Tortellini Soup

I took the leap! I decided to graduate from my Canon SD450


to a starter DSLR, a Nikon D3100.

*Note: both pictures were pulled from Google Images.

I'm determined to figure out how to take decent photos in manual mode, but feel like I'm near the bottom of a steep photography learning curve. I took a half day crash course and spent most of the time wide-eyed and overwhelmed. My new challenge is to figure out how to take photos in RAW format and then edit them to look good. Any tips on editing programs to use (ideally open source or not too expensive)?

I definitely notice a difference in the pictures I take with the DSLR. Not necessarily for the better as of yet. So, you'll just have to bare with me and the varied photo quality.

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I recently had a couple of friends over for dinner. I had been thinking about making this soup for a while and since the dinner was taking place on the same day as my photography course, I knew I wouldn't have a lot of preparation time. Annie's Eats is a really delightful foodblog that I've been following for a couple of years now.

Tortellini Soup
Annie's Eats


Yield: 3-4 servings
Ingredients:
1 tbsp. olive oil
½ cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ tsp. dried oregano
1 (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes, with juices
4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth (or chicken broth)
9 oz. tortellini, any variety (fresh or frozen)
3 cups fresh baby spinach, loosely packed
Salt and pepper
Grated Parmesan, for serving

Directions:
In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions to the pan and cook until beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Add in the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, just until fragrant, about 1 minute. Mix in the oregano and diced tomatoes. Add the broth to the pot. Bring the mixture to a boil. Add the tortellini to the pot and cook according to the package directions. One minute before the tortellini is fully cooked, stir in the spinach. Remove from the heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm with grated Parmesan as desired.

I highly recommend this soup. It's super easy to make and tastes great. I'd probably add more vegetable broth next time. Go take a look at Annie's version of the soup. It makes a better case for trying the recipe than my photo.

It has been forever since I've shared something with Presto Pasta Night, so I'm going to send this dish over to Chez Cayenne, who is hosting this week's event.

Although the soup could be a meal on its own, I decided to make a spanikopita, a recipe we've posted a couple of time on here.

Eating Well While Camping

Did I mention that Giz is an anxious mother?

Evidence #1: I thought Giz wouldn't have any nervousness about our upcoming trip to Australia and New Zealand (leaving mid-April - SO EXCITED). We finally booked our tickets and I sent the itinerary to Giz. Her response: "...it sounds pretty intense to me. Wouldn't you rather spend the night in LA and then continue on after a good sleep?

Am I crazy or does that make no sense at all? Why would I want to be well-rested in preparation for a 14 hour flight? You'd think it would be the opposite. My current plan is to take some night time cold medicine and sleep for as much of it as possible. Any other recommendations are welcome!

Evidence #2 of Giz's being an anxious mother - here's a recent telephone conversation:

PG : We're going on an overnight xc ski trip this weekend.

Giz: Oh yeah? Where will you stay?

PG: In a yurt, like usual.

Giz: Won't it be cold?

PG: No, it's fine. It's actually really warm in the yurt with the wood oven.

Giz: Are you going to take food?

PG: No. I'd figure we'd just rough it.

Giz: WHAT!?! No. You need to take food.

PG: I'm sure there will be wild animals out there. We can just hunt for our food.

Giz: Are you serious? I really think you should take some food with you.

PG: Seriously mom? Do you think I'm going to go on an overnight trip without food? Have we even met?

Giz: Well... I just wanted to make sure.

Rest assured mom. No one went hungry.


It started with picking up a sandwich from DiRienzo's, a xc ski tradition.


I know I've talked about DiRienzo's on here before. It's an Ottawa institution. You go into this corner store that looks pretty run down on the outside. Quite often the line wraps around the aisle of the store. But, the staff working behind the counter are so fast, you'd think they were moving in fast forward. As you work your way closer to the front counter, you pick up a bun (not my favourite aspect to have to select a bun from a bin that hundreds of people root through). You then select a sandwich number, based on the option posted (I always get #6 -- proscuitto, turkey and havarti cheese). The meat is sliced fresh and you tell the staff your preferred toppings (e.g., lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard, pickled eggplant). All of that for $4 (prices increased from $3.50 this year, but it's still well worth it).



After making our way to Gatineau Park, we set off for the yurt (our home for the evening).


This year, we decided to switch it up from the usual hot dogs and salad and make chicken fajitas.

Having everything cut up ahead of time makes this a really quick, convenient and tasty meal to make on a wood stove. Sorry, not a great picture, but it was dark out by the time we ate.

Breakfast was also delicious -- home made hasbrowns and omlettes stuffed with sausage and veggies.



By splitting up the meals between 6 of us, it was really easy to ski in carrying a good variety of food that was more interesting than the usual camping fare.

You can read about a previous ski trip here.

Aahar: The Taste of India

Aahar is one of those restaurants I've had on my "to try" list for a couple of years. I would drive by their Carling and Churchill location occasionally and make a mental note that I still hadn't gone. I'm glad to have have changed that.

Upon entering the restaurant, I was surprised how bright it was inside. From the outside of the restaurant, it looks like it's really dimly lit, but on the inside I almost wished the lights were a bit dimmer, to give that dining feel.

For starters, we ordered Allo Tikki, which is a spiced potato with curried chickpeas, tamarind sauce, mint sauce, yogurt and coriander.

I would rather there have been less yogurt on the plate. I'm not an expert on Indian food, so maybe that's just the way it is served. Personally, I found that it overly neutralized the spiciness of the potato and took over the other flavours in the dish.

We also ordered samosas, which were quite good. The accompanying sauce was just okay.


For the mains, we order Vindaloo, which included a warning that it was hot even though it was relatively mild. We both really enjoyed it though.

Finally, we went with the typical Butter Chicken. Along with the naan, it tasted great. We even debated over who would get to have it the next day for leftovers.

The service was mixed. The younger guy seemed really nice, although only came out of his shell to chat with us toward the end of the meal. The female working there was polite, but really missed the mark when we gave her feedback on the house red. I told her that the meal was good, but the wine that they served was off. After a quiet giggle, she said, "we don't make the wine." I think it's kind of a ridiculous response. I wasn't assuming that they were producing wine in the back of their restaurant. However, if they're serving wine that tastes bad, they should still feel responsible for the quality of it. It's not like I drank the whole glass and then said it was off. I had two sips and could stand any more of it.

That incident aside, I'd definitely recommend Aahar and intend to go back and order take out from them in the future.