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cyalexa

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Posts posted by cyalexa

  1. For those who are interested in cooking rice in the Insta pot you might want to take a look

    here

    Thanks for posting this. The fact that I really like my rice cooker is the only thing keeping me from puling the trigger (so to speak). My goal is to replace several appliances with one and I am also interested in the milk pasteurization function. 

  2. I found figs at the farmers' market yesterday, first figs I've had this year. In previous years, I'd make a pilgrimage to a friend's home to get figs from her neighbor's tree which hung over her fence and shed figs all over her driveway. Last year, I brought home about 25 pounds of figs and made multitudinous jars of fig jam, so I'm not in fig preserving mode this year.

     

    But I do love a fig and walnut upside down cake -- single layer, with a butter/brown sugar/nut layer on the bottom, topped with face-down halved figs in a nice pattern, and your favorite cake batter. I have a recipe for a ricotta cake that includes a grated apple that I love in this preparation -- it's tremendously moist to begin with, and marries beautifully to the figs.

     

    And of course, I have to save a few to grill with some blue cheese and honey. Because if there's anything better than that, I'm not certain what it is.

     

    I'll definitely be trying that cake. I like prosciutto with my figs and blue cheese. 

    • Like 1
  3. For those folk who have access to a fig tree or two, here is a recipe for Green Fig Preserve inherited from my fathers recipes. The resulting product is magic on buttered toast and with cheese. The figs must be picked before they ripen and soften.

     

    I bookmarked this for fall. Although I don't do any type of canning I may try a small batch to keep in the refrigerator. Something about the sight of my fig tree after a frost makes me sad - the leaves fall off and many lost figs are visible. I may take some comfort in rescuing some before the frost.

    • Like 1
  4. Ohhhh, don't tempt me. I'm 4 1/2 hours away. And have children up there I could visit. If you don't get a taker, get back with me closer to time. I might make a road trip.

     

    The kids had anniversary dinner there and said it was phenomenal. Patterson House bar, downstairs (or upstairs, I forget which) is pretty awesome as well.

    Of course I'm going to tempt you! PM on the way.

  5. Pickled tongue is a local favorite...don't know if it's Basque-related or just an agricultural community thing.

    Regarding tongue, I've posted this before but I make it a rule to never taste something that can taste me back.  :laugh:

    Some folks around here just call it "pickled beef" (which, technically, it is) to get the inexperienced to eat it.

     

    edited to add the pseudonym 

    Pickled tongue sliced thin and piled high on rye with mustard was how I grew up eating tongue. In fact the only way I ever had it until I was an adult. I pickled pork once for a pork and beans dish and have thought about pickling a tongue. Of course, I would have to call it bologna.

  6.  

    I am so jealous of your figs! And I do like your herbs; I have a small herb garden. I also have a clay container with rosemary, sage, thyme, marjoram and mint right outside the front door. It's so easy to get to that I find I rarely go to the actual herb garden except for chives, which I don't grow anywhere else. 

    What do you do with the blackberries? And all the figs?

     

     

     

    Almost all of the blackberries end up on my husband's cereal. My favorite things to do with figs include salty cheese and meat. I give a lot to friends. I have had pretty good luck drying them, just in a brown paper bag in the refrigerator. This year I'm going to try drying them in a Nu-Wave oven that was a gift. It's too much trouble to clean to use for general cooking but I think it will dry figs well. You can tell by my answers that I don't make jam/preserves. 

    • Like 2
  7. Matty C you do raise some interesting points.

     

    When I am deciding where to spend my food destination travel dollars I spend a significant amount of time researching. I have been fooled once - a restaurant in Las Vegas in a hotel with fancy fountains. I paid a lot of money for food that was good but not great, however, it was my choice and I knew my meal would be expensive. If the food had been great it would have been "worth it" to me, even if the restaurant made a huge profit off of me and a recent graduate could have prepared the meal. 

     

    Greed is common in many industries. I think about this a lot as I live in a state ruled by one of the greediest industries imaginable. However, I am not particularly worried about the effect of greed on people that have the resources to spend $74 for a roast chicken. 

  8. I love all of your spices.  You've inspired me to try to grow some inside over the winter.

     

    And the FIGS OH THE FIGS!!!  I'm jealous.  

     

    You could probably grow figs if you chose the right variety and planted it in a protected area. Mine is about 10 feet from the south-facing brick wall of my house. Most winters it dies back and starts over in the spring. Cutting away the dead wood is a bit of a project but a worthwhile one. I have had pretty good luck with sage and rosemary in pots in the house. Other herbs, not so much. A couple years ago we bought a small greenhouse and they are all happier out there as long as it is not too hot. Even with the windows open and fan on I think it's too hot now. Also, while I have never noticed spider mites in the greenhouse I do not want to tempt fate by supplying their favorite plants. I'll wait until after a hard frost. In the winter we set the greenhouse thermostat to 40F. Even on the coldest days it generally does not get below 40F in there until well after sunset and rewarms quickly once the sun rises. 

    • Like 2
  9. Reminiscing to Jordan Kahn and Irene Virbila, and the Dallas chefs last year.

     

     

    What does this mean? Especially interested in the Dallas bit. Dallas is a common food destination for me.

     

    And BTW, I think "overpriced" is in the eyes of the beholder (purse/pocket of the walletholder?). Anything prepared by slitting open the Sysco bag and reheating is overpriced to me.

    • Like 2
  10. My garden is very small. I have a low tolerance for heat and sun. As soon as it hits 90 degrees F, I retreat to the air conditioning. I have learned not to plant more than I am willing to care for. 

     

    The "kitchen garden". In the foreground, basil being allowed to to go seed and my tomato plant (yes, I only have one).

    IMG_20150816_124647_515.jpg

     

    Clockwise, starting at the lower left: flat leaf parsley seedlings, I hope (the spent adult plant was here); what's left of a basil plant harvested a couple days ago, thyme, garlic chives and jammed up against it (because I can't get to the roots of the garlic chive plant) a celery plant; a very old and partly dead rosemary; lettuce seedlings sort of in the center; on the right edge a sad looking epazote plant. Don't know what happened to the epazote, generally it thrives. Fortunately, I have plenty of seeds including some recently potted. 

    IMG_20150816_125121_145.jpg

     

    The west end, clockwise, starting at 11 oclock: thyme, garlic chives, garlic chives, celery, volunteer kale (several plants), tarragon, rosemary. 

    IMG_20150816_124742_845.jpg

     

     

    My fig tree, more of a bush really.

    IMG_20150816_125945_638.jpg

     

     

    There will be many figs this year!

     

    IMG_20150816_130344_226.jpg

     

     

    Blackberries in the background - done for the year. Oregano and the empty garlic bead in the foreground. I'm having the garlic bed extended about 16 feet. 

    IMG_20150816_125621_392.jpg

     

     

    And in the house, safe from spider mites (I hope!); a replacement rosemary and sage seedlings. After a hard frost I'll move them to our little greenhouse. Note to self: Order beneficial mites next spring. 

    IMG_20150816_145830_104.jpg

     

    • Like 6
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