Back Cooking In My Kitchen

dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m

9 years ago

I have been traveling the past couple of weeks.

Eating out was good, but cooking in someone else's kitchen was horrible. Dull knives and lack of seasonings, couldn't find tools to use -----.

So back cooking in my own kitchen is a pleasure.

dcarch

shrimps, fiddlehead fern, chanterelle mushrooms

Stuffed boneless wings

snapper, chanterelle mushrooms, white asparagus

Comments (12)

Rusty
9 years ago
I really should know better than to open your posts at night.
Now my screen and keyboard are all slobbery.
And I'm too tired to clean them tonight.

All look delicious, and that first dish, especially,
has visions of gastronomic delights
dancing through my head.

Ah-h-h-h-h, savory dreams. . . . ..

Rusty
OklaMoni
9 years ago
I haven't been here at the cooking forum for quite a while... just to busy, and then on a long bicycle tour.

Sure missed your pictures.

Now, I am back to drooling. :)

Thanks

Moni
Related Discussions
How can I improve my cooking experience in the new kitchen?
Q
Comments (15)
Looking at your layout, I don't think you have the room for a 36" range. You will need a filler between the blind corner and any adjacent cabinet. That nixes your pullout that you have there. And you have minimal landing space on the other side next to a major traffic route. That will leave you with a 30" range fitting MUCH better. You could do a 30" induction range and separate wall oven elsewhere, or something like the GE Cafe with the griddle and double ovens below. That would give you the maximum versatility in the smallest space. If you want to grill, use a grill pan or do it outside. It doubles your requirements for ventilation, which you haven't discussed at all. That will get pretty expensive as you will be required to have makeup air for the CFM that you would need to have for a grill. In your situation, I'd put a separate under counter oven in place of the under counter MW. Maybe a speed oven, but the best place for the MW is next to the fridge as that's the logical flow of snackers and reheaters. I'd also really revisit having the work table as island. You could make the island work a lot harder by having a small prep sink on it and putting the trash there as well. That would give you a better prep zone with less walking. I'd suggest swapping the pantry and fridge. You need a straight shot from the fridge to the sink to make the prep zone work best. And that involves water access. So, you need the fridge at the bottom of that aisle, or a prep sink on the island. Or both. Otherwise, you're adding a lot of roadwork to making dinner.
...See More
Cooking In My Friend's Kitchen In Berkeley
Q
Comments (21)
This morning, the sky through the bedroom window was bright and blue and cloudless. SWMBO pointed out that we had lox and cream cheese, so all we needed was bagels and red onions. I pushed the dog off my legs and walked outside, turned left, crossed a street and another, and in three minutes was at a bagel shop. Across the street, the grocery store had onions, and red potatoes. If coffee wasn't making back in the house, two cafés were a block further down. My shoes could have been repaired, a burrito eaten, a used book or DVD purchased, or any number of other daily errands done, within a block of where I stood, onion and bagel and potatoes in hand. Three minutes stroll later, I was slicing bagels in "our" kitchen. A walkable neighborhood is magical. It feels like Star Trek, where the Enterprise could warp from planet to planet in less than a minute (of TV time) and the crew could teleport up and down from the planet surface in seconds. In a walkable neighborhood, you can beam from bagel-world, grocery-planet, coffee-station, with less effort than it took to walk from the bridge to the transporter room. In comparison, a driving community feels to me like hitching up a covered wagon and rattling for hours through two-light intersections and endless parking lots, from big box to strip mall. It is so much of a harder way to live, I think. In Portland we live in a "semi walkable" neighborhood. There is a grocery store, coffee shop, several eateries and brew pubs, pizza, a haircut place, and a few assorted stores within an eight minute walk. The much denser commercial streets are more like 15 minutes' walk. The more convenient way to get around is on a bicycle, which I think of more like Luke Skywalker's X-wing. It is a fun way to get around, you get to swoop and speed, but there is a certain pre-flight delay as you unlock the bike, buckle on the helmet, clip into the pedals, and you need a certain degree of alertness, lest your fragile craft be smooshed by Imperial Battlecruisers of the Buick class. I love riding my bike and living in a cycling neighborhood, but there is something even more special about living in a walkable neighborhood. I feel so lucky to be spending two weeks in such a place. I'm thinking about how I can manage to live in a walkable neighborhood someday. The potatoes were for crab chowder. No recipe was followed. Just melt some diced onions in butter, cube red potatoes with skins, add boiling water and half a bouillon cube (no stock being handy), simmer for awhile, then mash up some of the potatoes to thicken. Add consistent sized cubes of stuff with pleasant colors - I had cucumber, but bell pepper would work - little strips of parsley or scallions or other greeney, salt and pepper. Bacon is always recommended but I had none, so I threw in a Parmesan cheese rind and some cubes of gruyere cheese. After the seasonings are right, add heavy cream and simmer a bit more. A flour slurry if you want thick spoon-standing chowder, but I prefer a more liquid soup. The crab comes last. Let it stand and the flavors mingle, then reheat and serve.
...See More
Cooking in my developing kitchen.
Q
Comments (10)
No, oldbat2b. Cabs will be the 9th, and my MBR marble will be on Monday. Yeah! Fouramblues, I think you're right. I cook in volume, then not again for 2-3 months. It's because when I buy hamburger, I can make spaghetti, meatloaf, and a grain thing. Celery goes for so much, as do onions, green peppers, blah blah. I don't know what I'd do without my freezer. :) No, dodge59. [LOL] I have mastered the art of holding the knife with my teeth while I type. My palangies -- to date -- are intact. I'm using my feet to balance as I climb counter to cabinet and back and forth. After all. I do teach yoga... Ever heard Home Simpson moan, "Beeeeeeerrrrr"? Well for me, it's "broooooooowwwwnies" if I'm not moaning about "beaded insettttttttt" cabinets. [chortle] Today it's spaghetti. I'm gonna do the beef stew tomorrow. Stuffing, too. Nummy! I'm gonna be livin' large with my beaded cabinets and bathroom marble. Someday I'll be able to do my uppers. WATCH OUT WORLD!
...See More
I did it--back to cooking and menus for the week!
Q
Comments (3)
Oooh! Ecks, that looks lovely! How is the new kitchen working? Maybe we should start a thread in Conversations for weekly menus?
...See More
bellsmom
9 years ago
Beautiful food. Thank you for sharing. Love the idea of the stuffed wings!
Jasdip
9 years ago
LOL, they didn't have any tools. I can't imagine "anyone" stocking the tools you would use in your kitchen DC!
Your style of cooking really reminds me of Heston Blumenthal.

