Blog Birthday #7

Here we go – another year when writing a weekly food column for a newspaper has interfered with posting stories on my personal blog. At least in 2020, I did three Distancing Diaries – and I have found these to be interesting reads to return to – to be reminded about what headspace I and others were in. One day I might wish I’d kept up the distancing diaries. Perhaps they’d help me understand the tidal wave of subtle changes affecting life and relationships.

Back to my blog…

For sure when I made my first post on February 7, 2015 I never imagined that it would lead to weekly food writing - a task that comes with pros and cons, ups and downs. It brings to mind a golf cap I got for my Dad once. It said “I hate golf, I hate golf, Nice shot! I love golf”. Warm fuzzy feedback, a great interview and even interesting research are the “pros” and the “ups”. Oh! and eating good food most of the time!

As for “blog neglect”, I take some comfort from the fact that I managed to get five recipes added in 2021. I seem to be unconsciously prioritizing – adding family recipes that the clan will not be likely to find elsewhere.

For the second year, the KB kitchen was not a sausage-making factory with friends on Family Day. But Mr. KB and I took the time to figure out the Suller/Safranyos recipe for Hungarian Hurka (liver sausage). It was fun and they were delicious! We also perfected our schnitzel-making technique – though I haven’t added that recipe (with the secret) to the blog yet. Also mastered making the family soup noodles called Csiga (not on the blog yet…).

I recently read an article about digital decluttering which puts me in mind of the need for physical decluttering around here. I did begin one task that combined the digital and physical. A day will come when I will shut down my blog. A huge issue with that is that all the recipes I have added (178 so far) are sitting on a server that I do not own. I write directly on the platform which does not automatically give me digital copies of the recipes. Little by little, I have been downloading/saving the recipe html files and printing out each recipe. For the hard copies, I had to buy ring binders and have been stapling and hole-punching each. Then I sit with my ring binder - clicking it open and closed while I add the recipes sorted with alphabetical dividers.

What a crazy retro activity!

Some bloggers use their annual posts to make predictions. This year, I’m using mine to look back at some of the most interesting food experiences of 2021.

• discovered a really good Hungarian paprika. (I do not recommend the “Pride of Szeged” brand sold in most stores.) Visit this link to learn more.

• fell in love with Honey Cheese from Black River in Prince Edward County

• had a peculiar obsession with Iced Tea this summer – lots of Arizona Green Tea

• discovered Scout Seafood products - especially PEI mussels in smoked paprika and fennel tomato sauce

• repeatedly enjoyed freshly picked asparagus from Thwaites Farm

• Firsts – that will be (or have already been) followed by seconds – Halifax Donair, Easterbrooks 12-inch hot dog, Soma chocolate Advent calendar for grownups, Filipino cuisine, Hakka cuisine, Pan-African cuisine and Zero Proof drinks. Went to the Hamilton Night Market (actually the second time) but this year the organizer acted as a personal guide - so interesting and yummy.

• Lasts - food “discoveries” that were “ok” but I’m in no hurry for seconds – Korean rice dogs, hot chocolate bombs, smash cakes and “rabbit wings”.

• Nostalgia - finally made a full English breakfast at home in memory of the breakfasts we had travelling - the first time was in Torquay; bought some Advocaat in order to recreate the “snowball” drink and found a place to buy Tunnocks marshmallow Snowballs (Tea Cakes are also good!). Maybe we’re watching a bit too much Brit TV - haha.

Despite the pandemic, 2021 had periods where outdoor dining permitted some great meals – including two fancy pants meals that were linked to milestone birthdays and a wedding anniversary. Let me know if you want resto tips.

Who knows what triggers cravings? Right now I am fondly remembering lunch at Hippos on Lake Erie and breakfasts at the Auberge Saint-Antoine in Quebec City.

I could write more, but I doubt that anyone needs convincing that the highlights of my life involve food. Here’s to another year of food experiences and stories - and, with luck, some travel!

It's in the box!

