Eschallot seedlings in their original container

On Saturday our lower-side neighbour Helena called me over to the fence and handed me a plastic container chock full of eschallot seedlings, growing in compost by the looks. She’d grown them herself, but found she had far too many. Her suggestion was to plant some of them in between the sweet corn, since I had a bit of spare space there.

Four seedlings planted between the sweet corn

Saturday and Sunday were far too hot and humid to be doing anything but the most minimal garden work (watering, basically) so I kept putting the planting off, and hoped Helena wouldn’t notice. Today, on my day off, it was now or next weekend at the earliest – and I still left it until late in the afternoon to do, because today wasn’t much cooler than the last two.

Seedlings planted out in The Annexe, in the row nearest the front wall.

Anyway, they’re in now. I planted four of the seedlings between two of the rows of corn, but left the space between the other two rows free as they’re a bit closer together. The rest of the eschallot seedlings have gone into The Annexe garden, in a row closest to the brick wall and furthest from the metal fence, in the hopes they won’t be affected so much by the extra heat bouncing off the metal on these hot days.

Close-up of two of the seedlings

All the seedlings got a bit knocked around, losing all or most of the soil/compost around their roots as I transplanted them from container to bed. I’m not the most gentle of gardeners, sad to say. They’re not much to look at now, but I figure if they survive my mauling, they’ll do okay. I have hopes that at least some of them will survive and thrive, to eventually grace our dinner table.

As soon as I start harvesting, I’ll have to remember to provide Helena with some of the crops she doesn’t grow herself (not eschallots, natch, unless she’s run out by then). I owe her, and will no doubt owe her much, much more as the seasons go by.

I did plan on blogging over my four day weekend, but unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera cord to my mommy’s.  Oh well, better late than never, right?  I had a lovely holiday and break from work.  It all started on Wednesday night.  Mom and I enjoyed a nice cocktail while getting some night-before-prepping done (aka… Amanda chopping mountains of celery and onions for the stuffing, as per usual) 

According to Bailey's: chocolate martini = Bailey's + vanilla vodka. According to mom and I: waaaay too strong, so copious amounts of milk was added.

Then came Thanksgiving day.  I was a bad blogger and didn’t take a whole lot of pictures.  Here’s Martha Stewart’s my mom’s festive table.

Lots and lots of food was had.  I only took this one pic of my first plate (yes, first plate).  Just for list-making sake… we had turkey breast soaked in yummy brine overnight, stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash, sesame green beans, whole grain rolls, obligatory canned cranberry sauce, gravy, waldorf salad, relish tray, and dessertssss. 

My apologies... I didn't realize this was so blurry until far after I inhaled this. On the plate: squash, cranberry, turkey hiding in the back, potatoes, gravy, green beans, waldorf salad. Holy yummmmm.

We waited about 2 seconds to have dessert.  I, as always, was so full that I could barely move… but does that stop me from packing in a little dessert??  Not really.  I’m not much of a fan of pumpkin pie (it’s a texture thing… I like to call it the “gag texture” haha).  So, I had a little taste of the apple crisp and some pumpkin mousse (sorry, no pic of this!).

Martha comes out again with the decorative pumpkin pie

Once we all stuffed our faces, the dishes were done, and the leftovers were compiled into things like this: 

Best thing ever: stuffing on the bottom, then turkey, and frosted with potatoes. Just slice it, heat it up, and top with gravy and a side of cranberry. Delisssshhhh.

And for entertainment?  I brought my son along and got to witness the 23412 standoffs with my childhood, 15-year-oldish cat Missie… hilarious.  Don’t worry, no harm was done, they’re all talk.

TG09: Old World France meets New World America.

A moderate case of PTD (post-turkey depression) affected the host after having cogitated then gestated the menu and its formulations for the better part of 3 weeks, but the dinner was not  offered without gustatory success. No breakage, pretty girls and a weekend of early morning grazing on tryptophan & cheese scraps with fingers by the twilight of the Frigidaire brought savory solace, albeit cold and perishable.

Exemplary guests provided long sought company, anecdotes and booze.

Preamble: My Mt. Pleasant dry cured sausage, turkey pâté en croûte with currants,  Chris Bradley’s blood pudding and a salt cod brandade in the style of Nîmes. Pickled purple cauliflower accoutrement and mulled cider to warsh it all down, adulterated with some trickle of George Dickel’s whisky for some social lubricant. The pâté en croûte was not as successful at the pâté pantin poultry edition in terms of pastry crust which was far too wet.  Escoffier’s measurements called for far too much water (2dl water for 25ogr flour), though such proportions were respected on account of the esteemed author’s reputation.  The same pâte á foncer proportions were used in the coq en pâte prototype  with diastrously wet results but technique and choice of fats may have been the culprit.  Whatever the case, notes were taken the recipe has been adjusted for future endeavors.  The  cooked pastry tasted good but was not as flaky as it could/should have been but was removed from the over for fear of overcooking the forcemeat.  The forcemeat  however–turkey, pork, chicken livers, cooked gizzards and hearts marinated in gin and augmented with currants was satisfying. Aspic was of the proper consistency, though perhaps a bit too sweet as a result of the crappy sweet wine used.  Patience and the fundamental practice  of  waiting for the pâté to cool before applying the aspic was not respected causing the aspic to run through a seam that did not have time to seal upon cooling.

Turkey trimmings in a savory pastry sarcophagus.