I like your stuffed wings too. What are they stuffed with?
I love bok choy and yours looks delicious.
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you everyone. Really in someone else's kitchen is worst than sleeping in a stranger's bad. :-)

Chicken wings are not the healthiest food. All that fatty skin and sticky sweet thick sauce. Making stuffed boneless wings gives you the chance to make something healthier as well as all kinds of delicious tastes. They are also more interesting to eat.

Veggies, muishrooms, etc. are what I normally stuff the wings with.

dcarch
sleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)
9 years ago
Never thought to stuff a wing. In fact, i've never bought or cooked wings. Living in and working in NYC i get plenty at work and play functions that are catered.
Great idea to fill that void with something healthy that needs some fat/moisture.

Did you freeze the fiddleheads? Such a disappointment that my fern forest is not the edible variety...

I've given kitchen gifts for years so i have some basics when i visit. My dad over-sharpens the good knives i gave him so they are now concave at the middle area of the blade....
MIL has tiny amounts of hundreds of spices/herbs from penzey that are 10-20 yrs old. A mud sludge to get any flavor out of it. Oh well.

Restaurant meals can be a shifty, fidgety annoyance. But you were visiting Calgary and the Alberta area? Fantastic food all over that region of Canada. I was there for 6 months so i did have time to seek it out. Some of my most memorable meals ever.
plllog
9 years ago
My reply never made it. :( The gist is I really like the curicues and polka dots. :) It all looks yummy. I love it when the composition is pretty and yummy looking, both.
nancyofnc
9 years ago
My husband carries a little whetstone in his overnight bag. He uses a pocket knife for everything and the whetstone comes in handy when traveling. I also think 95% of the people we visit never had their knives sharpened since they were new, so if we are helping in the kitchen he sharpens the ones we use. They are all surprised at how easy it is to sharpen with a whetstone, and probably cut themselves on the knives until they dull them again on their glass cutting boards. >>sighNancy
colleenoz
9 years ago
I take my own knives to MILs if I'm cooking at her place. Her best knife is a "Stay-Sharp" (which doesn't really). Other ILs have good knives :-)
mustangs81
9 years ago
Are the people you were visiting aware of your extraordinary cooking related skills? While I would welcome you into my kitchen any time, I would be intimidated but would deal with it in order to see you in action!

This post was edited by mustangs on Sun, Jul 13, 14 at 11:19
ritaweeda
9 years ago
Beautiful food on beautiful ROUND plates!!! YAY!!!
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
Original Author
9 years ago
sleevendog, stuffed wings take a little more work, but everyone enjoys the end result. Yes Canada has wonderful quality food everywhere. I freeze some fiddlehead fern every year because the season is so short, only a few days.

Although I am not one of those knife nuts/enthusiasts who keep their knives razor sharp, I make all my knives, and I do keep them sushi sharp. That is actually not a difficult thing to do. With good cutting habits a knife will not need sharpening often. My knives are made of D-2 tool steel. D-2 steel is meant for cutting other metals. If it can cut metal and remain sharp, imagine how long it can last cutting food.

Thanks Cathy and Ritaweeda. For this go around, round plate works because there are round elements in the use of ingredients.

dcarch

Back Cooking In My Kitchen

Comments (12)

Rusty

OklaMoni

Related Discussions

bellsmom

Jasdip

dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
Original Author

sleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)

plllog

nancyofnc

colleenoz

mustangs81

ritaweeda

dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Back Cooking In My Kitchen

Comments (12)

Related Discussions

dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o mOriginal Author

dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o mOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
Original Author

dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
Original Author