Dejah

I have a weakness for prime rib roasts when they go on sale at Sobeys: Sterling Silver at $8.99 / lb. AA for 5.99 / lb. My parents always wanted really tender, flavourful roasts, so the grandchildren all grew up with that. It was cheaper when we had the restaurant. Now I just make sure to pick some up whenever there's a sale. Kids can't afford the prime roasts on their budget, so it's a real treat for them when they come out for the weekends. Sweet potato and flax seed bread...looks so healthy and good. Share your recipe, kayb? It would be a great way to eat more of both.

I'll take an order of that, Bruce! I need to try my hand on some Mexican food. I bought one of Rick Bayless books. Just haven't gotten around to it yet. Maybe during my break in April...

While searching for the duck for last night's supper, I had to re-organize my freezer. At the bottom, beside the duck, I found a 4-rib AAA prime roast. Kids were home, so there was help to eat up the roast. I still have 3 AAA roasts left! I'm a sucker for meat sales. I roasted the meat at 225F, from noon with the core still a little frozen. I pulled it at 140F but resting took it beyond med-rare. However, it was still juicy and tender. Served it with fresh green peppercon cream sauce (forgot to take a picture of it), pan gravy for the rice, peas, corn, broco-slaw. No Yorkies because of the cholesterol-plus meal with the duck. 6 adults, one slice of meat and 3 bones left... Dessert was mango pudding from Heart Smart Chinese cookbook. I omitted the 3/4 cup sugar as the canned mango pulp was sweetened. Sprinkled some papaya seeds on top just for contrast. They were not tasty! Son brought over a bottle of Tamaya Caremere. It was nice - a bit of bite to cut through the fat and richness of the cream sauce.

I love beef tendons done dim sum style. I don't have a recipe, but I have braised them with these ingredients: - star anise, ginger, soya sauce, garlic, green onion, xioshing wine, rock sugar, salt and orange rind. I blanch the tendons first, clean them then cut into desired lengths. Cover them with water, bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer for 2 -3 hours - until tender. I usually start them on top of the stove, then put the whole pot into the oven at 300F for a couple of hours. I use my Crueset pot for these. If you have saved braising liquid from braising other meats, lo-sui, then use that. I have a recipe for Sizzling Stir-fried Squid – Bplah Meuk Pad Chah by Kasma Loha-unchit. Haven't made it yet, but you should be able to google it.

patrickamory: I used the peppercorns in Thai curries, soups, anything that called for black pepper, and ate them straight off the stems with anything - in sandwiches, soups, everything! I had some left over from a previous batch, so I put them out on a tray to dry, along with some left over Thai chili peppers. My grandpuppy Lily got a hold of one the chilis and found it was not to her liking! She would definitely like it if cooked in something.

Cooked duck breasts for the first time and loved them! Kids brought 2 packaged breasts, and I cut up a duck I got last year( ) from a Hutterite colony. 2 legs are left for another day. I used the carcass for stock, added a chunk of ginger, 2 stalks of celery, one star anise, and kolrabi for a lovely soup - topped with Thai basil (great combo)- light but ducky. I rendered the fat trimmings and deep-fried the taters: Ryan made a cream and raisin sauce for the baby carrots: Did up some simple stir-fried green beans with garlic: Seared duck breasts with Ming Tsai's Hoisin - lime sauce: incredible! Jason Santo's recipe called for Hoisin, ketsup, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and fermented black beans. I felt it would have been too many flavours and kill the duck, so I opted for one by Ming Tsai - just Hoisin, lime juice, chopped ginger and garlic. It was a good decision.

patrickamory: Just for you!

Patrickamory: There is no comparison between fresh and dried/brined greenpeppercorns. Kim: Baguette is perfect for the Thai broth if there is no rice served. Actually, I prefer baguette. Rareandrollingobject: Duck breasts! I've been reading about them so often, my daughter and her SO finally found some for me in the city. We're going to cook them tonight: pan seared topped with a fermented black bean, ketsup, and hoisin sauce per Jason Santo on Simple Ming. I hope the sauce won't be too heavy for them. So excited to be trying out duck breasts. Having said theat, I hope they turn out as tasty as they did on Ming's show.

