Gillian Young

Oeuf Cocotte with Bacon

Serves 2

• 6 slices smoked bacon (one per ramekin, more for enjoying)
• 4 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until crisp; transfer to paper towels.
2. Brush four 1-cup ramekins with bacon fat and wrap bacon inside ramekin.
3. Gently crack 1 egg into well in each ramekin, keeping yolk intact.
4. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
5. Bake eggs until whites are just set but yolks are still runny, 14 to 16 minutes.

Duck Fat Hashbrowns

Serves 2-4

• 3 tbsp duck fat
• 6 pre-boiled potatoes, chopped into squares
• salt, pepper, herbes de provence

1. Melt duck fat over medium heat in a cast iron pan.
2. Saute potatoes until brown on each side.
3. Add to your oven and cook until crispy.

Sometimes after a stressful day I come home from work and crash on the couch.

I sit there, motionless, with no energy to spare.

Sometimes I crawl into bed with a book.

Sometimes I uncork a bottle of wine.

Yesterday, I decided to take the kind of advice I would give to a friend and do exactly what I knew would make me feel physically and emotionally better.

• Take your vitamins (vitamin C, L-Tyrosine, B12)
• Go for a long walk outside
• Listen to some good (relaxing) music
• Enjoy a leisurely dinner with healthy fats and Omega 3′s (salmon and avocado)
• Talk with a loved one
• Pour a hot bath and add some epsom salts and lavender oil
• Dig into your favourite chocolate

How do you de-stress after a long day?

We were hit by a taste of summmer on Friday night.

The sun shone brightly on our balcony.  I made summer cocktails.  Our skin was kissed by the sun.
This weekend we fed our souls but also our spirit.  We went out for brunch(review to come), drank wine on a warm patio, walked for hours, and fell a little more in love with life.  As we ease into the summer months, I like the way they’re headed.

Summer Cocktail:
1-2 oz vodka
1/2 oz cassis
1/2 oz lime juice
Perrier
Ice
Frozen Berries

As you know, I love recipes.

I tear them out of magazines, photocopy cookbooks, and bookmark them all over the internet.

Ever since I received an iPad for my birthday last year, keeping track of recipes from magazines has been even easier.

One of my favourite things about the iPad, other than the ease of travelling with it, is getting my magazine subscriptions.  I’m saving paper, don’t have to worry about changing adresses, and I get my monthly issues faster.

Another huge bonus, thanks to screen shots, is that it’s really easy for me to store recipes in my photo album.

Here are a few recipes and tips I hope to use in the next little while – maybe you’ll take away some inspiration as well!

 A perfect recipe for a hot summer day!
Gourmet style eggs?  Souffled?  Yes please.

A great way to cook fish and scallops to perfection.



These chickpea sweet potato burgers make a great vegetarian option.

Chocolate energy truffles for a post or pre-workout treat.

Protein Pancakes fpr a muscle building brunch!

The recipes above come from my subscriptions to Self, Shape and Oxygen

If you want to check out my new favourite recipe, hop over to Healthy, Tasty, Cheap for my dark chocolate goji cups!

Oh weekends, you never last long enough.

Something in the air is shifting. Over lunch on Sunday, my friend Marisa orders a cherry blossom smoothie and says “I feel like a cherry blossom”.

She is glowing. The sun outside is shining and after lunch we find ourselves looking through a row of flower shops and I want to buy every bouquet to fill my apartment with the same beauty I see outside.

As the cold weather leaves Toronto, I am warming up to everything. I am more comortable in my skin, more grateful for every day, and looking forward for all of the days and events to come.

I feel opportunity in the air. I feel the young woman in me growing and learning as I decided to allow her to still be figuring it out.

These days I spend more time with my head in a book or scribbling in my sketchbook, and finally, writing. The more I do this, the more it clicks.

I need to live a creative life. I need to keep creating, to put myself in beautiful places and search for inspiration. That way I too, can bloom like a cherry blossom.

My new obsession: a big jug of lemon and ginger water for me to drink at my leisure

Breaking out the juicer on the regular now

New to me products: love the raw sticks, the almond and cashew cream wasn’t smooth enough, and the Rise kombucha in blueberry maple was a dream

A spa and dinner date makes the perfect birthday gift for a friend you love.

Last night as I was walking home, I swear I could smell artichokes cooking.  This favourite food of mine is full of rich memories.  Here is a simple how-to artichoke tutorial I wrote when I was living in Paris.

As a young girl I was taught how to eat artichokes in the South of France.

Susan, a mentor and older German woman in the village, taught me to peel the leaves one by one, dip them in rich olive oil mixed with lemon and salt, and scrape the meat off into my mouth.

At first I would just dip the leaves in the sauce and suck on them.  And then I discovered how to scrape the meat off the ends and the pleasure was all mine.

