Okanagancook

I put my larger asparagus spears in the little steam oven on Super Steam for 13 minutes. Perfectly tender. Just a squeeze of lemon juice and some salt. Pure asparagus flavour.

Anna N that's the usual way I do my soft boiled eggs also....but the Food Lab's method, if it works as well, would be easier especially if one has guests. I'm going back to my simmer method.

I did a repeat this am. My 4 eggs weighed between 65 and 67 grams. I measured 2 quarts of water and put the water in a pot where the water came to within an inch of the top. Brought it to a boil over high heat. Took the pot off the heat put the 4 eggs in for 6 minutes with the lid on the pot. The yolks were perfect but again, the whites were slimmy and most certainly not "White is opaque, firm all the way through". So we left the other 3 eggs in there for another 2 minutes for a total of 8 minutes. The whites were better and the yolk was getting firm. But the whites were not as he describes in his 7 minute egg "White is fully cooked and as hard as that of a hard-boiled egg". Hum, so not sure what to think. As Anna N said above, one's idea of a soft boiled egg can differ and I am very sensitive to whites that are undercooked. I'd rather my yolk a little over for the sake of a non-slimmy white. When I make hard boiled eggs I use this method: Put the eggs in the pan, cover by two inches with water and put the lid on. Bring to the boil. Take off the heat and after 10 minutes plunge into ice water. The hard boiled eggs are perfect with the yolk only just done.

Two minute Mayo: I too have had some failures with that method but when it works, it's brilliant. Foolproof Soft Boiled Eggs: I must be a fool because these were totally not what was promised. Page 101: Chose the 6 minute egg: Description was "white is opaque, firm all the way through; yolk is warm and starting to firm up at the edges". I used cold eggs from the fridge and followed all the directions. The eggs were farm eggs, probably large sized. The white was slimy and runny. The yolk was just warm. I had to put the two unopened ones we had on the table back in the water for another four minutes and still the white was a little underdone for my tastes...less slimy but still not soft firm. Sheesh.

Ok, I shall look at our local garden stores but I doubt they have anything interesting. Maybe I'll just throw a few seeds that I got from the bulk barn in the ground and see what happens. Thanks.

They were pretty well perfect and not greasy but you could taste the duck fat. Another thing that amazes me is how much they shrink. I made three very large russets for the two of us and we had no problems finishing them off.

Last night was those oven baked frites in duck fat (again), roasted asparagus (which got over done waiting on the frites to be done) and stove top grilled lamb loin chops just with salt and pepper. Ketchup for the frites. It always amazing me how long the frites take to cook. I have a Codco convection oven which really blasts out the hot air and even so I had to raise the temperature to 570 F convection to finish them off before my asparagus turned to stone sticks. The potatoes were soft and cooked after 15 minutes at 425F convection, turned the oven up to 475F for 8 minutes then cranked it to 570F for 10 more minutes, then finally they started to dry out. I think next time I will partially cook them at 475F before the meal then finish them off at 570F. I will try that next time. I would like to serve them to guests but not with the uncertainty of the cooking times.

Great looking feasts Elaina. I have a question about the beans. Did you just plant some beans that you had purchased for eating? I would like to try that. Shelby, you are the SV Queen of stuffed chicken breasts. Looks nice and most with perfect accompaniments too.

The halal meat that is available to them here consists of chicken (fresh and all the time), beef sporadically but whole cuts, and frozen lamb chunks/leg/shoulder. So I think they want the grinder for those red meats. It was $45 Cdn, a #10 whatever that means but the larger of the two that were in the store and it came fitted with a medium grinding plate. I know I've seen other plate sizes there so will check back to see if they will be getting others in. Hope is what these people need. They have a lot of stress. They don't get any more than any Canadian on welfare which isn't much for a family of four.

We are on moraine outcroppings too. When we dug the garden square pictured above we dug down about three feet getting all the rocks out. (Our whole 1.7 acres property perimeter is lined with rocks that were taken out of the garden and lawn area. Sheesh.) We had to add a lot of top soil to get the soil level in the boxes to a decent level. Ten years later after loads of compost additions, the soil is really, really good. I do fertilize every two weeks during the growing season because things really move along here quickly. My second planting of arugula is poking up and the stuff I planted in late February is almost ready to harvest. It was 30 degrees yesterday and today will be hot as well then we are in for some wet/cooler weather. Yesterday the buds on the grape vines must have grown two inches!

Well, I thought about getting a cheapie but they are a young couple, 20 and 22 years old, with two young boys. They are going to be making a lot of food and she will be a busy mom learning English and looking after the family. I wanted to get something that was easy to use and that would last. I had a Kitchen Aid blender and the jar cracked with just normal usage. The bloody jar replacement was going to cost a fortune so I pitched it and got a Vitamix. I usually now go for quality first. Oh, well, it's only money. I scored the meat grinder yesterday and she seemed very happy about that. I appreciate your comments though, Deryn.

