adventure eats week !

I’m feeling the inspirational kick I’ve been rooting around for! several lovely people in my life are the gooduns responsible for this latest food thought. a while ago my mom embarked on trying a new recipe every week to jazz up her usual dinner patterns. she was so pleased with the results, and thusly, herself, and that was a good sign. then, my good friend, stephanie took on a similar approach but super condensed: 20 new recipes in 20 days, and has been posting her photos and comments on fb. all her photos and feedback looked really rewarding and worth her efforts. and then the other night róny and I went to a very nice family dinner and had fantastic pho! róny’s mom has really gotten into the flavour and freshness of vietnamese dishes and was talking to me about wanting to hit the ol’ library and do some research and recipe gathering.

all of these desires for diy home-based food adventures has got me wanting one of my own!
and wouldn’t you know it, my dear one, róny has just started a 7 day cleanse to get his sweet, sweet body back in good order. I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to get experimental. he can’t have red meat, bread type things, refined sugars and probably a bunch of other stuff, but we’re trying to focus on the things he can and should be eating. grains, lots of fruit and veg and nuts are high on the to-eat-list. not bad… but kinda boring.

as I sip my newly acquired and thoroughly delicious toasty rice green tea, I’m plotting a sort-of-copy-cat food plan! for rónan’s 7 day guts-busting bonanza, I’ll be doing 7 asian-themed dinners.if there’s any ethnic group of food that embraces fresh, flavourful and healthy while still being satisfying and filling it’s the approach of the japanese, korean and vietnamese, among many others (but I’ve only got 7 days, so trying to stay focused!).

I want to pursue eastern flavours for a variety of reasons which I’m sure will become evident as the week tumbles on. get ready!

for right now, I’ll be diving face first into recipe blogs and wikipedia and a few books I already have on tasty asian awesomeness. and then out to the local asian grocery store, mori mori (which, if you’re in kamloops and you haven’t been, you should go because it’s very charming and independently owned and managed). by this evening (after 10pm), there will be post 1 of the new adventure-eats.

specialtea – a hot mouth hug

this is a super comforting brew for everyone’s favourite season, flu-season. it’s like a mouth hug without the excitement of kissing… in a nice way. it’s got good-for-you-green tea and stomach-taming-ginger and throat-be-happy-honey.

just trust me on this one.

after you put your kettle on, grab:

your favourite green tea, loose, bagged, whatever
honey to taste
1/2 tsp lemon zest (about a quarter of a lemon run over a microplane)
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice or a quarter of the grated lemon squeezed out. don’t worry about the seeds
1/2 to 1 tsp grated ginger depending on how snappy you like your tea (again, use a microplane)

. get two mugs, one slightly bigger than the other
. in the bigger mug, put the tea, zest, juice and grated ginger
. dump the just boiled water over everything and allow to steep for 7 or 8 minutes
. pour the brew into a strainer over the smaler mug so the tea is clear and debris-free
. add honey to taste… and because it’s good for your wretched throat

I always make this when róny’s under the weather and he likes it so much I sometimes get requests for it when he’s feeling finey fine too.  Give it a whirl!