Slow Cooker Bread!

So, I've been playing around with a slow cooker bread recipe. Right now, I have a red onion, chive, and Parmesan loaf in my slow cooker. 

The recipe is quick, easy, and versatile. Play around with it! The loaf it produces isn't very big, but if you do have leftovers, toast the slices or use them in stuffing. Delicious!

Here you go!

Slow Cooker Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour, or, play around with different multigrain and whole wheat flour

1 tsp each dried rosemary and dehydrated garlic flakes

2 tsp granulated sugar

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

¾ cup buttermilk

2 tbsp olive oil

In a large bowl, mix together flour, rosemary, garlic, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the centre.

In measuring cup, mix together buttermilk and olive oil. Pour into well and mix just until blended.

Knead to make dough fit the shape of your greased loaf pan/bowl and place in said bowl or pan.

Tightly cover pan/bowl with aluminum foil. Place in slow cooker and pour in enough boiling water to come 1 inch up the sides of the pan or bowl. Cover and cook on high for 2 ½ to 3 hours, Unmold and serve warm.

dinner ditty ~ Code Monkey - Jonathan Coulton

Perks of the job

Tomorrow, I'm making a guest appearance at a local high school. I'll be showing them how to make a quick, tasty chilli. It has chocolate in it! I love teaching children and teens how to cook. I'm hoping I'll get to do this on a regular basis. I'll post tomorrow on how it went!

dinner ditty ~ Just Like Heaven - The Cure

Pork belly-isma

Pork belly, before cooking.

Holy feckinshitcookies, this is just too much fabulousness. My friend, Charlotte, let me know that I should try pork belly marinated in soy sauce, maple syrup, Chinese five-spice, and vegetable oil. Seeing as I had all those on hand at work, I decided to try it with my lovely meat boys* and coworkers.

I didn't measure anything, I just threw it all together, lined a hotel pan with tinfoil and a rack (it gets messy), placed the pork belly on the rack, and left in the oven (400°F-ish) until it got crispyish. 

Lord Scandinavian Jesus, it's good. Delicious. Possibly one of the best thing I've eaten all year. You should try it. You won't be disappointed. Really. 

I'm going to play around with this recipe to make it even more awesome. Any suggestions?

dinner ditty ~ Me in Honey - R.E.M.

*meat boys is a general term for my lovely meat coworkers... there are two women included in the meat boy crew. 

Street Meat Friday

Street Meat Friday is the best day of the food week! Every Friday, I make a different meat dish from around the world. Today's dish was picadillo. It was very well received. Here's the recipe!

Picadillo

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 medium onions, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

500 g lean ground beef

1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ ground cumin

1 can Aylmer Accents Fire Roasted Tomatoes

1/3 cup raisins

¼ cup blanched almonds, toasted and chopped

¼ cup tomato paste

½ cup dry red wine

1½ tablespoons honey

1 bag Cavendish Farms Rustic Red Potatoes, cooked according to package directions.

1. On medium-high heat, heat oil in pan; add onions and garlic, cook, stirring, until onions are soft. Add ground beer, cook, stirring until changed in colour.

2. Stir in spices, tomato, raisins, and the almonds, cook, uncovered, three minutes. Add tomato paste, wine, and honey, simmer five minutes or until most of the liquid is evaporated.

3. Add the cooked red potatoes to the beef mixture; stir to evenly incorporate ingredients, for about three minutes until evenly heated through. Enjoy!

dinner ditty ~ Rock Steady - Aretha Franklin

Visiting friends and far too much food...

Agnes came down to Sydney for a visit! Okay, she was here for work, but I am choosing to believe that it was just to see me. 

We ate at The Crown and Moose and Governor's Pub. Both were very, very good, but the lighting wasn't bright enough to take pictures. I will go back to both places to get pictures and write a proper post.

I think it was the first time I've eaten the large sundae, but it was delicious and worth it and in celebration of Agnes' big birthday coming up this week. 

dinner ditty ~ Get the Party Started - Shirley Bassey

Chiffony fabulousness!

Finally! Maple chiffon pie!

Creamy broccoli soup!

Right then. 

I was invited once again for a meal at Zana's. I'm still hurty, but even if my jaw was broken and wired shut, I would have found a way to eat the pie. I went down after work and sat with the Zanas and Diane (a lovely foodie/regular customer) as Heather went out back to get me sorted for soup and pie.

I am spoiled. I was given a cup of coffee and we all giggled about how foxy Daniel Craig is as Bond. I would have been happy with just that... then the first course came. The soup was fabulous and smooth and broccoli-y and cheesy. Cream of broccoli soup is one of my favourite soups, and cheese makes everything better. There were some lovely cauliflower fritters on the side. If there hadn't been pie, I would have eaten the lot of them.

Then the pie. The pie! You should run to Zana's on George St. and have some pie. I'll wait here patiently for you to get there.

...

Are you there yet? Good. I'm sure you have at least a fatayer in front of you. Gobble that up so we can talk about the pie.

I have had lots of chiffon pie, but never a maple chiffon pie. This. Was. Incredible. When I was in my first year of culinary school, I had to make profiteroles for the black box in my baking course. I made a maple pastry cream for the filling, and was thrilled with the results. This pie made my profiteroles look like Twinkie left out in the rain. The texture was smooth, and I could practice making pie crust every day for all of eternity and my crusts still wouldn't turn out like Heather's. Her pie is in my top three of pies, which is quite a feat. 

I've eaten a lot of pie.

Next time you're in Sydney, I'm taking you for pie. Yes, you! You will love the pie, and you will love Zana's. 

dinner ditty ~ She's Got a New Spell - Billy Bragg

Feed the chef

Ham kobasa

I work in a supermarket. Much to my happiness, customers sometimes get confused and come to the store to give me food, instead of coming to the store to buy food. This has happened on more than one occasion.

Today was one of those occasions. One of my regular customers and fellow foodie was in Toronto on business. He came back with 100 kilograms of top grade ham kobasa. He brought me some to try. I thanked him profusely and tried to pay, but he'd hear none of it (note... foodies in Cape Breton are ridiculously generous). 

I took it home, snapped a photo and ate a piece with some cheese. I instantly realized two things. One ~ I need to buy fancier cheese. Two ~ I am going to give myself gout unless one of you comes over and helps me eat this glorious piece of kobasa.

My customer wasn't kidding. This is the best kielbasa/kobasa/kubasa/whatever name you know it by that I've ever eaten. It would make a few grown men I know (I'm looking at you both, Mr. Bear and Mr. MKT) weep great big man tears.

I'm going to make some marinated olives (I'll post the recipe and pictures when I do) and chutney, get some fancy crackers and cheese, and have a fabulous charcuterie board. Let me know if you would like to join me and we'll sort out something. Since this lovely kobassa was shared with me, I'd love to share it with you!

I also need to get some of this and make some banoffee pie. Yum!

dinner ditty ~ Can't Stop - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Flavor (of Love!), redux

Hello, my lovely readers! I haven't forgotten about you. I've been busy at work, and I've also been working on my knitting. I'm submitting my work for product assessment with the local craft and design centre. I'm also teaching knitting! It's heaps of fun and I have some really eager students... really eager. Like go home and knit twelve dishcloths eager. I can't wait for the next session!

And, November is coming up, which means I'll be taking part in NaBloPoMo and posting every day. I won't be eating in restaurants every day, but I'll be cooking and talking about food. Just wait until you see what I've got planned. I have lots of plans and plots. And knitting.

Aside from the plotting and knitting, I have been eating. Eating deliciousness, might I add. 

A few weeks ago, I went out for lunch with my dear friend, Sheila. Sheila and I have been crossing paths for years, both in Canada and Japan, but we only met for the first time two years ago at another dear friend's wedding. Sheila spends her time in Canada, Australia, and Japan, and is at home in all three countries. She came up to Sydney for the Celtic Colours event. We had a great time. I wanted to take her somewhere delicious, so we headed down to Flavor; I wanted to go back for a proper lunch. It. Was. Fabulous.

We both had the soup and sandwich combo (oh, how I love this combo and all its variations!). I had the Signature Seafood Chowder and the Joe's Flavor Bomb, which has chicken breast, smoked bacon, onion frites, jalapenos, fresh guacamole, mozzarella & mayo.

Here's a close-up of the sandwichy goodness.

Sheila had the Roasted Red Pepper Bisque and the Smoked Pulled Pork Pita, with homemade coleslaw, applewood smoked Cheddar, and sriracha dill sour cream.

A close-up of the tastiness.

We split the sandwiches, so we could share the tasty bits of awesome. So fresh! So tasty! So colourful! I am a big fan of colourful, fresh, tasty food. In fact, I'm a big fan of colourful, fresh, tasty anything. How can I not be? Sheila was just as happy as with her meal. The chowder was fabulous, smooth and full of seafood. The bisque was equally as nom-nommynous, and I will get it the next time I eat there. I plan on having a three-course meal there. I'm certain the dinner entrees and desserts are as incredible as the soups, chowders, and sandwiches.

You should join me! I promise I will not eat like someone is about to take it away from me, and I will try my hardest to get through the appetizer without swearing. I will keep my giggling under control, so people won't stare at us and wonder if I've been kicked in the head by a donkey. How could you not want to be my dinner date?

dinner ditty ~ Moving - Supergrass

Campaign race sandwich? Yes, please!

The race for mayor has never been so delicious.

*This is a mini Let's Eat Sydney! post. I plan on going back for a three-course meal. I wasn't that hungry at lunch today, but wanted to check this out.

You want to make me love you? Give me a sandwich. Even if it's a crunchy peanut butter on whole wheat bread, I will follow you to the ends of the earth. 

If it's a fancy grilled cheese, I'll name a constellation after you.

Anyhow, it was a sandwich day for me today. Ruby told me Flavor was hosting a mayoral race sandwich battle. 

I love elections! I love sandwiches! I wasn't going to miss out on this...

How fun is that? I think food should be a key ingredient to a successful election campaign... which is probably why I'm a chef, and not a campaign organizer. 

Both sandwiches looked pretty, and it was a tough decision. I went with the Cecil. Here's another picture of the grilled cheesy goodness.

Smoked meat! Bacon! Mozza and Swiss! Spicy mustard! It was all good. 

I will be going back to Flavor for a proper dinner. I liked what I saw, and the service was great. Ashley, my server, really loves her job, and it shows. The decor is colourful, and the food I could see looked fresh and pretty tasty.

Apple green walls! Vintage Sydney pictures!

Tasty take-out treats!

On the outside, looking in ~

The menu looks great, and I'm looking forward to having a proper meal. I've heard they are souper stars... and I love soup as much as I love sandwiches. I'll be heading back very soon.

mini-dinner ditty ~ Little Love Letter #1 - Carlene Carter

She ate reeeeeddddddddddddddddd velvet...

Red velvet fudge cupcakes, that is! 

More on this later.

Today, I went to the Cape Breton Fudge Co. for lunch. I was in there last week after I had already eaten lunch, so I didn't get to try the grilled cheese sandwich and soup they had for the special that day. I know! Me, turning down a grilled cheese sandwich! I am just as surprised as you are. Even better, they name the sandwiches after their regular customers. I imagine my sandwich would be called, 'Crazy Grilled Cheese Sandwich Obsessed Woman Wrap'. I'm fine with that. I hope it will have bacon, caramelized onions and shallots, pear, and goat cheese on it.

Here is how you'll find the tastiness downtown.

More signage.

This is what I saw when I walked in the shop.

But, I knew I had to eat lunch first, so I had a look at the sandwich of the day.

Duane, the awesome fella in charge, told me to have a seat. The decor is welcoming and has lots of charm.

I love this bench/table! 

Where the live music happens when it's happening.

I had a frosty root beer while I waited for my wrap.

The wrap of the day. Mmm... mapley!

It tasted even yummier and fresher than it looked.

I ate the design off the plate, and stopped short of devouring the toothpicks.

I wanted to get a shot of the delicious fudge with the Celtic Cream coffee, but Duane brewed a fresh pot for me, and I just couldn't wait. Patience, my friends, is a vulture.

So, you should head on down to Cape Breton Fudge Co. for fudge, popcorn, more fudge, sandwiches, coffee, even more fudge, some great tunes (I heard Meg Hutchinson for the first time, and loved the CD), and wonderful people like Duane and Mona.

I can't wait to go back!

dinner ditty ~ Sleep Tight - Rebecka Törnqvist

Fiddlers and pierogies and cabbage rolls, oh my!

It's been quite a weekend. 

My friends/coworkers, Ruby and Sadie, and I had heaps of fun. Along with two of our other coworkers, we had a table at the Fiddlers Run Fitness Expo. Ruby and Sadie talked me into registering for the event; I decided to walk it with Ruby. She's seven months full of baby awesome, so she got lots of hoorays and applause. I had a lovely time walking with her, and we got to cheer on Sadie as she cruised her way through the course. 

After we drank chocolate milk and ate bananas, we waited at the finish line to clap and whistle for the half marathon and marathon participants. The route for half marathon was lovely; I wish I had kept up the half marathon training I had started last year. Oh well... it's still on the list of things to do...

This afternoon, we went to the Polish Festival at the St. Mary's Polish Parish in Whitney Pier. I was so excited to see a sign for a Polish Festival, that I didn't really check to see where it was in the Pier. Eep. 

Anyhow, we found our way there, bought our dinner tickets, and patiently waited in line. We were warned to get in right away so we'd get there before they ran out of food. I had back-up plans if that had happened; I would have shaken down some dancers for the pierogies their mothers had made them for lunch, and/or I would have sat down at one of the tables and shamelessly eaten off someone's plate.

Here are some of the pictures from today ~

Dancers who got to keep their pierogies... this time.

The front of the church.

Some of the beautiful stained glass inside the church.

The food. The lovely, lovely food.

Pierogies and cabbage rolls and other deliciousness! The cabbage rolls were as good as my non-Polish-100%-Scottish father's cabbage rolls, so I was happy. And the pierogies were fabulous. 

I'm not entirely sure what this is; we paid extra for it and shared it. Sadie pretty much scraped the container clean, it was that good.

The best rye bread ever, partially devoured.

Me, unable to contain my happiness in getting Polish food. In fact,  I dialed back my excitement for this shot, which still terrified Ruby. Only the servers seemed unfazed; I'm sure this is a common look among people getting Polish food.

I'll be back to this beautiful church. The food was amazing, the people were lovely, and the music was infectious. I don't even know how to say hello in Polish, but I'll become fluent in the language if it means I can eat like this at least once a month.

It was the happiest Sydney Sunday ever!

dinner ditty ~ Biloxi - The Skydiggers

Ethnic food meltdown and fatayers for the win!

It finally happened. I knew it was coming, but I didn't think it would happen just past the six-month mark. 

And I thought it would be Thai or Vietnamese.

Instead, the imminent ethnic food meltdown we all knew was coming had me ready to set the city on fire if I didn't get a samosa, naan bread, and chana masala.  Seriously, I didn't think it would be Indian food that would lead to the first meltdown.

I needed Indian food right away, so I bought frozen Amy's Kitchen Mattar Paneer and some frozen samosas. It was enough to prevent the situation from going into Level 5 meltdown territory. I also picked up the ingredients to make chana masala. Tomorrow. I'm going to make enough chana to never, ever go without again. 

I'll post pictures of the deliciousness tomorrow.

I still needed some ethnic food, so I met up with my coworker/friend, Ruby, and her friend, Lucy. We went to Zana's Diner for dinner.

The signage.

The decor. I felt like I was back in the Middle East!

Well, except for the fiddles. But still a great touch.

I wanted to try the fatayers because I had heard so many good things about them. Much to my sadness, there were no fatayers left. To be fair, we did get there at 6:30, and it was closed on Sunday and Monday, so I'm sure there were many fatayer lovers who had gotten there earlier.

Our server, Heather, was lovely. She was genuinely sad we wouldn't be able to try the fatayers. I told her it didn't matter; I would come in tomorrow to try them.

Ruby and Lucy split the sampler plate which looked fantastic. It had pita, hummus, baba ghannouj, grape leaves, kibbeh, kofta, cabbage rolls and rice. It came with a side salad.

The baba ghannouj was smoky, which was a bit surprising at first, but it didn't stop me from devouring it.

I had the baked kibbeh plate with fresh-cut fries. I would have gotten the rice, but I was still full of Indian food.

Oh, and Heather managed to find some fatayers for us. Hooray!

Growing up in the HRM, I thought Greek and Lebanese food was Canadian food. We always had pita bread in the house; my father would go to the Lebanese bakery and pick it up. We joke that it's harder to find a bad Greek or Lebanese restaurant in Halifax than it is to find a good one. I am really picky when it comes to Lebanese food.

So. What did I think of Zana's? It was FANTASTIC. Some of the best Middle Eastern food I've had in years. Ruby and Lucy both loved the sampler plate; it was the first time for Lucy to try some of the dishes. I'm almost jealous; I wish I could taste Middle Easstern food for the first time again. And the fatayers (which are really popular here) were delicious. Zana came out to meet us while we were eating, and both she and Heather managed to scare up even more fatayers. Ruby, Lucy, and I each took a paper brown bag filled with two fatayers home.

As I was paying, Heather let me know that she loves to bake. Pies. She loves to bake pie. She asked me if I liked pie and told me I'd have to come back to try some. I almost burst out laughing. I didn't know how to tell her about my pie, er, problem. So, I'll be going back for some strawberry cream pie. Soon.

Zana's Diner on George St..You really, really need to check it out. The food, the decor, the service, all of it made me incredibly happy. And, Ruby and Lucy are on board for joining in future eating adventures. Ruby and I will be seeking out some Korean food... and soon! I also plan hitting up Whitney Pier Deli, and the Dancing Goat in Margaree. I've heard nothing but good things.

dinner ditty ~ Here and Now - Del Amitri