Edible Tulip

Uncle George's Place - Home of the Living Food

Some people go to St. Lawrence Market to buy fresh lobster out of the tank or to get the butcher to pull down one of those ginormous ham bones strung up by a hook and free floating like a pinata waiting to be struck. Me? I go for the sprouts.

Down in the basement of the main market building, set in behind the main space bakery, is the home of the living sprout. Grown in small containers in hydroponic conditions or soil grown are sprouts like broccoli, spicy lentil crunch, vitality blend, rapini, mustard, red cabbage, super power blend. Granted they look pretty similar - tiny reedy shoots with little kernals on top - but they taste pretty unique from one another and you have to try different kinds until you decide which one enhances the flavours you tend to prefer. There are also packages of sunflower sprouts and golden pea shoots as well as bags of baby salad greens and arugula.

Sprouts are living foods. Store bought fruits and vegetables, while nutritious in their own right, begin losing their vitamin content as soon as they are picked. Add time and mileage to get to the store and what you're eating has lost much of the finesse it had when still attached to the tree or resting in soil. Sprouts are complex in vitamins, proteins and enzymes. And they taste pretty fine and crunchy tossed into a salad.

So make a trip to St. Lawrence soon for a sticky bun from the north market and a visit to Uncle George's down in the basement of the south market.

Everything BUT the Kitchen Sink Salads

I almost always take my own lunch to work. Part of it is that I like certain kinds of foods and flavours and I do them best and part of it is economical since the size of my lunches (note picture, and watch out for me on crowded subways!) bought out at say Whole Foods or any salad bar in the vicinity of my office in Toronto generally costs about $15. I'm not joking.

People think it's so time consuming to make lunch in the morning. Believe me, I'm up around 7:45 each day I make coffee, get dressed, check email and put on make up, feed my cats, make my bed, and make my lunch and I'm out the door by 8:30 a.m.

Tips.
I always wash fresh produce as soon as I get home. I put it in the sink and soak everything (citrus fruits, melons, squash, herbs, beets, etc) and then I rinse it, dry it and put it away. You're more tempted to use the stuff before it goes bad. My rule with lettuce is the same - the end is cut off, the leaves are put in the sink, it's washed and then spun and then put in a dry dish towel in a plastic bag in the fridge.

In the morning, in 5 minutes or less, I might boil a few eggs, chop up lettuce/dandelion leaves/iceberg/frissee/celery/red or green cabbage, peel and grate a beet, toss in black sundried olives or green Queen olives or a handful of sunflower seeds/pepitas/sesame seeds, cube some old chedder or crumble feta, slice a yellow pepper, open a can of white beans or small brown lentils, rinse them and add them to the tupperware, or I'll take a can of tuna to the office and add it right before eating while I crack and peel the eggs I've hard-boiled and quarter them and add them too, then ground pepper and add a sprinkling of salt and you've got yourself a mighty fine protein rich fresh tasting lunch.

I've taken to buying my dressing which I used to consider sacrilagious but now enjoy the convenience. I like Paul Newman's classic oil and vinegar. It tastes the most like my own.