Did you try a new food or dish? Tell us about it!
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Mmmm - but if you're ever doing anything with chocolate, you know what's a good enhancement? Just a touch of cinnamon.
Haagen Daz makes a flavor of ice cream called Mayan Chocolate that I tried once and it was so extraordinarily good, I was all curious about what made it Mayan and what made it better than the usual chocolate. The label illustration showed a stick of cinnamon, so I took the hint and have been cinnamoning my chocolate ever since.
I love trying out new recipes!! I just made fondue for the first time ever at my husband's request and it was a total disaster. The cheese (swiss/gruyere) refused to melt smoothly (even using lemon juice) and turned into a big cheese... clump. I stirred it to hell and back and it kind of smoothed out for a bit... only to reclump in the fondue pot (is that a word?!) Cheese and I are not friends. 
I read some sites that said take the pot off the heat when you start to mix in the cheese, use higher acidity wine (I didn't use wine at all because neither of us drink and it seemed dumb to buy a whole bottle of wine for one recipe so maybe that was my issue) or try coating the cheese pieces in flour...but yeah, it was a fight. I'll have to try that next time. "Delicious but frustrating" is how I would describe that meal.
I read some sites that said take the pot off the heat when you start to mix in the cheese, use higher acidity wine (I didn't use wine at all because neither of us drink and it seemed dumb to buy a whole bottle of wine for one recipe so maybe that was my issue) or try coating the cheese pieces in flour...but yeah, it was a fight. I'll have to try that next time. "Delicious but frustrating" is how I would describe that meal.
I've been sampling varieties of... seaweed! (Or, as they're now styling it, 'sea vegetables'.) I've seen articles online about how insanely good for you it is, so I got some different types at the international store.
The first several I tried were pretty nasty, slimy and fishy tasting. But I've found one that is quite palatable. The problem is that in the oriental stores, the packaging just says "dried seaweed" and there are all these different varieties. Looking at online pictures, I think the good one is 'arame',which is described as mild and a 'good beginner's seaweed'. Dried, it looks like a sort of tough, dark brown, kinky hay. Reconstituted (soak in water for 15-20 minutes), it comes out still dark brown, but crunchy and chewy. I've been eating it as a side dish or adding it to salads.
The first several I tried were pretty nasty, slimy and fishy tasting. But I've found one that is quite palatable. The problem is that in the oriental stores, the packaging just says "dried seaweed" and there are all these different varieties. Looking at online pictures, I think the good one is 'arame',which is described as mild and a 'good beginner's seaweed'. Dried, it looks like a sort of tough, dark brown, kinky hay. Reconstituted (soak in water for 15-20 minutes), it comes out still dark brown, but crunchy and chewy. I've been eating it as a side dish or adding it to salads.
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In Singapore, I can buy seaweed that's flavoured - roasted with squid flavor or... I don't remember the other flavours. But they're in the snack aisle along with the chips (wasabi!) or nuts (wasabi!) and such. I like the roasted squid seaweed - it's really good! But I like seaweed anyway.
There's a Thai restaurant that's near us that we're enjoying. And now I want to try to recreate their version of chicken larb once the weather gets warmer. They appear to poach the chicken as opposed to stir-frying it, so that's a nice healthy approach to take.
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I love trying out new recipes!! I just made fondue for the first time ever at my husband's request and it was a total disaster. The cheese (swiss/gruyere) refused to melt smoothly (even using lemon juice) and turned into a big cheese... clump. I stirred it to hell and back and it kind of smoothed out for a bit... only to reclump in the fondue pot (is that a word?!) Cheese and I are not friends.
I read some sites that said take the pot off the heat when you start to mix in the cheese, use higher acidity wine (I didn't use wine at all because neither of us drink and it seemed dumb to buy a whole bottle of wine for one recipe so maybe that was my issue) or try coating the cheese pieces in flour...but yeah, it was a fight. I'll have to try that next time. "Delicious but frustrating" is how I would describe that meal.
I don't understand - what did you use in place of the wine?
I ended up using chicken broth! I've also heard white grape juice will work (but I didn't have any of that, either
) Maybe that was the problem - someone said you need wine because of its acidity or something.You know what's good for chocolate? My lips on it! I tried rossuto for the first time, and it's really delish! I made it w. cheese. Nom.
I tried rossuto for the first time, and it's really delish! I made it w. cheese. Nom.
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Tried candied lotus root for the first time today. Doesn't taste that different from an average candied fruit - pineapple or winter melon or whatever. My house mate thought it was similar to carrots and sweet potatoes. Not as exotic as I was expecting, but since it mostly tastes like sugar I can't complain either.
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I've found it works better to use a milk base than a wine base anyway. Think of it as thick cheese sauceI love trying out new recipes!! I just made fondue for the first time ever at my husband's request and it was a total disaster. The cheese (swiss/gruyere) refused to melt smoothly (even using lemon juice) and turned into a big cheese... clump. I stirred it to hell and back and it kind of smoothed out for a bit... only to reclump in the fondue pot (is that a word?!) Cheese and I are not friends.
