Manitoulin — change is in the air.

[Anna N]

5 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

You would not believe how good they smell in the bowl!

 Nor how good they taste with a cup of coffee!

 

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

6 hours ago, TicTac said:

Your figures seem off, otherwise I am sure many would flock down that path as well...

 

Here one can purchase 5,000 of said seeds for $830

 

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/tomatoes/cocktail-tomatoes/mountain-magic-f1-tomato-seed-2513.html

 

Google suggest that there are roughly 120,000 - 190,000 cherry tomato seeds per pound.

 

Which puts it roughly at $25-30K/lb

 

Still a nice chunk of change!

 

If you want an amazingly sweet and fairly low acid cherry, check out 'Sweet Orange Cherry tomatos' - I grow them every year and they are the nearest thing to candy grown on a vine.

 

 

Weren't my figures, the price was from Wikipedia citing NPR:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campari_tomato

 

My guess is the that the price has gone down a bit over time since the variety was introduced.

 

In addition to Mountain Magic this year I am growing Ramapo and Atlas.  I must say Atlas has huge tomatoes for a smallish plant.  None red yet though.

 

[Tri2Cook]

2 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

@paulraphael's Brown Butter Muscovado Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

You would not believe how good they smell in the bowl!
 

 

2 hours ago, Anna N said:

 
Nor how good they taste with a cup of coffee!

 

Yes I would... but only because I've made them and had them with coffee. Is that cheating? 

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, Tri2Cook said:

Yes I would... but only because I've made them and had them with coffee. Is that cheating? 

Not at all! 

[Kerry Beal]

 

Avocado with Hellman’s doctored to make it like Miracle Whip

[Shelby]

6 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

 

Avocado with Hellman’s doctored to make it like Miracle Whip

That is definitely only for you   I know Anna's views on MW.

[Anna N]

24 minutes ago, Shelby said:

That is definitely only for you   I know Anna's views on MW.

Not to even mention my views on avocadoes!

 

But I get a consolation prize!  Drinking alone tonight so an old favourite:

 

 

 

Occasionally my late husband and I would splurge on a fancy meal in a fancy restaurant (meaning no paper plates or plastic cutlery) and we would order Black Russians before dinner. We always specified “3 cherries and a straw”. Go ahead judge all you want. I can take it! 

 

Edited July 16, 2018 by Anna N
Sorry I hit submit before I was finished. (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

36 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

 

Avocado with Hellman’s doctored to make it like Miracle Whip

 

Shudder, the very thought.  Those could well be my eyes.

 

[Tri2Cook]

33 minutes ago, Anna N said:

(meaning no paper plates or plastic cutlery)

 

33 minutes ago, Anna N said:

and we would order Black Russians before dinner. We always specified “3 cherries and a straw”. Go ahead judge all you want. I can take it! 

What's to judge? Having something you enjoy while spending time with someone you love... that's probably about as close to "what it's all about" as it gets.

[Anna N]

 

 Leftovers from dinner in Sudbury on Saturday supplemented with some leftover pork loin.  ( I have frozen the rest of the pork loin rather than have it be thrown out. I am sure I will come up with a way to use it up.). 

[Porthos]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

Not to even mention my views on avocadoes!

 

But I get a consolation prize!  Drinking alone tonight so an old favourite:

 

 

 

Occasionally my late husband and I would splurge on a fancy meal in a fancy restaurant (meaning no paper plates or plastic cutlery) and we would order Black Russians before dinner. We always specified “3 cherries and a straw”. Go ahead judge all you want. I can take it! 

 

 

I have got to try one.

[Shelby]

What is in a  Black Russian?  I used to love White Russians....until I had 5 too many one night playing pool....

[Porthos]

2 minutes ago, Shelby said:

What is in a  Black Russian?  I used to love White Russians....until I had 5 too many one night playing pool....

5 parts vodka, 2 parts coffee liqueur,  in an old fashioned glass, add ice and stir gently.

[Anna N]

Just now, Shelby said:

What is in a  Black Russian?  I used to love White Russians....until I had 5 too many one night playing pool....

 Vodka and Kahlúa.  Proportions vary.  Think I got this one wrong.  I used 2:1 vodka to Kahlúa.  Doesn’t taste quite right.  Didn’t stop me from drinking it though. 

[Anna N]

 Good morning. A bit of a late start today it’s beautiful out there with lots of sunshine and very tolerable temperatures. 

 

 Kerry has gone off to finish up things at the hospital and then she will be heading out to Gore Bay again  for lunch and a visit with Lisabeth of Ultimately Chocolate.

 

I have chosen to stay home for many reasons but especially because I know Lisabeth has news she wants to share with Kerry about her chocolate business.  I have only a very peripheral interest in chocolate these days so I’m sure I’ll be happier here reading about Japanese cooking and culture.   Of course I will likely miss out on a great lunch either at a restaurant or made by Lisabeth who is no slouch in the kitchen. 

 

 

 Breakfast is good but missing any sort of bread to soak up that yolk!   Thought I might’ve had a pan-fried hotdog bun but when I reached for one I saw they had already become part of a science experiment. They just don’t make things the way they used to.

Edited July 17, 2018 by Anna N
To change button to but (log)

[Smithy]

Too bad about the bread! That looks like a proper English - er, Canadian - breakfast. (Makes my avocado and hummus roll-up seem sad.) I can't decide whether the crispy bacon or the lovely tomatoes look better, but as much as I love eggs they'd fall to 3rd place - with or without the toast.

