Okanagancook

Picked a couple of nice baby pak choi. Steamed and tossed with a little oyster sauce and soy sauce.

Really, I don't think I've ever done that. I shall try that tonight with my Porterhouse. Is that a special finishing/flavoured salt or just Kosher salt?

I always salt my steaks and roasts in the morning of the day I cook them in the evening. It's the Judy Rodgers' school of salting early. It allows enough time for the meat juices to be drawn out, the salt to dissolve in them and get reabsorbed back into the meat. This deeply seasons the meat without a 'salty' taste. Check out page 35 onwards from her Zuni Cafe Cookbook.

When I make my oven baked fries I cut them; rinse well until the water is clear; recover with fresh cold water; store in fridge overnight; then bake. I have even left them in the fridge for two days. Nutritionally, you will be loosing some of the potassium as it leaches out into the water. Dietitians often recommend soaking potatoes to patients with kidney failure...reduces the burden on the kidney. No big deal for healthy people.

May 7th and the garden looks like June 7th. My garlic in the shade on the left, I swear will be putting out scapes soon and I reckon we may even be digging it up in another four weeks. The farmers are watching the grape vines grow three to four inches a day. Here is my garden this morning. The green cloth is my shade cloth beds where I grow spinach, lettuce and radish. It really works to prevent bolting with our hot weather. (You can see the farmer spraying the apple trees in the back ground....I ran back inside before he got any closer.) The basil plants need pinching off....I'm growing them for a friend who is in Edmonton until end of May. They will be 3 feet tall by then. The potatoes have been covered with the first layer of soil and the tomato plants are just getting established after transplant so should start to grow next week with the forecasted hot and sunny weather. The last picture is my revamped herb garden. It had been taken over by the mint (managed to contain it for 9 years but it escaped out of it's plastic container) and oregano. I planted some lettuce and basil as an experiment this year. There's tarragon, sage, lovage, chive, sorel and thyme growing in there.

The recipe in the book Aromas of Aleppo calls them 'kibbeh nabelsieh' The ingredients are 3 parts fine bulgur; 1 part all purpose flour and 1 part matzah meal which I understand is crushed matzah crackers. I could not get matzah crackers so I substituted panko bread crumbs. Some cumin, paprika, pepper, salt is added to the dough and the dry ingredients mixed together. 2 3/4 to 3 cups of lukewarm water and some oil is stired into the dry ingredients until a 'moist but firm dough' is achieved. That's it. Then you form the casings and stuff with the spiced ground beef filling. It was really difficult to form the shells and I ended up adding more water as I went along because the dough dried out seeing I took so long to form the Kibbeh. I put the formed ones on a sheet pan and they were put in the fridge for a few hours to dry out and consolidate before I deep fried them. The frying part was easy. Not one fell apart and they were very delicious with the crunchy crust and soft bulgur/beef interior. I made a tahini dipping sauce for them which was perfect. I hope that is what you were wanting. cheers

Oh, I have a sore throat too!

The mushrooms grow so fast. They just appeared in the mulch like little rockets from middle earth, four or five inches over night.

Ouch, poor family and what a waste. The first year after we spread mulch (wood was from some of the burned wood from the Okanagan Park Fire back in about 2007) morels started coming up all over the place. Each morning we did a 'walk about' with our tea in hand looking for new mushrooms. We had a lot in fact, so many I had to dry them. Drying them worked the best. You could go back to the store for some to dry if you have a dryer. So good. cheers

"WOWSERS"!!!!! A plate of shear beauty. I think I can even taste it.

I wonder if you substituted some semolina flour for wheat flour to make them more toothsome? This is the same idea as adding semolina when making pasta that you want more firm.

A few refried beans Anna N and that would be a perfect breakfast!

Oh, yes, the greens, grilled, thanks for the reminder.

Yeah, the one split. I really didn't think they would be nearly ready but when I checked, yikes, they were enormous.

Harvest time. Picked some arugula yesterday along with herbs. Butter lettuce should yield a few leaves soon. Many hummingbirds this am. :

Me too Kayb. Very entertaining.

Ok, I'm licking the screen. Boy, those really good with the crusty outside and moist pinkish inside. Good job as usual.

Me too. I love all the food on display. The octopus looks really juicy!

Looks to me like the " part of the Fresh Ginger is missing hence the question of how much is 1 Fresh Ginger. Probably best to spell out " as 1 inch of Fresh Ginger.

Nice 'hoop house'! You'll have fun with it. Is Superman still talking to Wonder Woman after all that assembly?

I only buy the local asparagus when it's available. The imported stuff is a waste of time. I've got three pitchers of asparagus with their little ends sitting in water ready for consumption later this week. I like to get the thick ones then I peel off the outer skin to about half way up. The steam oven got the ends very tender.

Yesterday we had a very informal met and greet in the park down by the lake. About 25 core volunteers and the family were there. We had a table set up and everyone brought something to nibble on. Lots of baking, ground almond filled dates, fresh fruit and veggies (we are a healthy bunch!) . I made the Aromas of Aleppo hummus and about 30 fresh pita breads. The family were very excited and happy, smiling but not really understanding a word we were saying. They really liked the hummus. I gave them all the pitas and about 3 cups of hummus to take back to their house. They'll have garlic breath all week. There have been a few people leave the organizing group and I kinda get the impression that was the welcome event but who knows. Ramadan starts June 6th so we would have to do something before that. We'll see. We are busy trying to meet their needs. Apparently a brother and his family are in Vancouver so the committee is trying to get them here in the other house we have. That would be great for our existing family.

Exactly, it isn't enough time but that's what the book calls for. On the first attempt I left three eggs in water for 8 minutes and still, the white wasn't set enough for me.

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.