CaliPoutine

I didnt work on Thursday because I had a dr. appt. I spoke to the cook who filled in for me. Wow, was I stunned. She made bisquick vegetable quiche, roasted potatoes and salad. She served an ice cream cake made with ice cream sandwiches for dessert. Why am I stunned? NO MEAT of course. She said that she burnt the bottoms on a few of the quiche as well. She said a few ppl told her they liked it. I'm just absolutely stunned because I could never get away with serving something like that. I asked her if she told the coordinator what she was making beforehand and she said NO. The coordinator ALWAYS asks me. Looks like I'm being micromanaged eh?

Martha Stewart Kitchen Sink cookies. Just made them for my BIL's funeral( ) and everyone loved them. THe recipe makes a lot too!!

Now that is brilliant!!!! ← I did this last year. Amazing!!

Wow Kerry, how exciting. Is this on the back of your house? I'm keeping my fingers crossed that yours is as fast as ours was( 3 weeks for our kitchen!!). Can't wait to see it in person!!

I much prefer cake to pie, however my MIL and her family LOVE pie. I baked this cherry pie during a 6hr cherry pie baking spree for the Seniors. I froze it unbaked and baked it from frozen. I didnt let it cool enough and the filling was kinda runny. Still tasty though. I use Martha's pate brise recipe. The filling was a cooked filling recipe from Allrecipes.com.

Ina Garten( aka Barefoot Contessa) despises Cilantro. You wont find it in any of recipes. She's talked about her dislike for it on her tv show numerous times.

Cook's Illustrated has some rice salads on their site. Its for members only, but if any of these interest you, let me know as I'm a member and can PM them to you. Curried Rice Salad with Cauliflower, Mango, and Cashews Rice Salad with Oranges, Olives, and Almonds Rice Salad with Pineapple, Jicama, and Pumpkin Seeds Rice Salad with Cherry Tomatoes, Parmesan, Peas, and Ham PS: I've seen Marzetti in London, ON

Kerry Beal, Prasantrin(and her mom), myself and another eGulleter ate here last year during the Heartland Gathering. My sandwich was very good( and huge), but it didnt scream " Chicago" to me( if that makes any sense). I wouldnt seek the cafe out, but if you're in the hood and starving, its a good choice.

Cheap, interesting and close to downtown...it's one of those classic "You can only have two of the three," situations. I think your best bet might be to head to Pilsen (Nuevo Leon, Don Pedro Carnitas) or Chinatown (start with any of the Lao places, but Sze Chuan is my favorite). ← Nuevo Leon was awesome!! I actually think I liked it better than Frontera Grill!!

No, because she gave me the prices for both kinds. But, I wont be cooking now. I ended up in the ER with kidney stones and I'm on massive amounts of anti-inflammatories and pain killers. I wont be doing anything until these pass!! I was seriously not looking forward to the drive or dealing with the canned salmon while I feel this terrible. Thankfully, they found someone else to fill in.

Thats funny. Sorry, but they probably dont know what either of those two sauces are. Butter is very, very expensive here. So no, that is not in the budget. I will use fresh dill instead of dried. ← You would think otherwise due to it being farm country. I don't know pricing -- it's just that the notion of "expensive" and "butter" and "farm country" seems illogical to a city slicker like me. I believe you though. edit -- it could be something similar to what supermarkets charge here in New York (which is as far removed from the American Midwest as it is from Alberta). Milk has spiked up in the last year although prices may have recently fallen. ← I've written about this before, but its worth repeating. Dairy prices are controlled by a "dairy board" in Canada. Salted butter( unsalted is cheaper) is 4.49lb. Sometimes I can get it for 2.99lb. I prefer unsalted and thats more expensive. Milk is 3.99 for 4L and 1L of heavy cream is over $6.50!!!

Thats funny. Sorry, but they probably dont know what either of those two sauces are. Butter is very, very expensive here. So no, that is not in the budget. I will use fresh dill instead of dried.

I'm not sure how they liked it because I only hear negative comments( the pork chops were tough). I'm cooking on Thursday in another town about 85Km N of here( I do get paid milage). The cook there already bought the ingredients for salmon loaf with a dill sauce. Its really bothering me that I have to cook that as I can't stand canned salmon and the sauce is nothing more than canned mushroom soup mixed with dried dill weed( gag) and milk. In her email to me, the cook told me that her folks arent fussy, they'll eat anything. I wish mine were like that. I'm also making the crisp again, and a greek salad. Roasted potatoes too. Here is the recipe their cook sent me. Seems like a lot of canned salmon to me. SALMON LOAF for 40 - 50 15 cans red salmon 15 cans pink salmon 15 eggs 1 bunch celery chopped 2 1/2 tsp pepper 2 1/2 tsp paprika 6 tsp chives 6 1/2 cups bread crumbs 6 onions chopped 6 tsp garlic powder 3 3/4 cup milk DILL SAUCE for each can of mushroom soup mix in 1/2 cup milk and 1/8 tsp dill weed. Heat for 2 minutes and pour over salmon loaf just before serving.

