Manitoulin — change is in the air.

[Tri2Cook]

4 hours ago, Anna N said:

It is for a Bourbon Decay.

That sounds pretty tasty. The link had me searching for the recipe that inspired it, the Bourbon Renewal, and that sounds pretty tasty too. May have to try both. I have 2 bottles of cassis that I grabbed at the local store a few years ago because it was unusual to see it here and I wasn't sure when I would see it again once it sold out. That turned out to be one of my rare accurate foresights, it sold out pretty quickly and I've never seen it here since. But anyway, I have those 2 bottles sitting in my cabinet, probably with a nice protective layer of dust covering them, that I've never got around to actually finding a use for. This sounds like a good way to start using one of them.

[Kerry Beal]

Went to visit with Lisabeth of Ultimately Chocolate - all the places under consideration for lunch were closed so we went to the Bistro in the new health food store 

 

 

 

 

Didn’t really think a Taco salad wouldn’t contain taco meat!

Edited July 17, 2018 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Bastardized version of a Bourbon Decay

 

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

Mango Sticky Rice for Kira 

 

 

 

[Tri2Cook]

10 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Went to visit with Lisabeth of Ultimately Chocolate

I follow her Instagram because, whether it's accurate or not, I have this image in my head that, like me, she's in an area where she's pretty much the only one doing what she does. She's obviously doing it at a much higher level than I am, I'm just getting started with the learning phase and not even close to the business phase and I think where I'm hoping to get with it is probably different than where she's headed with it, but it still interests me to see how she goes about things being outside of a major market area. Of course, that could be just in my head too. I've never been to Manitoulin so I really have no idea of the market size she's working in. 

[Porthos]

4 hours ago, Anna N said:

Two minutes in the microwave to resuscitate the rice and then top it with whatever is handy or can be quickly put together.

 

I do this with Alton Brown's Baked Brown Rice.

[Anna N]

 

 

Tonight’s dinner began with a salad dressed with a Japaneasy dressing at Kerry’s suggestion.  It gave me the opportunity to use the small ceramic

ginger grater that somehow got lumped in with the small dipping bowls in the photos from Sudbury. 

 

 

 

 

 

 It is small but very effective and works as well with garlic as it does with ginger.  

 

 

Dinner was shrimp in garlic butter and olive oil which looked terribly plain until Kerry stepped out onto the balcony, snipped some parsley and showered it over the shrimp. 

[Okanagancook]

Those ceramic graters are marvellous!  Highly recommended to anyone who loves fresh ginger but hates preparing it.

[rotuts]

@Anna N

 

what sort of knife is in Pic #2

 

looks 

 

"" Japanese-ie ""

 

         from " Ratatouille "

 

                 " Chef (?) "  Skinner

 

                         

[Anna N]

19 minutes ago, rotuts said:

what sort of knife is in Pic #2

 It may look classy, Japanese and expensive but it is none of the above. I picked it up HomeSense for probably about $11.   Perhaps manufactured in Japan but even that I question. 

[rotuts]

as long as its sharp .....

[Kerry Beal]

2 hours ago, Tri2Cook said:

I follow her Instagram because, whether it's accurate or not, I have this image in my head that, like me, she's in an area where she's pretty much the only one doing what she does. She's obviously doing it at a much higher level than I am, I'm just getting started with the learning phase and not even close to the business phase and I think where I'm hoping to get with it is probably different than where she's headed with it, but it still interests me to see how she goes about things being outside of a major market area. Of course, that could be just in my head too. I've never been to Manitoulin so I really have no idea of the market size she's working in. 

I'd say that's a very fair assessment of what she is dealing with and the two of you share many similar challenges. 

 

[Anna N]

 Good morning. It is sunny but brisk here on the Island.  This is a pleasant change and I am not complaining.

 

 Kerry is on call in emerg but only until 4 pm today which means she can have a cocktail when it’s over.   And she might well need one!  

 

 

Breakfast!  Eggs scrambled with mushrooms and tomatoes. 

 

Plans today include making the last beef shank into an Instant Pot meal. 

 

The cabbage sitting on the counter is not looking any fresher. I know I need to do something with it very soon. I am resisting!  

