eG Foodblog Tag Team: slkinsey and Marlene - A tale of two kitchens..

[Milagai]

So do vegetarians eat seafood?

only the kind that grows on plants / trees

so seaweed etc = fine

fish / shellfish / shrimp / etc = not fine.

the logic is : if it's an animal (of any kind, vertebrate or not; mammal or not;) then it's not vegetarian, despite the confusion created by those who go around saying "i'm a vegetarian, i eat fish".

similar to those who think chicken = vegetarian. or those who say "just pick it out"; or those who "forget" that meat / fish / chicken stock is dead animal juice, and thus renders a dish non-vegetarian even though all other ingredients may be of plant origin.

creates major confusion in restaurants, and for well meaning hosts, etc.

so, if someone wants to eat fish: enjoy in good health! but don't say you are vegetarian. why would you want to say that anyway? is it some kind of status symbol?

hth

(was not meant to be a rant, really, sorry if it came off that way)

milagai

[Pam R]

So do vegetarians eat seafood?

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Isn't that a pesco-vegetarian?

I am in no way a vegetarian, but I thought there were different levels or classifications (lacto-ovo, vegan, pesco, etc.)

[jhlurie]

Why don't we take this discussion about what makes a vegetarian elsewhere?

Here's at least one relevant topic: Are You A Vegetarian?

[SobaAddict70]

That's A LOT of chicken livers.

And here I thought that the chicken liver primo was for more than one person.

What's "Spiedini di gamberi e seppie"?

Soba

[slkinsey]

What's "Spiedini di gamberi e seppie"?

Skewers of shrimp and cuttlefish.

[Smithy]

Sam, I'm reeling vicariously from the cocktails. They look glorious. I rarely indulge in the hard stuff these days - too prone to hangovers - but I can see there's a high level of artistry involved. Thanks for sharing that aspect of your evening out, as well as the photos of those wonderful meals.

[Swisskaese]

Hear, hear, snowangel.

It's very difficult to prepare a vegetarian meal that meat lovers will like when you tie the cook down to certain ingredients.  Especially when one is a spice mixture which one has never tasted, seen in a store, or, (until I looked it up) even heard of.  And since when do mystery baskets include spices, anyway?

For these two cooks it would make more sense to just tell them to come up with a vegetarian meal of their choice, OR to give them a basket containing a more well-rounded selection, and asking that the meal be suitable for both meat eaters and vegetarians. 

Voting on individual foods and then combining the top scorers makes no sense; the idea is to provide an interesting and seasonal selection which will inspire the cook.  This is not supposed to be a popularity contest. What if the top scorers were lamb, duck and seafood?

And "vegetarian meal" is not an ingredient, therefore ineligible for inclusion.

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Hey, don't insult my spice choice! All you had to do is ask me what it is and how I and other Middle Easterners and North Africans use it in cooking.

And BTW - I have seen mystery baskets that include alchohol so what is so horrible about including a spice that most people wouldn't normally cook with. It could be fun.

Edited June 3, 2005 by Swisskaese (log)

[Safran]

Oh!! Sam, Marlene, nice outings! Amazing how you've both sacrificed yourselves for the benefit of this blog!! Very much looking forward to tonight's menu. Marlene, are you shopping at the new Whole Foods today? Your goodies' bag will indeed be interesting!!

[Smithy]

And BTW -  I have seen mystery baskets that include alchohol so what is so horrible about including a spice that most people wouldn't normally cook with. It could be fun.

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Amen to that bit! When I get gift baskets that have new spices or oils, I think it's pretty fun. My sister, bless her, has taken to doing that, and I've gotten some fine new things to try that way. In this context, however, it might have been more difficult. I wonder if Marlene can get ras el hanout at her local stores? Maybe we'll find out.

Edited June 3, 2005 by Smithy (log)

[Marlene]

Hello again folks. Miss me? Before I start cooking, I thought I'd put up a few pictures of some of the stuff I bought at Whole Foods. First, what an amazing store. I think I'm in love. The place is huge, about 43,000 sq ft. and it's got a meat dry aging room and a cheese aging room. And the guy in charge of the cheese was extremely passionate about his cheeses. I could have talked to him all day.

