Should I bake?

It’s been a long time since I baked anything. Parades of bananas go from just right to overripe to too far gone, while I muse, “I’d like to make a banana cake… the bananas aren’t soft enough… they’re just right but I’m too busy… they’re overripe! Maybe next time.  So here it’s the weekend and yes, we have no bananas. Maybe I could buy some already ripe & soft? And bread—how hard can it be?

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Bear meat?

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It’s Christmas party time at work. Yesterday, I tasted a casserole that I think was made with bear meat, courtesy of a colleague who hunts and who eats what he catches. It tasted something like mutton, something like pork. Interesting!

Birthday dim sum

Eighteen people showed up for Don’s birthday dim sum lunch in Toronto’s downtown Chinatown. So there were two tables of people at the restaurant, going back years to former SF cons and employers long gone. It was nice to get together and the food, traditionally served Chinese tidbits, was delicious. The restaurant was noisy and crowded, but by the end of lunch hour, a few tables had emptied. After lunch, about half of us streamed to a cafe near the art gallery for expresso, which gave us a chance to socialize with the other half of the guests. I got myself added to the e-mail list for monthly dim sum. Then we went our separate ways.

“The waiter bellowed down the hall…

“You get no bread with one fish ball!’ “

Feesh balls

And now you know what a fish ball looks like. I always thought of them as a little more fried.

I remember this as a poem in The Pocket Book of Popular Verse. You can find a discussion and several version of the lyrics here.

Danforth Valu-mart

Fresh fruit: Honey Crisp apples

On the day before Christmas we needed a few groceries. I planned to go to a store north of us but the traffic was very busy in that direction. So I went east instead and ended up at the Valu-mart on Danforth Avenue. The store is right at Woodbine and Danforth, close to a subway entrance. There is some free parking behind the store. It was pouring rain, so I was glad to be able to park near the doors. From the parking lot, I descended in an elevator to the shopping level, which exits on Danforth at ground level.  The store is of modest size, so choices are limited, but good. You can get Loblaws’  President’s Choice brand. There is a range of basic products plus a sprinkling of special items. The store looked clean and well stocked, not counting the depradations of the pre-Christmas hordes.

In the produce department I was surprised to find Honey Crisp apples, which are hard to get anywhere because they are so delicious.

Then I discovered some unique vegetables: as well as the standard white cauliflowers, there were orange, green, and purple ones called broccoflowers.

Unusual vegetables

It’s an interesting store and I think I’ll go back again.

Base cuisine: stew

OK, what could be older than stew? Meat on a stick à la Homo erectus, probably. And then meat on hot rocks. Maybe even ground-grain-mixed-with-water on hot rocks. But after that: stew! Develop a hollowed-out rock, a bark cone, a large sea-shell saucer, a stone dish, or a clay bowl, and you can cook edible odds and ends in liquid.

• Chop an onion and pour a dribble of oil into a capacious pot. Fry the onion over low heat until it’s translucent and soft.
• If you want meat, add small chunks and cook gently, stirring until all sides are brown.
• Then add some chopped tomato and water. I usually use canned, diced tomato.
• I generally add a can of beans such as navy beans.
• While the meat (or tofu) is cooking and the tomato is heating, chop a couple of root vegetables into cubes. I usually use about four medium potatoes or two potatoes and two yams.
• Add a small amount of salt, pepper, and dried herbs (e.g. oregano, basil, or marjoram) if you like those things.
• Simmer until everything is hot and the root vegetables are tender.

Serve in bowls.

Refrigerate leftovers. You can take them out the next day, add some more water, throw in more foot, e.g. another kind of beans or some celery, and carry on indefinitely as the stew gets richer and more mysterious.

Gourds on the Danforth

Danforth-gourds-2008-fall-6, originally uploaded by monado.

Yesterday we stopped at the local grocery store on the way back from a long run (for LotStreetWiz) and bike ride (me). I waited outside with the bike. I spent the time admiring the piles of winter squashes and pie pumpkins.

There are more pictures on Flickr.

Base cuisine: bag o’ salad

Bagged salad is one way to make quick meals. Add a serving of salad to a pizza slice, sandwich, or piece of cold chicken to make it seem like a real meal.

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Big grey sky

I left work just about local sunset under a vast, humid grey cloud, the fringes of Hurricane Hanna.

I picked up a cooked chicken on the way home and had almost the classic Margaret Visser meal tonight: chicken, corn, and tomato. In her book Much Depends on Dinner, she had rice on the plate as well. (Each chapter of the book describes the history of a food in the dinner.)

It’s going to rain tomorrow and we’ll have hot, humid weather. I’m not doing any laundry tonight. At least the temperature is going down to 20 tonight; and I’ll button the house up against the heat tomorrow.

Our long-haired cat, Marlowe, has been very bad-tempered all day with sticky burrs in her fur, but she won’t stand still for anyone to cut them out: its a two-person operation.

I worked late last night and I want to be alert tomorrow, so I’m going to replenish the dry catfood and go to bed. If I can’t sleep I’ll go out for a walk.

Last weekend for Summerlicious

The annual Summerlicious festival is a chance for people to try new restaurants without spending a fortune. It’s been going since July 4 and it will be going on until July 20.