Colin just got home, he went to the store to get the rest of the supplies needed for tonight’s television extravaganza. . . and he forgot the chips.
I wonder if we could send one of the moggies out to the depaneur like this chap . . . .
Wishful thinking. . . .
8 Belgian endives
8 slices boiled ham (not too thick)
1 c. white wine
SAUCE:
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. flour
1 c. milk
1/2 c. grated Swiss cheese
Nutmeg, salt & white pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.Wrap each endive with a slice of ham. Place in a baking dish and pour wine over them. Cover and cook for 20 minutes. Melt butter, blend in flour and add milk, stirring constantly until the sauce begins to thicken. Add cheese and continue to stir until melted. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Pour the sauce over the endives with ham and return to the oven for approximately ten minutes until the sauce bubbles and is nicely browned.
(source)
Colin and I are having a lazy Saturday afternoon, watching “Jaws” . . .
. . . and you know what dawned on us. . . .
. . . . . We have no idea where to get good English style Fish’n'Chips in Montreal.
What a shame, eh? Any body know where to get Fish’n'Chips ’round here?
Colin and I went to dinner with Chow and Alex tonight to Kanda Sushi in Snowden.
On the walk back to the car after dinner we saw the oddest thing.
A Hasidic Jewish Bachelor Party, at 8:30pm on a Thursday. Of course the backdrop to the shenanigans was a smoked meat joint called ‘Benny’s’
Gotta love Montreal.
Last night we had Scott over for a wonderful Adonis Steak BBQ, and a little Guitar Hero battle.
Scott was telling us about his girlfriend’s evil cat, so we decided to give Scott some of our Premium cat nip to mellow out the devil cat.
We put it in a little snack-sized zip-lock baggie. We were laughing about the fact that if Scott got stopped by the cops on his drive back into the city and they found the baggie, he’d surely get in shit (it was totally more than for personal use, if you know what I mean)
We put the baggie on the counter and forgot about it as we dined on wonderfully prepared steak, baked potatos, grilled asparagus. . . . .
We retired to the basement for some all out battle of the bands in Guitar Hero, then we hear a small crash of a plate hitting the floor and a mad scramble of paws and claws along the wood floors.
Scott and I didn’t think much of it, its a common sound in our house and Colin was upstairs at the time.
About 10 minutes later Scott went upstairs to get Colin (it was his turn to play Thunderkiss 65 on Hard).
Scott discovered 3 Slothy Bob Marley-esque mellowed cats lounging in the middle of the dinning room with a bag of the good stuff ripped and strewn across the floor. I can just imagine the conversations the three of them were having, I’m sure there was some Bevis and Butthead “huuuhuuuu” laughing among them.
(Not one of my cats – but it sets a picture for the scene. . . hahaha)
Quickly after they were discovered they decided to become super-active and run up and down the stairs like mad fools. Chasing each other, trying to nip each other’s tails. There was quite a few little scraps and hiss fits. In the immortal words of the Simpsons, they were certainly ‘Hepped up on Goofballs’
I thought given the antics, perhaps I should feed them their evening meal, this was to ensure they didn’t get the ‘munchies’ later.
They acted the fool for the remainder of the evening. And I got the stern talking to from Colin reminding me that I shouldn’t ‘give’ the cats ‘nip in such high dosages.
I kept trying to tell him that they’d simply helped themselves.
Needless to say my moggies got locked out of the bedroom last night. . . .hopefully they are sleeping off the trip right now and I have normal & well behaved moggies when I get home.
No more ‘nip for a while.
On the past weekend while Colin and I were out on our errands (looking for lawn mowers) we decided to stop at Marche Adonis for some fresh steaks to put on the BBQ for dinner.
When we’ve been to Richmond’s house for a BBQ he always buys his meat from there, so we knew we were expecting good beef.
We walked up and down the fresh fruit and vegetables, not since we lived in England and bought from the local fruit market have we seen such beaufiul, undamaged, ripe and perfect produce! That is one thing I’ve always hated about Canada – is that you can only really get good produce for a short period of time each year.
Marche Adonis is Lebanese, and imports much of its fruit and vegetables this time of year (from Spain & Greece), but because they are a small market everything is well taken care of. There was little to none bruised fruit on the counters.
I was very impressed! (Remember I worked in a grocery store, so I’m a grocery snob as it were)
We continued onto the fresh cheese counter, the large Olive and anti-pasto counter, then to the glorious fresh meat counter.
We bought filet minon. 5 huge beautiful and tender steaks for $20.00. There was also fresh made souvlaki and brochettes as well sausages.
