What's cookin', good lookin'?

[seela]

I often do weird collections of bits and bobs to use stuff up. I still think it looks delicious
Did you fry the zander to heat it up, or was it not already cooked?

I did bits and bobs myself, piri piri veggie frittata. And fruit

It was already cooked yesterday. I rolled it in sesame seeds because for some reason I thought it would give the fish some protection against the reheating and then just warmed it up on a pan. Didn't really work. Reheated fish is almost always bad.

 

[IrisAlthea]

It was already cooked yesterday. I rolled it in sesame seeds because for some reason I thought it would give the fish some protection against the reheating and then just warmed it up on a pan. Didn't really work. Reheated fish is almost always bad.

Looks very good.
I'm so stealing the eggplant roll idea.

I found cheap veal, so I made a ton of veal ragú with lemon and thyme to feed the big hungry freezer.
That's what we had for dinner with pasta and parmesan.

 

[IrisAlthea]

Thank you for the compliments on my kitchen .

Meekme, you made me excited with your words oil painting, be cause that room is a journey to become a bit of a homage to the idea of natura morta.

Its my deep belief that how we live can inpact strongly on how we feel. So I try to make things attractive. I think this is very different from 'covering cracks' the table, you see in that picture, is Victorian, wood worm holes and signs of age and abuse, and in that room, we have no floor. But, that is life. It doesn't mean the table has no beauty, in fact ravage of time and life makes it more beautiful, and no floor is how it is here. This doesn't mean things cannot be candle lit, and have flowers I think its a wonderful metaphor for life.

There are two kinds of people I notice. Some walk In to my kitchen, or indeed other bits of my house, a beautiful space if unfinished and look at me and say ' how do you do this?' Or ' I couldn't live like this' or stay silent . This is fine, people make different choices in life, I often see the wisdom in not living 'like this' . A floor really would be nice, concrete is extraordinarily hard to clean .

The others walk into my kitchen and say, 'oh, wow, this in an amazing space' and imagine how they might use it. I have had people suggest it would be for them a room of yoga swings ( or sex swing) and many say it would be a main room not a kitchen for them . I love these people. I love seeing how others might use the house.

Almost nobody notices my actual kitchen has no sink and is made up of a chest of drawers , a couple of cupboards along side while goods and other furniture. It looks good, in a relaxed freestanding way. I could live with that for decades. ( if I get a floor)

I think you caught the still life effect very well in the picture you posted.

I like the lived in kind of interiors and furniture with a life and history of it's own.
I like a mixture of different eras and styles held togeter by the people who occupy the space.
So yes, we are influenced by the way we live but I also find it interesting to see how different people influence their living space.

No floor seems absolutely cool to me, but I hear you on the concrete and keeping it clean. I've worked in spaces with that kind of floor.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[RISsey]

After slaving all day in my yard and swathing paths through my forest...

Little personal size flat bread pizzas with olives, bbq grilled chicken thighs, olives, mushrooms and cilatro and fresh basil from the garden. With fresh feta and mozza. YUM!!

Making blue berry pineapple milkshakes t g with supper...perhaps a little rum to garnish them

Bon Appetit Errr.... Felice Mangiare

 

[DiskoTroop]

Sweet and sour halibut w white rice and garlic snap peas

 

[seela]

Looks very good.
I'm so stealing the eggplant roll idea.

The rolls are even better if you top them with a deep, dark tomato balsamic laden sauce and pop them in the oven for a while. I usually make rolls of eggplant and zucchini and do the tomato sauce thing.

Edit: I also like to put basil leaves along with the feta. Eggplant, feta, basil and tomato are pretty close to a perfect combination. Works with goat cheese also.

 

[rbijon]

Where's my peach cobbler?

 

[desertslave]

Where's my peach cobbler?

Thank you for mentioning peaches! We bought a flat at Costco and they're almost ripe. I suck at pie dough so cobbler is a perfect idea! We need to make more of the peach-mango salsa we did last week, too. I wonder if that would freeze well?

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

Where's my peach cobbler?

You mean... this?

https://40.media.tumblr.com/2fa8db95d3b9cb68ec7bda849591ecd6/tumblr_npyyiqXJRW1ttoj3bo1_400.jpg

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

Thank you for mentioning peaches! We bought a flat at Costco and they're almost ripe. I suck at pie dough so cobbler is a perfect idea! We need to make more of the peach-mango salsa we did last week, too. I wonder if that would freeze well?

It would probably can better than freeze...? Just a thought. I also did a outreach crumble. I found a recipe I really liked! It had 3 layers, very tasty, and easier than a cobbler because the fruit is in the bottom... easier to tell when it is ready to come out of the oven. That's the only thing I hate about cobblers!

