CaliPoutine

That sounds good. I just checked out the recipe. The instructions call for pancetta, but its missing from the ingredient list. It's also missing from our grocery store I do have bacon though.

Well, that sounds good except for the tomatoes. I despise raw tomatoes. ( I know, I know, I've tried to like them, but I just can't). But, that does remind me that Robin loves that broccoli salad that is so popular in Ontario( and maybe elsewhere?). The salad has brocoli, sunflower seeds, bacon and some other stuff. Off to find a recipe.

Because its so freaking hot and humid( its still 84f at 9pm) Robin and I are going to the beach tomorrow evening for a picnic and a swim. We shuffled some things around and we're now having guests for dinner on Wednesday. I want to make a couple salads to take to the beach. Anyone have any suggestions? I have a few stipulations though. 1. no tomatoes or beef 2. readily availble ingredients, nothing too exotic because our supermarket just doesnt carry that type of stuff. ps: I really wish we had a Whole Foods where I could just run in and pick up some stuff. It's so hot I dont even feel like cooking.

I stopped for ice cream on my way home. I've driven past MerlaMae's a million times but never stopped.

I drove to London to have dinner with Chris. We went to a chinese vegetarian restaurant Zen Garden in Downtown London. We shared everything. This was some kind of fake "chicken". I think it was seitan. I wasnt thrilled with this. The texture was odd. This was some kind of curried noodle dish. dumplings I enjoyed the dumplings. The flavor was really good. They called this purple rice. A mixture of wild, brown and purple rice. We went to Costco too. I only wanted one thing. Reggiano. Costco has the best price anywhere. Its 19.99kg which is 9.86lb. My friend in Florida always asks me to bring him 2 whenever I go back. This will last us about 3 months.

Funny you should ask, today we are in the middle of a heat wave. Its supposed to be in the 40'sC( upper 90's F) with the humidity. It's very, very hot!!

Abra, Unfortunatly, there isnt that much to tell. It's no where near as succesful as yours. It's something I do very part -time now. Exeter is very rural and most of the folks arent that enlightened when it comes to good food. I have a lot of work to do on converting people to my way of eating.

Lunch today: Tuna sandwich. I only like albacore. I put some light mayo, green onion and celery along with some old bay. The bread is buttermilk whole wheat. I made it a few days ago in my bread machine. In the summer, I use the bread machine, In the winter, I'll use the oven. I would normally have some chips with my sandwich, but I was out. I had some celery and some lighthouse feta dill dip. I drank water. There wasnt any soda in the fridge and I can't stand drinking warm soda with ice. I threw one in the freezer and as soon as it chills down I'll have a diet coke w/splenda. Oliver wants a bite. Where there is food, there is Oliver.

Ok, I have time for one question. I don't think it was flank because they don't sell that here. My Brother-in-law called it minute steak? I buy the Maggi in Florida and I use Chicken. I only use 1 cube for 4 cups of water. I know its pure sodium so I try not to use that much. I'd much prefer to use real chicken stock( wouldnt we all?) As far as my eGullet handle, I consider myself "from" California even though I didnt grow up there. I lived there for 15years prior to moving here. When I met Robin, she gave me the nickname Poutine and I just added Cali on to it as a handle. I'm really leaving for work now!!!

I wanted to post breakfast before I leave for my non-food related job. 1/2 cup of all-bran, 3/4 cup of low carb special K, a handful of blueberries and a half cup of non-fat milk. I love blueberries so I eat them everychance I get. I also love summer fruit. Ontario peaches just hit the stores and I had two yesterday for lunch. I stood over the sink at my mother-in-law's house savoring every morsel as the sweet peach juice ran down my face. I'll answer questions when I get back.

