Anna N

You are probably right and I am guilty of seeing Dorie through rose coloured glasses. But I am going to keep my illusions rather than surrender to the dark side.

More grocery shopping. As you can see by the Crisco and the sugars Kerry is planning her usual bonanza of baking while we are here. I will take responsibility for some of the things on this table but whole wheat rigatoni? There’s just no accounting for taste.😯 Not sure about all the tortilla chips but I might be a responsible having mentioned that it would be fun to make some loaded nachos at some point. I hear that Kira is in love with the bison. I do hope she doesn’t name them or they’ll be no hope of bison steaks. Now it is time for me to turn my attention to tonight’s dinner although I would much prefer to just sit here and read Dorie Greenspan’s latest cookbook.

Thanks for your insight. I wonder if people like Dorie Greenspan feel compelled to keep churning out cookbooks to keep their names front and center? Somehow this doesn’t jibe with how I think about Dorie. The cover photograph on the book must surely sell many copies. The first recipe that intrigues me is the carrot and mustard rillettes (even though the title is an abominable misrepresentation of the classical meaning of rillettes). And goop surely lost any cachet it might ever have had the minute that Gwyneth Paltrow began using it. Yet I’m enough of a Dorie fan to give her an opportunity to prove she can still turn out some spectacular dishes. I have barely opened the book so it’s going to be a while before I decide to test any recipes.

For some days before I even arrived in Manitoulin I have been hemming and hawing about two recipe books. Dorie Greenspan‘s, Everyday Dorie, is a puzzlement. We, here on eG, are generally huge fans of Dorie but I can find only one recipe from this, her latest book, in the forum—This prepared by @blue_dolphin. Has Dorie lost her appeal? Or is it that Dorie is so well known for her sweets that we don’t trust her with savouries? But that can’t be true either because many of us cooked from Around My French Table. All that is just a long way of saying that I succumbed just now and bought her new book. I am hoping to try a few recipes while we are up here. The other book is even more of a conundrum for me. It is Christopher Kimball‘s Milk Street Tuesday Nights. I am not a fan of Kimball but Kerry did remind me that when I first started to cook seriously, I devoured every issue of Cooks Illustrated that I could get my hands on. I learned a great deal from some of those magazines. But like many others I found over the years the magazines and the recipes became more and more repetitious and Kimball’s business model became more and more annoying. So why am I looking at possibly buying this book? I would have to say because it encompasses recipes that have moved away from the strictly homey American food model. There is nothing wrong with blueberry buckle but I like to see what is happening with food from other cultures. Finally Kimball seems to have acknowledged that there is the world beyond his fantasy farmland. So I’m curious. Anybody? I have yet to lay out the money but the temptation is not going away.

While in Buffalo recently , Kerry picked up these chuck eye steaks at Wegmans. This is my very favourite cut of beef. I have just vacuum sealed each of them and they are happily paddling about in a 56°C sous vide bath for the next 24 hours. There are no plans for them in the immediate future so they will end up in their fridge or freezer for the time being. Speaking of buffalo… Kira’s new caregiver (and the caregiver’s husband) raise bison and are also currently caring for some orphaned baby skunk. More on both these topics I hope as we get to know this caregiver. A little bison burger would not go amiss I think. Even better, a couple of bison steaks might hit the spot especially after being SV’d. Must explore that possibility.

Good morning. Another misty morning in Manitoulin. We are in for a cloudy day with some sunshine according to the forecast. Breakfast was ham on toasted rye with Dijon mustard, a few cherries and of course black coffee. Kerry has gone off to “grand rounds”, a phrase that always amuses me and puts me in mind of the Carry On Doctor series. From Wikipedia: “A British advocate (Frankie Howerd) of mind over matter lands in a hospital where nobody minds and nothing matters.” After rounds she will see patients in the Little Current Clinic until lunchtime when she will go over to the Manor, a long-term care facility. In theory it should be a relatively civilized day after yesterday in the emergency room. The major task I have set myself today is rather boring. I need more real estate! I am accustomed to my very large coffee table and here I am reduced to a small TV table and a side table. I spend a good part of my day picking things up off the floor because I’ve knocked them off one of these two surfaces.

