Kerry Beal

Don't recall if I've written about these before - I use a recipe that was given to me 35 years ago by the wife of my boss in the lab when I lived in the Queen Charlotte Islands - like so many military folks and their families she was from down east - Cape Breton to be exact. Cape Breton "Pork Pies" Ingredients 2 ½ cups dates, 500 grams ¾ cup brown sugar, 150 grams - used 100 g 1 cup boiling water, 250 grams ¼ tsp salt 1 tsp vanilla Pastry dough 1 cup butter, 225 grams ½ cup icing sugar, 62.5 grams 1 egg yolk 1 tsp vanilla 2 cups flour, 280 grams 2 tbsp cornstarch, 20 grams ¼ tsp salt Icing ⅔ cup icing sugar 1 tbsp maple syrup 1 tbsp soft butter Method 1.Form pastry into 3/4 inch balls and press into small tart cups. Bake at 300 degrees for 18 minutes or until just litely browned but firmed. 2.Make filling by pouring boiling water over chopped dates, salt and brown sugar, Cook for a few moments on stove, until dates soften but are still formed. Add vanilla. 3.Beat icing sugar with butter. Heat maple syrup and drizzle into icing sugar mixture until light and fluffy. you may need to add more maple syrup. Top with icing. Source Sandies wife Servings/Yield 1 servings

Dates.

Cape Breton Pork Pies - neither pork nor pies!

I think that americans can order from .ca but they would have to pay the postage.

early-morning in Rio

Lunch at Ed's Place - a clubhouse with turkey and ham and cheese! On homemade brown bread

A pair of Teisan Lap as I have two places in Wiki to work tomorrow.

Amazon.ca has the CSO for $224 for Prime day - that's $172 US.

As I recall - Wybauw suggests that you need 17-18% alcohol in a ganache to give it an almost indefinite shelf life. That's a crap load of pure alcohol - so it would probably be true that most products wouldn't contain enough to make a huge difference to shelf life. Alcohol will likely increase the Aw reading rather than decrease it. A standing study is still probably your best way to truly evaluate shelf life - just cause something is microbiologically stable doesn't mean it's any good after a period of time.

Ramazzotti JimJam - sadly the end of the bottle!

Actually the goose was $27 which went a long way towards the decision to buy it. I uncovered it's original price in that close up picture. We saw goose fat for sale the other day - $9.99 for 200 ml. We figure this baby will pay for itself in goose fat and we'll have the goose as a bonus.

What we accumulated today - Anna will tell you all about the plans for the goose.

Crumb and toast shots

Lamb chops with homemade mint sauce, baked tomatoes, peas cooked with mint stems and CSO potatoes.

What we accumulated today

Little Italy

Remake with fresh flour and grains.

Maybe the other end is like a church key?

How about this old Tupperware piece

Thoughts on what this might be?

Blueberry Boy Bait - Smitten Kitchen via Cooks Country via Pillsbury Bakeoff 1957. Was supposed to be baked in a 9 by 13 pan - where do you suppose that has disappeared to? I looked back to the fall blog - looks like the last thing I made in it was gingerbread for rounds on the Tuesday after the long weekend of Thanksgiving. Perhaps I didn't bring it home. Called over to the hospital - they can't find it in the break room - tomorrow I'll go check the kitchen at the hospital.

Anna wants to pickle some.

Just dropped off by one of my favourite nurses. She's been out picking all day. They are small and not very abundant this year - so I am particularly chuffed that we were given this honour! Now - what shall I make first?

I will sometimes temper chocolate (starting with well tempered chocolate) by placing the bowl in the microwave and heating until it is about 3/4 melted. It may actually get warmer than the working temperature but as long as the remaining seed is just melting out when it gets down to the working temperature it will be tempered.

Called to the ER for an acute MI - left Anna in charge of my rising loaf. Perfectly adequate crumb - but we binned it because we need to get some fresher grains.