Late Summer Evenings!

15 years ago when I was a young mother of two, I bought a house in East Vancouver. I remember calling up my family realtor, Sandy Riley and telling her that I wanted to buy a house in between Nanaimo and Clark, and Hastings and Broadway. She told me that she would call me in about six months. She did, we looked at three houses in a week and I put an offer on the first house we looked at. Three offers were put on the house and we got it!!!

15 years later, I still absolutely love this house and this is a photo of Christine and I on the back porch with the beautiful sky behind us. We love to spend time in the late summer with friends and family on the back porch and it is so nice to watch the sunset and enjoy the light summer breeze. Nowadays we have that cool breeze with the smell of autumn in the air. Time to organize and move forward. Kind of like the movie chocolat, go where the wind blows you. For me that is more of a metaphor than getting up and leaving town. I'm staying in this house and still going where the wind takes me. I am creative when I feel this way and the things I like to create most is foods. Watch for the latest ideas here, on facebook and at the bakery.

Life is good when you're growing and moving forward.

Spelt Ravioli!

We made Spelt Ravioli and IT WORKED!!! I have made pasta out of spelt flour several times before but have always had trouble making the stuffed pasta. So after reading a few different sets of instructions on how to make stuffed pasta I figured out how to do it and do it well. I even taught my thirteen year old daughter how to make her own.

We had ours stuffed with a combination of ricotta, spinach, gorgonzola and fresh basil from our garden. Christine made this beautiful sauce with onions, carrots and garlic sauteed in olive oil and then tomatoes. It was a beautiful chunky delicious sauce full of flavour.

My daughter, Boedicea, made her own filling with spelt bread crumbs, an egg, shredded cheddar cheese and bacon. She even stuffed her own ravioli and she thought they would fall apart when they were cooked. They didn't! She ended up with a pot full of amazingly delicious, big, beautiful ravioli.

It wa so much fun making the raviloi that now I want to do a workshop on it.

A Baker in the Making!

When I was a teenager, I hiked the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island twice. The first time was with my highschool and the second time was with a neighbourhood house (like a community centre)in Vancouver.

On my second hike, a friend of mine was having her birthday and I decided before I left to make a cake mix and an icing mix where all I had to do was add water to be able to make her a cake for her Birthday. I had researched how to bake without an oven and what tools you could use to create an oven with an open fire. There was the aluminum foil method, but if it was windy at all, it could cause problems. Then there was the pot inside pot method, but if you put it directly on the fire, you needed something to stop the bottom from burning. I don't remember now what else I read, but I do remember what I did.

We got to Tsusiat Falls and that was the evening of my friends birthday. We set up camp, had a big fire on the beach and started making dinner. There were good sized rocks all around and ones that had been put on the edge of a fire pit that seemed to live at Tsusiat Falls. I took the mix I had made at home, added water and placed the cake batter in a small greased pot from my camping cookware. I had this fantastic set of cookware that all fit inside each other. I took the largest of the pots and lined it with rocks, being careful to choose rocks that had already been at the fire pit as I did not want any of them to explode. I put my cake pot on top of the rocks in the larger pot and then put the lid on the large pot. This was placed over the fire. I don't remember how long it took to bake, but it kind of steamed/baked like a traditional english steamed pudding. I took it out when it was fully baked and added water to my icing, covered the cake, put a candle on top and presented it to my friend. Everyone wanted to know where I "found" this cake and I told them I made it. Even then baking and feeding people was a passion for me. Everyone was amazed and I have to say after 4 days of hiking it was delicious.

Girls Rock Camp Vancouver!!!

My daughter attended Girls Rock Camp this summer and she LOVED it! This is an absolutely amazing week long camp where the girls form a band and write a song and then perform it in front of an audience.

I have often thought that I was incredibly lucky to have the kind of programs available to me when I was young that helped me learn skills that I would never have learned in a conventional school or even at home. I was also lucky to have gone through an alternative school program and to have gone on many trips learning how to canoe, rock climb and bake without an oven.

When I was in Carnarvon Elementary School in Vancouver, I learned how to plan a menu, budget the money and shop for all the groceries I needed for a 5 day camping trip. I still use those skills to this day.

In highschool, I learned how to carry my food, shelter and clothing for a week and what types of foods were going to be the lightest with the most nutrients to keep me going on the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island. Too bad I didn't have any Breakfast Cookies back then.

Through different neighbourhood houses and organizations I learned many things that I have since used in my life and am grateful for all the volunteers and paid workers that helped me learn about my environment, the food I eat and the people around me.
I have often said that I should have known that I would end up being a Baker when I baked a cake on the West Coast Trail when I was 15 years old.

For more information on Girls Rock Camp Vancouver check out their website: http://girlsrockcampvancouver.ca/grcv/

Picnics in the heat!

When it gets too hot it is very hard to cook or eat and I just want to find a nice shady spot on the water. So that is the time for picnics at places like Cates Park, Deep Cove or Jericho Beach.

At this time of year, because of the incredible fruits available, we went and picked up okanagan cherries nectarines, plums and peaches. We went to Ugo and Joe's for this beautiful creamy macedonian feta, a bulgarian sheep feta and some camembert. Then to Coiffi's for a couple of semi-hard goat and sheep cheeses to round out our platters for a picnic at the beach. We grabbed a small pack of tomatoes, sparkling grapefruit juice, a watermelon, avocado and some hummous, can of artichokes and an artichoke dip. With our homemade fruit and nut crisps, a loaf of sprouted spelt bread, chips, a box of almond thins and of course our sinful spelt double chocolate chip cookies, we headed to Cates Park. We drove over in just about fifteen to twenty minutes and then chose a spot on the grass by the beach and put our blanket down.