I am green with envy about the ploughman‘s lunch. Not that any ploughman ever had it quite so good.

And I appreciate that but if I can’t remember to take it out and clean it what makes you think I’d remember to put it back in when it’s needed?

And the surprise of having water all over the counter and perhaps the floor would be less distressing than finding science experiments inside it? Just wondering.

I only empty it when going away for an extended period. Otherwise I just leave it. My biggest problem is I forget to empty and clean the drip tray underneath and it gets quite disgusting. I have even put a sign on the handle of the door of the oven saying empty drip tray. It doesn’t do any good and I am the only one who uses it.

I am not familiar with that character and so I looked him up. Except for the gender his description matches me to a T so it’s quite possible we are related. “Uncle Fester is a completely hairless, hunched, and barrel-shaped man with dark, sunken eyes and often a deranged smile.” From Wikipedia.

And I am certainly familiar with that expression and perhaps my brain flip-flopped on the first letter. I remain curious though.

That would mean relinquishing a very precious outlet of which there are very few! Don’t forget we are the queens of kitchen appliances!😂

When I realized what time it was and that Kerry had not eaten today I began to pull together a frittata for her. However, she arrived home with only enough time to munch on some corn chips with salsa and, I’m guessing, guac. I didn’t actually see it. But I’ll stick it in the fridge I’m sure it will get eaten eventually. Nothing exciting, just ham and cheese with a few scallions slices thrown in there. I will likely have a small sliver to bide me over until dinner time. Just as an aside, I am a word and usage junkie. This use of the verb “bide” came quite naturally but when I do some investigation I don’t find much to support this usage. I suspect it is Derbyshire/Yorkshire dialect. Back to food and cooking. We have had a chance now to shake down this kitchen and its weaknesses are beginning to override its strengths. One thing that I struggle with even more than Kerry, I suspect, is the lighting. With black appliances and black counters there is nothing to reflect light and the lightIng is weak and minimal at best. There is no light over the range as the microwave is there and it does not appear to have a light built-in as most of the over-the-range ones do. The dishwasher appears to work only to sanitize already clean dishes otherwise it just sanitizes the food right onto them. Some of the issues with the kitchen have much to do with whoever determined what cabinets should contain what items. I guess this is a very personal matter. If we owned it we would fix it but for now we are working around it as best we can.

@blue_dolphin Those do look good! Mid morning snack: one of Kerry‘s cookies and a bowl of cherries and grapes. We just unpacked this bowl and it always whispers “asparagus” to us. But it was right in front of my nose so I put my fruit in it. I am still moving at a snail’s pace. But then what are holidays for? Still my Puritan upbringing weighs heavy on my mind. Idle hands are the devils play things and such. But my mind is not entirely idle. I am contemplating dinner.

Good morning. It is another sunny but relatively cool day here in Little Current. Breakfast this morning is leftover pork from yesterday evening on toasted rye bread. I will save my fruit for a midmorning snack today. No idea what I will get up to today but I rather doubt that Canada Day will influence it one way or the other.

Glad you are OK. Sorry about the additional pills. I rattle when I walk because I take that many.

The lower one is pork shoulder and the upper one is labelled boneless pork sirloin. Not being a butcher I can’t be any more helpful.

Yup. Hence I avoided it. 😂 I’d rather celebrate the joys of island life.

Can you ever have enough groceries? And the rhubarb – – – Kerry only asked if there was anyway to get rhubarb and it miraculously appeared. J, who knows everything and everybody, was able to get some. There are four people on J’s street with rhubarb in their gardens. (More of the on-sale striploins, rib and shoulder pork chops, mushrooms and Dijon mustard.)

Thank you so much. You are the best,

Another gift that came across the border, this time duty-free. A selection of premium soy sauces. If anyone is knowledgable about these, I would be happy to hear more. I just received them yesterday still have not had an opportunity to taste them or to do any research on them. I am hoping to incorporate them into something while we’re up here.

No. Crossing an international border. Without getting into the realm of politics there are very high duties on dairy products. These came up from Buffalo, NY.

I don’t know the price. These cheeses were a gift. I only know that there is 250% duty on them.

Another blue cheese that made its way across the border (and paid the price)☹️ But it was delicious on rye toast. Grapes and cherries on the side.