Manitoulin — change is in the air.

[rotuts]

three fiction books are good

 

but can't make out the red book 

 

" The "

[Anna N]

12 minutes ago, rotuts said:

three fiction books are good

 

but can't make out the red book 

 

" The "

 Splinter the silence by Val Mcdermid. A Tony Hill and Carol Jordan novel. We are both great fans.

[Kerry Beal]

Forgot to post big blue in action yesterday

 

 

These lemons we picked up at Costco are so big and with such a thick shell that you can’t bring the handle all the way down

Edited July 15, 2018 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Anna N]

Good morning. It’s a beautiful sunny day by the waterfront here on Manitoulin.

 

Kerry is off today and we both seem to be in a somewhat relaxed frame of mind so we might bore you silly today. 

 

 

Breakfast for me is two blues and a pear. 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2018 by Anna N (log)

[rotuts]

What are the blues  ?

 

I love blue cheese

 

however , Id take a creamy blue over a crumbly blue 

 

with equal intensity 

 

those do not look too crumbly

 

the standard for crumbly might be real Roquefort

Edited July 15, 2018 by rotuts (log)

[blue_dolphin]

On 7/13/2018 at 5:59 AM, Anna N said:

If I don’t start doing some serious planning I will be leaving here having accomplished nothing of what I had intended.  

 

Any chance you'd be willing to share some of your culinary plans/goals/aspirations for this trip?   

A little preview of coming attractions?

Not to put any pressure on....I do respect island time 

[Anna N]

4 minutes ago, rotuts said:

What are the blues  ?

 

I love blue cheese

 

however , Id take a creamy blue over a crumbly blue 

 

with equal intensity 

 

those do not look too crumbly

 

the standard for crumbly might be real Roquefort

 

Smoked Benedictine this - crumbly. Spanish Valdéon - creamy. this

[TicTac]

Have had the Spanish Valdeon before, v. nice - curious to hear how the smoked one is - have seen it before, but have not ventured down that path as of yet.

 

If you ladies ever stumble upon Big Blue's brother/sister/cousin in your travels, let me know - I have been on the lookout for one that is not exorbitantly priced!   

[Anna N]

7 minutes ago, TicTac said:

 

Have had the Spanish Valdeon before, v. nice - curious to hear how the smoked one is - have seen it before, but have not ventured down that path as of yet.

 

I love the Valdeon. I enjoyed my first taste of rhe smoked Benedictine but there are smoky blues I like much more. 

[Kerry Beal]

29 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

Any chance you'd be willing to share some of your culinary plans/goals/aspirations for this trip?   

A little preview of coming attractions?

Not to put any pressure on....I do respect island time 

I must confess I came up here rather depressed thinking that it might be our last given the condo sale - and certainly not looking forward to the idea of either selling or packing up all the shit kitchenware/chemicals/ingredients I've accumulated here in 18 years. So I had no plans!

 

I did bring up a copy of Wybauw's Gold - but that was to help with writing the course outline for a class I'm going to be teaching at Humber College this fall for the Post Graduate Advanced Chocolate and Confectionary course, which is new this year.

 

Another goal we identified - use up as much of the booze that only has an ounce or two in the bottle - we are suffering severely due to the lack of regular gin and St Germaine while we try to reach this goal! And this is why we were not in the liquor store in Sudbury yesterday. 

 

Today my goal is to make Paul Raphael's Brown Butter Muscovado Chocolate Chip cookies. The butter is browning as we speak.

[Kerry Beal]

12 minutes ago, TicTac said:

Have had the Spanish Valdeon before, v. nice - curious to hear how the smoked one is - have seen it before, but have not ventured down that path as of yet.

 

If you ladies ever stumble upon Big Blue's brother/sister/cousin in your travels, let me know - I have been on the lookout for one that is not exorbitantly priced!   

I bought it at Homesense - I saw 4 in there yesterday for $50 each.

 

 

 

[rotuts]

@Anna N

 

" there are smoky blues I like much more.'

 

and those might be  ....

 

is the Smoked Benedictine on the L of that picture ?

[Anna N]

19 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Anna N

 

" there are smoky blues I like much more.'

 

and those might be  ....

 

is the Smoked Benedictine on the L of that picture ?

Moody Blue from Wisconsin is a favourite. I also enjoyed Blue Haze which is Canadian.  The smoked Benedictine is on the right.  

[Tri2Cook]

44 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

and certainly not looking forward to the idea of either selling or packing up all the shit kitchenware/chemicals/ingredients

  

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

Any chance you'd be willing to share some of your culinary plans/goals/aspirations for this trip?   

Kerry has given you her response and mine will be in a similar vein. 

 

Due to Kerry’s schedule of travel before we came up and a health setback for me, few things went according to plan. I wasn’t sure even up until I got into the van if I really was prepared to travel!  

