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Unexpected Food Gifts

liuzhou

By liuzhou
in Food Traditions & Culture

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heidih

heidih

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, CantCookStillTry said:

Okay. Who hung the invisible 'This Girl can't say no to huge amounts of things she can't use' sign around my neck? 

 

Pulled up at the drive through car wash in the big smoke today, a man approached my window as I went to tap and go. I lowered it a gap, expecting to be told it was out of order, and he said 'Do you like Mandarins?' 

 

Now what?!?

 

 

In my experience they do not keep so well. I would juice and freeze it in ice cube trays. Then whenever you need a jolt- pull one out for a dish. Alternatively you can do what many Asian countries do - gather a crowd and enjoy. Like a party featuring fruit - quite common. 

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Margaret Pilgrim

Margaret Pilgrim

Posted
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We were in Bayonne at a ham tasting.    There were all kinds of French, Basque and Spanish sausages as well.    Husband bought some Iberico for a picnic lunch, and I was fascinated by the boudin noir.     I asked the seller if I could buy half a sausage.   He smiled broadly and picked up a whole one, wrapped it carefully and handed it to me, saying, "Un cadeau".    I guess he was not used to crazy American women who were up for blood sausage.   

 

And, yes, I was nibbling on it raw.    But I survived that as well as many other misguided samplings over the years.

 

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eGullet member #80.

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Smithy

Smithy

Posted
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8 hours ago, TicTac said:

Save the skins as well.

 

I like to shave the pith off and dry the skins.

 

Fantastic in many Asian dishes and it makes excellent herbal tea too :)

 

 

Mandarin peels scraped lightly, finely chopped, and dried make a very nice addition to breakfast cereal (oatmeal, for those who can stand it, or dry cereal) or fruit salads or vegetable salads. Heck, I've thrown them into pilaf to great effect. Once dried, those small chunks of peel last a long time if they're stored in a dry environment.

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Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
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"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
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Posted
9 hours ago, TicTac said:

Fantastic in many Asian dishes

 

Indeed.

I always dry the skin of any that pass my way, but even if I run out, every market and supermarket sells dried Mandarin peel.

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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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  • 4 weeks later...
CatIsHungry

CatIsHungry

Posted
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I do A LOT of baking / cooking when I am able and I end up gifting quite a bit of it ... sometimes people will gift me with “homemade” cookies etc ... there is one flavor in particular I have *never* enjoyed - Red Velvet - so what do they gift me? 😂 ... Not to mention I can’t eat that stuff - AT ALL ... Same with a co-worker if Mr Cat - bless him - he spent days making oxtail soup - sent some home to give me - can’t eat that either 😠😔 ... brought back wonderful memories of my mom (so that’s what i told him in my thank you note (the memories part - not the couldn’t eat it part) ...

 

Has happened several times ... 😔 

 

. Gravious gracious gracious ... Mr Cat sure enjoys it all, though 😁

I have an EpiPen ... my friend gave it to me when he was dying ... it seemed very important to him that I have it ... 

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Smithy

Smithy

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That's some beautiful-looking rainbow chard, too! I used to love buying that and building it into pasta dishes, until my husband finally told me he didn't like the flavor of chard. :( 

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Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
Host, eG Forums - nsmith@egstaff.org

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"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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TicTac

TicTac

Posted
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1 hour ago, Smithy said:

That's some beautiful-looking rainbow chard, too! I used to love buying that and building it into pasta dishes, until my husband finally told me he didn't like the flavor of chard. :( 

Smoked meats of any kind do really well to mask (and elevate) the flavour of chard.  I too am not fond of it on its own, but a slow braise with a hunk of smoked turkey or pork and some stock makes it excellent (come to think of it, that prep would make shoe leather taste good! :laugh:)

 

 

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Smithy

Smithy

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2 hours ago, TicTac said:

Smoked meats of any kind do really well to mask (and elevate) the flavour of chard.  I too am not fond of it on its own, but a slow braise with a hunk of smoked turkey or pork and some stock makes it excellent (come to think of it, that prep would make shoe leather taste good! :laugh:)

 

 

 

I agree that the smoked meat is a nice addition. As I recall, the pasta dishes always included some sort of smoked sausage or bacon. It may have improved the flavor, but not enough for him to really like it! 

