Anna N

Setting a place for you even as we speak.

I felt it incumbent upon me to do some quality control so here's my lunch. Ciabatta with a little olive oil, some roasted garlic and some roast beef. And the cherries which are rapidly reaching the end of the line both in quantity and quality.

I'm not sure I was awake either. But it got done.

I meant to take a photograph before I put it in the bag but obviously I forgot. It is double bagged on account of those bones! Setting the Sous Vide for 56.5 C and thinking I will let it go for 2 1/2 hours. I have never cooked a rack of lamb before either Sous Vide or otherwise. You might think of this one as a practice run. There will be another one appearing later. This is an Australian halal rack. I think it will be a challenge to get a sear on it using the LGE. So the laundry is folded and put away. The garlic is roasted. The lamb is ready to go swimming and the bath is heating up. So far so good.

Yes beginning any cooking session with empty sinks, clutter free counters and an empty dishwasher when that is possible can make a huge difference. A girlfriend taught me many years ago to take out all needed ingredients but then as each one is used to return it from whence it came. Not only makes for a tidier kitchen but reduces the likelihood of using an ingredient twice or not using it at all!

I have been picking at the little bits that stuck to the foil.

I have a new phone with a far better camera than my old phone so please indulge me as I snap away. I bought some garlic the other day specifically to roast it and today seemed the perfect day to do that. It is in Cuisinart Steam Oven and just filling the house with the most amazing aroma. It occurs to me that a couple of small ciabatta buns given some grill marks on the Little Green Egg and smeared with some roasted garlic would make a fine side for some lamb. Those of us who are low-carbing it and can resist are free to do so.

Good morning. Remember when John Denver sang "Some days are diamonds, some days are stone"? Well I'm hoping for one of those diamond days. Breakfast of ciabatta, anjou pear and St. Agur cheese. Kerry is off first to the hospital to take care of some business there and then back to Wiki for the day. My plans include another load of laundry, sous-viding a rack of lamb which Kerry will sear on the LGE and coming up with a side/salad to accompany the lamb ( even though both of us know that the only thing a rack of lamb needs is some mint sauce!). That certainly doesn't sound very ambitious so we'll see what else gets accomplished if anything.

I have been rather neglectful today as far as meals go and this is probably the worst idea I've had so far today. It is after nine pm and I am going to have this roast beef & horseradish sandwich. I shall probably pay for my poor decision-making all night long.

You would need very tall stilts too.

This is the story only those who know Kerry Beal are going to actually believe. This little guy was trapped in the house from noon until around 4:30 this afternoon when Kerry returned from work. At that point it decided to come flying down and landed where it was very reachable. Kerry walked, over stretched out her hand and the damn bird hopped onto it. She was able to get it outside where it was very reluctant to let go of Kerry. Many of you will understand that.

There is also Better than Bouillon lobster stock which I have heard works as a fish stock but I have no personal experience with it. And dashi does not taste like miso; they are two different things.

The bird that you see is a resident fake parrot. Behind him in the vast expanse came out of some architect's imagination and well out of the reach of normal non-mountaineering humans is the baby bird.

The door he came in through is still open so I'm hoping he'll find his way out again.

I am guessing it is a sparrow from the sound of it but I'm not much of a birder so I'm not sure.

No. It is just a baby bird who is now crying desperately for his mama but is completely out of reach in a house with ceilings that are 20 or 25 feet high and with architectural features everywhere.

Yep. That is the main reason I keep gloves in my kitchen. It is not usually still edible food that gives me the heebie-jeebies and causes me to reach for the gloves but more likely something that was once edible.

Good morning. It's a slow start to what will be a very different day than yesterday. Breakfast was a tossup between what I really wanted to eat and the feeling that I ought to rescue some real estate in the refrigerator. Real estate won! Leftover asparagus tart reheated in the Cuisinart steam oven (CSO) and accompanied by more cherries. Today I will probably tiptoe through my recipe books, start making a list of things we need to pick up in Sudbury and generally just laze around which is surely what vacations are for.

I would have to be a serial killer with multiple bodies to hide before I put out that kind of money for an alarm for a freezer. But then that's just me.

I have never attempted spanakopita with puff pastry. Perhaps someone else can chime in.

Yes! Each time I am hospitalized I return home under-nourished, sleep deprived, deconditioned and on the verge of psychosis. Amazing really for a place supposedly designed to heal the sick. So glad you're out of there and hope you can avoid a return engagement.

Roast sirloin of beef, gravy and creamed spinach.

Thanks. I certainly exceeded my expectations.

So I have almost made it to the end of my to do list. All the laundry is washed dried and folded. Ground beef is safely stashed. The second lot of the rib cap Is swimming in the Sous Vide. The first lot is sitting in an ice bath ready to go into the freezer. The fat from the rib cap is still rendering the way on the stove top. The roast is in the oven. I wonder what I have forgotten. The rib cap from various angles before I started attacking it. A pile of trimmed steaks and the fact that came off them. And a couple in the Sous Vide. Edited to say: I see the photos or out of place but I'm going to just leave them rather than fight to rearrange them

I don't think there would be much issue with finding phyllo even here. Presidents Choice makes their own brand and we certainly had no difficulty getting the puff pastry the other day. I have made it enough times to be aware that it is somewhat labour-intensive and doesn't lend itself well to someone who works in spurts!