Wunning Around Wednesday...... Our Daily Dinner

Wunning around Wednesday......

chuckieb 6 years ago
LOL. Good Morning Everyone! It is supposed to be gray and rainy all day long today so I am going to run into town and do some errands and grocery shopping. My niece gave me a text book a couple of years ago. She went to Culinary School in Niagara and thought I'd enjoy this one particular text book they used on cooking techniques. To be honest, I haven't really gone through it much but I pulled it out the other night just to thumb through and came across how to make "Balsamic Pearls". It caught my attention because I've seen Balsamic Pearls for sale in gourmet foodie stores. Small jars for BIG dollars and when I looked at the recipe it looks relatively simple to make at home using only three ingredients......Balsamic vinegar of course, olive oil and agar agar. I could swear I used to have a little bottle of agar agar in my pantry and I also could swear that I bought it for a relatively cheap price at an Indian grocery store. I can't for the life of me remember why I bought it and I don't even know that I ever even used it. It's not in my pantry now, so I'm going to pop in to an Indian Grocery store today and see if I can grab some. Fun experiment eh?

This recipe is similar to the one in the book......
https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/sauce-spread/dressing/how-to-make-balsamic-vinegar-pearls.html

Jim's cousin's MIL (the cousin that was just visiting from Montreal) is a fabulous cook. I'm sure I must have mentioned her before. We'd gone to their place for dinner on Christmas Eve and she'd done up a feast including about three of her famous curries. Anyway.....they brought a care package for us from her this past visit. It was frozen but it appears to be a curry along with some sort of fancy rice. I bought two samosas yesterday to go with it and we shall have all that for dinner this evening. I'm quite looking forward to it. She also sent us another jar of her 'hot sauce'. SO good but SO dangerous. :)

Linda....hope you're doing okay.

Wishing everyone a great Wednesday! Karen, we didn't see you yesterday either!
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Good4U 6 years ago said:

Good Morning!
I think you can buy Agar Agar in most grocery stores now, Janet. I am sure that is where I bought the bottle I have if I am not mistaken? I hope you enjoy your care package for dinner. Very nice of her to send it to you. Good luck with your errands and grocery shopping. I bookmarked the Balsamic Pearls recipe.

Dinner will be Weiner Schnitzel with mashed potatoes and steamed asparagus.

Wishing everyone a great day!

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Cosmicmother 6 years ago said:

Haha, funny thread title!
I love, love, love Food Science! The balsamic pearls look like a fun experiment! What do you do with the pearls afterwards, melt them into sauces? I have agar powder, it's a vegan gelatin. Gelatin is one of those things I still cannot eat since being a former vegetarian. I never thought to buy it from an Indian Grocer's, I've always got it from a health food store. Good to know!
Good luck with your errands today, and enjoy your curry dinner! Yum!

Hi Joce, yum! Your dinner sounds great!!

Nothing new here. Just sipping my coffee. Have to take Colter back to the dentist for his sealants late this afternoon. I have no idea what's for dinner yet. I'm hammed out, so perhaps we'll have chicken something today. I have broccoli salad to make too.
I watched a movie called "Suite Françoise" I really liked it. I love history, and this was based on a true story in France during the German invasion. It probably helps that I have a big crush on Matthias Schoenaerts, lol ;)
After all the snow melted late in the afternoon yesterday, I woke up to another dusting of it this morning! Poor swans and geese etc...they really get honking and squawking when the weather turns. I must have seen hundreds of swans in the lake. Most are stopping in and are probably waiting for warmer weather before travelling further North. At least we don't have to worry about forest fires this month, so the extra moisture is welcome.

Have a great day everyone! :)

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chuckieb 6 years ago said:

I didn't know that Joce! I just called the local (there's two actually) Indian grocery store and they have it so I'll go there as even if Sobey's carries it (and I'll look next time I'm there) I bet it'll be cheaper at the Indian grocery store. Your dinner plans are awesome.

Wouldn't have thought of the health food store for agar agar either Shona. Good idea too. And probably Bulk Barn now I'm thinking about it. :) That movie sounds neat. I should see if I can get it at my library. That's amusing the swans and geese honk and squawk when the weather turns. UBER cool at seeing hundreds of swans at one time. I'd love to see that!

