All Activity

A simple breakfast of very good seasonal fruit served over yogurt and granola with a drizzle of local honey. The coffee is a flat white made with Sweet Maria's Espresso Monkey Blend.

@weinoo No .

I thought you focaccia was sticking out it's tongue and taunting me then realized it was the tomato!

Well...yeah...!!! You probably even drove there!! Stir-fried pork with Szechuan flavors. Can one use too much ginger?

After spending too much money on mediocre food while dining out recently I decided splurge on a few treats to enjoy at home. Repurpose my dining dollars so to speak. After a lifetime of buying generic olive oils I decided to get a selection of monovarietal olive oils to experiment with. I enjoyed the vibe from https://oliveoillovers.com/ and ordered a selection of oils. They offer free shipping on orders over $100 and offered a free 100 ml sampler for orders over $125. I think I got out the door for $136 with an assortment of very promising products. I've only tried the Grumpy Goats coratina oil so far but it is very tasty. BTW Olive Oil Lovers did a great job packaging the order.

I can tell summer is setting in because I begin to lose my appetite. Sometimes with my cheese/crackers/pickles I might have a beef stick. Jack Links Until very recently when my porch and cooler got a massive invasion of ants, I always kept cold water and snacks (beef sticks, chips, cookies) on the front porch for delivery and service people. It made it handy for me to grab something when I couldn't think of anything else to eat.

I have seen steer/ox specifically labeled in supermarkets. This specific rib-eye was purchased at the farm adjacent to our camping site. And they had only some cuts from one animal (think nose to tail) and it had a female name 😎 Which explains the lesser amount of fat/marbling (which - as in humans - usually reserved to males 🤭) and supposedly also makes for a „beefier“ taste. Come to think of it, my best steak ever was from a 12yo milk cow at Asador Etxebarri in the Basque country, where they price older (& aged) cow meat. The pork collar was fine - just as at home 👍

海鲜炒粉 (hǎi xiān chǎo fěn), Sea food fried rice noodles. Squid, shrimp, rice noodles. been sprouts, cabbage, cucumber, chilli, garlic, soy sauce.

That Oleostepa oil from Andalusia Spain on the left is my every-day EVOO Yes, it's available in China, too. (And no, I don't keep it in the fridge despite living in the tropics.)

Thank you for the welcome and the compliment! Thats very kind of you! Thats an interesting comment from Greweling, understandable from his perspective. I wouldnt be the least bit surprised if they are trying to squeeze out another edition. I have most of the culinary books from CIA, often they are just sort of 'reskins' of older editions, same information thats organized a bit differently. I've gotten alot more picky when picking up a newer edition of a text, but I could definitly see myself getting a new Chocolates and Confections text, Grewelings books have just been such a great reference over the years. It'll be interesting to see what the 3rd edition includes, its doesnt look like theres too much longer to wait.

@YvetteMT and @Smithy Okay so I wrote it as a recipe. We've always called them Border Beans. 2 cups dry beans. I like Domingo Rojo, but pinto beans or others work. 1 white onion, diced 1 stalk celery and 1 carrot, minced 4 cloves garlic, minced Fresh thyme + 1 tsp Mex oregano + 1/2 tsp cumin epazote, if available 1-2 Tbsp New Mexico red Chile powder, or to taste Water Smoked pork products: 2 smoked pork necks or smoked shank or hock Opt additions: 1/2 cup black coffee and/or a cup or so of fire roasted tomatoes Wash beans and toss any grit or stones. Soak 5-6 hours in water. Drain and rinse. Sauté onion in fat: could be veg oil, bacon grease, or lard, until soft, 5 or so min. Add carrot and celery, sauté another 5 minutes. Add garlic, cook another couple of minutes. Add beans and stir to coat. Turn up the heat and add water so the beans are covered by about 2-3 inches of liquid. Bring to a boil and cook at a medium boil for 10 minutes. Turn the flame down to low. Add herbs and spices. Add and bury the smoked pork. Cover, with just a bit of air, and simmer low until beans are tender, 2 or 2-1/2 hours as needed. When almost done add salt. Take out the pork bones2 and shred off the meat and throw it back in. Then it’s done. If you wish to add coffee or tomatoes do so after the beans have cooked at least 1 1/2 hours. I follow the theory that adding acidic ingredients should be done in the later stage. Note the amount of water depends on how fast everything is cooking and also on how soupy you like your beans.You can add water as needed while cooking I like mine soupy, and eat them over rice, with a little minced raw onion and more salt as desired. My husband sometimes likes to top his beans with grated Oaxaca cheese. If you have some smoky ham stock use that and omit the necks. I suppose you could use a smoked turkey wing if you don’t want to use pork, but I’ve never tried that.