[Kerry Beal]

gingerbread

 

[rotuts]

you probably oily have one iPot up there

 

Sweet and sour cabbage    w some apples and possibly dried cranberries come to mind

 

 

[lindag]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

 

 

The cabbage sitting on the counter is not looking any fresher. I know I need to do something with it very soon. I am resisting!  

Have you dismissed the stuffed cabbage idea?

[Anna N]

24 minutes ago, rotuts said:

you probably oily have one iPot up there

 

Sweet and sour cabbage    w some apples and possibly dried cranberries come to mind

 

 

 Still strongly attached to my first two options – – Japanese style stuffed cabbage rolls and gyoza. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak!

[Anna N]

24 minutes ago, lindag said:

Have you dismissed the stuffed cabbage idea?

 By no means. See my answer above to another post. 

[Anna N]

The recipe.

 

 

 The modified mise.  No celery for starters.   But if Thomas Keller  can turn his nose up at celery I feel no real regret that there’s none here. 

 

 White wine? Why? It’s beef for heaven’s sake.  And beside there’s no white wine here either.

 

 Canned tomatoes – – ditto. It is probably sacrilegious to use fresh tomatoes here and Kerry might have a kitten but her constant mantra is, “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.”*  On that basis I am willing to take my chances. And just to be fair, Kerry has never called me for using anything!

 

 Chicken stock – – I like a combination of chicken stock and vegetarian stock  using Better Than Boullion. 

 

 

Being vertically challenged once again it is easier for me to do the browning on the stove top rather than try to reach inside the Instant Pot which is already above eye level for me. 

 

It is now in the IP coming to pressure and I will give it 40 minutes instead of 35 only because I can.

 

If the final product warrants it, I will make the gremolata before serving. 

 

* credited to Rear Admiral Grace  Murray Hopper.  She is also credited with popularizing the term “bug” to denote a computer flaw. 

 

 

[rotuts]

""  But if Thomas Keller  can turn his nose up at celery ""

 

I though I had very little in common w TK

 

guess not !

 

hopefully he also didn't care for green bells 

 

and the bug was a Moth caught in the Innards !

 

 

 

[Anna N]

50 minutes ago, rotuts said:

""  But if Thomas Keller  can turn his nose up at celery ""

 

I though I had very little in common w TK

 

guess not !

 

hopefully he also didn't care for green bells 

 

and the bug was a Moth caught in the Innards !

 

 

 

 It’s always nice to think you have something in common with Thomas. And yes the bug was a moth. I’ve always found it a very interesting development of the English language.

Edited July 18, 2018 by Anna N (log)

[Anna N]

Well, after 40 minutes at high pressure I’m still not particularly happy with the beef shank. It is going to get another 20 minutes. But I am beginning to question whether I am dealing with the kind of beef I am accustomed to which is corn finished supermarket beef. I do not think that Max finishes his cows on corn but rather keeps them grass-fed until they are processed and I am not at all used to working with grass-fed beef.

 

 Much more production today may not happen as, in my effort to save a pan which I thought I had ruined, I didn’t bother to grab a towel first. Consequently I have one nasty burn on my working hand.  Nothing that needs medical attention but damn it stings.

 

I did manage to throw two small sweet potatoes into the CSO before they became much older. Mashed with some butter and who knows what else they tend to make a good part of meal for youngster. 

 

 

Edited July 18, 2018 by Anna N (log)

[Porthos]

9 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Much more production today may not happen as, in my effort to save a pan which I thought I had ruined, I didn’t bother to grab a towel first. Consequently I have one nasty burn on my working hand.  Nothing that needs medical attention but damn it stings.

 

Ouch.

[Kerry Beal]

Breakfast - not just for breakfast anymore!

 

[Anna N]

Lunch for me it was a cup of coffee and a plum. No photograph unfortunately which gives Kerry an opportunity to rib me because I hound her incessantly about posting photographs. 

 

 Still not very pleased with the beef but it’s definitely falling off the bone tender. I am hoping that I can skim the fat off the braising liquid and reduce it before dinner time. Somewhere I am positive there’s a gravy separator here but I haven’t found it yet. Worse comes to worst I will resort to the old pour it into a Ziploc bag and cut off the corner!   There is also some osmazome In the refrigerator and I’m planning on combining it in some way with the braising liquid In the hopes of boosting the umami quotient. 

 

 Sides I think will be glazed carrots and the rest of the sugar snaps.   Both can be more or less prepared ahead of time and finished a la minute.