Food Pr0n!

[Wizzard419]

I'm trying to remember everything else but I know there is cheddar cheese, flour, salt, etc. They are baked. Not all versions are spicy though, so if you see them in the store you don't need to expect them to be spicy.

[Amy]

As I am feeling a bit sorry for myself this morning having found out I will not be an attraction at the museum for a month, and the
critters have simply decimated the garden this year, here is an update from the garden of eat'n...No photos, it's too depressing

cherry towmaters ~ we have had about 5 this year. The critters have eaten the rest. We only had 2 big tomatoes....both eaten by varmits

grapes ~ yeah, I've had about 3 grapes, all a bit before they were 100% ripened, all picked after a varmit had eaten and rejected most of the rest on the vine. Or perhaps they only eat the insides of the grapes and always discard the skins right under the vine Anyhow, I picked them and ate them so I could at least see what they tasted like. They were good if a bit on the tart side. I gave F1gment the last grape this morning. Somehow the critters missed one!

yellow squash ~ after some sort of bugs killed one plant, the other two seem to have a failure to thrive. One blossoms and then the blossoms fall off, the other plant just is...there. I think there is something to that whole "plant 3 plants together on a hill" I think they need to pollinate each other.

cucumbers ~ something kept eating the vines. Never found out what, but I managed to nurse a few vines back to health only to have them eaten once again. Nothing is left of the cucumbers at all

On the bright side, the beets seem to have done well...after I removed a whommamonga caterpiller that was eating the leaves. And we might see a few bells peppers yet, I hope! And in the grand scheme of things, there are much worse things happening in the world beyond our little garden so I shall persevere....and buy my produce at the market this year....sigh

[NaCler]

I'm sorry Amy... those early photos from your garden looked so good, I thought surely you would get good stuff this year.

Wizz - I was just catching up from this thread as I hadn't read it in about 3 months. You definitely know your way around a kitchen, have you ever applied to Masterchef or one of the Food Network reality shows? I'd LOVE to see you in Hell's Kitchen!

[Amy]

I'm sorry Amy... those early photos from your garden looked so good, I thought surely you would get good stuff this year.

Wizz - I was just catching up from this thread as I hadn't read it in about 3 months. You definitely know your way around a kitchen, have you ever applied to Masterchef or one of the Food Network reality shows? I'd LOVE to see you in Hell's Kitchen!

Thanks ~ yeah, we were hoping for good things too!

Oh my goodness, you are right NaCler. Wiz would be very fun to watch on Masterchef or Hell's Kitchen!!

[Wizzard419]

Yeah I don't touch those shows, mostly because I don't need to compete.

As always the recs are almost always availble upon request.

My vegetable output was a little low this year again too since we had another cool summer (we haven't seen normal summer weather for 2 years now). If you have animals eating tomatos you might want to pick them early and put them in a paper bag in the house to finish ripening. For cutworms and horn worms (the giant green caterpillars) you can use a soap spray, it's usually a tablespoon of organic dishsoap (so you don't make the plants toxic) and it will keep them off.

I learned that I cannot trim my surinam cherry trees at all or it will get mad. I did it last winter and got a few blossoms and no fruit. This year I left it alone and have had multiple blooming sessions with fruit-set.

[Amy]

Yeah I don't touch those shows, mostly because I don't need to compete.

As always the recs are almost always availble upon request.

My vegetable output was a little low this year again too since we had another cool summer (we haven't seen normal summer weather for 2 years now). If you have animals eating tomatos you might want to pick them early and put them in a paper bag in the house to finish ripening. For cutworms and horn worms (the giant green caterpillars) you can use a soap spray, it's usually a tablespoon of organic dishsoap (so you don't make the plants toxic) and it will keep them off.

I learned that I cannot trim my surinam cherry trees at all or it will get mad. I did it last winter and got a few blossoms and no fruit. This year I left it alone and have had multiple blooming sessions with fruit-set.

