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On Love + Heartbreak

Love is a risk. It’s true. On a day when the syrup-y, saccharine clichés of “love” abound, I realize I may sound a bit like the Valentine’s Day Grinch. Don’t get me wrong. Love is a worthy risk – the most worthy risk. It is the risk of putting all of yourself – the good, the bad and the oh-so-ugly – out there to be accepted or rejected. But the power in being seen for who you are and loved, flaws and all? Yep. That’s what makes it worth it. In fact, it is the kind of thing that can change you forever.

The thing is, opening up to love also means opening up to heartache. Because life happens. Jobs are lost, diagnoses are given and then you have to choose to walk through that sorrow together with the one you love. It is always a choice, but that choosing makes life richer and more meaningful, even when it is hard. And you get to celebrate the beautiful moments together, too, and they are made all the more beautiful for the contrast. Kind of like salty and sweet. You taste each one more distinctly for the presence of the other.

I confess that I had a much cheerier post planned for this Valentine’s Day. Not quite saccharine sweet, but filled with ideas on how to write a real, old fashioned love letter to your love, your family, your friends. I wanted to share this beautiful book with you with inspiration on how to make love last as inspired by a couple who were married for 73 years.

But I learned this past weekend that my Mum has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease and is being moved into a retirement home with shocking speed. I’ve been reeling ever since in secret chaos and heartbreak. I can’t actually begin to describe all that has gone on in my heart and my head, but I can tell you that I need to dive into my Mum’s care plan wholeheartedly for the next while. I’m going to take a brief pause from posting while I try to sort out how to help her make this transition safely and happily.

I think this is what love looks like. It means putting your life on hold when the one you love needs you most. It means grieving when they grieve and rejoicing when they rejoice. It means standing up for them when they are vulnerable and celebrating their wins when they are strong. And so, I’m off to love my Mum now. And I have no doubt I will return to our conversation about finding inspiration in design, food, beauty and everyday life with a greater ability to taste the sweetness in it.

With salty-sweet love,
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|February 14th, 2013|8 Comments

Foodie Fridays | Roots

I am so excited to share my new favourite cookbook with you! ROOTS gathers together many of my favourite things: healthful food; well thought-out, approachable recipes; stunning photography; and root vegetables. In this season of root vegetables patiently waiting to be pulled from our cellars and pantries, it felt like a timely post. For me, root vegetables are amongst my favourite healthy comfort foods.

ROOTS is truly a comprehensive reference for the global roots that have made their way onto our forks and into our kitchens as a result of becoming what Diane calls “global eaters.” From Thai to Indian to Japanese to Peruvian and Chinese restaurants, our palates and our repertoires are expanding.

In addition to an amazing and educational reference, this is a cookbook packed with incredible recipes and ideas for exploring familiar flavours and new ones alike, awakening the palate to the wonders that the world of root vegetables has to offer! Diane is also an amazing educator, offering all kinds of practical tips on how to get greater joy out of working in your kitchen.

“How could one dedicate an entire cookbook to root vegetables?” you might ask. Well, when you are chef Diane Morgan and adept at ingredient-based inspiration and innovation, variations on a theme and unexpected combinations are de rigeur.

The cookbook is broken into chapters dedicated to individual root vegetables such as Sweet Potato, Carrots and less common roots such as Jicama, Malanga and Jerusalem Artichoke. To my great delight, the book includes an entire chapter dedicated to BEETS.

I love beets so much that I probably would have picked up this cookbook if it had been nothing but that chapter. But I’ve loved exploring the amazing root vegetables Diane highlights in the book and I can’t wait to experiment!

Not surprisingly, the first recipe I’ve cooked and the one I’m going to share with you today features – you guessed it – beets. It is simple, beautiful, exploding with fresh flavours and works as a gorgeous plate-partner to the Asian Glazed Salmon I chose to create to complete this meal. This recipe also allowed me to live up to my promise to use more fennel this year, so naturally it was the place to start.

Here’s the recipe:

RAW BEET SLAW WITH FENNEL, TART APPLE, AND PARSLEY

Beets are terrific raw! Serve this slaw as an alternative to coleslaw for a summer barbecue, a beautiful accompaniment to cured salmon for a brunch or appetizer, or a condiment to cured meats or alongside a slice of country pâté. I like to use a mandoline to cut the beets into matchsticks. A sharp chef’s knife works well, too. With all this fine cutting, you’ll have rosy red hands if you don’t wear disposable surgical gloves (see the Cautionary Note below).

SERVES 4 TO 6

DRESSING

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp freshly grated orange zest

1/2 tsp honey

1/2 tsp kosher or fine sea salt

⅛ tsp freshly ground pepper

1 medium red beet, 3 to 5 oz/85 to 140 g, peeled and cut into matchsticks

1/2 fennel bulb, trimmed, halved lengthwise, cored, and cut into matchsticks

1/2 medium crisp tart apple such as Granny Smith, cored and cut into matchsticks

1/2 cup/30 g firmly packed chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 To make the dressing, in a small bowl, whisk together the oil, lemon juice, orange zest, honey, salt, and pepper.

2 In a medium bowl, toss together the beet, fennel, apple, and parsley. Add the dressing and mix gently to coat all of the ingredients evenly. Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve, then remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before serving. (The slaw can be made up to 8 hours in advance.)

A CAUTIONARY NOTE I always use disposable surgical gloves when working with dark red beets to keep my fingers from being stained red. Look for gloves at a pharmacy or in a supermarket, stocked with the bandages and other first-aid supplies. Beets will stain countertops and cutting boards, so work with care and clean up quickly, using a diluted bleach solution to wash away the water-soluble beet juices.

I love the hay-stack quality of the very precisely mandolined matchstick vegetables and green apple. There is a delightful mingling of sweet and tart in this recipe, balanced perfectly by the savoury parsley. I will absolutely be making this recipe again and again! No doubt it will become a favourite of family and friends year-round.

The Asian Glazed Salmon was super simple. I just grated about 2 Tbsp of ginger and whisked that together with 2 cloves minced garlic, 1/4 c. wheat-free Tamari, 1/4 c. toasted sesame oil, 4 Tbsp maple syrup, 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. I baked the salmon at 375°F uncovered for about 20 minutes and voila! A match made in foodie heaven.

With recipes such as “Chicken Fricassee with Parsley Roots and Chanterelle Mushrooms” still awaiting my kitchen, I have no doubt Diane and I will be spending a lot of time together in 2013!

So…the next time you see a gnarly and bizarre-looking root vegetable at the market, take the challenge and bring it home! With Diane’s cookbook as your guide, you’ll no doubt fall in love and add many new root vegetables to your repertoire of kitchen classics.

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|January 11th, 2013|0 Comments

Christmas Gift Guide {For Him}

On the heels of yesterday’s Gift Guide {For Her}, today I thought I’d share a few ideas with my ladies on what to get for the man in your life this Christmas. Here’s my thinking: Protect his technology with hand-stitched leather; Map out your adventures together based on the terrain you’d like to see; Remind him of his childhood with original art; Snuggle up like real Canadians do; Turn the occasional glass of scotch into an adventure; Give him a domestic domain that he can dominate; Offer him a guide book for one-course meals made of smoked of meat; And keep him cozy and handsome all at the same time.