Okanagancook

I haven't looked at this thread at all until today because I have become enlightened about Parmesan cheese aging. I was reading the "larder" portion of The Del Posto cookbook about the different ages of Parmesan........NOW I understand.......a couple of years ago we were in Oregon or perhaps it was Washington state and had a wonderful dinner at a small family run Italian restaurant. Everything we had was exception including the grated Parmesan they served. I just could not get over how good it was, like no other Parmesan I had ever had.....I put it down to how fresh and moist it was. But now I think I was served an aged Parmesan. So, if you don't already know this there are four ages with different names, from Del Posto: Giovane is a minimum of 12 monthsVecchio is more than 24 monthsStravecchio is minimum of 36 monthsStravecchione is extra mature at least 48 months I am going to try and track some of these ages down but I'm not that hopeful seeing we live in the sticks :=(( Has anyone experience with these ages?

Got mine from City Chef Kitchenware for $123 shipping in. http://citychef.ca/xcart/customer/home.php?cat=450

Dang it. Just ordered myself an 11 inch de Buyer Mineral B pan. I want to replace my teflon coated pan with the de Buyer.

Shain, that cauliflower looks really inviting. I think I will make some tonight seeing I have some cauliflower in the fridge.

Wowzers! Absolutely brilliant. So many items I have no clue as to what they are. I wish we had 'internet-smell" capabilities. How long did you spend at the market? Thank you for sharing your adventures, much appreciated.

For US residents only

Where is your main prep space going to be? I am wondering if that spice pull out should go somewhere else....if you are prepping to the right of the stove then you have to move way over to get your spices rather than having the spice pull out closer??? Bottle storage (soy sauce, vinegars, oils, etc.): These can be awkward to retrieve from a wall cupboard especially if you have a lot of them as I do. When I designed my kitchen I had a tall drawer divided into four compartments and I stand my bottles up. I have oils in one, Chinese bottles in another, vinegars in the third and miscellaneous stuff in the forth. After awhile you can recognize the one you want by the top :-). Not sure you have room for that. Will the cupboard under the convection/microwave have pull out shelves....the bottles could go there? Or are you putting them in that spice storage pull out? When I sat down with my designer I had an idea about where all my equipment would fit as well as spices, bottles as above, tea, coffee, tea pots, etc. What are you planning on storing above the fridge? Maybe some bakeware or trays could go up there? So think about where you want your equipment, etc. and how you work in your kitchen. Here is a picture of my bottle storage.

The microwave is big. Do you really use it according to the space it occupies? it needs to be a well thought out space seeing it appears small.

We Canadians have so many world class places to visit. A trip to the Maritimes is on our list so maybe we shall occupy one of your lovely looking rooms! welcome to a wonderful international food loving group.

I used this book last week to make the turkey thighs and squash. Delicious!

I have two jowls that I treated using this recipe hanging in my garage, working on week two! Such a coincidence i had to order them from my butter. They make smoked jewels which are good but not the same. i call jowls fat streaked with meat! Ha, ha

As a non-southerner, I appreciate the recommendations for leftover pulled pork. i have done only three or four pulled porks and love them but we need visitors in order to justify the amount of meat it makes.

Nice bark on the pulled pork.

The smells from the street must have been awesome. So much variety! Thanks for taking the time to post your adventures!

bloody hell

Maybe there is more sugar in the commercial bread?

It sounds like the author is assuming a certain level of familiarity with this cuisine as you say. Maybe get another book of this cuisine with better instructions and cook with that until you feel confident enough to retry this book. You probably have come to this conclusion too.

That was a great deal. Wright's Copper Cream makes clean up very easy. I had a different copper cleaner before Wright's and it wasn't nearly as easy to use.

Aren't those copper pots amazing at making jam?! I have one myself and I bought one as a kitchen warming gift for a good friend who makes a ton of jams and jellies.

Interesting regarding mothers clipping newspaper recipes. I have a couple of little Rotus-like little books that my mom used to keep her clipped recipes in. Most are for cookies, squares and the like seeing that's what she loved at 4 pm with her tea...we are British. I have a binder with the same kind clips except for savoury foods seeing that's what I tend towards.

In Charmaine Solomon's Complete Asian Cookbook section on Singapore she notes that the food is usually hot and spicy with ingredients found in Indonesian and Malay kitchens can be found in Singapore kitchens. There is no mention about the variety of chilies used by the powder would not be the blend you mentioned. When I cook these recipes I use dried chiles like cayenne. The few curry recipes in the collection use a typical combo of turmeric, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, along with soy sauce. i did make the chili sauce recipe which is fantastic. It contains 1/2 c chilli powder, 3 c sugar, 750 ml white vinegar, 375 g sultanas, 8 cloves garlic, 3 teaspoons salt, 1 tablespoon ginger. everything gets boiled until the sultanas are soft. Cool and blend. Process in water bath for 23 min. you could like google a Singapore curry mix. hope that helps.

Ground ancho chili, it's the bomb. I have to make my own but well worth it.

Not sure what kind of bread you had but a local bakery makes long fermented bread and our neighbour who is Celiac can eat it without symptoms. Here is a story about this http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/sourdough-breadmaking-cuts-gluten-content-in-baked-goods-1.2420209

Wonderful looking and interesting meals everyone! We had a curry feast last night. Basmati rice done in the IP; grilled lamb leg steaks; stuffed okra; stuffed baby eggplants; dahl; cucumber raita; curried shrimp; and long beans in a yogurt sauce. Lemon squares for dessert. There were loads of leftovers so everyone got a takeout container for today's lunch. I tried a couple of recipes from The Indian Family Kitchen and they turned out very nicely.

I am with you. I love cookbooks! I do cook from many but I am a little behind seeing I have bought quite a few this year. tomorrow I am giving The Indian Family Kitchen a work out. It is by Anjali Pathak, yes her family is responsible for the Pathak line of pickles and curry pastes.