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On mushrooms and food blogging

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And a little something I made just now, and am considering elaborating on:

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How to cure bacon

I had read a bit online already about how to cure bacon but today I just came across this and it reminded me of how much I want to actually do it someday. Maybe I'll start setting up a smoker at my parents place soon. And you can make a smoker out of many things, so it doesn't have to be super-expensive. I want to try and see if I can make a cold-smoker though, it can't be much harder than separating the heat source from the container in which the meat is smoked, and keeping it stoked for a day or 3. And finding some hardwood to smoke it with. Heck, if Alton Brown can make a smoker out of a few old lockers (can't link to the video right now cause youtube is blocked at work but you can look it up) I can make a smoker out of salvaged stuff.

Baby Cheshire cat by *woxys on deviantART

Gravlax, double-smoked bacon and fresh-picked corn

Went to the Atwater market this afternoon and among other things got myself some Gravlax, double-smoked bacon and fresh-picked corn. :D







The corn was delicious :D

Last pics of MOS and Piarrr burgers

So I finally took the last two pics I had been meaning to:





Yesterday I made what I call Piarrr burgers. One of Richard and Elias' friends named Pierre (a.k.a. Piarrr) made these on the bbq (grill for those in the US) for Elias' birthday:



Enough medium ground meat to make 4 large patties
1 large handful each of finely chopped coriander and onion
lots of s&p
a tsp or two of thyme (I think?)
1 egg
breadcrumbs (optional, I didn't use any)

Mix it all up, form into patties and grill with cheese. Serve on a toasted rosemary bun.

Drunken cows taste good?

Apparently a BC cow rancher decided to feed wine to their cows and the results in the meat are good. I wanna try this! When can we get this going in Quebec?

An eggbeater that will kick anyone's ass and roommate turmoil.

I've been reading a lot of Eggbeater since I found it yesterday. She's amazing. I have to show this to my friend Carlo who is also a pastry chef, and wants to go to cooking school sometime soon.

Recently I've been taught another hard lesson in planning properly for something big like moving when several people are involved. It sucks when someone else is stuck paying for your lack of forethought and you can barely do anything about it. I think the worst of the storm is over since last night. In this case the person paying for my error is not the one I'm living with at the moment at least, but still. Sigh. He keeps saying it's all right it doesn't matter, everyone makes mistakes, but it does.

It was a damned-if-I-do, damned-if-I-don't situation. Either I keep my word to friend A and inconvenience/piss off friends B and C who I'm living with or don't keep my word to friend A friend and inconvenience/piss off friend A. At first I tried the first option but finally friend A decided to make a change of plans so I would be inconveniencing him instead of my current roommates. I dunno if that all makes sense but whatever. I'm still trying to figure out a way to fix things so they're not as bad. I'll have to talk to Kris tonight. It seems like I'll be moving again sometime this winter. Argh. I wonder how much it costs to hire a moving company to do it for me? Probably a lot.

Lord have mercy...

Ok I don't watch the news. I don't watch tv period. I don't even read newspapers or go on news websites. But some news does filter through to me and when I read more than one or two blogs about it I know there's something going on. Apparently some crazy person calling themselves Christian is burning Qurans? When I read about it I just wanted to say to whoever comes across this that it makes me really sad and frustrated and I wish I could pass on the message that not all Christians are crazy anti-Muslims just like I know not all Muslims are not crazy anti-Christians. Sigh. I remember reading an article about the long history of peaceful co-existence in other parts of the world between Christians and Muslims. I would link to it if I could but it's been so long now that I have no idea where it is any more but anyways.

Roast noodles and cheese & onion pancakes

The other day I had some leftover broth from a roast that I had saved so I decided to make my favourite dish of noodles and cheese with it. Boy was it good! I cooked the noodles in the broth then grated lots of cheddar and ground white pepper on top and voila:



This morning when I got up I decided to make pancakes. My mom has a great recipe from her Fannie Farmer cookbook that we used to use so I called her to get it. And then I decided I wanted to make bacon & cheese pancakes, but couldn't find any bacon at the store across the street so I went with cheese & onion instead.

