Cold Sun, Spring Dreams

As the inaugural post to this new blog I thought it would be appropriate to write about the first quasi-spring afternoon in the Northern Hemisphere. The winter was strange this year. My first winter in Nova Scotia a few years ago was horrific: snow upon snow upon snow and it was actually -20 to -30 for three weeks straight. Not the kind of weather a kid from southwestern Ontario is accustomed to, but this winter was different (read: warm and only one nor'easter!). And, as March is chugging along into spring there have been more sunny days than not.

Saturday was a wonderfully lazy day. The babies were off to the grandparents and it was just Mr. White Plates and myself at home (and a cat who was showing off her majestic scowl to the sun). We had decided to forgo a lunch of sushi out, mostly because I was out of soy sauce and we forgot to pick some up at Pete's (wonderful grocer!). I should mention that I am intolerant of gluten which is why we tend to eat at home a great deal or make various sacrifices when out. A recurring theme will no doubt be my lamenting the loss of French pastries in my life ...

Moving on, lunch! I love lazy, wine filled lunches. I shouldn't say wine-filled because I don't like to be woozy from too much wine in the middle of the afternoon but two glasses makes the world a little bit more gentle and rosy, doesn't it? We had some left over roasted chicken from Friday night's dinner so what started out as a simple chicken salad salad turned into a scrumptious lunch.

The ultimate part of this lunch was the aioli. I adapted the recipe from the always wonderful David Lebovitz, although, I added a dried sage to accompany the chicken. Fresh sage would have been incredible but none was to be found. The result though, was delicious. Whisking the egg yolks is quite the feat but the result is so much better than any jarred mayonnaise.

To accompany the open-faced tomato chicken sandwich I blanched a few spears of asparagus and tossed the vivid green asparagus with goat butter, sea salt and cracked black pepper. Mr. White Plates was particularly fond of the asparagus, it was perfectly firm without being undercooked. I cannot wait for fresh spring produce from the Farmer's Market. The Halifax F.M. is an absolute treat on Saturday mornings!

Yum!