Anna N

Like this which popped up even before I had completed my order! GRRRRRRRR

Not that I don’t consider @Toliver a well-practised and talented enabler, this time the blame lies wholly with @kayb.

Damn your enabling soul! I’m really not into southern cooking. No offense. But I’m always in for a good story and a good bargain. At $1.99 it’s a cheap thrill I can afford.

What toys will you be taking?

And she won’t make you feel foolish because you’re not nearly so talented. Now that’s a talent.

I was equally amazed when I followed our own @FoodMan‘s recipe.

Indeed. It is a rare treat but what a treat!

Love it!

Dear Lord. And I still don’t think that includes the ones that I got a glimpse of in the Asian store we visited recently.

You did ask. Edited to add: And that’s a pretty ancient article that I linked to. I know there are newer flavours than that!

This is for @Shelby: Sorry. I see I caught the French side of the can. After a while when you live bi-lingually you don’t notice. Onigirazu with spam and fried egg and some homemade tonkatsu sauce.

It doesn’t photograph well and to be honest it didn’t eat very well either. I definitely wouldn’t make it again. What is it? It is clam donburi. I own the book but here is a website showing a photograph of the relevant page. Perhaps made with fresh clam meat...

It’s a dominant trait in the gene pool. My sister in England who is fast approaching 90 told me that she too enjoyed some Jello today. Hers was lemon flavoured.

I was cleaning out my pantry this morning when I ran across two long-expired boxes of Jell-O. I was about to toss them but it occurred to me that they could hardly expire and that I used to enjoy a bowl of Jell-O. And so raspberry Jell-O with a little cream. I have snacked on worse.

I buy it frequently.🙂 Here. available in most grocery stores here in Southern Ontario.

Since it is almost impossible to make a single serving of okonomiyaki, breakfast is again a planned-over meal. Served with a simple cabbage, carrot and mayonnaise coleslaw.

Yes. Just when I think I have plumbed the depths of Japanese cuisine I discover I have barely even scratched the surface. And it is constantly adapting, innovating and reaching back to its roots. I envy you the opportunity to explore it first hand but I’m grateful that you share that experience with us.

Osaka-style okonomiyaki. Based loosely on this.

Broccoli, coleslaw, shiso-wrapped chicken patties, soy sauce simmered shiitake mushrooms and rice cylinders with aornori furikake.

Planned-over taco rice.

Taco rice. A little background.

As discussed earlier in this topic here. I knew it sounded all-too-familiar.😊

A welcome gift of a steak and kidney pie. I reheated it (in its foil pie plate) in the Cuisinart Steam Oven 325°F for ~15 minutes until its internal temperature exceeded 168°F. I tossed together some shredded cabbage and carrot and some kewpie mayo to make a quick coleslaw.

But it turned into such an interesting lunch hour. There wasn’t a single word of unpleasantness. Stuff happens and this restaurant really tried to remedy the problem.

Today Kerry and I were dithering about where to go for lunch. Were we feeling adventurous or were we more in the mood for familiarity. In the end adventurous won. Earlier in the morning we had passed by Canyon Creek Restaurant and I had asked what it was not realizing it was a restaurant. When it came time to decide where to eat this popped into the conversation. We headed back in its direction. One of Kerry’s favourite dishes is a well prepared pork chop. On their specialty menu is a photograph of a very lovely looking pork chop. When the server came to take our order Kerry and she got involved in a discussion of pork chops and Kerry expressed her desire for some fat on her pork. The discussion seem to devolve into something in which Kerry thought perhaps she should order something else. However, the server said she would tell the kitchen to find the fattiest porkchop they could and prepare that. She assured Kerry that this would be probably the best pork chop ever. (Bear with me. All of this is preparatory material which will make sense eventually.) One of the things on the menu was steak frites but with truffle french fries. Of all the things in the world that I despise it is even the slightest whiff of truffle in any form. I asked if we could forgo the truffle and the server was kind enough to point out another option which was more to my liking. We also ordered calamari. It was very satisfactory. Tender, tasty and sprinkled with fried onion strings, fried jalapeño rings and a strip or two of red pepper. Shortly after the server had taken our order and presented it to the kitchen and while I was powdering my nose, someone from management came over to talk to Kerry about her wish for a fatty pork chop. I am sure they expected to find a two headed, bearded and inebriated freak. Who else would want fat on their pork chop in this age of healthy living. Scott, was most delightful. He discussed the preparation of the chop in considerable detail with Kerry. He explained that it was brined for six hours and there were other details that I missed while repairing my shiny nose. We munched away on the calamari and before we were even halfway through it our chosen dishes arrived. Mine was satisfactory. The steak was tasty and tender, the onion strings were good. Only the fries could’ve been improved with a little more seasoning. Kerry’s plate looked quite delightful and when she cut into her pork chop I remarked that it did look juicy. But it was quickly obvious that this pork chop was not living up to any expectations. Kerry cut off a small piece and asked me to try it. I was forced to spit it out into my napkin something that I’m not proud of but I sure as hell wasn’t swallowing it. Kerry said it tasted like cleaning solution. I wasn’t sure it was cleaning solution but it was a very strange flavour that I just wasn’t going to swallow. Scott must have followed our plates out of the kitchen as he arrived at our table just as we had both taken a bite of the pork chop. He could not have been any more apologetic. He immediately offered to replace it with something else. Kerry opted for a small steak like mine. Her pork chop was removed from her plate but at her request the rest of the meal was left with her awaiting a replacement protein. Scott returned at some point with further information about the preparation of the pork chop when we learned that the brine contained not only salt and sugar but also white wine, bay leaf, rosemary and perhaps some other things. We have no idea who would think that this made an effective brine but it certainly would explain the resiny taste of the pork particularly so if anyone had been heavy-handed with the bay and the rosemary. Neither Scott nor our server seem to be able to apologize enough. Kerry’s plate was brought back with a steak which was much more satisfactory, and an interesting selection of green beans, golden beets and carrots. In fairness to all, the staff did bend over backwards to try to make up for the pork chop which included a discount on the total bill and a membership in their customer club which involved among other things a $10 gift certificate.