FauxPas

So true and one reason why I never buy the stuff. I either use fresh or canned tomatoes and maybe a bit of paste here and there. And occasionally if I need a plain tomato sauce, I just add water to tomato paste.

Maybe that's because you are steaming them. Over to you, weinoo!

I thought that the green relish was for hot dogs and that real Canadians used this (pic below) for burgers. Maybe with a bit of mayo. My husband and I get a craving for this stuff every now and again and we have not been able to find it in the parts of the US where we live/visit/stay. Next time we go down, we'll either take a jar with us or I'll have to find a recipe! Picture from the Bick's site: http://www.bicks.ca/products_sub.aspx?pid=39

The Mutti is a type of tomato paste, Just not sure whether double or triple concentrate is closest to North American.

If you have a can of tomato paste, you can use it as a substitute for tomato sauce. You can just add water - for a 156 mL can, I would add about 250 mL water or to your desired thickness. Then just add a bit of extra seasoning to the recipe. Or here are some more precise suggestions: http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/fresh-ideas/dinner-food-facts/substitute-tomato-paste-for-tomato-sauce.htm You could also purée canned tomatoes to make sauce-like. Depends how fussy your recipe is, really.

River Café at Prince's Island Park used to be one of my favourites. I liked the location and I liked the way they sourced their food and wine. The in-house bakery. Seasonal menus. Here's the link to their menus: http://www.river-cafe.com/food_wine/menus/dinner

I really want to know what is in each of those containers! Looks lovely. Can't wait to hear more on this topic and others. Thank you for sharing!

it's great fun to go shopping with you! Is there a condiment/pickle type area? Curious to see that. How many varieties of mango do you get? Would this store be considered pricey or upscale?

When someone is acting, they say "break a leg" to encourage a good performance. I really am not sure about saying "break a tooth" to encourage a good food blog. Though perhaps the underlying sentiment is the same - you DON'T actually do the thing you are being told. All this is my long and tedious and confusing way of saying that maybe we should tell you to 'break a tooth' and then maybe you won't, next time, if you know what I mean.

I really enjoy seeing your posts on such a variety of topics and appreciate the time you take to do photos, make links, etc. Your Sundance link took me to a Kansas horse farm, though. I wonder if this is the right one?: http://www.sundancenaturalfoodscompany.com/ Citrus growing is interesting to me. We have a very good local grocery chain here on Vancouver Island which has contracted with Buck Brand organic citrus in California and now buys their entire crop. We are still getting some of their fruit but it feels in-between seasons to me. There are better grapefruit than oranges, currently, for example. I have grown some citrus at our place in southern Arizona - Ruby red grapefruit, Cara Cara orange and tangerine. But it's a bit tricky there - summers are so hot and winters can be cold. We lost some of our early trees. I know you grow herbs, maybe veggies, do you have fruit/nut trees yourself? Here in BC, I have a few hazelnut trees and it's a battle to get them before the deer and the raccoons do. Also, apple trees all around. All these things are wonderful in salads, as well as cooked dishes. And yes, that CSA box looks delish! We have several farm markets here, nothing is more than 10 mins away, so we go to them. But for urban living, your situation is heavenly! And once again, I love seeing your posts and all the wonderful things you do with the bounty you have available!

And make sure all your cherries and olives are pitted! :-)

There's not much cooking involved in it (and it's not a very sophisticated cocktail), but I did make the Rhubarb-Gin cocktail referenced in my earlier post. I'm not crazy about thyme, so used some fresh rosemary instead. The rhubarb salt is lovely though it took a long time to dry. And, to be honest, it just tastes like salt - there's not much rhubarb flavour to it. The finished cocktail is pretty, but again, not a lot of rhubarb flavour. Then again, the only rhubarb I could get was at the very end of the season so maybe fresher/younger would be tastier! I still have a few stalks of rhubarb left and I'm toying with the idea of trying a rhubarb-cherrry sauce, but I suspect the cherries would overwhelm the aging rhubarb. I do have some cherries to use up though, so might just make it for that reason. Cherry, onion, rhubarb, balsamic vinegar. Maybe served with a pork tenderloin.

