Truffle Mutt

More From the Photo Gallery

This was another photo that I had gathering dust in my photo gallery. 

These fancy bites are my twist on sticky rice.   Last year I was cooking for a Chinese themed dinner party and I devised these so I could serve sticky rice with all the flavor and half the mess.  They aren't wrapped in lotus leaves, so I added the leaves to the water in the bottom of the steamer before steaming the rice.  It worked perfectly the rice was infused with the earthy aroma of lotus leaves.

In the bottom of a jelly roll pan lined with parchment I pressed a thin layer of sticky rice, then a layer of sweet pork filling and then another thin layer of sticky rice.  I tossed white and black sesame seeds over the rice and then pressed lightly to adhere them to the rice.  I cooled these slightly and then cut them using a biscuit cutter.  To rewarm cover with a moist towel and place in a warm oven, for several minutes.

Lost Photos

Ah yes. 

It's miscellaneous picture time.  Rummaging through old photo files on my computer I see lot's of "almost posts" hanging out.

I made these shrimp rolls last winter and they were my first attempt at using rice paper. 

Let me relate to you a little something about rice paper.  It is a lesson in patience.  No, it's much more than that.  It is the supreme teacher of self control.

Rice paper is deceptive.  Observing it in the package and while softening it appears quite tame.  But don't be fooled - it can beat you.  Once the sheets have been softened in water with a splash of vinegar you have to apply a gentle force to each sheet, carefully persuading it to leave the others behind.  Then once it's out of the water and starts to dry it will turn almost instantly onto a combination of slimy, sticky, strong and fragile.  At this point the sheets do not respond well to being roughly handled, thrown onto work surfaces or being yelled at.  Well, yelling at it is probably okay.  Unless, of course, your house guests have already arrived, and then have to tone that down too.  Judging from the picture above I made this batch near the end of my training session - sometime after a package of 50 wrappers ended up in the garbage.

I do love these rolls, but I'll be honest, patience is not my thing.  I'll be buying these from now on - as long as there's no line up.   

I'm Melting...

Last night (after many a night avoiding my computer) I finally sat down to tend to my neglected blog.  I drafted a lengthy post, heavily laden with complaints about the heat and then my internet connection went down and I lost it all.  Including my mind.  So I went to bed and luckily my brain found it's way back (at least the parts of it I'd had before).  So - now I'm posting this all again. 

You'll have to excuse the frequent interruptions as I scroll down and hit save.  Excuse me...  (save).

I haven't been doing much cooking lately, and as you've probably guessed it's because of the heat.  I'm afraid that turning on any heat generating device will result in my imminent death.  Perhaps I'll instantaneously combust, or be overcome with the urge to fall asleep in the deep freeze.  Instantaneous combustion would probably be faster, but I should wear nice shoes, because they always seem to be left untouched.   

Excuse me...  (save).   

I have been in the kitchen a little over the last couple of weeks.  In between my frequent trips to the ice maker, I've managed to make the best looking chocolate mousse cake yet.  Sad thing is, you can't actually look at it because it was gone before I could take lens cap off the camera.  That's a bit of a lie, there was something left of it, but no amount of photo editing could have fixed that  mound of mushy chocolate mess. 

Then there was the focaccia bread above, that I did manage to capture before it got devoured.  I made it from my new copy of the Bread Bakers Apprentice and it turned out much better than I thought it would.  I give all the credit to the book.  I would recommend it for anyone new to bread making.  The techniques are thoroughly described and often photographed almost like mini tutorials. I'm quite new to the world of yeast breads, so I did find it quite intimidating.  Then, I found out something new - bread takes an insane amount of time.  Mix, rise, form, fold, rest, form, fold, rest, form, fold, rest, stretch, rest, oil, stretch, rest, bake, rest.  I felt like Seymour in the little shop of horrors, running around looking after that bread.  Luckily it didn't try to eat me.

Excuse me...  (save).

I'm leaving this post now with the promise that no matter how hot it gets - I will post more.  Although all I have to write about at the moment are the cherries we've been surviving on.   

