dcarch

I saw on 60 Minutes last week of a guy who makes chef knives and his knives were selling over $2,000 on eBay. A high quality knife in the kitchen is important if you are into serious cooking. A high quality knife is required if you are into making sushi. Yet a high quality Japanese knife will set you back around a $1,000. I have a few good knives, but they are not top notch knives. I wish I could go for one or more of those works of art. It occurred to me to try this out. I have a few (bi-metal) metal cutting saw blades. I figured that if the saw blade steel can cut metal, it can most likely be good enough to make a knife to cut food with. With a little time to grind and to sharpen the blade, I mounted it in some parts I happen to have in my junk drawer in my shop. All I can say is that, what freakin frightful sharpness I was able to put on the edge!!! I was actually using it to shave off hair on my arm!! If the steel tough enough to cut metal to begin with, I would assume the edge will hold for a long long time for cutting food. Looking forward to making some sushi with it. Please forgive the design of the knife. Just happen to have the parts around. Really this is just a prototype for a bigger knife which I will be making someday. Don’t ask me what the characters say. A friend copied them for me. dcarch

Bastille Day is come up. Many great French restaurants are offering good discounts. dcarch

Can you elaborate a little more on this, please ? Is that scallion as a garnish, and a basil/pine nut pesto with wasabi & ginger mixed in ? Or something else ? How many times have you tried the combo, and how did the flavour work out ? I love the smiley mushrooms ! Thanks. It's a short-cut sauce. I started out with store-bought pesto sauce, and I added scallions, wasabi sauce, and ginger. I also added more EVOO. Then everything went into the coffee grinder. I think it was better than dipping the lobster into butter. dcarch

Thanks! You are wrong on both counts. I am not a professional food stylist, and I am not a brilliant amateur. Just like playing with my food. Thanks! The mushrooms were smiling, that's why they are called fungi :-) Awsome BBQ you got goinbg there! Thanks. Inspired by all you talented guys here. dcarch

Happy July 4th everyone! Just a couple of friends for dinner before going to see fireworks. Lobsters in ginger, scallion, wasabi, and pesto sauce. Beef tenderloin with baby portabella mushrooms and snow peas dcarch Small salad of watermelon rind, honeydew melon rind and hosta blossoms.

Wow, everyone is making such great looking meals! Also very unique recipes. I solved the problem of making crispy bacon wrap scallops without overcooking the scallops. I pre bake bacon rings. Scallops with bacon wrap on couscous dcarch

Lowest-mess, lowest-effort home made pizza. I had some leftover phyllo dough. If you have not done this, give it a try. :-) dcarch

Here is a typical list of ice cream flovors in Chinatown ice cream stores: dcarch ----------------------------- Regular Flavors Almond Cookie Avocado** Black Sesame Chocolate Carmel Pecan ** Chocolate Pandan Coconut Durian Ginger Green Tea Lychee (Chinese Fruit) Mango Pandan Passion Fruit ** Peanut Butter and Jelly (New)** Red Bean (Dessert Bean) Strawberry Shortcake * Taro (Potato-like) Wild Blueberry (New) Zen Butter (New) Sorbet Blueberry Lemon Lime* Longan Lychee Mango-Papaya Pineapple Pina Colada Strawberry Strawberry Colada* Tangerine Tropical Fruit Watermelon Exotic Flavors Banana Blueberry Cheesecake * Butter Pecan Cherry Pistachio Cherry Vanilla Chips and Chocolate * Chocolate Chocolate Chip Coconut Fudge Coffee Coffee Brandy * Mint Chip Mocha Chip Oreo Cookie Peach Pineapple Pistachio Pumpkin Pie Rocky Road Rum Raisin Strawberry Strawberry cheesecake Vanilla Vanilla Fudge Wasabi *

Couple of beet dishes dcarch

Darienne, Like Judiu said. In addition, you can eat young shoots in the spring. You can blanch the blossoms quickly and freeze them fo later use. I understand that the Chinese and Japanese think the blossoms have anti-cancer properties. dcarch

Trying to eat healthy today. dcarch Snow pea blossoms, tofu, chicken in shitake mushroom sauce. Daylily blossom and salad from my garden Daylily & beef fried rice, and stir fried daylily blossoms

Prawncrackers, WOW, WOW, WOW!!! Three WOWs. One for each of your dishes. dcarch

I made deep fried oysters dcarch

Actually, lotus roots pickled in redwine vinegar. Other veggies: String beans, potatoes, and giant carrots. dcarch

Everyone's wonderful dinner will inspire me to try things I have never done before. For now, roasted ox tail. dcarch

Temperature of the pan will reach its max when heat lost due to conduction to air and radiation to surrounding surfaces equal to energy generated by the fire. The theories of Second law of thermodynamics, entropy and blackbody radiation govern this situation. dcarch

Here is a trick I use to make scallops. Depending on how much browning and done-ness you prefer, you can vary the technique a little: I slice the scallops in half, use paper towel to dry them completely, season them according to your recipe. I have one frying pan with oil heat to smoking hot, and have another frying pan with oil also burning at the same time. I fry all the scallops in one pan to a nice caramelization, (don't turn them over) then immediately transfer them to the other frying pan to cook the other side. dcarch

Hostas grow wild in my garden: dcarch Stir Fried Hostas Hosta Pasta (ravioli)

I want to tell you how much I enjoy reading this thread. A lot of useful information here. I sharpen all my knives and I have made a few knives. I have a very good understanding of metals, and knives, I think I can agree with most posts here. I am not against expensive knives. I worship craftsmanship and quality. I wish I could afford one of those thousand dollar blades. Do I want a $100,000 Rolex watch even it cannot tell better time than a $10.00 drug store one? The answer is yes. However, in the kitchen for everyday cooking, depending on the situation and your habits, there are many other options. Out of curiosity, I spent $8.00 on eBay and bought one of those Teflon coated knives, thinking that, what the h*ll, I will throw it away after I play with the Teflon coating. I was very surprised that it is a very well made item. I have no idea what kind of steel it is made from, or how it can be sharpen. I have been using it for many months, and it is still as sharp as when it was new. I think you can agree that if you use your knife only to cut food with a good angle, almost any knife will remain sharp forever, and if you don’t use you knife properly, you can dull your blade in on time, makes no difference how much you pay for it. dcarch

Thanks kayb. I think your meals look wonderful, in a natural way. I think your meals look delicious, and in a very healthy way. dcarch Sushi? anyone?

Thanks millich. It's just a simple salad fresh from my garden: Arugular, lettuce, hosta shoots and garnished with spring beauties (claytonia) blossoms. Spring Beauty is a common lawn weed. Tastes very good in a salad. dcarch

Kim, Yes, those are handles for the ribs. The BBQ ribs were for a sitdown dinner table meal and with ladies all dressed up with their manicured fingers. Your salads look delicious and healthy. Are the ingredients from your garden? I made one salad with greens from my garden: dcarch

Time to BBQ. The garden is blooming. dcarch

Thanks Kim for the welcome and kind words. The bacon horns were made with a metal form that I have. dcarch

Thank you all for your warm welcomes and wonderful complements. You all make such super meals. dcarch