Tag Archives: Sorenne

Gratuitous food porn shot of the day: lamb rack roast Frenched

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I don’t buy gifts for holidays but I will cook and, in the case of Easter, share in the emergence of Spring.

We did some late shopping at the bigger Dillions in Manhattan (Kansas) because they have a better lamb selection and they often discount it as the holiday in question approaches.

Despite being told they only had lamb leg roasts, I was able to find a four rib rack of lamb, Frenched, the ideal amount of meat for the three of us.

I marinated the lamb in a mustard-rosemary-oil-garlic-lime sorta mixture for about an hour, and then roasted along with potatoes in a 450F oven. Once the internal temperature reached about 125F I removed the lamb and it rose to the preferred 140F after 10 minutes of resting.

Also on the menu was new asparagus from some southern state and green beans with scallions, garlic and almonds.

Dessert was an aged goat milk (pasteurized) cheese on slices of whole grain baguette.

Temperature is critical, not only for safety but as an objective measure of cooking. Take that digital, tip-sensitive thermometer, and stick it in.

Sorenne enjoys her lamb pops almost as much as the nose of the chocolate bunny.


 

Ossie’s Schmaltz Herring recalled for listeria risk

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Is there anything better than herring and dill aquavit (why do you think the kid is named Sorenne, and prefers smoked salmon, olives, brie, cold cuts and pickles)?

But there is that listeria risk.

Ms Fish Corp of New York is recalling Ossie’s Schmaltz Herring due to Listeria monocytogenes contamination.

The problem was discovered after routine sampling by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets Food Inspectors and subsequent analysis of the product by Food Laboratory personnel found the product to be positive for Listeria monocytogenes.

Ossie’s Schmaltz Herring is packed in a 12 oz plastic container coded 2/0311. It is a product of USA. Product was distributed throughout New York State.
 

Merry Christmas from The Trailer Park Boys

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Holidays are all about tradition. After five years in Kansas, Amy and Sorenne and I have settled into a routine of lamb (that was last night), fish, cognac and champagne and no barfing, except 2006, when Amy was so sick we got married.

There’s the television shows: It’s a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, Scrooged, endless children’s specials. TBS runs a 24-hour marathon of nothing but the quirky 1983 holiday entry, A Christmas Story. But for us, nothing captures the true meaning of Christmas better than the 2004 Trailer Park Boys Christmas Special.

In this scene (language warning), Ricky extols to the congregation in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (that’s in Canada), about the true meaning of Christmas.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I just had one of those brain-learning things pop into my head. … What is Christmas? I just got out of jail, which was awesome, you know, they don’t have presents and lights and tress, we just get stoned and drunk, it’s the best time. And I get out here and I’m all stressed out.

“… That’s not what Christmas should be, you should be getting drunk and stoned with your friends and family, people that you love. … That’s Christmas. … Getting drunk and stoned with your families and the people that you love. And if you don’t smoke or drink, just spend time with your families. It’s awesome. Merry Christmas.”

Or as Sorenne says, don’t make your friends and family barf with bad food safety.

Barfing Oktoberfest drunks face taxi cleanup fees

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If someone’s going to barf, why does it always seem to be at the beginning of a road trip?

Less than an hour into our final 13-hour leg to return to Manhattan (Kansas), Sorenne hurled up waffles and curdled milk from the Sleep Inn breakfast earlier that morning (but do like the Sleep Inn, friendly and good value) all over herself and car seat. It had been a barf-free five weeks on the road, so perhaps it was inevitable.

The Lysol spray we got at a truck stop seemed to mask the odors, but with 90 minutes remaining, it was strawberry barf.

Today was spent cleaning.

It’s probably too much to expect of an almost-2-year-old, but revelers who drunkenly vomit in taxis must cough up the cleanup costs, according to an Oktoberfest-related court decision published by a Munich district court on Monday.

The case involved a lawsuit brought by a taxi driver in the Bavarian capital following a nasty 2009 incident in his vehicle, a court statement said.

After picking up a Munich couple on their way home from the city’s annual beer festival, the driver said the man threw up in his vehicle, which cost a combined €241 for cleanup and missed work.

The taxi driver attempted to charge the passenger, but he alleged that the driver had not obliged his request to pull over, and had berated him instead.

The ruling, made on September 2, is effective immediately, meaning drunken revelers at this year’s ongoing 200th Anniversary Oktoberfest celebration should think twice before they stumble into a cab.

Best Breakfast in Kansas

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I’m a sucker for Sunday brunch, especially if a good Bloody Mary is involved. On more than one occasion we’ve thought of trying The Chef café in downtown Manhattan (Kansas). But each time we see the line stretching out the door and down the block, we decide to take our small child somewhere without a wait. Today “Downtown Manhattan, Inc.” shared on Facebook that The Chef was rated the best breakfast in Kansas by the Food Network. The story says The Chef makes its own chorizo for their frittatas, which appear to be amply cooked, but chorizo should be handled with care to avoid food safety risks (see http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/454431 for a lively discussion). While I’d vote for Doug’s cooking as the best breakfast in Kansas, the next time Sorenne wakes up at 5 a.m. on a Sunday, we just might be first in line.