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MissouriFarmWife 6 years ago said:

Good morning.

What do you use balsamic pearls for, Janet? It sounds intriguing. So does the cookbook / text book.

Please set another place at the table, Joce. LOL! Schnitzel is so-o-o-o good.No idea what to have for supper -- or lunch either -- just thought of a salad and maybe grilled cheese. Have to fry the rest of the ground beef so spaghetti or ??? for supper.

Hi Shona. No snow here -- sound hit 80 F today. Tomorrow through Monday we expect rain. They claim we should get about 3 inches more or less. Again, will believe it when I see it.

We don't eat curry, probably because there is no Indian store near us and were not really exposed to that type of cooking.

Two days of running around and I am ready for a break. This morning I finished weeding the garden with a LOT of help from Wayne's buddy, then cleared off the chicken nests and dumped fresh hay in them. The floor is NOT cleaned and I have to get it done but on a cooler day! My back is acting up so no more chicken coop cleaning. started to do the flower beds but gave up on it.

Laundry is on the agenda today.

Must really get moving and put out some tomatoes. And green beans. And peppers. Onions? Oops - about out of room. Two rhubarb plants are up and one is super big, hoping for a bunch to freeze.

One of the jars of tomato sauce popped the seal. Have canned hundreds of jars and this is the first one to do that. Cleaned it up, dumped the sauce and cleaned the sink where I had set the jar. Guess I must have not gotten a good seal.

A.C. is outside. Trouble came inside after an hour and is dozing on the couch. Mauser was out for 4 minutes and cried at the door. Little scaredy cat! Mel is asleep on the bed. Fritz is curled up in Wayne's chair after being a holy terror this morning. Last night we got home just after the Schwann's guy arrived so Fritz went bonkers greeting him and carrying a dog biscuit around. He always brings dog biscuits to the pooches on his route, and they come running when they see him.

GS has a swim meet this weekend. We have him Thursday evening as she is working. It is the Sunday Wayne stays over so I will probably fix something he hates. Or pick up something for lunch / dinner after church.

Have a good day everyone.

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mommyluvs2cook 6 years ago said:

Hi all! Was going to get on here earlier and then my Mom called and we talked FOREVER!! Anyway, my SIL is coming over with Mabel and I want something to snack on so I am going to make this Fontina And Asparagus Tart and also have fruit and cheese out. Dinner is not determined yet, but I need to figure it out soon! Hope everyone has a great day!!

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notyourmomma 6 years ago said:

Hello, we are dog washing finally. And then laundry for the dirty towels. I forgot who mentioned nice towels for shower gift. One of my favorites and nice to monogram.

Agar agar, hmmm. Interesting, I've seen it on some of the cooking shows. Janet, I look forward to your experiment. Will you use them on a salad like a dollop of caviar? Nice gift of a real curry. I sent you a link to shakshuka aka eggs in purgatory. I had some wrinkly ready to be tossed grape tomatoes, some leftover roasted shishito peppers, minced garlic, some onion, smoked paprika, pinch of red pepper flakes, a lone jalapeno that I tossed in a pan with a can of fire roasted tomatoes. Add two eggs, poach and serve with crusty bread. Dinner in fifteen minutes.

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notyourmomma 6 years ago said:

Joce, your supper sounds sublime. I'd never say no to schnitzel.

I wish I were able to cheer the Lightning in playoffs! Boo hoo. Go Sens!

Shona, wow about the dental expense. But clean teeth are worth it. Really neat on the migrating swans in the pond. Noisy birds are better than thumping rap music just saying.

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notyourmomma 6 years ago said:

Karen, ouch on the back breaking work. I'm sure the chickens appreciate a fresh nest. The nurse that helped Olivia with her cyst has four urban chicks. Her posts on FB are about co-op cleaning, possum chasing, raccoon stealing eggs and then having more eggs than the two of them can eat. I want to be her neighbor. Fritz is one chipper pooch. Aren't pets fun? So odd to have a jar pop, what a mess. Yum on the rhubarb.

Michele, nice you had a good long talk with your mom. That fontina asparagus tart, be still my heart. After Janet made it, I wanted it and now you, lol.

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notyourmomma 6 years ago said:

Posting from phone and I'm afraid I'll lose a long post, so excuse the multiples.

