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Archive for the ‘Food and…’ Category

Baking Today

Posted in Food and..., Writing, tagged , , , on May 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »

“No writing is wasted. Did you know that sourdough from San Francisco is leavened partly by a bacteria called lactobacillus sanfrancisensis? It is native to the soil there, and does not do well elsewhere. But any kitchen can become an ecosystem. If you bake a lot, your kitchen will become a happy home to wild yeasts, and all your bread will taste better. Even a failed loaf is not wasted. Likewise, cheese makers wash the dairy floor with whey. Tomato gardeners compost with rotten tomatoes. No writing is wasted: the words you can’t put in your book can wash the floor, live in the soil, lurk around in the air. They will make the next words better.”

― Erin Bow

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Photo by Mae Mu on Unsplash

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A Summer’s Day

Posted in Food and..., tagged , , , on May 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Today was the first afternoon that felt like summer. What a perfect time to resurface this recipe for a lime freeze!

(And also a perfect time to lounge around drinking said lime freeze. Just saying.)

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Photo by Anna Teodoro on Unsplash

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Got the Munchies?

Posted in Food and..., Holidays, tagged , , , on April 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Maybe AI can help:

Food Mood — Google Arts & Culture

Get inspiration for your next meal and create new recipes mixing influences from two cuisines, generated with the help of Google AI.

I decided to mix Ireland and Sweden. On the face of it, at least, the basic concept of baked salmon and mashed potatoes wasn’t terrible (although the AI-generated image was a little off base).

Or break out the chips. You do you.

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Photo by Ryan Quintal on Unsplash

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Cone Day

Posted in Food and..., tagged , , , on April 16, 2024| Leave a Comment »

If you happen to have a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream store near you, you should know that today is Free Cone Day!

Which shops are participating? This map knows.

Not near a B&J? Maybe patronize a local ice cream parlor instead? Because we all deserve a treat now and then, and that goes double on Tuesdays.

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Photo by James Trenda on Unsplash

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Something Sweet

Posted in Food and..., tagged , , , , on April 14, 2024| Leave a Comment »

A young family member recently recounted a dramatic story about his exploits in the kitchen, wherein he attempted to make sugar cookies and (spoiler alert) managed something closer to crepes.

Not sure how that happened, but I applaud his enthusiasm. I also hope to encourage his culinary curiosity by providing a more reliable recipe. Time to test cookie recipes!

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Photo by Diane Helentjaris on Unsplash

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Wanted: Cookie Recipes

Posted in Food and..., tagged , , , , , , on February 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Wanted: recipes for cookies that go well with afternoon tea. Because how am I supposed to work when all I can think of are cookies?

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Photo by Tijana Drndarski on Unsplash

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Quality Couch Time

Posted in Food and..., tagged , , on January 5, 2024| Leave a Comment »

We’re not feeling 100% here at Chez J so we’re stocking up on couch time and sick tea. What is sick tea? For us, it’s Celestial Seasonings’ Raspberry Zinger with a lot of lemon juice, ginger, cinnamon, and a boatload of honey or maple syrup, depending on what’s in the pantry. (I may also snack on hot sauce, because sinuses don’t clear themselves!)

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Baking FYI

Posted in Food and..., tagged , , on January 2, 2024| Leave a Comment »

This holiday season, I discovered that my oven is running 25F degrees too hot. I note this fact here as a helpful reminder that a cheap oven thermometer can be quite informative, and that the timing on some of the recipes I’ve posted here may not match yours. If, you know, your oven actually works as it should.

Even so, happy baking!

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Photo by Ty Finck on Unsplash

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Santa’s New Thing

Posted in Food and..., tagged , , , on December 15, 2023| Leave a Comment »

The other day I ran across a recipe for something called English Milk Punch. Primary ingredients? Rum and curdled milk.

Say what now?

How to Make English Milk Punch

Essentially, English milk punch is made up of two distinct parts that are combined. The first part is a rum, sugar, and citrus juice mixture. Then, hot milk and spices are added and allowed to infuse until the milk curdles.

Wait a minute—did he just say something about curdled milk? Seriously? And you want me to drink it and serve it to my guests?

Now, I don’t drink a lot of alcohol but it is the warm and cozy spiced beverage season (™) and this recipe sounded just weird enough to be wonderful. I had to try it.

It took a bit of time but was, in the end, both fun and delicious.

Verdict? Worth it. And if you happened to leave a glass of this out for a certain big bearded, red-clad gentleman come Christmas Eve, I don’t think he’d mind at all.

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Photo by Monika Borys on Unsplash

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Mushroom Soup Recipe Update (Spoiler Alert: Still Not Done)

Posted in Food and..., tagged , , , , on November 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Still working on that mushroom soup recipe.

Here’s the thing: My default recipe is a little complicated.

I don’t mean that in a bad way, but in a creative sort of way. The truth is, the recipe for this soup is straightforward. Here, I’ll lay it out for you:

  • mushrooms, lots
  • chicken stock, lots
  • sherry, ehhhh, fine, lots
  • soy sauce and pepper
  • beurre manie, more than seems reasonable (I usually use this much: 224g butter, 144g flour)
  • also but optional: onions, garlic, herbs

The devil is, of course, in the details. I wrote out the whole recipe and discovered two things. 

One, I have a hard time doing a thing the easy way. Well, that’s not entirely true. I tend to take a recipe, strip it down to the basics, then build it back up again so that it has what I consider the essentials of taste and texture. This leads to a basic recipe with many, many caveats.

And two, my memory for little things like quantities is not great. Both of these factors are further complicated by the fact that I never quite make a recipe the same way, and the point is to hand this off to people who want it to taste the way it did at a certain time (2023) and place (the wilds of northern Ontario). 

So… stay tuned!

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Photo by Christine Siracusa on Unsplash

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