Panaderia Canadiense

I did my T-day back in October - I'm originally Canadian and I tend to keep to our interpretation of the feast day's timing. We had tuna casserole, because we're starting to become Ecuadorians, and our harvest festivals are for Dia de los Difuntos and Semana Santa.

Ah. "Machetero" is shorthand for Guabo Machetero, a Guabo that has a broad pod like a machete blade - they come in long-pod and short-pod; the difference is that long-pod ones have aboot 20 seeds per pod, and short ones 3-10. These ones below (linked) are long Machetero type guabos, which I didn't buy because I was already carrying about 25 lbs of food, and I prefer the Largo type. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=21280

The bowl is there to hold the fruit, and the second smaller bowl in the background is for the seeds themselves (not tasty). There are a couple of ways to approach eating Guabos, and the one I use is generally to gently pull the aril off of the seed, toss the seed into the pig bowl, and eat the aril. However, when one is on the go and eating short Macheteros, the process is to pop the whole schmoo into your mouth, suck the aril off the seed, then spit the seed out - younger kids have seed spitting contests much in the same way that northerners do with watermelons, the difference being that a Guabo seed is considerably larger and thus has the potential to travel a great deal further.

I've been remiss again. 50 lashes with a wet noodle for me! And pictures of dinners for you.... Panfried tilapia in quinua-cracker coating, with broccoli in 3-cheese cream sauce over tallarin noodles with peas. Teriyaki charcoal-braised chicken breast over Ceasar salad, minus the croutons (because I'm lazy.) And for dessert, Guabos! These are "ice cream" beans, about 4 feet long; the edible part is the fleshy aril around the seeds. The flavour is somewhere between bourbon vanilla ice cream and fresh longan, with a pleasant crispness (at least, when they're not overripe - these were perfect.) There are two distinct types of Guabo available in the markets here - Macheteros, which are broad pods and generally not as long, and Largos, which are what I ate last night. Of the two, I prefer the Largos - they have a more delicate flavour and more seeds per pod.

So... much... fat..... Must... eat... more... fruit.... Y'all are giving me a coronary by proxy. Today's brekkie was a fruit salad, crowned with the first ripe cherry-plums.

There has to be a happy medium between "don't touch me, I'm eating" and "my darling, my hamburger", doesn't there? Some speed that allows for the appreciation of flavours and textures without ensuring that the last bites are cold? And I'm with Jenni - I was raised in Canada with a British sense of humour, and this guy comes off as a right twit.

Here at the equator, it may just be four of us, or it may expand to 10 or so - we're not sure yet. Hence I'm trying to keep the planned menu flexible. Breakfast - normally we breakfast heartily on holidays. It's still cool in the morning. Cold plum oat crisp, using the black plums that will be ripe on my trees by that time. Fruit salad - white pineapple, Reina mango, starfruit, red papaya, black and red grapes, strawberries, uvilla, mora, and at least two different kinds of banana Sweet shortcakes with fresh whipped cream (to accompany the fruit salad) Lunch - we generally skip this step in favour of an early dinner. Besides which, it's normally so hot by this time that nobody wants to eat. Hence: Helados de paila, flavours to be determined. Dinner - hopefully we'll be moved into the new house by then, which has a wood-fired dome oven in the backyard. We most likely will be eating a plena aire up on the roof rather than indoors, since evenings are deliciously warm and the volcanoes are normally visible. If it rains, we'll be indoors. The menu below is based on the idea of having the wood oven. Full turkey, stuffed and roasted. Stuffing to be pumpernickel sage mushroom. Turkey TBD, I'm thinking drunken but I may do the 2-day brining prep that's normally reserved for whole suckling pigs. Mashed golden potatoes Steamed romanesco, asparagus, and garden beans A huge green salad Cheese and yogurt quick biscuits Gravy, of course. Dessert - traditional all the way, because everybody knows that dessert at a baker's house is always faboo. Pumpkin tarts with brandy cream Peach tartine Nova Scotia Black Fruitcake Piles of fresh strawberries

TNI, you can sub 100% oat flour into that recipe as long as you add 1 tsp of malt powder (ie Ovaltine) or 1/2 tsp of molasses to it to counter the bitterness present in oat flours. You may also have to up the liquid just a hair (think by 1 tsp or so of milk more) to counter the absorbency of the oats - you'll find that they're considerably drier in flour than you might expect. GF cinnamon rolls are difficult, but not impossible. If this is for dinner tonight, I wouldn't reccommend trying it - the recipes generally require tweaking to adapt to your particular kitchen and the blend of flours you have available.... ETA - liquid adjustment for oat flour use

