TicTac

Any chance on getting the recipe for your potato dumplings? They look great and I think my kids might just love them!

Overthinking. At the end of the day, so long as you do not arrive empty handed, you are in the right. There is no wrong here (unless you go bat-shit crazy and bring a complete wine and cheese spread, trying to trump their offering, that might be construed as slightly insulting....). People often bring wine to my house and I already have one open or decanted, leaving theirs if we want another bottle. No eyes batted, no feelings hurt. Just bring....something!

Chag Sameach Lekulam! That looks fantastic, Shain. My mom made quite a spread last night for 15 of us, some fantastic duck fat (typical is chicken fat, this year she tried my idea on for size!) matzah balls & chicken soup, confit duck legs, beef brisket, meatloaf, braised red cabbage, tzimmus (shredded carrots / raisins ), cucumber salad, pureed spinach, beet salad, sweet potatoes, and the list goes on.

Any particular type of apple? Very interesting combination, I will have to give it a go! Oh, and if you do not already, buy your pickled herring pieces at Costco! For around $1 more, you get a huge jar of the beasties...my 2 year old loves them, so this size should last a bit longer than the last few.

Interesting - would love to hear a bit more about said spread. Just made some schmaltz, perhaps that + apples would work....

Curious what you slather under your herring, Anna... Lunch today, simple but delicious - Rahier Baguette Cumbrae's fresh churned Quebec salted butter Copious amounts of Prosciutto Di Parma

Oh this excites me! The snow has melted and my little crocus's and yellow doodad flowers are popping up, along with tulip leaves and a few others, a sure sign that spring has sprung and soon us North Eastern'ers will be able to forage for delights as well. First up, wild asparagus and ramps!!! Curious to see how my transplanted ramp patch does this year.

From the flesh and skin patterns, they almost look like a species from the Mackerel family.

Picked up another 200g of this White Peony from a local tea importer - fantastic stuff. No more pu'erh for me! That stuff did a number on the gut (and others who tried it as well!). One point to note for someone who mentioned cold tea and brewing with hot water - an unnecessary step, and truth be told, actually negates a significant amount of the beneficial antioxidants found in tea. Check out a study done by an Italian university teamed up with a Korean university and compared hot brew of green/black/white vs cold brew of the same. Results were very interesting. Cole's notes version - White cold brewed tea has the highest level of antioxidants of any method/type of tea, interestingly enough, green tea wins in the hot brew category.

Looks good! Cooked celery is totally underrated!

Who has abducted our gourmand formerly known as mm84321!?

Looks great. I love perilla - very prominent in Japanese cooking (see; Shiso - unless I am mistaken). Recently grew some this past summer, saved seeds - fantastic in salads - very unique flavour. Great blog - thanks for sharing. As an aside, if only EG local boards were busier, then I wouldn't have to go to the dreaded CH (cant stand that place and its dictatorship rule!)

Heh...looks more like har gow folds than a roll So long as it tasted good!

Sounds to me like a 'munchies mission'

@Shelby - did the snow pea leaves come like that or did you de-stem them? Love snow pea shoots, but have never seen just the leaves like that!

Hence why the Japanese use it for making 'glue'! I love Tadig - never tried making it, however. Lucky for us there is a huge Persian community in the GTA and finding excellent Tadig is not hard.

Gorgeous! The house looks like it has so much charm and character. And the land....stunning! Can't wait to hear/see more.

Very cool. I often think about what it would be like to live in a old house in the country (France couldn't be a better backdrop!). Would love to see some shots of your property and locales. Welcome!

So many to list. I am a big fan of gastriques - so many variations one can do, and so easy to make (and quite the wow factor when tasted!) I make a variation of yours as well, I also add heavily reduced stock and often Sage (though I do not use a roux, but rather reduce the heck out of it to thicken). I make that sauce for many red meats and always for venison!

You mean you don't bathe in Moose and Beaver gravy!?

Forget Nutella - If you can get your hands on some "Crema Spalmabile Alle Nocciole - Tonde E Gentili" - do so! Italy's FAR superior offering to Nutella - produced by Baratti & Milano. I split a case of it with family members annually. Good stuff!

We do the exact same thing (with chicken as well!) It amazes me the number of people who throw bones out without making a basic stock. Then again I also save all my veg trimmings for stock too... Oh, and re: the gnawed on bones, we do that as well! After all, they are boiled, and opening up the bones just gets that much more flavour into the soup.

If anything constitutes adventurous eating, it would be tackling that beast of a sandwich!

With 3 kids under 5, we no longer (and thankfully so) brave the elements nor the crowds but rather have an open house for other friends/families with little ones and celebrate the 'new year' around 8:30 or so! But that does not mean us adults cannot enjoy some good eats...over the last 5 years I have evolved to simply want to put out a big spread and let people graze at their leisure (I used to do 5-10 course tasting menus which were very involved and did not allow me much time to relax). This year on the table will be: - Home made smoked mackerel spread - House cured gravlax - 'Pinwheels' (rolled and sliced puff pastry variations) - BlackBird Baking Co Breads - Selection of cheeses including: Reblochon, Tomme De Savoie, Grey Owl, St. Agur & a few mini unpasteurized goat cheeses - Prosciutto di Parma, smoked duck breast - Seared Foie Gras toasts w Cherry gastrique - Hearts of Palm salad - Meyer lemon Ice as a palate cleanser somewhere between all the fat! A few good bottles of wine to accompany and any other items friends bring by.

Shain should chime in here - but I will offer a few thoughts... Try to get your hands on Smoked Dried Chickpeas. We have brought them back a number of times from trips to Israel and they make the ULTIMATE hummus! Besides that, garlic confit instead of raw makes a big difference, as does high quality olive oil. Other than that, I am a bit of a purist; though sometimes I will add some roasted hot peppers to it.