Anna N

I have made three attempts now at this 100% rye. I think I will simply strike it off my list. It took me longer to clean up my pans than it did to mix up the batter – – no one can call it a dough!

You have seen my house. You know how necessary it is.

Well you’ll get the “reality” version as I don’t have time to tidy up right now.

I will tidy my fridge up soon and show you that it does have magnets but there’s nothing to suggest a kindergarten about what I hang there. My measuring cups & spoons are there and various and sundry gadgets that I’d like to have handy including some parchment paper.

Re-heated lunch taco with some sour cream and some commercial salsa.

Thanks. I did do my research and I think that might well be the one but I’m simply not sure.

Today @Kerry Beal had business to conduct in Cambridge. It’s a small town northwest of Burlington and about a 45 minute drive from my house Oakville. When we knew we would be heading to Cambridge Kerry asked me to research places to eat. A small family run Mexican restaurant, Latinomerica Unida called out to me. That is where we found ourselves at lunchtime today. We shared this appetizer called Choriqueso. It is described as Mexican chorizo mixed with melted mozzarella cheese and served with flour tortillas and pico de gallo. Kerry had the Carne Asada. I had the Tacos de Carnitas — pulled pork, mozzarella, onion, sour cream lettuce and Mexican sauce. I also had a Mexican beer but forgot to take a photograph and be darned if I can remember what it’s name was. I asked our very pleasant server to bring me a beer of her choice. It was quite a tasty beer that came in a squat bottle. The flour tortillas were so good and they were for sale in a refrigerator display case so I came home with a package of them. Should have grabbed some of their corn tortillas too!

What cocoa powder did you use? Looks as dark as mine. Love, love this bread.

“Peas Stroganoff”. Adapted from a Jane Grigson recipe. Creamed peas with a sliced lamb chop. The lamb was cooked sous vide.

As someone who fell into the same trap as you seem to be in, I feel I can chip in here without embarrassment. You’re clinging too tightly to your Western ways. I did the same thing when I was trying to test some Indian recipes for a well-known author of Indian cookbooks. I blush to think back on the things that I insisted were wrong including using well done meat. I wanted it rare. It isn’t done in traditional Indian cooking. My mentor practically had to hit me over the head with a skillet to get me to adjust my mindset. It is the Asian way to clean bones and meat by briefly blanching them or washing them. It brings something to the table that the Western manner doesn’t. It goes against the grain but if you want to make an Asian style stock then you need to adapt your style to the Asian way. You have some fabulous mentors here. Do try to let go and let them guide you.

Jewish Deli Rye using the above mentioned resuscitated levain.

Ditto

Cheese and apple quesadilla with sour cream and salsa.

Nothing wrong with “little Smokies in crescent roll dough” compare with “sausage rolls” — see the difference?

I know. I know. That’s where my dander went right up. No pastry AND CHEESE! What is this world coming to? But so long as they’re only sausage balls....

They look delicious. They ain’t sausage rolls. Oops! I read sausage rolls and now I see sausage balls. Carry-on.

Grilled chicken paillards with a commercial pineapple salsa. Broccoli was cooked in the Thermomix.

About a month ago, give or take, due to some health issues I tossed my levains into the refrigerator. I had no time to make any kind of preparation in terms of feeding them or anything. I just tossed them in there and closed the door. Last week my cleaning Angel told me that she would enjoy some rye bread. This morning I took the rye levain out. I gave it a quick stir, poured most of it into a clean container, fed it and this is how it looks this afternoon. Apparently these things are much more robust then we are led to believe.

Carrot, cashew and ginger soup made in the Instant Pot, grilled zucchini roll-ups with herbed cream cheese and basil leaves and three Triscuits.

BLT wrap in an ancient grains tortilla. I am still working out the technical differences between a wrap and a burrito.

Except for the tomato sauce which was truly moan-worthy (in a good way), this was mostly a failure. Beneath the tomato sauce is a piece of commercially frozen cod. It never had much going for it and following the preparation instructions only made it that much worse. It was horribly over-cooked. The green beans are dressed with homemade orange powder but it too was lacking in flavour. The tomato sauce was my take on this recipe. I have made it many times before following the instructions and ingredients and it is very, very good. Last night I neither had the time nor did I want quite so much oil in the finished product. So I cranked the oven to 375°F, cut the cocktail tomatoes in half and tossed them with a little salt, a little olive oil and some sliced basil leaves. I roasted them for 30 minutes before giving them a good stir and roasting them for an additional 30 minutes. A few of them had a bit of a char which did no harm at all. I was very glad I was alone in the house because I honestly let out a moan of pleasure when I tried them.

(Canned) salmon salad in a pita.

It needed crunch and colour and I had radishes that needed to be used up. Not sure it works particularly well but…

Hmmm. At Amazon.ca the Kindle version is a dollar more than the hardcopy and at $36.98 I gave it to pass.

Wheatberry breakfast bowl with mushrooms, spinach, radishes and a crispy fried egg.