For some time now I have wanted to do a story on Meal Kits (as in cook a meal, not heat ‘n serve). An impediment was the need to subscribe to a service - or more than one if I wanted to do a comparison. I only knew one food blogger mom who used them for her family of four, but now I know a young bachelor using them and I’ve gone down the rabbit hole learning about this trend.

Prior to the pandemic, there were signs that this trend was floundering, but now I'm betting that not a week goes by when you have not received a promo "gift card" offering you some free food if you subscribe to one of the many services. The first time I came across a meal kit service was via ads for Blue Apron - still mainly in the USA. In Canada, the big names seem to be Hello Fresh, Chef's Plate and Good Food.

The original marketing pitch seemed to focus on saving time. Save time shopping for ingredients, prepping ingredients and cooking a meal after work. “What will I make for dinner?” has always been the albatross around the neck of most working mothers.

But a new market has emerged - one-person households.

“In the US, the share of adults who live alone nearly doubled over the last 50 years. This is not only happening in the US: single-person households have become increasingly common in many countries across the world, from Angola to Japan… the trend of rising single-person households extends across all world regions. There are large differences between countries – from more than 40% in northern European countries to 1% in low-income Asian countries.” [Source]

And in Canada “The number of persons living alone in Canada more than doubled over the last 35 years, from 1.7 million in 1981 to 4.0 million in 2016… Single-person households are now the most common household type in Canada – the first time in recorded Canadian history this has been the case. Previously, from 1867 to the time of the 2016 census, Canada’s most common household type had been one filled with a family.” [Source]

One-person households fit into various profiles - and include seniors - but you can also layer on young urban professionals, potentially living in “cozy” condos with mini appliances, minimal storage and no big freezer in the basement.

For them, meal kits may have some advantages. Let’s take a closer look.

The young urban professional (male or female) may have spent time in kitchens and next to people cooking, but may not have ever made an entire meal from scratch. Even if you give them recipes for one (or two) they may be lacking certain basic pantry items (or the storage space for them). So how does a meal kit help?

Ingredients. These are provided in the exact quantity required for a meal/recipe.

Cost and Storage. Meal kit subscription costs vary and will be detailed shortly, but imagine a recipe that calls for hoisin, soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce. I have each of those in my normal-sized fridge as I write. If you didn’t have them you’d have to buy all three and you’d have three (mostly full) bottles to store in your compact fridge. If you are trying to socially isolate just now you’d have to go out to purchase these - although you could use an online grocer. My own spice collection would also take up a chunk of valuable cupboard space in a small apartment - not to mention the cost of purchasing them.

Waste. Yes, another topic that is complex, but as far as food and supplies there is no/minimal waste. The recipe calls for parsley? The kit provides exactly what you need and you won’t have to toss out leftover wilted parsley weeks later. Food waste can put my stomach into knots - mainly because I waste a bit more than I’d like to. I know there are ways of storing that parsley in my fridge - or even chopping it and freezing it in cubes. Do I do this all the time? (red face - no.) At least I’m not alone - or maybe that’s precisely the problem. The latest UN Food Waste Report was just released.

“63% of the food Canadians throw away could have been eaten. For the average Canadian household that amounts to 140 kilograms of wasted food per year – at a cost of more than $1,100 per year! For Canada as a whole, that amounts to almost 2.2 million tonnes of edible food wasted each year, costing Canadians in excess of $17 billion! All types of food are wasted, but in Canada the most prominently wasted foods by weight are: Vegetables: 30%, Fruit: 15%, Leftovers: 13%, Bread and Bakery: 9%, Dairy and Eggs: 7%.” {Source]

Waste/Packaging. There is no denying that by the time every ingredient of the food kit is laid out in a nice mise en place there’s packaging left over. Meal kit services are using recyclable boxes and embracing biodegradable packaging and reusable containers and ice packs. Mind you, so much of what we buy even for a family comes in packaging - it’s a problem. (Add on to that the Amazon boxes from everyone’s COVID purchases. Crikey…)

Convinced that a meal kit service may be just what they need, the urban single has to sort through the options - and there are moments when it feels like one needs a graduate degree to figure it all out. Here are some basics.

