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When my favourite sardines disappeared from every store in China a week ago, I went in search for an alternative. My favourite sardines My favourite sardines The only Portuguese sardines I could find were these from Porthos, a Portuguese canning company. I looked them up and it seemed they have a good reputation with some even suggesting they are among the best in Portugal. So, I ordered one can to sample them, intending to reorder if they were satisfactory. They arrived and I tried them this noon. On opening the can, I could barely make out the fish in their pool of suspiciously dark oil. I drained them and found these tiny little fish-shaped things. That side plate they are sitting on is 6 inches / 12.5 cm in diameter. Each fish was under 3 “/ 17 cm long. Half the size or less than my favourites. Still I fork mashed them up to have them on sourdough toast. Well, I tried to mash them but their strange texture made that a difficult task. Finally I put half of the resultant ‘mash’ on the sourdough and attempted to eat them. Utterly disgusting. I couldn’t finish it. Since then, I have brushed my teeth about eight times, but can’t shake off the lingering aftertaste. Never again.

What's with all that frost in the old freezer?

Agreed!

Last Thursday - a couple of days after returning from Austin for the chocolate workshop - hubby mentioned the fridge seemed to be leaking so he'd turned off the water to it. It became clear that it wasn't a water problem - it was an everything thawing in the freezer problem. So before I could head out to work - I was furiously reorganizing everything into the two other fridges that I have downstairs - one - my all fridge fridge in my chocolate room and the other one that we gained when we moved into the house 25 years ago. Lost some stuff from the freezer, but was able to retain most of the fridge items (gave me a good chance to actually clean the thing!). Good Shepherd had some small fridges left over from the new outdoor shelter they put together - so tucked one of those in the car to put upstairs for the essentials like butter and milk. So for a week now I have been going over the the defunct fridge, opening the door - swearing a bit - then going over the the other side of the island to the little fridge to get out the milk for my tea. There's a little undercounter freezer in the chocolate room - it could hold a couple of items only - there's the freezer above the old (but clearly reliable) fridge - which could hold a few more items - and then there is the over 30 year old upright Woods freezer that I have been waiting for hubby to finish grouting the basement floor - so I could replace. It hasn't been opened in at least 6 months because there is so much ice in it that nothing could go in or out. The last time I opened it - I feared I wouldn't be able to close it again. It is, of course, not frost free and has freon running through the actual wire shelves. Everything in there was in wire baskets that had long since glued themselves to the wire shelves with thick ice. Hubby moved it over close to the sump pump yesterday so I could clean it out before the exchange which was scheduled for today. Two days ago - hubby said - "the microwave won't thaw my bagel". Dead in the water! That was an easy replacement - a trip to Costco to pick one up. Of course they didn't have any of the stainless ones anywhere to be seen (except the demo one which they weren't prepared to sell me) - so I had to head out after dinner to another costco where there were many available on the shelf. The defunct fridge was an LG - 12 years old. Needed one of the same size to fit in. Meant I ended up with one a bit fancier than I really needed but that was the only way I was going to get one in short order. Let the games begin! Heat guns, pinch bar, huge screwdriver, mallet, chunk of rebar Things to be given the deep six. Shrimps, scallops, red peppers, puff pastry and some stocks. Got the lab to bring me a few of these for the overnighting. What was in there you ask? A whole bunch of nuts - whole and ground - pepperoni (the good stuff they can't sell anymore because it's commercial and doesn't have the labelling the government insists on), a variety of pork - fresh and cured, some lamb shanks, a lamb shoulder, 4 beautiful marrow bones cut lengthwise, a whole duck, a pork loin, a variety of chicken - some thighs, some boneless breast, some stock, meat sauce for pasta, whole bunch of activa meat glue (probably non functional but who knows), variety of beef including 2 Wegman's corned beef. There was also a very large bag of raspberries which I brought up last night and gave a quick cook - put them through the food mill today to make puree to flavour kefir. \\ Freed and ready to use in the new freezer which has glass shelves - that was the selling point. Look at all that glorious space! I swear the new fridge was completely held together with tape - this pic was of the second pile I removed. I'm sure a year from now I'm going to find some tape or plastic cover somewhere on the thing. No picture closed but was comparing the shelf placement to the picture I'd taken of the defunct fridge. This is the one though - apparently it can make big round ice spheres - too bad I've moved on from my craft cocktail phase (just no fun without Anna). So far can't get this to start making ice - that will be a job for tomorrow - and trying to defeat the child lock on the microwave unsuccessfully.

I've never seen those feta's in my area, although Berkeley Bowl carries a wide range and variety of feta: French, Greek, Israeli, Bulgarian, and others, meaning they're available here While she mentioned the Strevecchio Parm, I'd have liked to have seen mention of the other cheeses afen associated with it: the regular Reggiano, the Pecorino Romano, and the Grana Padano. I've tried them all, and they're all good, but it would have been aducational had she discussed their differences and general use. They're far from the best I've had, but they're good, and better than many supermarket variants.

Yes, that’s another of my favorites , though it’s not always available.

I am sure I won't be alone in nominating TJ's Unexpected Cheddar as a go-to for several of us.

