The Avocado, Carrot and Beet Salad

I am done whale watching. It was an ethereal trip, a much needed one too, before the balls and chains of the good ol' 9-5 comes falling down.

Anyway, back to food postings as I've neglected this blog far too long. I will start with a simple carrot, avocado and beet salad. Ooouff! That's a mouthful, isn't it? Let's just call it the CABS. I guess I could call it SCABS too but that would be a bit gross. :P

A big part of this salad recipe is assembling everything together. But it does involve a little big of cooking.

The CABS salad is healthy and surprisingly hearty. The orange and balsamic vinaigrette gives it a good tangy punch that leaves you pleasantly surprised at just how good everything feels and taste in your mouth :) There is a surprise spice in there that rounds it all off. It's also a best friend to carrot. See if you can spot it.


Carrots, Avocado and Beets Salad recipe:
2 carrots, peels and cut into 3 inch length-wise
2 beets, peels and quartered
Beet leafs, washed and drained (optional, but they are lovely as salads)
1 avocado, skinned and sliced
1 zucchini cut into the same size as the carrots (optional ingredient but I added it in)

Dressing:
1 whole orange juice and some pulp
zest of a whole lime
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted on hot pan for 1 min and crush slightly with the back of your knife
salt and pepper


Method:
1. Heat up a half full pan of water. Season the water with 1 teaspoon of salt.
2. When water boils, add your zucchini to boil for 2 minutes. Take the zucc's out with a slotted spoon.
3. In the same water, add your carrots and beets in to cook for about 8minutes. You can cook the carrots and beets separately but i like the color the beets imparts to the carrots, it becomes a ruby orange :)
4. As your vegetables are cooking, make your dressing. In a large salad bowl, add your quartered avocados in. Add orange juice, zests, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and season with some salt and pepper onto the avocados. Toss to mix and set aside.
5. Assemble your vegetables, hot and steaming, by adding it into the bowl with the marinated avocados and toss together.


Serve with some croûtons and drizzle with a little bit more balsamic.

Tastiest salad ever. And cumin was the surprise spice. It goes very, very well with beets and carrots :)

A whale watching hiatus!

Havin' a whale of a time

Dear faithful readers (yes, all 3 of you :P),

I am writing live from a wonderful place upper north of Quebec called Charlevoix. I will be on a hiatus until further notice because I am currently on a whale hunt! Not to kill but to observe. This trip will be a memorable one because it's my first time going on a whale watch and I do hope to catch a sight or two of belugas or perhaps the endangered blue whale near the coasts of Charlevoix where the great St. Lawrence river and the Atlantic Ocean meets!

Apparently it is the best time of the year to be whale watching because the weather is not too cold but the waters is still freezing and is thus perfect for whale watching. The whales usually swim against the currents to feed and it is this time of the year that they feed and bulk up.

To be quite honest, I haven't exactly been eating excellent food at all since I got here. It's the usual eggs, bacon and ham for breakfast and meats and potatoes for lunch or dinner. It's pretty boring gastronomy if you ask me. BUT i did get to taste some excellent cheese and will probably buy one of the 400 available cheeses in that region when I get back! Oh, they eat meat pies as breakfast here too, which I thought was rather heavy but I had it twice so far because they're included in their breakfast platters!

Alrighty, I'll post more about the trip +pix when I get back but till then, i'm on a whale watching hiatus!