So, the fajita's were a success, but first, my MIL brought us back some irish chocolate. I tried one of the irish cream flavored pieces, it was good. I went up to the grocery store and found some sirloin. The butcher noticed me picking up multiple packages and asked me what I was making, I told him Fajita's and he suggested something else. It was a very thin cut of beef. I can't remember what the name is. I'm pretty clueless when it comes to beef because Robin and I don't eat red meat. Anyway, this cut was done a few minutes after being on the grill. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. As I said before, the fajita recipe is from Cook's Illustrated. It is evoo, lime juice, brown sugar, garlic, jalapeno, salt, pepper and cilantro. I saved some of the marinade to mix with the cooked veg and meat. I also grilled a pound of shrimp. A Mexican friend from California showed me how to make the beans and rice. She had brought them to a bbq that I took Robin to on one of her trips to Cali and Robin loved them too. She practically begs me to make black beans. Its funny, she never had black beans until she met me. I soak them overnight, drain the water and add new water. I throw in a chopped onion and some chopped garlic. I bring up to a boil, lower to a simmer and after an hour I add a maggie boullion cube. I like the maggie cubes because they are large and soft. I usually bring a few packages back with me when I go to Florida to see my family. For the rice, I sautee and onion and rice and garlic in oil, add water, a small can of tomato sauce and another cube. Chelsea enjoyed them a lot. Notice her new Irish t-shirt. Chels is drinking a pomegrante soda. The cake was very good. Very moist with a tender crumb. I used ghiradelli chocolate for the ganache. I'd prefer to use a better chocolate but I just dont have access. I brought the ghiradelli back from our last trip to Ann Arbor. I bought it at Trader Joe's. The tart was very good too. Robin said she liked the tart better than the cake and she is notorius for hating cooked fruit.

Would that be Merla Mae? I'll be going there tomorrow after Chris and I have dinner as its on my way home.

Before we left for Goderich, I wanted to make this rustic tart. The crust recipe came from the latest issue of Everyday Food magazine. The original recipe called for plums, but I thought the nectarines looked better. Big mistake!! It's only the first day of the blog and I've already had a culinary mishap. My niece asked if she could roll out the dough. I thought blueberries would be a good addition. All that juice should have been a clue of things to come. Hopefully, it will still be edible. If not, at least I have the banana cake.

You could also use entrecote. Do you have that cut in Canada? ← Not that I've ever seen, unless its called something else.

I need Help!! I'm making chicken and steak fajita's for dinner tonight along with rice and beans. I have a great chicken fajita recipe, but I've been searching for a steak recipe. All the recipe's I've found use either skirt or flank steak. I know I can't get skirt steak here and I've never seen flank steak. What would be a good substitution?

Good morning!! The way I eat has changed dramatically since I lasted blogged . I'm a type 2 diabetic and a little over a month ago I started a new medication called Byetta. Unfortunatly, this medication isnt availble in Canada yet, so I get it in MI. Byetta prolongs gastric emptying so I stay full a lot longer and I eat a lot less food. One of the main side effects is nausea and weight loss. I can do without the former, but I'll happily take the latter. I give myself an injection before I eat breakfast and dinner. I must eat within 1hr of taking the injection. I have some buttermilk in the fridge, so I thought I'd bake some bisquits. This recipe is from Cook's Illustrated and Its my favorite. I sub out half a cup of whole wheat flour for some of the AP flour. As with most CI recipes, the technique is fussy, but it works well. I then made a bacon, egg white and cheese biscuit. Robin had another bisquit with some homeade raspberry plum jam. Our niece Chelsea is here for the weekend as well. She had the same thing we did. We all drank non-fat milk. I dont drink coffee except for the occasional iced coffee or frappacino when I'm in London. Needless to say, our town doesnt have a Starbucks. We do have a Tim Horton's though. This week should be interesting. My MIL just came back from 3 weeks in Ireland, so we're going to her house in Goderich. Goderich is a slightly bigger town than Exeter. Goderich was voted( don't ask me by whom) prettiest town in Canada. I wouldnt go that far, but its a really nice town right on Lake Huron. I'll be cooking for 8 people tonight. On Monday, I'm meeting Christine in London. We're going out to dinner and to Costco. Tuesday we're having some work associates of Robin's over for dinner. Wednesday is up in the air and on Thursday I'm leaving for the eGullet Heartland Gathering. DanielleWiley is bringing her laptop so I can possibly up load some pics and post while in Ann Arbor. I'm taking a friend with me and we're going a day early so we can do some shopping. We'll be coming back early on Sunday morning. Robin's mom's side of the family has an annual Civic Day BBQ on the Sunday before the holiday. I need to figure out a side dish that I can make ahead of time and that will last for 5 days in the fridge. Or, something that Robin can assemble before she leaves for the BBQ. I'm also planning on making a dessert, possibly a carrot cake that I can freeze beforehand. Does anyone have any suggestions for a side dish? Now I'm off to assemble a rustic nectarine blueberry tart for tonights dinner.

