Anna N

Yes there are scallops. And yes those are dipping sauce bowls or perhaps pickle bowls as part of a Japanese meal. Yes mangos from Israel. They smelled marvellously of mango. We’ve had them before and they were to die for. Yes that is olive wood and it will serve as a plate if you will. Yes the white plates are designed for Japanese dishes although not necessarily sushi. I like them because they have a design on them such that any deep fried food should drain. I am not seeing anything cast-iron in front of the wood unless you mean that little two indentation wooden serving dish. No the cooling rack has been here forever or just about forever. It is a Pampered Chef product and wonderful. Not that I'm a fan of many of their products. Kerry has two more at home because she loves them that much. I have had Kumatoes before and, yes, sometimes they have been a bit of a disappointment. The thing you think is a salad dressing dispenser is a rather stupid peppermill. We have a wonderful magnum that works far better. Hope I got all your questions answered if not fire away.

Yes indeed. I had set a reminder thank goodness. It is chilling down as we speak. Perhaps later today we will rethermalize, sear and test! Thanks for staying on top of things.

Kerry’s 5th cup of tea with lots and lots of milk and it’s not quite noon. Kerry’s lunch. Leftover panang curry!

Kerry has given you her response and mine will be in a similar vein. Due to Kerry’s schedule of travel before we came up and a health setback for me, few things went according to plan. I wasn’t sure even up until I got into the van if I really was prepared to travel! I had hoped for a leisurely visit to one of our big Asian groceries to stock up on Japanese ingredients but that didn’t happen. Hence my plans for lots of Japanese food exploration won’t come to pass. But all is far from lost. There is a certain freedom to be enjoyed when you are planless! But I don’t want these few weeks to be without some accomplishments. Hence the need to start planning those Japanese dishes that I CAN make. Including this (I have the recipe in a book I brought with me.). I also have lots of reading material with me either in Kindle or hard copy on Japanese cuisine and customs etc. Between us I think we will manage to overcome limitations and produce somethings that amuse us and you.

Moody Blue from Wisconsin is a favourite. I also enjoyed Blue Haze which is Canadian. The smoked Benedictine is on the right.

I love the Valdeon. I enjoyed my first taste of rhe smoked Benedictine but there are smoky blues I like much more.

Smoked Benedictine this - crumbly. Spanish Valdéon - creamy. this

Good morning. It’s a beautiful sunny day by the waterfront here on Manitoulin. Kerry is off today and we both seem to be in a somewhat relaxed frame of mind so we might bore you silly today. Breakfast for me is two blues and a pear.

I am assuming Something Old....? Added to my wish list.

Like so.

Splinter the silence by Val Mcdermid. A Tony Hill and Carol Jordan novel. We are both great fans.

Before we headed home we had dinner at My Thai Palace on Notre Dame Ave. Crispy calamari. Kerry remarked how straight they were but the server didn’t seem to find that at all amusing. She apparently had very little knowledge of squid. However they were tender and tasty. Basil noodles with beef. Penang curry with chicken. Thai sticky rice.

They would be very lucky pets! Shrimp fron Costco.

We started at STOP, the restaurant supply store in Sudbury, then we hit a bunch of thrift stores before heading over to Home Sense and finishing up at Costco. For the first time that I recall we did not visit a single liquor store in Sudbury. Kerry said to add that it just about killed us. Our loot: I could list everything in each photograph but it’s so much more fun when you ask questions.

We are just back from Sudbury. Kerry is rustling up a cocktail in the kitchen and I am trying to replace my fluids with a coffee and a tonic water both at the same time. This is why they water the road. It got so much worse than this. We felt like we were driving through a white out in the middle of winter before we cleared this area and its dust. When we have caught our breath we will post more photos of our day’s adventures.

Yes for the dust. There’s a lot of construction going on so a lot of dust is being kicked up so they lay down some water to try and control it.

It is a slow, slow drive into Sudbury. We are following behind a truck that is watering the highway. This is a 2 Lane Highway. Do you think if he waters it frequently enough it will become a 4 - lane highway?

I am awake and in my room drinking coffee waiting for the rest of the house to wake up but I looked out across the marina and it was gray, drizzly and misty. I don’t mind much as we are heading to Sudbury today and I am always excited at an opportunity to wander through HomeSense. I have saved a few pennies to splurge in there.

Since my (late) Danish brother-in-law introduced me to this style of cheese slicer, I have never looked back.

But tastier.

If you are prepared to forgo all the fancy marination and stuff you can simply bag it frozen and put it into the sous vide. That is exactly what I did with the one I just cooked! I added a small amount of onion and two cloves of garlic to my beef shank and it didn’t seem to do any harm. Some people suggest that you don’t add raw garlic.

Bambi.

Dinner: CSO roasted baby chicken and sugar snap peas blanched and then given a Japanesey glaze of soy, mirin, sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds.

The Man Comes Around

Spotted just yards from the townhouse and photographed by one of Kira’s carers. Apparently it was in full view when they first arrived but had wandered back into the bush.