Anna N

Bear with me. I will get there. There are many ways in which Kerry and I decide where we shall have lunch. Today, it went this way. Kerry showed up at my house and we spent a few minutes just catching up. Kerry outlined the errands she needed to accomplish and I said that I needed my weekly lottery tickets. All of these things could be accomplished without venturing much further than Burlington. We quickly came around to the major question of the day, “Where shall we have lunch?” Kerry suggested Lemongrass, a favourite, but I noted that it’s a little far from Burlington and perhaps we should consider something closer. Kerry pointed out that we could get to the restaurant easily using the Red Hill Highway. And that is where we went off the rails. You see the Red Hill Highway was in the news headlines locally this morning. And that is about all it takes to send Kerry and me down the rabbit hole chasing one another. By the time we emerged into daylight again we both knew all too much about the Red Hill Highway What has this to do with lunch you ask? Not much really except that we might have stayed down the rabbit hole and missed lunch! Somehow we climbed back out of that rabbit hole and left the house. Once in the car I checked my list of restaurants that we want to try and suggested that we stay in Burlington and check out Barque—The Refined BBQ Company. Kerry quite enjoys a barbecue (as understood by our American friends). I am not so much of a fan but assured Kerry that I could cosy up to some ribs. And the icing on the cake – – it would be something new to tell you about. So our lunch plans had solidified nicely. We accomplished our errands and still had time to wander through two thrift stores. At noon we headed towards our chosen restaurant. Foiled. The place is closed. Done. Kaput. No more. Damn. We should have done as Kerry suggested and taken the Red Hill, not down the Google rabbit hole, but over to Lemongrass. Right next-door to the no-longer-operational Barque is another favourite, Sakai. There we received a warm welcome and quickly got over our disappointment (although I could practically taste those smoky ribs). We both toyed with lunch and dinner menus and then Kerry suggested that we just order appetizers. I am always a fan of that. Warm sake for me. Tea for Kerry. Beef sashimi. Rock shrimp. These are so good. They are cooked to perfection. Very unusual in a restaurant. Most restaurants tend to over cook shrimp. Takoyaki. Not quite up to the standards of Kenzo. These are a little short on the condiments and not quite as creamy as those at Kenzo but we managed to polish them off nevertheless. Seafood okonomiyaki. Shrimp and vegetable tempura. By the time I had finished, all thoughts of ribs had vanished. If I had not already bored you to tears getting you this far I could bore you to tears talking about our “nazi” server who was taking great pleasure in training a new server. 😂

Wish I had thought of that.

Thanks. They are OK but they don’t call out to me as much as some cookies do. Right now I wish I had a thick and chewy oatmeal raisin cookie.

There is definitely a similarity. This was the recipe I used more or less. I just chose a selection of nuts from my freezer and I had no cream so used couple of tablespoons of milk. I think it could’ve just been left out altogether. Next time I think I would toast the nuts briefly.

Honey nut bars.

Thanks for sharing this story. I have frequently run into greenhorn check-out clerks here who, when presented with something like kohlrabi, plead with innocent eyes for a clue. But when I am presented with the range of vegetables in an Asian store, the tables are turned. Rarely are they displayed with English labels. Have you cooked these roots yet? Are they something that you will seek out in the future? Can you relate the taste to anything I might recognize?

But even my Zojirushi rice cooker has a water level setting for sushi rice. I think the fight for a differentiation between raw short grain rice and cooked rice seasoned for sushi was lost a long time ago. Edited to fix along

I ate at one of his restaurants.

Vinegar and thumps.

Hmmm. I have never seen raw prawns curl selves into such perfect little commas. Commas that are not too loose and not too tight. Goldilocks’ commas. Commas that indicate to me perfectly cooked prawns.

I have not been there for a while as the last couple of books that I did follow struck me as just too incongruous to be paired. I cannot remember which they were. But perhaps I should go back and afford the premise a second chance.

And these really danced! I think they were all wearing tutus.

This most definitely calls for a video so one can more easily grasp the consistency one is aiming for at each step. After reading the recipe I’m impressed with your fearlessness. For now, though, I think I will stick with much easier coconut macaroons.

I asked because your dish looked interesting and there are times when there is not very darn much in this house to make a sauce with. With so few ingredients I could manage it quite well. It belongs in my “what to eat when there’s nothing to eat” list. Thank you.

I am guessing from looking at your dish that you made a simple sauce perhaps from the oil/butter/fat that you cooked the prawns in?