Pasta with Eggplant

1 eggplant sliced
1 clove garlic (or 1 tablespoon minced)
1 large white mushroom sliced
1/2 can of diced tomatoes
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup cheese
black table pepper
basil
pasta

In a fry pan heat oil, add garlic, mushroom and eggplant.  Saute on medium heat for 10 minutes turning the eggplant every couple of minutes.   
Add the diced tomatoes with liquid, let simmer for 5 minutes then add  half of the cheese.   Remove from heat. 
Prepare pasta, drain, and add to eggplant, stir and turn heat back on low.   Add rest of the cheese, basil and pepper for taste.   Once all the cheese has melted and most of the liquid cooked, remove from heat and serve. 

Do I need a kitchen exorcist?

I made the Chick Pea Curry again for dinner tonight. It did not turn out. This time I had the cumin but it just tasted salty. Never added any salt so have no idea what went wrong there.

Made cupcakes about an hour ago. They never rose and just ended up burnt. This is the first time since the oven was fixed that I tried baking, so I'm thinking I might just need to adjust the temp on the recipes from now on.

But two things in one day that just did not turn out. Do I need to sprinkle some salt and extra virgin olive oil (sacrifice in the kitchen) around and invoke the spirit of Julia Childs or something?

Brutal Erotic

Not what you are thinking.

I'm reading Cleaving a Story of Marriage Meat and Obsession by Julie Powell, and it's well, not what I was expecting.

I knew as a vegetarian, I would find it a hard read as it is about her time as a butcher's assistant. I was prepared for that, for the blood and guts of it.
I wasn't prepared for how she makes it sound more poetic and sensual then just tearing steaks from the bone.

I'm only three chapters into it at this point, but it's one I am having to say will make you think about your place in life. I'll have a review in a few days when I'm done reading it.

There is a table cloth in here somewhere

Only, I can't find it.

Back nearly 13 years ago, my Grandmother, who swore by table cloths, helped me sew one. Black and purple for a Hallowe'en dinner.
Now, I can't find what I did with it. It's one of the last projects Grandma did before her death.

I made Chick Pea Curry last night for dinner, and it turned out okay for a first try.
Heated up what was left for dinner, and made a Vegan Chocolate Cake and Vegan Frosting. Again, not bad for a first try. But not great.

But what I am wanting to know is, aprons, table cloths and toaster covers etc.
Yay or Nay?

Episode #4 of My Newfie Kitchen

While my oven is still broken, I went to mom's and we made bread. First try, and here is the comedy routine that it turned out to be.



That's what makes life what it is; food, laughter and bad camera work.

MNK Video #3- Ugly Ramen

While I was at mom's, I made another broth and noodles.




Colour in food is a very foreign idea to Newfies. No matter what we make, it always seems to come out transparent.

My Oven is still dead

My oven died on Saturday night. It is now Wednesday morning. My oven still has not been fixed, and the landlord says it will be tomorrow still.

So I'm packing up a large tote bag of stuff, and heading to my mom's today to make bread.
It is a very long boring process, but one I remember fondly from when Grandma Perry used to make it. Every week she would spend Saturdays baking fresh bread for the week. From scratch, the old fashioned way, as she never owned a bread maker.
That's today's plan.

Food in Movies. Part One

Food has been used as a metaphor and a costar thousands of times in films.

The Hours threaded together the lives of the 3 women with the use of food. More accurately eggs. As each character began their decent into their own depression, they were put in a scene where eggs were being broken. Giving the visual of how fragile the human mind can be.

The Jane Austen Book Club, used the theme of food as a comfort element. From the first book club meeting which takes place in a busy coffee shop to the community table at the end, we are shown how each character grows more relaxed with each other. Over the course of the film, the more intense the topic or atmosphere the less nutritious the food in the scene. (when they are talking about Sense and Sensibility in which Grigg and Jocelyn fight they are eating donuts, or when Prudie has to tell her mother to leave, her mother is eating brownies and ice cream)

Under the Tuscan Sun, food is used as a measure of faith and accomplishment. The lead character starts off on top of the world, with her homemade brownies being used to show her pride and ego. As the story progresses, she's seen loosing that sense of self (dinner with the neighbours and the bitter olives) only to regain it near the end when she feels she's finally standing on her own two feet again (the 7 course meals she makes for her construction crew).


Just a little taste of what I have been noticing in some of my favourite films.

The Herbal Tarot by Michael Tierra and Candis Cantin

Photo by Kimberly Hulst

I came across this deck few years ago. I have to say, I rarely used it till now.
The interpretation of each card matched up with the many different herb/spice is both inspiring and clever.
Though I have been trying to track down a larger copy of the instruction book, as the print is so tiny it makes reading the various herb uses difficult.
This deck uses the popular Rider-Waite deck as it's main model, which is the most widely recognizable tarot deck out there.
The choice of herb/spice with each card is based on the combination of medical use for the herb, folklore and astrology match up.

