Just planted a tub of basil, a mint plant we got and a handful of random seeds include salad green, hot peppers, an herb mix and chives. Should be interesting! We have them growing out our bedroom window on the roof of the people below us. Fingers are crossed!
Category: Food
Things learned while researching how to make Beef Stew:
- The best cut of beef to use is Chuck. There are a bunch of different names for it including: boneless chuck-eye roasts, cross-rib roasts, blade steaks and roasts, shoulder steaks and roasts, and arm steaks and roasts.
I just spent the last 20 minutes trying to scrub my nice shiny All-Clad 12″ skillet clean… What I was trying to scrub off was the polymerized oil, that brown coating that get on things after oil has been heated up for a bit. It is really not a bad thing though, it provides a non-stick protective coating. If this had been a cast iron pan I could have simply left it on. When you season a cast iron pan you are actaully trying to build up this coating. The one thing it doesn’t do though is make things look shiny… stupid popular stainless steel. From now on I am going to be using my cast iron for anything that needs a good sear.
The Pink Lady is a new type of apple that was breed in Australia and just started to be grown in the US. 
The skin color is actaully sort of pink… it definatly stands out a little. It is a natural cross between Golden Delicous and Lady Williams Apples. I looked around and people describe the flavor as tart and sweet… but to me it taste almost pear like. On top of that it is a nice crisp apple. Acording to the apple brands website the apple has lots of tightly packed cells that make it firm and store well. Also acording to the apple’s website (sound weird, right?) this is not the only cross between the Golden Delicous and Lady Williams, the Sundowner is another cross and considered to be its sister.
Overall this is a great apple that is worth giving a try. It taste a bit different than other apples, and looks good to boot.
I think Braeburn Apples are my new favorite apples… not sure I had one before, but these are definatly it now! The are sweet with a bit of tangy-ness to them. 
They are also very crisp, not mealy or mushy. Another great thing is that they do not really have a distinct core, so you can eat almost all the way through without hitting any yucky core. Watch for the seeds though, they WILL grow in your stomach… trust me.
The Twist and Chop by Kuhn Rikon is a great little device. So far I have tried dicing onions and garlic with it and it has worked great. The great thing about it is that it is small, 
easy to clean and quick. I think it is much more useful than similar sized electric choppers from Cuisinart and Kitchenaid. I wouldn’t hesitate to use this, where as I might be a little reluctant to haul the others.
Since it is compact you have to pre-cut some items, but it is still quicker to quarter an onion and throw it in, than it is to dice it. I also think it works better than the piston like choppers that you push down on. Those seem to mush things up, while this devices chops them.
There are two blades in the bowl, that are attached to the base/top (the green part). When you spin the green part, the blades spin around. You can also rotate the bowl so things don’t stay at the edge away from the bowl. There is also some gearing in the green part to make the blades spin faster.
Pros:
- Compact
- Easy to clean
- Chops instead of mashing
- Fun!
Cons:
- Small bowl
- sort of pricey (but well made)
Kuhn Rikon Twist and ChopVerdict: This oil has some personality.
In Mort Rosenblum’s book on olives, Olives: The Life and Lore of a Noble Fruit, he gush about the Nunez Prado brothers and how they use traditional methods to produce olive oil. The do most of the work by hand, the weeding, pruning and picking. The olives are then pressed using the traditional method, with large granite stones.
Now I am not sure how much difference all of this makes in the end, but this is some tasty oil. I got the Early Harvest variety which has a bit more body to it, but I also tried the regular variety. Both have a strong distinct taste, with a bit of bite. It tastes great with bread, also good on salad. Probably good for things that need a flavor, like fresh mozarella.
Also I would try to pick up a bottle from Whole Foods. They have their own bottle and it is about half the price of other places.
Fun < $20
Cast Iron cookware gets overlooked way too often. It browns nicely like a stainless steal pan, cleans up easy like a non-stick, you can use metal utensails and is dirt cheap!
It takes a little getting used to. Cast Iron is very dense and does not conduct heat very well. This means that it takes a while to heat and does not react very quickly to changes in heat. Once it gets hot, it stays hot. This is good for a lot of things though. It is great for searing stuff because it doesn’t cool right done when you throw something on it.
One of the best things about cast iron is that you can’t break it. Before you use any cast iron cookware you have to season the pan. You do this by coat the pan with oil or fat and baking it for an hour or so. This seals the pan, creating a non-stick surface and prevents rust. Things may stick a little but the won’t become stuck on. To maintain the season you can’t wash the pan with a strong soap, and should recoat it with a bit of oil every now and then. But if something should happen and the pan loses its seasoning or starts to rust, simply give it a good scrubbing and reseason it… viola, good as new!
Lodge is well known manufacturer of cast iron cookware. There website has recipes, a catalog and care insturctions. They have a new line of pans called Pro-Logic, that cost $2 more and look pretty sharp…
Amazon has tons of pans. And you can get free shipping, which is great because the pans can be pretty heavy. I think a 10″ pan is good for cooking for 2. A 12″ might be better for larger groups, but could be pretty heavy.
Final Advice: Buy from Lodge. Buy a pre-seasoned pan, they are ready to use. Buy from the Pro-Logic line of Skillets from Lodge.