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nolnacs

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  1. Ow. That was dumb. If you put a pan in the oven and then put it on the stovetop, the handle does not magically cool down to a tolerable temperature.
  2. There are a number of fishmongers in the Reading Terminal Market, but I typically go to John Yi. Friendly fishmonger always happy to chat and recommend fish In the top corner of this shot, they sell salmon pieces pretty cheap. I've used these to make salmon burgers or more frequently as treats for Terry. He really, really loves salmon. He also loves shrimp. I have thought about buying him one of the gigantic XX jumbo shrimp just because I think it was be amusing to watch him attack a shrimp that is half as big as he is, but then I realize that he would probably eat the whole thing and that can't be good for a turtle.
  3. John's is my favorite, DiNics is also great but neither is particularly easy to eat at.... At John's you have the hours but at DiNics you have the hordes and hordes of people. It seems like all the tourists at the Terminal Market want to eat at DiNics and I can't blame them. It just means I don't end up eating there very often either.
  4. I did get a hand shot in a bit earlier so that is an easy request to satisfy. One of my favorite parts about living in a big city is all the grocery/food options. This past Christmas my brothers and I had a cooking competition. Each of us was paired up with our respective significant other and needed to prepare an appetizer and entree. Since we were at our parents' farm in Indiana, we had to go to the local supermarket (Payless) to shop for ingredients. I wanted prosciutto for one of my dishes and I searched and searched but could not find it. I asked a handful of people at the store and they all looked at me like I was crazy. Luckily, I managed to find a packaged of presliced prosciutto hidden with the other deli meats. That was a long winded way of saying, I am very thankful for the bounty that is around me! For soup dumplings, I like Dim Sum Garden (right across the street from the Terminal Market), but their other dishes are only so so. Sakura which is in Chinatown proper also has good soup dumplings but the rest of their menu is also tasty. So if you only want soup dumplings, I recommend Dim Sum Garden but if you want a full meal, go to Sakura since their soup dumplings are almost as good anyway.
  5. That is the goal, yes. I've not made them before so we will see how it turns out. I'm loosely following a recipe from Saveur. Although I am using spinach instead of rabe. I follow John's in that the rabe is just too bitter.
  6. While DiNics is quite good, since I am going to make roast pork sandwiches this evening I decided to go with Chinese food instead. I actually prefer Isgros' cannoli to Termini. I am hoping that I will have a chance to stop by there before the end of the blog. As far as other places, I was thinking about hitting a restaurant on Friday night, but haven't decided which one. I love Osteria and Han Dynasty but Garces Trading was a disappoint the one time I've been there. Your mention of Chicago and Osteria has reminded me of my pizza rankings Personal pizza rankings 1. Great Lake - Chicago 2. Osteria - Philadelphia 3. Stella - Philadelphia 4. Spacca Napoli - Chicago 5. Zavino's - Philadelphia Not to get sidetracked, but in Chicago I did most of my produce shopping at Stanley's. Meat from either Paulina or Peoria packing.
  7. I agree. It takes me some time to build those relationships as I am not particularly outgoing, but they are well worth it.
  8. I just pulled the bread out of the oven a few minutes ago so I thought I would let everyone see how it came out. Formed into sort of the right shape Risen bread - yikes! That was much faster than I had expected Slashed - this dough was rather difficult to slash as it kept catching on my razor blade Out of the oven And on to the cooling rack Shapewise these loaves ended up wider than I had wanted, but I think that they should still work as a delivery vehicle for (hopefully) delicious roasted pork.
  9. I should also mention that Salumeria has many more cheeses than are shown in the one picture - that's just the only one my wife took of the case.
  10. Of course, this being the Terminal Market, there are other cheese vendors. While I didn't buy any cheese there, I did stop by Salumeria to pick up some olives. They also make some tasty hoagies there. Going after some oil cured olives They also have some dry goods which I find to be a bit pricey compared to where they can be found elsewhere - like the Italian Market
  11. Next stop in the Reading Terminal Market is Downtown Cheese I do most of my cheese shopping here. I will also go to Di Bruno Bros. which has an even better selection of cheeses. However, I only stop by the Italian Market once or twice a month so Downtown is my main cheese source. When I was there yesterday I picked up some Chimay Grand Cru and some sharp provolone. In addition to their cheeses, they have a solid selection of cured meats and olives
  12. I'm still working my way through the pictures of the Terminal Market from yesterday. After getting produce at Iovine's, I usually go across the aisle to Giunta's for meat I really should use their smoked meats more - I've really enjoyed them whenever I have used them They also have a decent selection of poultry although I often go to Godshall's instead which is devoted entirely to poultry and has a wider range of options
  13. Breadmaking has continued this morning The biga has been chopped up into little pieces and will soon be joined by the rest of the ingredients While waiting for the biga to lose its chill (it spent the night in the refrigerator), I decided to make my weekly oatmeal. 1 C steel cut oats + 3 C whole milk + pinch of salt Cooking Getting close - time to add about 1/2 C raisins Raisins are now plump, adding 3 T brown sugar and 1/4 t cinnamon Let it cook for just a bit more and it is all done But where is the fruit? I preordered a crate of peach seconds ($10) from Three Springs Fruit Farm who are one of the vendors at the Headhouse Farmers Market. They were kind enough to top off my crate with some less bruised peaches as well.
