therese

From the same shop as my breakfast this morning came the children's dessert last evening. The Man and I often go out some place casual on Thursday for "date night", and the kids are left behind to either fend for themselves or consume something I've prepared for them. In this instance I'd "prepared" grocery store sushi. Both my kids really like sushi, and there's some great stuff available here in town that I'm not going to have the opportunity to show you. And I'm not going to show you the grocery store sushi either. Not bad, actually, but not worth a picture. To "prepare" grocery store sushi means saying "Hey, there's grocery store sushi in the fridge for you guys. Make sure you're in bed by 9:30." Dessert's another story. The shop packages them in a little box: This is the box 0.2 seconds after it's been opened: Sort of sad, isn't it? I could show you the outside of the box, but that would give it all away...

Okay, so a tip from Varmint's got me all set for more pics. And that's good, 'cause I've got quite a few to post from last night. Here's breakfast: It's not from the restaurant where we had dinner, but was purchased from a shop in the same neighborhood.

Well, I was going to show you my breakfast (because it was neither oatmeal nor Fiber One), but I can't get ImageGullet to accept it. It was delicious.

The packet does look like the little triangular packets of minced chicken (and ginger? I was post partum when we lived in California, so wasn't forming too many new memories ) described on Chinese menus in California as either paper-wrapped or foil-wrapped chicken. I've not seen that item since moving back to Atlanta. Too bad, as Boy (who was then three) would eat them and because it wasn't fried it wasn't too terrible a Chinese restaurant item for a child. Here's something else that I had at the same restaurant: Obviously dessert, and also pretty obviously some sort of milkshake or ice cream float, right? But here's a picture of the entire glass:

Excellent suggestions everybody. I'm going to go the bed now and let the collective eGullet mind mull it over.

Banh, as in Vietnamese banh? In which case this would look a bit like either a sticky rice packet (banh chung), or that tamale sort of item (banh nam). It's neither.

Does this help? Darn, I feel like I'm just giving this one away...

I suppose I could unwrap the little packet and show you what's inside...

Excellent suggestions, but no winners yet. The little posters on side walls of the cabinets flanking the hearth are actually large postcards made of cardboard coated with a thin layer of metal. Very light, so I could just stick them on the cabinet without any nails, and not grease catchers. The products advertised include Orangina, pastis, champagne, soap, chocolate, absinthe (you can't see this one in any of the pictures) and Petite Marmite au Fromage. Boy wants me to take a picture of the last one for him to use as an avatar.

And to think that I considered pointing out that "packet of something wrapped in aluminum foil" would not be the winner in this instance, but didn't. And I don't know the brand of the foil in any case.

Great story. I can hear her say it right now.

Oh, wondering what we had for dinner? Here's a hint: Let's see if anybody can figure out what this is.

So, we've looked at the "wet" parts of the kitchen, including the sink/dishwasher/dish storage/table loop. Now for the "hot" part of the kitchen, the range. Up thread Safran notes that my range is in an unusual location, directly under a bank of windows. The arrangement was the solution to a bit of a dilemma: how could I keep windows on that wall but not have to move the range to the island? By bumping the range out from the wall 6" I was able to meet the local building code and also increase my usable counter space: the window ledge is granite, like the counters that flank the range, and it's great storage for things that I use constantly, like salt and oil and paper towels. During the day the windows supply nice light (though not too bright, particuarly in the summer, as otherwise I'd have problems storing some things there) and a bit of a view (into my neighbor's garden). At night the kitchen lights reflect off the shiny black panes, echoing the pattern in the tile backsplash. No window dressings of any sort at either these windows or anywhere else in the kitchen: I don't like anything in the kitchen that can't be easily washed. Elaborate curtains are for formal rooms, at least in my house. The range is Frigidaire/Electrolux, 40" wide with five gas burners (of which two are "simmer") and two ovens, both electric. The larger works as either conventional or convection, the smaller conventional only. Nice storage drawer on the bottom. Cooktop controls on the deck (as I like them), oven controls in the back. I do very little baking, so I've not pushed the ovens to the extent that I'm likely to have revealed anything other that very obvious flaws. But so far so good. My mom bakes when she visits and she's been happy with it. The range is flanked on each side by 2' wide counters which end abruptly at cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling, providing the "sheltered" feeling that I wanted. The exhaust hood (Kitchenaid, a narrow that's actually designed to go over an island) brings the ceiling height down, and is, of course, the "chimney" for the hearth. It's recently started making weird noises (though it still works) and I'll be hassling with that sometime soon. Here's an evening shot of the range, hood, and adjacent counters: The cabinet to the left opens to reveal three pull out shelves for pots and pans: lids on the top, sauce pans and stock pots in the middle, skillets on the bottom. To the immediate right of the range is a bank of drawers that contain spatulas, whisks, etc. in the top, mixing bowls and colanders in the middle, salad spinner, pyrex dishes in the bottom. Daytime oblique views from each side of the range: This last shot looks past the range into the family room through the first arched doorway, and then into the dining room through the second arched doorway. So although the formal dining room isn't immediately adjacent to the kitchen it's not far, and a straight shot. Both of these arched doors line up with a window in the dining room, so the effect is "see through" all the back to the kitchen (an idea used elsewhere in the house by the original architect). More on the dining room and other parts of the kitchen tomorrow.

