Return of the Chives

The wife wanted to try the chive scones again and figured this evenings spaghetti and meat sauce was the perfect opportunity. It was. The scones were up in flavour but were perhaps a little salty (wife's comment). The sauce, very little tomato as we forgot to put that on our shopping list, was fabulous. Zuchinni, celery, onions, garlic, ground beef, a few fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, basil, bay leaf, vinegar, salt and pepper. I was originally quite disappointed by the lack of tomato-yness but as seems to be the standing order I was more than pleasantly surprised after sitting down to eat(currently I am uncomfortably stuffed due to my inability to stop eating it). The salad dressing made use of a creamy dill veggie dip I made this weekend. It was mixed with a good portion of lemon juice. Sappari is the word in Japanese. The english eludes me. With the scones for sopping up leftover sauce and salad dressing the complete meal experience was again amazing. I am away for dinner tomorrow evening. However, I will report on whatever the crew gets up to. Manyana.

A home cooked meal.

Well this evenings dinner was just right. Miso soup, with just the right amount of tofu. One child had three bowls. Diakon and carrot salad also accompanied the meal, pickled in vinegar and something else, I did not get clarification but nevertheless great. The main dish was a Pork stirfry with purple cabbage and bean sprouts served over a mixture of white and brown rice. There was no flash to this evenings dinner. It was exactly what one wants on a Monday night. With the Miso soup and Japanese style salad I told the wife that we could even serve this to guests. She was aghast as it is such a simple meal that she would never dream of serving it to someone else. I disagree. With the soup and salad acting as real Japanese elements you could pass of the stirfry as some holiday dish. I think we are an appetizer away from serving this to someone. As for this evenings picture the batteries in the camera died. I tried to steal from every possible electronic device I could lay my hands on but hunger prevailed over the desire to get the shot. When I couldn't find AA batteries in any toy, remote, or flashlight (the flashlights had previously been stolen for something else) I couldn't muster the desire to go down stairs and keep searching.

Well the camera has new batteries and we are looking at spaghetti and meatballs tomorrow night. See you then.

Fish cakes with Kick

Post 6 year-old birthday party and with Harry Potter number two twirling in the VCR I vaguely see through the afternoon almost nap my wife busily baking bread and whipping up home made fish cakes. Upon coming to an hour later there are four enormous fluffy loaves and a frying pan of home made fish cakes ready in the kitchen. So for dinner we had fish cake sandwiches. The bread was still warm and oh so fluffy, forcing us to cut thicker than usual slabs. The fish cakes, a mixture of mashed potato, salmon, lemon, chives and dill were a flavour explosion. I was caught completely off guard and even made the unfortunate mistake of trying to add a condiment that shall remain nameless. The lemon did not come with a full frontal assault but rather attacked from all directions once my defenses were down and it was safely in my mouth. The fish cake sandwich was also overwhelming with the fresh warm bread complimenting the fish cake. The sliced tomato and cheese covered cauliflower played the role of the garnish this evening. They played their parts well but they were definitely supporting players. The black covering on the fish cake you can see in the picture is sesame seed. It added a distinct variation but the strength of the seeds somewhat diminished the impact of the lemon. Nice but not quite as good as the original. Looking forward to lunch tomorrow.

No cockle shells here.

So you may be wondering how the vegetable garden is coming along. The tomato and pepper army is currently taking over the picture window in the dining room. As you can see, some got off to a better start than others. The sweet, long, yellow pepper seeds I saved from last year are the farthest seeds away. All of the other seed I saved was not viable. Not a single chile, jalapeno, or habanero sprouted for me. Oh the pain. So I will be buying my hot peppers in pots this year. I am loathe to buy plants in pots as I feel I should be able to start them on my own. That is one of the challenges I am finding with gardening. You measure your progress year on year rather than minute on minute. Not being the most patient person in the world this poses no small challenge to me. But since there is nothing I can do about it I guess I will have to learn.

Thursday, April 24th.

This evening we were very lucky to have some deer meat smokies. They were given to us by my good friend Jack Lucky. He has the luxury of no longer being tied to the school year and gets to go hunting and fishing at his semi-leisure. In any case these smokies were awesome. I know there are some who would scorn my use of ketchup on something as precious as homemade smokies. But I worship the read sauce and must pay homage whenever the opportunity arises. You, dear reader, may be wondering about the carrots. The were pickled with the jalapenos you also see on the bun. Spicy smoky greatness. The bun was a nice baggeute cut up into smoky sized buns. After a long (four day) work week I deserve this kind of glorious fare.

Who took that one?

Well as you can probably tell from the picture this was my plate this evening. It sure likes nicer when the wife's reasonable portions are nicely spaced on the plate. That whole massive mountain of food effect does not transfer well to digital. However, it did transfer well to the old digestive tract. We had a mushroom, spinach and rice casserole this evening. Funnily enough our son finished the meal saying, "mmm mushrooms are delicious!" whereas our daughter wouldn't even try them. I love the shitake so it all worked out for me. The pasta salad was back for round two (three if you include lunch) but it was just as good as always. The rest of the plate was a green salad with nice little carrot sticks. The dressing was purple onion pickled in vinegar with some dijon mayonnaise and other assorted flavourings. Reminded me of calamari. Truly original salad dressing this evening so I have to give the wife huge kudos. The meal was really great. I am living a dream here :)

I think tomorrow is leftovers as there is soup and chili to be eaten. Stay tuned.

Oh yeah, the starfish on top of my plate is a scone-ish creation that has chives baked right in. Interesting. It could have used some cheese perhaps to be a fully realised dinner addition. Still worth the time spent eating it.

Ebi furai.

Or deep fried shrimp for those playing in Canada. This dish is made with Japanese panko (translation: bread crumb). I am willing to concede that there is a distinct difference between the Japanese and the North American version. It is noticeable in the wonderful way my wife makes this dish. There was pasta salad teaming with vegetables, lightly bathed in salt, pepper, vinegar and oil. The chives came from our garden. These hearty chives are getting big and green despite winters best effort to stick around. In the bowl you see nimono with some shitake mushrooms and tofu. It sure looks delicious doesn't it.

Unfortunately for me, this evening I was also shut out on eating with the troops as I had another late night Professional Development meeting at school. Don't get me wrong there are perks to being a teacher. They are just a little hard to see when you are right up against it.