June 2006 Archives
Back from Canada (Montreal and Quebec City), and I tried a couple of new things there. One was called a beaver tail, and it seems like it's the funnel cake of the north. It's a flat, oval-ish (beaver-tail-shaped) piece of fried dough that was spread with chocolate and layered with banana slices. Easy to eat out-of-hand while strolling the cobblestone streets of Vieux Montreal.
In Quebec City we stopped by Erico Choco-Museum, which was basically a chocolate shop with the owners' chocolate memorabilia and some information on how chocolate is made in a back room. We tasted pure crushed cocoa beans and were surprised about how nut-like they were. I expected a lot more bitterness, like cocoa powder or baking chocolate. I got some truffles, and the sesame one, which had tahini in the filling, knocked my socks off. I picked up a pink peppercorn and a ginger dark chocolate bars, and I also really loved the l'Amazonian ice cream (not sure I have the name right), which was a spicy chocolate ice cream.
I had to try poutine before I left Quebec, so we stopped at McDonald's near the border. Now, you may think I didn't give it a fair chance, trying it at a fast-food restaurant. But it was exactly how it sounds: a gooey mess of french fries, curd cheese (Todd calls it squeaky cheese) and gravy. If you like gravy, french fries and curd cheese apart, you'll like them together. I'm not so big on gravy, so I wasn't that impressed.
We just got back from the Penzey's at Grand Central and I have to confess a degree of disappointment. I had visions of spices stacked to the ceiling, and gorgeous fragrances emanating from big apothacary jars. Of course not, Kim. I didn't really expect THAT, but the rows of little glass jars was just too, uh?, sanitary?
It is fabulous to be able to buy Penzey's spices without having to pay those shipping charges. I picked up some oregano and almond extract, and now I can think of about three other things I wish I had gotten (pink peppercorns, candied ginger, dried chilis).
We also had a snack at the Little Pie Company downstairs. Couldn't turn down the sour cream-walnut apple pie, which is my favorite. And my coffee came with warmed, frothed milk.
We just got back from the Penzey's at Grand Central and I have to confess a degree of disappointment. I had visions of spices stacked to the ceiling, and gorgeous fragrances emanating from big apothacary jars. Of course not, Kim. I didn't really expect THAT, but the rows of little glass jars was just too, uh?, sanitary?
It is fabulous to be able to buy Penzey's spices without having to pay those shipping charges. I picked up some oregano and almond extract, and now I can think of about three other things I wish I had gotten (pink peppercorns, candied ginger, dried chilis).
We also had a snack at the Little Pie Company downstairs. Couldn't turn down the sour cream-walnut apple pie, which is my favorite. And my coffee came with warmed, frothed milk.
I bought the dried tortellini, mini ravioli and penne the last time I was in Trader Joe's, and I'm kind of disappointed. The tortellini was nice for a quick soup with broth and baby spinach, but I cooked that mini ravioli 5 minutes longer than the directions said and the filling was still crunchy. And every time I've used the penne it has stuck together.
I usually buy Barilla pasta, which I like quite a lot. I never fully appreciate how much I like it until I try a different brand. The firm bite of the texture is its main appeal, but it also actually tastes really good. You know the difference in smell between cooking a nice jasmine rice and a plain, medium grain? It's like that.
I bought the dried tortellini, mini ravioli and penne the last time I was in Trader Joe's, and I'm kind of disappointed. The tortellini was nice for a quick soup with broth and baby spinach, but I cooked that mini ravioli 5 minutes longer than the directions said and the filling was still crunchy. And every time I've used the penne it has stuck together.
I usually buy Barilla pasta, which I like quite a lot. I never fully appreciate how much I like it until I try a different brand. The firm bite of the texture is its main appeal, but it also actually tastes really good. You know the difference in smell between cooking a nice jasmine rice and a plain, medium grain? It's like that.
Today I was lamenting to Todd that my blog is dead; it's been almost two months since my last post, and the time has flown by without an impulse on my part to write about any of the cooking or baking I've done. (It's too bad, too, because I have baked some yummy things from Once Upon a Tart and come up with some recipes that August really liked.)
I told him the only time I feel like posting is when I have a passionate reaction to some product I've tried: the Cascadian Farms broccoli florets (not the cuts) that are the perfect degree of tenderness for August without being too mushy for me, the loaf of pecan-raisin bread I picked up on impulse from Natural, almost everything from Bonelle pastry shop near my apartment. I wanted to write to complain that Trader Joe's individually quick-frozen baby spinach was literally 50 percent spinach stems; I decided that picking out the actual leaves was faster. The vinho verde I picked up from the Trader Joe's wine shop, however, introduced me to a whole new school of summery wines (although I did NOT like the single vinho verde offered by Fresh Direct). I've become more of a shopper than a cook, and when I do cook it's often something I've made before.
He told me to go ahead and do it; the whole point of writing your own blog is making it whatever you want it to be. So here it is. The posts may seem kind of mundane sometimes, but I hope there'll be a useful tip every once in a while. And maybe my family will still manage to get a little picture of what's going on in my life (and what the baby's up to).
