Re:Lax

Between travelling every weekend, readings, classes and the various other excitements of everyday life, the days seem to be passing at light speed! This was my first weekend home in a month and I celebrated with starry night sleeps, steak and studying (find the odd one out of those three)! I've realized that my blog is taking a turn in the more, erm, culinary direction and you know, that's ok by me :) The past few years have opened up my kitchen eyes (at a time when most girls in university are apparently working on their bedroom eyes) and I've have a wonderful time learning to unleash some creativity while meeting my body's constant need for high quality nutrition for repair and performance. I have really turned a corner in terms of my personal ideology of self-care (with regard to food habits and choices) and find myself now enjoying the abundance of hue and flavour pyrotechnics that are possible when you combine the best of what the earth has to offer.

This weekend was certainly no exception! I enjoyed some fantastic pralines/cream ice cream (with broken skor bits), hosted a crepe brunch complete with fresh chocolate ganache and creme fraiche. I really enjoyed myself and am quite positive that the supercompensation of glycogen is all going to a worthy cause :)
The magic touch in the kitchen seemed to endure throughout the weekend, peaking on Saturday night with an absolutely beautiful number - sirloin with a tamarind chile paste. I can also confirm that the way to a man's heart is still through his stomach, via his fork.

Tamarind-Chili Marinated Steak

Ingredients:
-2 medium sirloin steaks (tenderloin would be awesome too)
-6 dried red chilies
-1TB chopped ginger root
-1TB chopped garlic
-1TB tamarind paste (I only had 1/2TB left, so I subbed in 1/2tsp tamarind chutney for the rest)
-1 tsp turmeric powder
-4TB water

Method:
1. Throw everything but steaks into a food processor and blend until relatively homogenous in colour and texture.
2. Rub mixture into steaks and leave in fridge for 6-8 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 425.
4. Place steaks on a rack-fitted pan, close the oven door and make eyes at your dinner partner in hopes of passing the time.
5. Bake until desired done-ness (about 25 minutes for medium-rare..but more medium than rare).
6. Serve with total confidence that you are going to get some...help with the dishes.