Home and Away

[Tri2Cook]

Nice score Kerry! I search used-stuff shops around here but rarely find anything as far as glassware goes. I didn't know the Saz was still available, the online search shows it as all gone. Not that I need more, I just feel a little silly for grabbing three now. They made it sound like a "when it's gone, it's gone" thing at the store I went to. I don't know what to suggest to showcase the Broker's, we get the 80 proof version and I haven't found a particularly noteworthy difference between using it or Beefeater once a few other ingredients jump in the pool.

As a side note, a friend from work is going to Nova Scotia next week and a peek at their liquor website shows them having a few things the LCBO doesn't. I don't want to ask him to haul too much back for me but I'm thinking maybe a Rittenhouse BiB rye and a Cruzan Blackstrap rum. Unfortunately, they too have no agricoles.

[Kerry Beal]

Nice score Kerry! I search used-stuff shops around here but rarely find anything as far as glassware goes. I didn't know the Saz was still available, the online search shows it as all gone. Not that I need more, I just feel a little silly for grabbing three now. They made it sound like a "when it's gone, it's gone" thing at the store I went to. I don't know what to suggest to showcase the Broker's, we get the 80 proof version and I haven't found a particularly noteworthy difference between using it or Beefeater once a few other ingredients jump in the pool.

As a side note, a friend from work is going to Nova Scotia next week and a peek at their liquor website shows them having a few things the LCBO doesn't. I don't want to ask him to haul too much back for me but I'm thinking maybe a Rittenhouse BiB rye and a Cruzan Blackstrap rum. Unfortunately, they too have no agricoles.

I suspect the 'when it's gone, it's gone' is true. This Sudbury store seems to have things that I suspect it orders thinking it will sell and then discovers it doesn't! Looks like there are only 68 bottles in the entire LCBO system.

How did you find it compared to other ryes you have tried?

[Tri2Cook]

How did you find it compared to other ryes you have tried?

I haven't tried other American ryes... but I see that the LCBO now has the Rittenhouse BiB so that frees up a spot in my Nova Scotia requests! I'm going to see if the local store will order it for me, it's only showing available on the eastern end of the province for now.

[Kerry Beal]

Today I made some Caldo Verde in my thermomix - actually Cauldo Verde as I used cauliflower in place of the potato to lower carb it. Doesn't seem to taste any different than the potato version.

I've been invited for dinner by the older couple who lives in the condo below where I am staying. Not sure what's for supper - but I'm sure I'll be well fed. I need a little something to take along and I finally got around to molding in the molds that Theo and I airbrushed the other day when she was up visiting. The hearts and the rectangles are dark chocolate with my "Thai one on" filling and the domes are milk chocolate with gianduja that I made in the thermomix.

[Kerry Beal]

How did you find it compared to other ryes you have tried?

I haven't tried other American ryes... but I see that the LCBO now has the Rittenhouse BiB so that frees up a spot in my Nova Scotia requests! I'm going to see if the local store will order it for me, it's only showing available on the eastern end of the province for now.

If you have a problem getting it - let me know. Looks like Burlington has 10 bottles.

[MelissaH]

Your brownies look delicious. (I particularly appreciate the nuts in them, as I like nuts in my brownies, but my husband doesn't, so I usually leave them out or I'll eat the whole batch myself.) Do you prefer yours cakey, fudgy, or somewhere in-between?

MelissaH

[rotuts]

nuts? No-Nuts?

put the nuts on top after toasting them on the proportion you want with nuts.

a little for everybody that way.

[Kerry Beal]

Your brownies look delicious. (I particularly appreciate the nuts in them, as I like nuts in my brownies, but my husband doesn't, so I usually leave them out or I'll eat the whole batch myself.) Do you prefer yours cakey, fudgy, or somewhere in-between?

MelissaH

Fudgy for sure!

[Anna N]

Did not take long to finish up the Boeuf Bourguignon.

