Anna N

So I took it on its maiden voyage. I must say I am impressed. Lamb chops. Five minutes per side. Two were enjoyed with nothing more than some mint sauce. I was somewhat challenged while I was doing this by a vulnerable, extraordinarily curious youngster of the four-legged variety that I was I was trying to keep safe! Else I might’ve taken greater care to get the fat a little more coloured and the grill marks a little more attractive. The four-legged variety on the grill was passed saving!

I think he has some of the best fast food going!

Bet they won’t let you have it for $30!

See. I can still trust my memory a bit! Thank you, @andiesenji

Doesn’t have a very promising title but this I think is the thread that I had in my mind: Click

I know darn well we had a topic on this and I know that @andiesenji contributed. I hope somebody can search it out and give you a link to it.

That sounds like a good idea. I know I was beginning to sound like a real downer rejecting burgers and fish! But anyone who has followed me at all will pick up fairly quickly that burgers rarely show up and fish is almost as nonexistent in my meal plans. Chicken thighs, however, make frequent appearances.

If only I had some way of procuring decent fish. It’s a bit of a challenge. And of all things in the world that have got to be top notch for me it’s fish.

Unfortunately I am not and I’ve never been a burger fan. I’m hoping it does a mean job and things like steak, lamb chops, pork chops and perhaps some vegetables. We shall see you in the next few days. My agenda is pretty full at the moment so I can’t just get to it as quickly as I might wish.

So I will do my very best to explain why there is a Phillips Avance grill sitting on top of my induction range. @Kerry Beal and I were making our way out of Value Village. I had in my cart a couple of books and Kerry had an electric kettle for someone else. Seemed as if we were in the clear with nothing strange and wonderful to deal with. But it was not to be. On the way to the checkout we passed the showcase and eagle-eyed Kerry Beal spotted this grill sitting on a very low shelf with a price tag of $50. She said she could not leave it there. It was against her DNA. I piped up quickly that I did not want it. I have no room for such a thing. She contacted a couple of acquaintances and none of them seemed willing to commit to this even if offered as a gift. Undeterred Kerry was bound and determined that this could not be left in the store Not with that price tag on it. Fine. Go ahead. Buy it. But I don’t want it. So you will need to find another home for it. I have known Kerry now for 12 or more years and you would think that I would be wise to her shenanigans. But I fall for them every time. Basically she said that until she found a home for it it might as well be my latest toy and thoroughly tested in my kitchen. I still said no. I have no proteins suitable for a grill anyway. That didn’t work. Almost next-door to Value Village was a Metro supermarket! So now I have a grill I don’t want and sufficient protein to put it through its paces. I never learn. On the bright side when my daughter came by this evening on another errand and spotted the grill, her eyes lit up. so perhaps if one of Kerry‘s acquaintances doesn’t cave it will still find a home! The $50 price tag wasn’t the whole story because we got 20% off for a donation Kerry had made to Value Village and another 10 or 20% off because she is a member of their club. It appears to have never been used. Kerry plugged it in and it certainly lights up and warms up but I have not gone beyond that tonight, nor will I. Stay tuned though because in the next few days I will certainly give it a work out.

Something very simple tonight. Toasted ham and cheese melts and one piece of toast with Robertsons thick cut marmalade. In the end I was only able to eat one melt and the marmalade.

Today @Kerry Beal and I had a couple of errands in the same general vicinity and were about to drive off and go look for somewhere to eat when we spotted this Japanese place that we thought we would like to check out. Kerry dropped me at the curb and the man who eventually became our server and whom I suspect might be either a manager or perhaps a part owner of the restaurant saw me approaching. I am quite obviously handicapped and he was most gracious in taking care of the doors and guiding me to a seat and was solicitous to me in a very friendly way throughout. He even made sure that I was able to navigate my way out of the restaurant after Kerry had left to get the car. stuff like this needs to be recognized I think. On to lunch. Tea of course for Kerry. Warm sake for me and uncharacteristically I asked for a second! as we were placing our order, our server brought out the dish of wasabi and ginger. I really appreciated this because so often we find we have to ask for this. Seaweed salad for me. Miso soup for Kerry. Probably the tiniest Inari we had ever seen! Kerry was expecting a plate of two or three this was it! I was the one who got to eat it. Green dragon roll for Kerry. Everything else we shared. Calamari. tempura shrimp shrimp dumplings grilled sirloin.

Thank you very much. I think I have one duck egg left to experiment with.

Was just teasing you as I am sure you were aware.

This simply does not compute. Tried it forwards, backwards, sideways. Nada

Wow. I’d be stocking up if there was more than just me at home. But of course it’s not on sale here in Canada!

I can’t say that ham is one of my favourite proteins. Sliced black forest ham on a sandwich is one thing a hunk of that pink stuff on my plate along side an egg is another thing altogether. All this to say that your scrambled eggs with ham and cheese looks very good. I think somewhere along the line someone in the family served ham at every celebration for years that I became completely turned off by it. Akrhiugh in the back of my mind is a sneaky suspicion that it was the family member that turned me off not that the ham! But the ham has taken the both of the blame all these years.

stay tuned for the backstory.

Thanks. I was not sure what to expect In terms of an explanation of why they lost the stars.

Please tell me more about how you prepared this.

A very small duck breast cooked on the A4 box. A little more well done then I would have liked but still incredibly tasty and tender. Side of doctored canned corn.

Lunch wasn’t just about the fried bread. But the desire for a piece of fried bread channelled the rest of lunch along a well-worn path. Bacon fat being essential for good fried bread and bacon always needing an egg or two and always a little something-something on the side. All was proceeding according to plan until I managed to break the egg yolk.

It was a pan roast in the Breville smart oven on a quarter sheet pan!

Inspired by a guilty conscience: Before my last grocery trip I desperately wanted some fresh broccoli. It has been slowly ageing in the crisper drawer since then! So tonight I remembered a recipe that was going around for the longest time that involved roasted broccoli and roasted shrimp. I remember making it once and being quite underwhelmed given the hype that it received. But I went down my own garden path tonight. Early on I simmered some garlic in some olive oil and then when the time came tossed the broccoli in that then added some salt and some Aleppo peooer. I roasted that for 10 minutes and then added some shrimp which had also been bathing in olive oil flavoured with garlic. A little lemon on the side and I had a tasty and easy dinner. I think the secret to making this dish tasty is to keep a close eye on those shrimp. If they are overcooked then the dish isn’t worth the time to put together.

This week’s offering Butter tart squares. So much easier to cut them neatly after they spent just under an hour in the refrigerator long after they had cooled on the counter.