The biggest problem is we're not sure what is eating things out there. I think it is the groundhog. I did remove one horn worm and a few other caterpiller bugs from things this year, but it is sort of a depressing mystery. I'm thinking the blueberry bushes and grapes stay next year and the rest gets back to being mowed ~ or not since we haven't had rain in so long the yard hasn't needed mowing for a few weeks!

[Wizzard419]

Man it's been a while for my posting (repeated foods and season change and all), what is your excuse?

Here are some surinam cherries (first crop was small but got an unexpected second crop that is still growing)



Some pomegranites (on the outside they looked pale (or in some cases sunburned) but inside they were ripe, as seen below.



The produce that shows women always like shiny things and allowed Hades to get his freak on 6 months of the year with his wife.


You can then cook down the juice and make real grenadine (the stuff in bars and at most stores is just colored sugar syrup) which allows you to make a tequila sunrise.



Here we have a chicken pot pie under pastry dome, a trick I picked up in France.



Stir fry vegetables on a noodle pillow.



A real mai-tai (using the Trader Vic rec)



Some rosemary and sage potato chips



Some profiteroles filled with fresh strawberry and vanilla bean gelatos and home made chocolate sauce (suck it, Hersey!)

[Amy]

Wow ~ that was worth waiting for! Do the surinam cherries taste like regular cherries? Do they have seeds? What kind of little plate are they sitting on?
That chicken pot pie looks really cool
You better hide the mai-tai glass, I'm guessing there are a few Poly lovers here on Sub who would love to have it
I didn't realize grenadine is made from Pomegranites...I always think I like Poms until I buy them, go through all the fuss of peeling them, and then eat a few of the arils...then I remember I don't really much care for them Luckily my friends' daughter loves them so I can buy one and take it to their house, have a few bites and then she will eat the rest so I don't feel like it is going to waste.

[Wizzard419]

They don't really taste like north american cherries, they have a grassy flavor with the sweet and sourness. You have to be careful with the cultivars you use though, I've heard some people say they have ones that taste like dirty ashtrays. They do have seeds, one day (if I get a large enough crop) I may try roasting them like coffee beans to see if it can produce anything. The plate is a tastvin (if you go to a place with a sommelier he/she may wear one around their neck), I was polishing silver so it was handy to use. They hold little use since the advent of the electric light bulb.

I make tiki drinks but the problem is that the traditional barware is not glass so there isn't much to look at.

[Amy]

Interesting, I had not heard of tastevin before. Quick google search filled me in on the importance of the little nooks and crannies in the bowl. Is the little ledgy thingie for the taster to hold on to?
What would you make with roasted cherry pits?

[Wizzard419]

Yeah, it also holds the chain/ribbon that would allow it to be worn about the neck.

I want to see if they are like normal coffee (a tropical "cherry" that is also roasted)

[boilerbabe]

You're makin me hungry Wizzard!!! I love the Trader Vics tiki mug! I loved the original Trader Vics in Chicago at the Palmer House, since they relocated, it's not the same.

[Wizzard419]

Oh the glass isn't from trader vic's, and if I recall, the original one (it's a chain) was in California.

The most common screw ups when making said cocktail are that they they don't use/have the Orgeat syrup (it's an almond flavored syrup that you can buy or make) and they put in way too much fruit juice.

Disney (the hotels and their sit down ) is horrible with cocktails as they drown many cocktails to the point that children could drink them.

[boilerbabe]

Yes, it's a chain. I mean the original Chicago one was at the Palmer House, they've sinced moved it and it's not the same. There aren't many of them though, if I recall correctly?!

[Wizzard419]

Sorta... the tiki bar fell out of fashion in the 70's-mid 90's so not all of them made it. Next time you're at DLR and want a real 1960's tiki bar (as opposed to the one just built at DLR) you could always head to Tustin/Santa Ana and go to Benji's, a diner which has it's original tiki bar in operation.