Anna N

I saved all kinds of money on Prime Day. The flakiness of the website combined with an inability to figure out what is what because of the search function I didn’t buy a thing.

I have an induction range so finding a magnetic pot is never an issue in my house.

That would almost certainly work for me to keep the kitchen cool. After the stiff gin and tonic and the cold watermelon I would have no further interest in anything but a nap.

Good morning. A bit of a late start today it’s beautiful out there with lots of sunshine and very tolerable temperatures. Kerry has gone off to finish up things at the hospital and then she will be heading out to Gore Bay again for lunch and a visit with Lisabeth of Ultimately Chocolate. I have chosen to stay home for many reasons but especially because I know Lisabeth has news she wants to share with Kerry about her chocolate business. I have only a very peripheral interest in chocolate these days so I’m sure I’ll be happier here reading about Japanese cooking and culture. Of course I will likely miss out on a great lunch either at a restaurant or made by Lisabeth who is no slouch in the kitchen. Breakfast is good but missing any sort of bread to soak up that yolk! Thought I might’ve had a pan-fried hotdog bun but when I reached for one I saw they had already become part of a science experiment. They just don’t make things the way they used to.

For me it’s the Joule! Size, sleekness, ability to be used in so many smaller vessels. Slips into a drawer easily. When in use kitchen looks more like a kitchen than a science lab. Aesthetics! But the Anova was my work horse for a long time and I would not dismiss it. I still own two.

Most of them go into the dishwasher. But really it’s just as easy as taking a soapy cloth as you would to a dinner knife, rinsing it and drying it. One of mine has a wooden handle so it requires a little more care and attention. The wires do break eventually so it’s wise to have a spare wire on hand.

Really, truly I do not want to drag this off-topic but I have to say that you + slow cookers simply does not compute in my very limited universe. What do you cook in them? I am now going to make a 2nd cup of coffee to make sure I read your post correctly.

Vodka and Kahlúa. Proportions vary. Think I got this one wrong. I used 2:1 vodka to Kahlúa. Doesn’t taste quite right. Didn’t stop me from drinking it though.

Leftovers from dinner in Sudbury on Saturday supplemented with some leftover pork loin. ( I have frozen the rest of the pork loin rather than have it be thrown out. I am sure I will come up with a way to use it up.).

The Canadian site has been dicey all along. I just can’t be bothered. Getting messages telling me they can’t respond to my request over and over again becomes tiresome very quickly.

Not even for those prices am I prepared to take out American citizenship!

Not to even mention my views on avocadoes! But I get a consolation prize! Drinking alone tonight so an old favourite: Occasionally my late husband and I would splurge on a fancy meal in a fancy restaurant (meaning no paper plates or plastic cutlery) and we would order Black Russians before dinner. We always specified “3 cherries and a straw”. Go ahead judge all you want. I can take it!

Not at all!

I would be inclined to check the water in the water bath against your Thermo pen and see if the temperature you have set is the temperature it is actually reaching.

Nor how good they taste with a cup of coffee!

I am not one to remember to take the cheese out in time for it to reach room temperature before I slice it. I tend to use the slicer on cheeses such as cheddar and Gruyere that are not particularly artisinal in nature— workhorse cheeses that you use primarily for cooking. Better cheeses are rarely sliced at my house.

Snack time! Rainier cherries also from Costco.

Because bending down is almost as challenging as reaching up.

So I just pulled the second shank which had spent 72 hrs. in the sous vide. On the theory that any more cooking would dry it out even further, I opted not to do any searing. But by the same token I removed that outer layer of skin and gristle since it would not be spending any time with some beneficial heat. I do not believe the extra 24 hours made any noticeable difference to the tenderness or anything else. I stand by my opinion that this is not a cut of meat that benefits from being sous vided. But I saved the bone with its marrow, some of the flesh and even the bag liquid in case Kerry is in any kind of mood to play around with making gravy or whatever. It can certainly be binned if she opts not to do any of those things. And because I believe anything served on a skewer instantly becomes more attractive and tastier: With horseradish cream and a kumato. The latter was perfectly tasty.

@weinoo Thank you I am going to add those instructions to @Okanagancook‘s very useful spreadsheet.

Good morning. It’s a sticky and somewhat cloudy morning here in Little Current. The temperature is 21°C with an expected high of 26°. Kerry is on call for the next 24 hours. I started my day with two cups of coffee and one of these incredible mangoes that Kerry bought from Costco. My “hedgehog” needs work! I have a question for those of you who make cabbage rolls. Normally I soften the leaves in boiling water but it is a really challenging job when you are only slightly taller than Sneezy and lack the biceps of Popeye to be constantly lifting a large head of cabbage out of a tall pot of boiling water. I know you can freeze the cored head of cabbage but that takes forethought and planning. These are not my strong points. So this morning I did a little googling and came across a method that sounds almost too good to be true. Wrap the cored cabbage in a clean, damp kitchen towel and microwave x 10 mins. Pull off leaves and repeat every 5 minutes or so. I will definitely try this but I would love to hear if anyone else has heard of this method or, even better, has tried it.

Curious to know what temperature, function and time worked for you.

The shank was better at the lower temperature and we will still leave the other one for 72 hours. However, I do not think that this is the best treatment for beef shanks. I believe they would do much better in a long slow braise with some red wine and aromatics. The other things on the plate are some roasted mushrooms and of course some horseradish.

Or reservations.

I can’t offer you much more. Kerry found it in HomeSense and knew that I was looking for small dishes and it called out to me. Instinctively I’m thinking wasabi and/or mustard.