 

I had hoped for a leisurely visit to one of our big Asian groceries to stock up on Japanese ingredients but that didn’t happen. Hence my plans for lots of Japanese food exploration won’t come to pass. 

 

But all is far from lost. There is a certain freedom to be enjoyed when you are planless!  But I don’t want these few weeks to be without some accomplishments. Hence the need to start planning those Japanese dishes that I CAN make. Including this (I have the recipe in a book I brought with me.). 

 

I also have lots of reading material with me either in Kindle or hard copy on Japanese cuisine and customs etc.

 

Between us I think we will manage to overcome limitations and produce somethings that amuse us and you. 

[Anna N]

 

 Kerry’s 5th cup of tea with lots and lots of milk and it’s not quite noon. 

 

 

Kerry’s lunch. Leftover panang curry!

[blue_dolphin]

14 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Between us I think we will manage to overcome limitations and produce somethings that amuse us and you. 

 

Of this, I have no doubt!

[DesertTinker]

1 minute ago, Anna N said:

 

 Kerry’s 5th cup of tea with lots and lots of milk and it’s not quite noon. 

 

 

Kerry’s lunch. Leftover panang curry!

 

Finally, someone else that makes tea the way I do.😀

And drinks it in the same quantities.

[Kerry Beal]

2 minutes ago, DesertTinker said:

 

Finally, someone else that makes tea the way I do.😀

And drinks it in the same quantities.

It doesn't look that big in the pics - but it's a 1pint beer stein I'm drinking it in! It's hard at a restaurant to get enough milk (or good tea for that matter).

 

 

[caroled]

@Anna N, Have you pulled your 48 hour shank yet? it's time!

[Anna N]

5 minutes ago, caroled said:

@Anna N, Have you pulled your 48 hour shank yet? it's time!

Yes indeed. I had set a reminder thank goodness. It is chilling down as we speak. Perhaps later today we will rethermalize, sear and test!   Thanks for staying on top of things.

Edited July 15, 2018 by Anna N (log)

[caroled]

Anytime I can be of assistance 😁

[TicTac]

4 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

I bought it at Homesense - I saw 4 in there yesterday for $50 each.

 

 

 

Thank you Kerry.  I will make note and see if we can locate one!

 

 

[Smithy]

20 hours ago, Anna N said:

We started at STOP, the restaurant supply store in Sudbury,  then we hit a bunch of thrift stores before heading over to Home Sense and finishing up at Costco. For the first time that I recall we did not visit a single liquor store in Sudbury.  Kerry said to add that it just about killed us.  

 

Our loot:

 

 

I could list everything in each photograph but it’s so much more fun when you ask questions.

 

I'll play! Are those replacement power cords in the photo immediately above this? One looks like it has a microphone jack on it. What's up with those?

 

In the top photo, do you also have scallops? Those are harder to find than shrimp, I think. I look forward to seeing what you do with them. The cute little bowls at the lower right of that top picture, with the baby skewers, make me think of bowls for dipping sauce. 

 

Are those mangoes so neatly packaged in a box, next to the whipping cream? 

 

I split the pictures up to make the questions clearer. More photo quotes follow.

 

20 hours ago, Anna N said:

 

 

 

It's a good thing rotuts can't reach you to chastise you in person for the spiral-bound notebook. Personally, I think it's a great cover design.I also think the cover of "East" is irresistible.

 

At the back of the loot is a beautiful piece of wood: olive wood? It looks tapered and not really like a cutting board. What is its purpose?

 

The three whitish plates in front and to the left of the wooden plank look like Japanese server ware of some sort...for sushi, perhaps?

 

Immediately in front of the wood, at the right, is a little cast iron thingie that looks like a mold of some sort. Is it? For what? Could you give a closeup of it?

 

Incidentally - is the cooling rack in this photo and another also new? It looks a nice size.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing what y'all get up to with all those cookbooks.

 

20 hours ago, Anna N said:

 

 

That just looks like good food. Have you had the Kumatos before? I have been disappointed in them the once or twice I've tried them, but they're popular enough that I may have gotten bad batches. I go for Camparis whenever possible, except during Fresh Real Local Tomato Season (coming soon to these north woods, I hope). 

 

At the back and right of the picture is a metal gizmo with a black plastic tab that sticks up - a salad dressing dispenser? A closer view of that would be nice.

 

It looks like a nice haul all around! 

 

[Kerry Beal]

 

Here’s what the 12 V cords are helping me test out - the little battery pack has been neutered by me to remove the jumper cables.  It came into this country without its 6.4 amp hour battery and I found a 4 amp hour battery at Crappy Tire for not a ton of money. It will run an EZtemper for about 10 hours.

Edited July 15, 2018 by Kerry Beal (log)