Gratuitous food porn shot of the day – Sunday morning bread making

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Wearing my trusty safe food Queensland apron – and nothing else because it’s too hot – Sorenne and I had a go at bread making.

This was the first time Sorenne helped because she needed to be steady enough on the chair while kneading the dough. I use a mixture of 50 per cent stone-ground whole wheat flour and 50 per cent unbleached white, sometimes with a little rye flour, salt, honey, yeast, garlic and fresh rosemary from the herb garden. This will get formed into two or three baguettes, or maybe rolls, or maybe a loaf.

Never Kiss a Froggy Frog

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To entertain Sorenne today, we stopped by the Hallmark store at the Manhattan Mall. In addition to her favorite Webkinz, we found miniature (living) frogs in little glass cubes. Sorenne was fascinated with what she called, “fish.”

Accompanying the display was a clearly posted warning about handling reptiles. Although frogs are amphibians, I was delighted to see the information. I asked the store staff if I could take a picture. They were taken aback by the request but didn’t mind. The poster from the CDC highlights what Doug has often said in the past: “Do not nuzzle or kiss your pet reptile.” Other tips include:

– Always wash your hands thoroughly after you handle your pet reptile, its food and anything it has touched.
– Keep your pet reptile in a habitat designed for it; don’t let it roam around the home.
– Keep your pet reptile and its equipment out of the kitchen or any area where food is prepared.
– Keep reptiles out of homes where there are children under 1 year of age or people with weakened immune systems. Children under 5 should handle reptiles only with adult/parental guidance. And, they should always remember to wash their hands afterwards.

We didn’t buy a frog today, but I’m sure that request will come in time.

Pizza in Naples cooked with wood from coffins: report

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I went to Naples, Italy once. For a weekend. One of the weirdest meetings I ever attended.

But it was free. And all we did was eat and drink. Sorta like that Sopranos episode where Tony and Pauley and Chrissy go to Naples for business connections and to tour the old world.

The G7 economic summit was to be held in Naples in July, 1994. Someone had the bright idea that a scientist and a journalist from each of the G7 countries should go to Naples beforehand to have a G7-like summit on enhancing communications with cancer patients.

I was over a year into my PhD studies, and had been writing somewhat regularly on science stuff for the Globe and Mail newspaper in Toronto, someone got my name, organizers decided I could handle the scientist and journalist part, so I was off to Naples as the Canadian representative.

I remember everything vividly, probably because the trip was so short. Flight from Toronto to Rome, train to Naples, arrived Friday afternoon. Dinner with some of the others Friday night, first meeting Saturday morning. Five minutes in, and a couple of the Italians were posturing, giving sermons for a couple of hours. I looked befuddled, so the American and British representatives took pity, and one told me, “this is what they do.”

This was followed by a huge lunch, maybe two more hours of meetings, then an elaborate dinner at a restaurant on an island off the coast of Naples. A couple of hours of meetings in the morning, where me, the Americans and the Brits said, doctors should be honest with cancer patients and tell them what’s going on, while the reps from the other countries said, we can’t do that.

Another large lunch, airport, home.

I’d love to go back, and Italy is on the travel list for me and Amy and Sorenne now that Amy has entered sabbatical land. But I’m not sure about that Naples pizza.

The daily newspaper, Il Giornale, reported today that Italian prosecutors believe pizza in Naples may be baked in ovens lit with wood from coffins dug up in the local cemetery.

"Pizza, one of the few symbols of Naples that endures … is hit by the concrete suspicion that it could be baked with wood from coffins," Il Giornale said on Monday.

Investigators in Naples are setting their sights on the thousands of small, lower-end pizza shops and bakeries that dot the city on suspicion that the owners may "use wood from caskets to keep ovens burning."

According to tradition, Neapolitan pizza should be cooked in a stone oven with an oak-wood fire.

Italy’s estimated 25,000 pizzerias employ around 150,000 people and account for a turnover of 5.3 billion euros ($A7.4 billion).

I use a pizza stone and a gas oven, but the result ain’t bad. Homemade pizza dough, about 30 per cent semolina flour, and 35 per cent each of whole wheat and white flour with garlic and rosemary from the herb garden baked into the dough. Tonight’s creation was topped with canned tomato sauce (same as the stuff in glass, half the price), mushrooms, red pepper, yellow squash, asparagus, olives and mozzarella cheese. Sorenne liked it.

Note: No graves were desecrated in the making of this pizza.