Beebs

My absolute favourite way of cooking broccoli is roasted with cloves of garlic on high heat, till it gets brown around the edges. It's so good that I can't make it very often, because I'll eat it like candy - couple heads of it in one sitting - and leave only a few measly crumbs for the husband.

My microwave used to beep every few minutes, reminding me that "Your Meal Is Ready". Last year we repainted our kitchen, so we unplugged and packed away all our appliances. Now that it's plugged back in again, it only makes its series of beep once, when the timer's up. Hmmmmm........ Not a kitchen appliance, but my dryer makes this incredibly loud, freaky BUZZZZZZ when the clothes are done drying - gives me a heart attack everytime.....

Went by yesterday and they are officially closed. There's a sign on the door saying that their friends will be taking over the bakery in the fall. Doesn't mention if it'll remain Kei's Bakery or if they're rebranding it altogether. It'll be interesting to see how the new owners stack up!

Hi Khai! My husband & I recently took the Pork Butchery class at NWCAV, in the spring. It's a day-and-a-half course, where we learned the basics of butchering a hog (2 hogs for a class of 20), types of cuts and uses for them. Preparation included charcuterie, bacon, smoked pork shoulder (pulled pork), roasts and chops. It included one dinner and one lunch. What I liked: Definitely geared towards the more dedicated amateur cooks; came away with a lot of new knowledge & recipes; liked the instructor (Chef Christophe); reasonably hands-on; different and original cooking class experience. What could have been better: I would have liked to be able to a greater variety of stuff, but I guess due to the size of the class & time constraints, this probably wouldn't have been feasible. As it was, each group was assigned a different task, and if you finished your task quickly/early, there was a lot of thumb-twiddling (which I didn't like). The class was about $400 per person ($800 for the two of us) - a bit on the spendy side, so not something I can afford on a regular basis, but as a very special treat. The recipes and techniques are certainly applicable to home cooking (maybe not so much the butchering-up of an entire hog....). I believe they also offer a poultry class and a lamb butchery class, and I would certainly consider other classes in the future. I haven't taken any Quince classes, but would consider also. Cheers!

Butter and vanilla. Onions cooking in white wine. Roasting chicken.

Because I wanted to use up stuff in my fridge...last night I made sauce of cream, diced zucchini, and a knob of Danish blue cheese (gorgonzola would have been better, but I didn't have any) over gnocchi. Yum! The sweetness of the zukes really balanced out the salty cheese.

Red Delicious apples. Ick. Lovely to look at, tastes like cotton wool.

Potato chips and Hellman's mayo. YUM! Actually, it's probably not that oddball - fries and mayo go fantastically well together, therefore it stands to reason that any other deep-fried potato product & mayo should be just as tasty together, right?

Those styrofoam trays that supermarket meat comes on and the little pad that goes with it. They're tossed in the bin, but if the trash hasn't been taken out for a day or two, it stinks to high heaven. One time I couldn't figure out the source of a really horrible, sulfurous stench for nearly a week. Turned out to be a squishy moldy onion that I missed.

Ha! I used to drink flat root beer and flat Coke at room temp, back when I drank sodas more often. I thought it made it taste sweeter. Every now and then, I still do leave my root beer out for a couple hours before consuming!

Fruit. Cold fruit makes my teeth hurt. Drinking water. I forget where I read it and the specifics of it, but supposedly room/body temp water is better for you than ice-cold water.

Trifle Brownies or cookies Tiramisu Build-your-own ice cream sundaes, with a selection of tasty toppings.

We do this frequently, once a week or so. Usually when there's nothing interesting in the fridge and we're too tired to shop for groceries or if we're not home till late in the evening. For myself, I'll have brekky for dinner when the spouse is away. It's great because it's fast and unfussy. Usually, breakfast dinner is an omelette or frittata, maybe sausage or bacon, and a tossed salad. But other times we'll do the whole works - fried eggs, oatmeal, breakfast meat, pancakes, french toast, fruit, coffee, bagels (not all at the same time, of course!). Oh, and it's a great post-drinking after-partying hangover-preventer!!

