FrogPrincesse

It feels SO good to be back at home after a tough day at work, and to enjoy this wonderful cocktail. This is a Trader Vic's Mai Tai, with the orgeat I made the other day. I used my favorite rum combination (La Favorite Coeur de Rhum + Appleton 12 year). The homemade orgeat takes it to another level. Life is good again.

kayb, Shelby, and johhnyd, Thanks for the nice comments. They mean a lot, especially coming from veteran foodbloggers!

Thanks FauxPas. I am sure that I can find a picture or two showing the old kitchen, to give you a better idea of the extent of the renovation. Frimousse, our cat, seems to like the fragrance of the freshly-made orgeat! Corrected typo

Last night we had a little dessert before going to bed. Chocolate chocolate-chip cookies from David Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert, and raspberries from Chino Farm.

Matthew, Thank you for your comments. I don't have an ice crusher. My fridge has a crushed ice option, so that's what I use. It may not be perfect , but it's really convenient! I will keep your tips in mind when I make sausage next time. I realize my sausage was overstuffed. I am glad that I got you interested in cheese-making. There will be more on that topic soon!

Thank you, Anna and Kerry. I'm enjoying reading about your cooking adventures in Manitoulin.

Thanks YSL. My husband took that photo, along with all the others, except for a few that I took.

As promised, I would like to give you a tour of the kitchen. We bought our house 7 years ago. It was built in the 1950s and, after living in it for a few months and realizing that it did not meet our needs, we decided to remodel it, including the kitchen. We expanded the kitchen area by including part of the space that used to be a family room. The idea for the kitchen design was to have most of it out of sight. Since the kitchen can be seen from our living room, dining room, and patio, we did not want it to be too intrusive. So we needed cabinets where we could hide everything when we were not using the kitchen area, hence the wall of roll-top cabinets. Also, I hate top cabinets so I did not want any in my kitchen To stay within a reasonable budget, I decided to get good appliances and Ikea cabinets. Ikea cabinets have the advantage of being cost-effective but with good-quality hardware (with blum hinges if you are into that kind of thing, including soft-close dampers on some of them). My husband and I assembled all of the cabinets ourselves, and the contractor installed them. We decided to have a large island so we could use that area for informal meals and parties. The island includes the sink, the dishwasher and the electric stove top. Because of the view, it did not make sense to have an updraft hood. The downdraft hood is a compromise because it's not as efficient as an updraft one. It was also a pain to install as a trench had to be dug under the kitchen floor. But I am happy to have a hood, especially during my heavy duty cooking projects (e.g., incinerating maple-cured bacon!!! ). Against the wall, we have a Miele oven that I am very happy with (I do a lot of baking and it's great), and a warming drawer which is very handy to warm plates or to keep things warm. Tomorrow I will show you what is behind the cabinet doors.

We settled in at a table outside on the patio (it looks like we may have scored the best seats in the house!), and ordered a couple of drinks from the menu. The view from our table The drink menu He ordered the Mr Bali Hai, and I got the Goof Punch (warning: STRONG !!!). Actually the Goof Punch is a very well-balanced drink, which makes it all the more dangerous. Our appetizers arrived. His was a deconstructed dynamite steak roll with grilled steak, onions, sesame rice, and a dynamite crust. Mine was the blackened local albacore with papaya, lemon, ponzu, pickled mustard seed, and tobiko. We were both very happy with our appetizers and our drinks, and the gorgeous view. For the main course, he had the char siu glazed duck with cauliflower, lup cheong sausage, snap peas and plum wine syrup. We instantly fell in love with that dish as we are both duck lovers, love char siu and Chinese sausage. What a great combination! I had the pan roasted striped bass with shrimp, mussels, bacon, peas, bok choy, and a lobster white corn coconut broth. My favorite part of the dish was the broth and the combination of the freshly shelled peas with the bacon and bok choy. This was lovely evening. We always have a good time there.

Tonight we went to Bali Hai for dinner. Bali Hai is a tiki restaurant that opened in the 50s. It's located on Shelter Island. On our way to Bali Hai, we drove past Trader Mort's, a small liquor store with a great tiki decor. We used to come to Bali Hai for the classic tiki cocktails, however the food was less than memorable in the past. Over a year ago, the restaurant underwent a major renovation. The owners also brought in a new chef that completely revamped the menu and transformed it into his version of modern Hawaiian fusion cuisine. The chef, Chris Powell, worked in the past at Roy's and Rancho Valencia, a local restaurant. The menu is based on local and seasonal produce. Dishes are based on classical French techniques with an Asian or Polynesian inspiration. We were greeted at the door by Mr Bali Hai himself. Immediately, the wonderful Polynesian decor surrounds you. The tiki artifacts were preserved in the renovation. The onyx bar at the middle of the main room is a beautiful feature, especially at night. And the view is incredible.

After work tonight, I did the last few steps of the orgeat recipe. Since yesterday it settled in the jar. I added sugar and dissolved it at low temperature. I did not have to wait very long; it dissolved almost instantly. The orgeat's color changed at that point from milky white to pale yellow. Then I added the vodka and the orange flower water. Here it is. Time to upgrade from the Torani. Our cat approves!

Here is the arugula, grilled peach, raspberry and almond salad I made for lunch today.

Thanks heidh, it means a lot coming from you. I really enjoyed your blog a few months ago. That raw kale salad looks delicious. I will try it and maybe make a few baked kale chips as well. These are really addictive and great with cocktails too!

