Tonight we made a delicious lamb & eggplant curry made with a Cape Curry Mix from our good friend from South Africa. She has a fantastic company called Fynbos Fine Foods. Ted is letting his South African heritage shine brightly through this dish.
Couldn’t think of a better way to enjoy a misty night on Vancouver Island. Come stay with us at the Island Estuary and enjoy some local lamb and other goodies with us.
Running a B&B gives you the opportunity to meet some really interesting people. We were fortunate to have Adam Hart stay with us this year along with his family as they explored Vancouver Island. Adam is a nutritional expert, whole foods chef, professional speaker, coach and author. (E3 for Life)
After his stay we picked up his book and have been working through some of the recipes and ideas for obtaining optimum health and happiness. Sometimes if feels difficult to find that healthy balance. Adam has a simple proven formula for achieving that balance – e3 for Life begins with the Food you eat, followed by the THOUGHTS you have and concludes with your HABITS that produce your results.
Here is one of his recipes that we adapted to include some of our local produce here on the island.
1 can organic black beans, 2 cans organic lentils, 3 medium sweet potatoes, 1 egg, 1/4 cup milk, 2 tbsp. butter, salt & pepper to taste, 1 cup carrots chopped, 1 cup broccoli chopped, 1 medium onion chopped, 4 cloves garlic chopped, 1 cup wild mushrooms chopped, 1 tbsp dijon mustard, 2 tbsp fresh basil and rosemary.
Boil potatoes until tender then mix with a hand blender along with butter, milk, salt and pepper. Keep aside until ready to use. Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes until softened. In a food processor, combine all the other ingredients and mix until it forms together. Place this mixture into a medium sized baking dish and then spread the potato mixture over the top and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Really Good!!!! To increase the nutritional content of this already highly nutritional dish, garnish with ground nuts or seeds.
My friends from St. John’s arrived bringing with them the salt meat, mustard pickles and Newfoundland savoury in order to prepare a feast of turkey and jiggs dinner for us and our guests from the community. Parsnips, turnip, brussell sprouts, beets, turkey, cabbage…. we had it all and then some!!
There was no stopping them once they hit the kitchen… in fact, there was no stopping them once they landed in Ladysmith!! Loved serving up all this wonderful food on local pottery from Mary Fox and Jo-Vic and certainly enjoyed sharing the meal with Vic & Josie from Jo-Vic Pottery and Sheryll and Bud from Sealeggs Kayaking. Thanks to Bud for washing up all the dishes after the meal!!
What a feast! Thank you Eileen and Susan – come back soon!!!!!
East Meets West… We so enjoyed our visit with good friends from St. John’s, Newfoundland. And to top it off we had the delightful pleasure of hosting Tanya from Peterborough, Ontario. Pat, Donna and their daughter Katie enjoyed an evening of chatting and eating local spot prawns and salmon and then had a local island breakfast before heading out to Sealegs Kayaking for an adventure along the island coast.
Alberni Valley Signature Salmon
Our guests had the good fortune to enjoy Gail McCulley’s signature salmon dish while they were here for a visit. Check out her recipe in our recipe section. This is so incredible… Gail is an amazing chef who is passionate about using local ingredients in her amazing creations. This dish will wow your taste buds!!!
Lynda’s daughter Hilary and her two roommates – Meagan and Meghan joined us for a couple of days in between their exams to relax and bake some of their favourite treats. So, we started with a totally decadent chocolate cake with mocha cream cheese icing. The spelt flour used made us all feel better about consuming this calorie laden treat!!
These cupcakes are for their friends surprise birthday party tomorrow – Coconut Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Neon Frosting and Toasted Coconut. Wow, they are Awesome!!!