Moving out of Europe to Indonesia and a chicken curry adapted by Saveur from James Oseland’s Cradle of Flavor.

It calls for making a paste of onion, garlic, ginger, coriander and hot pepper flakes, sautéing this then adding cinnamon, lime leaves and lemon grass. The chicken is supposed to be browned in the pan with the partially cooked curry paste and this I always find a challenge! How do you brown the chicken without scorching the curry paste? Any advice will be greatly appreciated. My chicken was barely browned as the paste seemed to be burning quite readily even though I was constantly adjusting the heat.

Nothing photogenic about the dish but it was tasty. Next time I will attempt the original recipe rather than an adaptation as I think it will prove to be a far more interesting dish.

[Kerry Beal]

I was working at a disadvantage today - the town flushed the hydrants yesterday and in the process the water pressure dropped causing contamination of the town water. Apparently it should be OK to drink the water by the weekend!

So I headed off to the community center to pick up my box of bottled water, got it home and couldn't get the damn bottles open - I was nearly in tears wanting my cup of tea so badly! Finally found a rubber kitchen glove that was sticky enough to allow me to get the bottles open.

It was my birthday yesterday and it was quite a surprise to get treated like everyone else at the clinic on their birthday. The birthday hat and the feather boa was waiting!

One of the doc's wives had made this plum tart for me as a birthday cake as well as a really nice apple cake. By the time I arrived however the staff had eaten most of the tart - working on the assumption that I had brought it for them rather than it being brought for me. What I had of it was excellent.

Apparently you have to wear the boa and the hat on your birthday in order to get your treat!

I took blueberry muffins for rounds this am, then made some pizzas with the dough that has been aging in the fridge for a week.

Tonight's drink - a Bijou - gin, carpano antica and chartreuse with orange bitters.

Tonight's dinner - Spam musubi (thanks to Suzi Sushi for the mold). Started by making the sushi rice, cooling and fanning while applying the vinegar and sugar.

Rice in the mold, pressed and sprinkled with furikake (if you have it - if not - sesame seeds toasted in salt water).

Spam, fried up then sauced with teriyaki.

The finished product.

Couple of loaves of yogurt bread for tomorrow.

[heidih]

Happy Birthday! Cute traditions and that plum tart looks pretty nice. Did you enjoy the Spam musubi? I have yet to try it although it is available at all the Hawaiian places around me. I grilled spam on the BBQ before and enjoyed it.

Is the yogurt bread a yeast dough? The pepitas, oats, and sesame pressed on the outside make it really attractive and probably add a nice contrast. Were they also within the dough?

[Kerry Beal]

Happy Birthday! Cute traditions and that plum tart looks pretty nice. Did you enjoy the Spam musubi? I have yet to try it although it is available at all the Hawaiian places around me. I grilled spam on the BBQ before and enjoyed it.

Is the yogurt bread a yeast dough? The pepitas, oats, and sesame pressed on the outside make it really attractive and probably add a nice contrast. Were they also within the dough?

Love the Spam musubi - I discovered it when I was in Hawaii - in a convenience store of all places and didn't even realize it was spam. It was my go to snack the whole trip.

The yogurt bread is indeed a yeast dough - based on a recipe from the Thermomix site - if you have fresh yeast it can be made in just a couple of hours. It has some whole wheat flour, flaked grains, sunflower seeds and pepitas inside too.

[Tri2Cook]

Happy Birthday Kerry! Everything looks tasty. You'd might have a difficult time convincing me (a couple of those Bijous might help) to eat the Spam musubi because I don't really like Spam... but they do look tasty so maybe I'd be easier to convince than I think. That bread looks insanely good.

[Kerry Beal]

Happy Birthday Kerry! Everything looks tasty. You'd might have a difficult time convincing me (a couple of those Bijous might help) to eat the Spam musubi because I don't really like Spam... but they do look tasty so maybe I'd be easier to convince than I think. That bread looks insanely good.

