Dejah

Picked up a skin-on bone-in pork shoulder roast. 8 hours @250, then blasted after @500FR t6o blister the skin. SO much meat! Son and grandson will be up to grab most of it tomorrow. Roasted Japanese sweet tater, carrots, and zucchini spears. Had Lotus Root and dried octopus soup for lunch earlier in the day. After 4 hours: After 8 hours @250F, then @500F for 10 minutes Gravy & apple sauce Lotus Root and Octopus Soup

I envy Ann_T's supplier of halibut. When we do get it in the supermarkets, it's usually very expensive. We do get a steady supply of baby pickerel. The fisherman from Lake Winnipeg comes to our city 3 times a year, and we pre-order fillets and whole dressed pickerel to make sure we get our supply. Besides fish'n'chips, I also like to steam fillets or the whole fish. This week was fillets, steamed with ginger and green onion, soy sauce, then splashed with hot oil just before serving. Tonight, we had Chinese Style Braised Beef & Daikon in the IP. The sauce was slightly sweet with rock sugar, but savory with soy, oyster sauce, Hoisin, Chu Hou sauce, ginger, tangerine peel, star anise, and bay leaf. I had a small chunk of chuck roast, but I would have preferred beef short ribs or brisket. The gravy was great with rice, and stir-fried green beans was the side.

Good input on Ho Fun. This was the first time I've had REALLY good results with the fresh noodles. I got these in the city. Like all the packages, the noodles are always packed so tightly, in layers. This time, I was patient, opened the packages early in the day and let them warm up to room temp. Then I took the time to take the layers apart, then separated each noodle if sticking to each other. The trick IS to separate ALL the noodles. I use my well seasoned 16" carbon steel wok, heated up on Ultra-High on the cook top, coated the bottom and sides with cooking oil, heated the oil until barely smoking, then tossed in ALL the noodles. Tongs are good for turning the noodles with a metal spatula. The noodles didn't stick and I got Wok Hei. Tossed in the other ingredients, then little sloshes of sweet soy sauce at the end. That's all the liquid I used. I was very happy with the results this time. I was giving up on using fresh noodles, and had been using the re-hydrated dry noodles. NO COMPARISON! Now that I've had some success, I can stay with the fresh noodles.

Winter has arrived after a splendid spell of fall weather! Got snow on Wed, Nov. 10 and more expected all week. Some meals the last few days: Chicken, Beansprouts with fresh Ho Fun Breaded Pork Chops in Mushroom Gravy. Eaten with baked sweet taters, butternut squash, and stir-fried sugar snap peas. I use an app from Superstore, and have found amazing deals when I check around 7 am! Last week, it was 7 packages of fresh boneless duck breasts with 2 days left before "Best By Date. This last couple of months were my first experiences cooking with fresh duck. Where have I been! The first time was with Honey Ginger Soy glaze. This time, it was Blackberry and Chipotle sauce. Now we will have to work on cooking them just a little less;-) Not sure we appreciated the surprise of the hard seeds in blackberries! Worked outside with Xmas lights and winter arrangements, so a quick meal was in order: Shake'n'Bake Chicken Legs with BBQ Glaze. Can't seem to find this S'n'B in any stores this past year! Will have to do a Copy Cat version. The extra thin fries are by Cavendish, which I bought by mistake. They were good! Another of my favourite shopping experiences is at Safeway. I usually check the meat cooler early in the morning, and quite often, I find packages of lamb chops with reductions of $3 - $4 for a package of 3 - 4 chops. I stockpiled, and last night, we enjoyed some grilled on cast iron pan on the stove. Just replaced my old JennAir cooktop with a KitchenAid Glass-top. Not as happy with the glass top but the Jenn-Air bare coils is no longer available, it seems:-( The downdraft worked fine, but still nervous with the glass top. We've been enjoying the Cavendish brand fries. These were garlic and rosemary seasoned.

Sending good recovery vibes to Moe. Hope he'll be home soon under your nourishing care!

I do a version of this, with lemons and oranges. Great for company or just for leftovers!