There is nothing quite like sitting on a blanket just off the water and digging into a bunch of fresh food. After a long hot day, I don't want to cook. So I want fast food. Good fast food - nice spelt bread, cheese, fresh fruits and vegetables. If you wash everything when you buy it, it's ready to go when you are tired and hot.

Now we have the equipment packed in the van ready to go. So if you see the Spelt Mobile crossing the second narrows, we are heading to Cates Park and if the canoe is on top, we are headed for Deep Cove.

There are ways to enjoy the heat.

Friday the 13th

This has to be one of may favourite days. Wonderful things happen for me on Friday the 13th.

On Friday, April 13th, 2007, Christine gave me 13 red roses from The Flower Box (www.theflowerbox.ca) and asked me to be her partner for the first time. This is an example of their floral arrangements.

On Friday, November 13th, 2009, My daughter Boedicea turned thirteen.

Today at the Bakery everything went very smoothly, we finished our prep for our Saturday sales and got to leave the Bakery early.

Now we are at home trying these new nitrate/nitrite free hot dogs that we found at Whole Foods with our big beautiful hot dog buns. I wish I had a Spelt beer from Firefly Fine Wine and Ales (www.fireflyfinewinesandales.com) but not today. Probably better as it needs to be shared with a friend and we will be at the bakery working tomorrow

Enjoy your weekend.

Spelt Pastry!

Finally a recipe on the Spelt Baker's Blog! I am sure that you are all expecting me to post a recipe once in a while and here is the first one. Why Pastry? because someone wrote on The Spelt Bakery Facebook Page that they wanted savoury pies and we do not have the proper license to make and sell them. So here is the recipe so that you can make it at home and fill it with whatever you want.

Spelt Pastry from Basic Spelt Cookbook by Janet Féirín

1 lb. (454 grams) of Shortening (I use Earth Balance Shortening that I buy at Donald's Market in Vancouver)
4 cups of white spelt flour (I use Organic Meadow, but have also used la Milanaise and Saugeen flours, make sure it's white!)
1 tablespoon of organic cane sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon of vinegar (if you can't have vinegar, replace it with lemon juice)
water

Blend flour sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl.
Use a knife, fork or pastry cutter to cut up the shortening into the flour mixture.
When the flour mixture looks like crumbs, make a well in the middle.
Beat the egg in a measuring cup with a 1 cup mark.
Add the vinegar or lemon juice and enough warm water to equal 1 cup of liquid.
Pour into well in flour mixture.
With your hands, squeeze liquid into mixture until a nice firm dough has formed. Be careful not to knead as this will make the pastry heavy.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Use for quiche, savoury pies, sausage rolls, etc.

I used to make a smoked salmon asparagus quiche with coconut milk for those who could not have cow's milk. There are also several options for vegetarian pot pies and meat pies.

I would love to hear your ideas for savoury pies! My favourite is chicken pot pie and I have always said that the reason mine is so good is because I start with a chicken.

Will I make you hungry?

Be prepared to salivate at various times reading this blog. It has been said about me that my love of food is only surpassed by my desire to feed people.

Not that type of grandmotherly, "You don't eat enough... HAVE MORE!" feeding people. More like a " wanna try this new dish I made? I... " and then follows the description of all the different ingredients that I used and how I put them all together and what I serve it with and then you are hungry.

Yes, I will probably make you hungry and if I don't you should go see a doctor, naturopath, psychiatrist, therapist or homeopath. There could be something wrong with you.

Food should be enjoyed. We all need to eat, why not make it fun, exciting and precious. The picture above is when we went to Feast of Fields last year and those are little pieces of fudgy chocolate cake (recipe is in my cookbook, Basic Spelt) with soft goat cheese icing and raspberry coulis on top. Delicious and adorable. We also made a pesto and served it with goat cheese and fresh tomato on my Country bread which is available by special order from the bakery.

So salivate away, make yourself a good dinner and remember goat's brie is lower in fat than cow's brie.

Photo of our booth.

What a fabulous Pride Day we had. Christine and I were up at 5:30 to get everything ready and loaded in the van to be able to get down to Sunset Beach at 7:45am. It is amazing how quick it is to drive downtown on a Sunday morning before the world has woken up.

We got everything set up and we were dressed in our costumes and ready to go by 11am. People came by all day and I almost lost my voice.

We were planning on going out for dinner after taking down everything and going back home to clean up and get ready to go out, but we were way too tired. It was so much fun and we really enjoyed ourselves. Check out the faeries.

Pride Recovery

How long does it take a Spelt Baker to recover from Pride Weekend? We will have to see when the next post is....

Vancouver Pride

Happy Pride!!!

Today is the day that thousands will head downtown for the Vancouver Pride Parade. Last year, my daughter, Boedicea led the way for the Vancouver Queer Film Festival float and our friend Melanie is beside her dressed all in white with a black belt in this photo. They won an award for their float and Christine and I watched the parade with my parents (Christine Waymark and Robin Rennie of Dragonstone Counselling in Vancouver, BC) because we all wanted to see Boedicea head the Queer Film Festival float.

In 2007, all five of us, three generations participated in the parade. This year you will find us on sunset beach selling spelt goodies right by the stage.

I hope that you have a fabulous day and that no matter who you are, who you love, how you love... that you are proud to be.