I remember reading somewhere that Elephant garlic isnt really garlic. It also doesnt have the same potency.

Trader Joe's carries their own branded product similar to this. It has about a 1month refridgerator life. I bought it in MI for 2.19. I havent seen bagged garlic in SW Ontario. I do like the Christopher Ranch jarred garlic( chopped). I can get it in London, ON for about 5 bucks. The last time I was in Cali, I brought 2 back with me for 2.50 each. I like knowing that it is California garlic. I'd much rather use that than garlic from China. Stratford, ON is having a garlic festival in a few weeks and I'll be going just so I can stock up on local garlic.

Potato salad. I used a 10lb bag of new potatoes( 2.99), 9 hard cooked eggs, celery and pickles with assorted spices. The crisp. Peaches( local), blueberries( from BC), cornstarch, sugar. Topping is brown sugar, oats, flour, spices and butter.

Here are the seared chops. glazed

I was actually going to use the mushroom soup, but I felt so guilty about spending any more money that I dug up some stuff from my pantry and donated it. I mixed French dressing( that I got in MI for .50 with a coupon), a packet of Lipton onion soup mix and a jar of Quince jelly. The sauce came out very nice. I even ate a chop!! I wasnt crazy about the chops as they were a combination of rib/sirloin so they were all odd sized. I also seared ever single one of them off which took an hour and 45min. I was using 1 large pan. One of the other coordinators in the office told me to just throw them in a baking pan, but I knew they'd be an unappetizing grey color so I went the extra mile!!

We're having a yard sale on Saturday, so I made the choc. mouse last night. OMG, so yummy!! So light and fluffy and just plain good. I used some 85 and 65% sharfenberger( from Dollarama). I also used pasturized egg whites because of my autoimmune disease( dont want to take any chances). How long will this mouse last? Can I freeze it? I should have made half a recipe, it made a lot!! pics to follow.

That or the ol' dump some cans of mushroom soup over 'em thing. Mushroom soup + pork chop pan deglazing liquid + generous with the black pepper = not bad. Not as good as a fresh-made sauce... but I'm not too proud to eat it. ← It was completely inedible. The crockpot is a black disgusting mess. I seriously would not serve those ribs to my dogs. I can't even get that smell out of my nose hairs!! The alternate meal came out great. Of course some stupid arse said the pork chops were " tough". WRONG!! They were perfectly cooked. One of the volunteers told me they want their meat falling off the bone. They dont get that the meat on those chops would have turned to shoe leather before it fell off the bone. I took pics, but I'm HOT and exhausted so I'll post tomorrow.

So yesterday I went into the office to start some really nice back ribs I got for 1.99. I had 25lbs of ribs so I thought I'd do them in the giant crock pot overnight. I made a sauce with dijon mustard, bbq sauce and sour cherry jam( this recipe was in the latest TOH magazine). I went in this morning to check on them. I knew as soon as I walked in the office it was not going to be pretty. I could smell the burnt smell a mile away. Thank gawd I went to check on them at 10am and didnt wait until right before I was to leave for the location. They're completely burnt and I can't serve them. Over 50 bucks down the drain. I just ran to the store and thankfully they had pork chops on sale for 1.49. I just spent another 25.00. I'm going to dig thru my stash of condiments to see what kind of sauce I can make. They'll complain that there is no gravy, but I''m making potato salad so there will NOT be gravy. I boiled and peeled the spuds yesterday so they would be cold for the salad today. Oy, this is not going to be a good day!!

Well it seems that there are a few Egulleters in the Detroit area willing to organize so I say "Go for it". Any other thoughts?

I can relate, but only because I live in the most back asswards area. If they can't pronounce it, they wont eat it. One year I brought a curried couscous salad to a family( spouse's family) bbq and it didnt get touched. Another year, a homemade carrot cake sat untouched over a plate of storebought bar cookies. After living here for almost 7 yrs, I get it now, but it took me a long while to understand it.

Where? I always thought Clementines were a winter fruit!!

6.95 is for a few channels, but I doubt I'd watch the others. Additionally, when you already pay 120.00 a month for cable/internet each extra package adds up.