Kimmer, so we both have daughters getting married in November? How are you staying sane? I'm losing what little brain power I had. So many decisions, so little money. It looks like Amici catering will be doing the food. Menu tbd this weekend while the engaged are at his parents in South Bend. And cake flavors.

Linda, hope you are doing okay? Dear lady, I suspect you and I have a great deal in common. My DH had nine lives and he used them to the fullest. Stubborn, intractable, determined to live his way to the very end. I nursed him through grand mal seizures, heart attack, heart surgery, strokes, more seizures, days long coma for a second time, ventilator support and months long recovery. He could be mean as a snake and in an instant be loving and contrite. His mental confusion was much harder to be patient with over the loss of physical strength and activity. It is so hard to be the "everything" to someone and no respite in caregiving. Trust me, you are allowed to be you, always.

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kimmer 6 years ago said:

Hello and good afternoon to all. No Tina, my cousins daughter is getting married in November. My daughter and her future hubs will not get married until next year. They originally had a date set for July of this year but there have been some issues they need to work thru and also money was a key factor. Amici's is good. They were hired many times for events at my former work place. With my hubs being from Germany, schnitzel is a favorite here. Except instead of asparagus we have , yes, wait for it Janet.........red cabbage, lol. Must put that on the short list. Seems it's been awhile. Don't know much about agar agar but have seen it on cooking shows too. Eager to hear how your experiment goes Janet. Take it easy on your back Karen. There's always another day! Linda, hope things are going ok for you and you have managed to at least get in a bit of "you" time.

Dinner here will be some sea shell pasta with ground beef. Not sure with what yet. Might just do spaghetti sauce or may do a brown sauce of sorts instead. Either way can be decided at last minute. Will have a cucumber and tomato salad to go with. Cukes and tomatoes are begging to be eaten up!

Hope all enjoy the rest of the day!

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MissouriFarmWife 6 years ago said:

I googled fontina for more information, Michelle. Sounds yummy.

Tina, I do not envy your wedding preparations. We had a simple reception after church, just cake and such. Even then Dad jokingly (I think!) suggested he would give us $50 and a ladder (our house was ONE story) to elope.

Geezer came to the porch this afternoon, fine until A.C. flew from the gate to the porch. Amid Geezer's yowling / "singing" and A.C.'s surprised growling, I managed to toss A.C. inside. Geezer relaxed on the railing, dusting his paws.

We are having spaghetti tonight. Wayne has a 7 PM meeting and I will have time to finish cleaning the kitchen and settle into my recliner for a relaxing couple of hours.

The wind has picked up and is supposed to blow in rain by morning. It is needed.

See you later.

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chuckieb 6 years ago said:

YAY....lots of chitchat!!! :)

Forgot to answer your question about what to do with balsamic pearls Shona. You can sprinkle them on tomato slices or over sliced beef....pretty much anywhere that you'd drizzle balsamic vinegar....just fancier! :) Turns out the lady at the Indian Grocery store and I had a miscommunication. She thought I said "Ajvar" not "Agar". Ajvar is a red pepper based condiment. LOLOL. So then I checked at Sobey's but I didn't see it there either. So begins the hunt.....

This is the book my niece gave me Bren.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_4-Hour_Chef
It was part of her curriculum and it's jam packed with tons of stuff.

Hi Karen! I don't imagine that cleaning a chicken coop on a hot day would be a pleasant task. :) That's excellent your rhubarb is doing so well. Good luck with the laundry. Re: your tomato sauce jars. Do you not use rings in addition to the lids?

Nice you had a good chat with your Mom Michelle. Enjoy your visit with your SIL and baby Mabel.

Hi Tina! It was Bren who mentioned nice towels as a shower gift and I actually took her suggestion and bought two bath towels, two hand towels and a fingertip towel today for my niece's bridal shower gift. I got a fantastic deal. They were on sale. As an eg. the bath towels were regularly $30 each and I got them for $8.97. I couldn't believe it. I got all five towels for $43! Here's the pattern:
http://www.thebay.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/en/thebay/brands/towels-mats/bradford-linen-fingertip-towel-0099-83970452--24
They had some gorgeous towels with birds on them which of course struck my fancy for myself but they wanted $40 for one bath towel! I just about died!
And yes, salad would be a fun thing to add the balsamic pearls to as well. The Eggs in purgatory sound heavenly. I think Jim would love something like that and I have some wrinkly tomatoes and a jar of roasted peppers in the fridge. Maybe we'll have a fancy schmancy brekkie tomorrow.

