Foodie Facebook: Elizabeth

Today I'm very happy to welcome Elizabeth from the gorgeous Guilty Kitchen for our regular Foodie Facebook interview series.

Liz and I have plenty in common. We're both:

• British Columbia girls (yes, I was once, long ago)
• Young mothers (she's expecting her second baby in June)
• Food bloggers (that one's pretty obvious)
• Former professional chefs (turned WAHM's)
• Writers for Simple Bites (she contributes monthly)
  
• Lovers of fresh seasonal food (as well as heaps of butter and cream)

Thank goodness we met on Twitter ages ago!

Name: Elizabeth Nyland
Place: Just Outside Victoria, BC
Occupation: Stay at Home Mom and food Blogger Extraordinaire

What is your earliest childhood food memory?

My earliest good child food memory has to be Christmas. At my house, there was scores and scores of food out on every available surface from morning to evening. There were mandarins, nuts, cheeses and meats, smoked oysters, chocolate mints, Turtles. You name it; it was there for your enjoyment.

Let’s face it, I like to eat and Christmas was the perfect excuse for all of us. My Mother and I would spend the day cooking dinner and by dinnertime, we were exhausted but happy. I loved every minute of it.

What did you eat today?

Being pregnant with my second child, I am very conscious of the food that enters my body. This morning, I had fruit, yogurt and bran flakes with a nice cup of coffee.

Lunch was a spinach and turkey bacon wrap (whole wheat) with avocado and tomatoes.

Dinner was a bed of Quinoa, simmered in chicken broth and herbs with a spinach, goat feta and sun dried tomato stuffed Portobello mushroom all lovingly served on top of a pool of my own tomato sauce. Delicious and healthy! I snacked on cottage cheese and the leftovers from my son’s meals (every mother’s guilty pleasure!)

What will your kids never be allowed to eat?

So far, it is fast food. Our 2 year old son has never been to a fast food restaurant, save for a cookie or two at a coffee shop. We don’t go ourselves, so we don’t encourage that behaviour. I’m not saying he’s never had fries, but he doesn’t really like them anyway. I have always been pretty against fast food restaurants, so I will stave off his eating there for as long as possible.

What do you always have on hand in your fridge?

Oh, a lot of things. Here’s a small list:
Dijon mustard, Fish sauce, Cream, lemons and limes, yogurt, sour cream, Parmesan cheese, Avocados, eggs, real mayonnaise, buttermilk and when I was not pregnant we always had white wine or vermouth.

What is your beverage of choice?

I will always say a nice bottle of white wine, but now that I am pregnant, I drink mostly water and natural sparkling spring water with a squeeze of lemon or lime. Sometimes I add a teaspoon of Ribena. Remember that stuff?

If you could have dinner with anyone in the history of man, who would it be?

I’ve been reading Jeffrey Steingarten’s “The Man Who Ate Everything” so he immediately comes to mind as a very interesting food personality I would love to have dinner with.

Outside of the food world, I think I would really like to talk to George Orwell. He seems like such an interesting historical figure, and I love his novels.

OK, it’s your last meal ever, what do you have?

I hate to be cliché, but I think there is a reason so many people list off similar items. To start, I would have my mother’s fantastic Caesar salad with homemade sourdough croutons.

Then for the entrée I’d go for a fantastic plate of hand cut kennebec fries, dipped in old fashioned full-fat mayo, served alongside a full steamed Dungeness crab with drawn butter and garlic AND a nicely grilled porterhouse steak (rare of course) with blue cheese and caramelized onion sauce poured over top. I won’t be needing those arteries anymore!

For dessert I would go for death by chocolate please! A wonderfully moist dark chocolate mocha cake, drenched in ganache and a lush mocha frosting dotted with coffee bean bits.

If I am allowed a beverage, I will go for a Grey Goose vodka martini with lots of vermouth and olives. I’m full just thinking about it.


Thank you for taking the time to chat with us, Elizabeth!

You can follow Guilty Kitchen on Twitter and be sure to check out Elizabeth's post today on Simple Bites! She shares a killer recipe for buttermilk chicken strips that is guaranteed to please the whole family.