Ha, looks like great fun! Did it pass the Kira taste test? And how is your tooth? Hope the dentist visit worked out well.

Have you ever tried Victoria Gin? Made just north of Victoria, BC, it seemed to get some good reviews when it was first released and I know it is carried in some LCBO stores. It is pricey, though. I enjoyed it, but I am not a cocktail specialist, by any means! Here is the link. Scroll down for the link to the 'wild-gathered and organic botanicals' that are used: http://www.victoriaspirits.com/our-gin/

FrogPrincesse, these last few salads look so lovely. Where did you get your tomatoes? I hope they tasted as good as they looked! What dressing did you use for the golden beet and orange salad just prior to this one? And wondering where you obtained the Valencia oranges that were so tasty. I have some golden beets to make use of and I like the idea of oranges with them, but it's not really citrus season right now.

So glad you visited this place, and the food looks lovely, as does the restaurant exterior and interior. Love that paint colour they used, so Caribbean in feel. (Though sometimes I see this shade used as a 'Taos blue' although I always think of that colour as having more blue in it, a bit less green.) Is that the habanero sauce in your first pic - a couple of bottles on the counter table at the back/side wall and maybe another on the table in the foreground - yellowish-brown in colour? Was it hot? Is that a display cabinet along the sidewall or does it contain items for sale? Hard to see what is in there - spices, maybe?

When you say 'ongoing', does that mean you will be spending lots of time in SF in the near future, by any chance?

How much is it shrinking? Is it just falling a bit? I hope it's not going flat!

I love a bit of rhubarb also but not sure there is any local stuff left. One of the farm markets had some leftover bits and pieces a few days ago, but probably gone by now. I will check. One thing I liked was making a rhubarb simple syrup - rhubarb, water and sugar - and then use it with gin or vodka. David Ross, your infused vodka sounds lovely! I wanted to try a few different rhubarb cocktails and didn't get around to it but many good starting points on the Web. One thing I really like is this idea of making a rhubarb salt for the rim of a cocktail! Margaritas would work! http://darlingmagazine.org/rhubarb-thyme-gin-cocktail/

I hope it's OK if I try to answer this question - basically the steam oven is a braising environment, as it already has the steam that you are trying to create with the methods you mention. You don't need to cover the braised dish while in the steam oven, as the oven is generating the steam and you want it in contact with the food. You can also use more varied containers, you don't need a heavy braising dish.

I also love the steam oven for steam-baking veggies (tomatoes steam-baked at 425F were fabulous) or just steaming them. I want to keep trying new ones. Bake-steamed chicken is the one that really won me over. Seafood with steam or steam-bake, though I have mostly done salmon. Baking eggs is tricky for me, I seem to keep overcooking the eggs but want to keep playing with that. I like the shirred eggs idea. Also, want to try the slow-steamed tamales recipe from the cookbook. Braised dishes are great in steam-bake mode and I love the idea of being able to cook some of these things on warmer days without worrying about the big oven generating a lot of heat. It was warm enough to run the A/C the other day but I would not have been averse to say, steam-roast a chicken or steam-bake some ribs. Would love it if you two were able to play with some of these options, or others! Also, although leftovers take longer to heat in the steam oven, I find the texture so much better that I don't mind the wait. I hate the dry edges that can result from reheating in the microwave.

Ow, hope you can get that tooth taken care of OK. And hope it doesn't affect your ability to eat and enjoy yourself! At first, I 'liked' your last post but then it sounded as if I liked that you had broken a tooth, which of course I don't. So I 'unliked' the post, which feels unfriendly. Sigh.

There's a thread here on it: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/146617-cuisinart-combo-steamconvection-oven/?hl=%20cuisinart

Nice to see the Cuisinart mentioned!

I'm with Anna and Smithy, I have cooked beets on the BBQ and I always wrap them in foil first and then basically use the BBQ to bake them (indirect heat). I try to buy beets with tops, cut the greens off leaving an inch or so of stem attached and then rinse them well and wrap in foil. There is usually a bit of water left on them to help with steaming but sometimes I might add a tiny bit of olive oil and/or balsamic vinegar. If they are small, I will wrap several together.