Fudge

Making 60# of fudge requires a lot of ingredients.

Homemade Falafel

Delicately crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside, it wasn't quite what he was going for. The white bean yogurt sauce was good though, and so were the fried chickpeas.

Ferraro Rocher cake

This is a great cake that I got from the Polish deli in Norwalk. They're a distributor for New Style Bakery in Brooklyn, which describes their cake as containing "almond-walnut meringue, almond-chocolate cream, apricot jam" in addition to layers of chocolate cake topped with chocolate curls and roasted hazelnuts. The downside is that it's a cake that's very easy to keep eating because it has so many flavors in it.

Dog Fish Head Pub

Bocce is a very nice, nz hoped beer. It reminds me of a good ipa without bitterness and a great nose.

Kvasir Smells like an amber,  tastes like tart berries. Not bad at all. Not great.

cask 75 is pretty not good. Way to boozy and medicinal.

American beauty is a nice ipa. Moderate hops, slightly sweet and spicy,  good.

The bitches brew is quite tasty. Coffee nose and flavor,  nice and smooth.

Wild Blackberries

 

We were lucky enough to discover that we have wild blackberries in the back yard. We let them grow wherever they wanted this year, and it's kind of payed off. When Clay brought in the first handful of berries I didn't think much of it; in the face of birds and such we've never had good luck with getting a share of our fruit. But a few days later it occured to me to check on them, and after filling the first tub I had to go in and get another. This photo is what I brought in the first day, and since I'm very curious about what the total yield will be I've been weighing each batch since. I've found that to balance the time it takes to comb through looking for berries (and amount of wounds from thorns) with the amount of berries received for that time, it's optimal to go out every 2-3 days. This week was been crazy so the last pick was 4 days, and that's definately too long because significantly more berries past their prime and/or fermenting in place.

 

So this is what we've gotten:

Day 1: 24 oz

Day 2: 10 oz

Day 3: 4 oz (apparently not a lot of berries ripen on rainier, overcast days)

Day 4: 10.95 oz

Day 7: 30.4 oz

Day 11: 35.4 oz

 

Total: 114.75 oz, or a little over 7#

 

Considering what that would cost to buy somewhere I feel very lucky indeed.

 

 

Lamb Virgin

First time I've ever cooked lamb before. Until tonight.

I got a boneless leg of lamb from costco. Marinated for 1 day, ground it up with the coarse blade, turned it in to patties, and left it another day. Grilled them up, put it on toasted, buttered soft portugese rolls.

Marinade:
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 stems lemon thyme
2 stems citrus mint
2T salt
5 cloves garlic
heaping scoop of grainy mustard
Olive oil

Puree, lather, refrigerate.

Heirloom tomatoes

The first batch of larger tomatoes, clockwise from upper left:
Snowball
Ealiana
Caspian
Carmello
Blondkopfchen
Stupice
Hazel Mae
Black Prince

Tomatoes!

Technically we've had a small Chocolate Stripe and an unfortunate incident that's about to become a fried green tomato, but I think this is the first real harvest. From left to right these cherry tomatoes are: Gardener's Delight, Blondkopfchen, and something incorrectly labeled as Marvel Stripe that may actually be Stupice. There are more green on the vine and lots of flowers, so we look forward to trying everything else in the coming months.

Tapas

Smushed, steamed red potatoes, oil & parmesian, toast, top with baked-potato toppings

Wings!

So. I like wings. Chicken wings, specifically. There are a couple of places that are supposed to have good reviews, according to the internets; and places I don't want to forget.

1. Archie Moore's Bar & Restaurant 15 Factory Lane, Milford, CT 06460
2. Side Street Grille 15 Dickerman Street, Hamden, CT 06518-2301

That is all

Walnut Beach Creamery

So I was reading an article and learned that Walnut Beach Creamery is one of the top 10 ice cream shops in CT. I'm not sure what that ranking is based on, but I would like to go there to find out.

Chex Mix Recipes

While on the drive to Vermont a while back we got to talking about Chex mix, and I decided to search the interweb for recipes. Why make it at home when I can buy it at the grocery store? Because it's better. I remember my mom making it when I was a kid, and it's best when fresh. You can also customize the seasonings and snacking goods. If you take a look at the recipes on the Chex website you'll find upwards of 50 variations on the original mix. As for the add-ins, Banik can add bagel chips to his, and I can have peanuts in mine. I hadn't heard of this until about 15 minutes ago, but apparently Cheerios are also a common addition we'll have to try.

So on the Chex website the (half recipe, interestingly enough) "Original Chex Party Mix" says:

3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1 1/2 cups Corn Chex® cereal
1 1/2 cups Rice Chex® cereal
1 1/2 cups Wheat Chex® cereal
1/2 cup mixed nuts
1/2 cup bite-size pretzels
1/2 cup garlic-flavor bite-size bagel chips
or regular-size bagel chips, broken into 1-inch pieces

Heat oven to 250°F. In large bowl, mix cereals, nuts, pretzels and bagel chips; set aside. In ungreased 13x9-inch pan, melt butter in oven. Stir in seasonings. Gradually stir in cereal mixture until evenly coated. Bake 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on paper towels to cool, about 15 minutes. Store in airtight container.

