Taste Testing 1

We have monthly potluck lunches at work and someone will usually bring a new recipe along with the standard dishes. Walking through supermarkets, especially warehouses like Costco, we try samples of new items offered throughout the store. Canada's multicultural citizens have opened many ethnic restaurants and we love trying new flavours and dishes. The internet is full of recipes and I use Pinterest to bookmark things I want to try. Here are a few things we have enjoyed recently.

Avocados

I love this oily, nutritious fruit and sometimes eat a half with a few drops of soy sauce in the centre. Recently I have tasted it paired with corn, tomatoes, cilantro, onion and lime juice in a salad. It is also delicious with orange segments or strawberries with lime or lemon juice dressing.

Greek Food

A co-worker introduced me to a street corner Greek deli in our city called Malitsa's. We tried take out yesterday and enjoyed the black-eyed pea, tabbouleh, and orzo salads. All of them keep well for a few days in the fridge. Today I tried a wrap with Fontaine Sante´'s roasted garlic hummus and tabbouleh salad at Costco. Delicious!

Blogger Ginger is travelling in the Far East and posted a picture of the breakfast she ate in the Seoul Airport. She told me there is sticky rice under the vegetables and a spicy/sweet sauce that is mixed in before the food is eaten with chopsticks. I found a recipe for authentic Bibimbap sauce and located the Korean red chili paste which is used as the base (Gochujang Sauce) at a local Asian grocer.  I bought nori and fresh bean sprouts to make this tomorrow.

Coconut, Pineapple, Mango and more

Ataulfo mangos are in season and are more available in Canada each year. This week they are 50 cents a piece so we are eating them daily. The imported fruit is not as sweet as the tree ripened ones in Mexico but they will do. My dad told me about a spinach and mango salad he tried at my favourite vegetarian restaurant in Tepic MX so I looked up a recipe on the internet. This one has a delicious dressing made with mango, olive oil and balsamic vinegar and is combined with toasted walnuts, scallions and tomato.

I had a pineapple coconut smoothie sample today and found it refreshing. I am going to try the combination in popsicle moulds. Coconut milk has enough fat to make a creamy ice cream substitute for summer time treats.

And speaking of treats...there is an amazing European deli too close to our home (!) that sells the most decadent desserts. We sometimes buy a square or slice for a special occasion such as TGIF. The assortment above was purchased for The Becka's birthday in March. Recently I enjoyed a lemon-rosemary cupcake. The centre was filled with lemon curd and the cake had fresh rosemary leaves baked in the batter. Fresh herbs are certainly popular in savoury and sweet foods these days.

Here is my Pinterest link which is turning into my own specialty cookbook.