This is a treat for collectors, and a great way to learn what herb/spice is each used for.

Dear MotorCityMachine Guns!

You all knew it would not be long before I found a reason to talk about Mr. Shelley and Mr. Sabin on this blog too.
So this is one last effort of a desperate woman to talk to her heroes, the two sexiest men alive. Yeah I know, I can't stop making an idiot of myself, but I'm so good at it.

Cooking TV - Justin Wilson

I have to say this guy was one of my favourite television chefs. This I found on youtube and I am putting it around roughly 1986 (?)



Cooking shows never go out of style.

Ramen #4

Photo by Kimberly Hulst copyright hcvp'2010

You read that my oven is dead.
There is one small working burner at this time.

Just enough for me to make a pot of something.

I went out to the grocery yesterday and bought a bag of noodles. Last night I made a small pot of homemade ramen.


3 cup water
1 medium onion sliced
1 cup frozen mixed veggies (carrots, celery, onion, red peppers)
1/2 cup frozen carrot coins
1/2 frozen Asian mixed veggies (broccoli, green beans, onion, mushroom)
pinch of dried oregano
pinch of salt
3 whole black peppercorns
pinch of red pepper flakes
pinch of marjoram
1 vegetable broth cube
2 handfuls of steamed broadcut noodles

Boil all ingredients EXCEPT the noodles for 20 minutes. Add extra water if needed, stirring every few minutes. Then add dry noodles. Stir turn off heat and serve.
This severs three.

Julie/Julia -Review (book)

Here is what I wrote on this book back on Aug 4th 2009 on my book blog

I picked this up Sunday night, and did not stop reading until just after 1 am this morning.

This is a semi-autobiography about a woman going through a life crisis. She's been told she may never have kids, she is unsatisfied in her job, and she just moved. She is coming unglued and finds the only thing that is keeping her together is cooking.

Julie Powell became an internet hit when it was still a new idea to blog. It ended up changing her life. What she blogged about was the year long challenge she set for herself to cook all the recipes in the first volume of Julia Childs most impressive book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. This earned Powell her first book deal and a new chance to find herself.

Her second book is due this winter and I am looking forward to seeing what she has to offer this time around.


I still love this book. There is something inspirational in her story. Something raw. I have read pieces of her blog since, and can see why she had the following of blog readers (bleeders as she calls them in her book) she does not sugarcoat anything when she writes. I admire that.
Julie Powell is the Queen Bean of food blogs, hands down. There would not be a large a following of food blogs if it was not for her.

Not going to lie, it was that book that sprang me into this blog. Like so many others who read it. Mind you, I was already blogging on other topics before reading it, but this was what made me say "hey I cook too".

When you can connect to a story, either fiction or non-fiction, is when you know you hold something on the cusp of greatness. I have been known to ask "why food?" why do we as a society do so much around food? This book can answer that.
Witty, touching, brilliant.

She started the movement of foodie bloggers and I for one am glad.

I still have to get her second book Cleaving Marriage Meat Obsession.

My Oven!

I had a batch of tea buns in the oven. I was in the other room and heard what sounded like a chair being scrapped across the floor. I live alone. Running into the kitchen I saw the oven was as bright as a bon fire.
The oven is old and had no oven light at all.

Opening the door I turned off the oven. The very back of the element coil looked like a burst bubble and the screws were exposed.

Oh my god my oven exploded! The landlord is away and it will be like 3 days before I can even talk to him about it. I have no oven.

I really hate living here. I need to find a new place that I can afford.

365 Ways To Cook Hamburger

I will not lie to you, for about 12 years this was one of my main cook books.
I was going through a stack of stuff to be packed into storage, and came across this book. Little dusty, little worn but still useful.
So, let's see how many recipes I can successfully take and turn into vegetarian versions?
I know the meat replacement (soy product Ground Round) is usable for so many dishes, but there are some it just does not work in.
There are about 30 meatloaf recipes in this book alone. I am sure there is a few that will work with the soy product replacement.

Okay, so keep coming back to the blog, I will have be getting started on things soon.

Coming soon

I have a slow cooker. I kind of forgot I even had it. The insurance company got it for me back after the car accident, I maybe used it once.

I have to do another version of the mock seal flipper pie still, and mom pointed out I still have not tried a version of Jig's Dinner.
So they are on the menu at some point in the next few weeks.

After that, I will try a few slow cooker recipes.

The reason this blog has gotten sort of left behind (it's not the only one my book blog and my vampire movie blog has too) is
A) I've been working on my novel. I've been working now for the last two weeks with my editor on the first draft.

B) BlindTag.com is starting to take off nicely. We've gotten a bunch of new readers and now with the move of TNA Impact to Mondays it's going to be bumpy.

C) my health has been bad.

D) I've been fairly broke.

Just don't give up on me yet.