Variations of tubesteak.

Pickled Purple Caulimonster.

1st plated course: An almost ethereal turkey consommé with a few cauliflower-mornay agnolotti and florets of different cauliflower varieties (white, yellow and romanesco) clearly visible at the bottom.  The stock was made from chicken legs, 1/2 a turkey neck and turkey drumstick bones, the meat of the chicken legs being used for the clarifying raft, and that of the turkey for the pâté.  The other half of the turkey neck was caramelized with mirepoix and tomato purée, covered with the cold stock and clarified with a raft of ground chicken leg meat, vegetables, egg whites, salt and vinegar.   The cauliflower florets and agnolotti were blanched in advance then heated in extra stock upon serving.

Shots of Armagnac all around.

The bird: Heartier traditional sustenance manifested itself in 2 preparations of an Amish heritage turkey, a descendant of the original birds the Hittite pilgrim brought over with Columbus on the Mayflower .

Start cold turkey.

The breasts were brined on the bone and then roasted on a bed of vegetable and pear trimmings with slices of Bosc pears shingled under the skin, essentially basted with pearoultry juices.  The rest of a bothersome extra bottle of orgeat syrup replaced the sugar component of the brine (pears and almond blossom seemed compatible) and was injected into the breasts.  The shingled pears were apparent under the skin but pictures were blurry.  The ambitious vision was to reproduce a crude feather of sorts under each breast.

The legs for their part were transformed into ballotines.

Double barreled poultry.

The legs were skinned in a manner to provide the largest canvass and the meat broken down into major muscle components and any tendons removed. A forcemeat was fabricated from scraps and the remaining meat from the pâté marinade. Pistachios, dried cranberries, diced fatback and the larger turkey leg muscles were rolled into cylinders, wrapped in the skin, tied with string and poached in turkey stock with a calf’s foot until an internal temperature of 150F was attained. The poaching liquid cooked into a rich braising liquid with a tender garnish of standard mirepoix, leftover cranberries, sliced gizzards and fluted mushrooms for showmanship shits & grins. The flavor was nothing short of remarkable. Well seasoned, moist, delicious and classically refined. Nitrite was added to the forcemeat so as to ensure an appealing rosy hue rather than the drab autumnal brown.

Winner: Turkey legs in a supporting roll.

Another round of Armagnac.

Nods to the fall harvest: A gratin dauphinois. Scalloped russet potatoes with a middle layer of caramelized onion deglazed with white wine vinegar and anchovies (inspired by the Swedish Jansson’s Temptation) bound by mace and nutmeg infused cream which helped to permeate the saltiness of the filling throughout the dish.  Fresh cranberry sauce with orange zest, cloves and some more currants.  Brussels sprouts off the stalk with rutabaga, turnips, rainbow carrots, parsnips and pearl onions glazed in veal suet, finished with toasted almonds.

My rye bread was turned into stuffing with pomegranate seeds, celery root, celery stalks and their leaves. Could have benefited from further toasting of the bread.  Vehicles for sopping up the juices were sweet potato biscuits (courtesy of Mr. Bradley) and my pan coudoun: bread rolls with a segment of cooked quince inside.  The leavened biscuits were made from roasted sweet potato, lard, butter, buttermilk, flour and 2 sieved hard boiled egg yolks to absorb any excess moisture from the sweet potato.

Lou Pan Coudoun (the quince bread in Provençal dialect) was hearth bread dough with a wedge of cooked quince (oven cooked in a light syrup until tender and red) inside, then baked.  Traditional recipes called for a whole raw quince, peeled, halved, cored put back together with honey and butter inside and baked in a dense bread for 40 minutes or so which is supposed to cook the quince.  The safer M.O. was to use cooked quince and work backwards to less cooked quince.   The cooked quince were extremely soft, like firm apple sauce and not at all unpleasant.  Delectable, actually, though a little fleur de sel on the bread before baking would have balanced the sweet/salty.

Your quince charming.

Yep, more Armagnac.

Cheese: courtesy of Mr. Bradley’s affinage program.  Clockwise from center: Livarot, France;Nettle Meadow Kunik, NY; Gorwydd Caerphilly, Wales; Twig Farm Square Cheese, VT; Tarantaise, VT; Mondegueiro, Portugal; Rogue River Blue, OR.

Cheese course, of course.

Dessert: A honeycrsip apple tart with a nappage of my qunce jelly perfumed with rosemary and cinnamon.   Standard pâte brisée with 1/2 lard 1/2 butter for the fat proportion and a whisper of orange zest and ground cinnamon.

In lieu of a flower.

Ef’n Jelly. Disclosure: after countless attempts in making pectin-free apple/quince jelly, pectin was called in from the cupboard in desperation. The cursory theory appeared simple.  Cook quince scraps (cores & peelings) in water with rosemary and cinnamon,  add 55% sugar by weight, chill and glaze apple tart. Quince are heavy in natural pectin and based on numerous recipes, none such additive would be needed.  In practice the results were anything but jolly jelly.  Reduction made a remarkably tight and sticky syrup better destined for pest control than desert.  Cooking new scraps in the previously attained liquid boosted the quince flavor but did not make jelly.  Powdered pectin was considered and obtained, but in what quantity?  The properties of quince and pectin were researched and Eureka!, the gosh darn good jelly scholars at University of Minnesota, oh yah, had the explanation

A certain amount of acidity (below pH 3.5) is necessary for jelly to form. If the fruit juice is not sufficiently acidic, a gel will not form. If too much acid is present, the jelly will lose liquid or weep. Acidity can apparently be tested.  To form a gel, fruit juice should be as tart as a mixture of 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and 3 tablespoons of water. If the fruit juice is not this tart, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice for each cup of fruit juice.