We checked out the fresh fish (which all looked great and very fresh!). Then onto the bakery and fresh bread. We picked up a still warm french baguette (that we ate in the car on the way home)
Pickled eggplant, jalapenos stuffed with feta cheese, fresh made spicy steak rub rounded out our purchases.
We quickly went home and got started. Colin being the master of the BBQ got to work on preparing the meat with the spicy steak rub.
I cut the vegetables up so we could grill them too on the BBQ (We have one of those grilling baskets, which is a MUST for anyone who BBQs alot like us)
The meat was by far the most glorious steak we’ve ever cooked at home. It was simply perfect!
The ingredients of the perfect steak are as follows:
I went back to Adonis last night to pick up some more steak and other fresh meats and vegetables. We plan on BBQing all week!
Yum!
4601 Boul Des Sources
Roxboro QC, H8Y 3C5
Phone: 514-685-5050
Fax: 514-685-9268
Have you ever wondered how long cheese takes to age, or the process it takes to make it.
Now the makers of West Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers invite you to watch cheese ripening. . .LIVE!
They have a webcam that allows you to continually, live and un interupted, view the ripening of cheese!
The process should take about a year (and we are only a mear 125 days in). For those that are a little impatient, or weren’t able to enjoy watching grass grow - there are links on the main home page to time lapsed YouTube videos.
Is it me, or is this all a little cheesy?
(Gawd I love puns)
Tonight we went for a meal at the Old Port in Montreal at the historic 200 year old Gibby’s Restaurant.
Anyone from Montreal understands that Gibby’s is an institution of culinary delights.
Gibby’s is a steakhouse, with the most amazing cuts of beef going.
Its the kind of steak you talk about, days, weeks, months, years later! Trust me, its that good.
Mrs Graham had the Beef Wellington, I had the New York Sirloin, and both Colin and Mr Graham had the Gibby’s Cut steak.
Awesome meal.
After the meal, we walked along the boardwalk on the Old Port, and talked to the crew of the HMCS Halifax ship which was docked at the Port.
Yesterday night for dinner we tried Raclette, often also called “Party Grill” – raclette is the new fondue of the 70s. You sit around, grilling your food as you eat, talking and laughing.
Those of you who know my father in law, know he doesn’t cook for himself. Never has.
This has been a year of change for him, at Christmas Paul, Kate, Colin and myself watched him serve himself coffee, and use the microwave at Christmas. The room fell silent with gobsmacked onlookers!
Both Mr and Mrs Graham enjoyed the experience, but won’t be hosting their own raclette meal any time soon.
Happy Easter everyone.
Colin got me a chocolate cat for easter. . . . check out the FREAKY eyes!!!
****Update May 11 2007**** As linked on Wikipedia for Grilled Cheese! Congrats Colin! hahaha
———————————————————————————————————————
We made grilled cheese tonight for dinner. As mentioned in a previous post, my husband makes the best grilled cheese. Its real comfort food, and when you have a rough day they really hit the spot.
Since I made my previous post I’ve received 5 emails from various people who stummbled onto my blog asking what Colin’s secret is to the perfect grilled cheese, today was the first opportunity to interview Colin. . .so as the master cooked his masterpieces, I took down the proccess – almost verbatim
Ingredients:
Very Soft Thick White Bread (For those in Quebec, Think POM ‘Ultra Soft’)
Cheese, two types (The better the cheese the better the sandwich, processed cheese is not real cheese – not matter what they tell you in the commericals) Colin likes to use Havariti and Extra Mature cheddar.
Margarine or Butter (the good stuff, not the low fat crap)
——————————————————–
Steps:
6. After you flip them (they should be golden brown) you press the sandwich down lightly. (La Belle Provience does this-again anyone from Quebec will appreciate this)
7. Then cut on the diagonal, serve immediatly with a dollop of ketchup and some soup, salad or chips.
In Summary,
the secret to the perfect grilled cheese sandwich is quality ingredients and control the heat.
I keep hearing about how great this Rachel Ray is. I’ve been tuning in here and there trying to catch a thing or two (Apparently according to Colin I’m not really a gifted chef. . . .any who. . .) She often uses the expression EVOO – for those that aren’t sure what that stands for (I’m sure there isn’t many of you) it stands for EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL.
Recently Rachel Ray was presented with a certificate from the Oxford Dictionary congratulating her that EVOO would now be an actual dictionary word
The EVOOing of America
It’s official: EVOO is now a word. The dictionary tells us so.
Today, on Rachael Ray’s talk show, Erin McKean, editor of Oxford American Dictionaries, showed up to present Ray with a framed certificate of recognition. As she explained to Ray, “Because of you, we are putting EVOO in the next edition of the Oxford American College Dictionary.” The entry will read: “EVOO: abbr. extra-virgin olive oil.”