The 23/5 Meme

I've been tagged for this somewhat different meme by Sara at I Like to Cook and it was great to go back and see where it all started, albeit somewhat less fun reflecting on my bad photography! :o)

I remember the ribs from my 23rd post, but the fifth line isn't anything with terribly deep meaning. 

"I used a recipe from Olive Magazine that shows an image of grilled ribs that would make even a vegetarian drool."

I do remember that it was a yummy looking picture and that the rib sauce was to die for.  I also remember that my cooking magazine collection took up significantly less space on the shelf back then.  Today however, I have so many magazines that I couldn't hope to find that recipe again if it wasn't written in a post.  So, what did I really learn from this exercise?  That's right, I have an addiction.  Please send help.

Under the Stars

Camping is a wonderful thing.  Sitting by the roaring fire, sleeping under the stars, snuggling into a sleeping bag, and of course, eating the fire grilled food. 

So far in Calgary it hasn't been much of a summer for camping, but we've managed to get out a couple of times.  With any luck the Sun Gods will smile upon us again and we'll make it out once more.

Of course the best part of camping is deciding what kind of food to make.  First I look through my cook books, then I make a list and finally I go on a marathon shopping trip and buy enough groceries to feed a small, alright a medium sized, country.  Whoever camps with me is guaranteed to eat well, eat lots and eat often.  Good times.   

For breakfast bacon is the fundamental building block.  I don't eat bacon at home, but when I camp there are no holds barred.  Fried bacon with egg-in-a-hole (a piece of toast with a center circle removed and an egg is broken and fried in the middle), bacon-tomato-egg sandwiches, or fried eggs, bacon and potatoes.  However, when crisis strikes and the bacon runs out, I've been known to make blueberry pancakes.

For lunch I stick to the basics, like hot dogs and other such processed meat by-products packaged in synthetic casings.  Similar to bacon, I don't generally eat hot dogs at home.  But when I'm sitting around the fire it's hard to resist the sound of a sizzling, blackening smokie.  Yum.    

But one hot dog a day is enough, so for dinner it's back to the real food.  Sometimes hamburgers do sneak onto the menu, but I often take this time to experiment with new things.  The exception being that I almost always make roast veggies with bruschetta, but sometimes there's a grilled chicken breast added to the foil package to change things up.

My most recent experiment was with store bought conveniences and I discovered flame grilled rising crust pizza.  I put the thawed pizza on a cast iron griddle, tented it with foil and placed it on the fire.  In the beginning it worked quite well, the cheese melted and the crust browned, but the fire was too hot and the bottom burnt.  I'll be trying this again next time, but I'll be more patient and wait until the flames die out.   Patience, patience. 

And then dessert.  Pillsbury country biscuits.  This might sound odd, but I tell you once you've tasted these grown-up marshmallows you'll never need anything else.  Pop them out of their container (with caution), wrap them around a roasting stick and take a seat around the fire.  When they're nicely browned and puffy give them a roll in butter and then cinnamon sugar.  Mmmm.  On our last trip we tried the Pillsbury cinnamon buns and they were heavenly too.  The big bonus here is the tub of yummy icing. 

Ahh the food...  Brie in foil with sweet chili sauce, roasted garlic cheese toast, homemade salsa and tortilla chips, hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls, grilled mushrooms... Yeah sure there may be bugs in your drink, smoke in your eyes and ashes in your food, but that's what camping is  all about, and isn't it great.

Tag I'm It

I've been tagged by the lovely Ana of Pumpkin Pie Bungalow for the cookbook meme.  Yeah!  This will be fun to fill out.   Here we go.

1.  Total number of (cook/food) books I've owned:
I've got about 35 at the moment, but that number seems to grow with a frightening frequency.  I don't know if it counts or not, but I also have a lot of magazine's including Bon Appetite, Gourmet, Saveur, Cuisine at Home and Fine Cooking, Olive, Delicious and Chile Pepper.

2.  Last (cook/food) book(s) I bought:
The last two cookbooks added to my collection were given to me for by birthday.  I got Baking Illustrated and Wings Across America.  I've been able to use Baking Illustrated a couple of times and I've been really happy with the results!