BUT I know that bagel chips weren't in any Chex mix I had as a kid, and I'm pretty sure they were a rather recent addition. Something there is wonky.

So I found a "Real Original Chex Party Mix" based on the recipe off of a 1950s Chex box that says:

1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1-1/4 teaspoons seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
3 cups Wheat Chex square cereal
2 cups Rice Chex square cereal
1-1/2 cups peanuts
1-1/2 cups small pretzel rods

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Melt butter in a shallow pan. Stir in Worcestershire sauce, seasoned salt, and garlic salt (not garlic powder). Add Wheat Chex, Rice Chex, nuts (peanuts, pecans or cashews), and pretzel rods. Mix until all pieces are coated with the butter mixture. Place on a shallow baking pan with sides. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

AND THEN I looked at the comments for that recipe and learned that allegedly "Corn chex didn't come out until 1958. The 1952 recipe was wheat and rice chex, worcestershire, butter, nuts, salt and garlic salt. Seasoned salt and corn chex were added in the late 1950s."

So really, I'm not sure if anyone has the original recipe, but these are a good starting point. Now all I need is a real oven in which to try them.

Coffee An' Donut Shop

I have to thank one of my coworkers for tipping me off about this place. Apparently Coffee An' Donut Shop is so spectacular that its reputation preceeds it, and after a couple visits I can kind of see why. Amusingly enough, they're old-fashioned and don't seem to have a website, so they must have enough confidence in their preparations to rely on word-of-mouth and on earning features in newspapers and on local attraction websites.

After we talked about it at work I stopped in and got the three basic types of donuts to try (glazed, cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar), which I then took back to work to cut into quarters and pass around to my favourite tasters. (They were good enough that we got a dozen of each for an office birthday party the next week.) The glazed donuts are from the school of the chewier, doughier type of donut, while the sugared ones are both cake donuts. They also have chocolate cake donuts with plain glaze and several other special donuts that I haven't tried yet.

They aren't Krumpe's, but they're pretty damn good. Certainly among the best that we've tried up here.

Saurkraut - Day 0

The inaugural run of saurkraut has been started. Once we got through all the sanitizing procedures it was even kind of fun.

Because we can't do anything new at a reasonable scale we began with 4 heads of cabbage totaling 17.52 pounds, and after removing the outer leaves and core it was probably down 2 or 3 pounds. This was shredded (thank goodness for salad shooters) and liberally mixed with kosher salt, about 13-15 tablespoons we think.
We didn't think to photograph the cabbage heads at the beginning, but here's everything shredded and salted and packed into the crock. It takes up less space than we expected, but honestly it's still more than we know what to do with. Planning ahead ftw.
And here is Shade beside the 6 gallon-ish crock for scale. This was before he decided that cabbage was not made of pork or cheese and therefore beneath his notice.

The cabbage is now weighted down with a plate and a gallon ziplock containing salt water; by tomorrow night it should have released enough water to submerge itself in brine. The crock has been lidded and placed under Banik's desk where the AC register will keep it relatively cool during the pickling process.

My hands smell like cabbage and bleach, and I think it's time for bed.

SaurKraut

The Real Stuff

Well, this weekend, while on the way to the Round-Hill Highland Games, we stopped at a yard sale. At this yard sale we found three items.

Item the First: A silver tea box with a lion engraved on it. enLethe liked this a lot, so we got it. What will we use it for? Probably put Splenda packets out in the open- they'll look a lot nicer.

Item the Second: A Carnival glass bowl. It's a smokey, silvery glass, with a nice iridescent sheen in blues, purples, and reds. It has a rose motiff, and 3 legs. It's nice. I think the patterns is called, "Imperial Open Rose."

Item the Third: An earthenware crock. It must be at least 5 gallons, with a lid. A small chip or two hidden on the underside of the lid. Great condition, otherwise.


So, the plan? Take the 4 giant heads of cabbage we just happen to have and make some home made, real, live saurkraut.

Let's see if it'll be tasty!

Here are three possible source-recipes:

Alton Brown
Wild Fermentation
Random

never walk into a Polish deli and just ask for Kielbasa

Despite what most American grocery stores would lead us to believe, there is apparently more than one kind of kielbasa. We've sampled several kinds from the aptly named "Polish Delicatessen" a few minutes away from us, and I have to say that they're all pretty good. Since we can never remember which is which however, a need has developed to make a list.

Swojska
Banik's favourite thus far. It's well balanced and spiced, smokey, and has a good snap.

Mielon
A lighter kielbasa, not very smokey but with a good snap and texture.

