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Zucchini Mama

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Posts posted by Zucchini Mama

    Making your own cookbook...

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    This is the fourth year I've done exactly what you're proposing. I would go with the scrapbooky look, to emphasize its homespun quality. Mine are totally amateur-just to save money and time. It's literally photocopied letter sized pages put in a file folder with those fold-back tabs. I also have a scrapbook that mom made me with vintage photos and handwritten recipes, but it is too precious to have in the kitchen. The ones I make can get all covered with flour and chocolate batter and it doesn't matter.

    I have one tip though, you may need to really give people the nudge to give you recipes--they may be too humble or shy about it, but tell them you want the recipes because you love them and that will work! I also put in newspaper clippings of family members, my child's drawings, anecdotes, diary entries, my grandmother's poems, etc. It's kind of like a family almanac.

    With your design background the sky's the limit! They are wonderful to have as I just used one tonight and was glad I'd written about the day two years ago when we made the same chocolate pudding. It's also great to go to your sister's place and she has all your favorite recipes so you can cook them for her!

    Also, before you go into production think about how many you're going to make and how much they will cost, because you know how things can add up before you know it!

    Have fun and let us know how it turns out!

    Zuke

    Culinary Resolutions for 2006

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    In 2006, I will eat more local organic food. I will try to be conscious of the journey the food takes to my plate and aware of the quality of the farmer's lives who grow it.

    I will make sour cherry pie and chocolate pudding cake.

    I will find more friends to sing, dance, laugh, debate and eat with.

    I will learn to whisper.

    I will teach children how to mispronounce ceviche, chitpotle, merlot, etc.

    I will read more poetry and purely escapist fiction.

    This is the year I will try to be more organized and patient in the kitchen.

    I will taste with my tongue, my heart and my brain.

    I will use my time as creatively as possible.

    I will give my partner the weirdest fortieth birthday party ever.

    I will give more dinner parties and organize more potluck dinners.

    "We" need to put a dimmer switch in the dining room.

    My kid will expand his palate and learn better table manners.

    I will eat my daily reccomended allowance of chocolate.

    Zuke

    eG Foodblog: Marlena - Life is Delicious Wherever I am

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    Banoffee Pie! Now you have to post a recipe for that--you're torturing us! I can't believe you haven't had a light steamed pudding--oh God they're good.

    I made the "pasties" with cooked ingredients, and added some curry powder and dipped them in tamarind chutney-so they were more like samosas, only the wrong shape. This made me realize I should have made a jerk sauce and turned them into Jamaican patties! Choices, choices!

    I have been to Ludlow and I love that place-it has kept some of the vestiges on the English Market Town vs. the large supermarket and mall-ification of many towns and villages there.

    Swisskaese's recipe sounds great-I would put the potatoes in with the chicken though. I've had lemon potatoes in Greece that melt in your mouth.

    I like mac and cheese with pine nuts on top. Now I'm really hungry.

    Baby lambs, oh how they make me laugh--much nicer than mouldy old sheep! Thanks for your description of the neighborhood-sometimes that's more evocative than photos!

    Zuke

    best hot chocolate in Vancouver?

    in Western Canada: Dining

    Posted

    Hey Zuke,

    Good points but remember where hot chocolate came from... South America and early adopted by the Spanish.

    Let's keep the hot chocolate hunt going. I'm off this Sunday and Monday so I'm going to try some of the locations mentioned in this thread. I'll report back.

    I think her point was that if you are looking for a very thick spanish hot chocolate, that is a different thing than just "hot chocolate". The specific difference here is the absence of corn starch.

    happy hunting.

    Yes, I know the history, but my point is hot chocolate has been adopted by different ethnic groups and modified. I prefer the new world style of hopkins'. I'm somewhat familiar with the old world style, but it's not my favorite--in the same way I prefer a Bordeaux to a Burgundy. (It would be a better analogy to compare an old world wine to a new world one, but I like both styles.)

    Chacun a son gout! Happy Drinking! :wink:

    McCormick & Co: "Flavor Forecast"

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    A fun amateur project (perfect for eG) might be to compile a set of recipes that really highlight the nature and capacities of each spice.  I'd bet somebody would publish it once its done too.

    That is a great idea. I use all the spices mentioned above and this year for my amateur family cookbook I think I will focus on each of these and come up with some recipes. I'm really interested in how different cultures use the same ingredient, i.e. sesame. I love tahini and I love gomashio, so yesterday I had chicken raviolini tossed with tahini (mixed with grated ginger and soya sauce) and liberally sprinkled it with gomashio. So there you have it: Italian/Middle Eastern/Japanese fusion! It may sound wierd, but it's good comfort food. I was just craving that nutty umami sesame flavor.