Just catching up with your blog, PopsicleToze. I was very interested in reading about your cookbook venture. My daughter "stole" some of my recipes and food pictures and had a cookbook printed up for me this Xmas past. It's a thin volume but is giving me the nudge to start compiling family recipes, anedotes, etc. Thank you for sharing your venture. It'll be very helpful for my "second printing".

Heidi, Not often do I get people saying that they like bitter melon! Yay! Have to admit that most of the "browning" is from the light soy sauce, but I did get good wok hei as I just throughly cleaned and re-seasoned my wok. I took a long time to separate the noodles too, so that really helped in distributing the flavours. Hubby and I enjoy the bitter melon, but the rest of the family prefer oyster sauce, beef, and gai lan.

Sheesh! It's lonely in here... Is it something I cooked? Tonight, Black bean garlic beef and bitter melon on rice noodles (ho fun)

Thanks for all the encouragement. This is a great place, not only to get new cooking ideas, but also for plating. One problem: I find I am always shopping for dishes now!

I wanna do food porn like you guys! I'll have to be happy with my little Pentax for now...maybe forever... Tonight, we had the Grilled lemongrass Lamb Chops with Herbs from Gourmet, September, 2006. It was a nice change from my usual grilled lamb chops with mint sauce, but I will make modifications next time: more lemongrass, cut out cumin, tumeric so the lemongrass would shine thru' more. I keep searching for that intense lemongrass flavour in stir-fries, grilled meats, etc. Will have to make some lemongrass infused oil, I guess.

Another incredible blog off to a flying start! Looking forward to learning lots about you, Louisiana, and the food.

Squid, any part, but especially the tentacles, are great in a curry sauce.

Patrickamory: Your seur rong hai will be the perfect recipe for the new package of fresh green peppercorns from the Asian market! Not sure if I'll be able to handle all those chilis, so maybe I'll scale those down and use more peppercorns. Thanks for posting this dish. I'm always looking for new ideas for the peppercorns.

Cantonese chow mein with squid tentacles, shrimp, and blanched baby Shanghai bok choy.

I'm actually just getting ready to make a spice paste to marinate 8 thick lamb chops It's from Gourmet mag, Sept. 2006. "It's aromatic without being spicy; a touch of the exotic but will please traditonalists too" The paste included sumin, lemongrass (reason for my search),shallots, garlic, ginger, tumeric, cayenne. The paste is cooked, cooled, rubbed onto the chops, covered, and chilled for at least 12 and up to 24 hours before grilling. This will be my first try with this recipe. I also make a Moroccan-style filling for an appetizer with ground lamb in place of ground beef. Instead of rolling them up in phyllo pastry into "cigars", I spread it on flatbread, top with roasted pine nuts and bake in the oven until the flatbread is crusty on the bottom. Sprinkle on chopped fresh mint and cut into slices. Great change from pizza.

Good deal on asparagus during the week, so with the last bundle tonight: Stir-fried with chicken And Thai mussels and clams:

Last of the Chinese eggplant before I shop again. Fushia Dunlop's recipe for Fish Fragrant Eggplant. Tomatoes with no "garden fresh flavour" worked well enough in Beef and Tomato Egg with an added dash of ketsup:

The leaves might be papaya leaves? I picked up a packet that were papaya leaves about a month ago and never did get around to using them. I'll be interested to know how you will use yours.

Supper tonight consisted of leftovers from last night in a different combination. I add some rice noodles and shrimp to the above stir-fried bean sprouts and made summer rolls: Leftover rice, chicken, shirtaki mushrooms from above steamed chicken, plus chopped onion, BBQ pork from the freezer, shrimp, egg became Yangzhou Fried Rice a la Fushia Dunlop.

Beautiful fish cakes and bread, robirdstx! I've only ever made crab cakes once. Now I'll try making the fish ones because of your inspiration. That pizza steel will be one of a kind. Looking forward to pizza!

Reminder to self: " Never check this thread out before breakfast!" I'll have some of everything, please...

Traditional Chinese for supper tonight: Fresh lily bulb soup. Steamed chicken (no bones to accommodate hubby ) with fresh shitaki mushrooms and lap cheung. I miss the more intense flavour of rehydrated mushrooms for this dish, but I thought I'd fresh. Quick stir-fried bean sprouts, shredded carrots, and green onion. Crisp and light to go with the chicken.