Sharknado warning in Peterborough!!

Just a few shots from last night's storm out in front of our house on Little Lake - the photos are only from my phone.

The leading edge of the storm. 

Crazy clouds over the art gallery.

Panning back towards the fountain.

Front moving a bit further east.

The clouds looked like Armageddon.

The sun was setting behind the clouds and the storm.

And then just a couple photos from this morning.

I love the storms, but mornings like this are even better.

Wait, Tim's a track star?

Yesterday Tim was interviewed by Dale Clifford from the Peterborough Examiner about his storm chasing. When they originally had asked him to do this, we were thinking just a little blurb and a photo. But after the reporter was at our place for an hour and took four pages of notes during his conversation with Tim, we were more than a little curious as to exactly how this was going to play out. 

What we weren't expecting was a front-page 500+ word feature of Tim! Tim read out the online title to me this morning in the kitchen - "Local teacher hurtles into the eye of the storm." For some reason I thought 'hurdle' instead of 'hurtle,' which brought on all sorts of funny images of Tim racing maniacally into a thunderstorm, jumping over things. Oh, I'm so lucky, marrying such a famous man. @trollwag - the stormchaser that builds all the wood things. So much love.

If you want to read the full article, it should be up on the Peterborough Examiner's site for at least a week or so at this link: http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/2013/08/05/local-teacher-hurtles-into-the-eye-of-the-storm. Or you can go whole hog like we did and buy a copy to blackmail Tim with in the future. Pretty exciting stuff!

Sunday supper: Smoked Pepper Striploin, Corn on the Cob, and a Beet, Arugula, Goat Cheese and Pecan Salad

This is one of those quintessential summer meals that tastes so much more amazing than usual because everything is just so fresh!

Beet, Arugula, Goat Cheese and Pecan Salad

Wash four or five small to medium sized beets from your local farmer's market or co-op. Ours are a little of both - some from the Peterborough Farmer's Market and some from our farmer's co-op, By the Bushel. Trim the tops and bottoms off. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil, then roast at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, at least until you can pierce them easily with a fork. Cover with foil and let them sit for at least fifteen minutes to a half an hour - the steam will help loosen the skins. Once they're cool enough to handle, rub the skins off with your fingers or a dish towel that you don't mind becoming irreparably stained. I like to roast off a big batch of beets on a Sunday and then use them throughout the week. 

Cut your beets into quarters if they're small, or sixths if they're a bit larger. Arrange on a plate. Top with arugula, pecans (we actually wanted to use walnuts but didn't have any), and goat cheese. Drizzle with walnut oil (or any good quality salad oil) and balsamic vinegar (the one we used is from Oliviers & Co). Season with maldon sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Smoked Pepper Steak

Buy a top quality P.E.I. striploin steak from Primal Cuts. Then buy a tub of smoked black pepper from Firehouse Gourmet. Rub a small amount of black pepper (it's really strong) and some sea salt onto the steak. BBQ until rare/medium rare. Let rest for at least five minutes while you boil the corn.

Corn on the Cob

Pick up some new August peaches and cream corn from a market or roadside stall. Husk it. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, add a few tbsps of salt. Add the corn and cook for five minutes or so. When the steam smells like corn, you're done.

Sunday morning brunch: Strawberry Cream Cheese Streudel

I started making this streudel for brunch this morning yesterday afternoon with our market strawberries from McLean's Berry Farm, only to remember that I don't actually own a rolling pin. I sent Tim to his parents' house to get a rolling pin, only to find out that theirs is missing a handle! I made it work. 

Strawberry Cream Cheese Streudel

1 brick full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

2 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

Cream together the cream cheese and sugar with a beater, or if you're lucky like me, in your KitchenAid stand mixer. Scrape down the sides and bottom into the mix a few times. When it's completely incorporated, add the egg yolks, vanilla, and salt. Let it mix until everything is fully integrated - you'll have to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl a few more times. Chill the cream cheese mix while you do the rest. 

10 (approximately) medium sized strawberries, washed, DRIED, and sliced

Please wash and dry your strawberries really well. Any extra water on them could make the pastry mushy.

1/2 pkg Tenderflake puff pastry, THAWED

Couple tbsps of milk or beaten egg white

 

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Rip off a piece of parchment paper big enough to cover your baking sheet. Lightly flour your rolling pin and the parchment paper. Roll out the puff pastry to approximately a 9x12" rectangle on the parchment paper. Arrange it so that the shorter side is facing towards you. Spread the cream cheese mix down the middle about 3" wide. Yes, use it all. Tim thought it was too much, but it isn't. Arrange the strawberries on top. Cut the side edges into horizontal strips up to the filling that are about 1 cm wide. Alternate folding those edges over the filling so that you have something of a braid. Use a little dab of milk or egg wash on each piece to help it stick to the next one. We used milk because I stupidly threw out the egg whites left over from the yolks for the custard. 

Transfer the pastry on the parchment paper to the baking sheet. Bake for 35-40 minutes. It should be lightly brown. Remove from oven and cool completely. A completely cool streudel will allow the glaze to actually stay on the surface instead of soaking into the pastry and becoming soggy.

1 cup icing sugar

Few tbsps of milk/table cream/heavy cream

Whisk little bits of milk into the icing sugar until you have a thick glaze. Drizzle the glaze over the streudel once it's completely cooled.

Market morning!

Start of a long weekend, beautiful Saturday morning - time for the market!

Tim always has to stop at Kyoto Coffee first to fuel his market trip.

The mushrooms from Waymac Farms were looking especially good this week. 

From the front of the very long Taste of the Russia line . . . 

. . . and from where we started out. While we were waiting, this line actually went back three stalls. Before you ask - Yes. The pierogies are REALLY worth this wait.

We wound up buying market corn from Johnston Farms, strawberries from McLean's Berry Farm, portobello mushrooms from Waymac farms, foccacia bread but I forget where it's from, and then the aforementioned pierogies, which didn't make it to a camera shot. They were eaten immediately.

The foccacia we're eating for lunch as I write this, while the strawberries will go into a danish for Sunday morning brunch at Tim's parents' house, and the corn and mushrooms are for grilling for Sunday supper. We thought we should probably grab some meat to grill with that, so of course we had to head to our favourite butcher, Primal Cuts!

Tim trying to narrow down our choices. 

We decided to go with the P.E.I. striploin. 

Next time I'm going to pick up some of this red wine jus to make gravy for poutine. I have duck fat from Primal Cuts already to use to make the fries!

Looks like it's going to be a delicious weekend!