Subscription. For the big-name services you don’t get to order one meal for tomorrow - then thank you very much. You must subscribe - but check the flexibility. Some let you skip a week or more, and quit with no hassle. Did you use that enticing “free” start-up card? $100 free? Turns out that is usually pro-rated over a period of weeks so you don’t get to eat $100 worth of free food and then quit.

Subscription choices. For many services, “meals for two” is the smallest unit (no meals for one) and you usually have to order 3 meals per week at a minimum. (What you order is typically delivered only once per week.) So if you are single, you cook three times a week - and with leftovers eat the same meal twice. Subscribers are advised to have basic staples on hand such as oil, butter, salt, pepper.

Quality and Taste and Nutrients. Hunt around for reviews on the quality of ingredients and the taste of the food. Most services get good ratings on quality. “Taste” will be determined by the quality of the recipes. Nutrients are not always listed, but typical meals will include protein, a carb and a vegetable.

Variety and Creativity. Faced with choices when making meal selections, it’s ideal if there is some variety - not only weekly but over time. Are there ever options for BBQ or one-pot, or sheet-pan meals? Do options cover a range of world cuisines? Over a year, seasonal and special event meals may be offered. Whereas one service began to make breakfast smoothies available, on the whole, meal options do not include classic breakfast foods.

"Hello Fresh has some of the best menu options when it comes to variety and flexibility. Their dishes are inspired by cuisines around the world, such as Greek, Korean, Russian, Cuban, African, American, and much more. Plus, they have the highest number of meal options per week… Hello Fresh is currently the only meal kit company in Canada that offers Beyond Meat products for their veggie meals, like the bibimbap rice bowl and spicy sesame sauce with Beyond Meat, zucchini, and carrots." [Source]

Chinese Style Beef Bowl

Dietary Preferences. When it comes to dietary preferences, vegetarian is usually available. Some services will also indicate when options comply with other specialty diets/preferences - low carb, gluten-free, dairy-free, keto, paleo, halal, and kosher.

Serving sizes. Unless a service specifies that portions are generous this may be hard to judge until experienced.

Time and Complexity. Most services assume that the consumer is not an experienced cook. Illustrated instructions are provided by all and recipes usually indicate the level of difficulty/complexity as well as time (ranging from 15-20 minutes up to 30-45). I’ve stumbled across some reviews that grumble about the number of dishes used and clean-up - mind you that’s what I call normal unless one is doing a one-pot or sheet-pan meal.

Cost. Ah yes, the cost. Some websites - even review websites - seem to prefer listing the cost per serving, but what you really want to know is the weekly cost. When a promo discount is applied to the first month the weekly cost is obscured. For one person ordering 3 two-person meals per week, the cost per week may range from $60-70. A hidden fee may be a delivery charge. This may still be less than a single urbanite would spend buying fast food or takeouts from local restaurants - and the food may be more healthy.

Meal kits reduce the stress of meal planning and shopping and introduce people to bliss in the kitchen.

Kid appeal. As a postscript, it’s noteworthy that kids often find these kits appealing. My blogger friend says that on a typical day she cannot entice her kids away from their screens into the kitchen. But when the meal kit arrives it’s as if it’s Xmas and they join in, unpacking the box, setting up the ingredients and even helping with the cooking. Go figure!

Another postscript. Especially since and because of COVID many local restaurants now offer meal kits - no subscription. The most exciting one I encountered recently is Nannaa Foods. For each recipe, they even made easy-to-follow instructional videos. Their Pantry Boosters are also exciting. You can purchase many of the wonderful ingredients they use – cardamom tea leaves, barberries and sumac to mention only a few – and you know you want some Nannaa spice mix. I can’t wait to try making Tachin.

Blog Birthday #6

A year ago I noted that I only posted once in all of 2019! I also apologized that my blog birthday post was doing double duty as a belated New Year’s post.

