Seared scallops and ravioli in a peas, mint and feta salad

I've been working in the bush this summer. I'm gone for 5 days straight and so when I get home I barely have time to catch up with the world and then I'm gone again. The job, though excessively demanding physically, wouldn't be so bad if I could be home at night. Thankfully I only have a week of this to go.

When I do get home I like to treat myself and my fiancé to good food. She's also working very hard this summer so we really do need some time to focus on living the life we want to live and not one centred around work, work, work. That's why I prepared this meal. That and because I was seriously craving to make something delicious.

This dish is a combination of four different elements:

1) sea scallops seared in a very hot pan till they're crispy on the outside and moist on the inside

2) purchased cheese ravioli

3) a salad of sweet peas, radishes and mint from my garden with red onions and a mustard seed, red wine vinegar and olive oil dressing

4) a sprinkle of feta cheese on top of everything

Since it's pretty hot here recently I wanted to serve this dish warm. So I let the ravioli cool down after they'd boiled, mixed it in with the salad which had been getting happy in the fridge and then topped each bowl with the seared scallops sprinkled with feta cheese. The mint sprig is just to make it all pretty.

All in all, this was a great dish, very fresh and totally satisfying.

P.S. we have a new camera which, as you can see, takes amazing picture (Sony A55)

Hot Chicken Sandwich

My girlfriend had a craving for something which is traditional in our neck of the woods; a hot chicken sandwich with fresh fries and sweat peas. All this is, for those unfamiliar with the dish, I'm not too sure how "international" this fatty meal is, is shredded and usually leftover chicken or turkey on a slice of bread, smothered in gravy, topped with another slice of bread and covered in even more gravy. It goes without saying that the fresher the bread and the better the gravy, the better the sandwich. And this is one of the only things I'll eat fries with. When I was a kid my dad would make me go on my bike to the nearest chip stand - that's what we call the fry and burger serving seasonal trailers in Northern Ontario - to get fries. We'd enjoy them with a tonne of ketchup and the essential side of sweat peas...it's the healthy side of this meal...to balance things off, you know...

If available in your area - i.e. if you're in Canada - I suggest you use St. Hubert brand canned gravy if you're not making your own. They're the masters of roasted chicken. Masters I tell you!

Food on the Backburner

My schedule at work right now makes it nearly impossible for me to cook anything. I go to work at 9 AM and come back at 7 PM which means that almost all my meals are limited to sandwiches, granola bars, and frozen foods.

I have, however, had the chance to go for a hike on Sunday at Fundy National Park here in New Brunswick. The trail was about a 45 minute walk and then you came upon a really nice waterfall (pictured above). The hitch is that you had to climb back up the steep hill for a good 15 minutes...wait loss the natural way ;)

For lunch on our hike we brought some sweet peas and fresh garden carrots we had bought at the market the day before. They're coming into season and they make a great snack...better than anything which has suffered through some sort of cooking process. Oh and while I'm talking about the market, might as well mention that I bought a huge jug of goat's milk to make cajeta (mexican milk-based caramel). I'll post the yummy results of this soon. Till then, sorry for not posting much...I really wish I could be cooking instead of...well...doing anything else :)