Peter the eater

Wait a minute - I thought that was a picture or Morgan Fairchild . . .

Here's July's cover - a hamburger - who'd have ever guessed? Actually, the chipotles were a really nice touch:

ME, that's a great picture - the jelly in the spoon looks like a fractured chunk of glass. Less acids appeals to me as does packs a buzz, could you provide a link? One more request: please define cold brewed coffee.

So new rice is moist and soft in the mouth, that makes sense. Are there flavour changes as well? The label on my big bag of basmati makes it very clear that it's aged.

I love rice as much as the next several billion people, but as a regular Canadian who's interested in food I feel I may be missing out on some of secrets of the world's most consumed grain. I've got maybe a dozen types in drawers and jars around the kitchen (plus some wild rice from Saskatchewan!) and I enjoy them all. I believe I've done due diligence poking through the many rice topics here but I'm still unclear how fresh rice tastes compared to aged rice. The closest I found was Ben Hong's words: from this thread, plus a few mentions of pinipig, but that's it. I know how a root tuber like a small Superior potato is brilliant when boiled within hours of harvest and why a Russet Burbank can live in my basement for months and still be ten out of ten when baked in March. Just an analogy, but how does it work with rice?

I'm getting excited about jellied coffee and it's potential as a tasty alternative to hot caffeine delivery systems. It's been a hot summer. Do you think a cup of coffee and a cup of jellied coffee would have similar amounts of caffeine? Would a super strong "coffee reduction" work in your recipe and still be palatable?

Indeed. There seems to be less pressure on the little beast when the business of living on a rock is eliminated. When you're attached to a rope, the current and tides go to and fro, bringing in nutrients to filter-feed from all directions. The only predators are ducks, who are kept away by netting set around the rafts. My local mussel guy down the street says they have a problem with starfish on the long line. They aren't exactly agile but once established they can be voracious. I wonder what starfish a tastes like . . . .

There are a lot of good food charities out there, freerice.com is one I love and hate. Just when you get a few definitions ahead . . . . $#%$! I'll be giving to a food charity next month: Farmers Helping Farmers. Here's how they describe themselves: I wasn't aware of this cause until a friend told me that she's going to raise funds by swimming across the Northumberland Strait and back in around 15 hours. Like freerice, this one is connected to the UN in that she'll also be raising money for the Stephen Lewis Foundation which exists "to ease the pain of HIV/AIDS in Africa at the grassroots level". My friend's site is http://www.kristinroe.com/. ← Kristin is in the water right now! Things are going pretty rough for her, she started at 4 am and got half way by 12:30 pm - hours later than planned. Hopefully the currents will be more favourable on the way back to PEI where lots of people are eagerly awaiting her return. ← She made it! Fifteen hours in 19C water - but she's raised $30,000 for the cause, including Farmers Helping Farmers. Story here.

Don't be intimidated by fish - unless it's bigger than you, and you're swimming. North America doesn't eat enough fish, but I think it's starting to change. I forget exactly where you are nakji (central Japan?) but I see you're 12 hours difference so that's half a world away and I'll bet you've access to tons of crazy fresh seafood. I know less about the Pacific, but when it comes to seafood I think freshness is everything. I freeze fish but it's never quite as good. Why not start with boneless fillets and work your way up to whole fish complete with scales and a head. Embrace the ocean's bounty!

This is an excellent opener for a topic. I've never met a fish that couldn't be grilled - even 2" smelt can go on the barbecue if you lay them down properly. Fresh Atlantic swordfish was half price yesterday so I grabbed a 1 lb steak for $7: According to the Canada Food Guide, this steak is 5 servings. One serving is 50-100 g of a "meat or meat alternative", about the size of a deck of cards. The fish was sprayed with olive oil and sprinkled with black pepper then gas grilled for 3-4 minutes per side. After resting a minute it was just cooked through, then it was topped with avocado and served with new potatoes and greens from my garden, plus a little sweet soy sauce:

Bump. Can somebody tell me about this product? It's very thick, tastes like caramel soy sauce and the bottle says "Product of Malaysia":

As a mussel-lover, I say great pix and reporting! Your mussels went from zero to market size in a year? That's some good nutrient-rich growing conditions. I notice quite a quality spectrum with mussels over the summer. Right now the good ones are from Newfoundland - very large and plump.