    I haven't tried the smoked paprika, but it sounds great. I love paprika on sautéd mushrooms.

    I love star anise in chicken biryani, and I put it in my chai as well. Some days I just open the jar and inhale-fewer calories that way!

    eG Foodblog: Marlena - Life is Delicious Wherever I am

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    Hi Marlena,

    I'm a bit homesick for England--can you describe the scene out your windows for us?

    My gran used to put grated carrots in her Christmas pud and dose it liberally with rum. I think it was really just a vehicle for the rum. Anyhow, my sister vetoed it this year! I was thinking I'd like a good sticky toffee pudding instead of the traditional one.

    I had some little pieces of chocolate covered Christmas pudding this year, the size of truffles which were very good.

    I love steamed chocolate pudding with creme anglaise-gorgeous.

    Okay, I've got a roasted chicken, roasted sweet potatoes and Yukon spuds, kale and sauted onions and mushrooms in my fridge. I was thinking I'd make Cornish pasties. Do you ever make them? I googled some recipes, but they all start with raw ingredients. Hmmm...should I make chicken pot pies instead? I'm asking the expert here! My partner is lactose intolerant so I can't use milk.

    Zuke

    best hot chocolate in Vancouver?

    in Western Canada: Dining

    Posted · Edited by Zucchini Mama (log)

    I really welcome you guys to come and see me personally so I can make you a hot chocolate.  If you don't like it, I am all ears for you to school me on what its lacking.

    I'm sorry if you have been here and if your drink wasn't made with complete care, that is a mistake that I hope you'll allow us to make right and we can go from there.

    I still think your hot chocolate is EXCELLENT. I've been craving one all week! Hopefully Saturday I can drop by for another fix. I like the balance between sweet and savory, dark and creamy.

    If you boyz are lookig for a Spanish or Mexican hot chocolate, then that is a completely different beast and you must say so.

    Don't change the recipe hopkin, please!

    Zuke

    High Tea

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    There are other threads regarding afternoon tea on eGullet--search the Baking forum, the British forum, and the Vancouver forum, where we have sampled a few afternoon teas about town. I like scones and mini croissants with lots of sweet and savory options (jam, smoked salmon cream cheese, etc.) I love pecan tassies and little savory tarts. There must be lemon tarts. There must be chocolate. Cucumber sandwiches are optional. :wink: I also like tea-flavored sweets like matcha or Earl Grey shortbread.

    Zuke

    Nasty Ingredients

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I see I am not alone regarding what I have to say, so let me put this in the form of a comment and questions seeking advice.

    I ABSOLUTELY adore anchovies :wub:  :wub:  :wub: too.  I even have a great story which (briefly) concerns a bunch of grad students in various fields of Asian Studies out in the middle of nowhere at the end of a productive but demanding trip who had reached the point where they could agree on absolutely nothing EXCEPT the kind of pizza they wanted to order that night: anchovy!  They were a bunch of individualistic eccentrics whose parties always had the best food.

    I also love pho and various other things I have eaten in restaurants that include fish sauce.

    BUT, I recently purchased a bottle of my own after much consultation with about eight different men behind the fish counter in an Asian food market.  Ended up with a brand name I recognized, Three Crabs. 

    The stuff is called nuoc mam nhi.  Is the "nhi" significant?  Did I buy the wrong type of fish sauce for general use, or.....?

    The reason I ask is because I used it only once on the recipe for pseudo-Thai noodles in Ruth Reichl's G & S book.

    Ughhhhh!!!!

    The recipe was fine, but I found the large amount of fish sauce in something that is cooked with relative speed to be the reason I hated the dish and had to throw it out.

    FYI: the label continues Viet Hu'o'ong in big letters (the company, though the product was made in Thailand).  Below that: HIEU BA CON CUA.

    Pontormo, Did the recipe just ask for fish sauce or specifically "nuoc mam"? A cookbook I own called "Vietnam; Street Café" by Annabel Jackson distinguishes between that and "nam pla" which is not as strong.

    Zuke

    "No, really, you shouldn't have!"

