eG Foodblog: CaliPoutine - Diversity and Deviled Eggs.

[CaliPoutine]

After getting the eggs, I continued on to Grand Bend, to one of my favorite supermarkets. No Frills aka No Thrills in Poutine speak.

I stopped there last night on my way home from MI and headed over to the reduced produce rack. I spotted these.

Perfectly good albiet a bit soft figs. I didnt really know what Id do with them until I was driving back and I though jam. On Friday, I almost bought some fig jam at Whole Foods, but for some reason I changed my mind.

Here is what I did with them.

I only came away with two jars, but not bad for 79 cents. I used about 3/4 cup sugar,water, some lemon peel, a bit of allspice and cinnamon. I processed in a water bath for 15min after putting the jam in clean, sterlized jars.

So, last night I couldnt stop thinking about what a great deal that was. I knew they had a second package of them so I thought just maybe they would still be there today.

They werent!! However, I did get this

The produce guy told me *they* sent him the wrong type of figs, so I could have them. He told me he had 5 cases and I was almost jumping up and down with joy because I thought he'd give them to me for 79 cents. He came out with a box of them marked 5.00, I kinda balked and he said I could have them for 2.50. He told me whoever reduced them last night made a mistake. These are black mission figs from Chili. I originally thought they were from California, but decided to take them anyway. I dont think these are the same figs I got last night.

I also got this.

4 bananas, 3 lemons, 2 limes and the ultimate score. 2 perfectly ripe avocado's. I think I'll make some banana bars and freeze the avocado's for quacamole.

Ok, now Im off to make the carmelized onions.

[Chris Amirault]

One of the things I really like about living here is this.

I cant imagine ever seeing this in Long Beach.

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I think in Long Beach that's called "Free Breakfast."

[tejon]

Fresh eggs are so much better than what you can buy at the local "mart". Growing up, we had neighbors who had chickens and ducks in their back yard (along with the more typical cats and dogs). They also travelled frequently, so my sister and I were enlisted to pet sit while they were away. We got to take home any eggs we found - what a treat! Though we were both very careful to find every egg we could each day, since cracking open an older, fertilized egg was a bit disconcerting .

I can't imagine anything set up on the honor system here in SoCal. Chris is right - that would translate into "free breakfast".

[Pam R]

I was reading the new issue of Fine Cooking on the plane back from Florida.  My mouth was watering as I perused the recipe for carmelized onions.  I knew just what dish I wanted to incorporate them in.   Kasha and bows.  

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yay! Kasha and varnishkes! one of my all-time favorites - if I wasn't at work catering a dinner tonight, I'd make them with you. Please post picks so I can drool over them later

I was also grocery shopping in the US last week - we actually buy kosher products and resell them here - one thing I noticed in North Dakota is that the produce there is actually more expensive than it is here - is that the same out your way?

Can't wait for more

Edited May 10, 2005 by Pam R (log)

[jhlurie]

Wait a second. Diet Coke with Splenda? They haven't dared try that in the U.S. yet. All we get is that crappy C2 junk--which is even worse because it's still got other artificial sweeteners in it as well.

[CaliPoutine]

Wait a second.  Diet Coke with Splenda?  They haven't dared try that in the U.S. yet.  All we get is that crappy C2 junk--which is even worse because it's still got other artificial sweeteners in it as well.

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Actually, they have because I bought it in MI yesterday. I havent seen it here in Canada yet. I still havent been able to find diet cherry vanilla dr. pepper. Im still driving across the border to buy that too.

[jhlurie]

Ah. I smell a test market. Okay.

EDIT - actually maybe it's just a gradual rollout. This pretty much implies that.

EDIT 2 - Silly me. We have a topic for this already in the Soft Drinks forum. Go take a look!

Edited May 10, 2005 by jhlurie (log)

[CaliPoutine]

I was reading the new issue of Fine Cooking on the plane back from Florida.  My mouth was watering as I perused the recipe for carmelized onions.  I knew just what dish I wanted to incorporate them in.   Kasha and bows.  

←

yay! Kasha and varnishkes! one of my all-time favorites - if I wasn't at work catering a dinner tonight, I'd make them with you. Please post picks so I can drool over them later

I was also grocery shopping in the US last week - we actually buy kosher products and resell them here - one thing I noticed in North Dakota is that the produce there is actually more expensive than it is here - is that the same out your way?

Can't wait for more

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Pam,

Some things are more expensive, some things are cheaper and some are about the same. Yesterday I saw Romaine for 99 cents in MI and here one grocery store ( a small independent) had it for 2.49. The larger chain here in town had it for 1.49. It just pays to shop around. Since Im not currently employed, I have time to look at the different grocery store ads( there are 3 grocery stores here in town. An Independent, an IGA and a Foodland). I did buy some produce in MI yesterday. A bunch of organic brocolli( 99 cents on sale), vidalia onions( 49lb on sale) and a container of baby arugula(2.99). I cant get the arugula here in this town.