Ok I'll post a list of ingredients for once:

1/2 a large yellow onion, finely diced
2 or 3 green onions, chopped
1-2 cups grated strong cheddar
1/2-3/4 cup milk
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 egg
1 cup white flour
2 tsp baking powder
~1/2 tsp smoked paprika (I really don't know how much, I just sprinkled some in from my shaker. Next time I'll leave it out though I prefer them without.)
1/2 tsp salt

Beat milk, oil and egg lightly in a bowl. Mix the flour, baking powder, paprika, salt and 1/2 of the cheese in a separate bowl.

1. Fry the onion on medium heat with a tsp or so of butter and a pinch of salt till browned (I added the green onions later so they wouldn't burn).



2. When they're done add them to the liquid mixture and whisk in.



3,4,5. Add the dry to the wet and stir till the flour is just moistened. Add a tbsp or so of butter to the pan and spoon in some batter, 3-4 dollops depending on size. Try to flatten them out a bit. Cover pan and let them brown on med-low heat. When they're browned on the bottom, transfer them to a plate, add more butter to the pan swirling it around to spread it evenly and put the pancakes back in the pan uncooked-side down. Put more grated cheese on top and cover again till the second side is brown and the cheese is melted.







6. Plate and devour!



Even my roommate who usually doesn't like pancakes liked these :D

Dekotora

This is so cool.

Meeting of Styles 2010

I'm done editing the pictures, finally! Note: these are all on the same building, a big factory near where I work (and a few on the trailer parked behind it). I forgot to take pics of the whole thing one wall at a time but I'll do it Monday and update the album. I stood in front of one of the bigger ones as a size reference, it's freaking huge.

Epic Weekend Pt.3: LaRonde

Monday morning we were up early and left at around 9:30-10am or so. While we were waiting on the bus on Ile St. Helene there was a groundhog munching away nearby:



I took this one on the bus during the short drive there:



This one of the Jacques Cartier bridge and the building underneath it when we got off the bus:



On our way to the entrance:



Unfortunately I was too forgetful/zoned out from allergy pills/nervous about rides to take pics inside the park so the rest Carlo took. Here we are in line for the Vampire:



If you scroll down to the first pic on the right side here, you'll see the vampire. The track is above your head and you're strapped in with your feet dangling in the air. When I saw this pic afterwards I thought to myself "I went on THAT!?!?" lol. I think it was the biggest ride I went on that day, but seeing as it was early enough in the morning we only waited 15-20 minutes in line. The most fun roller coaster I went on that day was the Dragon, and indoor one where you're in the dark except for the monsters and lights going past you. That one had a loooong line though, we waited about 45 minutes. I didn't go on the bigger rides with Steph and Carlo, I hate the falling sensation you get from them.

Here's me and my sister on the Disco Ronde:




Here's my sister, Steph and me on the Splash. Steph managed to poke her as we were going down lol:



Here we are soaking wet:



Here's a video I took on La Spirale:



At about 3:30 it started to rain and my sister had to leave to catch her bus back to Rawdon so we left and went back home. We didn't do much that I can recall that evening, except order chinese. It was a great weekend :D

A sunny tuesday morning

There's nothing special to these pics I'm posting them cause I feel like it. Here's what I saw as I looked through the kitchen, and decided I wanted to take pictures of it:



I went out on the balcony to take more. Here's looking north west:



South east:



And south west:

Epic Weekend Pt.2: Tams, Hotpot and L2

On Sunday we were all up at around 11am so I cleaned up, made breakfast and we got ready and left for the Tams at around 2pm. Here's Kris right after a total stranger pulled up in a car to compliment him on his hair, which totally made his day lol:



I got some good shots of his earrings once we got on the bus:





Here's him and my sister on the metro:





Lol at one point there was a JW that came along. He spoke to the lady in front of us, and then walked right past us to speak to the person behind us :D I gave Kris a thumbs-up and said "Lol dude you WIN!" :P Afterwards he said "Aw I wanted him to come talk to us, I would have told him I'm a JW too!" :P

Here are some people LARPing at the Tams:





Afterwards me, Kris, Carlo, my sister, James and Chris and all went to the Hotpot in Chinatown for bbq. It was delicious, if a bit cramped as we were all 6 of us on one grill. Kris, being his usual weird self decided to pile all his meat in one corner instead of spreading it out, and ended up eating half-raw meat which he later regretted lol. After that we went to the L2 bubble tea/dessert lounge (also in Chinatown). I got a mango colada with lychee jelly and it was sooo good. My sister got honey tea, which was amazing too. Kris didn't have anything, he was feeling too sick. Here's me, Kris and my sister:





Me:



The rest of our sleepy little group:



When we got home Kris decided he wanted to modify one of the long-sleeved shirts he had bought the day before, he wore it like that all day on Monday lol:



And then we had to get to bed somewhat early to get up at 8am to go to LaRonde the next day.