I didn't take pictures in the store, I was too busy gawking, but the next time I'm going to drag Don with me so one of us can concentrate on taking pictures of the various displays.

And look! Paper bags! It's been 20 years or more since I saw paper bags in grocery stores here.

A selection of cheeses:

Let's see, we have Munster, Brie, Gouda, 9 year old cheddar, Gruyere reserve, and I can't remember what the one in the middle is, but it came out of their aging room. It's quite bold in taste, and it's stinky!

Various meats. I loved their meat counter and there are lots of cuts there that I haven't been able to find in any other store in oakville including decent veal shanks, brisket, and skirt steak.

Whole Chicken, organic of course.

Two amazing T-Bones. I need to hide these from Don for now, or he'll want to cook them up right away, and our meals are taken for the next three days

Pork Shoulder

Ground Sirloin, some for use in the meatballs tonight.

Peameal bacon

Prosciutto di parma

A selection from the produce section

Asparagus, fingerling potatoes, vine on tomatoes

Peaches, a red onion, and a better pic of the potatoes and tomatoes

Rhubarb, garlic, giant yellow onions, shallots

Raspberries, Strawberries, and half a melon

What a totally amazing place. Oakville's never seen anything like this before. I feel like we've arrived somehow. Now it isn't cheap, but I'm betting those steaks for example will be as good or better than the ones I get at my butcher's. I could have spent hours there.

I also bought eggs, so I think I have most of the components I need for my mystery basket.

Now, I really must go start cooking or we won't be eating dinner until midnight!

[Smithy]

Marlene, you shop the way I do! When everything looks so wonderful, it just leaps into my shopping cart on the way by. You wrote that all the meals are taken for the next 3 nights, but that looks like a lot more nights - reminds me of our "weekly" excursions in which I end up buying 2 weeks' worth.

[Marlene]

Well yeah. I just couldn't resist some of this stuff. And now that I have a Food Saver thingy, I can vacumn seal a lot of this stuff for next week sometime.

It was rather like being a kid in a candy store. No andoullie sausage or keilbasa though.

[Smithy]

Well yeah.  I just couldn't resist some of this stuff.  And now that I have a Food Saver thingy, I can vacumn seal a lot of this stuff for next week sometime.

It was rather like being a kid in a candy store.  No andoullie sausage or keilbasa though.

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Did you look for ras el hanout?

Edited to add: I *want* one of those food saver vacuum thingies. I probably shouldn't get one, considering the way we've already overloaded existing freezer space, but still....

Edited June 3, 2005 by Smithy (log)

[Marlene]

Well yeah.  I just couldn't resist some of this stuff.  And now that I have a Food Saver thingy, I can vacumn seal a lot of this stuff for next week sometime.

It was rather like being a kid in a candy store.  No andoullie sausage or keilbasa though.

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Did you look for ras el hanout?

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Don't tell anyone, but I wouldn't know what to look for!

[Smithy]

Well yeah.  I just couldn't resist some of this stuff.  And now that I have a Food Saver thingy, I can vacumn seal a lot of this stuff for next week sometime.

It was rather like being a kid in a candy store.  No andoullie sausage or keilbasa though.

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Did you look for ras el hanout?

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Don't tell anyone, but I wouldn't know what to look for!

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It's a Moroccan spice blend, apparently with as many variations as people who blend it. Don't tell anyone, but I haven't actually used it yet!

[Dianne]

What a great blog this is. I am on dial up, but I happily wait for these great pictures. Every meal you guys are making/eating looks wonderful.

Marlene, where is the Oakville Whole Foods? I am in Mississauga during winter months and this sounds like the store for me.

[Marlene]

The Whole Foods store in Oakville is across from the Trafalgar GO station, on Cornwall.

Oakville Whole Foods

Tonight's menu will consist of:

Cocktails first of course.

A little proscuttio and melon to start. (I'm not going to do a full antipasti plate as there are only two of us!)

Meatballs two ways. (It should be 4 ways, but again there are only two of us)

Angel hair pasta tossed with butter, garlic, parmesan and parsley.