So much for the Happy 2020 wishes…

Thanks(?) to COVID-19, I did more blog posts in the last year – several “Distancing Diaries” until it became so tedious that June was my last Diary. Who was to know that seven months later we’d still be in the throes of the pandemic journey?

When it comes to food blogging, as I have said before, the resto review gig has hijacked my time/writing. I still have many family recipes - and stories - to share before it’s my turn to exit.

“Stories enact a form of mutual hospitality. What is story if not an enticement to stay? You’re invited in.” (Be My Guest by Priya Basil)

This birthday story invites you in, hoping you’ll stay awhile to read about life, death, “stuff” and hospitality.

After than June Diary, the next main event in life was the death of my mother in August, followed a few weeks later by that of my mother-in-law (MIL) – neither from COVID - and the ensuing emptying of a condo filled with almost 50 years of “stuff”.

The bulk of the work was done by Mr. KB and his brother, and while it wasn’t exactly the plan, working hours every day, the place was emptied in about a month. With my Mother’s house – and she was still alive but in LTC - it took 4 months. I couldn’t help noticing the impact of time on this process. For me, the main decisions – keep, donate, trash – were tough at first but over time ruthlessness set-in. Paradoxically, that went hand in hand with decision fatigue such that some things came to my house for postponed “sentencing”. That was 2017 and I can’t report a lot of progress.

With my MIL’s place, sorting through things only weeks into grieving made decisions more difficult and perhaps more things were kept, finding their way to our ever-crowded house.

And yet… many things were in fact donated or discarded. When reflecting on the number of things that ended up in the garbage, I feel like I should be apologizing to Mother Earth.

Our experience begged the question “Has society reached “peak stuff?” The day before the move of big furniture, we learned that the usual suspects re furniture donations were not accepting furniture. Not because of COVID. Simply because they had too much stuff, nobody was taking it away and they had no more space. Technically, for everything being given away there must surely be one person on the planet who would need or want it, but connecting with them is a challenge. In the end, some things ended up at the dump and seeing that pile of refuse was unforgettable.

That’s not all from us - but still a tragic sight…

We’re all under Emergency Lockdown now, but whenever things ease up I hope to continue thoughtful disposal activities. Will have to revisit ideas from “The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning” by Margareta Magnusson.

One category of things that is hard to let go of are the “crafts”. My mother had great talent in various things such as knitting and fine crocheting. These are treasures.

But she once signed up for a “pottery” workshop. Not the kind where you throw pottery on a wheel, but where you glaze ready-made items that get fired, and you return a week later to apply a decal. They do not “bring joy” and I have no use or storage space for them. I cannot donate them because her name is carved into the bottom.

I’m taking some comfort from the fact that my “crafts” are mainly writing and cooking so there won’t be much to dispose of other than a hard drive and crumbs.

Writing in the rec room. Mom gone… house gone… university essays finally discarded. But KB Son#2 has the typewriter!

Photos are also hard to dispose of and one is easily overwhelmed by the complexity of sorting through prints. My own kids will be left with a mountain of photos – prints and digital. Digitals have the advantage of not taking up space. But will they ever look at the digital library? Probably not - perhaps missing a tangible act of grieving. Even if a photo is only touched for seconds, it triggers a journey down memory lane and that can’t be all bad.

For several family funerals, I have taken on the task of making the photo slide show. (I find the process cathartic.) My mother’s photo story had such an impact. It reminded me that she was not always who she has (had) been lately. Embarrassing that I even needed reminding. Younger, slim, fashionable, in talent shows and so on. Pathetic and shameful that it took death for me to grasp and appreciate the arc and scope of her life.

Back to food blogging… last year I predicted 2020 would be my “bread” year. Not so for me though sourdough was a pandemic passion project for many.

Social isolation has been the dominant theme of the year. Since writing is a solitary activity, I may have been somewhat insulated from its effects, but I miss “hospitality” - cooking for company.

“Maybe food really is the simplest way for people anywhere to share with each other… food is a force - and when shared its power may be amplified.” (Priya Basil)

Here’s hoping I see some of you at my table in 2021! End of story.