Super raisin oaties: 1 C sweet butter (no other - margarine is just nasty in these) 1 C panela or other dark sugar 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla 1 TBSP milk 1/2 C quinua flour 1/2 C rice flour 1/2 TSP baking soda 1/2 TSP baking powder 1 TBSP cinnamon (ground) 1 TSP nutmeg (ground) 1/4 TSP cloves (ground) 1 C quick oats 1/2 C (generous) shredded coconut 1/2 C (generous) seedless raisins the nuts of your choice -- 1. Cream butter and sugar; add milk, vanilla, and egg, and beat until smoothish (depending on the temperature of your butter, it might be sort of like tiny lumps floating in liquid, this is OK) 2. While the butter is creaming, mix the flours, spices, soda, and baking powder. Once the butter mixture is ready, sift the flours into it. 3. Beat until smooth. 4. Add the oats, coconut, and raisins, and fold until well distributed. 5. Drop by teaspoonfulls onto your greased cookie sheet or non-greased silpat. 6. Top with the nut of your choice - I like hazelnuts. 7. 350 F for 8-10 minutes. I've also got a gluten-free shortcake recipe, if you're interested.... HOWEVER - ask your friend what stage Celiac she has. Some celiacs can't deal with anything that's been cooked in a kitchen that uses gluten products, and if she's one of them, you should go to a specialty GF bakery and get your dessert there.

My gift to myself this independence day was a little charcoal UFO grill (since we're not a huge family, we don't need one of the 45-gal models). Hence - PINCHOS! Mangrove shrimp in wasabi-tomato sauce, and top-round steak that had been marinating for two and a half weeks in dad's secret "softening up" marinade. All of this over coconut rice with peas and a nice big garden salad. Dee-lish.

Yesterday's dinner (I'm still dealing with tonight's....) was teriyaki medallion of turkey breast, paprika-roast potatoes, and the omnipresent asparagus. Yummmm.

No worries - I always thought it was a rather obscure cocktail anyhow - and I like mine bloody, which I didn't mention in the general recipe: this is the addition of 1 part neat unsweetened mora (Andean blackberry) juice.

I normally roast together with my meat, which means cutting the veg into smaller-ish chunks so that it cooks at the same pace. Olive oil, various herbs both dried and fresh, pepper and paprika, depending on the veg and the meat. Covered all the way - I hate when the veg dries out.

Sweet Death would be the translation - down here it's very similar to what you've posted, except that in place of the Mescal and Tequila, we use Tzawar Mishki, which is a different Agave product. The Dulce Muerte that I'm familiar with calls for: 3 parts Tzawar Mishki 1 part Jarabe Negra (a simple syrup with fine black cornmeal, cinnamon, and cloves, cooked into it) 1 part fresh lime juice a sprinkle of aji powder The glass is often rimmed in aji salt and the sprinkle of aji omitted.

There's also the issue of texture being almost as personal as flavour is - to wit: for some, okra is a slimy icky mess, and for others it's silky ambrosia....

Tri2 - isn't that a "Muerte Dulce" ?

For me, it's a tie. The first best meal was a large plate of roast suckling pig pulled into chunks, with tiny red chorizo sausage, llapingachos (a type of potato pancake), shredded red lettuce salad, and half an avocado. The second "best" was a hot candied fig sandwich with fresh cheese on fresh bread.

I will never again put my little melamine butter bowl in the microwave for what I think is 30 seconds but what is really 3 minutes. Yup - boiling butter everywhere, melamine has buckled and is now useless for anything but thumbtacks, had to scrub the microwave and the glass tray and everything else.

How about scalloped beef, which my Mom calls Lazy Bastard Shepherd's Pie? Made as for scalloped potatoes, but subbing in ground beef cooked with sofrito and mushrooms for the butter. Soooo good.

I've been remiss in posting here since my blog finished up.... Aargh, you're all making me hungry!

Actually, the ginger quick-candies in the sugar while it's reducing, which gives you kick without being too spicy in the end. Darienne - there's another variation using the ginger syrup you already have the recipe for, but in place of the peanuts and sesame it takes half and half shredded coconut and candied citrus peels. That's Dulce Encocado. If you add Macadamias, it becomes Fantasia Encocado.

When I venture in to chocolate (usually around Christmas), I have to have the boxes for my tablettes made custom by a local printer - I designed my own boxes, but if you're not graphically inclined, most printers offer graphic design services. That way you're not settling - you get exactly what you want.

Have you tried scalloped camotes? (Yam is such an ill-defined word, and we're actually talking about the tubers of Ipomoea batatis here, I think....) You can flavour your scalloping flour however you wish - sage and cayenne pepper is actually a very nice combo. Layer the casserole beforehand, then simply add the water-milk just before baking. If you want to pre-bake (45 minutes to 1 hour at 350 F), this dish holds up to it amazingly well, and can simply be popped into the oven at 150 F for 20-30 minutes to reheat before serving.

If the bagels are very fresh, I use the flat on the board method. If they're even a little stale, I stand them on edge, arch my hand over the top, pinch the bread gently, and slice downwards. Always with a sharp serrated knife, and never letting my attention wander..

Here's something for you, then - certain grades of blonde block panela in Ecuador are called Raspadura, which, according to Miguel the Azucero, is because they're so hard that you have to use a metal rasp to break them down. Raspadura is considered to be the ideal panela for use in baking.