I will be curious to know your opinion of that dishwasher. During our kitchen renovation, (which is still going on) we originally purchased the Asko 3250 and only after having paid for it, did we hear from two friends who have 3XXX series Askos and have had nothing but problems with them. Both had 2 repair calls on them in about 14 months, and one of them even though they are the type to rinse of the plates before putting them in the washer, have complained about the dishes not getting clean. While we were attracted to the eco-friendly design of it, we got cold feet and switched back to our original choice the Bosch SHU66 series. ← I can't speak to the Asko, but we have a Bosch and really like it. I've also got a Bosch washer and dryer and have been pleased with them.

Patience, Priscilla (I do so love alliteration!). I've still got the rest of today and tomorrow to blog. What will I talk about if I tell you about my range now? I will go ahead and say that I'm very happy with it.

You can melt/dissolve the little gum blobs to make things, but I wasn't interested in doing that, so just got a small tin (in addition to lots of candy) to try for the texture: the tin in the photograph is the tin in which it was purchased. You can chew it just the way it is (takes a little bit of softening up before you can really get chewing), and it's works a bit like chewing gum, just not sweet. On the farm my grandmother used to give us a small amount of chewing gum to help keep our mouths moist when we were walking a long ways on the farm, so maybe the locals used it for that purpose. As for how I find interesting food items, its's definitely a case of my just coming across things. Somebody who was familiar with mastiha products, for instance, would have been unlikely to point them out to me, assuming that I wouldn't like them. This sort of thing happens pretty frequently in local ethnic restaurants, and I have to convince servers to bring me things by finally saying "It's okay, I like really weird food." Oddly enough they don't seem the least offended by that sort of statement (even though it sounds a little offensive to me, and I wouldn't make it were I not compelled to) and it works. [edited to fix weird grammar]

Toffees from Harrod's, I think. We got them as a gift for the children while in London a couple of years ago (a work trip to Sheffield for me, but The Man and I tacked on few days of vacation in London). Edited to add that there's a different scene on each side of the tin, very cute. Hated Harrods, by the way. The Food Halls were cool, but the rest of it sort of gave me the creeps.

Quinoa it is, and SaltySnack gets partial credit as well. I happened across the red version at DFM a while back and decided to try it. A great taste (a certain grassy note), very cool texture, and faster cooking that something like brown rice or kamut. And speed is crucial when putting together a rushed school night dinner. You cook it like white rice, for twenty minutes at a ratio of 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water (or stock). It has a weird propensity to stick to itself (and other things) in a way that reminds me of static electricity, so put a little oil in the pan and coat the grains (seeds, I suppose) before adding the water.

Much smaller than lentils, 1-2 mm in diameter.

Not wheatberries, and not mung beans (an earlier suggestion by reesek). This picture is of the uncooked item---once cooked they look distinctly, um, curly. And yes, despite having lots of Canadian friends and even visiting a number of Canadian cities I still find myself trying to figure out in which order to place Alberta, Sasketchewan, and Manitoba. Though on second thought I have just as much trouble identifying the big square states out west in my own country, so maybe I'm just geography impaired.

Oh, yeah, did people know what this was? It's really delicious if you've not tried it yet. I've got two tubs of it in my fridge, one plain and one red (this version). So far as I can tell they taste the same, and I pick one color or the other based on the other items in the meal.

Lunch today takes place in a conference room with about 30 other people. Fortunately I merit a seat "at the big table". Food's provided, but it varies a lot, so I'm packing my own: Tomatoes and green beans with a grain mustard vinaigrette, almond crackers, granny smith apple, and chai and ginger-flavored milk chocolate bar (because I think I'm going to need chocolate today). Hmm, maybe I should put in a piece of cheese...oh, hold it, my son finished off all those groovy little string cheese packets. Damn. Now I have to go get some chevre and put it in a container. For this sort of conference I often pack something that I can easily eat with chopsticks, as it's tidier than knife and fork when I won't be eating off of a plate. Dispo wooden chopsticks on hand, though I should just go ahead and get a small set to keep in my lunch box.

[deleted due to inadvertent double post]

Oh, and everybody should feel free to ask questions about the food ephemera items.

Thanks. From the looks of your blog you're having a great time even without an obsessively planned kitchen. We met a woman at Gordon Ramsay's at Claridge's while having a lunch a couple of years ago who was apparently opening the Dubai branch. Tall and blond with short hair as I recall (though the meeting was at the end of a very long and alcoholic lunch, so perhaps the person we met was a short dark man with a handlebar mustache).