Luisa Rios' Kitchen Notebook

The Drive of One, The Power of Many

Long ago I decided I wanted to be self-employed. With all its plus and minuses, the busy times, the quiet times, the great days and the not so great too.

For me, one of the biggest chal­lenges of being self-employed was that I never seemed to have enough time for all the dif­fer­ent projects I wanted to under­take. As a result, many of these projects ended up in the back burner or in the TO DO who-knows-when folder. But if there’s one thing I learned this year, it’s that you need a force behind you, some­thing to give you a push, that pro­pels you to start open­ing doors, mak­ing small changes and tak­ing your first steps enroute to a new journey.

I got that push early this year when I went to Port­land, Ore­gon for my first ever IACP (Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion of Culi­nary Pro­fes­sion­als) annual con­fer­ence. There, I met a bunch of won­der­ful peo­ple from many places around the globe, who love what they do and who love to share, talk and men­tor other peo­ple. When I came back, I came back with a pile of ideas and mem­o­ries of peo­ple that I saw for just a few days, but who I knew would have a huge impact in my life and my business.

Thanks to those peo­ple and the push they gave me, I am happy and excited to report that Cook­ing Jour­neys is launch­ing two brand new ser­vices, to help bring easy, deli­cious and nutri­tious food into more peo­ples’ lives.

First, I am launch­ing “Stork Express”, a deliv­ery ser­vice of healthy, pre-prepared foods for new moms (and dads!) who are wel­com­ing a new bun­dle of joy into their lives. There’s no time busier than when you bring a new baby home, and this ser­vice gives moms and dads the great­est gift they could ask for — the gift of time.

You (or they) choose the meals from my menu, pick a date and time, and I come right to their refrig­er­a­tor door to stock them up with 1, 2 or 4 weeks worth of meals. If you are expect­ing a baby, or know any­one in the Van­cou­ver area who is, I’d be thrilled if you took a look at my new ser­vice or sent them a link. (It makes a great baby shower gift, too!)

Sec­ond, after much prepa­ra­tion, I am also launch­ing the “Gal­ley Gourmet” – a pro­vi­sion­ing ser­vice for sail­boats, char­ter yachts and vaca­tion rentals. This sea­son I ded­i­cated myself to recipe test­ing, pack­ag­ing and had a soft launch. We are now open for busi­ness, and also ready to hit the boat­ing sea­son in 2011 in full steam. And, if you are in Van­cou­ver, BC and are going on vaca­tion, just give me a call – let’s stock up for your boat or your cot­tage with deli­cious food!

So what’s the moral of the story? If you have a dream, you can’t keep it to your­self alone. Talk to peo­ple. You will see how talk­ing to peo­ple will open the pos­si­bil­i­ties in front of you.

Hey Blackberry (Bam-Ba-Lam)!

It’s August, and that means just one thing for the Lower Main­land of B.C.: the wild black­ber­ries (the edi­ble kind, not the things you text on) are in full bloom!

It’s been a lit­tle while since the last time I wrote. Sum­mer turned out to be a very pro­duc­tive time full of ideas, plans and projects, all of which I’m look­ing for­ward to shar­ing with you – soon, I promise!

Nanaimo sun­rise — view at 6am

This past week­end, we had a won­der­ful time in Nanaimo set­ting David’s dad up with his own brand new com­puter – the first he’s touched in more than 18 years. It was exhaust­ing  and exhil­a­rat­ing at the same time. It just reminded me of the many won­ders we enjoy today that many times I take for granted. And also the impor­tance of keep­ing curi­ous, active and healthy for the approach­ing “golden years.”

First picks of the sun

The best part of the trip for me was the dawn hours. While the whole neigh­bour­hood was still asleep, I snuck out of the house and picked and munched my fill (and then some) from the gor­geous, big, plum-y black­berry bushes grow­ing in front of my in-laws home, as wild as they can get. I LOVE them – it reminds me of my dad’s won­der­ful pre­serves, when he would make his sim­ple desserts of “fruit in sim­ple syrup.” Mmmmm – per­fect for that quick change of taste after a nice lunch or dinner.

Black­berry flowers

If you live in Van­cou­ver, Van­cou­ver Island or just about any­where in the Lower Main­land, explore the hik­ing or bik­ing paths or parks near you. There are ripe black­ber­ries all over the place. If you bring a pail with you, there’s almost no end to the deli­cious things you can do with them – waf­fles, pan­cakes, muffins, apple-blackberry pie, souf­flés or my per­sonal favourite, all on their own.

Juicy ones, always far away from reach!

If you don’t hap­pen to live in B.C., find out what’s in sea­son where you live, then take your fam­ily out to explore and enjoy!

Happy munch­ing!

Fruits of my harvest!

Putting Together a Salad: In all Shades of Green

Farm­ers Mar­ket Day 1

I have a con­fes­sion to make. I am salad challenged.

