haresfur

I deconstructed a belted galloway shoulder roast (I think shoulder - the poor thing had been through the wringer. My beef dude had told me that it should be roasted slow because of some tough tissue through the middle. Luckily he vac packed it because it went through refrigerator death, resurrection, and redeath then sat in my lab fridge at work (shh) until I got a replacement and then it sat at home for a while until I got around to cooking it). I cut out fat and anything that didn't look like meat, kind of unwinding it into a couple of thin pieces and a thicker one then into the sous vide at 58 C for about 2 hours. The thin pieces went into a stir fry and the thicker into the freezer. Nice cut. meaty but not too meaty and soft but not mushy. Maybe I'll turn the remaining bit into an odd-shaped beef wellington.

My DB will never again wrap a bamboo steamer up in plastic to keep 6 legged critters out after cleaning and seemingly drying (I hope). However we may have discovered new media for culturing fungi.

So you don't want to try something like these?

Went to The Dispensary here in Bendigo for an ok aviation. I would have cut way back on the Violette and bumped the lemon. Didn't recognise the Violette brand and forget what the bartender said, but she did say they could get a bottle for me. I told her that I might as well have them keep making the drinks, given how long it would take me to go through a bottle. The steamed soft shell crab buns more than made up form my fussiness regarding the drink.

Nice tray!

I planned blueberry waffles for breakfast, even though it turned out the berries were insanely expensive. Funny thing though, my DB is the master waffle-maker

There's a Cibo Matto song, White Pepper Ice Cream. I love the song so the ice cream must be good.

I'm a latecomer to being able to stand mashed potatoes. Baking instead of boiling is a new one on me. I thought one of the reasons to start boiling with cold water was to promote enzyme reactions and I wonder if this occurs in the baking. I usually boil a waxy variety with the skin on, drain and let dry as they cool some, then rice leaving the skin behind, and gently fold in sour cream. Butter - yuck.

I don't mind experimenting. It will certainly be drinkable if your substitution is close. If it is really different, you may find an even better drink. And in between, you will learn how to adjust amounts to get a balance you like.

Nothing too bopping. I chopped the end of my finger off while listening to the English Beat and prepping.

Death of the Fridge Campari over very soft lemon gellato.

I don't do the chill in my Search for the Perfect Parma. A sear in really hot rice bran oil seems to crisp the breading just fine without cooking the chicken further. Since I do the chicken at a 58 C, There is quite a bit of room for the surface to firm up a bit anyway.

I confess that I can't really tell the difference when I use Fees Barrel aged bitters instead of the equivalent non-barrel aged ones, so I'm a skeptic about the whole idea.

I just want to hug the round red one with the black smudge near the back (then cook something in it).

I cut through the tendons for domestic turkey and chook legs. The contraction helps keep the meat tender. The tendons pretty much dissappear from chicken legs, but even with that I had to cut the meat from the turkey tendons. I suppose whacking the ends of the legs would work as well - not as pretty but probably more fun to do.

One of my father's many strange but pretty innocent ones: He took us to a pre-Christmas special, more or less Victorian, meal in the upstairs of a beautiful old stone restaurant. The kind of affair where they sing the food in with carols, etc. The halls were decked with holly and the long wood tables had runners down the middle with ribbons and holly and scattered with decorative nuts. As we conversed, waiting for the meal to be served, he almost absent-mindedly proceeded to crack the walnuts loudly against each other and nibble on the nut-meat. Hey, they shouldn't put appetizers out if they don't want you to eat them, right?

Just remember to take it out of the sink where it is chilling and put into the fridge before you go to bed.

I suppose the mature way to deal with it would be to get up from the table, find someone in charge and quietly let them know things are going to heck. That would give them the chance to try to salvage the rest of the meal - a win-win (or perhaps a draw). It would also give them a chance to make financial accommodations if they see fit. But it would have to be really far below acceptable for me to think you could walk out without paying at any place.

He's a food critic. His job is to tough it out, wait for the wine glasses to be filled, and eat fancy food that may taste ok but doesn't meet expectations. It's rough but someone has to do it.

The price increase issue is an interesting bit of psychology. You can't eat a 2009 Per Se meal today, the old prices shouldn't really matter. Value for dollar can't increase forever, eventually you run out of people to screw out of their share. I suppose it is good to leave some room to improve, or at least make things different. But maybe as a place matures it needs to morph from the new and exciting to the trusted and true.

Almost sounds like the waitstaff don't like the no tipping policy. Except for the poor review of most of the food. But really the price increase isn't that far out of line with inflation since tip is now included, and probably in the noise since you shouldn't apply the same factor to all industries.

The plums were early and small this year, but we came across them at the farmer's market and made my father's plum cake.

This reminds me - Pottery 102: I said above that to make earthenware more waterproof, you have to glaze it. Not entirely true, these pictures illustrate that you can reduce water seepage by burnishing the pot. Clay particles are shaped like microscopic plates. Rubbing the surface of a pot with the ideal stone, a hard stick or the back of a spoon, aligns the clay particles with the flat sides along the surface so they form a barrier to water movement: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ The burnishing also makes the surface beautifully shiny and we tend to forget it is functional. You can also paint the surface first with a slip made out of pure very fine clay particles that the Romans called terra sigillata for an even shinier and waterproof surface. The Santa Clara, San Ildefonso Pueblo potters as well as some Mexican potters are masters at making shiny black pots. If you fire the pots too hot, the clay particles start to recrystalize and the terra sig loses its sheen. Bonus lesson: The Greek pottery painters painted in clay slips and then controlled the oxygen in the firing so precisely that the slip reduced to turned black while the rest of the clay remained oxidized and stayed red.

I'll eat flathead and chips in a restaurant since none of the fish and chip shops here have it. And better vinegar than "chicken salt". I suppose I'd eat restaurant fish and chips in England if that's what it takes to get them cooked fresh.

60 C (140 F), 1 hour Actually, I usually do 59 C (138 F) and maybe a bit shorter time. Not much difference, really.