You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Bucket List’ category.
Woo Hoo!!! Long weekend!! And a very special one at that for some dear friends of mine. Best wishes Claire and Jared! Your wedding this weekend is going to be beautiful. I apologize in advance for any embarrassment I cause you.
Raclette – a swiss dish of melted cheese scraped onto boiled potatoes or dark bread and small sour pickles.
Millet – a type of cereal grass whose small grains are sometimes used for food
Crimp – in cooking refers to making ridges/pleats by pinching or pressing edges of pastry together for seal or decoration.
Welsh Rarebit - buttered, toasted bread or crackers with melted cheddar cheese, milk (sometimes beer), mustard, worcestershire sauce, egg yolk and seasoning.
Cake Flour – finely ground, soft wheat bleached with chlorine gas which whitens the flour and makes it slightly acidic.
Vandyke – to cut a jagged V shape decorative edge into a citrus fruit.
Galangal – a Chinese plant of the ginger family grown for its edible, underground stem. Has a ginger-pepper flavour.
If you are actually at work today… you’ll need these to get through the afternoon!
Was anyone actually worried about the impending LCBO strike? I knew they would find a solution, no way they were going to take away our icy cold beers just before the kick off to patio season. Booze is important, unlike school teachers apparently.
I’ve got discounted tickets up for grabs to the Great Canadian Cheese Festival in PEC – click here and use the code: CF13FRESH
A comprehensive list of Ottawa craft beer events going on from the kick arse Katy (I think she should legally change her name to this).
Don and Jenn from FoodiePrints have a recipe in this month’s Cream Challenge! Vote for your favourite here.
Speaking of dairy… a homemade ricotta recipe from Apron Strings!
I watched this documentary this week. It was alright – happy it was only 50 some odd minutes. This 5 minute trailer gives you about 85% of the story. The dark side of Jelly Belly Jelly Beans…
This week, I’m ready for it to be over! Mostly so I can get myself to a patio – STAT!! Here is a look back at the culinary words this week:
Asiago – a strong flavoured Italian cow’s milk cheese. Aging can give very different textures.
Burgoo – a southern US term for a thick, spicy stew of any meat and veg. Also a name for an event where the dish is served.
Empananda - a type of deep fried or baked turnover with a spicy or sweet filling from Latin American / Spanish cuisine.
Elevenses – a British term for a coffee or tea break taken around 11am.
Tomatillo – the edible purplish fruit of the ground cherry resembling a small tomato.
Sorrel – various course weedy plants with long taproots used as table greens, herbs or vegetable.
Boston Baked Beans – a variety of baked beans cooked slowly and sweetened with maple syrup or molasses and flavoured with salt pork or bacon.
Some wicked Foodie ways to spend a Friday afternoon:
A very cool photo essay showing a what a weeks worth of food looks like for people all over the world.
Another cool photo essay of the foods artists request back stage. Trent Reznor… what are you up to with all that cornstarch??
The inspiringly talented Chef Grant Achatz and his group of chefs from Next in Chicago make a snicker worthy video about what they are cooking up.
This week I brought a new level of sucking to my Culinary Word A Day… but the weather was truly gorgeous so you shouldn’t have been hanging out on twitter all day anyway.
Acidic – a food that contains acid, any of several sour substances that make food sour or bitter in taste.
Back of the House – term for the kitchen and kitchen staff of a restaurant.
Cooling Rack – a flat grid of closely spaced wires with formed feet used for cooling baked goods.
Teaspoon – the smaller of two spoons in a place setting used for stirring beverages. It is also the measurement of 5ml.
Rock Salt – coarsly ground or granulated common salt.
Oatcake – a flat, unleavened cake of baked oatmeal. Usually thin and unsweetened.
Lumpfish – any of several sluggish marine fishes, especially a large North Atlantic species. It’s roe is used for caviar.
Some foodie fun to finish off a sun shiney Friday
Katy from Sheltered Girl Meets World drinks a beer I cannot even begin to pronounce.
The Great Canadian Cheese Festival is in less than a month – will I see you there??
A rat meat ring in China is making millions of dollars. Ewww…
Another Friday is upon us! Let’s party like it’s 1999. Which for me means like a 15 year old – so pretty lame really. Ah well… here are the Culinary Word A Day’s from this week.
