Showing January The Door.

Lots of moaning and groaning from the masses about how crap January was.   Here are some positive notes.

New Year’s Full Monty breakfast with family

The moment when you nearly spend $445 on a night of Wagner

Crisp, clear, star-filled evenings

Planning theatre season

When the past comes to find you

Potted-trout

Gift of vanilla, from away

Books that make you laugh and cry and frighten you all in one chapter

Vampires with a conscience

Someone offered up their space in the grocery line

Brown-butter cod

Tending new plants

The Thomson snuff bottles

Alisa Siegel docs

The minutiae of other people’s lives

Tabatha Southey columns

No significant snowfall, month #3

Duck sausage

Catharsis in the dental chair II

Mint-condition used books

Cauliflower frenzy

That people flock to an art gallery to look at Turner paintings

Warm chocolate-chip cookies at the Young Centre

People-watching

European church bells playing Bowie

Frostwork

Scotch pies

Frederick and cookbooks

Palin Humour

Treated to lunch

The Galloway Giggle

Kathy Bates, who never disappoints

Harwood wine with pasta-the memory of Prince Edward County in a bottle

Fiery-pink morning skies

The legacy of actors and musicians

Toronto commute in under an hour-first time in a long time

Community activism

Dumplings

That $60 shirt I got for $15

January 31 and still steeped in Xmas atmosphere

Resolutions-work in progress

Saskatoon- downtown wall

 

#1  PUBLISH ALL OUTSTANDING DRAFTS,     EVEN IF THE OCTOBER 2013 'DEADLINE'      HAS PASSED.

 

These include, but are not limited to:  Stratford, Shaw Fest, PEC, food moments, personal rants, books, and so on.

 

In progress...

 

#2  Sit up straight.  Have you seen your reflection in a storefront window, lately?

 

#3  Embrace the half-way point to fifty. (There is a novel waiting to happen.)

 

#4  Clear the backlog of books.

 

 

 

 

#5   Embrace the Taoist approach to commuting and the hours between 9 and 5. 

#5.5 Millennials--there are ways to deal with them.

#5.5.1 It's all in the language of the Millennials.  Words have become meaningless.   Several weeks of therapy and self-medication later...

#5.5.1.1  What of the people who are behaving like Millennials but are pushing forty?

#5.5.1.1.1  Separate post needed on Millennials.

#6  Cooking.  Indulge yourself in the kitchen. There really is no excuse.

#7  No Darwinism before noon. "What about the apes?" Over and over, again. It's a common ancestor, people.

#8  If they want to talk about hockey at the water-cooler, then let it be so.  No one wants to be cultured.

#9  See #4.  Have just bought two new books.

#10  Finish the patio project.

#11  Herbs

#12 Organize 45 years worth of photos.

#13  TBC

Vincent Price~Treasury of Recipes~50th Anniversary Cookalong

I enjoy the idea of democratizing cooking and eating.  Bringing good food to your table in whatever form or scale is something we should all strive for.  It was Mr. Price’s philosophy that good food can be enjoyed by all and TREASURY OF GREAT RECIPES nicely encapsulates this thought.

To fully explore the Treasury anniversary, do please check out all the links within and below this post.  SILVER SCREEN SUPPERS is your go-to guide for the recipes and there you will find the link for this treasury cookalong.

We last visited Price during Halloween 2013 where we dined on bacon-wrapped liver while watching the House On Haunted Hill.  Cocktail hour remains an essential part of any gathering-even if murder is in the cards.

Brunch with Muffins a la Posada, Buckingham Eggs, & Mushrooms Marie-Victoire

I chose three dishes from the Treasury: Blueberry Muffins a la Posada, Buckingham Eggs, and Champignons Marie-Victoire.  Please visit AMAZON to pick up your copy and discover for yourself the passion for food that been illustrated through both the book and by Jenny at Silver Screen Suppers.  

It has become fashionable to frown on brunch but what better meal to share good food.  The leisurely pace of brunch allows company to appreciate the effort gone into even the simplest of dishes.

 

My reason for choosing muffins is that I’ve always felt intimidated by cake and pastry. Oh, the times a cake has been reduced to a leaden weight.  I was delighted with the results.  As luck would have it, I found the plumpest of berries.  Warm muffins and butter are a treat any time.

 

Have you ever heard anyone say, “Too much butter”? Neither have I.  I embrace the mushroom, it is a beautiful vegetable.  Here I chose a meaty portobello. Glad to have the reminder about the grilling option. Credit to Ms. Hammerton for preparing this dish despite her reservations about mushrooms in general.