Last supper of October: Braised Pork Stuffed Bittermelon with Black Bean Ginger sauce. Every once in a while, we crave bittermelon! Started November with something softer: Tofu with Pork in Toban sauce: Quick version of Mapo Tofu Went out to a market garden and picked up a couple of Musquee de Provence Pumpkins, Butternut Squash, Acorn Squash, etc. I have never stuffed anysquash, so this was a first. Unfortunately, I chose the pumpkin and didn't read thru' the instructions first. However, we don't eat supper until 8 pm, so we were fine. But I had wanted to share portions (BIG PUMPKIN!) with our bachelor neighbor and my brother. They will eat theirs tomorrow! Thankful my oven is big! Stuffing was lean ground beef, bell peppers, onion, fennel seeds, smoked paprika, garlic, red pepper flakes, and cooked multigrain & brown rice. When the pumpkin was cooked thru', I put shredded Habanero cheese on top and under the broiler for a few minutes. We enjoyed the taste of the pumpkin, slightly different from regular pumpkin. Should have another meal out of the meat with lots of pumpkin leftover = soup!

Using Superstore Flashfood app, I can often pick up salmon @50% off. These are Fresh, Skinless Farmed Salmon. Instead of $29.00 for the huge fillet, I paid $14.90 for 3 meals worth of fish. I cooked up the thickest portion with Thai flavours, and the thin ends with Maple glaze (for lunch today). I haven't cooked duck much, but I picked up a couple of breasts @50% off, again using Ss Flashfoo app. So, I searched for recipes and found Pan-seared Duck Breasts with Ginger Honey Soy Glaze. A friend gave me a jar of Ginger Honey, so I used some of it and augmented with grated fresh ginger. I am encouraged to try again! A friend tried her hand on Durian in Short Pastry. We got dessert! We love anything Durian. We get frozen baby pickerel fillets from Gimli, Mb, 3 times a year, when the fisherman comes into town. I buy whole dressed pickerel and fillets. We just ate the last lb of fillets, and are awaiting the next shipment in a couple of weeks. I had also picked up some PEI mussels cooked in white wine sauce from Safeway. So together = supper! I had saved some of the "gravy" from our previous Coconut Curry Chicken meal, and that was great on new taters.

I do that with chicken wings for the air fryer. Amazing!

Friends often request an item from our previous career in our family restaurant. This time, it was #31: Boneless Almond Chicken. My favourite part was the gravy soaked lettuce! Had 2 chicken fillets left from #31, so we had it next night with stir-fried veg from the crisper, and Cavendish fries A quick trip to Winnipeg brought Cheung Fun (rice rolls) and Char Siu. A real quick supper! House cleaning day - Instant Pot came in handy with Coconut Curry Chicken. Used a whole cut-up chicken, so had lots to share with our bachelor neighbor! My favourite part: the celery!

Frost on rooftops this morning. The inevitable is coming. A meal all in one for a friend who's recovering from surgery. Had enough for ourselves as well: Won Ton Soup Found a package of 2 marinated turkey drumsticks in the freezer, probably from Easter. Roasted with butternut squash fries. I use an app from our Superstore, and every once in a while, I can pick up nice bargains, like lamb, and yesterday, large scallops. These all have a Best Before Date that falls on "next day" for me. The items often go into the freezer (items NOT previously frozen). We had Panko-coated scallops last night. Had picked up a bag of Cavendish fries, which I didn't realize they were ultra thin cuts. They were good and fast along with roasted bell peppers and zucchini chunks.

Spent the last 1.5 hours catching up on the lovely meals posted by everyone. A few from my kitchen: BBQ duck sourced from the freezer from a previous trip to Chinatown. Couldn't find fresh Ho Fun mid week so I used re-hydrated dried ones I keep on hand. We had the last warm days on the weekend, and spent a lot of hours cleaning up the yard, etc, getting ready for winter. A quick meal was in order: Curry Chicken with Pataks curry paste: It was a more relaxing day yesterday, so I had time to do a bit of prep for the Mushroom Stem Duxelles-stuffed Sole ( I used pickerel fillets).

I agree with you on the capers. Did you use pickled green peppercorns or fresh? I keep jars of the pickled ones on hand when the fresh is not available.

