Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Saturday, January 19, 2013

What else is there to eliminate?

I'm rather behind in post-processing recent photographs, there were 755 of them waiting to be looked at today. I went through almost half, deleting 95% of them. Here are three photographs taken on Thursday, day before yesterday.

Yesterday I ate - for the first time ever - Quorn cutlets. I have eaten less and less meat recently, selecting the vegetarian dish at lunch at work.

A colleague knew what Quorn is, and we had a discussion about it during lunch. Today I read the Wikipedia article about it. Quorn is a brand of imitation meat mycoprotein, and it tasted a bit like chicken. Not bad at all. However, it seems that there is also a bit of controversy, as some people have got an allergic reaction after eating it. In Finland Quorn is a new thing, as it became available in shops in Autumn 2012.

(Posting title is from the poem Days of 1994: Alexandrians by Marilyn Hacker.)

Friday, October 7, 2011

Cooking

Today we had a stormy day, which turned into hard rain at night. I managed to go for a walk before it rained, though.

Yesterday I wrote some words about cooking, and was asked to tell some more about the macaroni sauce. So here goes, about a subject I know almost nothing about.

But first: let me know if you have some such recipes of your own. Easy ones, I mean, such ones that don't require more than what is absolutely needed to get food on the table.

Anyway, back to the macaroni sauce. The best way to have it taste good are hungry children. I have often heard claims about the huge appetites of teenage sons, who empty the fridge in a moment. Well, the same seems to apply to daughters.

Another good source for a good appetite is spending long hours outside playing with friends in nearby fields and parks. After that food just disappears!

About the macaroni sauce I really can't say much, expect that the recipe evolves, and depends on what is available. Onions, that is of course needed, and some ground beef or such, and oil. If there are paprikas or tomatoes in the fridge, they can be used. And ketchup.

As a detail, we buy paprika powder in 0.5 kg packages ("industrial size"). And powdered cayenne pepper, that is a necessity!

As to how much and what, I can't really say, it depends. I never measure by spoons etc., which occasionally can produce surprises. And yes, another thing: we don't put salt into food at home, there is too much of it already in various things such as factory-made bread.

I hope I didn't spoil your appetite with this. And if you are still interested in what skills I have, I can tell about changing diapers. That is a skill I have practiced a lot.

Anyway, writing about food reminded me of an essay I read some time ago. I think it was in an essay collection by various writers, and written by a "food columnist" for The New York Times. She wrote a sort of culinary memoir about her childhood. Their grandma was living with them, and taking care of their eating, very strictly. She insisted on serving lettuce with a horrible dressing.

As an adult the columnist finally realized what the recipe was: her grandmother had taken the recipe out of an old cookbook, but as she was very stingy, left out all the "expensive" ingredients such as eggs and sugar. The essay contained the grandmother's salad dressing recipe, published for "the only and final time".

Does anyone happen to know who was the writer of this essay?

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

A walk in a forest, then drive-in


Trientalis europaea, originally uploaded by jiihaa.


Drive in, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Just to note that autumn is progressing, bit by bit. And long walks generate an appetite for some fast food.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Skiing on fresh snow


Skiing, originally uploaded by jiihaa.


Skiing blur, originally uploaded by jiihaa.


Skiing tracks, originally uploaded by jiihaa.


Karelian hot pot, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Today was for me the first day of skiing this winter. It was clouded but not too dark, and the temperature was -2 °C...-3 °C, excellent for skiing. And we had Karelian hot pot to eat. Here is a little photo story from today.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Grill in the garden


Sausages and corn-on-the-cob, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

We did some traditional (Finnish) grilling today, not fancy but tasted good nevertheless.