summary: picking pears; ideas for what to do with pears; stuffed pattypan squash; a surprise drawing of my pear bread; information about Two For Tuesdays! (real food) and Not far from the Tree; (click on image to see larger view and more photos)

Today, I had planned to rave about the two fabulous salsas we made recently – one with tomatillos and one with corn. But that will have to wait. Because yesterday, I went pear picking.

Beautiful beautiful pears!! Bartlett pears. Clustered on the branches of a tall tall tree and scattered all over the ground beneath the tree.

How did this come about? I recently signed up as a volunteer picker for “Not Far From the Tree” *. (continue reading…)

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Chicken!! Or Pork!!! (You thought I was going to say “Fire”, didn’t you? While it’s true that we HAVE played with fire, this time we chose to play with smoke.) And when I say “we”, of course I mean “he”… look who did another writeup. Zowie!! -ejm

summary: recipes for indirect smoking on a gas bbq: chicken and pork butt; includes a thrilling video;

Nothing Succeeds Like The Taste (And Smell) Of Smoke

In 1994 I went in search of smoke. It hadn’t started out that way, but that’s how it ended up. Originally I’d just planned to motorcycle along the Ohio river to Cario where it meets the mighty Mississippi but the route proved very industrial and not much fun. Instead I turned south into Kentucky. I spent a few days in Lexington where, for the first time, I tasted real pit BBQ. I’d never had anything so good and I was hooked. When I came back to Toronto I bought a bunch of specialized smoking gear. But as I found out much later good pit style BBQ can be reproduced much more easily. (continue reading…)

summary: green chili omelette revisited; archives; shopping photos; how much editing is too much editing? (click on image to see larger views and more photos)

Hmmm, can we really call this a green chili omelette? These red chilis tasted fruity and sweet, in spite of being firy hot. The omelette was wonderful of course.

But I have to say that I think I like it just a little better when it’s made with green chillis.

It’s such a simple thing too: just onions, green chilies and coriander leaf. Oh yes, and salt and pepper. The omelette is best with flat bread but any toast-like object will do.

I’ve mentioned before, ad nauseum, that I first tried this omelette in a cafe in Calcutta and couldn’t believe how fabulous it was. I also couldn’t believe that I was eating so many hot chilies. I still can’t believe that I want so many hot chilies in an omelette.

Because I’m pretty much of a wuss when chilies are concerned. At least in comparison to the resident fire eater. We were talking recently about green chili omelettes and noting that they are ideal for introducing people to eating hot chilies.

I urge you to try it even if you are afraid. Use just one chilli the first time, but buy lots of green chillies. You’re going to want more. They’re addictive….

I was going through my archives to find the post with the photo of the green chili omelette and see that I have featured green chili omelette twice for the wonderful event EoMEoTE. Ah, EoMEoTE!! I long for the good old days.

No. Wait. Jeanne was talking about expecting participants to accompany each EoMEoTE post with a new chapter for Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales – in Old English, of course! I’ve changed my mind. I’m GLAD that EoMEoTE is on permanent hiatus. (continue reading…)

summary: calculating yeast equivalents; why guessing is sometimes less painful; post edited to add nifty javascript yeast measurement converter (click on images to see larger view and yeast measurement converter)

There will be no guesswork in OUR kitchen.

- my sister’s grade 10 Home-Ec teacher, 1st cooking class ¹

Yes. It’s true. I love measuring. And I LOVE to play with calculators. It’s particularly thrilling for me when I get to halve a recipe.

I used to be good at multiplying and dividing in my head but I’ve become spoiled by machines and am now entirely dependent on them. If I were very good at the bead work, I’d use the abacus instead – I love the idea of being unplugged.

Every so often, I want to make a recipe that calls for fresh yeast and I don’t have fresh yeast. Of course, I have nothing against using fresh yeast. And I can get it but I’m a.) lazy and b.) a skinflint. (Fresh yeast is not that easily found around here and when it is, it’s not cheap.)

Instead, I use the Fleischmann’s active dry yeast we always have on hand. (Why do I always choose active dry yeast? Because that’s what my mother always uses.) Ironically, if I lived in the USA, I could buy Fleischmann’s fresh (aka compressed or cake) yeast, but in Canada, only the dry versions are available.

But this is only a good thing! I get to use my calculator!

Every time I use a recipe calling for fresh yeast, I have to look everywhere for the formula in order to go through these same calculations. Every time!! (continue reading…)

summary: advantages of baking Rose Levy Beranbaum’s caraway rye bread early in the morning; (click on images to see larger views and more photos)

Once again, I put the shaped bread (caraway rye bread from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Bread Bible) into the fridge overnight and baked it very early the next morning when the outside (and inside) temperatures were much cooler. Leaving most of the lights turned off adds to the mystique (not so good for picture taking though).

I must say that I’m beginning to see the attraction of getting up ridiculously early (I think that 6:00 is ridiculously early anyway) to bake bread in order to have the oven on and off before it gets too hot outside.

It’s so quiet! I love being able to hear the clock ticking and birds singing. (continue reading…)

summary: grilled shrimps and basil pesto with pecans; finding buried treasure in the freezer; information about Presto Pasta Nights (PPN); (click on image to see larger views and more photos)

There must be something about Katie (Thyme for Cooking) that makes me think of shrimps and pasta. Because I raved about grilled shrimps and pasta the last time she hosted PPN. Or at least it was the last time she hosted when I remembered to post on time.

That time, summer was just about to start. And now, even though it’s still what I consider to be the middle of August, autumn will set in soon. How can that be? Is time moving faster than it used to?

To soften the blow of the faster minutes and shorter days, the light is particularly golden in the evening and there is basil galore available at the market and in sunny gardens. (We do have some basil in our shady garden but only enough for garnishes.)

And so I’m just about to buy big bouquets of basil to make pesto for freezing so that when it’s miserably cold, overcast and icy, we can remind ourselves of the sun.

At the end of July, just before the giant bouquets of basil started to appear at the market, I cleaned out the freezer because of major ice buildup around the door. Weren’t we thrilled to discover basil pesto from last year lurking behind a half bag of shrimp we’d stuffed in there in June?

Both the pesto and the shrimp HAD to be eaten. (What sacrifices we make in the interests of making sure there is no waste.) So, in true “Presto Pasta Nights” fashion, we quickly changed direction of what would be for dinner that night. (continue reading…)

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