As we discussed on another thread, I get all of my white meat chicken in MI. Now, dont hate me for this, but I abhor dark meat. Give me a boneless, skinless breast anyday and Im happy. Robin is the complete opposite. Chicken drums, thighs and leg quarters are about the same price here and in MI.

The aformentioned breasts cost about 6.99lb here, while I get them in MI for 1.69-1.99 on sale.

[CaliPoutine]

mmmmmmmmm, something smells good in here.

The chicken is roasting along with zucchini, baby carrots and whole mushrooms. I have a pot of yukon golds boiling away. The spuds will be smashed and seasoned with some EVOO, fleur de sel and some freshly ground tellicherry black pepper.

Ive searched the cabinets high and low for the buckwheat groats( kasha) and I cant find it. I *know* its in there. I'll have to wait until my little organizer gets home from the gym before I make that dish. That might have to wait until tomorrow.

So, I bought a roasting chicken( on sale for 1.39lbCAD) and I loosely followed the jamie oliver method. I loosened up the skin and stuffed fresh rosemary, italian parsley and chives underneath. I also cut up some lemons and stuffed those under the skin and in the cavity. I poured some EVOO on top and seasoned with kosher salt and freshly ground tellicherry pepper. I roasted the chicken for about 10 min at 425, then turned the oven down to 350. I threw the veggies in after the chicken cooked for 45min. The little pop up thermometer hasnt popped up yet. Im going to jab my instant read in shortly and see what that says.

Be back later with pictures.

edited for spelling

edited again to add pictures

Edited May 11, 2005 by CaliPoutine (log)

[helenjp]

Nice to "meet" you, CaliPoutine, after seeing your name here and there on other forums.

A pullet is a very young hen, mature enough to lay eggs, but not fully-grown...if you're interested, that is!

[little ms foodie]

I'm so happy to see you blogging! My mom was from Thunder Bay and she always made deviled eggs. I really never thought anything of it as I grew up with them but now I learn it's an Ontario thing! too funny. She had the tupperware deviled egg holder, haha!

I've never been to Ontario, is French spoken or mainly English? What about the packaging on your food, is it in French or English?

I like what your partner said about passion, it's very important to be passionate IMO.

[CaliPoutine]

I'm so happy to see you blogging! My mom was from Thunder Bay and she always made deviled eggs. I really never thought anything of it as I grew up with them but now I learn it's an Ontario thing! too funny. She had the tupperware deviled egg holder, haha!

I've never been to Ontario, is French spoken or mainly English? What about the packaging on your food, is it in French or English?

I like what your partner said about passion, it's very important to be passionate IMO.

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Hi,

It depends what part of Ontario you reside in. Here, I've never once heard any french spoken, but up in Ottawa I heard it a lot. Additionally, in this area and on the way to Sarnia( the border town to MI) the road signs are all in English, in TO they are in French and English.

Funny you mention the packaging. Since Canada has two official languages French and English, all food packaging is required to be in both. Usually the French writing is on one side, and English the other side. Sometimes the French writing is just smaller than the English. I've learned quite a few words by reading packaging. I know know that Pamplamouse is French for grapefruit and le'ger means "light". I buy a lot of le'ger products.

I'll try to take some pictures of products if you're interested.

[CaliPoutine]

Thoughts on dinner:

First off, the carmelized onions came out great. I mixed a bit in with my smashed potatoes and they were yummy.

raw onions

finished product

I loved that method using the lemons under the skin in addition to the cavity. The chicken was fabulous, very moist and flavorful. Now, while the chicken was great, the veggies were just so so. My first home-cooked meal for the blog and I screwed up The carrots were slightly overcooked and the zuchini was really overcooked. The mushrooms were tasty. Oh well, live and learn.

[CaliPoutine]

Looking forward to your blog and to meeting you both in a couple of months in Ann Arbor. As a once-a-year visitor to your part of the world, I'm wondering if you ever go to Stratford or St. Mary's to eat.

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Hi Alex,

We're looking forward to meeting you too. We've eaten in Stratford a few times, but nothing that remarkable. I've never eaten in St. Mary's but we did visit a cheese shop there( the name escapes me now) that was small but impressive.

I'll be going to Stratford on Thursday for a dr.appt. Do you have an suggestions?

[Alex]

Looking forward to your blog and to meeting you both in a couple of months in Ann Arbor. As a once-a-year visitor to your part of the world, I'm wondering if you ever go to Stratford or St. Mary's to eat.