Domestic
Similar to the Mielon, but with garlic and more salt.

Weselna
Banik's second favourite thus far. It's a smokey kielbasa with a large grain and moderate density.

Lesna
This is a hard, double-smoked kielbasa with a peppery flavour. It's not good for eating on a bun, but it's great to just eat alone or with cheese and such.


Which is my favourite? I think they're all good in different ways.

Tomato, Basil, & Mozzarella Salad

Happiness is an heirloom tomato from the farmers market, mozzarrella from Stew Leonard's, basil picked from my own plants, and some basalmic vinegar.
For those who prefer it, some salt and good olive oil would also be nice.

Next year I'm hoping the tomatoes will be from the garden, too.

The Victory Garden

We ran across the Victory Garden on PBS this morning. It's a show that I enjoyed many years ago, and suddenly it's a lot more useful since I'm closer to having my own garden than I was a decade ago. I always watch and say "oh, that's a great idea" or "I want to grow that" so I figured that if I wanted to remember anything I should take notes somewhere.

Today I learned about the "three sisters" method of gardening wherein corn is planted first, then beans are planted at the base of the corn stalk, and then winter squash is planted all around. The corn is the structure for the beans to grow up, the beans are the nitrogen fixer for the corn, and the squash is a living mulch for the whole planting bed. It's really quite elegant.

They discussed the idea of extending the useful life of summer produce without canning or freezing. Slicing thin and then dehydrating makes chips that can be used with dip later, or slightly larger pieces can be used in soup.

They also visited the Herb Lyceum at Gilson's in Groton, MA, and I found out about a bunch of herbs I'd like to have:

shiso, japanese basil (perilla frutescens cv.) zones 8-11
It's unrelated to our basil, but has green or purple leaves that are used in Japan like Europeans use basil. It also has beautiful flowers, but they need to be cut off immediately if you don't want seeds and volunteers everywhere.

Thai/Kaffir lime leaf (citrus hystrix) zones 10-12
When introduced to a little heat the oils on the leaves create the flavour and aroma of fresh lime juice. Apparently the plants are a little difficult to come by.

lemon verbena (aloysia triphilla) zones 8-10
Good in a glass of water, many kinds of confections, or in herb butter. According to Banik's mother it's also quite resilient (read as, hard to kill even when you try).

nasturtium (nasturtium sp.) zones 6-10
This flower grows well in poor locations. It's related to watercress, and the leaves can be substituted for it. The flowers are edible as well.

mexican mint marigold (tagetes lucida) zones 9-11
Looks like a pretty flower, tastes like tarragon.

english lavender (lavandula angustifolia) zones 5-9
Use it to make tea, then mix with cranberry juice and lemonade.

summer savory (satureja hortensis) zones 5-9
This is the common variety that everyone has.

creeping winter savory (satureja montana) zones 4-8
This variety grows easily and like a ground cover. It has lots of tiny white flowers in fall, and you might never guess that it's actually an herb.

The Ginger Man

Our last event of the night was dinner at The Ginger Man with a couple friends. It's sort of a pub atmosphere, but thankfully not smokey. Each of us tried something different, and everyone seemed pleased.
The photo shows their European Beer Flight, which includes-from foreground to background- Hofstetten Kubelbier, Franziskaner Weisse, Palm Amber Ale, Boddingtons, Rodenbach Red, and Youngs Double Chocolate Stout. Samplers like this are a favourite of Banik since he gets to try a bunch of different things at once. Alcoholic beverages are rather lost on me, so I couldn't tell you which ones he liked or why. Maybe he'll post it in the comments.

Cafe Chocopologie

Our second stop was Cafe Chocopologie. It was about time for lunch, and since we were already in SoNo we figured it would be a shame not to go. We've seen the owner, Fritz Knipschildt, on Food Network (and-believe it or not-at the DMV. Welcome to CT.), and Banik got me a box of chocolates for Valentine's Day from Chocopologie. The experience would be interesting at the very least.

I got the frozen hot chocolate, which is their signature hot chocolate blended with ice and topped with whipped cream. Banik was not a fan, but I really liked it. It was less sweet than most cocoa, and tasted more like dark chocolate. I'm ususally ambivalent about whipped cream, but I enjoyed theirs because had just the right level of sweetness (even so, I allowed most of it to be pilfered from my glass). I'll have to use these as a model in my continuing endeavours to make my own cocoa mix and whipped cream.

He had their take on nachos: thick, fried potato chips topped with melted blue cheese and truffle oil. I had a grilled sandwich: a wheat roll with fresh mozzarella, avocado, tomato, red pepper spread, and grilled portobello. The little salad that came with my sandwich was mediocre, but everything else was very good.

Yes, I'd usually have pictures, but I didn't think about it in time. You can see some pretty awesome photos and read someone else's thoughts on the restaurant here. I shall conveniently have to go back such that I might take my own.