Aside from the Silver Goat chèvre that I mentioned, the stores in my area carry both a Greek and an Israeli sheep’s milk feta in brine that are both excellent and way better than the cow feta she tasted. Both were MIA for a while but have been back for some months. She tasted a New Zealand ‘sharp’ Cheddar and found it wanting. I agree that one is not very sharp but it’s not a bad cheese and they usually have good, sharp options from Canada, Vermont or New York. I’ll check what’s available next trip and update. She gave props to the Parm, I agree, but I also regularly buy the Pecorino Romano and think it’s excellent. I’ll pop in to the store tomorrow to refresh my memory!

Saw this the other day in my travels.

+1

Yes, there were some cheeses with which I'm familiar that were missing, but overall i was a nice tasting and review. I made some pasta this afternoon and use a very nice Grana Padano from TJ's. It had those little crusty bits in it, just like you'd see in a good Reggiano. I didn't see her mention that one. She piqued my interest with the Thousand Day Gouda. I'm defiitely going to look for that. Overall, a pretty good and fair job. I'd not expect everyone to agree with all of ger opinions and observations.

What are your go-tos that are missing?

Do your meringues usually stay white? If you don't normally get caramelization of the regular sugar in the meringue, I don't think you'd have to worry about sanding sugar on the meringue. Might want to add a drop of food color anyway.

This video popped up in my YouTube feed the other day. While she doesn’t taste ALL the TJ cheeses (some of my go-tos are missing), I’m seriously impressed at her ability to taste so many cheeses while wearing very bright red lipstick 💋 I thought she was fair in evaluating the flavored cheeses that weren’t to her taste. I don’t really love cheeses with added flavors either. And I like all of her top picks. As far as convincing me to try a TJ's cheese that I haven’t already tried, that might be the goat cheese with herbs. The basic Silver Goat chèvre is my go-to from TJ's and I avoid the flavored stuff. I was a little surprised that she deemed the TJ's full fat ricotta gritty and, honestly, on her insistence that ricotta be “full fat” since the original Italian stuff that we rarely, if ever, see here is made from whey. Whatever. I make a full fat ricotta-like stuff from the recipe in Bestia that's very creamy and delicious but I find the TJs stuff better than any supermarket option I’ve tried.

I found some large pots under the steps to the deck and decided to torture myself with a container garden. I planted some radishes, carrots, a lettuce blend, and some tomatoes. The radishes and the lettuce are doing well. The carrots have just started to trou=w some green shoots. I also found a spot where some ornamentals weren't doing very well. It is maybe 6 foot by 4 foot. I plated some asparagus crowns, some peas, and a few more tomatoes. There are 3 tiny asparagus shoots coming up - in a couple of years I hope they will be ready to harvest. The peas are sprouting and the tomatoes, planted from store bought flats in both locations, are still alive. We will see.

I want to make meringue kisses as a gluten free option for my daughter's bridal shower. My idea was to make them white with either blue sanding sugar or edible glitter. My problem is that I don't know when or how to add the sugar/glitter to the meringues. I am thinking that if I were to put the sanding sugar before baking, after an hour in the oven that the sugar might caramelize. I think the edible glitter will work on the baked cupcakes. I might buy a couple of meringues to experiment with. My other option would be to stripe the inside of the piping with blue food colouring. ince "Something blue before I do" is the shower theme."

We had Korean food today. Charlie found out that the grocery only has japchae for sale on the weekend so we went and got that and fish cake and some sliced pork shoulder. He heated the tofu and made the rice. I made spicy bulgogi with the pork and cooked the mixed vegetables.

Well, I just wound up having to harvest 3 chillies by default. I was repotting and, being top heavy, the whole plant fell over and leapt from the countertop to the floor, breaking a few branches, while my back was turned for a second... One of the few disadvantages of growing hydroponically is that I don't need as much substrate to hold the roots like I would in soil since I'm basically intravenously feeding the roots with nutrient - so as the plants grow larger, they get top heavy. Maybe growing two plants in one grow bag wasn't such a good idea after all!!!

Chives-Frikadellen with Roasted Asparagus - frikadellen made with ground pork and beef, chives, pancetta, red onion, ginger, stiracha and egg. Green asparagus and cherry tomatoes were roasted in the oven with a mixture of butter, parmesan, breadcrumbs and paprika. Served with some sriracha yoghurt

I don't know yet. Right now, they're all green and while there are lots of recipes that use them green, I haven't harvested any to try them. Yet! I'm excited for them to ripen though!

Oh wow, it looks awesome, so healthy! How's the flavour (though I guess you really want to let them ripen?)

I should be so lucky!

Fun fact: Jack White of the band White Stripes was born Jack Gillis (he took Meg's name when they married), and his grandparents were Cape Breton expats. Some of the musicians mentioned above are distant cousins. As you might expect, it was a Really Big Deal back in the day when White Stripes included a Cape Breton date on their Canadian tour. https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/distant-relative-confirms-jack-white-s-n-s-roots-1.638620

Soooo . . . I ordered a bunch of spices from Penzeys, including a big bag of the extra bold peppercorns. Received a notice that my credit card was declined (Penzeys must have had an old one on file). OK, no problem. Placed the order again, this time it went through. I never received a confirmation of either order so I sent Penzeys an email. Received a robo-reply with no useful information. Today, I received not one but two boxes from Penzeys. Yup, both orders went through. Never did receive an order confirmation. I now have a years-long supply of extra bold peppercorns, Sarawak white peppercorns, green cardamom, cassia, canela, . . . So you may be seeing a lot of Indian cooking from me.