The core volunteers met last night and the interpreter produced a list of things the family wants after his visit with them. Surprise, surprise: a blender and a meat grinder were high on the list! So today I am driving them into town for their English lessons and I will attempt to score them a hand crank meat grinder and I think they would probably like a small and large grind plate. If I remember correctly the hardware store has a nice one with spare parts. I did some research on line for the best lower priced blender. Found the Cooks Illustrated review of blenders and ended up ordering them a Breville Hemisphere Control Blender (https://www.amazon.ca/Breville-BREBBL605XL-Hemisphere-Control-Blender/dp/B005I72LMU/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1461163240&sr=8-10&keywords=blenders) for about $70 less than what they want in the stores. Obviously they will be wanting to make hummus and one needs a good blender to do that. Only downside is it won't be here until May 2nd. But that's the way it goes.

I'm dieting again....just a couple more pounds to go. So, my breakfast is 1/4 fresh pineapple pieces topped with 1 oz of ham. (No need for a picture.) Maybe a poppadum which I find keeps me feeling more satisfied seeing it is made with lentil flour. Argh!

I have one of those extruders so will give it a try next time. The dough does dry out. Perhaps a spray bottle with some water in it might help. I'll try a 1/2 recipe next time.

Oh, my goodness, those kibbeh were really difficult to make because the recipe in Aleppo has no meat in the outside shell, just in the filling, so it is very, very crumbly. Took me about three minutes or so to make each one. Next time I'll make the ones with meat in the shell. They fried up very nicely, served with tahini sauce.

Nice looking spuds and I bet they went well with the sauce you made!

The asparagus looks amazing. So plumb and full. The salad looks like ribbons of asparagus. Great idea. I have some green asparagus so I shall try that for lunch today.

Pictures of my square foot gardening plot. The onions are doing well are my lettuces. Potatoes were planted this week. Should be picking some arugula next week. The humming birds are here too.

Pictures of the greenhouse with my tomato seedling, basil, lettuce, zucs, cucs, and some blackberry plants for our neighbours. They are little runners off our plants. $16 each at the local garden store. The vineyards are waking up. The earliest bud break EVER according to our local farmers. Feels like May long weekend. Going to 29 degrees F today. I was also told to mix up some miracle grow and spray it on our seedlings a couple of times a week to help them grow. So, we'll see how that works.

Smithy, the pepper salad is called "Ezme" Spicy Tomato & Pepper Dip. It's basically very finely chopped white onion, red and green peppers with chillies, parsley, sumac, pomegranate molasses, red wine vinegar, s and p. Drizzled with olive oil and a pinch of sumac to finish. AnnaN, the hummus and tahini sauce were from Aleppo but the others were from Persiana which is a wonderful book. I've made several recipes from it and they have all turned out flavourful without a ton of ingredients. I made the lunch for our little wood cutting crew who are taking out some old apricot trees for the farmer who is replanting in cherries. The wood is really dense and will make great firewood in a couple of years, once it dries out. They work from 9:30 until 1 pm and then I make everyone lunch. There are only 11 trees left so one more session. Next Monday. I think I'll make some Spanish food for them. The lunches I've made so far were: mac and cheese (it was a last minute "can you make the boyz lunch?"), that Indonesian meal for one of the crew members who is Dutch and hasn't had decent Indo food since immigrating to Canada and then yesterday was a meze table.

Meze, posted over in the Syrian Refugee Tea topic. The second dish shown was interesting: from Persiana Spicy Tomato and Pepper Dip served with pitas. Chopped tomatoes, onion, red and green pepper, parsley, sumac, pomegranate molasses, red wine vinegar, s and p and olive oil. Unexpectedly, it was the star of the lunch. The hummus was outstanding, from the Aleppo. Also made some chicken in saffron and rosemary, fattoush, pickled beets, tahini spread, lamb kofta, eggplant puree, homemade pitas, kibbee, and olives. One of the eaters brought lemon squares for dessert. Oh, and wine! Delicious. It was kinda like eating East Indian food....all of a sudden one felt very, very full.

Thanks deryn. The food was sooooo good. Hummus made with the skins of the chick peas removed is so silky smooth but the star was that pepper salad. The fattoush salad was also really nice, not too much Pita bread with a really lemony dressing. the family have a lot of challenges ahead and Naramata is a very small village, 2000 people, but people here have big hearts so it is a starting point for the family. They could not possibility afford to settle here as it is way too expensive but Penticton is much more affordable. we shall work to get them independent and learning English is the most important thing for them.

update: we have a family of four, two young children. Unfortunately the speak no english. I'm one of the 'core' volunteers so will know more after our meeting tomorrow. Had a meze lunch for the boyz (aka DH's) who got more wood for us from apricot trees that are being taken out to make way for more profitable cherry trees. Practising some dishes: a very interesting chopped onion, red and green pepper dish with loads of hot peppers and sumac; chicken breasts which were sous vide and then flash browned in a saffron/rosemary sauce; hummus; kibbee; lamb kofta; fattoush; yogurt and pitas. All the dishes were delicious and it was like an Indian meal.....it kinda snuck up on you and suddenly you were feeling very full.

Maybe put the sticky label on the top of your stirring hand!

Loblaws in Canada announced a major expansion. I'll bet we see some sort of meal kit area with these new stores and expansion/renovation of existing stores. Our local Save-On-Foods did a major renovation two years ago and put in a large prepared foods are along with a small area with tables and chairs.