 

[IrisAlthea]

The rolls are even better if you top them with a deep, dark tomato balsamic laden sauce and pop them in the oven for a while. I usually make rolls of eggplant and zucchini and do the tomato sauce thing.

Edit: I also like to put basil leaves along with the feta. Eggplant, feta, basil and tomato are pretty close to a perfect combination. Works with goat cheese also.

That does sound yum!
And I think there will be feta in my next eggplant lasagna.

 

[Curious_in_Cali]

A not so classic lasagna heavy on the carrots, zucchini, and broccoli while lighter on the cheeses.

I also made the most jaw tight tart n sweet lavender lemonade with dried (and then steeped and drained) lavender, an obnoxious pile of hand squeezed lemons, and raw honey. They said it would be calming and help with anxiousness, stress, and improve mental processing. I'm not completely convinced about its efficacy, but man is it a delightfully delicious kitchen wafting swoony placebo at the very least.

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

A not so classic lasagna heavy on the carrots, zucchini, and broccoli while lighter on the cheeses.

I also made the most jaw tight tart n sweet lavender lemonade with dried (and then steeped and drained) lavender, an obnoxious pile of hand squeezed lemons, and raw honey. They said it would be calming and help with anxiousness, stress, and improve mental processing. I'm not completely convinced about its efficacy, but man is it a delightfully delicious kitchen wafting swoony placebo at the very least.

I also made lemonade today! Basil lemonade, it is so yum... A simple syrup made with sugar, water, basil and lemon zest, then mixed equal parts with water, over ice. I made some ages ago and haven't been able to get out out of my head. High time I did it again!

Dinner was Romertopf veggies, sous vide steak and a salad. And chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven I feel delightful...

 

[desertslave]

Finished the peaches today while M did mangoes. Sharing tastes was funny.

I feel like I'm cheating. Where I grew up, peaches like this aren't in for another month. These were moderately freestone with a bit of persuasion, and blanched very easily. I love when the skin just rubs right off, don't want to waste a microgram of flesh!

We decreed the kitchen too hot and will finish the salsa tomorrow morning. Finally a day with no running around, I hope.

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

I can relate to "too hot to cook"

I made this recipe tonight. I only make it one or twice a year, but I don't know why. It's so good, one of those things that is uniquely tasty, doesn't remind me of anything else, the itch can only be scratched with this recipe... Good stuff!

 

[vrmmsm]

Much like iced tea, some like it way sweeter than others. Personally,,I like it savoury.

What the hell is savory iced tea!?!



There's only one iced tea, and that's sweet. But I never add sweetener to things like oolong, green, white, etc... I once saw someone at a good Japanese restaurant add 8 packets of sugar to hot green tea. I'd have thrown him out if I could.

 

[vrmmsm]

Cornbread IS good, you just have to have the 'cultural vibe' going. . Persist.

The thing I cannot get right here is American gravy.

Cornbread is good, both the sweet and the savory variety. It's best if it's being eaten with the right meal. Some things just naturally go with cornbread.

 

[vrmmsm]

I like to try snacks from all over the world. I was really excited when I bought my first Pop Tarts ever as a birthday present for myself earlier this year. There's an American/British food store here and an American section in some larger supermarkets, but I've never bought anything except for the Pop Tarts and a few candybars.

I've been wanting to get some weird American cereal with 70% marshmallows or something for a snack, but they're really expensive here. Should probably order some online, but I'm not sure I want to try them that much. And I still wish they'd make mixed flavor Pop Tart packages, because I'd like to try some flavors, but I don't want to be stuck with 8 pieces of each flavor.

I'm probably gonna make an apple pie for the USA. Doesn't get more american than that, and I've never made a pie with the lid thingy on it, so that would be something different.

It's interesting to read your adventures. Good luck with the cereal. I loved that stuff as a kid, but I don't know that I could bring myself to eat it now.

I've seen variety packs of pop tarts, but I'm not surprised that you might have trouble getting them. I do like pop tarts still, but probably only have them once every 5 or 10 years.

I love apple pie, but my favorite has a crumble topping, not a crust "lid".

 

[desertslave]

Oman was tricky. There don't seem to be that many recipes around from Oman online, and because I haven't been in the mood for meat stew type things and J can't eat dates, the selection was pretty restricted.

I made Baqourah, which are deep fried balls made of vegetables and chick pea flour. It's raining and I didn't feel like going to get groceries, so I ended up scraping together all kinds of odd ends and serve it all together. It was a weird mix of things for sure. Probably should have planned this one more, but I'm gonna count this anyways.

The Baqourah was ok, pretty much what I expected it to taste like. J liked them a lot. They were pretty good with the spicy (not hot, just spicy) tomato sauce I made.