The flight of the hummingbird

I came across this via Kim Ayres' blog. I've only read the first 2 or 3 posts so far but it's beautiful. I'm looking forward to reading the rest.

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Epic Weekend Pt.1: Shopping, Dragon Rouge and the double birthday party

Ok my weekend is gonna have to be posted in several posts, seeing as I have a whole lot of pics. I thought of putting them all up into one album on photobucket but I can't write descriptions for each one that way. So here goes.

On Saturday me, my sister and Kris went shopping for clothes for Kris. It was lots of fun :) Kris was looking for striped t-shirts and couldn't find any anywhere, but everyone we crosses seemed to be wearing them lol. Finally we found some at the Eaton center.

First we went to Buns (burger place) for breakfast. Here's a pic I ninja'd of Kris while he was playing with his phone:



On the wall at Buns:



Then we went shopping, just walking and cabbing down St. Catherine st. At one point it started raining so we ducked into a store and Kris decided to buy himself a PINK umbrella lolll. Don't ask me why... he's weird like that lol. The guy in the store was laughing at him after I told him "Dude! You are NOT gonna seriously buy a PINK umbrella!?!?" lol. And the funniest was when we walked out of the store, there just HAPPENED to buy a guy walking by... WITH A PINK UMBRELLA!!! lolll so Kris was like "See!!!! I'm not the only one!" loll. I really should have taken a pic of the other guy, or the two of them together, but was too shy :P. So here's Kris and his pink umbrella. I had to ninja these pics with my cell phone for fear that Kris wouldn't let me take a picture if he saw me take my camera out. He's a bit camera-shy sometimes. I just LOVE these pics, they're epic :D:





Then we taxi'd home and started getting ready to go out to l'Auberge du Dragon Rouge, a medieval restaurant, for Steph and Emily's birthday. Here's my sister and I:



And Kris in his new clothes with my sister:



Then we left for the Dragon Rouge at around 5:30. Here's Kris and Dou having a smoke out back while waiting for seats (it's always packed on Sat. night):



Kris ordered the Ogre burger with 1lb of meat:



Here he is with his burger, he actually finished it, along with his fries! :



Here's the beef cheek stewed with honey wine that I ordered. It was delicious, as were the cinnamon chips:



Here's Dou and his 1/2lb burger:



Afterwards there was the Dragon's Blood Oath, where the newbies or those whose birthdays it was get to drink dragons blood (1/2 jack, 1/2 tequila and 15 drops tabasco) but they have to climb on their chair and take an oath first. Something along the lines of "I swear I will drink this without faltering, and if I die I will die off the property of this restaurant and leave all my belongings to the innkeeper bla bla bla" with lots of funny stuff that I can't remember all now, all said with much ceremony and acting, real fun if you understand what they're saying. Actually I think I'll post a translation tomorrow. Have to go to bed soon... Anyways here's a video:



There was also much singing by the bards, and everyone was encouraged to hammer on the tabletops in time to the music, and cheer and scream afterwards, so it got really loud, tons of fun. We had to hold onto glasses and candleholders so they wouldn't shake right off the table loll, and our hands and throats were sore at the end of the night :P That place is great :D A true medieval enactment :D

Here they are up on their chairs, my sister looking freaked out about having to drink the dragons blood lol:







Then we all rolled home full of food and drink and merriment to party some more there:



Here's a Fat Man that Steph made. Now that mug is about 8" high, that is not a shot glass inside it, it's a small regular glass lol. It's HUGE :p:



Here's everyone playing Mario Kart:



Here's Carlo, Kris and Emily:



We played Bang!, then Mario Kart, then Bomberman. Then Kris started showing us stupid youtube videos lol. I ended up going to bed at around 5am, along with most of the others.

Here's me and my sister sitting on top of Kris on the couch, and Carlo on the floor in front of us:



And thus ended Saturday, lots of fun :D Sunday's post to come tomorrow hopefully...