In fact, if they ever pub­lish a cook­book called Sal­ads 101 – A Quick and Easy Guide to Salad Free­dom, I’ll be the first one in line to buy it. I don’t think it’s a Latin Amer­i­can thing, so maybe it’s a Colom­bian or regional chal­lenge? Or per­haps, ashamed as I am to admit it, maybe it’s just my family.

All I know for sure is, at home, sal­ads meant just four things: ice­berg let­tuce, sliced toma­toes, and pick­led onions or scal­lions. Oh, and a tomato vinai­grette! Period.

All of which means that I am prob­a­bly the last per­son who should have an opin­ion about sal­ads. But ever since I became a per­sonal chef, I’ve noticed that a lot of other peo­ple tend to be salad chal­lenged, too — that’s prob­a­bly why the infa­mous Cae­sar Salad is the #1 seller in all restau­rants in North Amer­ica. And since I can’t pre­pare sal­ads in advance for my clients (they don’t keep well for more than a few days), I’ve come up with a list of things every­one should always keep at hand that will help them put together a fresh, healthy and deli­cious salad in no time.

When toss­ing a salad, it all comes down to hav­ing lay­ers of tex­tures, colours and flavours. I pre­fer not to get too cre­ative, so three or four choices from these ingre­di­ents will usu­ally do wonders.

So if you’re salad chal­lenged like me, why not try throw­ing some of these together tonight, to add a lit­tle green to your family’s table? If you aren’t famil­iar with some of these ingre­di­ents, all the bet­ter. After all, try­ing some­thing new and find­ing out whether or not you like it is when the fun begins. Who knows — it might become your new fam­ily favourite.

Let’s start tossing!

Mix ‘n Match:

Leafy veg­eta­bles: arugula, dan­de­lion greens, endive, radic­chio or water­cress, cab­bage (red or green), col­lard greens or kale, let­tuce (such as but­ter­head, leaf or romaine), napa cab­bage, purslane, spinach, spring mix (note: buy them, wash and dry very well; store in a Ziploc bag with a paper towel — if you have to buy pre-washed greens, don’t for­get to check the best before date)

Herbs: pars­ley, rose­mary, basil, chervil, thyme, mar­jo­ram, oregano

“Fruit” veg­eta­bles: avo­ca­dos, olives, sweet pep­pers (red, orange or yel­low), toma­toes, win­ter squash, zuc­chini and other sum­mer squash (note: if you cut an avo­cado, don’t for­get to imme­di­ately brush it all over with a lit­tle lemon juice to stop it from browning)

Fruit fruits: wild berries and apples

Flow­er­ing veg­eta­bles: broc­coli, broc­coflower, broc­col­ini, cauliflower

Edi­ble pods and peas: green peas, snow peas, sugar snap peas

Herbs and veg­etable flow­ers: capers, arti­chokes, squash blos­soms, chives, chervil, chamomile

Onions: green onions, red or sweet white onion

Root veg­eta­bles, shred­ded: car­rots, beets, cele­riac, daikon, radishes, rutabaga, turnips, kohlrabi

Sprouts: alfalfa, broc­coli, radish or sun­flower, mung bean or lentil, quinoa

Stalk veg­eta­bles: aspara­gus tips, cel­ery, fennel

Tubers: Jerusalem arti­chokes, jicama, fin­ger­ling potatoes

Beans and legumes: any kind of bean, cooked at home if pos­si­ble or, if pressed by time, Eden Organ­ics BPA-Free Cans will do, soy beans, split peas, lentils, chickpeas

Rice and Grains: rice, wild rice, quinoa, bar­ley, mil­let, cous­cous, orzo (these last two, not tech­ni­cally grains, but hav­ing a per­son­al­ity dys­func­tion, act like one)

Crunchy Addi­tions: tofu or bread crou­tons, nuts and seeds: sun­flower, pump­kin or sesame, pine nuts, plain, soaked and dried – or roasted, sea greens, pan-fried or toasted

Dress­ings: Add your favourite dress­ings. If made with flaxseed or hempseed or their oils, the dress­ing is a rich source of omega 3 fatty acids. If made with avo­cado, olives, seeds or their oils, the dress­ing is a rich source of the pro­tec­tive antiox­i­dant vit­a­min E.

Share your tips — what’s your favourite salad?

Chilled Cucumber and Dill Soup Recipe

Okay, I know I said I wasn’t going to post many recipes. But a good friend of mine, Kathy, is bat­tling the heat wave in Ontario, so here I am already break­ing my own rules!

As any­one on the East Coast prob­a­bly knows all too well at the moment, heat waves and hot cook­ing don’t go together. So here is the recipe for a deli­cious (and deli­ciously cool!) Chilled Cucum­ber and Dill Soup I wrote down in my kitchen note­book from one of my first classes at Le Cor­don Bleu:

1 1/2 large cucum­bers (I like Eng­lish cucum­ber best)
1 small hand­ful of fresh mint
1 small hand­ful of fresh dill
2 cups of veg­etable stock
2/3 cup plain yogurt (for a vegan ver­sion use silken soft tofu)
salt and freshly ground black pep­per to taste

1. Trim the ends of the cucum­ber and dis­card the seeds. Chop the cucum­ber into chunks and place in the food proces­sor (fit with the metal blade). Add the mint and dill. Process until finely chopped, then add the stock (through the feeder tube) and process until well mixed.