Yes, those grits are amazing. I had them once at Zingerman's and when I came home, I ordered some stone ground grits from another grist mill( way better price). Wonderful. And yes, that picture was taken at the Common Grill. We were there in June for our 3rd wedding anniversary. I posted all the pics from that meal and another meal here. That was an amazing meal.

I understand the getting together for cooking and pedicures, but please explain the trips to MI! ← I need my fix of Target!! Seriously though, I only live 62 miles from Port Huron, MI and I have a mail box there where I can have parcels delivered. So, if I get a hankering for some penzey's spices or something from Amazon, I have it sent there and I bring it back. I also do a lot of grocery shopping there. There are many items( ie: cheese, chicken , milk, cream cheese) that are a lot cheaper. And, finally, Robin and I sell vintage kitchen things( and other collectibles) on Ebay as a hobby and I ship out of the US because its cheaper. Christine comes along and we go to dinner, Barnes and Noble, shopping, etc. Its fun stuff!!

Hello from Exeter, Ontario. My name is Randi and this is my second eGullet foodblog. My first one was in May 2005 and can be found here. clicky.Before we get to the food, a little background on me. In her teaser, Susan said that one of us was from the country and one of us is from the city. I'm the one that lives in the Country. Exeter's( pop.4400) is a farming community in Southwestern Ontario. I moved to Exeter in December 2002 from Long Beach, CA. I lived in California for 15years and prior to moving there, I grew up in Plantation, FL( suburb of Ft. Lauderdale). I moved to small town Ontario because I wanted to live with my same-sex partner. Because same-sex immigration isnt legal in the US( and probably never will be) I moved here. Much to our delight, 6 months after I moved here, same-sex marriage was legalized. Robin and I married in June 2003. The downside to all this was my law degree is basically useless here. However, before attending law school, I went to culinary school in the early 90's. Good thing, because I've been able to make some money doing what I love. When I joined egullet, I started to read all the foodblogs and I came across Abra's. I thought to myself “ I can do that” and I started a personal chef business. I also work for a caterer in London , I coordinate a community kitchen that is run out of the basement of the hospital. And, if that wasn't enough, I have another non-food related part-time job. I'm really happy to be blogging this week with Christine. I met Christine from my first foodblog. She had left some comments, we started Pming, then emailing, then she came over for lunch and shortly after that we started to cook together. We get together at least 2x a month for cooking, pedicures, dining out or making a trip to MI. Now on the the obligatory pet pictures. I have two dachshunds. A black and tan smooth, Oliver and a wirehair, Harley. and here is my spouse and dishwasher Robin. ( She is so wonderful, she does all my dishes everyday!!) and finally me. Btw, I stayed up late making Rose Levy Birnbaum's banana cake with chocolate ganache( I just made the cake part tonight) for dinner tomorrow night. ( more on that later). Now I'm going to bed. Nighty night.

What else did you order?

One of the latest issues of Saveur magazine had an article about them. Let me see if I can find it. ok, i found it. Its not on the website. Its from the May 2006 issue If you still want it, let me know. Its a lot to type out and it looks very similar to the other two recipes. ps: I can send you the entire article by snail mail if you wish.

I think they are called Portion Cups. Anyway, when I was in College and living in Long Beach, CA, I worked for a delivery place called Entree Express. They delivered for numerous area restaurants. There was one older guy who lived in Seal Beach who ordered regularly. He always answered the door wearing a shirt and white briefs. No pants. That was gross.

Hey now, speak for yourself. I love Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, especially in Cook's Illustrated Chicken Fajita's. I know I'm in the minority here, but I can't stand dark meat chicken.

I would think you could keep it for at least a month. I've made that sauce before and thats how long I kept it and it was fine. I've made other bbq sauces and they keep a long time too. I think the vinegar and sugar kinda preserves it.

Ann What bagel recipe are you using? They look wonderful. Are you using High Gluten flour?