P.S. I did manage to add a new recipe in 2021 - Hungarian Chestnut Purée (Gesztenyepüré). Enjoy!

Happy New Year & 2021 Food Trends

Well, Happy 2021. In truth, I did not get all excited about this event. The sun sets, the sun rises - and I saw no reason why January 1 would be so different than the day before. Yes, there’s the promise of the vaccine - though this will likely be months down the road for most of us. It doesn’t seem to be a time when we can make prophecies with any assurance.

But that hasn’t stopped food writers. Are you bumping into all the 2021 Food Trend predictions? I have no idea how writers come up with these lists. here are a few of my own thoughts (which are sort of obvious) added to what I’ve seen in the media.

Continued interest in Plant-Based Foods. Perhaps you’ve already seen burgers that are 50% plant-based – aiming to nudge people in this direction. The truth is that a lot of us already eat a fair amount of plant-based foods – just keep it up. Mushrooms seem to be popping up a lot as a plant-based food. So many ways to enjoy these! I don’t eat much fried food, but here’s a Hungarian favourite.

Home Cooking Projects. We have already witnessed the obsessions with sour dough and Dalgona – some say homemade peanut butter will be next, as well as pickling (which was making a comeback in recent years anyhow). An increased interest in making homemade pasta is also predicted. Hot Cocoa Bombs have been all the rage in the last few weeks. Many people will forget about buying these and make them at home. What are they? Put the chocolate ball in a cup, pour over hot milk - the chocolate melts releasing min0marshamllows floating to the top- a quick stir and you have hot chocolate. (Not to be mistaken for a bath bomb…)

Make At Home Kits will increase in popularity – not only those from big-brand companies but from local restaurants. I already see some of them combining kits with wine and even a music soundtrack (I thought that was my idea!) – all to create an at-home resto experience.

As comfort levels with meeting programs increase, fasten your seatbelts for an explosion of Online Cooking Classes – some where you simply watch and some where you cook along with the chef.

More Ghost Kitchens. This refers to someone (often an existing resto) setting up a new business with no bricks and mortar – they simply use an existing resto kitchen to offer an entirely new menu.

Mocktails. I am still surprised when I do resto reviews at how many places do not have a list of non-alcoholic cocktails. Yes, they will make one if you ask but it’s not on the menu. I am betting we will see more of these using various base ingredients such as Seedlip. Kombucha is already popular and some say it contains traces of alcohol. Watch for “hard” Kombucha this year. By the way – this is Dry January – a month when people are challenged to drink no alcohol.

Spicy Sauces. I read that these will be popular. I have already seen stores that sell dozens of them and I wish they would STOP. Who needs this? I cannot handle anything more than mouth-warmth and IMHO “heat” masks all other flavours in the food.

Hot Breakfasts are supposedly making a comeback – and I don’t mean Eggos heated in the toaster. Some say we will soon be making pancakes, French toast etc. Have you ever had a Full English Breakfast – with beans and fried tomato etc.? I have been meaning to make this - maybe even for supper – for ages. I will make 2021 the year that I follow through on this. I even have the toast rack!

Home-based Food Enterprises are popping up - everything from pizza, to baking, chocolates – and even charcuterie! I am working on an article on this. It is astounding how many people have been inspired to begin making something at home and then sell it via social media. It’s partly exciting to witness such creativity, but you might be shocked to learn how many of these people seem to have no idea about the health, safety and legal requirements linked to setting up a home food business. Watch for my article in the weeks to come.

Gadgets? I resisted the Instant Pot – mainly because I have absolutely no room for another gadget. I hear that Air Fryers will be the new Instant Pot.

Especially as pandemic restrictions begin to loosen and restos reopen, watch for the continued “Reset” where restos aim to improve workplace conditions for employees. Be prepared – that can mean higher prices.

A wish, not a prophecy. Let’s hope for more kindness all around. Happy 2021!

P.S. Let me know if you have any 2021 food trend predictions.