Pilaf – a dish of rice boiled in a seasoned broth with onions and celery. Sometimes with meat.
Pikelet - a thin type of crumpet or small pancake in Australia and New Zealand.
Marmalade – A preserve made from citrus fruit, esp. bitter oranges, prepared like jam.
Haggis – A Scottish dish of a sheep’s or calf’s offal, suet, oatmeal, and seasoning, boiled in a bag like a sausage.
Wasabi – From the mustard family, a strong tasting green condiment prepared from the root of an Asian herb.
Calzone – a turnover made with pizza dough and toppings folded over itself and baked or fried.
Yolk – the yellow of a bird’s or reptile’s egg containing protein and fats that provide nourishment for the developing young. They contain all of the egg’s fat and cholesterol, and half the protein.
Looking for some foodie fun to spend your afternoon on – here are some gems I found this week!
Take 30 seconds and vote for a project that will see more skate parks in Ottawa. Give our kids something fun and active that they actually enjoy doing! With enough votes the project could win some serious coin to jump start their efforts! What’s the food link you might ask?? Kelly from The Gouda Life is involved in this awesome initiative!
Take some time to watch Ottawa’s own Murray Street on You Gotta Eat Here! If you haven’t already.
10 Ways to cut sugar out of your diet. I could probably start by not putting 2 giant spoon full in my tea.
Anthony Bourdain was back in Montreal and hanging with the guys from Joe Beef.
And because it gives me goosebumps:
Syllabub – a drink made of cream and beaten egg whites whipped with brandy, rum, wine or cider.
Cruller - a rich, light doughnut twisted into various shapes and deep fried. Often glazed and/or sugar coated.
Earthy – a descriptive term for food or drink with texture, odor, colour or flavour suggestive of earth.
Beechnut – small, triangular nut of the beech tree. Have a high oil content used for cooking.
Angles on Horseback – shucked oysters wrapped in bacon and broiled, grilled or baked.
Chili Sauce – a sauce made from tomatoes, cayenne peppers, spices, onions, garlic and salt simmered in vinegar and sugar.
Schnitzel – a breaded veal cutlet that is fried and often garnished with lemon, capers and anchovies.
Some Foodie Fun To Spend Your Friday On – Better Than What You Were Going To Do Anyway
Is it art??? A Calgary student kills a chicken in the cafeteria as part of a performance piece. My vote is no.
10 of the most toxic food ingredients. Might want to read AFTER lunch.
Look who is going to be competing at Gold Medal Plates next!
The lovely Kelly of The Gouda Life recaps her time at the Food Bloggers of Canada Conference!
Port Salut – a flat, round, mild French cheese named for a monastery in France.
Lemon Verbena – a shrub with long, slender leaves that smell like lemon and made into flavouring.
Claret – first described the colour of a light red wine but now describes dry red wine in general or the reds from Bordeaux.
Bay Scallop – a small (1/2 inch) seafood. Grow in Atlantic coast shallow water, tender and yummy.
Zest – a thin piece of the coloured part of citrus peel used for flavouring.
Quail – Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds.
Fricassee – a dish of meat sliced and fried or stewed in a gravy made with its drippings and usually wine. The verb refers to preparing meat by this method.
Things on the internet more interesting than anything you are doing right now.
A chef is fighting back against customers who are thoughtless or rude to staff.
This video is apparently a little slice of memory lane for my Winnipeg friends:
Wait. Nacho’s aren’t Mexican?? Hmmmm… and other meal origin misconceptions.
Ok – was it just me or did this week seem extra fast? Got to love holiday Monday’s! Now for some stuff to keep you entertained for a minute or two this Friday. Up first – the Culinary Word A Day’s!
Condiment – a broad term for a preparation (herb, relish, sauce or spice) used to enhance the flavour of a dish.
Salmagundi – a dish of cooked meats, anchovies, onions, eggs and vegetables on lettuce with vinaigrette.
Okra – a plant of the mallow family eaten as a vegetable and also used to thicken soups and stews.
Ghee – Clarified butter made from the milk of a buffalo or cow, used in Indian cooking.