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    [Ghastly.  That's a great word for them.  I laughed pretty darn hard when I read about your Jovan Musk perfume... I thought that fragrance (and I use that word loosely) died a slow and painful death in the seventies.  But 'brie in a can' and 'UBrew Ice Wine'?!  Seriously?   :blink:

    [

    And the ice wine...all 18 bottles...is a decidedly urine yellow. I can tell because it is bottled in clear beer bottles. With a screw top. We opened one last night in the interest of culinary science. Kind of like cough syrup. Might be okay in a vat of fruit punch where you just want to get some kind of booze into it to drown the pain of being at yet another event where they are serving fruit punch :smile:

    badiane,

    I have good news for you! My FIL has found that u-brew ice wine is the perfect bait for wasp traps!

    Zuke

    Sorry, I can't think of a use for the pink musk, though.

    Adopted comfort foods

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    All of the above!! :biggrin:

    I love almost all the comfort foods people have mentioned but have never had the opportunity to try grits and collard greens. It seems strange that I have never seen them in Canada.

    About ten years ago I went on a macrobiotic diet for about six months. A really good macrobiotic meal that sorts out my yin and yang makes me smile like a Chesire Cat. It's a good after-Christmas diet. I may have to dust off the old cookbooks after this season's indulgences.

    Zuke

    Holiday Baked Goods

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    Using my wife's newfound marshmallow making powers, I suggested a smores kind of thing, with a graham cracker crust, then covered in chocolate.

    It sounded good in theory, and the end result tasted good, but they were damn near impossible to cut cleanly, and the crust fell apart when placed under that stress.

    Cest la vie. Next time we try this, I'm thinking just mixing chocolate chips into the marshmallow, then topping with graham cracker something kind of topping thing. The point of the crust was to make it a easier to get the tenacious little buggers out of the pan. They do not want to let go otherwise...

    The chef at Anona's down the street from me makes a version of S'mores with marshmallow piped onto a ginger cookie and covered in chocolate. There's a recipe here on the Food Network site that looks similar.

    It's oddly comforting to hear experienced bakers make mistakes too. I can't understand why we can put men, women, dogs, and monkeys on the moon, but we can't develop a better candy thermometer. I mean, where are our nations' priorities?

    Zuke

    eG Foodblog: Zucchini Mama - A Merry Zucchini Christmas

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    gallery_29428_2272_573708.jpg

    Sausage from Cactus Lake, bacon bits from Drake, Saskatchewan, sour cream and onions from Alberta, and perogies from Vancouver!

    gallery_29428_2272_133527.jpg

    Grandpa and Grandma Zucchini! I treasure the gift they gave me-- a pot of Saskatchewn honey encased in beeswax.

    gallery_29428_2272_114515.jpg

    The madwoman who documented it all!

    May your joy be as absurdly abundant as the zucchini.

    May you bask in joy, and fill yourself with its light.

    May you fill the sealer jars in the root cellar in your imagination with joy,

    so that on a dark night you may open one and warm yourself by its brilliance.

    A Very Merry Zucchini Christmas to you!

    eG Foodblog: Zucchini Mama - A Merry Zucchini Christmas

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    Merry Christmas jayhay and Cassandra. vancitygirl, you reminded me, I haven't told you how the quince jam tasted--well, it didn't set. It was more like a quince butter and tasted of pear, crabapple, honey and the haunting flavour of quince itself. I am anxious to try the other samples of quince jam that I found. Also, check out this wonderful article in Saveur Magazine if you're intrigued by quince.

    We've fried up some onions and bacon and we're just about to cook the sausage and perogies!

    eG Foodblog: Zucchini Mama - A Merry Zucchini Christmas

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    Merry Christmas makanmakan, Daddy-A and Ling!!!!!

    Here's a history book I can reccomend for those who want to go more deeply into the topic of farming the Palliser triangle. It's called Empire of Dust: Settling and Abandoning the Prairie Dry belt by David C. Jones

    I didn't talk much about the buffalo jerky I bought earlier, because I feel it had too many ingredients, if you know what I mean. I'll have to track down a better version of the stuff-tastes a bit like shoe leather, but it can really give you a good hit of energy.

    Dad also gave me a lesson in sausage making. He makes his sausage with half free range Black Angus beef and half free range pork. He pours boiling water over some garlic cloves and then uses that water with salt and pepper and sometimes mustard seed to season it. Once the meat is ground and spiced, the trick is you leave it for an hour, then fry up a small patty of it to see if it's seasoned to your liking. Next, you crank it into the natural casings, twist them, tie and cut them. I'll try to post the photos in the cook-off forum when I get home.

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