ElsieD

Are you you eating this at Whalesbone?

I'm jealous. We won't see local berries until June.

Me neither.

To me it looks like an egg.

Atelier is not a very dressy sort of place. I have been there in slacks and felt quite at home. I have also been to Beckta in slacks although wearing a dressy top.

If it's fine dining you're after, I recommend Atelier. It is on Rochester Street, near Carling Avenue. They serve a 12 course tasting menu that is fabulous. The chef, Marc Lepine, has twice won the national Gold Medal Plates. Another spot is Beckta, which is on Elgin Street. Impeccable service, terrific food. if it's some other type of dining you're after, please post and I'll make further recommendations.

I will never again ask my husband to take charge of the Instant Pot. One day last week I decided to make lasagna and cook it in the IP. As I am looking after 2 little girls between 3:00 pm and about 7:45 pm it meant that I wouldn't get home until about 8:30. I said, "If I make the lasagna up before I go out, can you put it on at around 7:30". "No problem", he said. So I showed him what buttons to push and told him to pull the plug after it had finished its 20 minutes on high pressure. And away I went. I got home at 8:20 and saw that the plug had not been pulled and it was 23 minutes into the keep warm cycle. When asked why the plug had not been pulled I was told he didn't think it would be ready so soon. Oh well, I thought, the valve thingy had dropped so we could eat. With great anticipation as I was quite hungry, I opened the pot and peered inside. It was empty. He had forgotten to put the lasagna in there. "No problem" indeed.

This past week we have managed to eat another pork chop dinner, now down to 4 left. Also finished the last of the square sausage from a place called McVicar's in Stoney Creek. Since that place is a ways away and we don't get there often, we aren't in danger of stocking up on those any time soon. I also took 2 cooked packages of buttercup squash and made an incredibly easy soup. To the squash you add some chicken stock and heat through. I did this in the Thermomix. Add some salsa, salt and pepper, heat again and purée. Press through a sieve to get rid of any gnarly bits and thin with some cream or milk, whichever you prefer. Fast and delicious. I took out a smoked picnic shoulder which I will be cooking up tomorrow. That brings the number of those down to two. Unfortunately, as old stuff is coming out, new stuff is going in. I'm a sucker for the 50% off "enjoy it tonight" sales. A package of marinated pork chops, 2 racks of lamb and 4 pounds of bacon has been added to the freezer, My bad.

I'll give you my pointy-headed accountant's viewpoint. These recipes are your property and as such, they are an asset belonging to your business. If you were ever to sell your business, your recipes (and goodwill among other assets) are what you would be selling. If you have given these recipes away or sold them to another person(s) the value of your business has been diminished. I would explain it to them that way. They should be understanding of this because I would be surprised if they gave their recipes away for those same reasons.

Does this sourdough starter still look alive? It was started last Thursday.

I read that article n Saveur as well. Great story and I was so happy to read that family is doing so well. I went to their web site but it isn't up and running yet. When it is, I will be placing an order.

I tried making ANZAC biscuits once, maybe a year ago. I can't remember the source of the recipe as I deleted the recipe after making them. They were a dismal failure. Too bad, too, because I love oatmeal type cookies. It would be nice if someone could post a proven recipe. If that were to happen, I'd give it another go.

You can buy Driscoll's fruit everywhere in Canada, too.

Sounds like me, as I did this for years. Now I only buy local, in season strawberries.

I have a question about Napa cabbage. I have one in this fridge with just a bit of his head cut off which I used in something else. My usual cabbage for my corned beef dinner is Savoy. I would like to use the Napa up. If I use it in place of the Savoy what should the cooking time be relative to the potatoes and carrots? Thanks!

Tuesday night we had pork chops (only 5 more pork chop dinners to go!) with roasted carrots and smashed spuds. Yesterday we had a top sirloin roast (last one) with Yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes and squash (11 more to go). In the gravy went the last two veal jus cubes. We're getting there.

I finally got around to checking the temperature of the slow cook function of my two Instant Pots. I put 8 cups of cold water in each of them. The readings for the Smart Cooker were 202F on low, 212F on normal and 212F on high. Odd that both normal and high read the same 212F. The readings for the DUO 60 7in1 were 182-183F on less, 193-194F on normal and 202-203F on more. I would say that the Smart Cooker can only be used to slow cook on the low function and only if one would use the high setting on the DUO. I'm going to contact them and see what they have to say.

Bangers, Irish or otherwise, are hard to find here. When I first moved here, a loooong time ago, they were very common. Now they are as scarce as hen's teeth. @HungryChris. Those were great books, weren't they?

@scubadoo97. Sure would like to see a picture. When we were there, we went to Columbia Restaurant and had their Cuban sandwich which they claimed was authentic. They had the recipe on their web site for a while and we have been making them ever since. Please do describe Pipo's Cuban sandwich.

@Smithy. Thanks for the credit on the shrimp dish but that wasn't me who suggested it. It was Okanagancook. Looks good, I wish I had thought of it.

@chromedome. My sympathies on the loss of your father. A sad time.

Can you describe this dish at all?

Trader Joe's is selling Irish Bangers right now. They have a 5% rusk content.

@Smithy. Those are phenomenal shrimp. One of our local stores sell Mexican shrimp for $23 a pound. I have yet to try them as I have trouble shelling out $23 for a pound of shrimp. How much do they weigh?

One of the few times that Amazon is more expensive than the department store. In this case by almost $88.00.