To this day I love to slowly peel an artichoke, all the way anticipating the heart, the best part of the artichoke that awaits you at the end.

I have taught many people how to prepare and eat an artichoke and my friend asked me just the other day if I could show her.

We bought a big beautiful artichoke from the market, but we never had the time to prepare it together.

Tonight I prepared the artichoke for myself and decided to post a picture tutorial so she would still know how.

I hope this is helpful as well!

1. First, fill a pot about 1/4 of the way with water.  Put your artichoke inside and cover.  Steam for about 30-45 minutes depending on the size, until the air is aromatic, the leaves are opening up and the insides look soft.  You can test a leaf if you have to.

2. Set your artichoke on a plate and grab a big empty bowl for your leaves.  Slowly work your way into the artichoke.  Enjoy plain or with a simple vinaigrette (I usually use olive oil, salt and lemon).

3. When you peel off a leaf, dip it in your sauce (or not) and scrape the plump, meaty end into your mouth.  Mmm.  Having fun yet?

4. Work your way into the artichoke until the leaves are too small and fragile to find meat on them.  You can pull these off and throw them in your bowl.

5. Now you will see a big hairy mess blocking you from the heart of the artichoke.  This is called the choke.  This is because these little hairy bits are easy to choke on if you leave them on!  Take the choke off carefully with a knife without digging too deep into the heart.

6. This is the best part.  The whole heart is yours to eat and enjoy, or share if you like.  I like it plain, dipped in vinaigrette, or on top of a lovely salad.

Bon appetit!

This weekend started with a heavy heart.

 But it lightened up with good conversation, friends, and the love of my life adventuring around the city with me.

I’m digging deeper into my book and building the backbone – trying to fill it with colour and personality.  I’m sketching in my new idea book to get the wheels turning and feeling more in tune with myself than I have in a while.

Kind of like the weather these days, I am slowly warming up, a light chill still slipping through my shoes and up my neck, with the promise of warmth in the near future.

“You are so young; you stand before beginnings. I would like to beg of you, dear friend, as well as I can, to have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day. Perhaps you are indeed carrying within yourself the potential to visualize, to design, and to create for yourself an utterly satisfying, joyful, and pure lifestyle. Discipline yourself to attain it, but accept that which comes to you with deep trust, and as long as it comes from your own will, from your own inner need, accept it, and do not hate anything.” ~ from Rilke’s fourth letter to Kappus

“We must embrace struggle. Every living thing conforms to it. Everything in nature grows and struggles in its own way, establishing its own identity, insisting on it at all cost, against all resistance.” ~ from the seventh letter

Six years ago I was living in Paris and working as an au pair.  It feels like a lifetime ago. As I read through my old blog entries (once public) to help with my guide book, I’m flooded with memories.  I’m amazed at the young woman I was.  Yes, I’m still a young woman, but it’s interesting to read my teenage self, to remember just how honest and open I was about my feelings.  Some entries are extremely raw.  So raw I’m impressed I put it out there for the public, my family and friends to read.  These days I’m a little more censored.  Some posts, like this one, are less raw, but I love to be reminded of the images, smells and sights of my life at the time.  Here is a weekend in Paris six years ago.

Early Friday night I’m sitting at the dinner table with the kids having a singing contest. I keep losing and apparently don’t take the singing seriously enough. I run out the door after dinner, and promise the young girl I’ll practice all weekend.

A couple of hours later two friends are in my shoebox apartment as I attempt my first cramped dinner party. We sit side by side on my pull out couch, plates on our laps, and dig into the sweet salmon, baked zucchini, and feta salad I’ve prepared. They smoke Lucky Strike through the bars of my window, and I make hot whiskey in honor of Saint Patrick’s Day.

Saturday afternoon and I’m walking the rue de Passy admiring store windows and the summer fashions that have finally come our way. I try on flowing tops and light jackets, buy nothing, and dream of the hotter days to come.

Saturday evening and I’m walking up a street in Montmartre with a bag full of avocados, tortilla chips and wine. The sun has just set and all the small restaurants are setting their tables. Waiters smoke outside, and a chef walks out of a restaurant and up the street in checkered pants. I try not to smile at the young men who hiss at me as I work my way up the hill.

Soon after I’m making guacamole in Lauren’s kitchen. Her and her Italian roommate are throwing a party for their new apartment, which is soon filled to the brim with Americans, Italians, British and French. I fill myself with white wine and guacamole as I go from French to English, describing life as an au pair to strangers throughout the room. I finally get to meet Coquette-the charming celebrity blogger and fashion journalist-as I try and teach a Frenchman to say “Corkscrew”. “Where is zee cork scru?!” He screams.

