Anna N

Good morning. Word is that we will see some warmer weather today. I am most certainly ready for it. No plans yet for today. Kerry has gone off to rounds at the hospital and then will work in the clinic for the remainder of the day. My breakfast leaves little doubt as to my standing in the world of carnivores. My mind is playing with the idea of a ham and potato gratin. I know I have never made one. I am fairly sure that such a thing has been made by others. Off to do a little research and then clear it with Kerry by text that I can snatch the three russet potatoes that she bought for Kira's meals. Also anxious to try Jim Lahey's pizza crust dough. Always difficult though to work around an 18 hour bulk ferment. At home I could use my refrigerator to modify times but this fridge is pretty full for a large bowl of dough! Pardon my thinking out loud.

Most interesting. I think I'll still stick with my oven though.

It needed a practice run before appearing in public for the first time. There really was not sufficient topping for the amount of dough. And I suspected as much even as I was making it up. The instructions say to spread the topping right to the edge. My suspicion is this would keep the pastry supple enough to fold. It was certainly tasty enough but didn't really work as a folded street food. I think I would like another shot at it at some point.

Turkish lahmacun. Not quite the resounding success I visualized.

I understand it is a street food and you do indeed fold it or roll it to eat. The dough is rolled very thinly so I am guessing it will fold.

The dough for the lahmacun is resting. The temperature has fallen to 15°C and I am not sure it has finished dropping. Brrrrrrr.

Nah!

Yes it is.

Good morning. Beef! It's what's for breakfast, don'cha know. Delicious. Going to attempt Ottolenghi's Lahmacun (here) today but I know nothing can top last night's dinner. Think we are staying put today so Kerry can get some paper work done. Again it is very cold here.

Nothing green in the yorkies. Must be the lighting.

Now that is a ribeye from Cumbrae's. It was a gift from a benefactor. And we are most grateful. And these are Kerry's yorkies. I rate them the best yorkies I have ever had! And that is saying something. A finished plating. Steak, mushrooms, yorkies, broccoli and gravy. I do not think there were any complaints from either of us about tonight's meal except perhaps that we wished we had room for more. The steak was done SV x 3 hours at 54.5°C and then quickly seared on a little green egg.

So we did indeed make it to the famous Flee Market but left with only a sheet of acrylic on which Kerry hopes to do her pate de fruits and small carton of chicken stock which we are going to taste test.

Thank you. Yep I think you hit the nail on the head. Was one of my first suspicions. Using relatively fine corn meal here but did my testing with coarse meal. This stuff is lumpy and gluey.

@blue_dolphin I know you used my recipe for the pot in pot polenta in the Instant Pot. I believe it was successful. Do you still have the recipe and can you share it back with me? Thanks.

So I attempted the polenta again. This time I used someone else's recipe. It is only slightly better. However, Kerry has made her lunch with it.

Good morning. A late start posting this morning although I have been up for many hours. I was hoping to sample Kerry's pastries for breakfast but I was too impatient to wait. So I made myself some bacon, an egg and an English muffin. No sooner had I eaten this than the pastries came out of the oven. It was a hard job but somebody had to do it and I managed to cram just one small one down. Now I can barely move. Kerry can be a very bad influence at times. She has gone off to deal with some business at the hospital but sometime later today we have plans to make it to the flea market. Finally we have some sunny weather but word is it will be short-lived and we are back to rain again tomorrow.

@JoNorvelleWalker Claggy basically means clings the roof of your mouth. This polenta would've made a very respectable adhesive. I thought I followed my own directions for making polenta in the instant pot but something obviously went wrong. I have many perfectly adequate ways of cooking broccoli so that it stays green and toothsome. This time I thought I would give the CSO a chance to show its stuff. Whatever else it may be good at steaming broccoli is not its forte. The sauce was perfectly good but I tend to side with Kerry that very little should be done to scallops. But up here the name of the game is to try new things and have fun. No regrets. No repeats. P.S. Thank you for the compliment on the orange slices. I was being paricularly cheffy in anticipation of a cheffy meal and cut them and placed them on the plate before dinner. Too bad they became the only cheffy element.

So this was dinner. Claggy polenta, khaki-coloured broccoli and some scallops in an orange rum sauce. The polenta was cooked PIP in the Instant Pot, and the broccoli was cooked in the CSO. Really not 100% sure what went wrong.

After we left the farm I mentioned to Kerry how much the two of them (husband and wife) must love their work. It surely is a lot of hard work and they seem to be right into it.

Sorry. Things have been a bit hectic since we got home! That is a blade steak.

An illusion of an Illusion of Victory. Check the Tepache topic for more detail.

I will let Kerry answer the questions about the horrors of caramels touching one another but in my defense I have lined up some on occasion. On our way down to the Max Burt farm we saw a baby fawn on the side of the road and a little further on an adult. Both moved too quickly for us to get photographs. Whike Kerry and Max chatted and caught up with news I shopped! Max raised his own cows and proudly showed us a photo of his latest calf on his iPhone. He operates his own fully licensed and regulated Abattoir and makes all his own sausages etc. he also has a smoker and does his own smoking of meats. We asked about Copper the dog who was nowhere in sight but he is apparently still alive and well and doing his own thing. After our visit with Max we drove down to Gore Bay for lunch. Lunch was at Buoy's. A chicken club for me. and a pizza for Kerry. After lunch we drove over to Mindamoya to do some grocery shopping. Given that this is Friday that was not a good move. The place was packed and the aisles are narrow. but we still managed to do some damage.

Good morning. Another rainy, cold day on the island. I am starting to get most annoyed. It's garbage day today which wouldn't be particularly noteworthy anywhere else. But here it's an amazing experience. The garbage collector picked up anything that had fallen or blown out of the recycle bin and carefully replaced it. He then emptied the garbage can and carefully turned it upside down on the edge of the road as if he were handling his grandmother's china. He carefully placed the garbage can lid on top of the upturned can so that neither would catch any rain. My garbage collectors at the house destroy more garbage cans and recycle bins than is imaginable and they wouldn't dream of picking up anything that fell out of the recycle bin. Kerry suggested it is because it's such a small town and everybody knows the garbage collectors! Now back on topic. I decided not to have breakfast today because I'm not quite sure how the day is going to unfold. Kerry has been busy already before she went to the hospital making chocolate. I know we are planning a drive out to the Burt Farm for a visit with Max and family [and the dog of course] and to see what he has in the way of pork and beef. It is a fairly long drive as the farm is down by Gore Bay so I suspect we will find someplace for some lunch. Stay tuned.

Perhaps not the only one but close. I am out of my usual environment and therefore out of my routine. Breakfast tends to be much later than usual and when lunchtime rolls around I'm not hungry.

Yes. Next time I might go 24 hours just for the hell of it. You can have my share of the mint jelly.