This is timely! We've been having unusually hot weather this week, so this morning at work I put a couple jasmine green teabags in a plastic water bottle, poured cold filtered water on it, shoved it in the office fridge. It's been in there for about 3 hrs, I'm hoping it'll be ready in the afternoon when it starts to get really hot. A former co-worker used to brew gyokuro and sencha this way. She left it in the fridge overnight, and it wasn't bitter or oversteeped at all.

Canned beans & chickpeas - only because I can't be bothered to do beans from scratch Canned corn - for most applications involving corn off the cob Canned tomatoes - only for soups, stews, sauces, etc. Canned smoked oysters & mussels, anchovies, sardines - for the same reasons as Peter Eater above, I don't like them better, just differently! The other day I snarfed down an entire tin of smoked mussels by myself. There's been a lot of mention on canned green beans. Not ever having eaten these, what's the difference between "green beans" and "haricot verts"? I thought they were the same. I eat the fresh version regularly, and have always referred to them as "green beans".

Romer's Burger Bar took over the Pinkys space on 4th Ave & Cypress. Took a quick peek inside, it looks like an upscale sports bar. Menu is, of course, mostly burgers (around the $10 range). As they're open for lunch, I'll probably check it out in the next couple weeks.

My husband makes it out of a box and it's fantastic. He uses heavy cream + milk (instead of just plain milk) and throws in extra almond extract. I think that's the secret - a liberal pour of almond extract. He also claims that the brands from Taiwan are better than the Chinese ones (unfortunately, the name escapes me - will have to check). I guess technically the almond "tofu" that you get for dessert or at dimsum isn't really tofu, since it's made with dairy, not soy. Although you can buy almond-flavoured soft tofu dessert - tofu fah, as Dejah mentions - which is made with soy and tastes distinctly bean-y.

I prefer sucking prawn heads over shrimp heads. They're bigger, much more satisfying because you get more of that tasty red brain stuff. I believe the red stuff in shrimp/prawn heads is the same as in lobsters. Is that roe? And beware of sucking too vigorously, or you'll end up getting a mouthful of that squishy red digestive sac at the very top of the head - extremely unpleasant.

Glad you started this topic, zoe b! I'm a total bean-newbie & have been wanting to do crockpot baked beans for awhile, just never got around to it. Particularly interested in Canadian-style beans with the maple syrup. How do you adapt regular oven-baked bean recipes for the crockpot?

Looks like frangipane tart. Did it taste like almonds?

Italian bread soups - either ribolitta (bread & veg soup) or pappa al pomodoro (bread & tomato soup). Which reminds me that I've got a quarter of a stale baguette and two stale Portuguese buns fossilizing in the fridge - I guess pappa al pomodoro is on the menu this week!

Love 'em! I've only ever cooked them Chinese-style - simmered with soy, sugar, star anise, ginger, shao xing wine. Cooked gently until sticky and soft. With plenty of steamed buns to sop up the sauce. I believe this type of method & sauce is called "red cooked". I've also eaten them at a Portguese restaurant in a dish I think called "gozidal" (sp?). Simmered with potatoes and other pork parts.

I've had pear & gorgonzola gelato, but it was a little too gorgonzola-y for my taste. I've also eaten a balsamic vinegar gelato which I found delicious.

I've got a pile of these - cocktails, pasta, vegetarian, baking, general cooking.... Most of them from the bookstore bargain bin. I like them as a starting point for meal ideas, but seldom follow the recipes faithfully (actually, the baking ones I bought on a whim for the pictures - I'm doubtful on the integrity of the recipes themselves). I figure if the books don't work out, they'll only set me back a few bucks or so.

I have a Salad Sac - essentially a terry cloth bag with a drawstring that you dampen, store lettuce and greens in, and keep in the crisper. It stretches the life span of lettuce for at least several more days. Works with herbs too (except basil - I have yet to find a way of keeping basil fresh longer than 30 seconds). Mind you, you'll need to remember to keep the bag dampened - which I tend to forget to do, resulting in decomposing lettuce smooshed into the cloth.....