'new' dishes was Bombay potatoes. Now Bombay, or Mumbai, has some pretty good potato dishes, but I have never come across anything quite like this one in all my years of living in and visiting Bombay :) The M&S Bombay potatoes were pretty good though, and though I always scratched my head as to where they actually came from, it never stopped me from munching on them with satisfaction.

Tuesday 3 July 2012

Moving Forward

Well, as you may have already noticed, Food, Football and a Baby is now The Tiffin Box. Its taken me a while to get to this stage. I loved my original name, but as you can imagine, it was cumbersome, and hard to tell people all the time.

While the 'Food' in the title was universal, moving to Canada meant that the 'Football' part always got misunderstood hugely. They like to call it soccer here (bah!) And of course, the 'Baby' is no longer a baby, and she also objects to being called a baby nowadays.

It was time for a change, but change is not easy. I agonised a lot over the new name, and while I already had in mind what I would call the blog, putting it into practice was another matter. I kept putting it off, but I was also slowly realising that the longer I put it off, the harder it was getting.

So, with the help of my friends, Marlow Moo's humans, and their friend Chris, I did it. We ate first, like you do, naturally, and then buckled down and changed the title to 'The Tiffin Box'.

Why The Tiffin Box?

For those who don't know, tiffin boxes are little lunch boxes that Indian people carry their lunches in. Usually consisting of three insulated tiers, they are brilliant for carrying different items like dal, rice, rotis, vegetables etc, separately, so the food items don't get soggy. Personally, I think its such a brilliant idea, especially for Indian food.

Tiffin boxes hold special memories for me, especially of India. My dear mum used to make up these boxes for us, and we used to lug them to school. And as soon as the lunch bell rings, a whole group of our friends would get together and we would excitedly poke around in everybody else's tiffin boxes, and share our food with each other. This was communal dining at its best, and what this website strives to be, a community.

Of course, tiffin is also a very English term. The British in India used to take what they referred to as a 'tiffin', usually a light meal in the afternoons, as Indians tended to eat very late in the evenings. And of course, who can forget that tasty cake called a 'tiffin cake'? Not me. The uniquely commonwealth approach of this name was my inspiration.

So, this website is now reflective of all my travels, and homelands. Its with sadness I bid goodbye to Food, Football and a Baby, but at the same time, I look forward to the future, with both apprehension and anticipation. There is still so much to be done, and I can't wait to get to it!

Here's to The Tiffin Box, and to my lovely, lovely friends and readers. Thank you for bringing me to this point in my blogging life.

Don't forget to 'Like' my new Facebook page. My Twitter is the same for now, though I do have a handle for The Tiffin Box as well.

* I am still working on getting the website quite right, so do bear with me during this transition period. If you have any questions, or need any information, please feel free to contact me, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.