Manitoulin. If I can make it there…

[Porthos]

I just realized how strident my last post sounded. My apologies.

[Anna N]

I just realized how strident my last post sounded. My apologies.

Not at all. You simply expressed a preference and surely we're all entitled to do that.

[Kerry Beal]

 

Cheese biscuits for rounds this am.

 

 

Coconut chocolate pound cake - discovered part way through that I didn't have any cocoa powder - so kludged it with 'real chocolate'.  Seems not to have suffered for the substitution. 

 

[Anna N]

Mmmmmm.  Two of my favorite combos in the last meals: 

Beets and their greens - I love how the slight bitterness of the greens contrasts with the sweetness of the beets.

Beets and orange in salad - I like to marinate the beets in 1:1 OJ and rice vinegar and serve with fresh sliced oranges

 

Thanks for taking us along!

I was a little challenged on this one. I would have preferred pretty supremes of orange but I was working with an orange that had been cut in half and trust me one cannot easily get supremes from half an orange! These beets were tossed in a good olive oil and a decent but not artisanal balsamic vinegar. I meant to garnish the carrot salad with some parsley and the beet and orange salad with some basil but as so often happens -- this didn't!

I like the idea of OJ and rice vinegar.

[Anna N]

I heard that Kerry's cheese biscuits and pound cake disappeared with lightning speed. I can attest to how good the cheese biscuits were as one became my breakfast.

[Kerry Beal]

 

3G tonight.

 

 

They may not have been ortolan - but they were small enough to substitute! Chicken thighs and veg in a honey and lemon sauce.  

[Kerry Beal]

 

We split the tiny end of the Guinness Ginger cake that remained - had it with the wonderfully thick Creme Fraiche that Anna had made.

[Kerry Beal]

Where's the bread? That's not bread... When are you guys back. I'm done my 10000 Macarons 300 eclairs and now summer is starting...

Tell Anna I can't find the bread on that plate.

I agree with the joke.... The government should send the prisoners in nursing homes and the elders in prison... Life quality would be much better for the elders and more miserable for the prisoners

Wait a minute - 10,000 Macaron?  What's that all about?

[Alleguede]

Yesterday was Toronto s French Bastille day and the wonderful mustard company MAILLE ordered from MaMaison 10000 Macarons and 3500 tea sandwiches to give out to guests.

So me and my girls (Carolyn and Kathrine) spent time piping and loving 10000 of those little ones.

Then my wonderful daddy also decided to hold a booth so add 450 eclairs , 100 tarts, 300 madeleines...

So much fun...

[Kerry Beal]

Yesterday was Toronto s French Bastille day and the wonderful mustard company MAILLE ordered from MaMaison 10000 Macarons and 3500 tea sandwiches to give out to guests.

So me and my girls (Carolyn and Kathrine) spent time piping and loving 10000 of those little ones.

Then my wonderful daddy also decided to hold a booth so add 450 eclairs , 100 tarts, 300 madeleines...

So much fun...

Wow - that is a ton of stuff to make. How long did it take you? Have you got any pictures?

[Kerry Beal]

 

Made the dough for these last night - baked off this morning.  Missing Map Cheese Wafers from the Nancy Drew Cookbook. Had them first at a neighbours home - had to find the recipe and try them.  

 

They would benefit from some pepper and perhaps pimenton or chipoltle powder.   

[Anna N]

But those cheese crackers were not missing much! I see a future for them crumbled on a salad as well as a nibble with a drink. They remind me of fricos.... on steroids.

It is a dull, gray, cool morning. Last evening Kerry and I discussed baking no-knead bread in the very heavy (Biro) stainless steel Dutch oven which lives here. So I am mixing up a batch of dough to test out the ability of the stainless steel to mimic the enameled cast iron unit I have at home.

Also, in the Zuni Café cookbook Judy Rodgers has a method of dealing with field peas that are not at their peak. I intend to see what I can do with that.

We are apparently going to Sudbury this coming weekend and it would behoove us to clear as much space in this small freezer as possible. So I will be re-thermalizing a steak in the sous vide and Kerry will sear it on the little green egg. Will have a dig through the freezer a little later today to see what else we can use up.

In between times I will be reading more of the Zuni Café book.

[Smithy]

Made the dough for these last night - baked off this morning.  Missing Map Cheese Wafers from the Nancy Drew Cookbook. Had them first at a neighbours home - had to find the recipe and try them.  

 

They would benefit from some pepper and perhaps pimenton or chipoltle powder.

In addition to or instead of the cayenne?

[Kerry Beal]

Instead of I think.

[Kerry Beal]

 

Lunch today - re-thermalized quesadilla with guacamole made with a 'foraged' avocado. Foraged you say? - well it came from the tree of a sailor who was visiting from somewhere that is able to grow them.

[Anna N]

My lunch was a mishmash of leftovers mostly vegetarian but if you look closely there is an ortolan-sized chicken thigh in there.

The sky is getting darker and darker and there is an ominous stillness about the harbour.

[FauxPas]

The sky is getting darker and darker and there is an ominous stillness about the harbour.

 

Does that area get a lot of summer thunderstorms? 

[Anna N]

A member asked for a photograph of the harbour. Not being a sailor perhaps I missed mis-called it and it is only a marina or perhaps they are the same thing! Anyway this is Spider Bay Marina as seen from the townhouse. It is a photograph similar to many we have posted on our adventures up here.

Head on

To the left (vehicular entrance)

To the right.

The sky is already brightening up so I suspect the storm has moved on.

There is a cruise ship docks somewhere on the Island but I think it is closer to the main Harbor which is in town and far far to the right of what you can see here. If I am wrong on any or all of this Kerry will correct me when she gets off work.

Edited to fix edit

Edited July 14, 2015 by Anna N (log)

[Kerry Beal]

 

For the cowboy on Bastille Day - Le Antoinette 

[Anna N]

Does that area get a lot of summer thunderstorms?

We have a bit of a micro climate here. It's different from southern Ontario and even different from across the bay. When we do get storms they are spectacular but they're not necessarily frequent. I was much more concerned about losing Hydro and my bread not baking than I was about a thunderstorm.

Edited to fix dictation.

Edited July 14, 2015 by Anna N (log)

[Porthos]

In other threads induction versus traditional electric versus gas for cooking is being discussed. I know that I would loss using the oven during a power failure but my gas stove lights just fine with a butane lighter (long neck) or matches.  I agree with your concern about having your baking messed up by a power failure.

[Alleguede]

Yes that's right... We are the French and I'm panning... Lol... Those damn French so arrogant and full of themselves...

[Kerry Beal]

And that's why we love them!

[Kerry Beal]

 

I don't think Anna has put up a picture of the loaf she made today - but here is the crumb! Kira is working her way through a piece right now and loving it.

 

Kira misses Alleguede's Pain Chocolat - I've got some great pictures of her wearing it!

[Porthos]

Anna, that bread looks just amazing.