The sting of spring.

I think I can, without jinxing myself, say spring has officially arrived in Vancouver. The morning air is still a bit cool, and there will still be monsoon rains to come, but the sun has a warmth to it that we have been missing for a long, long while. Trees and flowers are blooming, the birds are devouring the seed from the feeder daily and neighbours are stopping to say hello as I dig in the dirt. Yes. Hooray for spring.

The summer I learnt how to cook zucchini.

Zucchini, it is kind of an odd vegetable. Okay, maybe not that odd, but kind of odd.

Think about it. It often looks like a cucumber but is in actual fact a member of the squash family. It can be eaten cooked or raw and while it is most definitely a summer vegetable it is just as comfortable on a winter table.  I don’t quite get it.  I mean seriously? You can even eat the flowers. Now, it’s not as if the zucchini is some sort of “out there” esoteric vegetable. Quite the opposite. It is actually pretty common. It’s just that other than zucchini bread, for years it didn’t figure that high on my radar. And even then only if someone else made it. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always eaten it and known it was good for me. It’s high in potassium, vitamin A and antioxidants. I have never disliked it, I have never quite understood how to use it so it’s not just one of those boring, good-for-you kind of vegetables.

Until last summer.

That was when thanks to the magic of a summer holiday, a recipe from one of my favourite cookbooks and a friend more well versed in the subtleties of squash than I, it happened. I fell in love with this humble little vegetable.

Anniversaries, champagne & noodles.

I can’t believe it. One year.

A year ago today over a plate of, obviously, noodles I wrote my first blog post. It’s a blogaversary!

That calls for champagne.

I debated a long time before starting mostlynoodles. I was waiting for all of my ideas to be brilliant, my design to be fabulous, and my recipes to be perfect. I’m still waiting for those things, but here we are a year later. I realized that blogging is a lot like life. It never is perfect and I’m not sure I would want it to be.

Spring cleaning noodles.

The calendar is saying it’s spring, but other than the rare gorgeous day it’s still pretty rainy and cool here in Vancouver.  It’s the time of year when I’m itching to get outside but from experience I know it’s still a bit early to start planting much in the garden.  So instead I’ve resorted to that other ubiquitous spring activity.  Cleaning.

Spring really is on it's way!

Cook(those)books & spaghetti.

November seemed to be a slow month in the kitchen at my house.  I must confess, the cook (those) books recipe challenge I set for myself hasn’t been going exceptionally well.  I tried a few new meals last month, but not many, and very few exactly as written.  Which, of course, was the challenge.

I promise that December will be all about cooking.  There will be several new recipes that are challenge approved to start out the new year.  In the meantime, here are a few of the November meals I tried that passed muster.

Comfort Noodles.

There are days the sun is shining and you bound out of bed ready to scale mountains (or whatever your equivalent).  There are other days when it is cold and gloomy out and it seems as if those mountains keep growing with every step you take.  On those sort of days most people have their go-to comfort food.  I am no exception.  Not so surprisingly, mine includes noodles (with french fries being a very close second).

As a trainer and nutrition coach I shouldn’t admit this, but my absolute down in the depths meal is spaghetti noodles, with butter and sea salt (or truffle salt if I feel like splurging).  I blame a high school friend with a ridiculously fast metabolism for introducing me to that.  As an adult who knows a bit better I still go to pasta, but try to clean it up a bit.

I’ll be honest, the last few weeks the so called mountains have felt quite large.  The butter and truffle salt are calling, but instead, this is what I had today.  Buckwheat soba noodles with oven roasted onion, tomatoes and anchovies.

Ingredients

Sauce (for 2 people)

• 1 small sweet onion (vidalia), finely chopped
• a handful of small sweet cherry tomatoes cut in half
• a few glugs of olive oil
• 1 tbsp dried oregano or a few fresh sprigs
• sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 can oil packed anchovies, well drained and chopped (optional, but so tasty!)
• 2-3 tbsp white wine
• enough noodles (your choice) for 2
• shaved parmesan cheese and freshly torn basil leaves for garnish

happiness is a little fish!

Method

• Preheat oven to 350degrees.
• Spread onions onto a rimmed baking sheet.
• Spread tomatoes in a layer on top of onions.
• Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and oregano.
• Place baking tray in oven for approximately 45minutes until tomatoes and onions are soft but not browned.
• While tomato and onion mixture is baking, place drained anchovies in a large bowl and add a glug of wine and some fresh cracked pepper.
• When tomato mixture is cooked, turn off and let rest in the oven.  Meanwhile boil some well salted water and cook pasta as per package instructions.
• When noodles are cooked, drain and add noodles, tomatoes and onions to anchovy mixture.
• Toss well.
• Serve with fresh parmesan cheese, freshly ground pepper and torn basil. (a glass of red wine doesn’t hurt either)

For the record, the mountain didn’t get smaller, but the meal sure seemed to help.