mcr at sandelman.ca
Sun, 26 Sep 2010
Mountain Orchard needed help, hit with frost
Today we went to Mountain Orchard. Alas, they had two problems: a very nice summer meant that the fruit was ready earlier, and frost meant that it was going to go bad on the tree, so they picked it all two weeks ago.
We could get windfall from the ground (half price) or apples in a bin, no picking from trees, alas. (I gotta note that the windfall on the ground, was often very good quality, and we came home with 30lb of windfall, and 10lb from the bins... not to mention the apple cider donuts...)
This is a place where social networks can benefit them: if we'd known 15 days ago, we might even have taken a day off work to visit, but we thought it would generally too early in the season. Facebook used to have groups, like the "Ottawa Network", which could have gotten the word out.
Of course this would cost them a fee, but it would have been worth it, as they could have sold more fruit at the regular price, and well, gotten people to pick it rather than hire people to do the work...
posted at: 18:12 | path: /food | permanent link to this entry
Fri, 26 Jun 2009
My wife wrote this in a facebook post... while we were watching TV, and I thought it was worth sharing. We first learnt this recipe from a LCBO magazine.
In a jug with 3/4 cup warm water, dissolve 1 packet yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar let it become frothy when it is frothy, add 1/2 Tablespoon of olive oil (extra virgin) spoon not scoop out 1 1/4 cups Tipo 00 flour (found at Italian shops) pour it onto a board and make a well, add a pinch of (sea) salt.
Pour the yeast mixture in to the centre bit by bit working it in moving flour in to middle to incorporate work with flour dusted hands knead dough a few minutes place in a flour dusted bowl & on the top of dough cover with a cloth and let sit in a dark corner of counter 1/2 hr or so.
Divide dough into up to 3 pieces ( you can do 1, 2 or 3) and roll out to desired thickness without it breaking. You can go very thin (2mm or so) if you use the Tipo 00 flour.
Heat grill both sides hot. Very hot. Crank it. When my temperature gauge says 700F, it's ready. We actually had one of the (plastic) handles on the side of our BBQ melt off.
{You will later turn one side down to low when putting pizzas with ingredients on on to the grill}
Brush the rolled out dough with olive oil on one side, and immediately place oil side down 60 seconds. You will have to experiment as different BBQs are different, so have extra dough, or have a back-up meal plan.
Remove from BBQ, (pop on another dough if you have one), and oil the side that was not oiled, (it should be already up), flip it oil down, and grill 15 seconds just to set it.
(In the original recipe, where you aren't using Tipo flour, then flip it over to the cooler side, and let it hang there)
Remove from BBQ, when side 2 (the one currently cooking), just starts to cook. You will finish cooking it later.
Do not flip the dough. Put on your sauce or oil on the side that is cooked the most, the least cooked side will go back on the low heat side.
Put on your ingredients, place back onto the grill on the low heat side with the other side on high cook until the cheese begins to melt (don't pile on a lot) make sure crust is not burning. You need to keep the lid closed, and you need to keep the hot side cranked to keep the heat above up. You can cook more doughes on the hot side, but keep the lid closed as much as possible. If you have help, have someone else open the lid just enough to slide the new dough in/out.
posted at: 00:21 | path: /food | permanent link to this entry
Thu, 07 Aug 2008
Hey Big-Daddy's: Blackened Catfish should be black
On Sunday night, we went out for dinner. We were divided between Indian and Cajun. Liam decided he wanted catfish, so to Big Daddy's Crab Shack we went. We don't visit Fisher/Baseline much, as it's a pain, but we still had our Vrtucar from the Blue Skies trip.
Liam mis-behaved, and went to sleep on me instead of eating, but that's a different storey.
My fish arrived. It was white. At first, I didn't pay attention, too concerned about keeping Liam awake. I cut it up with my fork, and then was about to eat it when I looked carefully and noticed... it's not black. It doesn't even look like it's been near a pan!
I finally called our waiter over, and complained. He took it back. I couldn't see the kitchen, but Meaghan could, and she said the cook came out to look at us. My fish was returned to me, with some red-spice on it. Allspice or something.
We should have gotten up and left at that point, but Liam was fast asleep and I was hungry, so I ate it.
I question whether this fish was cooked, or just defrosted.
But, we certainly will not be returning to Big Daddy's Crab Shack.
posted at: 18:41 | path: /food | permanent link to this entry
Sat, 16 Dec 2006
"Seasons Greetings" -- Merry Xmas
I for one, must agree with the various secular humanists that say that Xmas is just fine at the level of commercialism/materialism. They are right --- Xmas is not a celebration of the birth of Christ. The Christ Mass might be, but I think that Christ was born in July.
Here is the thing — people who want to celebrate the birth of "the saviour" should do it in July. December 25th is really just a 4th day of celebrations of the Pagan solstice. It's a festival of light --- these days, that means a festival of electricity --- in which we celebrate how much materialistic power we have.
This really solves a lot of problems --- the last two weeks of the year no longer belong to any one religion. Everyone can be materialistic (which, btw, is probably equally a sin in every religion, so everyone is equal).
No more politically correctness about "Seasons' Greetings" or "Happy Holiday" (apparently, that's no longer kosher, because not everyone gets a holiday). It's just "Merry Xmas" (Pronounced ex-Mas. As in formerly from Massachusetts). If that's not enough, you can always add: "Party-on Hoser!"
Just remember that the catholic church isn't the only one who can appropriate pagan rituals. Me, on this first day of Hannukah, I've just finished putting up my festive Hannukah Bush. At sunset, I will plug the nifty-cool LED string in, and say my Baruch Ata Adonai.
posted at: 18:18 | path: /food | permanent link to this entry
Tue, 21 Nov 2006
President's Choice brownie cookies
Pass. Maybe that's why they are on sale for $1.99.
The brownie tastes... very artificial.
posted at: 01:29 | path: /food | permanent link to this entry