  14. Well, I tried making more traditional ice creams initially, but I had problems with them ending up icy and rock hard once I put them in the freezer. The texture was only good when they came out of the ice cream maker. That is why when I saw this technique using corn starch, corn syrup and cream cheese I decided to give it a try and it worked so much better (texturally) and I didn't notice any diminishment in the flavor. I'm not opposed to additives when they improve the quality of the product so it doesn't bother me to add those ingredients. That being said, perhaps I didn't do a good job with the more traditional custard base. Others might be able to pull off that more successfully.
  15. Yep, he loves fruit and seafood. He also likes vegetables that are not bitter (carrot or sweet potato). He refuses to eat lettuce and instead just tears it into shreds.
  16. I wonder if the juice is a factor in why I like sliced peaches better. Perhaps more juice escapes from the flesh of the peach when it is torn by teeth instead of sliced by a sharp knife. I've made quinoa on occasion for a few years now. It's a nice change of pace but I wouldn't want to have it frequently (1/week).
  17. After eating dinner and relaxing for a bit, I had some quick prep work for tomorrow to do. I whipped up a biga for the italian bread that I will be making for my roast pork tomorrow. I'm going to be using the recipe from the Bread Baker's Apprentice by Reinhardt. I haven't made this particular bread before, but the other ones I have made from that book have been quite tasty. I particularly like the pain a l'ancienne and the pane siciliano. Since I restrained myself from eating the vanilla ice cream, I had a peach for dessert. Personally, I find peaches to be tastier sliced instead of just taking a bite out of them. I'm not sure why that is the case, but whenever I have the opportunity to slice a peach, I do. You might notice that there is one slice of peach away from all the others. I removed the skin from that slice as it will be going to Terry the turtle. Sorry for the blurry picture, but he is not interested in being still when there is peach to be had!
  18. I love the tacos al pastor from Taquitos de Puebla... I was planning on eating some leftovers for lunch tomorrow, but tacos do sound better.
  19. I have a Lello Junior. The cream cheese is there as a stabilizer. I haven't tasted it in any of the ice creams I have made that way so far.
  20. Time for dinner! Immersion circulator? Ready! Scallops? Ready! Frying pan? Ready! Go! Oh, and there was some quinoa salad with corn, tomatoes and avocado as well.
  21. Some pre-dinner projects: Vanilla bean ice cream My wife requested that I make some ice cream for a friend of hers who is currently dealing with cancer. I decided to make some vanilla ice cream and send it off with some peach compote to top it. I've tried a number of different recipes since I've gotten my ice cream maker earlier this summer and the only one that has really worked well has been Jeni Britton Bauer's recipe which uses cornstarch, corn syrup and cream cheese to help produce a soft, smooth & scoopable ice cream. The results have been far superior to anything else that I have tried. The magic three ingredients Cream cheese waiting patiently Cornstarch Sugar, salt and corn syrup The sugars have been dissolved in some milk and I've scraped some vanilla bean in there to steep for about an our Corn starch slurry - this gets mixed in with the milk and sugar and heated until thickened The hot mixture then gets poured over the cream cheese and whisked until smooth. I then put it in an ice bath and added the cream Final product. Even though I am giving it to someone, I have to try it to make sure it is good, right? Right? It is very good. I kind of don't want to give it away now.... Giardiniera I'm going to attempt to make roast pork sandwiches tomorrow which has gotten me thinking about sandwiches in general and how much I want an Italian beef like I had in Chicago. Therefore I decided to get some giardineira going for next weekend. All of vegetables chopped up finely - cauliflower, carrot, jalapeno, garlic, celery & red bell pepper All mixed up and in the brine
  22. Sometimes it is, and if something looks good enough I may decide to make some impromptu changes to my menu. Generally though I tend to be pretty focused in on what is on my list that I need to buy.
  23. I skipped ahead of shopping to show lunch. My wife and I took a bunch of pictures at the Terminal market and we only hit a small number of stalls. It truly is a wondrous place well worth a visit if you are ever in Philadelphia. No grumpy people allowed, got it? My first stop is Iovine Brothers' Produce which has a wide selection of fruits and vegetables from near and far. Near Far They also have a great selection of mushrooms - fresh and dried Peppers of all sorts A plethora of produce
  24. I decided to go with noodle soup for lunch so we walked from the Reading Terminal Market (I'll try to get those pictures posted later today) over to Nan Zhou Hand Drawn Noodle House in Chinatown. While they are best known for their hand drawn noodles, they also do knife cut noodles which is what my wife decided to get with her beef tendon soup. I went for the lamb with the hand drawn noodles. Here are a few shots of them making the hand drawn noodles. The soups come topped with cilantro, spinach and pickled Chinese vegetables. I added some chili pepper oil to mine. My wife does not care for extremely spicy food so she passed on the chili. Both soups were delicious although I don't have the same love for tendon and cartilage that my wife does. The taste is okay, but I have a hard time getting past the texture. It just doesn't do it for me. I have to say that I prefer the knife cut noodles to the hand drawn. The knife cut ones I find more texturally interesting.
  25. I find the paper list is easier to deal with while shopping. It's easy to strike out items as I pick them up. For the oatmeal, yes, I cook on the stovetop and reheat in the microwave
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