I read some sites that said take the pot off the heat when you start to mix in the cheese, use higher acidity wine (I didn't use wine at all because neither of us drink and it seemed dumb to buy a whole bottle of wine for one recipe so maybe that was my issue) or try coating the cheese pieces in flour...but yeah, it was a fight. I'll have to try that next time. "Delicious but frustrating" is how I would describe that meal.
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That depends on what you stir fry in and how much nutrition is lost in the poaching water. Both my wife's and my cholesterol levels have dropped by about 50 points by simply switching what oils we use for stir frying. We now use walnut oil.
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I'm trying to brine some beef into corned beef. In the past the brine never penetrated all the way through so it was a corned beef shell around roast beef, which wasn't bad, but not what I was looking for. I think that I may have to reach for the injector.
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I need to babble enthusiastically for a moment! My best friends dad asked me if I ever microwaved donuts. I said WUT?!, and thought the result would be gross. But NO! Microwaved donuts are best donuts! Buttercream-filled donut with powdered sugar coating + microwave = instant french toast with butter and powdered sugar. Maple icing? Maple french toast! Jelly filling? Fruit compote french toast!
My best friends dad asked me if I ever microwaved donuts. I said WUT?!, and thought the result would be gross. But NO! Microwaved donuts are best donuts! Buttercream-filled donut with powdered sugar coating + microwave = instant french toast with butter and powdered sugar. Maple icing? Maple french toast! Jelly filling? Fruit compote french toast!
I love lotus root! I used to eat a bunch of it overseas.
When my wife was preggers, she ate a whole bunch of seaweed soup. They even called it "Pregnant Soup" even though it was meyuk guk. She had to eat bowls and bowls of the stuff and after our daughter was born, even more. A few weeks after birth, she was so sick of it she refused to eat it.
So I recently had Greek food for the first time. It was a pasta/tomato sauce sort of dish but its defining characteristic was shredded rabbit meat mixed throughout. It tasted a lot like the dark, greasy, buttery flavor of duck meat. It was tender, not tough, and was shredded really finely throughout the dish, so the flavor was throughout but I never was chewing on a chunk of meat.
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I had rabbit fricassee when I was in the southern US once, and I also thought the rabbit meat was similar to duck. It was good, I'd eat rabbit occasionally if it was available at restaurants around here.
I tried tapas last week... not a fan. I think the problem might have been the restaurant I went to, though. It was in a downtown area, which usually means the ambiance and location outweigh the actual quality of the food. I had empanadas (supposedly one was beef, one was cheese and one was mushroom but they all tasted the same), cerviche (octopus...which was surprisingly good) and dates with bleu cheese wrapped in bacon (tasted like a date with cheese and bacon).
It was in a downtown area, which usually means the ambiance and location outweigh the actual quality of the food. I had empanadas (supposedly one was beef, one was cheese and one was mushroom but they all tasted the same), cerviche (octopus...which was surprisingly good) and dates with bleu cheese wrapped in bacon (tasted like a date with cheese and bacon).
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I made drinking chocolate for the first time just now and had to tell y'all about it. Take some milk, whatever you've got in your fridge (I used 2%), throw it in a sauce pan and heat it up on the stove. Once the milk is nice and hot, add about a quarter cup of sugar. Stir that in until you've got some sweet, sweet milk. Then! Chop up a half-bar of the darkest chocolate you can find. I used 99% because I didn't know what else to do with it. Tip the chopped up chocolate into your sweet milk and stir, stir, stir, on medium heat, until your milk looks like liquid chocolate. SO GOOD.
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I'm in the process of inventing my own cheesecake right now. Using crushed homemade biscotti as my crust, cappuccino-inspired flavoring for the actual cheesecake and a chocolate (or caramel) sauce marbled into the top. First attempt at making a cheesecake from scratch so I'm just going to see how it goes before I tweak too much.
Using crushed homemade biscotti as my crust, cappuccino-inspired flavoring for the actual cheesecake and a chocolate (or caramel) sauce marbled into the top. First attempt at making a cheesecake from scratch so I'm just going to see how it goes before I tweak too much.
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Not the greatest shot ever but here you go:
Fresh out of the oven.
As you can see, the marbling didn't work out too well. Entirely my fault; I didn't buy enough chocolate so the sauce ended up too thin. There are some other minor issues but considering it's my first try at a scratch cheesecake, I am pleased.
Also, you know how you can get fancy art designs on the top of your espresso drinks? I wonder if it's possible to reproduce on the top of the cheesecake...
I think for now I'm going to practice with more classic recipes before I come back around to tweak this one. It tastes good, for the record.
Fresh out of the oven.
As you can see, the marbling didn't work out too well. Entirely my fault; I didn't buy enough chocolate so the sauce ended up too thin. There are some other minor issues but considering it's my first try at a scratch cheesecake, I am pleased.
Also, you know how you can get fancy art designs on the top of your espresso drinks? I wonder if it's possible to reproduce on the top of the cheesecake...
I think for now I'm going to practice with more classic recipes before I come back around to tweak this one. It tastes good, for the record.
I tried a craft gimlet for the first time yesterday. I know traditionally it's made with Rose's Lime Juice, but I made my own lime cordial instead. Tasty!
http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2012/06/10/cocktails-with-mad-men-the-gimlet
http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2012/06/10/cocktails-with-mad-men-the-gimlet