2. Press the soup through a fine strainer (optional) then grad­u­ally whisk the yogurt into the soup until well blended. Sea­son to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Cover and refrig­er­ate overnight or for at least 4 hours.

Whisk the soup well before serv­ing, and taste for seasoning.

Serves 4.

Chef’s tips
1. Pre­pare the soup the day before, cover with a plas­tic wrap and let the flavours blend with time. Keep refrig­er­ated.
2. Chill the bowls in the refrig­er­a­tor before serv­ing — they will be nice and cold too.
3. Serve with a nice, thin, crisp bread.

Reusable Grocery Bags – To Tote or Not To Tote!

It took me many, many shop­ping trips until the habit of bring­ing my reusable gro­cery bags with me became sec­ond nature. Many, many times they stayed behind, hang­ing from the door­knob or even right in front of my nose.

Now, I might for­get my keys, my shoes or, some days, even my name – but I never leave home with­out my reusable gro­cery bags! In the unlikely event that I do for­get them, there’s always a cou­ple of “just in case” extra bags that live in the trunk of the car. Or, if I hap­pen to be walk­ing, there’s my tried and trusty “Mickey Mouse” fold­able back that lives in my purse.

(Won­der­ing about the name? Yes, it’s a bag with ears that folds into a minia­ture Mickey Mouse shape about the size of a small coin purse. A good friend of mine brought it for me from Dis­ney World, and it has become a full-time exten­sion of my purse).

In other words, when it comes to “green” shop­ping, all my bases are def­i­nitely cov­ered. But try as hard as we might, there are still some things for which reusable gro­cery bags just don’t work. Take pro­duce bags, for exam­ple. Since the farm­ers’ mar­kets aren’t avail­able all week, I often have to stop at the super­mar­ket on my way to the kitchen. Most of their pro­duce is drenched in water to pre­serve fresh­ness, mak­ing it tough to pack it in with the dried goods and other items. The same is even truer for the meat and poul­try department.

Which brings me to my dilemma – to use or not use plas­tic shop­ping bags. Lately, I’ve been hear­ing a num­ber of news sto­ries about the impor­tance of wash­ing your reusable bags to pre­vent the risk of food-born ill­ness. This seems like com­mon sense, right? You carry can­vas bags, bags get dirty. What to do with dirty cloths? You wash them. If it isn’t a cloth bag, then you san­i­tize them with Lysol wipes. Use a bas­ket instead of a bag? Water and soap will do.

So what’s a health– and environmentally-conscious shop­per to do? Here are a few things I’ve found use­ful about gro­cery bags and how we use them:

1. Reusable gro­cery bags come in many dif­fer­ent mate­ri­als; most of them are hand– or del­i­cate cycle– machine wash­able. All should be washed after each use. Hang to dry – don’t use the dryer even if they say you can. Some peo­ple also rec­om­mend bleach­ing your bags once a week to reduce or elim­i­nate bac­te­ria (1 Tbsp of chlorine-free bleach per gal­lon or 16 cups of water, or ¾ cup for your stan­dard washer cycle).

2. Sep­a­rate your bags into dif­fer­ent cat­e­gories, then use them only for those things that fit into their respec­tive groups. For exam­ple, I use some bags only for pro­duce, oth­ers for meat, and still oth­ers for car­ry­ing books, gym items and so on.

3. I still wrap meat, poul­try and seafood in dou­ble plas­tic bags before putting them into the reusable shop­ping bags. Don’t for­get to keep your meat and pro­duce in sep­a­rate bags. For things that have to be refrig­er­ated, if I know they’ll be out of the fridge for more than a few min­utes (even in Vancouver’s less-than-blistering-hot sum­mers), I also put a cooler in the car with some ice packs.

4. To reduce pro­duce bags, I always put a hand bas­ket in the front of my gro­cery cart. I put all my pro­duce that isn’t wet into the bas­ket instead of putting it into plas­tic bags, then I hand the bas­ket to the cashier and we pack all my lovely fruits and veg­gies loose in a reusable bag. If you’re a good seam­stress or have a good farm­ers’ mar­ket or nat­ural food store near you, you can also make or buy reusable pro­duce bags – www.credobags.com/catalog has some good ones for bulk grains, legumes, nuts, seeds and fruits.

5. One last tip? Go one step fur­ther, and con­sider bins over bags. Bins are sturdy, reusable, and easy to clean and keep dry.

Happy shop­ping!

What are your tips for a healthy, green and trouble-free shop­ping spree?