Day 339: Curried Chicken Noodle Soup with Spinach and Chick Peas, and Bread
… lots and lots of bread. It was (phew!) a howling success today at our Upscale Bake Sale – thanks to donations from Urban Baker, Brulee Patisserie, Nectar Desserts, Buttercream Bakeshoppe and Decadent Desserts we raised almost $3000 for the Calgary Interfaith Food Bank. (And because $1 = $4 worth of food, that’s almost $12,000! It’s sort of like 40 is the new 30.)
There were (shockingly) some leftover loaves from Urban Baker(I think people are more after cookies and fruitcakes at a holiday bake sale) – crusty sourdough, mini bauguettes, seedy multigrain and their famous apple-flax-rosemary sourdough, made without yeast (leavened with a natural sourdough starter), so I ended up with more than I should have brought home. And a couple pecan sticky buns from Brulee of the doughy, chewy, not-too-sweet-but-gooey-enough sort that all sticky buns aspire to.
By dinnertime I had been nibbling on cookies, scones, sticky buns and various breads for approximately 5 hours and needed some form of real food. (Also, something to dip my bread in.) On the upside, I have conditioned myself for my weekend in Montreal. (I leave first thing in the morning.)
Fortunately I had covered the last of the chicken carcass with water and simmered it for a bit last night, so all I had to do was pull the fat off the surface and the meat off the bones, and bring the meaty broth to a simmer. Then I tossed in a shake of egg noodles, and when those were about soft I stirred in a package of Indian spiced chick peas (yes those Canton ones we all love – although I’m sure a can of plain old chick peas along with some ginger, garlic and curry paste would have sufficed) and a shake of frozen spinach. Heat through. Eat with fresh crusty sourdough bread.
Today’s Cookie of the Day comes from Aunt Nessie (could she have a better name to accompany a hand-typed recipe for shortbread?)
It’s too bad I couldn’t get downtown to the bakesale yesterday. I would have been one of those people who bought bread instead of sweets. I love, love, love bread and the thoughts of all those crusty loaves makes my mouth water. It’s not that I don’t like sweets, but bread is my number one favourite. I am glad that your sale was such a success, although with the offerings you had, how could it not be.
Enjoy your trip to Montreal. Take time to see the sights, eat wonderful food and relax. We’ll await your return and look forward to hearing all about your trip.
Oh how I miss the Urban Baker!! We moved in June but we use to life 2 blocks from the Urban Baker and how I LOVED to go in there. Plus the owners were always SO friendly! I also use to work in the Petro Canada building before having children and for a split second (for the first time since I haven’t worked out of the home) wished I still worked there only for yesterdays bake sale!! HA HA!
By the way, that’s live (not life) 2 block from the Urban Baker … 🙂
Congratulations on the success of your bakesale! That is so awesome!!! Have a great time in Montreal!
I love all of the above, but especially shortbread….thanks for the recipe!
Your Aunt Nessie’s recipe sounds great. I’m originally from NS and they sound authentic. I plan to make them soon. I’ll let you know how they turned out.
Yay! That’s a huge success for the bake sale!!
Ok, how does $1 buy $4 of food? How do they do that? I’ve heard that in the past and never understood it….
Enjoy your time in Montreal!
wow. i love you and i just found you.
lucky me.