[Anna N]

So today I am going to take the final beef shank from the freezer and allow it to defrost in the refrigerator. Tomorrow or perhaps the day after I will give it the treatment it deserves – – a true, well almost true, braise.  It will go into the Instant Pot along with some aromatics and some wine and we will enjoy it a la osso buco. 

 

 Before Kerry left on her adventure we discussed dinner this evening. Shrimp tempura needs to be saved for a day when  Kira is being well cared for by a sitter!   Tempura waits for no woman.  

 

But like me, Kerry is finding those shrimp in the freezer are weighing heavily on her appetite.  So tonight it will be shrimp Spanish style mostly following this.

 

 I also need to get some Japanese rice cooked, packed into portions and frozen.  I did not bring my rice cooker along so the Instant Pot will have to be the stand-in.  

But ever since I learned that every grain of rice cradles seven gods (click), rinsing and cooking rice has become fraught with danger. The very thought of washing 7, 14 or perhaps 28 gods down the drain ...  But I have rolled my strength and all into one ball and will face the dangers ( apologies to Andrew Marvell).

 

I have also been tasked with finding a cocktail which will empty yet another bottle of spirits. My choices seem to be Chambord, Rittenhouse Rye and an amaro whose name I have forgotten.  Please Lord they do not all have to be in the same drink.

 

 

 

[Anna N]

Ah ah.  I may have found the answer to my cocktail dilemma.   In the Chambord topic there is a suggestion that Chambord could, in a pinch,  stand in for cassis.  There is a cocktail recipe that Kerry sent to me before we came up here suggesting that we give it a try. It is for a Bourbon Decay.  When we went to make it a few nights ago we discovered that we had no cassis.  I will run that by the boss and see if it flies. Here.

 

 

[rotuts]

""  and some wine ""

 

are you going to reduce the wine first ?

 

I have not used wine in the iPot straight up or reduced

 

interested in your take.

 

I might add some reduced dry red to my next batch of TurkeyRagu

 

I have quite a few ' bricks ' Fz  so it might be a while for that experiment.

Edited July 17, 2018 by rotuts (log)

[Anna N]

9 minutes ago, rotuts said:

 

""  and some wine ""

 

are you going to reduce the wine first ?

 

No.  I might do that if I was using it as a marinade but it will be used to deglaze the pan after the browning happens.

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

Ah ah.  I may have found the answer to my cocktail dilemma.   In the Chambord topic there is a suggestion that Chambord could, in a pinch,  stand in for cassis.  There is a cocktail recipe that Kerry sent to me before we came up here suggesting that we give it a try. It is for a Bourbon Decay.  When we went to make it a few nights ago we discovered that we had no cassis.  I will run that by the boss and see if it flies. Here.

 

 

The Bourbon Decay sounds like it might be just the ticket.  I'd put in a plug for the El Diablo which also calls for cassis and works beautifully with Chambord but I'm guessing the requirement for ginger beer would be a deal breaker on your island.   Too bad.  I'm working on some El Diablo popsicles at the moment and you are sure to see them someday soon.....

 

[Anna N]

3 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

The Bourbon Decay sounds like it might be just the ticket.  I'd put in a plug for the El Diablo which also calls for cassis and works beautifully with Chambord but I'm guessing the requirement for ginger beer would be a deal breaker on your island.   Too bad.  I'm working on some El Diablo popsicles at the moment and you are sure to see them someday soon.....

I have bookmarked that cocktail because it does sound delightfully refreshing. I am not sure that ginger beer is absolutely not available on the Island.  Sometimes I am surprised at what we find.  

 

The popsicles also sound very refreshing. We actually have popsicle molds  here which we keep swearing we will try never do.   The road to hell and all that.

[blue_dolphin]

24 minutes ago, Anna N said:

I have bookmarked that cocktail because it does sound delightfully refreshing. I am not sure that ginger beer is absolutely not available on the Island.  Sometimes I am surprised at what we find.  

 

The popsicles also sound very refreshing. We actually have popsicle molds  here which we keep swearing we will try never do.   The road to hell and all that.

 

I do like that cocktail.  It is indeed very refreshing and goes down way too easily.  Some of the published versions call for more cassis, which can become cloying.  I recommend a light hand, as in the recipe I linked to. 

[Anna N]

 

 This is the rice portioned out and wrapped.  I portion it into one US cup (250 mL) packets which work out just fine for me. The rice must be wrapped when it is still quite hot and left to cool before being put into a resealable bag and thrown into the freezer. It is a fast meal for me. Two minutes in the microwave to resuscitate the rice and then top it with whatever is handy or can be quickly put together. 

 

 It is probably not for purists and I never said I was a purist just puritanical.

[Anna N]

 So lunch was a cup of coffee, another brown butter cookie and a handful of cherries. I would love to see that brown butter cookie with something other than chocolate chips as an inclusion. Or perhaps no inclusion at all. It’s not that I’m anti-chocolate but that I’m pro brown butter.

 

After rereading that shrimp recipe I linked to above at least three times, I realized it was not the direction I really wanted to go. So I stole bits from that recipe and I will combine them with what is in my head and with some luck we will have something worth eating for dinner. 

 

The shrimp shells, garlic and hot pepper infused olive oil seemed like a good idea. I stole that part.

 

 

 Simmering away. 

 

 

Perhaps the shells could’ve gone a little longer but I was concerned about the garlic. Burnt garlic would have destroyed the whole thing.

 

Shrimp have been given a salt massage and are resting in the refrigerator.

 

All the components of a salad are prepped and stored separately.

 

Dinner should be just a matter of throwing together all the prepared ingredients. Just like a meal kit.