Thing is - they don't taste like spam - just a salty teriyaki bite with the rice. I'm not a spam fan at all - too many memories of childhood food.

[Jenni]

Belated happy birthday!

Rice in the mold, pressed and sprinkled with furikake (if you have it - if not - sesame seeds toasted in salt water).

Your spam musubi looks beautiful! Just one question though - what do you mean by toast in salt water? Toast and then mix in salt water?

[Kerry Beal]

Belated happy birthday!

Rice in the mold, pressed and sprinkled with furikake (if you have it - if not - sesame seeds toasted in salt water).

Your spam musubi looks beautiful! Just one question though - what do you mean by toast in salt water? Toast and then mix in salt water?

Over on the Just Bento site - Homemade furikake #6 - gomashio has you toast sesame, then put a salt solution on them and cook further until it dries and deposits fine salt crystals on the sesame.

[Anna N]

Over on the Just Bento site - Homemade furikake #6 - gomashio has you toast sesame, then put a salt solution on them and cook further until it dries and deposits fine salt crystals on the sesame.

Will definitely be trying this! Now where are those sesame seeds? Somewhere around here as I remember buying them and never opening them. Hope they are still fresh.

[CaliPoutine]

Anna,

How do you like your induction burners? Do you use them in addition to or in place of your regular stove?

I keep seeing them in stores/catalogs, but the ones I've seen are 399.00. Kinda hefty price tag.

[Anna N]

Anna,

How do you like your induction burners? Do you use them in addition to or in place of your regular stove?

I keep seeing them in stores/catalogs, but the ones I've seen are 399.00. Kinda hefty price tag.

I LOVE them. I have removed the coils from the stove top and these two live there instead. Could not imagine going back. Together they cost less than $200. One day I hope to own an induction range but I have not seen anything that costs less than $1800 (before tax) and I am not even sure if I have the necessary 50 amp service. But a gal can dream.

[rotuts]

what sort of pans do you use on those inductors?

[Anna N]

what sort of pans do you use on those inductors?

As long as it is induction compatible I use it. Enamelled cast iron, raw cast iron, stainless steel, blue steel, and I have the interface disk which allows me to use just about anything else - copper, aluminum, glass, etc. but it reduces efficiency. I have a 3rd portable unit which I can pull into service if I really need it. It can just sit on my counter. And if I feel I can't live without a flame for some dish or other then I have a couple of table top butane burners.

[Kerry Beal]

On call today - so not a lot of time at home to play in the kitchen. Before the first trip into the ER this am I blanched some almonds. I wanted to make 'pasteis de amendoa' - Portuguese Almond Tarts. I've been wanting to imitate the ones I used to buy from a bakery in Hamilton. These have no crust - and use a dozen egg yolks.

Not quite the same as the ones I'm after but better than some of the ones I've bought in my search.

Tonight the ophthalmologist who is working for the week on the CNIB's eye van (which travels all over the north and see's patients in remote communities) took the local medical staff out for dinner and education at the Anchor - a local restaurant. Pub grub - nothing really fancy. I've had good meals at the Anchor - but more have been marginal.

Caesar salad.

NY strip, 'thai' shrimp skewers, roasted potatoes.

[Kerry Beal]

Experiments tonight with The Brother's Perryman - the first with Beefeaters, the other with G'vine Floraison. Interesting the difference. The Beefeater is more one dimensional, comes across as a bit sweeter. The G'vine spicier, more complex.

Tonight's dinner - not sure what country it could be attributed to - sous vide pork tenderloin rubbed with curry powder, sauced with a coconut curry sauce.

[Kerry Beal]

This is for Anna - eat your heart out!!! Not because of the booze though - I'll let Anna explain the significance.

[Anna N]

This is for Anna - eat your heart out!!! Not because of the booze though - I'll let Anna explain the significance.

...

Wow! How did you manage to get that many empty Absolut bottles? They are da best!