I'm a James Peterson fan - Essentials of Cooking has an excellent format, laden with info but very clear. The CIA Professional Chef (8th) is thorough but the images and labeling are not good - and I keep finding typos - it reminds me of a large mediocre text book.

As someone who has never knowingly eaten jellied coffee I'm intrigued. Do the flavours from, say, an oily black French roast brew translate unchanged to the jelly or is there more to it? I love drinking coffee from the lightest lights to the darkest darks but find that the flavours change, often unfavourably, when incorporated into a cheesecake or ice cream. To jelly a coffee sounds like a light-handed way to keep the brewed flavours intact.

There are a lot of good food charities out there, freerice.com is one I love and hate. Just when you get a few definitions ahead . . . . $#%$! I'll be giving to a food charity next month: Farmers Helping Farmers. Here's how they describe themselves: I wasn't aware of this cause until a friend told me that she's going to raise funds by swimming across the Northumberland Strait and back in around 15 hours. Like freerice, this one is connected to the UN in that she'll also be raising money for the Stephen Lewis Foundation which exists "to ease the pain of HIV/AIDS in Africa at the grassroots level". My friend's site is http://www.kristinroe.com/. ← Kristin is in the water right now! Things are going pretty rough for her, she started at 4 am and got half way by 12:30 pm - hours later than planned. Hopefully the currents will be more favourable on the way back to PEI where lots of people are eagerly awaiting her return.

I suppose it depends on which island, but . . . fresh corn on the cob boiled new potatoes many steamed lobsters much garlic butter

A TV show as the reference point for a feast or series of feasts is a very fun idea. I have no memory of Dynasty although I'm of an appropriate vintage that regression hypnosis might work. I have cooked with friends to celebrate the long-awaited season premier of the whatever was big the previous year show. Season two of "The West Wing's best wings" comes to mind. I like J.J. Abrams but I'm at a loss what to make for the return of my guilty pleasure "LOST". I'm sorry Klary, that probably wasn't very useful.

Are you referring to Kent's original mushroom or my grilled one? I didn't get a licorice odour but I wasn't looking for one.

This topic was dormant for a year and now there's 18 posts in 2 days - everybody's thinking salads this time of year! A high energy salad to go with a competitive canoing theme . . . you could do a "coureur de bois" thing. They were the tough Voyageurs that opened up North America in the 17th and 18th century by canoe - paddled all day collecting fur and eating beaver, moose and maple syrup. Pea soup, pork and beans, bacon, etc. Maybe.

Focaccia comes to mind - water, yeast, flour, sugar, salt, oil and my own rosemary. In just a few hours you go from zero to hot rustic bread, with crunchy salt and good olive oil dripping from your elbows. Oh, yeah.

I found one of those at my market too. I figured it was a regular white oyster mushroom that was soon headed to the "reduced for quick sale" rack as it looked a little jaundiced. I'll keep an eye out for pink and blue varieties. This one was meaty and very potent after the charcoal grill:

The Doll and Penny on Davie had fine nachos - and the Pan Pacific Hotel. It's been a few years.

I believe it's impossible to make the exact same salad everyday - that's the beauty - too many variables. Having said that, I'll go with torn naked (iceberg) lettuce, chopped cabbage, slivered onion and cubed apple.

That's a potentially interesting question(s) but I'll ask for an elaboration - are you thinking about prized ingredients? Recipes that don't require electricity?

Mmmmm . . . fish cakes. I use eggs and whatever bread crumbs are handy to keep the patties together. I agree with idea "seafood is the star" and try to add as few adulterants as possible. Idea: I have been getting many duck eggs this summer and have found the albumen to be extra thick. I've been thinking that it might make an enhanced binder for just this sort of thing, but I haven't got around to trying it out on fish cakes.