Leah Kinsella
-
Posts
11 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by Leah Kinsella
-
-
well well well... try having gout as a 21 year old woman
not so pleasant either.I have tried every trick in the book.... every trick and nothing has worked except two things which I had just slipped upon
1.) NO TIN FOODS... it is incredible, i still eat meat now and again, i still enjoy my red wine every other night, and lets not forget salmon... mmm so yes, no tin foods is a must.
2.) My recent trip to Sri Lanka was life changing. We went to organic farms where they showed us what cardamame, peppers, pineapples, mango etc are used for.
They offered me this bottle of PURE honey with cardamame and citrus... It was special for Gout... this was two years ago, I took it for three months and I haven;t had an attack since.
Anywho, flushing out your body is incredibly important. Now and again i feel my toe ache and I know I have to pound back a few ltrs of water in 1 hour... and it works... i stay away from all tin foods and eat meat once a week... try eating Cherries as well. they are a natural healer
Good luck and welcome to the life of Gout
As a tall, poorly coordinated individual with a liking for strong drink and bare feet, I am not altogether unfamiliar with the way a toe or two feels the morning after having been smashed against something the night before, a door-jamb while on the way to the cellar for another bottle, perhaps, or a bit of baseboard while journeying to the kitchen for something cold from the fridge: that sear when you role over and smush the toe(s) against the mattress, the colorful bruises encircling a joint or two, the pointless trip to the doctor where he says "yup, it's broke," tapes the toes together and advises you to wear hard-soled shoes for a while. But I was mystified by this one. I'd been on a belated "get-in-shape-for-summer" program and living entirely on food and water for days at a time, so it seemed odd that I couldn't remember the cause of the searing pain at the base of my big toe.Whatever it was, walking around on it -- limping, actually -- didn't seem to make it any better and so, at the pleading of my wife I wandered into the emergency room about 7 AM last Saturday morning (a surefire way to beat the usual mobs of bleeding and/or unconscious emergency room victims to whom triageurs might assign a higher priority than your toe) and hobbled out with a diagnosis of gout.
This shit hurts. More than that it's inconvenient -- it makes everything from cooking dinner to walking to the bus stop a pain in the ass foot. It also sounds stupid --it's not like I'm some French lord living on foie gras and caviar. Try saying "I can't, I have gout" to someone with a straight face.
And worse, it's messing with my dinner -- no meat, fish, poultry, tofu [!] or booze, at least for as long as the outbreak lasts. Gout is indeed caused by one's diet, and it's not only sweetbreads and rognons du veau which are to blame. Apparently all meats, but especially red meat, and even that demon spinach are high in the feared purines, which elevate the level of uric acid (ick) in the bloodstream which then cause little deposits to form on your toe joints after which, depending on the direction you're counting, that last little piggie does indeed cry "wee wee wee" all the way home.
So, my question: anybody out there ever had this? Any tips for speeding the healing process? Do Quercetin and B-5 work? Is there a "safe" level for meat? How does one diminish the odds of a recurrence without living like a vegan?
Any tips or amusing stories appreciated.
-
I'm having a problem getting my creme brulees (cremes brulee ?) perfect. The custard is smooth, but when I bake it, some of the portions develop a soft, foamy top that I don't like. Is there a trick to getting a smooth, firm top ? The two things I suspect I'm doing wrong are:
1) Beating the custard with an electric beater rather than a whisk. The surface gets foamy, but I skim all the foam off. Still, I wonder if using a whisk, at least when adding the cream to the egg mixture would reduce foaming.
2) Amount of water in the bain marie. Could it be that I don't enough (or that I have too) water ? I fill to just below the top of the custard in the ramekins.
Anyone ?
- S
You want enough water in the Baine Marie to cover the same amount of liquid (approx) in the glass, but make sure the water in the Baine Marie is already boiled. And if you getting a lot of foam, I would either suggest finding a new recipe or use a whisk and stir gently, just enough to mix the ingredients and that is all
Middle rack, good idea. If at any point the top turns a little to dark for your likeing, TIN FOIL If none of this works for you, rest the baked dish in the fridge for 24 hrs, it will set.
-
I'm curious, is the kitchen japanese(in Burgundy?). I did apprenticeships in both Paris and Fukuoka and Kurume Japan, I learned much of my french while in Japan,go figure. I'd say go with your french except when refering to a japanese dish, method, or moment. Even if they are japanese in France, they speak french.
haha is the kitchen Japanese? Well, we do have quite a few people from Japan who work in the Kitchen, and yes they do stpeak French (very little ). The food is aboslutely amazing!!!
There isn't one plate that is athentically JUST JAPANNESE OR FRENCH, they both are intertwinded to create fusions (of course).
They speak a lot of Japanese in the Kitchen as well... the Exect. Chef/Owner studied in Japan for many years, and he is fully capable in speaking Japanese... so he does. haha It's kind of odd actually.
How long were You in Japan for?
I was in Kurume and Fukuoka, Japan for 2 years, working at a hotel and 2 satelite restaurants. I also found everyone to be more receptive to me as long as I made the effort. Losing the self consciousness and not worrying about grammar and all that made it easier to communicate. In Paris, I had the same experience, the more I stumbled thru my french, the more they stumbled thru their english. It was funny at times as would occasionally command in english, I would respond in french, or I would ask in french and they would respond in english. Good times, and good luck.
wow! what an experience. What make you want to go to Japan?