Grinning at the red cabbage Kimmer. Your dinner sounds yummy.

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chuckieb 6 years ago said:

We had a productive jaunt into town. I bought myself a new pair of Ecco brand shoes and I'm just delighted with them. They are super comfy, exactly what I was looking for style wise and they were on sale! Bonus! We initially went looking for steak knives as a shower gift but went to two stores and couldn't find a set I really liked. Super happy with the towel purchase. Got ourselves two deli sandwiches for lunch from "Little Euro Deli" as well as a big chunk of medium smoked sausage to serve up to company this weekend. Also bought three little bags of fancy pasta shapes. Jim's cousin's wife was impressed with the selection of pasta shapes in my pantry this past weekend so I thought I'd buy her three fun ones and give them to her as a hostess gift next time we visit (probably in May). There's a pkg. of little egg drop dumpling noodles, a pkg. of mini pasta sticks (2" long?), and a pkg. of little micro pasta dots. Very fun. Hit the hardware store, the flower store and then the grocery store and Costco. Also dropped off money to the guy who plows our lane in the winter. I think I'm pretty much set grocery wise for the weekend and tomorrow I shall just have to clean the house again, and take down all my Easter decorations.

So gray and rainy outside. Bleck. Watching our Ottawa Senators play against Boston tonight. GO SENS GO!

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chuckieb 6 years ago said:

Bren, I just saw an ad from Nicastro's and they have that nice "La Campofilone" pasta on sale. $3 off....so $4.99/pkg. Great deal. I don't think I'll be close to a Nicastro's in the next bit but if I am I'm goin' in. :)

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chuckieb 6 years ago said:

Also Grana Padano cheese $9.99/lb or $21.99/kg.

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MissouriFarmWife 6 years ago said:

Hi there. Yes, I use the rings but everything I have read said to remove them once the jars have sat for 24 hours, or the seal is more apt to give and/or the rings could rust. I have done 100's of jars of tomatoes and never had one pop. Always in a water bath and always a minimum of 30 minutes even if the recipe says 10. Probably operator head space set in and I missed getting a good seal somehow. Will add more vinegar next time, also..

Ah, well. Live and learn, I guess.

Spaghetti sauce (concocted) is simmering away. I was out of onion and peppers so improvised. It will suffice. With leftover sauce for tomorrow or Friday.

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notyourmomma 6 years ago said:

We had crab cakes with poached eggs, topped with dill hollandaise and roasted asparagus. So yummy. Bummer, I dropped a wine glass full of merlot and had to sit feet akimbo while Olivia attempted to sweep. I'm always thinking red cabbage as a side, too.

What a great deal on the towels, plus the bonus on pasta.

Sorry to hear Blondie may have crossed the Rainbow bridge...He was a special guest

Lol on the ladder for a one story elopement. Olivia did shop and I have pork chops and some frozen entrees for the next week while they are in IN.

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Cosmicmother 6 years ago said:

Hey everyone, yeah lot's of chit chat! :)
I'm exhausted, can barely keep my eyes open so I'll read back more thoroughly tomorrow. Have a good night everyone! :)

I just wanted to stop in and tell Bren I got the email back from So Delicious, it reads as follows:
"Hello Shona,
Thank you for reaching out and for loving our coconutmilk creamers as much as you do!
Unfortunately, our coconutmilk coffee creamers have been discontinued in Canada and are no longer available. We realize many fans will be understandably disappointed and are saddened that they're no longer able to find it. We loved it too but it wasn't selling very well.
Our team has put a big focus on expanding our frozen dessert offerings in Canada over the next year. We’ve been making dairy free frozen desserts for nearly 30 years and we now offer more than 30 different frozen dessert pints in the U.S. We are working hard to bring a wider selection of these desserts to our Canadian fans.
I will be happy to share your feedback with our team. Have an amazing day Shona!
Sincerely,
Priscilla & The So Delicious Team"

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