Okanagancook

Btbyrd, my brother keeps his poly science rig in the basement...much quieter. I love my poly science rig. It is large but very efficient. Great for dinner parties with six people. Had mine for about 8 years. Yes, much more expensive than the news ones and not as sleek looking.

He looks like a wee fellow, that cuc. Murdered before his time.

My favourite chicken curry is from the Foods of the World cookbooks. Made with chicken thighs. It has turmeric, cumin, coriander, fennel seeds, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, fresh coriander and garamasala then finished with lemon juice. Just made three litres of it to take to a pot luck.

Paul's Shrimp, Okra and Andouille Gumbo. Nice and dark! There is a whole lotta frying going on in this recipe.

I make my dumpling dough using the pasta rollers all the time. I would just do a tester for the thickness, I think I use #4 on my KitchenAid Rollers. Great idea. Love dumplings.

BLT, my absolute favourite sandwich and I see you used lots of crispy bacon and mayo!

Mystery plants in the compost bin! I think they are a squash, maybe hubard or perhaps butternut seeing that is what we ate last fall. Maybe I should murder a few of them....it looks like there are five in there.

Thank you all for your kind words. I'm still recovering.

Oh, they have several guardian angels here in Naramata. One gal in particular has been amazing. She lived in Turkey for a number of years teaching English as a second language. She has been very helpful educating us about their culture which is so different than ours. She has been at their house pretty well everyday for the past six weeks. We now have about seven people who volunteer to drive them into town for their appointments, etc...a 15 km drive each way. They just really need to learn English so the husband can work. Their government money has been delayed so the money from the event will really help us while we wait for the other funding. Even buying food has been an issue.

Forgot to mention that the wife came to help serve. She plated the hummus and ezme then served people their meatballs. She was a little shy but we insisted and it all worked out well. Deryn: We put most of the food in plastic bags undressed in my fridges...I have an all fridge and a regular fridge. It all just fit. The fruit I took down to the hall in the am and put it in their fridge.

The dinner was a resounding success. Everyone was raving about the food and when the plates come back licked clean you know they were sincere. Someone asked if this could be a monthly affair! Financially it was very successful and we have enough money now to bring the family's relatives here from Regina in a couple of weeks. That will make an enormous difference to their mental state of mind. The local wineries/distilleries and businesses were very generous in their donations with one winery donating a whole case of wine. Here is what we made:

Deryn: sorry for the late reply...was busy cooking. We ended up cooking whole chicken breasts and keeping them warm. We had 25 breasts and we ended up slicing them in half as we plated them. There is a picture coming up: topped with yogurt sauce. We cooked them in three batches and checked them frequently. We ended up doing all the prep at my house. I have a large kitchen. Monday I asked another volunteer to help me shop. Thank goodness. We had two large trollies full of groceries. Monday afternoon I made the dressings and spices; Tuesday three volunteers came over at 9 am and we worked until around 2:30 then drank wine :-); Wednesday we cooked the chicken, fried the onions for the Mojadara; fried the meatballs and cooked in the sauce; cooked the carrots most of the way through then we took it all down to the hall and set up. All in all I think 50 or so man-hours was spent on shopping and food prep. Then another 10 or 15 man-hours selling tickets, making posters; setting up, etc., etc.

Possibilities here are getting endless. Enjoy and would love to hear your feedback.

Well, we have a sold out fund raising dinner on Wednesday! Filled two shopping carts full of groceries today. Asked another volunteer to help me, thank goodness. It is a lot of work. Applied for a community grant at the local Superstore and were turned down. Very disappointed. We bought all the food there and we bring the families to shop there every week. Pooh. did four hours of mis en place today. Tomorrow I have three additional helpers including the wife from the family. Loads of chopping, etc to do. The local wineries have generously donated wine for raffling off and other donations from local businesses have been acquired. i will try and take some pictures at the dinner. all very exciting.

Oh , Lordie, Lordie!!!! You are killing me, oh just a minute, need to wipe the droole off my chin. They look so moist. How many hours did you smoke them? Great job.

Your wish is my command! we have been to the Rock Oven last year when they reopened. It had only been open a week or two. It was good. I would not rave about. The steak is apparently a rip off according to a friend who had it. $45. It is a beautiful spot. go to Lake Breeze and try to get there around or a little before noon so you get in. We were there last week and it was outstanding. in Naramata there are new owners of the cafe and they have breakfast stuff and lunch fare. Cannot say what it is like. They have been open a week. I got a regular coffee to go and it was way better than the coffee made by the previous owner. the Grapeleaf beside the cafe is excellent. Home cooking. Their hours are a little difficult to understand. Breakfast and lunch only. It is usually packed. went to Hillside Bistro at the winery twice in the past three weeks. It is very pricey. I had one good meal and one sinker. So you decide. many wineries have food now. Joie has a pizza oven, Red Rooster has a lunch service on the patio done by Bogners. Therapy have some kind of patio grill but I do not go there as I do not like their wine for some reason. I think it is because of the location of their vineyard.....in a frost pocket. Misconduct has a bistro which is apparently pricey with tiny portions. Bench 1775 which has the best view in the valley have picnic baskets and you can sit on the patio, drink wine and eat. Good wine also. the vanilla pod at poplar grove is worth going to just for the view and the great wine. It gets mixed reviews and I have had mixed experiences but it is really worth a visit for a snack and a glass of wine. in penticton Brodo is wonderful for lunch and if you want East Indian food Lashi is excellent. The Cellar Door is supposed to be good. I do not like Theos but it is consistent. The Bad Tattoo has good beer and pizzas, worth a visit.The Cellar Door and The Cannery bewery on Ellis are also good. be sure to visit our good friend at Deep Roots for a great story, nice people and pretty good wine...they won a Platanium for their Gamay last year at the All Canadian wine Awards. The view rivals Bench 1775. have not been to Gausthouse but hear good things about the restaurant, not the pub. We do not go out to eat in Kelowna much but my brother has been to Raudx a few times and he loves it but it is a pain because there are no reservations. we have been to Bouchons and it was excellent. Waterfront has a fantastic chef but I have not been there.. hope that helps. cheers and enjoy your trip if you have any questions when you are out here or if you want to pop round for a glass of wine on our deck overlooking the lake give us a call. 778-514-1587. Heather