@Kim ShookThanks for thinking of my hubby.😘It's been nearly a year of medial issues (not life-threatening, thank goodness!) Then on the 5th, he had his umbilical hernia procedure. Liquid diet for a couple of days, then I cooked! Steamed pickerel with ginger - then green onion, splashed with hot oil, then light soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine, pepper. Had leftover rice and mixed veg, so threw them all in and fried them up. Stir-fried green beans with fuyu to add some punch.

Been reading wayyyy back...Amazing meals all around! Still cooking but with dealing with on-going medical issues with hubby, cleaning up the yard for winter, I've been making quicker meals. A collection of meals: Black Bean Garlic Shrimp Char Siu & Tofu in Oyster sauce Cioppino with Freezer Seafood! Pan-seared Striploin steak A Lamb and Preserved Lemons Tagine - made in a tagine from an Algerian friend! And yesterday, I actually took the afternoon to cook something from our restaurant days: Deep fried dry pork ribs, coated with cracker meal (blitzed soda crackers mixed with a bit of flour). These were great as appetizers, especially with beer! It's #17 on our old menu: With the other half, the ribs were simmered in a broth with tomato sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar. We kept vats of this sauce (flavoured with the meat juice from the simmer)and kept it in the walk-in cooler to pull out for orders of Sweet & Sour Spareribs #13. To these, I added some Worchestershire sauce for what we called Toisan Spareribs for our buffet. And a simple stir-fry of Choy Sum with garlic and ginger to go with the ribs last night.

One was plenty for the two of us. Had 2 dinners, and enough leftover for 2 salad with field greens, etc.

Pork Cutlet with Green peppercorn gravy. Peas from farmers market. Medical appointments meant pick-up chicken @Safeway. Finishing up more of the Safeway chicken with green beans stir-fried with Fu Yu (fermented tofu). This is the only way my hubby will eat green beans! Hot hot day, and a visit from our two little granddaughters (9, 6). They like lots of vegetables, so we had summer rolls, followed by Saskatoon pie with vanilla ice cream! Lots of pickerel from our supplier in Gimli, Manitoba. Lighter protein than salmon, etc. Eaten with VH1 Mango Chili sauce.

Other meals: Fresh lily bulb soup Deep fried whole pickerel with Sweet & Sour sauce (ramped up jar of VH sauce!) Oven baked fried chicken and fresh vegetables from farmer's market. Chicken drizzled with Hot Momma Rum Raisin Sauce Pickerel Fillets Piccata, fresh peas and carrot fries And last night: Beef and Shanghai Bak Choy over Udon Noodles (oyster sauce and sweet chili sauce)

So many delicious meals! Don't know where the time has gone. I've been cooking and eating, but just got lazy in posting.😏 Most labour intensive cooking I did was about 3 weeks ago. I was late in celebrating Dragon Boat Festival, and was reluctant in taking up the task as Covid did not allow any family or friends to help out. However, I finally took up the challenge and made +80 packets of Joongzu, for family and friends to enjoy. I made 2 kinds this year, both with the same filling, but one batch all sticky rice, and the other batch my Mom's mixed rice (jasmine and sticky)

My bachelor neighbor just bought a smoker with BBQ. He smoked beef short ribs today, a first try, and shared some with us. I am usually the one feeding him! I said a small piece as I already had stuff out for supper - stuffed chicken wings from the freezer. The ribs were pretty good for a first attempt. Cooked up jasmine rice and Shanghai Bok Choy.

The chili bean sauce he mentioned in his recipe is doubanjiang

Black Bean Garlic Chicken, Butter Melon over Ho fun. Always a favourite except for our kids' spouses! Definitely an acquired taste. Had forgotten these fun plates: Made wontons for a friend and had lots of filling left over: Stuffed bell peppers, fried then simmered with oyster sauce Breaded veal cutlet with katsu sauce, tater tots and roasted carrot. Thought of doing a brown gravy like my Dad used to in the little prairie cafe, but thought of the extra calories!

Oh My Goodness! It's been a long time since hzrt8w been on eGullet. He was pretty regular for a few years. I am still in touch with him via email. Will have to remind him of this!

Smoked Winnipeg Goldeye on mixed field greens

When I see lovely daikon, i want Tang Yuen - with re-hydrated dried shrimp, Chinese sausage, daikon, cilantro. They really stick to your ribs!