I just received an email detailing the contents of my farmers' basket tomorrow: Yellow Wax Beans – Gloria Tamai Purple & Black Bell Peppers & White Bell Pepper – Jaime Farms Black Kale & Romaine Lettuce – Coleman Family Farms Black Emerald Grapes – Murray Family Farms Valencia Oranges – Suntreat Peewee Mix Fingerling Potatoes – Weiser Family Farms Mini Mixed Plums – Fitzgerald Farm First wax beans of the season for me! I am thinking the bell peppers will do a wonderful piperade.

I began one more project last night. Inspired by mkayahara, I started making orgeat, so I would have something better to use in tiki drinks than a bottle of Torani (I know, the shame…). I bought some sliced blanched almonds at Bristol Farms. While we were having our Test Pilots last night, I soaked the almonds in water for about 30 minutes. Then I drained them, and ground them in the food processor. After that, I soaked them in water again for a few hours, drained them in cheesecloth, and repeated this step once. In the recipe that I am following from Beachbum Berry Remixed, it says that you can repeat this process one more time. I will finish this project tonight

I just had lunch at home. I had the last sweet Italian sausage link (sorry Darren!). Then, a salad with the arugula from my CSA, Chino Farm raspberries and grilled peaches, almonds, and an olive oil & sherry vinegar dressing. Very tart and refreshing. Lastly, an espresso (also had one for breakfast as usual).

Thanks for commenting on the glasses. I was wondering if anyone would notice them. They were a great gift from our friends, Dave and Gail, for a tiki party we did at our place for our 10-year anniversary. Like my husband, our friend Gail is originally from Hawaii and these belonged to her family.

Hi Faux Pas, Thanks for your nice comments on the kitchen. I have a lot of drawers and, generally, a ton of storage space. We completely reconfigured that space when we bought the house, with the help of an architect, and I designed the kitchen. The cooktop is Miele (as are the oven and the warming drawer). It's quite powerful. It’s electric (not induction). I will give a complete tour of the kitchen tonight or tomorrow, with more details. Yes, it's interesting to combine the blog with the normal work week. I do have a new appreciation for all the past eG Foodbloggers now. I often undertake large cooking projects, but having to document them at the same time is new to me, and can be a challenge sometimes!

Thank you gfweb! I am glad you like it.

One of my favorite meals, hands down. Lovely blog FP Thanks johnnyd. I really love lamb too.

There were three uncooked lamb kebabs left from yesterday and, since I am persistent, I decided to give them another try. I reworked them with some panko to dry them out a little. This time, they stayed on the skewers. We had them in pitas with cucumber raita, with the zucchini gratin on the side.

For tonight's dinner I decided to use produce from my CSA. Here is what I got in my farmers' bag last week. Pinkerton Avocados – Garcia Organics Arugula & Sierra Gold Potatoes – Rutiz Farms Eight Ball Squash & Flying Saucer Squash – Jaime Farms Star Ruby Grapefruit – Shoemaker Farms Valencia Oranges – Suntreat Sungold Cherry Heirloom Tomatoes – Tutti Frutti Spinach – Gloria Tamai Strawberries – Be Wise Ranch I was looking for an interesting recipe for squash and found one in Sunday Suppers at Lucques by Suzanne Goin. I found the recipe using Eat Your Books, a site that I use daily when planning my meals. If only they could index cocktail books though! That would be so convenient... That recipe caught my eye because of the salsa verde. The combination sounded a little unusual, but I liked the fact that the recipe was packed with vegetables and herbs, and I had all the main ingredients. I sliced the zucchini, salted it and let it drain. In the meantime, I started working on the salsa verde. Cilantro, mint, capers, anchovy, olive oil. The book called for pounding the herbs to a paste, then adding the various ingredients one at a time. Since it was getting late, I just put everything in the food processor and pulsed for a few seconds. A squeeze of lemon juice Then I mixed the zucchini with the salsa and the grated gruyere, and added dried herbes de Provence, garlic and sliced shallots. I skipped the breadcrumbs toasted in butter that the recipe calls for, as I don't really care for breadcrumbs in gratin. It went in the oven for 35 minutes at 400F. After it came out of the oven. It tasted very good. Zucchini does not have a lot of flavor, so the salsa verde was a nice addition. I may replace the gruyere with a different cheese next time, though. The gruyere felt a little out of place for a summer dish.

After a week (yesterday), I took it out of the cure, rinsed it, dried it, and put it in the fridge to dry further. When I took it our of the fridge this morning, it was completely dry. I used a stovetop smoker and hickory chips. I was lucky because the belly fit in the smoker exactly. I set the burner at medium low, and checked the temperature after about 1.5 hours. It was about 130F at that point. The smoker was very hot so I turned down the burner to low. After 2.5 hours I checked the temperature again, which was around 160F. It was time to remove the smoker from the heat. Then I realized that part of the belly had started to burn. I flipped it over... Yes, definitely burned! But most of it seems salvageable.

A few weeks ago, I ran out of the fresh homemade bacon I had made in February for Charcutepalooza. So, last week I decided to start curing more bacon. I used the maple cure from Charcuterie. Here is the pork belly that I purchased at Iowa Meat Farms. Belly massage with sugar and maple syrup. Then it went in a ziplock bag for a one-week long body wrap.

Here are the pictures from the lunch I had today. No spectacular photography here, I was just using a little point-and-shoot camera and did not have my expert photographer by my side. Caprese salad and watermelon salad (which tasted even better than yesterday). It's funny how they are completely color coordinated. I did not have a chance to try the shrimp yesterday, as I was too full from the sausage and the lamb kebabs. Even reheated, they were amongst the juiciest and most flavorful I've had. I had not used any seasoning at all, but they were packed with aromas from the bright orange juices that were leaking from the heads. Head-on shrimp is self-basting. The pineapple and mint sugar. The mint did not age very well at all in that dish, and I had to discard it.