Finally, Buckingham Eggs.  As my father is fond of saying, “You can’t go wrong with cheese.”  I deviated slightly from the recipe in that I used minced anchovy in place of the paste.  Sadly I was looking for green onion to dress, but my local shops were all carrying pitiful, limp strips of green that I can only assume were Spring onion. Cream, eggs, cheese, and onion~delicious. We really enjoyed the texture and consistency.

 

 

What a delight to discover the many facets of Vincent Price.  Lots of information on all the news regarding the anniversary at  COOKING VINCENT .

Cheers to the 50th!

 

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Vincent Price Treasury Cookalong with Silver Screen Suppers

Cooking With Vincent Website – for details of celebratory events in the USA 

Vincent Price Legacy Tour – for details of celebratory events in the UK

Amazon Page for the 50th Edition of A Treasury of Great Recipes

Treasury of Great Recipes Facebook page

Silver Screen Suppers Facebook page

The Mightly Pot-Noodle-Late Night in Wal-Mart

The Proust questionnaire asks, "What is the lowest depth of human misery?"
I would respond with two things: late nights in Wal-Mart and re-hydrated noodle soup.

The 21:30 run to Wal-Mart on a Saturday night is necessitated by the fact the store is too congested any earlier in the day.  Why is the store so congested?  Zellers, Target, and the like are dead and buried and we are almost compelled to patronize the discount chain because we know we'll be paying through the nose elsewhere.  Exhibit A being Gatorade which normally costs $6.99.  Wally Mart is now retailing this product for $3.99. I won't get into the trial of the checkout, children running rampant, and the lack of parental control here.  Toady we focus on the Pot-Noodle. 

I found myself in the food aisle seeking out Sunday breakfast sustenance.  Did you know you can get a dozen croissants for $5.00?  Store-baked.  Try not to think about the quality of this mass-produced bread product.  What's in it that they can charge only $0.42 each?

Six of many.

Despite my vow never to purchase commercially prepared soup again, I was drawn into the soup section to marvel at the range of dehydrated noodle soup.  I picked six which ranged in price from $0.38 to $0.78  I picked a world tour of soup covering the Philippines, India, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. I was interested in packaging vs reality.

Do not attempt if you are currently medicated for high blood pressure.  I offer this up as my 2015 Caker contribution.

DAY I

Look at those colours!

Palm oil as the second ingredient. Salt figures prominently.

Oh, dear.

The broth gave off a vague whiff of laundry detergent. The hunt for green chive begins.  I counted six pieces in the end. Where is the aroma of fresh cut chive? Noodles were mushy and the salt and pepper dominated.  Don't be fooled, that's not seasoning, that is sodium burn.

Thank goodness for hydro-chloro-thizide.

Not a great start to the soup odyssey.


DAY II -Hong Kong

100 g, 40+ ingredients, 450 calories, and a staggering 2140mg of sodium.

Mmm. Nissin rubber chicken c/w sesame oil which helps anything along.

Artificial ingredients galore!

Despite appearances, there was much improvement texture, colour, and aroma-wise.  It smells like broth, not Tide. Which reminds me of a not so politically correct UK joke from yesteryear. Forgive me.

Marketing rep asks Asian man why he washes in Tide.
"Because it too bloody cold outtide."

I digress.

I confess to be more interested in The Barber of Seville ads.

DAY III-The Phillipines

 

60g and 320 mg sodium

Four tempting sachets of flavour.

 



Flavour enhancers!

This was quite pleasant.  Citrus fragrance comes from the Kalamansi fruit.  Can you spot the carrot pieces? You're only fooling yourself if you think this counts as a serving of vegetables.



DAY IV-Indonesia



 

80g with 580 mg sodium

The packaging is a foil.

 

Palm oil, salt, sodium phosphate, MSG, and sugar!



Three mystery packets of sodium fun.

This does require the added step of pre-mixing oil and powder.

Water! A little heat from the chili.

Always reassuring to find silicon-dioxide as a key ingredient.

DAY V-Thailand

And finally, Oh Mama! There's pride taken in this Thai dish.  Pride in the use of artificial flavours. Bold colours draw attention to this fact.

 

Packaging claims two servings although the gram count is 90.  Only 940g of sodium.

 

A rich broth and copious leek which is clearly cheaper than chives.

 

 

Translation challenges.  Images are not a selling point.

Define fresh.

Open up a cook book, go buy some fresh ingredients and prepare yourself a low ingredient, low-sodium hearty soup.

And stay out of Wal-Mart.