Authentic Whopper Taste Is Hidden In The Details There are many hamburgers in the world. Some thick, some thin, some simple, some complex. Burgers populate backyard parties, beachside picnics, and even posh receptions in equal measure with varying degrees of refinement. A vast corner of food culture sees minimalist mini-burgers with barely more than beef and bun co-exist beside enormous over-the-top versions stacked … Read More →
Frozen Potential In Discworld, Nanny Ogg would say “They make it with banananananas.” She knew how to start saying the fruit’s name but didn’t quite know how to stop. I’ve written down my basic recipe for banana bread long ago but was asked in a forum to be a little more precise with the directions for fledgling … Read More →
Cold Fruit For Hot Days I’m easily lured to a clearance sale in the kitchen section of my local megamarket. This was the case one November where, for a whopping $3, I grabbed a set of popsicle molds with deluxe drip-resistant handles. The perfect thing for the start of a Canadian winter, right? I promptly put them in the back … Read More →
Nice hat, sister. The last of the herd is finally fixed and chipped. No future kittens, no lost souls. If you haven’t microchipped your pets, please consider it for their sake and your sanity. In some places, it’s even becoming mandatory. The managing body varies by country but the Canadian version (run by EIADP) has an easy-to-navigate web … Read More →
Small (Cheap) Beginnings Grow Into Big Yields I wandered past an old post here where I planted a few discount lilacs. I seem to recall them being end-of-season markdowns around $8 each but that memory is fuzzy. You can see above what five years of full sun and good topsoil can do. All of them are easily six feet tall and burst … Read More →
Best not to count how many you eat in one sitting Prime grilling season has arrived again and around my kitchen that means “street” tacos cooked over charcoal. The fire is the easy part particularly once you have all the ‘extras’ sorted out. In my case those include a vat of garden-fresh salsa, some well seasoned beans, a little lime and coriander enhanced crema, and a … Read More →
Ten Seconds Of Testing At the height of the global pandemic, Canada started giving away clever testing devices called pulse oximeters. Anything cheap enough for them to dish out like penny candy couldn’t be that useful, right? Turns out these little gizmos can be life savers for a lot more than pesky global viruses. Modern day canaries in healthcare … Read More →
Skip the pastry for a change and give your grater a workout with this potato crust quiche technique. If you choose your pan wisely it will do most of the hard browning work for you. Ideally a 10- or 12-inch cast iron skillet is used for its heat retention however any similarly sized pan you … Read More →
Keep It Ice Cold From Fridge To Glass A gentle reminder is in order for iced tea drinkers now that summer is upon us yet again. “Sun tea” – namely the tired old trend of leaving tea in a vat of water for the sun to gently percolate – is not only a microbial disaster waiting to happen, it also yields inferior flavour … Read More →
Made At Home Without The Drive Editor’s Note: I wasn’t planning on typing this up but more than three and a half actual (I think) people asked for it after seeing the curry lurking on the side of my recent basmasti rice missive. Butter Chicken I’m told was ‘invented’ in the 1950s by clever chefs with a surplus of meat from … Read More →
Happy Birthday to the Twins It’s been six months since the new family additions arrived so thought it time for a photo op. They grow up quick. The headline photo is a little misleading. Like Peter Jackson shooting Lord of the Rings, it’s a camera perspective trick. Al the boy in back is double the size of Pico in front. … Read More →
I get through great heaping bags of this stuff. Curries are never photogenic. Editor’s Note: Another question from the forums here. Seems like a lot of words to explain a very simple process but that’s what it takes to get it just right on the first go. Took me a while to sort out the details myself. You’ll memorize the technique soon after a few pot’s worth of … Read More →
Just enough for a day or two As requested in some of the food forums I haunt, here are the ratios I use for my “little bloomer” loaf. If you’re a family of four (or more) stick with full-sized versions but for one hungry or two normal humans this is just about the right amount to get through in the cruicial few … Read More →
Steamed & Dressed For A Tamalada With most fresh masa half a continent away these are not Mexican. They also aren’t truly the Mississippi ‘Delta Hot Tamale’ style developed for cotton field workers at the turn of the twentieth century by a curious mix of Italian and Mexican immigrants who had only ordinary corn meal available. Both styles are indeed delicious … Read More →
Brother on the left, Sister on the right This is apparently my life for the foreseeable future. Presented here with bonus internal dialogue.
Deliciously Charred In All The Right Places ‘Chicken & rice’ is a natural pairing. From hauling out old retro recipes that call for cream of mushroom soup to treading the path to Indian biriyani, there is universal appeal. Arroz con pollo is arguably on the top five list of permutations and that’s where I started this iteration. The ongoing origin debate between … Read More →
Ugly Yet Delicious - The Next Test Will Be More Attractive I had a spare cauliflower in dire need of use so thought I’d do a first run and test on a simpler one-pot, hands-off oven baked aloo gobi. That’s a mild potato and cauliflower curry to the uninitiated outside India or too distant from a good take away joint. By using the whole head and … Read More →
An Attempt From Pillow Peak We’re slowly figuring out how legs work. Day 21 and counting with both nicely above the weight danger zone after what now seems like 4-5 days premature. Here “Bigger Brother” gives it his best shot. Wobble, wobble, wobble. More Spork Here
Time Well Spent So it’s Thanksgiving today in Canada. Virus woes have put a crimp in dinner gathering plans the world over so for the first time in decades, I’m not cooking the usual fare today. I’m sure I’ll correct that omission when the American version of the holiday rolls around in a few weeks. In the meantime, … Read More →
New arrivals less than 12 hours into their first day. This back story begins with grief and despair but fear not for it has a good deal of hope and joy towards the end. Seems to be a lot of that in this pandemic year. Regular viewers will remember two of my dear sweet girls (cats) from some of my videos. The sisters literally dropped … Read More →
If I can figure out how to work the blasted software I’ve been busy this year. I shall soon be slightly less so and thus a return to writing here, videos over there, and even streaming live elsewhere is a possibility. You have been warned. First snows came just last night so I’m in for the winter (mostly) and feel like cooking steaming pots of dumplings … Read More →
An Egg By Any Colour It’s Easter weekend and that means eggs galore. The unmatched set above comes from completely unmatched chickens up the road. Being the skeptic that I am, completely blind taste tests have been done over the years and I can confirm that shell colour has zero impact on final taste however a chicken’s diet most certainly … Read More →
Quick Cobbler For Cold Nights I know, I know. I’ve been lax in writing. The simple truth is that I haven’t had much interesting to say of late and life otherwise has consumed any spare time I would have had in which to communicate such tidbits. I’m still here. It’s still winter and blizzard-ing. And garden thoughts are at least … Read More →
A slow day's worth of peas. Usually double this every morning. Summer has finally shown up around here – late as usual. It’s not been the heatwave material other parts of the planet have seen this year but we’ve had a few respectfully hot days above 30C here and there (usually with a week of refreshingly cool, rainy grey days in between) so the tomatoes are … Read More →
