Bangkok Thai Garden, Ottawa

It doesn't look like much from the outside, but the Bangkok Thai Garden was just across the road from our hotel, and advertised a special-price lunch menu. So when our first choice of lunch venue turned out to be closed for renovations, on the day we arrived, we ended up here instead. And we enjoyed the food so much that we came back a couple of times during our stay in Ottawa.

The three-course lunch offer started with a "hot and sour" vegetable soup. Despite the 'hot' epithet this was far from spicy by Thai standards, but the vegetables were fresh and I enjoyed the light broth. The soup was followed (or accompanied, depending on the speed of our server) by crispy spring rolls with sweet chilli dipping sauce, another of life's simple pleasures.

For the main courses, there was a choice of several dishes, and the option to pick your own level of heat. My favourite was the deep-fried tofu & eggplant curry, with sugarsnap peas, bamboo shoots, and carrots (pictured above). I tried this as both "mild" (a bit spicy) and "medium" (quite hot) on different days - both good, just depending on my mood. Andy, on the other hand, was a fan of the sweet & sour vegetables.

Taken together, the three courses were very filling, and the hot food was a good contrast to the icy weather outside.

Weird Fashion in Montreal

One of the strangest and most fascinating exhibits at Montreal's excellent eco-museum was a very unusual fashion show. Several artists had been given a brief to construct dresses using a variety of waste products. From ammo casings to electrical wiring, the creations ranged from genuinely beautiful to simply provocative. The least practical of them all was made from fish skins... and had to be refrigerated.

Summer Vegetable Omelette (310 calories)

If there's one thing I really look forwards to each year, from a culinary perspective, it's asparagus season. In the last few days we've finally started seeing English asparagus in our local supermarket - my cue to buy as much of it as I can possibly eat in the short season.

And apparently I'm not alone in my obsession. One Ingredient, hosted by How To Cook Good Food and Franglais Kitchen, is also celebrating Asparagus this month.

I have some friends who are also doing the 5:2 diet, and one of their staple fast-day dinners is an omelette. I hadn't really thought of eggs as being a low calorie food, so this was a bit of a revelation to me, and I thought I'd try my own variant. Along with a couple of bunches of asparagus, and a pot of fresh tomato salsa that I'd picked up for 39p in the sale, an idea was starting to take shape.

The way I made it, this dish comes out at 310 calories per portion. I'm really lucky to have non-stick pans where I don't even have to use any fat for frying; if you add oil, this will increase the calorie count a little, so if you're fasting you'll need to account for that.


In other news, I've set up a G+ Community for vegetarian & vegan fast-friendly recipes. I'm using this as a space to bookmark interesting recipes I come across on the web, and I hope it will become a useful resource for anyone else who's doing intermittent fasting. Everyone is welcome to join in and share low-calorie veggie meals - your own, or those you've found across the web.

Summer Vegetable Omelette with Salsa
Serves 2

For the omelette:
4 eggs
50ml semi-skimmed milk
salt & pepper

For the filling:
100g baby corn
80g fine asparagus spears
100g mushrooms
100g cherry tomatoes

To serve:
100g fresh salsa

1. Beat the eggs with the milk, and season with a little salt & pepper.
2. Slice the baby sweetcorn in half, and add with the asparagus to a large frying pan. Saute for about five minutes.
3. Add the mushrooms (thickly sliced) and cherry tomatoes (whole) to the frying pan.
4. Meanwhile, divide the egg mixture between two small omelette pans and cook over a medium heat. Once the bottom layer of egg has solidified enough to hold its shape, flip the omelette to cook the other side.
5. Once the egg is fully cooked, divide the filling between the two omelettes, and serve with a scoop of fresh salsa.