Later Saturday night and I’m trying to catch the last metro home. I get half way there and it closes. Soon I’m standing with a bunch of young teenage boys in straw hats. One has a portable ghetto blaster, playing a catchy song that feels like background music to the movie of my life. He tries to show me where the nearest night bus is, while his friend force feeds him gin and tells me I’m “magnifique”.

It’s turning into Sunday morning and there’s no night bus. Every taxi is taken. I find a ritzy hotel and eventually steal a cab. My driver is kind and takes me home under a large moon, and I have enough to give him a small tip.

Sunday afternoon and young boys are skateboarding at Place du Trocadero, the Eiffel tower glowing behind them. Music starts playing from two large speakers behind me, and I continue walking aimlessly, then sun holding me all the way.

Sunday night and I’m in my friend’s Turkish restaurant in Montmartre. A rowdy group of men sit at another table and stare me down. When I get up to leave, so do they. I sit back down, and so do they. My friend’s father insists he’ll drive me to my metro so that they don’t follow me. He tells me they won’t eat there again. “We only like good people in our restaurant,” he says, “I have no problem kicking people out if I don’t like them.” His face is intelligent, honest, and he tells me he’ll send me to Turkey with his wife and daughter next summer.

The scenes keep unfolding and I can’t tell if I’m taking part or just observing. Life feels unreal these days, and my whole body feels lighter as the air starts to warm up. I walk these streets knowing my life here isn’t permanent, and with this in mind, the romance comes back. The scenes unfold, foreign, unreal, and everything glows under that sudden sun.

March 19, 2006

It is becoming clear, now, more than ever perhaps, that I have to be honest.

I have to be honest with myself and with others if I wish to feel alive, inspired and happy.

I think it was easier when I was younger and allowing myself to be figuring it out.  Now as I’m faced with responsibilities and a career I find myself feeling numb at times.  I become quiet, frustrated, and eager to please.  When I was younger I didn’t face the same fears.  I didn’t need to be successful.  I didn’t need to have my shit together.  I allowed myself to question everything, including myself, and meditate on every moment.  These days I rush through everything, even meals, and forget to even ask why?

Even here, on this blog, a creative space for me to share my love of food, I am quiet.  I don’t share the fire in my belly, the aches, the pains, the joys of my life.

Creating food is an outlet for me.  In the past, I always expressed myself through writing and I am afraid of losing that.  I want to pair my writing with food, like wine with a meal, and hopefully you’ll learn to love the combination and find that one brings out the other even more.

And sometimes I just want to use this space to write.

As I read through my old journal entries I’m reminded of other loves: dance, wine, travel.  I need to feed my soul with all of the above.  And share it with you.

Now here is a recipe from a quiet Friday night in my kitchen.  It’s honest, good food, but it’s also indulgent because life should be.

Raw almond/sunflower butter cups

Chocolate:

• ¼ cup coconut oil
• 1 tbsp raw cacao powder
• 1 tsp chocolate protein powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp maple syrup
• pink sea salt

Filling:

• ½ cup almond butter
• 1 tsp sunflower seed butter
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• pink sea salt

In a bowl combine ingredients for your filling by mixing with a spoon.  Fill small cups with filling (I made 8 mini cups).  In another bowl melt coconut oil and mix in remaining chocolate ingredients.  Test sweetness.  Top filling with chocolate liquid.  Freeze until solid.

*Taste as you go along for desired sweetness/saltiness

1. Marisa took me to the Fun. concert this week. While We Are Young remains an old favourite (and my brother and I’s theme song), I’m digging this too.

2. The HBO show Girls. Honest, well written, and funny. Works for me.

3. I’m working on this. Less control and more honesty and passion in all areas of my life.

4. I need to re-read the Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath. This book helped me to understand myself as a teenager and is a big part of who I am today.

5. Belmonte Raw in Leslieville. Grabbed a fresh juice from here this week before a meeting downtown and am aching to go back as soon as possible for the fresh juice, nut mylks and raw dishes.

What are you loving this week?

Why hello there, healthy readers!

Sorry for the absence, things are pretty busy for both Ayah and I!

Amongst the madness of work (planning three documentaries), life (planning a wedding/having a life/watching Real Housewives of Vancouver) I have been putting a few important things aside: making recipes from scratch and getting some exercise.

The good thing is I’ve been coming up with some super easy recipes that are still healthy.  Every Sunday I do a bit of prep: cook some quinoa, prep John’s sandwiches, cut up veggies, and have big salad mixes at hand.

As you know I love my quinoa, and recently I’ve been using it in a new favourite dessert when my sweet tooth kicks in.

This dessert bowl is so easy and so satisfying. I make a similar bowl for breakfast with the addition of a banana, some chia seeds, and a big pour of almond milk!

Since the recipe is SO easy, I decided to write it out for you in an amateur drawing. Enjoy!