What’s more, the kind folks up there provided a simple test for determining whether the jelly juice base has sufficient pectin to gel, which begs the question: “why jelly and not gelly?”  A tsp of the juice is mixed with rubbing alcohol and if the junk gets hard, you’re on.  If it stays limp and juicy, there is a powder for that.  Don’t drink the rubbing alcohol-quince juice mixture, unless you are a hopeless alcoholic.

The proper Ph matrix for apple/quince jelly has not yet been figured out despite 11 prototypes and a mathematically derived 11% lemon juice formula.  Quince scraps and apples were cooked in water with varying proportions of acidulated water ranging from 6.7%-11% lemon juice based on the U of M’s recommendations of 1tsp of lemon juice for 3tbsp of water for proper gelling Ph.  However, weight is a more disciplined unit of measure than volume, even if the weight and volume of both lemon juice and water are the same.  55% sugar was added to the strained liquid, cooked for 20-30 minutes each time and nothing happened. Many recipes, both French and American called for a range of a whole lemon’s worth of juice, half and none at all, despite the science that mandates a fruit juice can not gel without the 3.5Ph.  So 1% powdered pectin was grudgingly added and the damned stuff set.

Eat it, William Tell.

Coffee, cigarettes, more Armagnac and a joint or two rounded out a superlative meal helping to easy digestion and induce well deserved sleep.  Enthusiastic thanks to all the guests for allowing the host the pleasure of hosting.

... we occupied 2 tables despite the place was packed with people. But 1 table was too small anyway for the 4 of us.

At first, I’ve got no idea where was this place when my sister told me about it. While on the way, I realised that I’ve came here before, but that was eons ago. Probably 7-8 years back. When we were there, I was thinking we probably can’t get a table cause it was already packed with people. Fortunately, there were 2 tables side by side which could fit the 4 of us, nicely. Though 1 table would do, but I don’t think the table would fit our dishes anyway.

Upon ordering, the lady boss said there are no chickens. They served only “魚、蝦、蟹” (fish, prawn, crab). It sounded funny because “魚蝦蟹” means “et cetera” in Cantonese term. Anyway, we proceed with our order of fried rice as my sister has been praising it. I requested for Tom Yam. What would it be like without Tom Yam when we were in a Thai restaurant, right?

... it was so long ago since I last had a Thai coconut. It was so refreshing and sweet.

... these Chinese crullers similar were little. Probably Thai style crullers. It came with green kaya as condiment, which wasn't too sweet. But the crullers were very oily.

These drink and snack were separately charged. RM4.50 for one coconut was very very costly. The crullers were RM3 per plate. There were only like 11 pieces of them on the place. If given RM3, I think I could have Chinese crullers to my heart’s content.

... condiments for the stuff that we are about to receive.

... there were only 2 choices of vegetables. Kailan and this mixed vegetable.

... this was only plain fried rice, not Thai style fried rice or anything that I was expecting from this place. But there were countless number of prawns in it. Only RM15 for 3 pax portions, very cheap.

... I wasn't too hungry yet, so I wanted something sour to boost my appetite for the dinner.

... this was probably the best tasting grilled squids I've had so far. I was expecting bland tasting grilled squids at first, like I used to have most of the time. But these came as a surprise.

... steamed tilapia. It was somehow prepared in Thai sauce, probably to negates the foul smelling meat of the fish.

Rating: 6/10

Frankly, the nice fried rice was an overstatement. There were a lot of prawns in it for the price of normal fried rice, which was commendable. I guess that’s the reason why most of the tables ordered fried rice, instead of white rice. At only RM5/pax of fried rice, I had at least 5-6 pieces of prawns, average. They were not small either. But in term of the taste department, it tasted like white rice fried in soya sauce. Yup, I could only taste the soya flavour in the rice, nothing else. The egg doesn’t produce any fragrance and the prawns don’t make the rice taste any sweeter either. Anyway, I guess there’s no complain as the portion was big. Mixed vegetables were nothing spectacular either.

The Tom Yam which was prepared in clay pot was acceptable. It was sour and quite thick. Plenty of squids in it and some prawns. Though I prefer a thinner soup base. Grilled squids were my favourite dish of the night. Unlike most grilled squids that I had, this actually tasted salty. And of course, it was best served hot. After it was cold, it no longer taste good anymore. Lastly, the tilapia which was fortunately enough, not very smelly. The meat was soft. Probably because it was prepared in Thai sauce, hence the foul smell was reduced to minimum. Anyway, the sourish and spicy sauce used was very appetizing. I found myself dipping my grilled squids in it and also mixing them into my fried rice.

Location: N3 08.515 E101 45.286

When I’m not eating, discounted French cheeses and Cream sauces which might seem to everyone, like NEVER), I’m eating lots of fresh, raw veggies and fruit….REALLY I am!

Once a week, I make either hummus, baba ganoush or muhammara. I clean and cut up fresh broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, fennel, radishes, peppers – whatever I have in the fridge and Ioad them onto a platter, with whichever “dip” I made that week.  I leave the platter on the kitchen counter (pushed far enough back so Cody can’t jump up and snag them) and we nosh on them every time we pass by. We have our offices at home, so that’s OFTEN!