I think J liked them so much mostly because deep fried anything is a novelty thing for us. I'm seriously afraid of deep frying and I'm not a huge fan of things deep fried. I'm sure I'll burn the house down or at least end up with severe burns myself, so I just never do it. This was my third time ever deep frying anything, scary stuff.

The baqourah are the blobs on the bottom right. I used this recipe, but every single recipe for baqourah that I could find was exactly this same one copy-pasted.

Other stuff on the plate: leftover zander from yesterday rolled in sesame seeds, eggplant rolls stuffed with feta, salad of rucola, cilantro, parsley and red onion, tomato sauce and yoghurt seasoned with garlic, sumac and pepper. I told you it was a weird collection of bits and bobs.

The website for this seems to have expired?

I'm wondering of baqourah is the same as our horribly anglicized pakora(h)? Usually something biscuit/dumpling-like involving chickpea flour and frying?

http://www.harighotra.co.uk/indian-recipes/starters/vegetable-pakora

 

[vrmmsm]

This sounds yummy
Do you do anything special to keep your pork chops tender and moist? I find that a rub can sometimes pull the moisture out of them, and they end up dry and tough...

And of course now I want your super secret gravy recipe please

soak them in buttermilk. If you want to know more, I know someone that you can ask for details.

 

[Curious_in_Cali]

Seela, there is really only one flavor of Pop-tarts worth tasting, and that is Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon. And yes, it needs to be toasted to be appreciated.

I will admit that I have a sentimental soft spot for the Frosted Strawberry from my childhood, but the last time I tried to eat one I couldn't get through it.

 

[vrmmsm]

I don't know nothin' 'bout chickens, but... ummm... I don't think you want to eat what comes out of the butt??

Enjoy your Sunday breakfast!

Well, you'd probably be surprised.

Getting ready to lay 1. Chickens, as well as other birds, have a common opening for reproduction, and for the evacuation of stools and urine. This opening is called the "vent". They do not have a bladder because their urine is not a fluid. It is a white paste, called urates, that you can observe surrounding the droppings. The intestine, ureters and oviduct come together into a common chamber called the cloaca. This is a rather dirty place, whereas the egg is always clean and almost sterile when laid.

2. The hen turns part of the cloaca and the last segment of the oviduct inside out, "like a glove." The described red membrane is then everted inside of these organs. The egg emerges far outside, at the end of the bulge. So it cannot contact the walls of the cloaca and get contaminated by stools or urine. Moreover, the intestine and inner part of the cloaca are kept shut by the emerging egg, and their contents cannot leave when the hen strains to deliver the egg. Therefore, eggs are always clean as they are laid. However, sometimes a hen, stomping around the nest with dirty feet, will get the egg dirty anyway.

 

[vrmmsm]

Tomorrow morning I think I'll try and make a home made poutine to go along with a keilbasa and eggs for breakfast.

I've never had it, but I have brown gravy, oven fries and cottage cheese and it's tough to go wrong with salty, starchy cheesy goodness (with keilbasa and eggs so fresh they came out of a hen's butt just that morning)...

mmmm, poutine. I've never had it in Canada, but I have had it several other places, and I generally like it. I'd love to get some in Canada or from someplace that uses fresh curds more like the description that I've seen online. Apparently, the good curds are very large, a little tangy and squeak when you bite them.

 

[seela]

It's interesting to read your adventures. Good luck with the cereal. I loved that stuff as a kid, but I don't know that I could bring myself to eat it now.

I've seen variety packs of pop tarts, but I'm not surprised that you might have trouble getting them. I do like pop tarts still, but probably only have them once every 5 or 10 years.

I love apple pie, but my favorite has a crumble topping, not a crust "lid".

I gotta look online for the variety packs. I checked amazon once for them, but only found packets with one flavor each. It's not like I'm dying to get Pop Tarts, I didn't like them that much when I tried them, but if I ever come across one with several flavors in it I'll definitely buy it.

The website for this seems to have expired?

I'm wondering of baqourah is the same as our horribly anglicized pakora(h)? Usually something biscuit/dumpling-like involving chickpea flour and frying?

http://www.harighotra.co.uk/indian-recipes/starters/vegetable-pakora

It is pretty similar and the name seems to be the same. Mine didn't have potatoes in them at all. I wonder where the recipe originates.

Seela, there is really only one flavor of Pop-tarts worth tasting, and that is Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon. And yes, it needs to be toasted to be appreciated.

I will admit that I have a sentimental soft spot for the Frosted Strawberry from my childhood, but the last time I tried to eat one I couldn't get through it.

I'd like to try the cherry flavored and brown sugar cinnamon, possibly strawberry and blueberry as well. I tried some kind of cookie flavor, I don't even remember what it was, but it was horribly sweet and the packet lasted for ages, because J didn't care for them that much either.