Ann_T

Stir fry for dinner tonight. Chicken with Gai Lan and Shiitake Mushrooms, ginger, garlic, etc...... over rice.

I don't think I have ever had Atlantic halibut so I can't compare. All I know is , that halibut is the only fish that I actually like and would be happy to eat it more often if it wasn't so expensive.

Went shopping before work this morning and bought fresh halibut. We had halibut fish and chips for dinner.

Blueberry season and Moe loves blueberries with or without sliced bananas in milk for breakfast with a side of toasted homemade bread.

@JoNorvelleWalker, I'm sorry you are still dealing with health issues. Hope you are back to baking soon. Thank you for letting me know that you use yours for bread. I'm excited to get my steel. Just noticed though that the size I need 14" X 22" x 3/8 isn't the norm so it is custom made and will take three to four weeks.

What an interesting combination of flavours. I love your perfect rabbit. Ears and tail. I probably did this in the wrong order, but I decided to buy a Baking Steel. The one I bought is just slightly bigger than the stone I currently use and have for years. The stone is 14" X 20, and the steel I ordered is 14" X 22" X 3/8" and weighs 31lbs. I should probably have read the thread on Baking Pizza on a Baking Steel first. But I was hoping to find a thread dedicated to baking bread on a steel. Does anyone here bake their baguettes/breads on a steel? Mini baguettes, Claude size, came out of the oven last night. Baked for my little 5 year old pal. Claude and his mom have been in China for the last two months visiting Xiao's family. Promised him baguettes. And the small boules were baked early this morning. Both doughs started with a levain with 1g of yeast and 15g of discard. Levain was added to 1000g of flour, 30g of salt and 680g of water. Made 12 hours apart, and both in the fridge immediately after the last stretch and folds. Baguette dough was taken out of the fridge yesterday morning for last night's bake and the dough for the Boules came out of the fridge last night around 9:00 PM and the dough was ready to use at 3:30 AM this morning.

Thanks @KennethT.

Last night's dinner. This is a bastardized version of Chicken Curry with Aloo Gobi. I've made this a couple of times now. The basic idea came from Andy's East Coast Kitchen. He uses a Tikka Masala curry paste. I make my own paste with different curry spices, ginger and garlic and a little olive oil. Chicken legs, cauliflower and potatoes are coated well with the paste and tossed into a shallow roasting pan and roasted until everything is cooked and browned. Half way through, I tossed everything for even browning, and added a chopped tomato and a little chicken broth. Finished with chopped cilantro and served with basmati rice and homemade Chapati. You will have to take my word for it that it tastes better than it looks.

@blue_dolphin, oooh nice tomato. And perfect toasted BLT. Moe wanted hard boiled (steamed) eggs for breakfast. Served on toasted baguette.

We had Mince and Tatties for dinner last night. The beef mixture is the same I use for Shepherds Pie. Since it was a work night, it was easier and quicker to serve the meat over the mashed potatoes. I made enough of the meat and the potatoes to make five individual servings of Shepherds Pie. They cooled overnight in the fridge and I vacuum packed them this morning. Moe likes to have these in the freezer for lunch or a quick worknight dinner. One of the few things that I will make for the freezer.

@Tropicalsenior, those look so good. I would love to make something like that, but without the sweetness. Do they freeze well? Today's bake. This dough was started with a Levain and the dough went into the fridge Saturday night and taken out last night and left on the counter overnight. Baked this morning.

Moe's breakfast. I made soup Friday night for dinner and Moe wanted it for breakfast yesterday and again today with toasted sourdough baguette.

