Duvel

OK, I finally have to ask: as someone who has not been to Costco, what is the deal with their rotisserie chicken ? I always thought it’s the “1€ IKEA hot dog”: something that is “ok-ish”, but not really good, yet - due to it’s rock-bottom price - somewhat unavoidable when you shop there. But many people reference it. Is it something you are actually looking forward to, because [insert reason here] ? This is really curiosity, no judgement involved …

Not yet … it’s a small, one-man powered show with very limited opening times ☺️

One of the rare days I can do home office. I said it many times before: it definitely has the best canteen - always exactly what I want 🤗 Today three ingredient lunch: simple grilled beef patty, medium-rare, topped with a chunk of Saint Agur and served on a toasted brioche bun …

Karaage, tatsuta age, Korean fried chicken … all marinated & starch coated from quickly dredged to hours.

This is smoked, isn’t it ?

Pizza & movie night, convenience edition … One large baking tray pizza, topped half with sausage (chopped Bratwurstschnecke, to be precise) & basil, the other half with fresh spinach, garlic, caramelized onions and goat cheese cream … Enjoyed while watching Nimona, a quite amusing animated movie … Always a good end to a relaxing weekend 🤗

I blanch the basil in boiling water for 10 secs or so, dump in ice water and drain (in a salad spinner). Then simply puree with cold olive oil. Sometimes I filter the solids out (like today), resulting in a lighter colored, more delicate basil oil, or leave them in for a deep green, robust oil (for dipping bread, …).

Another relaxing BBQ family dinner … Pork collar, Grillfackeln, choriço, sausage spirals and cheese … Roasted oven veggies filling in for the usual potato or pasta salad … And some garden-fresh tomatoes with basil oil … No complaints 🤗

Yes, I think that would up the viscosity. I’ll add more pork skin next time. Flavor was pretty great, though …

Little one was sick for some days. Tonight, he requested Ramen for dinner, which for me is a sign he is on the mend. In a spur of the moment I decided to go the Tsukemen way, trying to emulate Rokurinshas Tsukemen … Making a broth out of katsuobushi, pork belly, kombu, sake, several alliums, ginger, smoked fish (trout), dried squid, soy … Filtered & pureed with some boiled alliums, smoked fish and konbu. Served with dried fish powder, toasted nori, kombu strips, an 5 min egg … Plus some candied pork belly, more dried fish powder, and yuzu peel. I don’t want to toot my own horn, but this was very good. Soup needs to be more viscous, and needed a bit more yuzu peel and a slight shift towards the porky flavors. Nevertheless, it was so satisfying. And little one enjoyed it. Mission accomplished 🤗

I am passing by this sign every day on my way back from work … They are not wrong.

A pajeon-esk solution to leftover spring onion, carrot and cabagge. Plus half a can of mackerel, some frozen squid and SV sirloin. Not half bad … And - as a cooks treat, doubling as dessert - toasted mixed rye with flash fried rabbit liver* Definitely no complaints 🤗 —- * from the rabbit I got for tomorrow’s stewed rabbit with mushrooms & meatballs …

He masterminded Methode Rotuts … he’s well beyond the need of doctors 🤗

@FeChef: how did your experiment go ?!

When I was living in Japan, there was a little* yakitori stall down the block. They had an omakase plate, five skewers of chefs choice. While two skewers varied, it always contained hatsu (chicken heart, seasoned with salt & pepper), reba (liver, seasoned with tare, what we would call yakitori sauce) and kawa (skin, seasoned only with salt, but later sprinkled with shichimi togarashi). That and a cold whiskey highball = heaven 🥳

Nice ! Chicken heart is one of my all time yakitori favourites 🤗

No, not photoshopped. Just very evenly roasted … I thought the same but the child must have patience to get them so evenly caramel brown perfect. The big “child”, yes 🤗. Little one (and his mother, for that matter) make the scorched, semi-soft ones and are equally happy with it.

I usually prefer the Löwensenf brand, and their sharp variety. But I am trying to get little one into mustard, so currently I am buying the milder and slightly less acidic Thomy medium sharp …

Thomy medium sharp mustard …

Lovely weather continues, and little one asked for another round of BBQ: Salads of the day: classic Nudelsalat and tomato/cucumber/grilled Halloumi … Grillfackeln and SV sirloin (2h @ 54oC) … Bratwürstchen 🥳 And I made a freshly baked bread (75% wheat, 20% rye and 5% cornmeal) … And a little DIY dessert … No complaints 🤗

A pleasant evening at 28 oC always calls for BBQ … Sides: tomato/mozzarella/basil, potato salad and guacamole (because I had an avocado on the brink of overripeness). Usual condiments … Some grilled breads (for the guac), Grillfackeln (thin marinated pork belly strips wrapped around a stick) and pork collar steaks … Second round: Bratwurst, one more pork collar steak and a grilled cheese. Happy faces 🤗

Amen 🤗

It’s a viscous, quite sweet citrus-based liquor with some bitter notes. I had it last week on a birthday party, and initially was underwhelmed. Too sweet, citrus felt too artificial. But then our hostess said that you need to put a lot of crushed ice and a some slices of lemon and let it mingle for some minutes. Voila - with sufficient dilution the artificial notes were gone, the dilution and the temperature took also care of the sweetness and brought out the bitter notes. Very refreshing, very good !

Little one had a sleepover, and DW and me used the opportunity to finish some long overdue stuff at work. Coming finally home I wasn’t in any mood to cook, so I stopped at the cheesemonger to get the whole dinner setup … “Clockwise” (more or less): Crisps (almost gone), Bresso, mackerel in olive oil, camembert horseradish cream, Etorki, aged Gruyère, Chevre d’Argental (that was so “ripe” it could be weaponized), Le Rustique, Tomme de Montagne, some garlic-lemon marinated shrimps and my mom’s strawberry marmalade (that my wife enjoys on camembert). Bread not pictured … Eaten in front of the TV, while watching the 2021 version of Dune. Enjoyed with a recent discovery on ice … No complaints* 🥳 —- *except that I really need to get a small sofa table …

Congratulations ! I have one question though: were they flavorless in their original state, or after your desalination ? To be honest I have never encountered brined olives lacking salt (as the brine doubles as the conserving agent and needs to come in 2-3% salinity to do the job) …