Having a great dip makes eating your veggies fun and what could be better for you than a dip made from…more veggies!

Hummus, Baba Ganoush and Muhammara

Hummus

.

1 large Garlic clove, minced
1 16-ounce can Garbanzo beans, drained (reserve some of the liquid for pureeing and a few beans for garnishing)
2 tablespoon Tahini
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (more or less if you prefer)
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive oil
a dash of Cayenne Pepper
Kosher salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil, cayenne and reserved Garbanzo beans for garnish

In your food processor, add the garlic and mince it.  Add the Garbanzo beans, Tahini, lemon juice, Olive oil, salt, pepper and Cayenne.  Blend for about 3-4 minutes, adding the reserved liquid from the Garbanzo beans — until you get your desired consistency.

Serve on a plate or bowl and create a “well” in the middle to drizzle some more Olive Oil, Cayenne pepper and a few Garbanzo beans.

.

Baba Ganoush

1 large clove garlic, minced
2 Eggplants (regular, not Japanese), roasted
3 tablespoons Tahini
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive oil
a dash of Cayenne pepper
a dash of smoked Paprika
Kosher salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Prick the eggplants with a fork and place them directly on the flame of your gas stovetop.  With kitchen tongs, turn them over until they’re charred evenly on all sides.  If you don’t have a gas stove, you can char them on the bar-b-cue or under the broiler.

Place the charred eggplants on a baking sheet and place on the middle rack of your oven.  Roast them for approximately 25 minutes.  They should be very soft. Remove the baking sheet from oven and allow them to cool. The skin should peel away easily, remove it and discard.

Add the garlic clove to your food processor and mince.  Then add the peeled eggplants, with all the other ingredients and blend until smooth – about 3-4 minutes.  I like to chill the Baba Ganoush for a couple hours before serving, the consistency will be firmer.

Serve on a plate or bowl and create a “well” in the middle to drizzle some more Olive Oil, Cayenne pepper.  I have a friend who lived in Israel, who always sprinkles hard-boiled egg on hers.

.

Muhammara (Roasted Red Pepper Hummus)

1 large garlic clove, minced
2 Red Peppers, roasted
1/3 cup walnuts, lightly toasted
2/3 cup fresh bread crumbs (I use Progresso)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses (available in Middle Eastern markets – substitute Balsamic vinegar, if you can’t find it)
1/8 teaspoon red chili flakes
1/2 teaspoon Cumin
1 teaspoon honey
Kosher salt and pepper, to taste

Place the peppers directly on the flame of your gas stovetop.  With kitchen tongs, turn them over until they’re charred “black,” evenly on all sides.  If you don’t have a gas stove, you can char them on the bar-b-que or in the oven for approximately 30 minutes at 400 degrees.  Remove them from the flame and let them cool in a bowl.  The skin should peel away easily, remove it and discard.  Remove the insides and seeds and discard, as well.

Add the garlic clove to your food processor and mince. Add the peeled, roasted peppers and the rest of the ingredients and blend for approximately 3-4 minutes.  If it’s too thick, you can add a little more Olive Oil.  If it’s too thin, you can add some more bread crumbs.  I like to chill the Muhammara for a couple hours before serving, the consistency will be firmer.

Serve on a plate or bowl and create a “well” in the middle to drizzle some more Olive Oil, Cayenne pepper and a few Pomegranate seeds, or chopped walnuts.

My friend, Connie, showed me how to make these homemade Pita Chips…you just take a couple slices of Pita bread, separate them, tear them into large pieces, brush with Olive oil and sprinkle a little Garlic Salt on top.  Then you bake them in the oven at 375 degrees for about 3-4 minutes and they’re crisp, warm and delicious

A colourful starter which is easy to prepare and decorate. 

What you need (makes 6 tarts):
1 pack of ready made puff pastry
1 red onion
1 courgette
handful of cherry tomatoes
small portion of goat’s cheese
1 egg

What you do:
Cut the pastry into 6 rectangles and fold in the sides to make four ‘walls’. You can crimp these with the end of a fork for a more professional look. Lightly soften the onion and courgette slices in a grill pan or George Foreman grill. Arrange a little onion and a couple of courgette slices into each tart. Add some chopped cherry tomatoes and season with salt, pepper and rosemary. Brush the pastry with some egg or milk – this will help it take a nice golden colour. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for about 20 mins until golden, and then top each tart with a teaspoon of goats cheese. Pop it back in for another couple of minutes and then serve on a simple green salad.