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
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"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

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13 hours ago, CantCookStillTry said:

Another fresh bounty left at work for me today. I'm a little frightened of the cucumber and have no idea what the peppers are but will be fun finding out. I don't think they are spicy. 

 

20191108_202501.thumb.jpg.de4ea44e2b833d6befd312c91399de79.jpg

 

Does your country have venomous cucumbers?

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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  • 3 weeks later...
liuzhou

liuzhou

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1911921957_.thumb.jpg.b083714315dbbc3d03c16ab3f951bff0.jpg

 

This arrived at my door about 30 minutes ago. From a friend.

 

It is a form of cured pork known as 晒兰 (shài lán) only made in one small, remote town in Western Hunan province. I described it in more detail here.

 

3 kg of the stuff to play with!

 

 

 

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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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liuzhou

liuzhou

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Baise (百色) is a small city in the far west of Guangxi on the border with Yunnan. The area is famous for two things. It was here that, in 1929, Deng Xiao Ping led the Baise Uprising, a key event in the early stages of the Chinese Communist revolution.

 

More important is that the area is famous for its excellent mangoes. I have a couple of friends who live there. They don't know each other. This afternoon, I was doing not very much at home and my cell phone rang.

 

"Delivery for you! I'm leaving it with the gatekeeper. Please collect it."

I'm an obedient sort of chap, so down I went. Sure enough, a box of Baise mangoes from one of my friends. The delivery note told me which friend was responsible.

 

20200621_163603.thumb.jpg.9641d584f6b27defea3d6c23d8625989.jpg

 

They need a couple of days to fully ripen, but thanks 井荣。

Edited by liuzhou (log)
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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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liuzhou

liuzhou

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This lot just arrived for me. I didn't order them, but they were clearly addressed to me. I can't think who could have sent them.

 

4 x 250g packs of candied macadamia nuts

 

2 x 250g packs of salted cashew nuts

 

A mystery.

 

20200701_121721.jpg

Edited by liuzhou (log)
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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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CantCookStillTry

CantCookStillTry

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When life gives you Lemons.... WTF do you do ? 🤣

Work contact asked me if I used Lemons. I said yeah sure, apparently the citrus farm he works at can't sell what they have 😔, and he'd grab me some of the produce set to be composted.

I expected maybe 6 shitty lemons if any, him bringing me anything would be a extra 240km drive for him.  

 

20kg later.... this is a small sample and they are the size of my hand🤦‍♀️. 

20200708_202516.thumb.jpg.933631ee75446f90cfa464e3d5f0ada6.jpg

 

 

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heidih

heidih

Posted
Posted (edited)
3 hours ago, CantCookStillTry said:

When life gives you Lemons.... WTF do you do ? 🤣

Work contact asked me if I used Lemons. I said yeah sure, apparently the citrus farm he works at can't sell what they have 😔, and he'd grab me some of the produce set to be composted.

I expected maybe 6 shitty lemons if any, him bringing me anything would be a extra 240km drive for him.  

 

20kg later.... this is a small sample and they are the size of my hand🤦‍♀️. 

 

 

Ohh I am jealous!  My stepmother has on occasion gifted those big juicy ones from the desert (Palm Springs). If too many to use I pile them up in pretty bowls as uplifting house art. Even the bedroom.  I've done lemon marmalade. Have not done curd , I've also squeezed juice and saved in ice cube trays and then into plastic bags. I back off on vinegar in general and use wherever acid seems needed. Have fun 

Edited by heidih (log)
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Katie Meadow

Katie Meadow

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Santa Rosa plums from a neighbor's tree. I was going to just eat them as that's one of my favorite stone fruits, but by the second day it was clear I needed to use them at once. I was thinking of a simple sweet plum sauce,  but I forget that the sauce would thicken up when cooled. What I ended up with was fabulous jam. Just plums, seeded and roughly chopped but not skinned, a splash of water, modest amount of sugar and a half a small vanilla bean, scraped. So far we are spreading it on levain toast and stirring it into Siggi's yogurt. The jam was tart, and that's how I like it.  

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kayb

kayb

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A belated birthday gift arrived today.

20200712_075848.thumb.jpg.72b08a03b032a160aa6ed8d9bab021a5.jpg

 

Hot and regular soppressata, pepperoni,  nduja, chorizo. I shall be off later today to the deli at Kroger to fetch cheese, olives and cornichons.

 

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Don't ask. Eat it.

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