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Hi Alex,

We're looking forward to meeting you too. We've eaten in Stratford a few times, but nothing that remarkable. I've never eaten in St. Mary's but we did visit a cheese shop there( the name escapes me now) that was small but impressive.

I'll be going to Stratford on Thursday for a dr.appt. Do you have an suggestions?

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For dinner I'm very fond of Sapori Pasta House. We'll be eating there both nights when we're in Stratford later this month. We also like Tango Coffee Bistro for pretty decent lunch and brunch food in a fun atmosphere. Here's an eG Stratford thread.

[therese]

Aren't cheezies were just North American junk food in general?

Will my passport be revoked?

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Possibly. My friend Gwen from Edmonton assures me that Cheesies are both altogether different from and superior to their U.S. counterpart, Cheetos. I'm not a big fan of either, so I just take her word for it.

Any plans for Nanaimo bars this week? I've yet to see Nanaimo bars down south.

[Pam R]

I'm so happy to see you blogging! My mom was from Thunder Bay and she always made deviled eggs. I really never thought anything of it as I grew up with them but now I learn it's an Ontario thing! too funny. She had the tupperware deviled egg holder, haha!

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They aren't just an Ontario thing - I never realized they weren't eating them in other places though. I haven't seen one in a long long time, but as a kid they were often served.... I don't miss them

I'm going to try to remember to take some buckwheat home with me tonight - you have me craving kasha now

edited to add that your dinner (and onions) look fantastic.

Edited May 11, 2005 by Pam R (log)

[CaliPoutine]

Aren't cheezies were just North American junk food in general?

Will my passport be revoked?

←

Possibly. My friend Gwen from Edmonton assures me that Cheesies are both altogether different from and superior to their U.S. counterpart, Cheetos. I'm not a big fan of either, so I just take her word for it.

Any plans for Nanaimo bars this week? I've yet to see Nanaimo bars down south.

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I'm not that fond of them either. However, our neice was here this weekend visiting and those were from her visit. I prefer doritios or baked lays. I need to have a little crunch with my sandwich and besides the pickle, chips usually fit the bill.

No Nanaimo bars. I've never baked them and honestly, I find them way too sweet. I think they're more of an west coast delicacy. I have a whole whack of vanilla beans( about 35 of them) so I plan on baking the vanilla layer cake with vanilla mascarpone frosting and rasberries, if my spouse can get to costco on Thursday after her meeting in London and bring me some mascarpone cheese. The recipe can be found in the May issue of Fine Cooking. Anyone care to bake along with me?

[CaliPoutine]

Looking forward to your blog and to meeting you both in a couple of months in Ann Arbor. As a once-a-year visitor to your part of the world, I'm wondering if you ever go to Stratford or St. Mary's to eat.

←

Hi Alex,

We're looking forward to meeting you too. We've eaten in Stratford a few times, but nothing that remarkable. I've never eaten in St. Mary's but we did visit a cheese shop there( the name escapes me now) that was small but impressive.

I'll be going to Stratford on Thursday for a dr.appt. Do you have an suggestions?

←

For dinner I'm very fond of Sapori Pasta House. We'll be eating there both nights when we're in Stratford later this month. We also like Tango Coffee Bistro for pretty decent lunch and brunch food in a fun atmosphere. Here's an eG Stratford thread.

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Thanks Alex, Tango looks good. I think I'll try that for lunch on Thursday.

[chromedome]

I was a Navy brat in Atlantic Canada, and my mother got into a lot of Tupperware/Avon type parties just to have some grownups around while Dad was at sea. Deviled eggs were a constant. And celery with Cheez Whiz. Being a kid, I thought that was great. And being a young boy, I thought that deviled egg farts were the greatest thing to bring to school the next day...

There are two general kinds of cheezies. The little hard Hawkins style crunchy ones, and the bigger, puffier, softer ones (like Cheetos). I can tell it's time to stop drinking beer if I crave either of them, but the Hawkins ones are definitely the better of the two.

It always amuses me, listening to people from other places talk "smaller than thou." My high school graduating class had 13 people, and that was in a school that served five communities!

(...northern Newfoundland, for the terminally curious...)

[Genny]

As we discussed on another thread, I get all of my white meat chicken in MI.  Now, dont hate me for this, but I abhor dark meat.  Give me a boneless, skinless breast anyday and Im happy.  Robin is the complete opposite.  Chicken drums, thighs and leg quarters are about the same price here and in MI. 

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"Jack Sprat could eat no fat

His wife could eat no lean

so betwixt the two of them

they licked the platter clean!"

My husband and I are exactly like this too! We have many opposite food likes/dislikes as well as other things in life we are opposite on. It makes life interesting, don't you thing! And convenient too at times!