The avant-garde kitchen would not be complete after a refrigerator, an oven, a microwave, and a coffee maker. As accessories in one of the a lot of important apartment in the house, these accessories are on the beginning of the action for greater accessibility and lower action costs. Here is a attending at a few of the abstruse makeovers which can advice you save both time and money. “Smart” Refrigerators Has this anytime happened to you? On your way home from work, you stop at the bazaar for groceries. While acrimonious up aliment for dinner, you can’t bethink whether there’s a steak in the freezer or if you still accept abundant adulate for the mashed potatoes. Instead of agreement a alarm to your cogent other, let your refrigerator analysis the account for you. Using a corpuscle phone, it is accessible to accidentally admission an up-to-the-minute account of the capacity of the “smart” refrigerator via an Internet connection. LG Electronic’s Internet Refrigerator is able of alerting its user if a artefact has expired. The abeyant for this technology is enormous, but the bound availability of online grocery casework has slowed its spread. Manufacturers achievement to eventually advance a arrangement by which refrigerators will not just accumulate tabs on the aliment inside, but will accomplish lists of what is bare and automatically abode an adjustment with online grocers. One check of the accepted technology is the accomplishment that goes into befitting your refrigerator’s annal up-to-date. As the refrigerator is stocked, the artefact names and cessation dates accept to be logged manually. If an account is removed from the refrigerator, the abstracts accept to be entered as well. The accessibility of alive what’s in your refrigerator at any time may be outweighed by the aggravation of befitting such accurate records. Another accepted focus for the newly-developed technology involves abbreviation action costs. For instance, the Fisher & Paykell Active Smart Refrigerator offers assorted energy-conserving appearance which, if combined, accord to the all-embracing ability of the product. The Active Smart cyberbanking intelligence and assorted sensors adviser the centralized temperature while a Variable Capacity Compressor ensures the refrigerator runs at its peak. Energy-efficiency is decidedly important if it comes to refrigerators because they are the alone kitchen accessories that run 24-hours per day. By purchasing ecologically-friendly technology you’ll abate your electricity bills and accumulate added money in your wallet. Convenient Coffee Makers A contempo development in coffee burning is the exhaustion brewing system, as accent by the Clear Electric Santos coffee maker by Bodum. The apparatus promises to beverage six to twelve cups of able coffee aural eight account using an easy-to-clean filtration system. This is an ideal apparatus for humans who adulation a concentrated cup of joe. The canicule of baking accomplished pots of baptize just to accept a individual cup of coffee are over. The one cup coffee maker can beverage your admired gourmet tea or coffee in beneath than a minute, eliminating the charge to adapt a accomplished pot. For humans on-the-go, these fast brewing machines are a acceptable accession to the home or workplace. The individual cup coffee maker is aswell a abundant action saver. In the time it ability yield to calefaction up one pot of approved coffee or to drive over to Starbucks, a one cup coffee maker by Keurig can beverage several abnormally flavored hot drinks in 40 abnormal each. Another advantage of this apparatus is the array of drinks it can produce. Keurig provides barter with over 70 altered coffee or tea “K-Cups” from which to choose. K-Cups are easy-to-insert dispensers, which fit neatly into the coffee company’s apparatus with little accomplishment and no clean-up. Multifunctional Ovens Forget active over a hot stove for hours just to get banquet on the table. Thanks to new ovens with automated time and temperature controls banquet can about accomplish itself. Wish a meal to be accessible by the time you get home? Simply abode your admired bowl in the oven and let the apparatus do the rest. The Intelligent Oven by TMIO refrigerates aliment until the user activates the affable function. The oven’s Internet connectivity allows you to ascendancy this affection accidentally with your corpuscle buzz or computer. Commons are not alone delicious, but altogether timed for your convenience. Additional advances accept fabricated the artefact safer and added energy-efficient, authoritative it both user- and environmentally-friendly. For absolute fast food, attending for accessories such as the Sharp High Speed Convection/Microwave Oven. A 5-pound broiled craven would yield up to 140 account or added in a accepted oven but, with the new accelerated ovens, the aforementioned meal can be accessible aural 28 minutes. By using a mix of super-heated circulating air and bake energy, commons baker up to 80 percent faster. In a footfall that brings to apperception scenes from a plan of science-fiction, General Electric is a part of the companies developing ovens which acknowledge to articulation commands and admit over 200 bounded accents. Rather than blame a pre-set button, key phrases would actuate the already programmed affable times and temperatures. Such technology may not be a continued way off, but its amount tag may prove to be above the ability of abounding consumers. High-tech Microwaves Trying to acquisition quick and simple recipes? Put down the cookbook. You can calmly download hundreds of recipes anon from your bake with the advance of a button. Using the LG Lifestyle MG-5682NL bake oven, you can download recipes or added affable advice from the company’s web site. Sharp aswell sells a bake that downloads affable instructions for assorted meals, again automatically programs the time and ability settings appropriate to zap your meal to perfection. In a slight aberration on the theme, a new bake by Samsung is programmed to apprehend affable admonition by scanning artefact bar codes with a appropriate sensor. The bake again pulls the specific affable instructions off the Internet and cooks the meal accordingly. Abounding models now appear with affable pre-sets for accepted aliment items, such as airheaded or arctic meals. Simply columnist one of the clearly-labeled advantage buttons on the microwave’s touchpad and the apparatus will automatically acclimatize the time and ability level. Another affection that you will not wish your bake to be after is a damp sensor. Microwaves calefaction aliment by using radio after-effects to accelerate the molecules. To anticipate overcooking your food, the damp sensor will account how abundant time is still bare to baker based on how continued it took for the aliment to activate steaming. Since the kitchen is a accustomed hub of action for any household, a few baby changes can beggarly big accumulation in added means than one. These kitchen innovations will not alone chargeless up added of your time, but can advice you save money on the account action bills. A little ability can go a continued way!

Time just never stop for us, huh?

Vividly remembered 28 feb 2009, i flew from Singapore to Melbourne with Belle and Ying. Shortly after, we had out first urban life for 2009! 2 days ago, we had our final urban life for 2009!