A cooling sandwich for a hot day. Marinated artichoke hearts, confit tomato's, cucumber, sweet onion, mushrooms, kalamata olives, muenster cheese and a generous splash of coratina olive oil on a bagel.

WOW! I volunteer to be your sherpa next time even though I think that hike would kill me 🤣

I bought some za'atar recently on a whim, not knowing what exactly to do with it. Last night I made a NYT recipe called Easy Chickpea Salad with Za'atar. It was really delicious and, in fact, easy. The recipe suggests eating it with a warm pita, which would be very nice I'm sure, or rice, but I decided to have it with warm bulgur, and that was perfect. I didn't see the advantage of using vinegar in addition to the lemon juice, so I just used lemon juice to taste. Oh, and I added an extra sprinkle of Aleppo pepper.

@Duvel you mentioned your rib eye came from a female vs a male ( or neutered ) is beef sold by gender ? are their noticeable differences , or preferences or costs ? what did you notice on the collar you cooked vs the ones ' at home ?' I ask as none of these differences are available locally. and I do understand butchering varies considerably f4rom country to country.

Todays activity was visiting an ice cave. Who would have thought that first you need to scale some ginormous mountain to get to the entrance (see that hole ?) … And then walk about 1 km at sub-zero degrees to finally see some amazing frozen waterfalls and ice structures … Subsequently, some substantial meal was in order, and that means meat: Aperif … Some Austrian (sweet) white … The local bovine species (female), rib eye edition. It didn‘t look well marbled, bit it was super juicy and „beefy“ … Served with a quick tomato salad, and potato salad made from potatoes, bit of mustard, roast onions and the Austrian equivalent of creme fraiche. I also got a pork collar steak, just for comparison with the German variety. Absacker (Vogelbeere or mountain ash)… We all slept very well after that, so no complaints 🤗

yup. we go out to eat. that almost always provokes a "Even I can do better at this!" and we go home 'recharged' . . .

Thus far, I've played with several spice blends and even tried one on a chicken thigh. I tend to progress slowly. I may try a bottled sauce to use as a reference point. Nando has come up as a good choice. The site Chili Pepper Madness has a recipe that I'd like to look into further. I've only superficially looked at it. I agree that Brian's recipe appears to be a good choice, and just on the surface I prefer it to the other. The paprika issue is one thing in Brian's favor and the other is how he salted the bird: heavily and early. I like mixing pepper types, and generally do regardless of what a recipe may suggest. I treat dried and fresh peppers as separate ingredients, IOW, I may use a dried and fresh version of the same pepper in a recipe. The dried may get added along with the soffrito and get bloomed in the cooking oil while the fresh can also be used in the soffrito, but just as often in a marinade or sauce. I don't remember what brand of paprika That Dude Can Cook used, but over the years I've developed my own preferences and have learned (but not yet tried) how to make my own. Rachel Cooks With Love has provided some ideas on how to work with chili powder, and her videos are peaceul and easy going, quite different than those from TDCC. She's mostly Tex-Mex oriented, and she's provided ideas for shortcuts and prepared ingredients. I like some of your ideas. Instead of vinegar I've also used the liquid from various hot sauces in its place. I use pickled jalapanos frequently, and when the pepper slices are gone there's usually a lot of juice left. I'll sometimes use that instead of another acid in various recipes. I like it in tuna salad instead of the more "traditional" lemon juice. https://www.mezzetta.com/products/deli-sliced-hot-jalapea-o-peppers? They offer a milder version and a diced version, which works great as a substitute for relish in some situations. Thanks for your comments. Useful and entertaining

Parsi soft-scrambled eggs with seared gulf shrimp and sauteed shallot, ginger, garlic, bird chile, ghee, half-and-half, scallions, and cilantro.