Zabaglione Gelato. (which I've just made and put in the fridge to chill)

I'm thinking we'll have some port with some of that wonderful cheese I bought today.

[Toliver]

No andoullie sausage or keilbasa though.

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You should request they stock it. They're new in town and will be eager to please so it's possible you could have some decent jambalaya in your near future.

[Marlene]

No andoullie sausage or keilbasa though.

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You should request they stock it. They're new in town and will be eager to please so it's possible you could have some decent jambalaya in your near future.

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That is quite possible in fact. Every staff person I talked to there, was happy to help, eager to talk about the store, and, like the cheese person, happy to go on for hours about the foods they like best.

[Pan]

[...]

Fegatini con aceto balsamico.

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I love that dish! Such fresh, delicious livers in such a concentrated balsamic sauce. The sausage dish is very pleasant, too.

Edited June 3, 2005 by Pan (log)

[Smithy]

Well, I just checked the foodblog listings (yes, I need help ) and confirmed my suspicions. This foodblog isn't even finished, and it's set the record for posts. Whatta duet! or trio, if you count K!

[CaliPoutine]

The Whole Foods store in Oakville is across from the Trafalgar GO station, on Cornwall. 

Oakville Whole Foods

Tonight's menu will consist of:

Cocktails first of course. 

A little proscuttio and melon to start.  (I'm not going to do a full antipasti plate as there are only two of us!)

Meatballs two ways.  (It should be 4 ways, but again there are only two of us)

Angel hair pasta tossed with butter, garlic, parmesan and parsley.

Zabaglione Gelato.  (which I've just made and put in the fridge to chill)

I'm thinking we'll have some port with some of that wonderful cheese I bought today.

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Isnt whole foods amazing? and amazingly expensive.

I usually go once a month when I visit friends in Ann Arbor, but I wonder how far oakville is from Exeter???. Hmmm, let me go look that up.

[Dianne]

Thanks Malene. I will get myself there right after Thanksgiving when I am home from the cottage.

[Swisskaese]

Well yeah.  I just couldn't resist some of this stuff.  And now that I have a Food Saver thingy, I can vacumn seal a lot of this stuff for next week sometime.

It was rather like being a kid in a candy store.  No andoullie sausage or keilbasa though.

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Did you look for ras el hanout?

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Don't tell anyone, but I wouldn't know what to look for!

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It's a Moroccan spice blend, apparently with as many variations as people who blend it. Don't tell anyone, but I haven't actually used it yet!

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All you had to do is ask.....

You can either look for it in a Middle Eastern store or you can make it. Here are two different recipes from Paula Wolfert's "Couscous and other Good Food from Morocco":

Recipe #1 - For those that have access to a very good spice shop

4 whole nutmegs

10 rosebuds

12 cinnamon sticks

12 blades mace

1 teaspoon aniseed

8 pieces tumeric

2 small pieces orrisroot

2 dried cayenne peppers

1/2 tsp lavender

1 tbsp white peppercorn

2 pieces galingale

2 tbsp whole gingerroot

6 cloves

24 allspice berries

20 white or green cardamon pods

4 black cardamon pods

Blend in blender to a fine ground and sift.

Recipe #2:

1/2 ounce allspice berries

1 ounce black peppercorns

1/2 ounce galingale

1/2 ounce mace blades

1 1/2 whole nutmegs

10 cardamon pods

1 1/2 ounces dried gingerroot

1/2 ounce stick cinnamon

1/4 ounce tumeric

3 rosebuds

1 clove

Follow the same instructions as in recipe #1.

[slkinsey]

Okay... I had a bunch of errands to run this afternoon, so dinner is late. It's bucatini with red sauce for the primo, and polpette for the secondo.

Here are the ingredients:

Nothing fancy. Pork, veal, beef, pancetta, fresh bread crumbs, onion, parmigiano-reggiano and fresh mozzarella.

Grinding the meats together.

Forming the polpette. A piece of mozzarella is hidden inside.

Finished polpette and browning them off.

Vegetables for the sauce. A little later, after everything is soft, it goes through the food mill.

Simmering the polpette in the sugo.

More later. . .