Monday, 15 June 2015
One benefit of enduring (embracing) the east-to-west time change is that I’m awake pretty darned early. Given that this week the highs are predicted to be in the mid-90s, early is required for endurable (outdoor) exercise. So, I was out well before the sun brought much light to the sky, and all the night-security lights still lit up…even this venerable bar (aka pub).
Sunday, 14 June 2015
Feel all warm and fuzzy having a tomato from my own garden finishing ripening on my kitchen window-ledge.
Friday, 22 May 2015
No, I haven’t tried cullen skink yet. Or haggis. They’re on my to-do (or to-eat) list…. I’m told cullen skink is a haddock and potato soup. I’d call it a chowder variant…. I’m assuming you’ve heard of haggis….
I have tried fish cakes. Three times. They’re small bits of fish mixed into mashed potatoes, then made into cakes that are then deep fried. At least, all three versions I’ve had were done that way. Maybe at home sometimes they’d be pan-fried.
This version is made with cod, and has sorrel bits added for even more flavor. These cakes are served on a bed of asparagus with a wee salad. Yum; meat and potatoes in one dish!
The full Scottish breakfast (toast, tea/coffee not shown) is very similar to the English version. (In fact, shhhh!, I can’t tell them apart.) Some skip the beans. Some have different fried bread options. Some include potatoes in a fried patty, often triangular. Probably, many people have an eew factor over the black pudding (sausage of pig-blood, grain, not sure what else, sliced and I think fried)—but we only had this item offered in northern north-England—not in London.
What I find curious about these breakfasts is the mixture of items…. The broiler-singed tomatoes, for example…they’d be available in pre-hot-house days just in the fall, and not over a long period then. And I think of blood sausage as also harvest food…. And what was the seasonality of mushrooms traditionally? Anyway, when you’re upscale these days, you get all sorts of proteins for breakfast, and a lot of fried on top of that…all together, not super nutritionally. I understand the preferred breakfast used to be kippers. Stinky/strong fish at breakfast time, yum.
This is a Scotch pie. It’s pie crust artfully wrapped around a sausage patty, then baked. It’s about 3 inches across…I guess a variant on the pastie idea.
That’s enough for now; I’m making me hungry!
* S for Scotland.
Tuesday, 12 May 2015
Looks like the insects have found the green tomatoes…is this worse than the squirrels finding them…and carting them off???
Wednesday, 6 May 2015
I made my first basil harvest of 2015, and used the fragrant tops in a mutant pesto. I guess the logic is that it’s not Genovese basil (because it’s not growing there), so I can make not-Genovese pesto…?
Saturday, 11 April 2015
By rights, today’s photo should be of the FEL, that is, Fine Experimental Lasagne. Used béchamel sauce, not ricotta. Used roasted eggplant cubes not spinach. Used red peppers not (quantities of) chopped onion.
(Yes!) Yum.
Saturday, 4 April 2015
Things I knew before today: matzoh is a plain food…really simple…cracker-bread; they can be used to make a yummy soup.
Things I learned today: the plural of matzoh is matzot (sometimes); matzot can be transformed into a tasty albeit not-so-pretty chocolate-drizzled sweet; they can be used to make bitter-herb-and-horseradish-and-apple-cinnamon sandwiches.
Saturday, 7 March 2015
As I note in my hummus recipe, it’s worth it to sometimes remove the peel/skin on the garbanzo beans before mashing/pureeing, as both texture and flavor are slightly improved. The sometimes I do it are special occasions…like the birthday celebration we took hummus to this evening.
Thursday, 5 March 2015
We did a spur-of-the-moment lunch-out, and found this fancy wine display-and-storage (that wasn’t in a cellar) was part of the decor of the restaurant. Seems to me that the specialists advise storing wine bottles in the dark….
Thursday, 26 February 2015
Here’s what I think: I think I stood in the fruit section looking at an attractive display, and so I grabbed a crystal-clear clamshell of blueberries. It wasn’t the cost (no deal to be had); it wasn’t that I believed they’ed taste good (did I?)…it must have been that my thoughts got overwhelmed with a “summer” impulse, and that overwhelmed rational thought….
They don’t taste that good.