新疆维吾尔自治区 (xīn jiāng wéi wú'ěr zìzhìqū), Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China lies in the far northwest west of the country and is a mostly Muslim area, where the local language is more closely related to the Turkish languages than the Chinese. Xinjiang within China - This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. The Uygur people have travelled throughout the country bringing their wonderful foods with them. The staple protein is lamb. This is from a local Xinjiang restaurant.. 馕 (náng), Xinjiang spiced flatbread (the staple carb) with spicy grilled lamb skewers. Several were consumed.

They have 3 or 4 different varieties of Za'atar - I like the Lebanese stuff, but it is definitely different than what you had from Israel, and what a friend brought back for me from Israel. I usually use it to make pita crisps, or to sprinkle on hummus or yogurt.

They're all basically the same, but mild tasting, so are usually cooked with strongly flavoured sauces such as the garlic in French cuisine or strong chilli flavours as here. I like both.

It is strawberry season!

What is their Za'atar like? Years ago, my wife brought some home from a trip to Israel and it was wonderful - it was fresh, so the spices weren't truly dried - they were still damp and it had a great freshness to it.

Hey, since it's been a couple weeks already, have you tried it at all? I'm like you and before I make something relatively new to me, I look at a bunch of recipes to study and become more familiar with it before actually making it. I will generally settle either on one or a mix of one that works for my tastes. If there are techniques new to me, I'll try a few of them over the course of a couple weeks. I have made this dish before, however, it was with bottled sauce from Trader Joe's (not sure they carry it anymore?) a few years back. It was okay. I tried chicken, pork, and fish (first two used as marinade, second as a dipping sauce). It was too overwhelming and I didn't taste the proteins in any. However, the BL video crossed my sites a few days ago before seeing your post here, so I've been considering trying it with different protein (maybe shrimp or tempeh). The second video was interesting, if a bit cringe. Not many here have posted comments on the specifics of the two recipes, so hopefully sharing my thoughts would be helpful. My personal preference would lean towards BL's video.. he's not smothering the thing in smoked paprika before applying the marinade. To my tastes, that would overwhelm the rest of the flavors, and probably taste like an ashtray. I've had that brand smoked paprika powder he is using, and it tastes like an ashtray to me (one of my exes was a smoker so I know what it tastes like yuuuuuuuck). BL's recipe additionally uses a small mix of peppers, rather than just fresno. I don't like the second video's stovetop pressing technique. I don't know why people remove the backbone when spatchcocking chicken, that has such a great bit of skin and little bits of meat it's a chef's treat once it is grilled up. Consider both recipes at the same time if you haven't already, half chicken on one, half on the other (whether using whole or pieces or whatever), roast/grill/pan fry both up. The BL technique is similar to BBQ chicken with the basting. I'll probably try this recipe next week, and here's what I plan to do: I'll use a few peppers (sweet peppers, aji amarillo, and a little calabrian growing in my garden). Onion instead of shallot. Lemon and lime together. Considering subbing some hotsauce instead of vinegar since I am out of vinegar and don't like smoked paprika. Grilling outside. If I were doing a protein that needs more than 10 minutes, I would throw a small chunk of wood between the flames to add smoke, but shrimp, fish, and tempeh cook so fast that won't really do much so will skip it. I will, however, drop some left-over marinade into a hot pan to simulate the caramelization from basting. Let us know what you've done, I am curious