Marlene

Did you ever have one of those days, where you should have just stayed out of the kitchen? Draw near gentle readers, and I'll tell you a story. (Of course I considered just saying, I didn't have time, etc etc) but really one must share the bad with the good. Sigh. I just knew the day wasn't going to go well once I began my third batch of pastry for pie, in less than an hour. Those of you who know me, know that pie pastry is not my forte. However, I'd bought raspberries, and Ryan really really wanted a raspberry pie. Snowangel assured me that I couldn't go wrong with Julia Child's recipe for pastry. Of course! Julia makes even pastry idiots like me look good! Thus assured, I set out. Alas, I have failed Julia. I'd say Julia failed me, but I'm quite sure there is nothing wrong with her recipe. Its the hands the recipe was in. It didn't work for me. I tried it twice. Each time I got the requisite streaks of butter and shortening. But I couldn't roll it out. I tried, I really did. I had lots of flour on the board and on the pin. Oh, and lots on me. I finally dug out my recipe that I use when making Rustic Tarts. I'd had success with that one, and really, pastry is pastry, right? I should be able to use this recipe for a pie instead of a tart. The dough rolled out beautifully, and I (awkwardly) managed to get the bottom crust into the pie dish, poured the raspberry mixture in and rolled out a top crust (yes, snowangel I know, but Ryan won). When it came out of the oven, I have to say, it didn't look that bad. It wasn't fancy. (I can't flute to save my life), but it looked presentable. Unfortunately, it wa sort of soupy inside: It was however, very good. Just a little runny. Oops. By this time, I was frazzled, but I figured how hard can fried fish be? Batter it up, fry it, eat it. Right. I'd done very well at getting everything ready ahead of time. (by the way the quality of some of these pictures sucketh. I'm using my son's camera which is way different than mine. Just another shining example of my day). I'd cut the potatoes up for fries ahead of time and soaked them in ice water. I'd made the batter and let it rest: R2D2 was loaded with oil and ready to go: Have I mentioned that one of the reasons I don't cook fish is I can't stand the smell of it, raw or cooking? Nothing is guaranteed to make me run the other way faster. I opened that package of fish, and I was ready to pack it in. I should have. Trust me. And thus I began. I used Alton Brown's recipe for fish and chips. His recipe calls for frying the potatoes first in oil heated to 320 until the potatoes are soft and floppy. Then take them out and cool them while heating the oil to 375. So I did that. Don't they look floppy to you? Once the oil is heated, toss them back into the deep fryer and cook until golden. Ok, so one or two are slightly more than golden, but it just adds to the charm of home cooked don't you think? I sprinkled them with salt and held them in a 200 degree oven. AB calls for the fish to be dredged in cornstarch then dipped in the batter. (There's that cornstarch thing again). Then put them into the fryer until the batter has "set". (what exactly does that mean, dear Alton?), then turn them. Oh oh. This is where I ran into my first major dificulty. I tried to turn them, and they wouldn't budge. They were stuck fast to the bottom of the basket, and nothing I could do would dislodge them. So I held my breath, lowered back into the oil and prayed that not turning them wouldn't count against me. When they looked like they were done, (purty aren't they?) I took them out and futilely tried to pry them from the basket. Nuh uh. No way, no how were they comin lose. I turned the basket over and discovered why. The batter had seeped through the holes in the basket and fried itself shut. Effectively sealing my fish to the bottom forever: I did finally get them out, but it wasn't pretty, and they're purtiness was kind of destroyed. I suggested to Ryan that the local pizza place or the local fish and chips place was probably still open. My son has beautiful manners. Although I could see the doubt in his face, he insisted that we try these anyway. And so we did.: They actually weren't bad taste wise. And of course we had to finish off with a little raspberry soup. Disguised with whipped cream, who can tell? So the food was great, the method sucked. Next time, (don't hold your breath), I'll do this in a deep dutch oven, which AB suggests anyway, Duh. The fish obviously needs to free float in the oil, because it will stick like a sum a bitch to anything it can get it's little battered fingers on. There's something to be said for letting the experts do their thing. When I want fish and chips, I think I'll drive to my local fish and chips place. When I want pie, I should visit a bakery. Sigh.

The island we built in our kitchen seems to have become the catch all dumping grounds for school books, bills, husband's keys etc. I'm constantly having to clear it off to use the surface for what I intended it for. Prepping. and we even have a desk behind the island that people can dump stuff on, but they never doo. My biggest beef is that he never closes a kitchen cupboard door. One of these days, someone's going to walk right into one.

The key is time spent together. It doesn't have to be at the dinner table, and given the amount of activities kids seem to be involved in today, that's just not always feasible. But we play board games together, ride our bikes together and even at 13, Ry and I still read together in the evening. Families of course should eat together when they can. That's where table manners, the art of carrying on a conversation etc are well learned. But I don't think that families fall apart if they don't eat together every night, as long as your child is getting quality time with you somewhere.