I’m glad i was given the opportunity to show my loveee to my fellow urbies! Let’s the picture do the talking….

ULU11 Honouring Gift 2009

What’s inside the magical Jar?

♥ Loveee Surprise no. 1 - Chocolate melting moments sandwich with chocolate cream.

♥  Loveee Story: seriously, i’m so ignorant! i never understand why it is named “melting-moments” till i actually bake it! How hilarious right? It melts…. lolx. stop laughing at me, pls pls pls! *shy~ Honestly, it is challenging to bake this. I couldn’t under-bake, if not it will just melt… i couldn’t over-bake it too! If not, it will lose the “melting-texture” in your mouth! boo hoo hoo! Guess what? THEY LOVEEE IT! My heart melt~~~~~~~ ♥♥♥

♥ Loveee Surprise no.2 – Dark Chocolate Chips cookies

♥ Loveee Story: Confession time… i loveee Famous Amos Chocolate chips cookies. In the past, it really upset me how my cookies spread so wide out that it loses that thickness i-like-about-Famous-Amos-cookies! I’M SUPER happy cos i found the art of baking it! Sadly, i did over-bake to give it a abit harder and crunchy texture. i over did it! Well, i shall learn from my mistake! Still, i loveee it cos it has multi-texture! yum~

♥ Loveee Surprise no. 3 – Peanut butter biscuit (sadly, no picture!)

Another confession time… totally loveee peanut butter and i can never make up my mind whether it is smooth or crunchy! both are yum~ i can just scoop a heap tablespoon of peanut butter and start licking it like an ice-cream. Can u believe how i love to have a heap spoonful of peanut butter followed by nutella? Clearly, i had influence my lil sister to take up such SINFUL habit! Well, i have to put such horridly-sinful habit to a stop if not i’ll be crazy over-weight! Everything is under-control. wheeee~

♥♥♥

On top of all those beautiful full of loveee goodies, i made 2 entree-s and a dessert for potluck dinner.

♥ Fish Cake

*Crazily loveee by my urbies! i loveee it too!

♥ Loveee Story: As i was pan-frying the fish cakes, i couldn’t resist trying one after another. it tasted the best.. when it is fresh.

♥ Roasted Vegetable w/ indian curry-infused marinate

♥ Pandan layered caked with Kaya cream filling

♥Loveee Story: Kaya and pandan are such a must-have in malaysian and singaporean lifestyle, isn’t it? they are my absolute favorite! Remembering those good old days whereby my grandma would made her own kaya, the nonya’s kaya are brown in colour rather than green. i miss the taste of my grandma’s kaya. this cake made me miss home~~~

♥♥♥

It was the best urban life we had. The amount of sharing and laughters were comprehensibly heart-warming, the loveee was so powerful…

It is our final urban life of the year, but it is not the last in our life… Even though some of us have to leave for good, as long as our heart stays as ONE… it is never the last!

♥ Veron

In keeping with the winter warmer theme, I thought you’d Enjoy! another soup recipe. This one is one of my ’sisterhood’ recipes. These recipes are a collection that I rarely divulge with anyone. Please make this one with lots of love! Without further ado, let me introduce you to my Cockle-of-the-Dockle Soup:

Nothing beats a homemade soup. Cartons are great and do have their place in this world, but making a soup is just so satisfying (and cheap!) This recipe can be adapted according to what veg you have floating in your fridge. Play about with it!

Ingredients:

1/2 lb white haricot beans (225g)

5 oz small-cut macaroni (110g)

3 tbs tomato puree

2 teaspoon dried basil

1 large onion, chopped small

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 a pointed cabbage, shredded

small handful of green beans

2-3 sticks of  chopped celery

1 courgette, roughly chopped

1 leek, roughly chopped

2oz grated Parmesan cheese (50g)

4 tbs olive oil

Salt and freshly-milled black pepper

Process:

1) Place the beans in a saucepan, then add 4 pints of cold water to them, bring them to the boil, boil for 1 minute, then turn the heat off and let them soak for 2 hours.

2) Now gently fry the onions in olive oil together with the garlic for about 10 mins. Add the tomato puree and basil, stir for a minute, and pour in the beans and the water they were soaking in.

3) Bring the soup up to simmering point, cover and simmer gently for about an hour. When the time’s up, season with salt and pepper, then put half the soup either through a sieve or blend in a liquidiser.

4) Return the pureed half to the pan, bring to simmering point, then add the macaroni and the veg and simmer for a further 10-12 minutes, stirring from time to time.

5) Serve this soup with lots of freshly grated Parmesan (or Cheddar if you’re on more of a budget) to sprinkle all over!

i’ve never been one for stuffing but rachael ray made this pumpkin muffin stuffin’ with her 60 minute thanksgiving meal and it looked yummy. i’m going to make it the center of a chicken roll i’ll be making for thanksgiving dinner!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons of margarine from a tub
• 1 fresh or dried bay leaf
• 3 ribs celery from the heart, shopped with greens
• 1-1/2 McIntosh apples, seeded and chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped, divided
• 1/2 medium zucchini, chopped
• sea salt and pepper
• 5 small pumpkin muffins or 3 large pumpkin muffins from market * number of muffins depends on size of muffins as well as personal preference!
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1 tablespoons poultry seasoning
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 tablespoons maple syrup, optional

Preparation

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Heat a large, deep skillet over medium to medium-high heat with 2 tablespoons of margarine. To melted margarine, add bay leaf, celery, apple, onion and zucchini. Season the vegetables liberally with salt and pepper. Cook 10 minutes or until softened.

