Day 127 – Sun Steeped

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127/365 (May 7, 2010) – Maison Cote is a fabulous gourmet food artisan company in Vancouver. They make some wonderful oils and vinegars and I look forward to the annual food exhibition – Eat Vancouver – each spring (May 28-30 this year) when we get an opportunity to sample the wares of hundreds of food and drink makers from BC and beyond. Can’t wait!

Pictured here are an Apricot White Balsamic Vinegar and a Cranberry & Vanilla White Balsamic Vinegar. They also make a wonderful Basil Grapeseed Oil, a sumptuous Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar, and an amazing Organic Walnut Oil. Oh, and the Fig Balsamic Vinegar makes me swoon (well, OK, not really, but my eyes roll back and I can’t help but lick my lips in bliss..so that counts I think).

I can’t even imagine making salad dressings without them. Since we discovered how amazing these flavoured vinegars and oils are compare to their plain cousins… salads have never been better. I don’t think that there has been a bottle of commercial salad dressing in the fridge in well over ten years. Dressings are so easy to make and take all of about 30 seconds…and don’t contain a whack of unpronounceable chemical additives. Even if you don’t have exotic flavours like these, a few tablespoons of a good quality olive oil (preferably Greek…not that I’m biased), a couple of tablespoons of a good quality vinegar. Not that white crap, I use that for cleaning windows and toilets!. Use a good vinegar, a white wine or red wine vinegar, or a balsamic. A teaspoon or so of a good dijon mustard (preferably grainy) a bit of salt and a bit of pepper…whisk it up and you’re done. Almost as easy as reaching for a bottle of commercial stuff, except that you know exactly what’s in it. Dribble that over a mound of baby spinach, toss a handful of cranberry trail mix on, crumble a bit of goat cheese over top, and, if you have one handy, dice up a pear and mix that in too. And voila, a fabulous spinach salad.

I’m hungry now…not sure what time our dinner reservation for Salmon House on the Hill is… hopefully soon.