TicTac

Another thank you for taking the time to share your adventures with us. Always an enjoyable treat! Safe travels. 400 South is brutal near Barrie.....keep your GPS handy!

Late to the zucchini blossom party....but.... Why batter them at all!? We have enjoyed them for years simply fried with some young garlic in good olive oil. Place on crusty bread and sop up olive oil. Flavor retained (we keep the pistil in, no reason to remove!)!

Anything with an edible skin, we buy organic from a local farmer who grows over 100 types of fruits and veg. So a quick water wash is all that is necessary. The rest, I will peel!

Too bad they do not ship to Canada.... In this day and age, that is surprising!

It seems many (though Ben & Jerry's has not totally fallen flat) companies have introduced more and more 'aeration' into their processing to increase volume of the product while keeping costs down. My beloved Kawartha Dairy, while direct from the large tubs in their outlets is still fantastic, their retail packaged 1-2L have been hit by the same greed stick.

Totally agreed. They certainly damage the plants as they strip leaves along with berry. Though when he produced that large quantity and said he picked them in an hour, I knew it certainly wasn't by 'hand'. If you ever need to offload some berries and don't mind shipping to Thornhill, I will happily pay your wife's prices Edited to add - as I was fishing at the cottage last weekend, I kept thinking of Kerry's fish hook tales and ensuring I was ever so careful in my actions as I did not want to become part of a tale myself! lol.

I salute all you PhotograPosters - I have yet to find a 'stream-less' method to upload shots taken on my D600 - so sadly, my 'contributions' will be limited to text, for the moment (or perhaps until my 3 kids exceed the average age of 2.5 ) Last night was a repeat of a successful experimentation: Pizza w / Garlic Scape paste (as the base) Young 'hay aged' Pecorino Garden baby roasted potatoes First of the year quartered orange cherry tomatoes Fantastic meals, folks. A great source of inspiration, is EG, to be sure.

That is just less than what I pay. Here the guy charges $10 for a half quart. He had a very large basket (same shape, though perhaps 2-3 times the size of yours) filled and that was the one for $170 - he said it took about an hour to pick that much. They use these tools with forks on them to scrape the plant of berries, which makes much faster work. Fresh wild blueberries are fantastic. Just a bit of vanilla ice cream and that's all you I need!

Ah wild blueberries - finally! Curious what they charge up there for them... I saw a similar size (though I think slightly bigger) at the market today and the guy wanted $170 for it!!! 😲

Last night was a 7 week aged Rib Eye from Cumbrae's (deckle end) Tempura Zucchini flowers w young garlic Pickled beet greens/stems Cucumber / Dill salad Williams Selyem Sonoma Coast Pinot

I just made a garden fresh cucumber salad with white vinegar yesterday. Just balance it a bit with salt and sugar. I add a ton of dill and black pepper. Good stuff.

Green peppers, in their raw state, are somewhat tolerable, albeit bland and fairly one dimensional. Cooked green peppers however are horrid, vile beasts and should be fed solely to animals and compost piles.

Your figures seem off, otherwise I am sure many would flock down that path as well... Here one can purchase 5,000 of said seeds for $830 http://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/tomatoes/cocktail-tomatoes/mountain-magic-f1-tomato-seed-2513.html Google suggest that there are roughly 120,000 - 190,000 cherry tomato seeds per pound. Which puts it roughly at $25-30K/lb Still a nice chunk of change! If you want an amazingly sweet and fairly low acid cherry, check out 'Sweet Orange Cherry tomatos' - I grow them every year and they are the nearest thing to candy grown on a vine.

Thank you Kerry. I will make note and see if we can locate one!

Have had the Spanish Valdeon before, v. nice - curious to hear how the smoked one is - have seen it before, but have not ventured down that path as of yet. If you ladies ever stumble upon Big Blue's brother/sister/cousin in your travels, let me know - I have been on the lookout for one that is not exorbitantly priced!

Looks great Shain! Love the taste of sun chokes! Though I cannot say the same for the....*ahem*....'after effects'....

Odd. Unless the vendor was blowing smoke. Though that was 2 weeks ago, maybe the recent dry spell has hit the patches. Not cheap, but boy are they good!

Wild blueberry season has started early and Sudbury has a good crop (had some at the farmers market from there last week). Keep an eye out!

Deer are beautiful animals and it is fantastic seeing them in the wild. Sadly us humans believe they are 'vermin' as WE encroach on THEIR territory, yet when they simply try to survive, they are negatively labeled... 'Tis an overcast day in Ontario - wonder what it's like up in the Northern parts....heard rain in the forecast - will be great for the gardens (and my dead lawn!)

Very interesting. I think I might finally succumb to the sous vide craze and get one... I see the Anova is very popular on here - is that the recommended unit (in terms of cost vs. value - I dont mind paying for high quality, so long as there is a case to be made...) Heard we are supposed to get some weather tomorrow, Anna - blue skies at the moment South of you ladies.

That is very sweet of you both. Glad no nonsense occurred and we were able to have a fun filled day. On the plus side, my 3 year old made friends with nearly every officer there, so perhaps if I ever get pulled over they will remember him! I for one look forward to seeing more interesting test recipes you ladies attempt. I am always impressed with how much you are able to get done up there! It is almost like a foodie cooking vacation (least for one of you!), with a waterview to boot! Can't beat that!!

Thanks Anna - it was a beautiful day for it - though when we pulled into the lineup to get into the parking lot, we noticed a huge police presence - ETF teams, helicopter circling above, etc - low and behold, in this wonderful world we live in, Terrorist threats were made towards the GTA and York. At first we were hesitant and were going to leave, but I do not believe in living in fear, and surely if it was that serious they would not have opened the park! We are back home now after numerous water slides and multiple trips down the lazy river. I would enjoy beer there, if they didn't charge $12 for a small pint! Hope you ladies have had a nice day!

One thing I love about small towns in Ontario (and abroad) are the relationships you are able to form with local specialties, like Max for example. Need to move out of Toronto and get to gods country! As you ladies head out on your treks today, we are headed to Wonderland. Should be a nice one out - looking forward to more tales upon return!

I did not - not due to lack of desire, namely, capacity! I have a fair bit of first hand experience and through family members also in the field (lots of GI's in this brood). It is rare that one is able to go to sleep and only the next day feel the ill effects of 'food poisoning'. Not saying it does not happen, but typically food poisoning presents quite fast. Either way, glad you have recovered and lived to tell the tale

Corn cobs have tons of flavour! Simmer in a mixture of milk, water, 1 fresh garlic clove and you will have the base for an amazing soup, risotto, sauce for scallops, etc.