Never eat Borsch without it. Here it's derived from Ukrainian immigrants, and it's remarkable how some of those Eastern European dishes vary depending on where the recipe or cook is from ... no two regions make the cabbage rolls the exact same way, for example. Another Sour Cream dish would be varenyky (aka perogies) ... always with onions fried in butter, bacon bits, and Sour Cream, and always served with kubasa (a garlic sausage) and sauerkraut.
Note that I'm using the traditional Ukrainian immigrant spelling common in Western Canada ... some regions use a latin alphabet (Polish, for example) so the spelling in English isn't much different than in the mother tongue (pierogy, kielbasa) but when you have a Cyrillic alphabet, the English spelling is generated from the pronunciation, as it can't be directly translated. Broadly speaking there are many ways to spell the same dishes, depending on where the immigrants in North America were originally from. So the Russian is different, the Romanian is different, and so on.
Of course, what is really amazing is these traditional dishes which use potatoes (and tomatoes) couldn't have existed prior to the discovery of America. Beets, they had.
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I'm still eating fresh tomatoes. I grew them in four 20L (5 gal) pails (different varieties), and brought them inside about a week ago when we had an early frost. They're in the living room, near the window, and haven't stopped growing and ripening fruit.
I don't know anything about gardening ... it's the first time I've tried to grow tomatoes, plus some herbs in 6" pots in the kitchen window which I also hope to grow all winter. Store-bought tomatoes are just too horrible to endure.
Cal, do you make your Pho stock from beef bones?
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Glad you're still getting produce!
I still have a couple plants producing a tomato here and there, which does make for the nice accent to a salad.
Of course, being in San Diego, one's concept of USDA plant ratings gets flipped on its head. 😉
Frost? What's frost?
Cal, we STILL don't have a report. Tsk, tsk.
Yup, we still have cherry and grape toms on the patio. Not for long though. 🙂
Actually any scraps will do. Bones, fat, whatever. With Pho, by the time you've added the Fish sauce, Hoisin, lime, chili, onion, scallions, basil and sprouts, you may as well have started with water. 😉 We always have a stock on the go so I'm not sure what that one was.
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Wait, you're going to package it? Not take it down in one go? Sigh. Such an opportunity lost. 😉
10 lbs. divided 6 ways.
Wait, I know what you're thinking. That's an awfully big vacuum bag for such a small amount, how come? Simple grasshopper, the meat is pre-wrapped before going into the bag so it stays clean. If you make the bags long enough the first time you can reuse them a few times. Cheap? Yes! I'm also ****** off about have to pay that kinda coin for a ******* roll of plastic.
Wait, I know what you're thinking. That's an awfully big vacuum bag for such a small amount, how come? Simple grasshopper, the meat is pre-wrapped before going into the bag so it stays clean. If you make the bags long enough the first time you can reuse them a few times. Cheap? Yes! I'm also ****** off about have to pay that kinda coin for a ******* roll of plastic.
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Just been back in Ireland for a week (family wedding).
We stayed in Dromoland Castle in Clare. Fillet steaks or fish for a main course of a 6 course dinner for 145 guests. (One waiter for each group of three people). Quality of everything was 110%.
But the real gem was a country guest house near the town I was raised in back in the 40s-50s. A 1770 house owned by a young couple...the wife is front of house and - just behind her - the chef:husband.....a Canadian called Paddy O'Flynn from Ontario. The food was an absolute joy as was staying in their house.
On the first night there was a play - produced in a magnificent library: 'Buridan's ***', a two handed surrealistic comedy about a rather vague, undetermined taxidermist regretting the past missed opportunities of his life. The actors were top pros.
Afterwards we all went to sit in the comfortable glow of a turf fire! (The lead actor is the staring eyed guy on the right whilst Paddy the chef sits to the far left.........this was at 2.30 after most others had departed for bed....s0me stayed at it 'til 5.30!!
All of Paddy's cooking reflects the wonderful quality of localy produced foods prepared with the care which only one who loves his art can achieve.
(IF you are in Ireland it is a 'must'; BUT if you want a/c, immaculate everything don't go there...you are the wrong type to enjoy the warmth of real people doing something they love. Instead go to Ballyfin (google+hotel)).
The house which is shown is the one we stayed in. It is called 'Roundwood House' and can be googled with the town added - Mountrath.
I well remember visiting the house with my parents when it was in private hands over 65 years ago!
PS the stars in the name of the play represent an alternative name for a donkey....the philosophers will be familiar with the real term!😉
We stayed in Dromoland Castle in Clare. Fillet steaks or fish for a main course of a 6 course dinner for 145 guests. (One waiter for each group of three people). Quality of everything was 110%.
But the real gem was a country guest house near the town I was raised in back in the 40s-50s. A 1770 house owned by a young couple...the wife is front of house and - just behind her - the chef:husband.....a Canadian called Paddy O'Flynn from Ontario. The food was an absolute joy as was staying in their house.
On the first night there was a play - produced in a magnificent library: 'Buridan's ***', a two handed surrealistic comedy about a rather vague, undetermined taxidermist regretting the past missed opportunities of his life. The actors were top pros.
Afterwards we all went to sit in the comfortable glow of a turf fire! (The lead actor is the staring eyed guy on the right whilst Paddy the chef sits to the far left.........this was at 2.30 after most others had departed for bed....s0me stayed at it 'til 5.30!!
All of Paddy's cooking reflects the wonderful quality of localy produced foods prepared with the care which only one who loves his art can achieve.
(IF you are in Ireland it is a 'must'; BUT if you want a/c, immaculate everything don't go there...you are the wrong type to enjoy the warmth of real people doing something they love. Instead go to Ballyfin (google+hotel)).
The house which is shown is the one we stayed in. It is called 'Roundwood House' and can be googled with the town added - Mountrath.
I well remember visiting the house with my parents when it was in private hands over 65 years ago!
PS the stars in the name of the play represent an alternative name for a donkey....the philosophers will be familiar with the real term!😉
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Brian, some great food stories and pics there. Now, if you don't mind my asking which 'o' them there handsome blokes be you?
I'm definitely a short napa, but sometimes wish I had an optional long napa switch.
(what blokes ? my eyes were focused on a couple of wooly jugs, just the ticket for a short nap break. ok, they're arms crossed, but grant me the mental bypass)
Being the brightest 'oirishman I am, naturally, the guy in the mirror!
😀😀
P.S.
The white linen covered furniture item in the foreground is a harpsichord....and the chef is a great guitarist/singer.
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