eG Foodblog: Kerry Beal and Anna N (2012) - Mixing it up in Manitoulin

[Kerry Beal]

Cereal Milk Panna cotta - not enough gelatin to set as firmly as I like mine to be. Realize I never was a fan of the milk in the cereal bowl - I loved the crispy cereal part - once that was gone - the milk didn't interest me - Anna enjoyed hers, but she especially enjoyed the cornflake crunch.

A 'flight' of cotton candy. Stand outs were the violet flavoured made with Texturas Azulata - a violet flavoured sugar and the lemon made from crushed hard lemon candies. Also rans were the maple sugar, the raspberry candies and the negroni - the powder tasted nice but didn't have a strong enough flavour once spun into candy.

[CaliPoutine]

A couple of weeks ago the Ladies Who Lunch found this little pressure cooker at Value Village. The price was $9.99 and we had a 30% off coupon for anything we bought that day!

Handle was loose and when I fired it up it was clear that it wasn't working as it should - so a couple of days ago we took the handle off and discovered that it was seriously gunked up with something akin to the greasy stuff that forms on the bottom of cast iron frying pans. We put the ultrasonic cleaner to work on some bits, but without any good solvent it only helped a bit. So we resorted to boiling some of the bits with dishwasher detergent and then elbow grease. It is a european pan made by Fagor so I'm hoping I can get a new handle for the top somehow. It's working but it steams more than it should and it loses pressure really quickly when it comes off the heat.

The first thing I cooked in it were some lemons - Alex and Aki at Ideas in Food blogged about Pressure Cooked Citrus a while back and I decided this would be a good thing to try. I took a couple of nice lemons, added a bit of water and cooked until they were pooped and the liquid was starting to thicken up. I then made a puree with this in the Thermomix.

So breakfast for me this am was some plain Liberté Méditerranée yogurt with a bit of the lemon puree and drizzle of some nice honey. I couldn't find any grape nuts or anything in the cupboard to add a little bit of crunch.

Hi Kerry( and Anna)

Nice to see you blogging again. Oh how I miss that Liberte' yogurt. Its one of the couple of things I really miss from Ontario.

Eat some for me : )

[Kerry Beal]

Oh how I miss that Liberte' yogurt. Its one of the couple of things I really miss from Ontario.

Eat some for me : )

It is indeed yummy stuff! Nothing better than high fat yogurt.

[andiesenji]

Kerry, have you ever seen the sugars from this site?

I've ordered several (and some other stuff) - the berry and citrus "collections" and the "fragrant" collection - the rose sugar is just lovely.

I've also ordered two or three individual sugars but have used them up and don't recall which.

They do ship to other countries - a friend who has relocated from here to Grand Cayman orders from them.

Edited May 16, 2012 by andiesenji (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Kerry, have you ever seen the sugars from this site?

I've ordered several (and some other stuff) - the berry and citrus "collections" and the "fragrant" collection - the rose sugar is just lovely.

I've also ordered two or three individual sugars but have used them up and don't recall which.

They do ship to other countries - a friend who has relocated from here to Grand Cayman orders from them.

Thanks for that link Andi - lots of neat stuff there.

[Kerry Beal]

I'm doing the obstetrical clinic in Wikwemikong tomorrow - which is about 50 km south on the island. It's a fair sized clinic so I often take a couple of baked items with me - but by 8 this evening I wasn't too anxious to try anything new. I was looking at a few things in the Milk Bar cookbook - but there would have been overnight refrigeration involved and I don't really want to spend the time at it in the morning.

So I dug through my recipes in MacGourmet and came up with a buttermilk bread recipe that is nice and simple and allows for lots of additions. I figured I'd go with a lemon and blueberry - and I'd use up the dried blueberries I brought for the blueberries and cream cookies. I was going to use either lemon rind or lemon oil when I noticed the leftover pressure cooked lemon puree that I'd made when I was test driving the little pressure cooker.

I needed two cups of buttermilk and had about 3/4 of a cup. I made up the rest with plain yogurt, added lots of the lemon puree (removing any seeds I found in there) and the dried blueberries.

Took a little longer to bake because of the extra moisture - but I think they will be quite tasty by tomorrow. Kitchen smells quite wonderful right now.

I made up a batch of the malted milk crumb from the Milk Bar cookbook - but wasn't sure when reading the directions if I'd done it correctly. The recipe calls for "one recipe milk crumb" - and I suspect they mean one recipe up to the point where you take them out of the oven rather than one completed recipe. Anyway - I did it my own way - baked the crumbs, sprinkled with ovaltine, added milk instead of white chocolate, then stirred in the left over half batch of milk crumb that I had in the fridge. I think I'll start with a cookie recipe I trust not to spread too much and add the malt crumbs to it.

They are quite tasty - a tad sweet though.

[ScottyBoy]

Loving this blog, you guys are machines!

[Kerry Beal]

I'm a machine - Anna's been snoring in her room for 2 hours already and it's only 10!

To be fair - only one of us can really make good use of the kitchen at a time - it's not really big enough for both of us - so it works well when she conks out early. I'm gone most of the day so she can get her stuff done then.

Edited May 17, 2012 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Anna N]

Today's breakfast:

a Thai-style omellette with a small side of leftover steak. I have been making these omellettes for a few weeks now and really enjoy them for a change. This one is seasoned with scallion, parsley, mint and fish sauce. It is cooked in more oil than a Julia Child omellette and puffs up gloriously.

