a peek inside the fishbowl

04 May, 2014

Tostadas! They’re better than tacos!

By andrea tomkins in Recipes and Food

I had a bit of a culinary epiphany at the grocery store the other day. I was picking up some salsa when I spied a package of tostadas. For your reference, it looked like this:

Tostadas for the win!

They also came in jalapeno flavour (!) but I had to leave those behind. Tostadas are fried corn tortillas… essentially flat tacos which measure about 5″ across. They are crispy, salty goodness, basically, everything you’d want out of a taco but (a) it’s flat and (b) you don’t actually have to heat up the oven. This is key, and I suspect this will come in VERY handy in the summertime and for quick weekday meals.

For the dinner in question I browned some ground chicken (adding salsa near the end to spice it up), grated some old cheddar, and chopped up a bunch of other toppings such as tomato, red pepper, and lettuce (and of course extra salsa, sour cream, and hot peppers). The toppings were put out in bowls and everyone served themselves, topping their own tostadas like they were small crunchy pizzas. Success!

Leftovers made a lovely lunch for me the next day too, although I had to restrain myself from eating too many as chips. :)

May 1 #dailylunches - NEW OBSESSION

Sadly I was missing avocado and coriander, which would have made this absolutely heavenly.

I’ve bookmarked a few tostada recipes for future consideration. (I can barely read these without my mouth watering.)

Have you bought tostadas before? If so, what do you top them with?

03 May, 2014

Weekend reading: May 3 edition

By andrea tomkins in Weekend reading

One of our favourite places to camp is at an Ontario Parks site called Charleston Lake. We’ve been there five or six times. The beach was great, there were some nice hiking trails, good rock collecting, and the park was very well maintained. One of the things that stands out in my mind is that the park was full of fireflies. The girls were entranced, and rightly so. Fireflies are a truly magical sight; tiny lights hovering and flickering in the darkness. One night a firefly got stuck in our tent, and we all watched it blink and float over our heads as we fell asleep. I’ve never forgotten that.

I was at a media preview yesterday for the Museum of Nature’s new exhibition called Creatures of Night: Nature’s Bioluminescence. Finally, the science behind fireflies is explained, and in a way that is clear, fun, and friendly for budding scientists (myself included)! Of course, this exhibition is about a lot more than fireflies. Another highlight: Flashlight Fish. I’d never heard of them before, have you?

Imagine a fish tank – in the dark – and this is what you see:

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  • Bernie: I freeze ball sizes of bread dough for beavertails each winter season.Easy to thaw, roll out and fry. Best winter treat!
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The Obligatory Blurb

My name is Andrea and I live in Ottawa with my husband Mark and our dog Sunny who is kind of a big deal on Instagram. During the day I work as a freelance writer. I am a longtime Ottawa blogger and I've occupied this little corner of the WWW since 1999. The Fishbowl is my whiteboard, water cooler, and journal, all rolled into one. I'm passionate about healthy living, arts and culture, travel, great gear, good food, and sharing the best of Ottawa. I also love vegetables, photography, gadgets, and great design.

If you're so inclined, you can read more about me here.

I've deactivated the commenting function as well as my contact form so if you want to get in touch, please drop me a line at quietfish@gmail.com. Thank you!

 


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