Remember: soak in water, spin to dry, store in a clean container or a plastic bag with a paper towel.

As a personal chef, I’m at the grocery food store between four to five days a week. Sometimes, I can be found gazing dreamily over the selection of produce (yes, I am that geeky!) Most of all, I love to see the differences between local/organic and “regular” produce.

Growing up in Colombia, it was very common to pick a piece of fruit from a tree, polish it with my t-shirt and eat it. Right there. No thought or worries about contamination, pesticides, fungicides, etc.

Now, even though the impulse is the same, the thought that crosses my mind when I see a lovely piece of fruit is whether or not it has been loaded down with unwanted chemicals.

For example, did you know that just rinsing your produce in running water will reduce, but not eliminate, pesticides? And if you eat five servings of fruits and vegetables from the Dirty Dozen List (see below) each day, you’ll be ingesting an average of 10 pesticides a day?

In my opinion, the best way to keep chemicals out of your produce is to follow the Environmental Working Group’s list of The Dirty Dozen and The Clean Fifteen. Basically, the Dirty Dozen are those fruits and vegetables that have a tendency to absorb anything that’s sprayed onto or around them. So when grocery shopping, try to find them in as organic and local a form as you can.

Similarly, the Clean Fifteen fruits and veggies are tough enough to keep chemicals where they belong: on the outside. For these, if you choose not to go organic, the consequences are likely to be a whole lot easier to stomach.

Remember these lists the next time you go shopping:

The Dirty Dozen (Buy organic):Apples, Bell Peppers, Blueberries, Celery, Grapes (imported), Nectarines (imported), Kale and Collard Greens, Lettuce, Peaches, Potatoes, Spinach and Strawberries.

The Clean Fifteen (Lowest in pesticides):?Asparagus, Avocados, Cabbage, Cantaloupe, Eggplant, Grapefruit, Kiwi, Mangoes, Mushrooms, Onions, Pineapples, Sweet Corn, Sweet Peas, Sweet Potatoes and Watermelon.

Clean your fruits and vegetables well, not only of dust but unwanted pesticides.

The way you clean your fruits and veggies after you get them home can also make a difference. Soaking, for instance, is generally much more effective than rinsing. For squeaky-clean fruits and vegetables, follow this simple formula:

• Fill a large bowl with enough cool water to cover all the produce you want to clean.
• Add 3 Tbsp of baking soda or Cider Vinegar, and 2 Tbsp hydrogen peroxide (optional), per gallon of water.
• Soak your produce for a few minutes, but don’t forget them! Soaking too long will leach away the nutrients along with the chemicals.

For smaller quantities, combine 1 cup of fresh water, 1 cup of distilled white vinegar, 1 Tbsp baking soda and the juice of half a lemon. Store in a spray bottle, shake well and spray fresh produce. Let sit for a few minutes, then rinse and enjoy! (Don’t forget to clean the tip of the spray bottle before storing it away.)

Delicious alternative to oatmeal.

More and more these days, cooks and nutritionists alike are touting the health benefits of oats and oatmeal. And I couldn’t begin to tell you how happy this makes me.

Whether they’re steel-cut, old fashioned or rolled, I am a huge oat enthusiast. I think I picked up the oat habit from my dad, who has drunk a big glass of oats softened overnight in water every morning for the past 80 years.

At home, oats have become a daily staple. My significant other has a mild case of hypertension and some pretty scary family history when it comes to heart problems and heart attacks. And oats are good for lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, controlling blood sugar, fighting cancer, improving digestion and bowel function, and a whole slew of other things that contribute to general good health and longevity.

So what’s the problem? Well, I love oatmeal, and I could eat a big, hot bowl of the stuff every morning for years to come without complaint. But my beloved David hates it with a passion, and will probably divorce me if I condemn him to 40 years of monothematic breakfasts.

With that in mind, I’m now on a quest to find healthy, delicious and nutritious breakfast recipes that aren’t oatmeal, but which contain oats and all their benefits. The best oatmeal-alternative I’ve tried so far is Peggy Kotsopoulos’ recipe for Apple-Oatmeal Anti-Muffin tops, in her latest book Must Have Been Something I Ate.

This is an easy and delicious recipe to have at hand, and even David said that it’s a keeper. I did take the liberty of lowering the content of maple syrup, adding more cinnamon (which is also great for the heart) and throwing in some homemade toasted almonds and sunflower seeds I had at hand.

