ElsieD

The other side of this equation might be, "how did my freezer get so full"? I offer this: One of of our grocery stores had a really good price on boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but the last day of this special was today. John went and picked up two packages this morning and each package contained 5 breasts. He asked if I would like some more. I said sure and he said how money? I said 5. He came home with 6 packages, the 5 he thought I wanted and an "extra - just to be on the safe side". He thought 5 meant 5 packages. So that was 30 more chicken breasts in addition to this morning's 10. And here they are - I took the tenders off them and packaged them separately. We have just added 20 packages of chicken breasts and 6 packages of tenders to the freezer.

@Anna N. Mmmmm, that looks good!

An experiment to never, ever be repeated. It's like eating wallpaper glue.

Alrighty, I'm up for this. Just mixed together 1/4 cup old fashioned oats, yogurt, milk, added a rounded quarter cup of frozen berries and maybe a tablespoon of honey. Will report back in the morning. I'm hoping it won't have a gummy texture.

What kind of fruit is in there? In appearance it looks like a cake my mother used to make which was raisin based. She would boil the raisins prior to incorporating them into the batter. I hadn't thought of it in a long time until you posted this.

Smithy, I do what Anna does.

@Soupcon. Very nice. My starter of a few posts ago never did start so I threw it out. I have made a new one and we are on day 4 and it continues to bubble. Hopefully I'll have something to show for it.

Good news and bad news. The good news is that the freezer no longer contains any TJ's cinnamon raisin bread. The bad news is that we ate the last of the TJ's cinnamon raisin bread today.

It was the server.

The older I get, the less I eat at a sitting. There is a place we go to when we want a hamburger. They let me order the kiddie burger which is enough for me. I can't get through a 6 ounce burger and I don't like wasting food. Another time, another restaurant, I asked for a kiddie portion. They said no. I explained that I could not eat a full portion and that is why I wanted the kiddie size. They said no. I said I would happily pay the full adult price, it was simply a matter of not being able to eat it all and I didn't want to waste it. They still said no. We left without eating. We never went back and the restaurant itself closed some months later.

I would love to see a video on making panettone. As you can see, I have the key ingredient, Fiori di Sicilia.

@Anna N. Thank you. I will pre-sear these four strips and see how that goes. We will eat one likely on Tuesday and I will freeze the rest. They look lovely - I hope that they eat as good as they look. They certainly weren't cheap.

@Anna NI saw these a couple of weeks ago at Costco and bought a package which I packaged and vacuum sealed in sous vide bags and put into the freezer. After that, I went back to your post and saw that you seared them prior to cooking them sous vide. Today I was there again and bought a second package. My question now is, do you sear them and then cook them all sous vide and then freeze them? Or do you only pre-sear the ones you are consuming immediately after cooking them sous vide?

Thanks! I'll have to check it out.

I didn't know we had such a thing as a Japanese Dollar Store. Was this on Elgin?

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.