Robin Hood makes an instant blending flour that comes in a shaker can as well as by the bag. I think it is the equivalent of Wondra. It is usually in the same aisle as the other flours. ← That I have. I was actually trying to find it on their website last night, but they don't list it. I use that often for gravies and sauces.

With the Alton Brown recipe. Chill the dough for half an hour. At that point it has firmed up enough to scoop into balls., but it's not so firm as to be unworkable. Scoop the balls and chill again until ready to bake.

Thanks for clearing that part up. I'm not sure that I've seen Wondra here in Ontario though.

I'm very partial to Brie. For after dinner with port, a stilton is great. And I've been known to shave a good parmegiano reggiano wafer thin and eat it on crackers. Balderson's 7 aged 7 year cheddar is a nice tangy cheese that we really like as well. The Whole Foods that recently opened here is very dangerous for me. They have an amazing cheese section, including a cheese aging room.

I doubt if I'll find beef fat between tonight and tomorrow night's dinner. I will search around for it though. Ok, guys, I'll bite. What's an Orly-style batter? And what's Wondra?

Interestingly, some recipes call for cornstarch and some dont. What's the purpose of the cornstarch?

How about tips for raspberry pie filling? I picked up some gorgeous raspberries today, and I'd like to try my hand at a raspberry pie tomorrow.

That sounds about right. There's a great fat cap on it. I'll get a picture of it later and put it up so you can see what I'm talking about

I have two sets of the melamine mixing bowls and I use those the most often. I also have a set of the pyrex nesting bowls, though mine are light brown, and they are about 20 years old. I'd like a set of stainless mixing bowls as well, particularly a really big one for mixing potato salad etc in.

For the record, there were no eggs in the potato salad at the pig pickin. Not because I was adverse to putting them in, but we already had so many devilled eggs, that we didn't think we needed to add eggs to the salad too. I think it was a success.

Now why don't they have online butcher stores like that here in Canada? It's really not fair. I picked up a whole brisket today, except it sort of flat. Looking at snowangel's I don;t think it's supposed to be is it?

I picked up some lovely (at least they look lovely to me) halibut filets today. I will take pictures just as soon as my son arrives with his digital camera tomorrow, since my camera is currently in Honk Kong! The lady was very helpful. She trimmed them and took the skin off the back for me, so I should be all set.

I've got bay leaves, tarragon, parsley, (two kinds), oregano, thyme, rosemary, sage and chives. Can I freeze them all?

Oh yes. In regular and BBQ. I actually like the BBQ Pork Shake and bake for Chops and the Extra Crispy Original Shake and Bake for chicken.

This is all good. I mentioned to my son tonight at music lessons that I was planning on performing this experiment. I'm now under instructions to wait until he arrives on Sunday. So Sunday it shall be. I'll do my best to take pics. Regular corn oil for frying?

Yes but snowangel, you revel in power tools and stuff. I'm going to thirdly oppose halogen, even for under cabinet task lighting. The house I have now has halogen potlights and under cabinet halogen lighting. As Anna says, they generate a ton of heat. So much so, that I almost never turn on my under cabinet task lighting. (They tend to melt the butter if you leave it under them!) IKEA is a great idea for funky and affordable lighting. In fact , this funky lighting might have come from there.

I've used Mrs. Dash on occassion. Shake and Bake. Hershey's chocolate sauce for sundaes chocolate sprinkles for decorating Definately frozen peas and sometimes frozen corn in the winter. And Montreal Steak Spice works on just about everything

I don't eat a lot of fish (read almost never), but the one thing I do enjoy is battered halibut from my local fish and chip place. Being on my own this week, I'm inspired to try replicating this dish in my home, but I'm not quite sure where to start. The batter? What kind? Deep fryer or stovetop frying? And last but not least, my stupid question for the day. Is halibut boneless usually when you buy it? If not, how do I get the bones out and how can I tell whether the fish is fresh? Ok, ok, I'm a fish virgin.

I'm sorry, there's nothing you can do with it, so you should just send it to me to dispose of for you. Use it in braising, for sauteing the veggies etc. Use it definately for frying or roasting potatoes. Melt some in a shallow baking dish, sprinkle a little kosher salt over the potatoes and roast. You'll think you've died and gone to heaven. Definately for gravies.

What??!! Goodbye, written recipes?? Hello, experience ... ← Nevah will I give up my precious recipes. Nevah!

Correction. Dave made the casserole. I just followed instructions. It was good. I'm not a squash lover, but it was a great dish. I will try this for my own family. The potato salad was simplicity itself. A mustard mayonnaise, some green onions, some chopped celery, a little dash of celery seed, and voila. Probably the biggest thing for me this weekend was that I learned to do so much more by touch and taste than I've ever done before.

I can second the losing weight over the last 5 days. I was a little surprised as I expected to gain a couple of pounds! I'm going out for dinner, so I can keep up this other people cooking for me concept. Chinese sounds awful good for tomorrow night though!