I make a week’s worth of the clusters at a time, and store them in a Pyrex glass container in the fridge, divided by parchment paper. Then you can serve them either on their own with a nice cup of white or green tea, or break ‘em up in a bowl of yogurt or kefir. And voila: a delicious, healthy and easy-to-serve breakfast that’s ready in no time at all!

If you have any oat-y recipes I must try, please send them my way. I’ll let you know if it makes the cut. Steel-cut, that is….

In addition to being a colourful addition to salads and a great natural sweetener, beets have also recently been found to be a possible treatment for high blood pressure!

People who drank a glass or two of beetroot juice a day (store-bought or homemade) found their blood pressure decreased by up to 10 points.

So if you have hypertension, or just want to remind your taste buds that fresh summer salads are just around the corner — think beets!

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.

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!

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?

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.

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?

When I was a child in Colom­bia, I hated going to the super­mar­ket with my grandmother, mom and aunts. I just could never figure out why. It was a perfect trip for a bunch of kids. We always got to pick out our favourite “Jet” Chocolatas, which we waited all week for not for the chocolate (believe it or not!) but because every bar came with a new sticker add to our album of Amazing Animals. But back to the supermarket. I think what I disliked so much was that it all just seemed so arti­fi­cial — every­thing in cans or care­fully arranged in bins, and while it all looked good, so lit­tle of it had any smell.

Now, being invited to go to “el mer­cado libre” (the year-around open farm­ers’ mar­ket) was a com­pletely dif­fer­ent story. I loved the colours, the aro­mas, talking to the peo­ple, and the free­dom to wan­der­ around stand after stand of fresh pro­duce, all ready to be taken home. Not that I ever cooked any of it, of course; with one mom and four aunts, we already had too many cooks in the kitchen.

I don’t know what hap­pened when I grew up, but all that love for food — real food — fell asleep for many, many years. Not a hun­dred years like Sleep­ing Beauty, but at least until I was in my 30s, work­ing in a Web design com­pany

I was living in Canada, very, very far away from my home, my fam­ily and any famil­iar tastes. But in my adopted homeland, I was reintroduced to a whole new world of foods and flavours, and a whole new group of people who were dedicated to a love of food, the seasons and the land that produces such a rich bounty of wonderful things to eat.

Now, after years of study and several lifetimes of experiences, I am a Per­sonal Chef! I spend pretty much all my wak­ing hours think­ing, read­ing, plan­ning, cook­ing, shop­ping, chop­ping – or eating – food! I am also a cookbook junkie, and any mag­a­zine arti­cle, news­pa­per, book, any­thing — if it’s about food or cook­ing, I have to read it.

My beloved David (Unofficial Editor-in-Chief) believes I have a lot of infor­ma­tion in my head. I still believe I don’t know any­thing yet. But any ideas I do get, I write every one in my Kitchen Notebook.

This old/new never-ending pas­sion has shown me both sides of the nour­ish­ing coin: the peo­ple who eat any­thing and every­thing (both in good ways and bad), and the peo­ple who, for either health or ethical rea­sons, don’t. This last group has led me see the culi­nary word with dif­fer­ent eyes. I guess it’s not so strange con­sid­er­ing that I am a French-trained, Latin American-born chef liv­ing in Canada, but cook­ing for my clients has led me to love think­ing glob­ally and cook­ing locally.

Vegans and raw food-ists have shown me food, cooking tech­niques and ingre­di­ents in a way that is very far from the classic French Techniques I learned when I went to school at the Cordon Bleu. All of them have made me a bet­ter cook and, more importantly, a more curious one.

All of these pas­sions and dis­cov­er­ies — the things I find, the recipes I learn (the easy way or the hard way), the mis­takes I make and the ways I find to cor­rect them — all of this is what I have collected in all the notebooks that are collecting dust on my kitchen bookshelf. So I decided to make peace with the trees and start writing on-line instead.

This blog – Cooking Journeys Kitchen Notebook – is the result. It is my notebook, my jour­nal, a collection of all the expe­ri­ences I have as I travel (in per­son or from my kitchen) around the world, seek­ing out the best cuisines, cooks, chefs, prod­ucts, tips, books and resources to improve my life in the kitchen and at the table. It isn’t specifically a collection of recipes, but some of those might find their way here, too.

Maybe, somebody will find and read what I write. Maybe he or she will find it helpful. Maybe he or she has a better idea and might want to share it or comment about it. (Please do!) Or maybe somebody else will get inspired by it, and use it to reignite their own passion for wonderful food, extraordinary culinary experiences, and the joy, love and laughter that can only be found at the table.

This is my Cooking Journey. I hope it can be yours, too. I look forward to chatting with you along the way!