I hadn't fed my starters in a while. Maybe 6 or 8 weeks. So I fed them both yesterday, one with my regular bread flour and the other with the Organic Rye that I always use to feed. I used 55g of the discard from the rye fed starter and added it to 55g of water and 142g of my bread flour with a tiny pinch of salt and made a Levain. And I made a second Levain using 142g of flour, pinch of salt, 1g of yeast and 15g of the white starter. Left both starters and levains out on the counter while I was at work. The starters more than doubled, and both levains were very active. Especially the one with the g of yeast and the tiny bit of discard. Blew the top off of the container. I made two batches of dough last night. Added the sourdough levain to 1000g of flour, 30g of salt and 680 g of water. And the Yeast based levain was also added to , 1000g of flour, 30g of salt and 680g of water. After the last stretch and folds the yeast based dough went into the fridge and the sourdough batch was left out on the counter overnight and was ready to use by 3:30 AM this morning. Divided and preshaped. Finished shaping. And left to proof. Baked 8 sourdough baguettes. Sliced one while still warm for Moe's breakfast. Started another levain this morning with 1g of yeast and 15g of the white starter and tonight I'll make another batch of dough to go into the fridge and will pull out the batch that is in the fridge and will bake that one tomorrow morning.

And tastes change. I never cared for clams which Moe loved. But one time we were in a restaurant in Oregon and Moe ordered clams and I tried them and I have loved them ever since. Was never a fan of tarragon, but one of my favourite salads has a tarragon dressing. Someone I know from another cooking forum mentioned years ago the "7 Year Rule". Which was basically to try something you never liked because you might be surprised that you now like it. Still hate carrots.

Well I love your attitude when it comes to feeding those that you love. I hated having to eat what was put in front of me as a kid. First of all my mom was an lousy cook and secondly meal time should be enjoyable for everyone and not a big fight over being forced to eat something one doesn't like. I'm not talking about being a picky eater either. I hate carrots to this day. We had a rule that Matthew had to taste something new before saying he didn't like it. And if he didn't like something he didn't have to eat it. It was easy to cook something that Moe and I liked and and something for Matt, and usually the sides were something everyone liked. I vowed I would never make dinner time a battle, forcing someone to eat a food they disliked. Life is too short.

Cooked the rice last night and made Chicken Fried Rice this morning. Moe is having it for breakfast and I'm going to take some to work for lunch.

Thanks @weinoo.

@MaryIsobel Happy Birthday to your husband. I grilled a rack of lamb for dinner tonight. Used the melon baller to cut out potatoes to make Parisienne potatoes and we had rutabaga and steamed green beans as sides. I also made Moe his favourite mint sauce with mint from our garden. It is a simple fresh mint sauce with mint, red wine vinegar, a little honey, salt, pepper and a little garlic. This tastes better than in looks with the mint sauce.

It has already been cured. We will probably use up this batch of garlic in 4 to 6 weeks. So I will just keep it in a basket lightly covered. I'll buy more between now and September , enough I hope to get through to late January/February. A friend, who is a chef, said that she actually freezes heads of garlic. That the cloves separate and peel easily right out of the freezer so I might try freezing a few to see how that works.

I have three favourite seasons and they are Garlic Season, Tomato Season and Corn Season. There are a few local farm stands in the Cowichan Valley and in the Victoria area. The Flatlander's Farm with farm stand is five minutes from our place. I stopped by the Farm to buy garlic today. Russian Red garlic that is the most perfect garlic I have ever seen. Also bought fresh picked green beans, a zucchini and fresh eggs. I have a rack of lamb that I'm going to grill tonight and I'm thinking the green beans will be one of the sides.

Haven't seen any local corn here yet. Or any from the mainland. Will watch for it though.

Everything is definitely green here. All winter actually, except for the few days that we might get snow. But tomatoes really need a lot of heat. Even the corn out here isn't as good as corn from Ontario and is ready much later. One of the reasons I love it out here is that it is green year around except in the summer when you would expect it to be. With the water restrictions on from lack of rain, the grass every where is basically brown and dry. First rain though it will be green again. A hot summer is what I miss the most about Ontario. That and the wonderful restaurants in Toronto. But people here start to complain when the temperature gets over 70°F. So I will take the mild summer to not have to deal with a long cold winter.

Made Moe blueberry pancakes for breakfast. He likes lots of maple syrup.

We actually have cool springs and can often have frost after the May long weekend. Doesn't often get warm here until later in June. And can start raining and not stop by the end of August. This year so far had been good for the tomato plants. Places like Windsor, Ontario and the surrounding area have an extended spring and an extended fall so perfect tomato growing . Moe grew up in Windsor.

Last night's dinner. Italian roast chicken served with Bucatini Aglio E Olio.