[Pan]

I'm enjoying this blog already. Randi and Robin, I can't resist wondering how you two met, but that's not a food-related question. So what I'll do instead is ask you two whether Robin spent some time living in California before you moved to Ontario, and if so, how did she find that? Was California a culinary culture shock for her?

[Bennett]

Isn't it funny how the mind works? I've come to realize that this ole brain of mine has the ability to absolutely ignore or disregard information that would obviously be in my best interest. Having been a smoker for 24 years and recently quitting for good (it's been 6 weeks) provides an excellent example of what I am referring to. I knew all of the health risks associated with smoking but still did it. The same sort of disregard happens when it comes to food, or probably better stated as food habits.

Take breakfast for example, “Most important meal of the day” oh ya, uh huh, nodding in agreement but do I make the effort? Nope. I can sit and reflect and know that my mother always ensured that us kids had breakfast before we left for school in the morning, but I don't know why that routine didn't remain with me. I mean after all I had some pretty strong convictions about exactly what I would eat for my breakfast during my childhood years. I can easily recite the top three choices; my beloved Shredded Wheat. Boil water in the kettle, pour a small amount over the two wheat parcels in my cereal bowl, drain the the water once it had adequately moistened both parcels, and quickly add brown sugar to the top of each so that it melts and goes creamy and smooth. Never would milk touch the bowl, Mother would make sure I had a glass of milk on the side though.

Brown sugar was definitely a theme. Choice number two involved Cheerios. This time milk was added to the bowl. A bowl full of Cheerios, milk and top the creation off with a few mit fulls of brown sugar. As I sit and type I can vividly see the brown sugar sitting on the bottom of the bowl. That was always my favourite part. Once I ploughed my way through the Cheerios, the remaining milk would cover any of the sugar that had sunk to the bottom. As I tipped and sipped my way through spoon by spoon, or probably more accurately slurp by slurp, I was always thrilled that the last spoon full was pure sugar. I'd use my spoon to scrape that brown sugary goodness away from the bottom of the bowl before dropping it in the sink on my way out the door. We walked to school, we lived that close.

Now my third breakfast choice broke the mold. I turned to the toaster. Two slices, never ever burnt. If that happened the birds in the backyard received something beyond the seeds in the feeder. I like my toast just slightly golden. Immediately after popping from the toaster I would slather it with the first layer of precious peanut butter. To this day I adore PB, it's just not for breakfast anymore. *smile * The second layer was honey. Again timing was important, the honey needed to be added while the toast was still warm ensuring that a slight melt would occur thus bringing the two flavours together. Creamy goodness. This particular breakfast brought concern from mother. I don't ever recall her worrying about the cereal selections I made or the addition of the brown sugar to them, but when it came to my two pieces of toast with two layers of goodness she felt the need to comment on calories.

Now I don't do breakfast. Well not for the most part. During the work week, I have my two mugs of coffee, shower and head to the office. Weekends are different. Because Poutine is up and wanting to cook I never turn down her offer. After all the woman has introduced me to steel cut oats, bagels and loxs, cream cheese and eggs, and all those healthy breakfast meats (turkey bacon, chicken sausage). I've hung on to a couple of things, the PB gets added to any oatmeal, and I still perfer my toast to be golden brown, and yes the birds still get the burnt pieces.

[CaliPoutine]

I'm enjoying this blog already. Randi and Robin, I can't resist wondering how you two met, but that's not a food-related question. So what I'll do instead is ask you two whether Robin spent some time living in California before you moved to Ontario, and if so, how did she find that? Was California a culinary culture shock for her?

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Hi Pan,

We never lived in California together : ), but Robin did come out there a few times before I moved here. Of course, I brought her to all my favorite restaurants and she loved them. Oh and dont let her fool you, she does know how to cook, she just doesnt enjoy it like I do. She loved the food in California, I think mainly because she loves trying new things. One thing that she doesnt love or even really like is fruit. It's like pulling teeth to try to get her to eat some( exception bananas). We were in Florida last week and we both baked a birthday cake at a friends house. The birthday boy requested pineapple upside down cake. We ended up baking two, a regular version and a ginger coconut variation. Robin proclaimed them fabulous. Hmmmmm, I wonder if its because she had her hand in the outcome? Nevertheless, they were scrummy and I'll be posting pictures and the recipe downthread.

PS: I'll be PMing you on the other answer.

Edited May 11, 2005 by CaliPoutine (log)

[CaliPoutine]

Good Morning everyone,

Wow, after all that cooking yesterday, I slept like a baby

I'm off to the gym but before I go, I'd appreciate some help.

I picked this item up at Big Lots last week and I have NO clue what to do with it. The only thing I did think of was maybe ice cream.

Im partial to a cake though. Any suggestions?