Crumble or cut the muffins into small pieces. If desired, toast the small pieces of muffins for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F for additional texture. Add muffins and pumpkin seeds to the pan and combine with the vegetables. Season the stuffing with poultry seasoning then adjust salt and pepper. Dampen the stuffing with stock. Add maple syrup for additional sweetness.

Pile the stuffing into a serving dish. Place in oven to just crisp up the top – it should only take a couple of minutes, tops.

________________________________________________________________________________
original recipe from Food Network Special Rachael Ray’s Thanksgiving in 60 – 2: Pressed Herbs and Spices Turkey Breast, Pumpkin-Zucchini Muffin Stuffin’ with Chipotle Gravy

green beans seems to be a staple on the thanksgiving dinner table. but instead of a green bean casserole, i like this very simple citrus accented green beans recipe from racheal ray.

Ingredients

• Peel of 1 orange
• 2 pounds green beans
• 2 tablespoons butter
• sea salt
• 3 tablespoons fresh chives, snipped

Preparation

Fill a pan with 2 inches water and bring to a boil. Add orange peel and beans. Cook 5 to 6 minutes, beans should remain bright green with a snap to them. Drain beans and return to pan. Remove peel. Toss with butter, salt and chives then transfer to a serving dish

________________________________________________________________________________
original recipe from Food Network Specials Rachael Ray’s  Thanksgiving in 60 – 2: Orange Scented Green Beans

made a fun appetizer with pizza dough. yum!

Ingredients

• 1 pizza dough or whole wheat pizza dough ~ ask your favorite pizzeria to buy their dough or pick up a frozen one at the supermarket!
• 1 cup marinara sauce ~ my favorite is Francesco Rinaldi No Salt Added
• 4-ounces of sliced sun dried tomatoes ~ i like Trader Joe’s Julienne Sliced Sun Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil
• 1-1/2 stems of fresh rosemary

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Defrost pizza dough overnight. Flour cutting board and pizza dough. Roll out pizza dough to rectangular shape to approximately 8-inch by 10-inch.

Put parchment paper on flat pan. Place dough on top of the parchment. Pour marinara sauce to coat the pizza dough. Scatter pieces of sun-dried tomatoes. Pull leaves off 1-1/2 stens of rosemary and sprinkle leaves on top of pizza dough.

Put pizza into the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until dough is cooked. Leave out to cool for 10 minutes.

Cut into 2-inch by 3-inch rectangular pieces. Serve and enoy!

When I was a kid, seeing the Indian Corn on the door meant the Thanksgiving holiday was imminent. It still means the same thing to me today.

The turkey is brining in the fridge and the pumpkin pie is all set. Just a few more preparations to go for our holiday feast tomorrow. I can’t wait!

"Maize-y Days" (Indian Corn) Nikon D300, 105mm F/2.8G macro, F/7.1, 1/125s, ISO 640

Chances are, we’ll eat too much and fall asleep on the sofa, but we’ll also remember how fortunate and thankful we are, for the roof over our heads, the clothes on our back, the people in our lives and the love in our hearts.

This will definitely be a happy Thanksgiving!

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 ½ assorted fresh vegetables
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp honey
• ½ tsp dried thyme, crushed
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. Rough chop vegetables.
3. In a broiler pan, without the rack, combine all ingredients.
4. Roast 25 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring once

Use any combination of the following vegetables: zucchini, bell peppers (red, green or yellow), red onions, white or Portobello mushrooms and carrots.

As I passed the excellent Fiji Market in King St, Newtown today (on the way home from the gym, that was – insert praise here), I remembered that’s where I’d seen the betel leaves used to make miang  kham, those little roll-up-and-stick-in-your-gob piles of Thai spicy goodness. So I popped in and snagged myself a pack of these fresh green heart-shaped lovelies (about 10 or 12 leaves for $2.50).

I have many times enjoyed the delectable Miang Goong at Thai Pothong described here but never attempted it myself till this evening. And I have to say, this is one of the zingiest new things I’ve tried in a long time. Tested these little babies not only on Senor but his two Wednesday piano students, adventurous primary-school gourmands Lulu and Riley and their caterer dad, and it got the thumbs up from all.

A quick Google search came up with a few recipes for Miang Khang (that’s without the goong – the prawns) and I chose this one to adapt.

The fiddly bit is the sauce – but I doubled the quantity of this one and had masses left over, now safely in the freezer for easy peasy quick Miang assembly for the next time or two.

My adaptation is here, but there must be lots of proper recipes about the place – I urge you to make this, because even though the sauce is fiddly, it’s much easier than you might think and very very good.

Sauce

• 1 tablespoon shrimp paste
• 60g fresh galangal, julienned or just grated (I started julienning but it’s a bugger to do, so ended up with a bit of both)
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut – I used the nice stuff with bigger bits, easier to toast
• 100g dried shrimp
• 100g French shallots, peeled
• 1.5 teaspoons fresh ginger
• 150g brown & white sugar mixed, more if needed – be careful here, cos the original recipe had heaps of sugar, some palm (which I didn’t have handy so didn’t use), and I used only about half of it. Think this is about what I used but probably best to add in stages so as not to get too sweet.

