We should have a "What are you cooking?" thread. Now we do.

[SmoothAction]

Yesterday

Haven't had a box of this since the early eighties so why not, naturally with a yogurt/spice marinated lamb cutlett.

Well yes, naturally. Ha! I love it.

Amazing as always, Sir. Those noodles make me feel ways about stuff. I'd love to try them or even something vaguely equivalent.

BTW, it's getting very expensive for me to send the cutting board to Canada every few days. Long distance is the wrong distance. We may have to cut it in half.

Excellently scrumdiddlicious Dave. Great pictures too.

[SmoothAction]

Eggroll wraps are fun 

Smoked salmon, whipped cream cheese, capers, pepper. Fried in safflower oil. Gorgonzola butter was overkill but made for a nice pic, tasted great without it.

Lunch snack for my day off.

[davent]

Very smooth, looking good!

International shipping is killing the sharing economy...

About the cutting board, we've had ours a number of years and it shows no sign of wear, easy on the knives and as flat as the day we bought it, i thought that might be an issue. Was in a restaurant supply store back a bit and they now have a number of alternate versions other then different sizes of the same, tempting.

Today's pasta, scarier even then black pasta...






Blue Cheese and Brussel Sprouts

Shropshire Blue   http://www.britishcheese.com/shropshireblue

Panko, Parmesan, Paprika & Black Pepper

dave

[davent]

Valentine's Day 2016

Last night, we use Saturday nights for occasions no matter the actual date.

Toasted sourdough points with red caviar and Sprakling Rosé for nibbles.



Grilled wild shrimp wih Miso/Pistachio Sauce









Grapefruit Granita for a pallet cleanser





Seared Veal Medallions with sauted veg, Demi-glace/yogurt/chive sauce

Carrot, celeriac, red pepper and sugar snaps









Vienne Soufflé






dave

[davent]

Had to eat today too...

Stove top mac and cheese with Rapini.

dave

[alanp]

Tea tonight was a nice pepper steak, served on plastic plates.

Fed up with having to nag housemates to do the damn dishes.

[davent]

Turns out Ritz Crackers are a pretty good carrier for chocolate, cashews, dried sour cherries and salt.

Leftover cashews and cherries...

dave

[chromesphere]

Not strictly food or cooking as such but thought i would share it here anyway. its hop harvest time in Australia right now (end of summer) and my hops are done.  This is my first year Cascade and first harvest.  Approximately 1/2 kilo dry which is pretty good for a first year hop from what I've read.  The photo of the mound on the flywire is about 1/3 of the total (still more on the bines). I have some ideas for brews coming up, just need the time to actually do it.

[davent]

Those look great Paul, never seen hops before. There starting to grow a lot of hops around here, maybe in response to all the micro brewers popping up, great times. My understanding is they need major sized trellising, how big did yours grow?

dave

[chromesphere]

Thanks Dave. Yeah they need to grow vertically, quite high up.  The trellis and cables farmers use are as high as power lines.  I figured for first year I could get away with a medium size wooden trellis on wooden stakes hammered into the ground in my veggie patch.  That lasted about 2 months.   I then tied a string from the bines to past the clothes line approximately 15-20 metres long. That lasted another 2 months until the bines reached the clothes line (wife was not impressed lol).  The photo is approximately this time, but the actually plant now is only about 3 times (!!!!) size.  I need an extended ladder to get to the top of it.

Soon after the string snapped from the weight and I had to retrain it in the other direction of the yard on more string.  The other bines continued up the trellis and head over the neighbours fence and up the pittosporum.   Its a crazy plant...Anyway, I ended up naming her Audrey (little shop of horrors joke there )

[davent]

That's wild! Don't turn your back or let your guard down or your toast.

dave

[bscur]

Get ready for hop harvest year two!!!! Once they are established they really explode. I had Kent Goldings, Cascade and Willamette years ago. The first year was decent (nothing like your excellent harvest), but starting the second year the harvests were huge. My neighbor actually thought I was growing a different green plant and kept leaning over the fence to ask if I was afraid of getting caught and if I wanted him to help me trim it down a bit. He was pretty bummed when he found out they were hops. Then, as a sign of neighborly goodwill, I gave him a few 25oz bottles. He didn't listen when I explained they were bottle conditioned and they exploded in his house in the California summer heat. Good times. Excellent harvest. Be sure to post some pics of the carboys (or perhaps larger equipment) at work.

[chromesphere]

lol that's a funny story bscur, I've had plenty of those comments myself Understandable though, the plants are related.

Well, last night I noticed some of the hops were browning, so I pulled it down. There was quite a sizable amount of hops behind the wooden trellis I hadn't noticed and certainly more then I realised in the places I could see.  Ended up filling 3 wash buckets full of hops.  And that's after i filtered out approx. 20% of the ones that didn't make the grade.  Some a probably still a little over / under done, im seeing that this is not a perfect science though. Insane amount for a first year hop...

Not using a wooden trellis again, turned into a mess....Anyway sorry to turn this into a beer brewing thread.  Ill show photos of brews etc which are slightly more in line with the topic of the thread

[bscur]

Actually, I think growing your own hops to make your own beer is exactly in line with the pedal making ethic (coming from a complete pedal  noob in myself). A full mash is probably equivalent to etching your own boards. For some people, it's just more rewarding to research the process and create things on your own. I started with basic soldering to replace pickups and soon enough I was buying giant boards of alder, mahogany etc. to build my own guitars. I wish I knew more about pedal science, but I like the creation aspect, similar to making my own pastrami, ribs, beer, mole,  gardening etc.

[davent]

Actually, I think growing your own hops to make your own beer is exactly in line with the pedal making ethic (coming from a complete pedal  noob in myself). A full mash is probably equivalent to etching your own boards. For some people, it's just more rewarding to research the process and create things on your own. I started with basic soldering to replace pickups and soon enough I was buying giant boards of alder, mahogany etc. to build my own guitars. I wish I knew more about pedal science, but I like the creation aspect, similar to making my own pastrami, ribs, beer, mole,  gardening etc.

You're definitely in the right spot here!
dave