McKean told Ray how hard it is to actually get a word into the dictionary: “We look at thousands of words every year, and very, very few of them get in. It’s easier to win the lottery, frankly.” McKean also wants people to know that this newest entry in the Oxford American College Dictionary isn’t just because Ray is more talked about than God: “In order for a word to go in the dictionary, it has to be useful to people. It’s not just enough to be a fabulous celebrity to get your word in the dictionary; you have to make a word that people like to use.” During their exhaustive research, McKean claimed when she and her dictionary cronies saw people using “EVOO,” Ray’s name appeared in more than half the examples.
I think its cool that EVOO is now a word, the part that drives nuts about it is that when she uses it in a show, she continues by saying. . . . .”EVOO. . . .thats extra virgin olive oil”. What is the point of having an abbrevation if you then s-a-y t-h-e w-h-o-l-e t-h-i-n-g o-u-t a-n-y-w-a-y?????????
Here is a receipe that Christine emailed me, its a “Rachel Ray”
Haddock with Bacon and Onions Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray
Show: 30 Minute Meals
Episode: Good Fish Fast
2 pounds haddock filet, cut into 4 8-ounce portions
2 tablespoons lemon juice – about 1/4 lemon
Salt
EVOO – extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
6 slices smoky bacon, chopped
8 cippolini, small Italian flat-shaped sweet onion, peeled and thinly
sliced–
(A medium yellow onion, quartered then thinly sliced may be substituted, but
cippolini are
widely available, so check for them in the local market.)
1large clove garlic, finely chopped
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, a couple of handfuls, chopped
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Rinse fish and pat dry. Sprinkle fish with lemon juice and salt. Rub flat
baking dish with butter, drizzle a little EVOO on top of butter. Place fish
in baking dish.
Heat a small skillet over medium high heat. Add the bacon. Render the fat in
the bacon 3 minutes then add onions. Sweeten and soften onions and garlic 10
minutes. Remove pan from heat. Add bread crumbs to the pan and turn them to
coat them in drippings. Add parsley. Top fish with coating of onions, bacon
and bread crumbs. Bake 30 minutes.
This past weekend Chris and Christine came up to visit. We madly cleaned up our place for their arrival. . . .some fresh flowers in the bathroom, a few new air fresheners and the nice new sheets (500 thread count, Chris) on the bed. . . .
Friday night we went to Mama Bravo’s down the street for dinner. We drank Sangria until the restaurant fell quiet. . . .
Saturday we headed out to Rigaud to a Sugar Shack. . . .The pictures are here
I get these cravings for certain types of food – and when I get one of these cravings I just HAVE to get whatever that food is. Its usually something I shouldn’t have – which is probably why I crave it so.
My big once or twice a year craving is KFC, all the thick crunchy artery clogging 11 herbs and spices coated skin on hot piping chicken breast pieces.
I always end up sick as a dog the next day, but time after time, year after year I still give into the urges for KFC.
Recently I’ve been craving food from “south of the border” – not our border, but saying ”south of the United Stated and Mexician boarder” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. Excuse me while I think Outside the Bun. . . .
Colin and I were at Square One last week, looking for a pair of dress pants for Colin and we decided to grab a snack at the food court, recently Square One got a Taco Bell – and after several days of pleading with Colin to have tacos for dinner I decided to just get some Taco Bell.
I let the recent stories of salmonila & E.Coli leave my thoughts, or the recent discovery of rats in a KFC/Taco Bell in New York hide in the back of my mind. (Hummmm, doesn’t anyone think I might have a certain subconscience love of salmonila and rats perhaps)
I had a combo 1, 2 soft tacos and some fries (which I got some gooooey fake cheese for)
I should have known better, I felt like crap the next day. Bloated and gassy. And it was the day of the wedding rehersal.
I think some of the family thought I was being standoffish at the rehersal, the truth of the matter is I had to fart and didn’t want to subject everyone to Taco Bell the second time acround. Needless to say Taco Bell doesn’t sit well if you are trying to be prim proper and posh.
I still love KFC, and I love Taco Bell. . . . .but I need to find a way to curb my cravings! Any suggestions?
I was speaking to a lady I work with, and she remarked that given the task she has at hand sometimes there are “too many cooks in the kitchen” she continued by saying “someone keeps putting oregano in the chocolate pudding!”
It stuck me as funny. I also now have a craving for homemade garlic bread and a jello pudding cup.
What Have I been Blogging About? ::: Recent Posts
What People are Saying