Method – sauce

1. In a low oven, dry-roast coconut (with the extra coconut for below) till golden brown & galangal shreds till fragrant – keep checking, but around 10 minutes each.
2. Put shrimp paste into the centre of a square of aluminium foil, fold to make a packet and then turn up the heat and roast the packet in the oven or stick it under a grill until the paste is fragrant – times may vary; mine took about 15-20 minutes.
3. While this is happening throw shallots and roasted galangal into the food processor and whiz until fine.
4. Add roasted shrimp paste, ginger, coconut and dried shrimp, and whiz again till smooth – I added a little water to help it turn into a paste.
5. Remove the mixture and place in a pot with 1.5 cups water.
6. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
7. Add sugar, then reduce heat and simmer, wait until reduced to 1 cup or a bit less.
8. Taste, and adjust by adding a little salt, then cool.

The easy bits & pieces – ingredients

• 10 or 12 betel leaves – I know these are hard to find. Perhaps small soft lettuce leaves would do at a pinch?
• 100g green shelled prawns
• 1/2 cup grated coconut, roasted in a low-heat oven until lightly brown
• 1/2 a lime, unpeeled, cut into tiny bits
• 1 small red chilli, ditto
• 1 or 2 tablespoons roasted peanuts, chopped finely
• 1 cm fresh ginger, finely chopped

Method

1. Quickly fry or steam prawns – only a minute, and they’ll be done.
2. Take your leaf as a base, and then make a little pile of all in whatever order you think works, with the proportions of chilli etc as you like, but leave the sauce & coconut till last.
3. Add a good dollop of sauce, then the coconut.
4. Serve the leaf & pile flat on a plate, then roll up however you can manage – you’ll need two hands – and pop in the mouth.
5. Stand by for flavour bomb, and enjoy.

Every year Grandma would ask “What do you want me to fix for Thanksgiving?”  And every year, my sister and I would request her squash recipe.  This recipe works great using fresh or frozen squash.

Grandma’s Squash Casserole

Mix squash, onion, cheese, sour cream, and soup together.  In a separate bowl , mix stuffing and butter.  Add 1/2 stuffing to squash mixture.  Put squash into a greased baking dish and top with remaining stuffing.  Bake at 325 for 15-25 min or until hot & golden brown.

I’ve seen variations of these “babies” all over the blogosphere… but mainly on Chocolate Covered Katie.  Last night I got a wild hair and decided to throw some stuff into my mini food processor… and by “stuff,” I mean 3 ingredients haha.  Unfortunately, I did no measuring (as usual), so I hesitated to post this…. buttttt of course I’m going to.  I’ll do my best to estimate what I used in these! 

Almond Babies
Next time I’ll measure, promise

Approx 1 cup whole almonds
Approx 12-15 whole, pitted dates
Squirt of maple syrup

- Grind up the almonds first, then remove and set aside
- Grind up the dates (this totally almost burned up my food processor… maybe because the dates were cold and hard??)
- Pour the almonds back in and grind together until you get a fine-ish consistency.  Mine was a little dry, so I added a squirt of maple syrup, too.
- Roll into balls… you really have to smoosh them together to hold.  Ooooor just use more dates and/or syrup to make them more moist. 
- Store in fridge.  DELICIOUS… and pretty much a homemade Larabar!  Of course the combinations are endless… check out Chocolate Covered Katie for a tonnn of ideas (and actual recipes!)

Just for fun…. my dinner tonight… pretty good with barely any groceries! 

Black bean burger on whole wheat tortilla half w/Laughing Cow, cukes, BBQ; bistro mushroom mac and cheese (from a box, sshhh); the last of my beloved TJ's french green beans

i had a great ginger and carrot soup in VA early this month. since my dad loves soup with every meal, i thought this would be a nice soup to start our thanksgiving meal.

Ingredients

• 12 medium carrots
• 1 yellow onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons margarine from a tub
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cups water
• 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
• sea salt
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup

Preparation

Trim, peel, and cut the carrots into 1-inch lengths. Trim, peel, and chop the onion and garlic.

In a heavy pot or Dutch oven, saute the onion in the butter and olive oil over medium heat, stirring, until translucent. Add the garlic and saute it for a few minutes, taking care not to let it brown.

Add the water, carrots and ginger, and cook until the carrots are very tender, about 45 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the soup cool.

When the soup has cooled, puree it in batches in a food processor or blender. Return the puree to the pot and place it over medium-high heat. Bring the puree to a boil and reduce it to the desired thickness. Add the honey and salt, stirring until dissolved. Taste, adjust the seasonings, if necessary, and serve immediately.

To serve cold, remove the pan from the heat and let the soup cool completely. Cover the pot and refrigerate. When ready to serve, stir vigorously and ladle into chilled bowls, if desired.

________________________________________________________________________________
original recipe by MANGIA by Ricardo Diaz and Nancy Jessup: Ginger and Honey Carrot Soup

 

Feta and vegetable salad

1. I suggest using chicken thights for your pieces as they are soft and fry easily. Cut them up into medium sized chunks, season with salt and a little cayenne pepper and fry until golden and cooked through.
2. Griddle your asparagus tips in a hot pan and drizzle them with butter before you set them aside.
3. Cut your feta cheese into medium sized chunks and slice up your avocado.
4. Take a plate or a bowl to lay out your lettuce leaves and pile on your ingredients one after another.