3.  Last (cook/food) book I read:
The last book I read was On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen.   It was an intriguing read and I learned a plethora of interesting food facts.  It's really only for food fanatics though, extreme food fanatics. 

4.  Five (cook) books that mean a lot to me:
a)  My Goose is Cooked - this great book is full of family recipes and the charming stories of the people behind them.  Everything that I've made from it has the distinct taste of home cooking from the heart.  Even when I make something new, it tastes and feels like a childhood comfort food.  Jason bought a signed copy of the book last Christmas for us, and he's really not a kitchen type person, so this was a rare event.
b)  The Professional Chef - This book is my cooking school.  I refer to it for techniques and for basic recipes.  It also has a number of recipes for spice mixes and sauces that I use frequently.  I can't imagine cooking without it.
c)  Baking Illustrated - Although I've only had this book for a short time I love it.  I love that the test kitchen explains the processes and results of their trials.  It truly allows you to learn from someone else's mistakes.   
d)  Dessert by Pierre Herme - I love this book for it's unique desserts.  The instructions are easy to follow, making even the most complex recipes achievable, although still time consuming.  The lemon curd is heavenly (I still have to post about it).
e)  I know it's not a book, but I have to give one spot to my Cuisine at Home Magazine Subscription.  I'm sure I cook with them at least once a week.  Each one is packed with great recipes, incredibly easy to follow instructions, kitchen tips, appliance reviews and an "All About" section that highlights a specific food and tells just about all you'd ever need to know.  What I like about the issues is that they don't rely a lot on hard to find ingredients, so you can usually whip something up.

5.  Which 5 people would you most like to see fill this out in their blog?
Nic - Baking Sheet
Moira - Who Wants Seconds?
Orion - The Confabulist
Jennifer - The Domestic Goddess
Angela - A Spoonful of Sugar

Herbs at Home

Last summer I made an honest attempt to grow my own herbs.  I wanted to experience the sense of accomplishment that comes from nibbling on the tender green sprigs that have been personally hand raised and cared for. 

So to start I planted my newly purchased baby seeds in their peat pucks and then lovingly placed them in their brand new greenhouse.  When the messy part was done I stationed them in the window and watched them, and then watched some more.  Finally the tiny green leaves started to emerge from the soil, instilling in me a feeling of great optimism.  They flourished in their greenhouse and shortly after the sprouts arrived I had to thin out the miniature herb bushes before the competition got too fierce.  They continued to grow getting tall and leafy until they eventually reached the top, struggling to escape.  So I did what they asked and removed them from their sanctuary and transplanted them into little pots.  And that's when the experiment took a turn for the worse.  The growth of the sprouts slowed significantly and the plants became strung out and lanky looking.  After only a few weeks out of the greenhouse there were several casualties and by the end of summer what did survive was too unsubstantial to possibly recover from having bits hacked off.  My home grown plants were pitiful at best.

So this year I've learned my lesson and abandoned the idea of seed planting.  I ordered all my herbs from a Solar Winds Botanicals and from them I got beautifully established, full and healthy chive, parsley, lemon grass, oregano, thyme, basil, mint, watercress, sage, and marjoram plants.  If I could find a place to buy an 8 foot basil tree I would certainly buy one, but I settled for a 2 4" pots. 

I planted the majority of the plants in two planters on the patio, but not wanting to give up on the idea of an indoor herb garden just yet, I did plant the lemon and Greek basil, orange thyme, rosemary and lavender in the window sill.  I'll give it one last try! 

Did you miss your flu shot?

Then I would say eat lots of yogurt.  All those good little bacteria are working hard to toughen you up.  It's worth a shot anyway  :o)

Okay that was bad.

I found this interesting plum and walnut flavor combination at Sunterra Market just the other day.  I hadn't yet had the opportunity to try Mediterranean yogurt so wanted to see what all the hype was about.  I admit that I wasn't expecting much from this plum and walnut duo, but don't be afraid this is good stuff.  Plums and walnuts should seriously consider getting together more often.  It's creamy and delicate and it doesn't have the pronounced sourness that I often associate with yogurt.  Of course I don't think I've eaten anything but sugar free fat free yogurt in 5 years, so it's probably not a fair comparison.