Its been almost a month here in Pernand. I had a one week streak of sanity! My Garde Manger left a week ago, leaving me as "Garde Manger"... I swear I work my ass off, but for some reason, it feels like it's getting harder to ask questions, be personal and above all, try to explain myself and what I am doing and WHY... shit. I can;t believe how strainging it is. I can cook, just not in a French kitchen. haha I love cooking, but are internships really this brutal? Humiliating? and I'm not learning ANYTHING but being able to handle the Exec. Chef tell me "ca c'est pas common a faire!"... ahah my God.
DId you honestly have a hard time in Paris!!!???? I'm going through so much coffee and Ginseng to keep me going man.
-
I found when I first moved to France that the only way to do it is to do it! You'll find that the French become very helpful in helping you when you just try to speak a language. You also probably find that many of them actually can speak English (probably quite good) but just don't want to. The more you trying to speak French the more open they will become with you and probably will start speaking some English.
Of course I'm sure you've found that the French you learned isn't the French they speak!
and how true you are
I think when you finally become comfortable with a language (whether it being 100 % or not) others seem to open up with their capabilities in languages.
Just yesterday, I went for a few drinks, nervously trying to spit out whatever it was I had to say and once I stopped "thinking" about what I wanted to say, it rolled.. funny enough, the two guys started asking me questions in English and clearly not very well but the point is, why wouldn't they try speaking English with me before?
If others only knew how difficult it is to JUST THROW yourself in there, then the Culinary World would be a much happier place. ahahah I think we should all throw ourselves in and no matter how difficult it is, it's the Culinary Adventure that gives up the thrill to keep going... isn't it!
-
I'm curious, is the kitchen japanese(in Burgundy?). I did apprenticeships in both Paris and Fukuoka and Kurume Japan, I learned much of my french while in Japan,go figure. I'd say go with your french except when refering to a japanese dish, method, or moment. Even if they are japanese in France, they speak french.
haha is the kitchen Japanese? Well, we do have quite a few people from Japan who work in the Kitchen, and yes they do stpeak French (very little ). The food is aboslutely amazing!!!
There isn't one plate that is athentically JUST JAPANNESE OR FRENCH, they both are intertwinded to create fusions (of course).
They speak a lot of Japanese in the Kitchen as well... the Exect. Chef/Owner studied in Japan for many years, and he is fully capable in speaking Japanese... so he does. haha It's kind of odd actually.
How long were You in Japan for?
-
Every Monday I find my fridge looking completely empty.
Every Monday I tend to make the best dinner throughout the week (due to a minimul amount of food and having a creative mind)
Filet de Salmon, Fond de Crevette and a wild mushroom / fiddlehead cream melange...
Sliced my Salmon very thin. Then cooked some risotto in the Fond de Crevette and mixed it with the wildmushroom and fiddlehead cream mixture... then! just wait, THEN for desert, I cooked some rice (4 minutes in water, drain, then 4 minutes in milk). Blended the rice with some pan toasted muslie, rolled it out onto parchement paper, very thinly and covered it with parchement - popped it in the oven on low and let it for a few hours... boom.... delicious, serve some ice cream if you have some, or just fresh bananas.
-
-
After finishing 3 months of Culinary Education in Cap D'Agde, Languedoc Roussillion, I was fortunate enough to get a Stage in Burgundy at a 1 Michelin Star restaurant.
Le Charlemagne is half Japanese and half French cuisine... let me tell you, after killing myself with French Vocab for three months, I really should have learnt Japanese.
It is quite interesting, I thought I knew enough to get by, but once I got in a Michelin Star Restaurant, where NO ONE speaks a word of English my love for food became a nervous humiliation.
I can't seem to get make myself to talk to anyone or get inspired. I love this industry with all my passion. From running a restaurant, cleaning dishes for 10 hours and most of all being in the middle of Dinner/Lunch rush. For some reason, I feel so nervous being in a place where I can't express myself properly to others, let alone understand whats going on around me!!!!
If anyone has experienced this odd humiliation... advice!!!????
-
Learnt French, Japanese Mousse, TUILLES (which I honestly had to do a good 9 times to get the perfect consistency) and most of all, working very FAST!!!
-
or do others find it incredibly cheesy when the server comes to your table with the rediculously big pepper mill and puts it on your food for you, do you tip more because of this? is there an expectation from them? just curious, i do however enjoy having something cooked at my table though
I have already tried burning that God awful "thing"
Truthfully, there is no reason for it. If there is s and p already on the table... then there is no point.
The food that the customer orders should already be perfectly seasoned. If not, they will ask for more seasoning... but please, whomever reads this, please do me a favor and try your best to burn that "thing"!!!
Truffle storage
in Cooking
Posted
ABORIZO RICE!!!
Grab a large container, fill about 3/4 with rice, and store your black truffles in there.... its great and keeps them fresh for a long time.
Don't worry about mold, sounds grose but it is fungus anyways.