Lobster and Champagne! What a concept!

The cookbook Zahav introduced me to tahini sauce. In his instructions he says this "The important step here is to allow the garlic and lemon juice to hang out for 10 minutes after blending but before adding the tahini. This step helps stabilize the garlic and prevents it from fermenting and turning sour and aggressive, which is the problem with a lot of tahini sauces." He uses garlic, lemon juice, salt, tahini, ground cumin and ice water to thin to your preferred consistency. He then uses this sauce in many of his subsequent recipes. So quite different from shain's thinner sauce. I found Zahav's sauce to be quite strong so I think I would prefer shain's version...will have to try it. Here is a link to the recipe: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/03/israeli-style-tahini-sauce-recipe.html In the June/July issue of Fine Cooking there is a recipe for preserved lemon tahini sauce, here: http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/preserved-lemon-tahini-sauce.aspx Says to thin the sauce with additional lemon juice and use as a dressing for green salads; serve as a dip for falafel or spread on lamb or veggie burgers. Great thread Thanksforthecrepes.

Thanks liuzhou. A heart warming read! Amongst the first things the family asked for were kitchen related: a meat grinder; a blender; and now she wants a mortar and pestle...a large one. The mother can cook quite well considering she is only 20 years old and already has two sons: a 3 1/2 year old and a 2 1/2 year.

That is totally awesome kayb. Every little bit helps. Here is the treasurer's address. Cheques can be made out to NCSRI which stands for Naramata Community Syrian Refugee Initiative. Cheques can be mailed to: Renee Matheson, Box #125, Naramata, British Columbia, Canada V0H 1N0

Tender little shoots from my New Zealand spinach plant.

Some thin cut steak with new potatoes, fiddle heads, mushrooms and corn. A little herb butter on the steak. The other dinner was dahl, rice, roast chicken, grilled radish and green onions both from the garden.

I have a fairly large stash of sesame seeds but they are not hulled (that's what happens when you send someone, not mentioning any names, to the Asian Store without clear instructions about what kind of sesame seeds to buy). Can I use them for tahini making? Or for the sauce I could just whiz them with the water? I have a dry grind jar for my Vitamix. Very interesting shain. Thanks for info.

thanks Lisa. I do have a thermapen so will do what you said. Sadly no RD near here.

Update: Fund raising dinner is set for June 1st which will be held in a little hall here in Naramata. Seats 44. We have the menu set: hummus and that spicy pepper dip from the dinner I did above accompanied by focaccia bread donated by a local bakery. Then some roasted chicken with middle eastern spices; tamarind meatballs; rice and lentils with the crispy onions; roasted dill carrots with goat cheese; and fattosh. A glass of wine made by locals who have a club called "Artisan Wine Makers of Naramata"....a bunch of 15 guys who grow their own grapes and make their own wine for their private consumption. Each one has donated two bottles so it should be a good 'wallet opener' for our raffle Fruit for dessert. Our little band of volunteers will make everything in my kitchen and take it down to the hall's kitchen for a buffet. We are now trying to get some donations from Superstore towards the cost of the groceries. I costed everything out (boy that was a chore...took me 5 hours) and we will make $25 per plate and then the raffle and any donations people can give. Should be fun and I shall try to take pics along the way. The Syrian mother is going to help us prep! The main focus of the fund raiser is to get enough funds to pay for the father's brother and his family to move here to Naramata from Regina in Saskatchewan. $1400 apparently. We have the house available. They are such lovely people. I was down at their house today and she said she and her husband spent 6 hours making these little dumplings made of flour and stuffed with ground beef, onions, garlic and parsley topped with yogurt. She even heated a few up in the microwave for me to try! I showed them how to make their own pitas to save money and apparently the father was in the kitchen this morning rolling out pitas...sweet. He is such good father. I was at the store today and they had small nice okra. Previously when she had been at the store the okra was too big and woodie. So I got her a bag of them and she had a big old smile on her face when I pulled them out of the bag. I asked her how she cooks them. Answer: onion, tomato sauce and meat. On the lamb front, they asked me again today about getting a whole lamb. The father's brother who is living in Regina got one and he killed it himself, with the throat slit. So they are asking can we do this too. I called my lamb farmer up the valley and asked if it was possible for them to come up and get their own lamb and kill it at the farm. To my amazement she said of course we can accommodate that BUT, and very firm on this, they have to be experienced at doing it. She has had a couple of bad experiences and doesn't want a repeat. Apparently, the father does have experience so I will have to explore that further but it looks promising. They would share the lamb with the three other Syrian families in the area. We would help them cut it up here seeing we have all the equipment. I've done loads of lamb butchers before and they probably have too. Such fun. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm just nervous cooking chicken...don't want to dry it out.