This weekend was rife with food happenings at our place. Chiefly, D bought all the accoutrements he needed to begin producing his homemade cheese experiments. As of lunchtime today, the curds were in the press and being transformed into “farmhouse cheddar.” I will keep you posted on the progress of that project. (Yes he was wearing his apron and clogs.) All in all it looked like a rather involved process, the sort of process which I am dismal at. Lucky for us all, it is D at the helm of this project, what with all the probe thermometers and incy bottles of stuff and stainless steel bowls and pots of whey and such. Apparently he also produced a cup or so of fresh ricotta out of the whey.

Meanwhile, we made our way to the asian grocer on Saturday morning where I stocked up two huge bunches of gai lan, assorted mushrooms, boxes of this ginger candy I’ve become addicted to, tofu, some random curry pastes, ponzu sauce and of course…. boba tea from lollicup. (For the record I had a green tea slush, and it was soooooooo good.)

The dogs also had quite an eventful food weekend. Firstly, we visited Bones2Go to stock up a couple days worth of RMB (that’s raw meaty bones) and “recreational” bones for them. D also picked up half a dozen lamb shanks for himself (and is braising/roasting them for dinner tonight). We are switching the beasts over to a BARF type diet, and they had their first all vegetable meal last night. They were not impressed by my gourmet vegetable pap (celery, sweet potato, carrots, parsley, and spinach) (GVP). They are not consoled with promises of chicken necks tonight and beef heart tomorrow. Mmm Mmm good! Though, I should point out that technically, not all dogs ate last night. That is because Sam, the little shit, jumped the baby gate into the office and broke into the nutritional yeast and bee pollen stash we have in there (raw ingredients for the dog supplement we are developing for the shop).

It was yellow yeasty dust carnage when we returned from the shops. He was covered in it, and the office was covered in it. Clearly he enjoyed it while he was eating it, but poor little guy…he really paid the price. He was so ridiculously bloated his ribs were almost pointing outward. Poor little man. Needless to say, he was not interested (nor was he offered) GVP. I was up most of the night with him consoling him, cleaning up spew and hoping (as he was) that he wouldn’t be vomiting forever. So, yeah, that was fun times. To recap: some nutritional yeast is ok, a lot of nutritional yeast makes for a very bloated and very sick dog (sick as a dog even!)

Now then onto a more pleasant announcement, I’ll be in New Orleans tomorrow and Wednesday. I have some meetings to attend, but the best news is, I also have plenty of down time to indulge myself in the French Quarter. So much great food, alas, so few meals to fit it into! I plan on picking up a couple muffalettas from central grocer to bring home, but as for dinner and lunch… I’m free to do as I want. My favourite indulgence of all: eating alone as I see fit! Hurrah.

Candy Creek Lollipop Flavors

For my future edification.

Oh how I love packages from oz!

After much grousing and grumbling (on our part), my lovely in-laws were finally able to negotiate the new FDA rules (terrorized food!) and sent our sem-regular package of goodies across. Hurrah for replenishment of my precious cherry ripe stash! But super extra-duper hurrah for replenishment of our tim tam stash (which had dwindled to nothing). I say "YES!" to the tia maria tim tams......

Now if only we could figure out a way for my mother in law to ship across one of her frangipani pies, a trifle, and a few of the crayfish that D's dad has caught and stocked his freezer with this summer....oh and some bottles of capel vale (late harvest, or a cab or a merlot).....oh and. and. and......

The D turns thirty this month. He asked for this for his birthday. Is it any wonder I love him?

As I mentioned in the other blog, the apron and clogs were my personal touch. He is mad about his clogs....very cute.

Gai Lan

Oh how I love Gai Lan. I do believe it is my favourite of all greens. Last night I had a big crisp bunch of gai lan stir fried only slightly with a bit of garlic and oyster sauce. I served it with a bit of tofu that had been tossed through seasoned cornflour and nutritional yeast and then pan fried. It was a super yum and super easy dinner.

I have a saag paneer obsession. Actually, scratch that, this harks back to my ongoing love affair with greens. Which all started with my love of spinach. Even as a child, I loved loved loved spinach. Even canned spinach!

Last night I made a quick and easy saag tofu. I had a huge bunch of fresh spinach in the fridge and so it was only a matter of time before I attempted it. I'd never made saag paneer before so skimmed a few recipes online to get an idea of what to do to get there, without having to go to the shops for more ingredients.

This is how I made mine:
I sauteed one chopped onion and two cloves of garlic in a bit of olive oil. I added generous amounts of garam masala, cumin, mustard seeds and some curry powder (currently I'm using a really nice powder I got from the asian grocer, I don't know the brand). While that was cooking I cubed some firm tofu I'd pressed for a half hour, and sprinkled the tofu cubes with some soy and balsamic vinegar. Once the onion mixture cooked, I added the bunch of spinach (which I had thoroughly rinsed and chopped roughly). When the spinach was wilted, I zipped the mixture in our food processor and set it aside. I rinsed the pan I'd used and heated a bit of oil in it. When the oil was hot I quickly pan fried the tofu cubes and set them aside to drain. I made a quick roux in the pan, and added a bit of water to make a thin gravy. I then added back in the tofu, the spinach puree and one chopped ripe tomato. I tested for flavor and added some salt and the juice of a lime.

Delish.

Don't know how authentic it was, but it was one of the best dinners I've made in a few weeks. Mmmmmmm.

Summer's Almost Here! Tapioca

I've rediscovered the joy that is tapioca. Yes, it is common knowledge that I'm obsessed with bubble tea at the moment...so a segue into tapioca pudding was inevitable. Tonight I made yummy (still chewey) large pearl tapioca with vanilla and milk and served it with the first truly ripe (and reasonably) priced pineapple of the season.

It was 100% super yumminess.

Ok, yeah. I'm slack. I've been caught up in other things, and too lazy to write about cooking. But, don't you worry kiddies...I have indeed been cooking (and eating.) I even visited the "world mushroom capital" last week.

Here's my trendy ingredient of late: tahini. My theory is that tahini can make almost anything better. If you add it to anything at all, add it next time you make up a nice pan of risotto. Your tummy will thank you.

Other trendy ingredients still in strong rotation at my place: flat leaf parsley (lots), mushrooms (but NOT shitake, see the other blog), Adagio teas, and home smoked tofu.

What's been on your plate lately?