The most amazing gazpacho

I just made the most amazing gazpacho. It all started this morning when James and I made plans for dinner. Originally I thought we should eat mango salad or something, but later I thought I should make my authentic gazpacho, it is great for a hot day like today and it's all vegetarian. I went to Kensington Market and got all the ingredients. James was in charge of peeling the garlic, he peeled 6 cloves and I just used the whole thing. OMG, it was so garlicky! I looooved it.

While I was at Kensington Market, I remembered that the other day James asked me if I had eaten cactus (nopales), of course I have (hey, they're on the Mexican national seal), and I even told him that in Mexico people eat the fruit of the cactus (tuna, in Spanish). It's called prickly pear or cactus fig. Well, I found that they sold red prickly pears at the fruit stand on the corner of Augusta and Nassau. I have to confess I had never seen red prickly pears, but they seemed to be really similar to the green ones, so I bought two. They were really good and James really enjoyed them. It's nice to show him some of the (vegetarian) things people eat in Mexico. I told him that next time I'm going to cook chayotes for him! (He has seen them but has never eaten them. As soon as I find them in Chinatown I'm going to buy them and cook them, mmmmh!!)

VH Sauce help

Peter sent this email:
I'm hoping that since you posted asking for people to send you recipes, you might have come across a recipe that would replicate V-H Garlic Sauce.
I'm from Montreal, but have been living in the US for almost 2 years. No matter where I look, I can find NOTHING that comes even close to VH.
It's not imported here, and V-H doesn't seem interested in expanding into the US market ( I offered to sell it for them here )
Anyways, aside from using it for wings, I've always used it mostly for Chicken Fried Rice ( V-H Strong Garlic Sauce ).

OK, I asked around and Joyce got me this:

1. Heat some oil and add some ground up/minced garlic.
2. Salt to taste (for a more asian flavour you can use
oyster sauce or soy sauce instead of the salt).
3. Add honey.
4. Stir it all up and you are done.

Hope this helps!

Going camping? Eat garlic!

Mosquitoes and blackflies are one of the things that make me have second thoughts about going camping.
I found the following information on Algonquin Park's website.

In Algonquin, blackflies are usually out by mid-May (depending on the weather in any given year) and are usually around until late June. The worst time of day for blackflies tends to be the last 2 or 3 hours of sunlight.
Mosquitoes are also abundant, beginning in mid to late-May and usually last longer than blackflies (into July). Mosquitoes are most often a problem in cooler, shady parts of the forest, as well as in the evening, and into the first couple of hours of darkness. They usually become less of a problem through the night (although they do not disappear entirely).

How to Prepare Yourself
...
Eat lots of garlic for at least a week before you come — use it in every meal. Your friends may stay away from you but so will the blackflies! Evidence exists that something in garlic acts as a repellent.

So, it helps to be a garlic freak if you want to go camping. It will help you keep away blackflies and very probably mosquitoes too!

Fleica

JadeMarie sent the following email:
OMG! This is sooo goood :)
I used rib steaks because that's my favourite kind of steak.
I served it with a mixed green salad that had sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, green and red bell peppers and red onions. The dressing was that Lemon Dressing that you published in November 2005.

Recipe: Grilled Steak With Garlic (Fleica)

Time: About 30 minutes

3 or 4 garlic cloves, peeled
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, more to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 2- to 3-pound flank steak, or 4 strip steaks or rib-eye steaks, or an equivalent amount of skirt steak
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup chopped parsley leaves, optional.

1. Using a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic with lemon juice and salt to make a paste. Or mince garlic, and stir it with the salt into lemon juice, using the back of a wooden spoon to smash garlic as much as you can.

2. Press pepper into steak, then spread garlic mixture evenly on both sides. Let steak sit while you heat grill or broiler.

3. Build a moderately hot fire in the grill, or heat the broiler, and place the rack about 4 inches from heat source.

4. Brush a little melted butter onto steaks, then place on grill. Brush once or twice more with remaining butter while steaks cook, about 4 minutes per side for medium rare. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Yield: 4 servings.