The Momfuku pork belly is roasting in the oven and the pork skin (for chicharrone) is cooking on the stove top. I figure if I do it all early enough I can open the doors and rid the house of its piggy smell before Kerry gets back from Wiki. While things cook I am going to give the kitchen floor a bit of a clean and consider what we might enjoy for dinner tonight.

[Anna N]

Here is our very limited "herb garden"

Usually when Kerry comes up for the month of July eG member, Beth Wilson, supplies us with a lovely herb garden but since we will be here for less than a week now, we only grabbed two pots of plain parsley and a pot of mint (for mojitos etc.).

[CaliPoutine]

What types of restaurants do you have access to and do you guys go out to eat?

I remember living in my small town in Ontario, I cooked almost every single night. Now that I'm a big city, I do a lot less cooking. Its too easy to run down to a taco stand for 1.00 street tacos, especially when its 100F outside.

[Anna N]

The pork belly at the half way point:

The oven gets turned right down now and it cooks for another hour.

The pork skin boiling away:

It must boil hard for 1 ½ hours and then, in the second step it is drained and chilled.

Quick salt pickles from Momfuku:

The finished pork belly:

and the amazing juices:

While I waited for the pork(s) to cook I remembered that Kerry had brought home some strawberries that were now expiring in the fridge. With lots of lemons in the house I threw the ingredients into the TMX and voila, strawberry/lemon sorbet:

This is one of the genius recipes from the blog Food 52. I have made it before and it is amazing.

The warm pork belly and cold quick pickles made a perfect lunch:

[Kerry Beal]

What types of restaurants do you have access to and do you guys go out to eat?

I remember living in my small town in Ontario, I cooked almost every single night. Now that I'm a big city, I do a lot less cooking. Its too easy to run down to a taco stand for 1.00 street tacos, especially when its 100F outside.

Around here we are somewhat limited in 'types' of restaurants - lots of chip joints, one or two fine dining restaurants. Don't think I've ever seen a taco up here that I didn't make myself!

I had a lovely lunch today at a new place that opened in Wiki in February - so I'll have cell phone pictures and a report when I get home from work.

A little late getting to work today due to the OPP officer who objected to my speedy driving. Didn't realize they used their radar when they were driving towards you - I'd think that was a little unsafe - a bit like using the cell phone when driving!

[Anna N]

Hmmm! Kerry and the OPP - perhaps I should plan on having a stiff drink ready when she gets home! I am one up on her already having made myself a Negroni to get me through the afternoon.

[DianaM]

Awww, Kerry! Sorry to hear about your impromptu meeting with the OPP. So zealous, they are! Wonder why they never stop the folks who are doing 60km/h cruising on the third lane on the 401...

[Kerry Beal]

So lunch today was at Spruce Glen - a new bakery/cafe opened in Wiki. They bake their own breads.

A retired teacher from the school in town and his wife have taken this on in their retirement. The converted his parents home after their death into this very inviting space.

I said I'd have the lunch special - which was a chicken salad sandwich and mushroom soup. I was allowed to pick the sandwich I wanted from a tray of several.

A nice warm bowl of mushroom soup was brought over. A couple of tasty cucumber slices joined the table a few minutes later.

I opted for a cup of chai to accompany my meal. I had a lovely chat with the owners before heading back to work for the afternoon.

[Kerry Beal]

After a rather slow drive home (seemed sensible), and a quick stop at the grocery store for yet another couple of pounds of butter, Anna and I decided on a Rum Swizzle.

Shrimp fritters for an appetizer -

Anna had been marinating shrimp in a mixture of egg, turmeric, jalapenos, lemon juice, salt and ginger garlic paste (note to Rotuts - made in the TMX).

They are then dropped in a flour mix (in this case with some trisol) before deep frying.

The finished product.

[Tri2Cook]

Didn't realize they used their radar when they were driving towards you - I'd think that was a little unsafe - a bit like using the cell phone when driving!

Yep, they do. I was heading to work early one foggy morning running a little late and driving a little faster than I should have been. I had stopped at an accident but the people were fine so I hurried on my way. The police officer shot me with the radar, turned around, chased me down and wrote me a ticket. I said "by the way, there's a wreck on the bridge a couple miles back". He said "yeah, I know... that's where I was going". I deserved the ticket, it just struck me as odd that he was on his way to an accident scene and was taking time to shoot radar and chase people down.

[Kerry Beal]

A bastardized (branstonized) version of the infamous Momofuku Pork Bun. When ready to assemble I discovered the bottle of hoisin sauce previously in the fridge was no long in the fridge - hence it's replacement with Branston Pickle. An inspired choice I think!

[Tri2Cook]

That looks tasty! I've wanted to make those steamed buns, regardless of what I end up putting in them, for a while now. Still haven't done it.

[heidih]

The pickle does sound like an inspired option. I have never had it, but I think it is now on "the list".

[Kerry Beal]

It's a relief to bake a batch of cookies that I can count on! Started with the cookie dough that I make my Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk cookies with, added some oat flakes and a large amount of the malt crumbs from the Milk Bar cookbook. No refrigeration required, baked up in about 14 minutes.

My kitchen smells wonderful!

[Kerry Beal]

Anna scraping the fat off the back of the pork rind for the chicharrones. If only our fat was so easy to remove!

[janeer]

the pork buns look fabulous..can't wait to see the chicharrones.

[curls]

Your Momofuku pork bun's look fabulous. So, is this something that you would make again?