Absinthe – bitter green liqueur of distilled wine mixed with oil of wormwood, anise and herbs. Years ago, it was banned in several countries because it was thought to spark violent crimes and social disorder.
Pomelo – The largest of the citrus fruits, with a thick yellow skin and bitter pulp that resembles grapefruit in flavor.
Paring Knife – A small knife used mainly for peeling fruits and vegetables.
If it is on the net it *must* be true… or at least fun.
Surprisingly non-vegetarian foods. I knew about some of these, but nerds, really?!?
Can’t wait for food truck season?? Here is a little sneak peak!
Need something to do with those left over Easter chocolates?? Lyne at the Twisted Chef has a kick ass cupcake recipe!
Wolfgang Puck’s greatest story ever…
One of my bucket list items was to spend time in 3 neighbourhoods in Ottawa that I don’t usually visit. And of course they needed to be chock full of great food.
Living in lower town, so close to the ByWard Market, I’m rarely in the Glebe. For some reason or another, I decided to rectify this during the Easter weekend when we were having that nasty April Fool’s winter storm. It is really saying something that I had a great time out in that weather. I hate being cold, more than I hate raw onion.
Here are some photos from my adventure – I’m looking forward to coming back when I don’t have to rush into stores just to escape the wind. Also because I need to spend time in Cats R Us. Seriously a boutique of all things cats?? I’m a dog person and I still need to check this out.
I know today feels like Saturday… but it’s not. Sorry. Bubble burst I’m sure. But no worries! Here is a round up of the Culinary Word A Day’s from this week!!
Cappelletti – small triangular hat shaped dough filled with meat or cheese.
Lox - smoked salmon, usually brine, salt or sugar cured. Normally eaten with bagels and cream cheese.
Sour Cream – cream that has been deliberately fermented with bacteria in lactic acid.
Cutlet – a thin, tender cut of meat taken from the leg or rib section of the animal. Usually flattened and breaded.
Shad – A fish of the herring family that spends much of its life in the sea, typically entering rivers to spawn.
Rind – the hard / tough covering or skin on fruits such as oranges and melons. Once removed it is called the peel.
Coulis - a thin sauce os strained, pureed raw or cooked vegetables or fruit. Used as a flavourful garnish.
A short list of things worth wasting time on during a beautiful spring day:
Ten reasons to eat breakfast.
Are you awesome? A chick? Do you like beer? Want to hang out with some other awesome chicks who like beer? Check out Barley’s Angels!
If I was a comic I would be Jim Gaffigan. Pale, a little pudgy and always talking about food. Enjoy!
Ok… so this week was a bit of a struggle! The weekend was spent in beautiful Prince Edward County (one hell of a post to come… scratch that… I don’t want you to have really high expectations. A pretty decent… a respectable… a post to come!! ) where I completely forgot about the world outside the county and forgot to post my Culinary Word A Day’s. But I’m all caught up now and here they are – culinary terms that might be new to you, some of them are to me! Hominy?? What??
Grappa – an Italian brandy made from the fermented residue of grapes that have been pressed while wine making.
Snickerdoodle – a sugar cookie with a cracked surface made with cream of tartar and rolled in cinnamon sugar.
Cheshire – a mild yellow cow’s milk cheese with a crumbly texture from Cheshire England. It’s particular taste comes from salt deposits in the pasture where the cows graze.
Jimmies – see Sprinkles.
Peach Melba – dessert of peach halves with vanilla ice cream and raspberry sauce. Created by French Chef Escoffier.
Hominy – hulled yellow or white corn with the bran and germ removed. Most often coarsely ground and boiled with water or milk to make grits.
Timbale – a mix of poultry, seafood, veggies and noodles in cream sauce that is baked in a drum shaped mold of the same name.
Food fun that is better than work on a Friday afternoon –
This isn’t quite food related unless you count the pot brownies.
The kick ass Bethany from Second Ferment talks about the wines of Prince Edward County during our Indulge PEC trip – happy to know there are responsible bloggers who took notes and stuff. I, on the other hand, have a “woo spring break” style of writing.
Jamie McDonald is a competitive eater who is devouring Chicago’s food challenges one plate and stomach ache at a time!
One of my favourite all time jokes:
