Happy 20th(!) Anniversary to My SuperHero in Disguise,
Thank you for our many years of: good times, weekend turtle times, UFO times, streaming TV times, long hospital drive times, lazy-day times, supper on the sofa times, LEGO building times, alternative date-night times, new bakery adventure times, crazy never-ending lockdown times, happy silly times, summer lunchies on the deck times, more new diagnoses times, cats in the garden times, fabulous times, keeping me company for midnight snack times, laughing til we can’t breathe times, finding a Goldilocks toy times, watching kitties in the backyard times, worrying about Sahmy Kittyness & Kumiko times, lazy weekend times, funny pirate bandage times, garden harvest times, laughing at everything & nothing times, unexplicably sad times, bird feeding times, GodKidlets™️ Online Afternoon Tea times, whinging kitty times, lovely times, weird new appointment protocol times, reminiscing about backyard weed jungle & slimy wet hole times, way more than usual sofa times, hilarious times, OMG the aamzing sweater(!!) times, Mynas soda times, scary unknown times, bedhog cuddle kitty times, thunderstorm listening times, dreaming about future travel times, backyard berry picking times, grumbling about the stove times, just being together times, hotdog flower times, Sunday driving times, unexciting times, sometimes failed (but mostly successful) bread making times, video game Stray times, always staying at home times, crazy spazzing kitty times, bee snoozing in sunflower watching times, weird idea times, restaurant takeout times, working from home times, binge-watching Netflix times, confetti square times, desperately needing nap times, future(!) planning(!!) times, epicly messy times, bedtime snuggle times, and all those times I can’t remember to mention.
I hope we have many more years of life-times to come.
Happy 19th Anniversary to My SuperHero in Disguise,
Thank you for our many years of: good times, weekend turtle times, UFO times, streaming TV times, fireworks watching times, lazy-day times, supper on the sofa times, LEGO building times, alternative date-night times, JellyBean™ adventure times, crazy continual Covid-lockdown times, happy times, so much owieness times, indulging in my seemingly never ending mason jar buying times, cats in the garden times, fabulous times, keeping me company for midnight snack times, laughing til we can’t breathe times, Beyond van Gogh times, watching kitties in the backyard times, eating lunch on the deck times, worrying about Sahmy Kittyness & Kumiko times, weekend getaway times, dinner in a private dome times, fun times, garden harvest times, laughing at my weird obsessions times, sad times, bird feeding times, GodKidlets™️ Online Afternoon Tea times, whinging kitty times, spending way too much on Amazon times, lovely times, weird new appointment protocol times, reminiscing about backyard weed jungle & slimy wet hole times, way more than usual sofa times, hilarious times, OMG the sweater(!!) times, Korean shaved ice times, scary unknown times, bedhog cat times, thunderstorm listening times, dreaming about future travel times, backyard berry picking times, silly times, grumbling about the stove times, just being together times, chocolate chip cookie times, Sunday driving times, unexciting times, sometimes failed (but mostly successful) bread making times, Sackboy: A New Adventure times, always staying at home times, crazy spazzing kitty times, bee friendly flower watching times, weird idea times, restaurant takeout times, working from home times, binge-watching Netflix times, making homemade pizza times, desperately needing nap times, future(!) planning(!!) times, skateboard times, bedtime snuggle times, and all those times I can’t remember to mention.
I hope we have many more years of life-times to come.
Happy 18th Anniversary to My SuperHero in Disguise,
Thank you for our years of: good times, weekend turtle times, UFO times, Kananaskis backcountry roadtrip times, fireworks watching times, lazy-day times, supper on the sofa times, LEGO building times, alternative date-night times, crazy spazzing kitty times, crazy-extended-lockdown cuz of C*vid times, happy times, indulging in my obsessions times, so much owieness times, cats in the garden times, fabulous times, midnight snack times, laughing til we can’t breathe times, cleaning kitty messes times, overnighter train times, lunch on the deck times, weekend getaway times, Peter’s drive-in cheeseburger times, fun times, garden harvest times, sad times, bird feeding times, GodKidlets™️ Online Afternoon Tea times, whinging kitty times, lovely times, weird new appointment protocol times, more time on the sofa times, hilarious times, OMG the sweater(!!) times, not enough Korean shaved ice times, scary unknown times, bedhog cat times, thunderstorm listening times, backyard berry picking times, silly times, just being together times, chocolate chip cookie times, adventure driving times, unexciting times, experimental baking times, Animal Crossing: New Horizons times, permanently staying at home times, bee friendly flower watching times, weird idea times, restaurant takeout times, working from home times, binge-watching Netflix times, desperately needing nap times, future(!) planning(!!) times, skateboard times, snuggle times, and all those times I can’t remember to mention.
I hope we have many more years of life-times to come.
Happy 16th Anniversary to My SuperHero in Disguise,
Thank you for our years of: good times, weekend turtle times, UFO times, roadtrip times, fireworks watching times, lazy-day times, supper times, LEGO building times, crazy spazzing kitty times, big vats of soup making times, happy times, so much owieness times, garden building times, fabulous times, midnight snack times, laughing til we can’t breathe times, cleaning kitty messes times, stupid infusion times, weekend getaway times, Peter’s drive-in cheeseburger times, fun times, garden harvest times, sad times, GodKidlets™️ times, smoky air locking us in the house with a new a/c times, lovely times, ungodly appointment times, breakky on the deck times, hilarious times, “sweater” times, ice cream times, WoW & game-streaming times, scary unknown times, monster salad times, thunderstorm listening times, potential cat-io planning times, silly times, frustrating waiting room times, chocolate chip cookie times, adventure driving times, unexciting times, experimental cheesecake times, bed fiddling times, weird idea times, sushi on the sofa times, exciting vacation times, coming home for lunch times, binge-watching Netflix times, nap times, LUSH bath times, future(!) planning(!!) times, skateboard times, snuggle times, and all those times I can’t remember to mention.
I hope we have many more years of life-times to come.
Last night we had TheHubbs™ favourite meal: Hamburger Casserole — a very simple combination of ground beef, hashbrown potatoes (the cubed kind), onions, bell peppers, cream of {whatever} soup, and topped with cheese.
For some reason I thought I had ground beef in the freezer somewhere but it turned out I only had ground pork and ground lamb. Turns out ground lamb makes AWESOME hamburger casserole. In fact, it’s way, way, tastier than ground beef is, so from now on: we’re gonna be making “Lamburger Casserole” ;D
LamBurger/Hamburger Casserole is a pretty simple and very basic recipe, and surprisingly, it doesn’t really need any extra seasoning (not even garlic!)
The original recipe MIL uses called for cream of mushroom soup, but TheHubbs™ is allergic to shrooms, hence why we use cream of chicken — strangely, I prefer the chicken in this particular dish 😊
P.S.: measurements in brackets for the American friends in the audience 😉
LamBurger Casserole
450g ground lamb (or beef — 1lb)
900g hashbrown potatoes (or fresh cubed potatoes, if you feel inclined — 2lbs)
Over medium-high heat, brown ground lamb in a large pot big enough to accomodate all the ingredients at the end.
Note 1: no need for extra fat for browning the lamb.
When your lamb has cooked enough to release its fat (but still looking kina bleh grey), add the chopped onions, bell peppers and cook until softened and golden brown.
Season the meat and veggies lightly with salt (remember: there’s a decent amount of salt in the canned soup + cheese), go crazy with the pepper if you’re into that sort of thing.
Note 2: You want to cook the meat until you can smell the lamb getting “dark brown & tasty” and the fat & juices get re-absorbed.
Once the meat is cooked, remove pot from heat, add both cans of soup, 1 cup of cheese and stir well until everything is all melty and amalgamated.
Add all the hashbrowns and mix until everything is well combined, then dump the whole mess into a large casserole dish.
Top casserole with the remaining cheese and bake until the hashbrowns are heated through and everything’s bubbly, about 1 hour.
When time’s up, let the casserole sit for a few minutes before serving so the violent bubbling can subside and you don’t burn your tongue when you start shovelling it into your maw 😉
Thank you for 15(!!) years of: good times, UFO times, roadtrip times, fireworks times, supper times, LEGO building times, crazy spazzing kitty times, soup times, happy times, garden times, fabulous times, snack times, laughing til we can’t breathe times, stupid infusion times, weekend getaway times, Peter’s drive-in burger times, fun times, sad times, GodKidlets times, smoky air locking us in the house with a new a/c times, lovely times, ungodly appointment times, breakky on the deck times, hilarious times, sweater times, DQ Blizzard times, monster salad times, silly times, frustrating waiting room times, chocolate chip cookie times, driving times, experimental cheesecake times, weird idea times, sushi times, vacation times, lunch times, binge-watching Netflix times, bath times, snuggle times, and all those times I can’t remember to mention.
I hope we have many more years of life-times to come.
Love You Always,
So a few weeks back, I had a brain rush to make pizza. Back at Christmas i got a second Baking Steel; this time it was the Baking Steel Mini Griddle to be used inside our convection toaster oven. Turns out I use the griddle way more regularly stove-side for making grilled cheese sammiches, french toast and ocassionally bacon.
I finally figured out how to get the thin, crispy, air bubble-filled pizza crust that I have been pining over ever since The Rock Wood Fired Kitchen shut down in Calgary! *swoon!!*
It only took me three years or so to figure out the way to go is by using a high-hydration dough — I know, it’s so obvious in hindsight! The thing is, it’s not just the high hydration dough that makes my newfound pizza-making skills amazing, it’s also the time it takes for me to bake the pizzas and way in which I execute it.
The crust recipe is from the Baking Steel website. Obviously this isn’t my own creation, but from now on it is definitely on my list of fail-safe recipes whenever I am keen to make pizzas. This dough is soft, super slack when worked with after giving it an hour or more to just rest at room temperature while you’re preheating the oven, gives you a wonderful thin crust with gorgeous air bubbles on top, and some decent char happening — the underside gets a patch here and there plus blistering happens on the bubbles on the top. The only minor drawback to this recipe is it’s a slow fermenting 18+hour deal that you have to make sure to plan for in advance.
Just for fun, if you’re keen to have your own version of ‘secret ingredient pizza dough’ recipe, there’s a fun addition I enjoyed that Baking Steel also suggests that I will include, below.
The key to getting the pizzas baked to perfection is to do it in a short amount of time. Having one steel on the highest broiler-level rack and using one as close to the bottom of your oven as you can possibly get it in case you want to bake the pizza an extra minute or two to finish the crust’s bottom without burning the top to cinders is definitely the awy to go. I am ridiculously amazed that it only takes me about 3 minutes to have a pizza baked to my definition of pizza perfection; sometimes it takes 4 minutes if it’s a heavily loaded meat pizza (a rare choice for toppings for this cooking method), and sometimes even 2 minutes for a simply dressed down white pizza (my recently discovered favourite).
Toppings-wise, this kind of thin crust pizza is definitely where the less-is-more concept is what you’re going to want to keep in mind when you top your pizzas so they bake off within 3-4 minutes.
No-Knead high hydration dough
500g (17 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour, (I used bread flour, this one is killer), plus more for shaping
1g (1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
16g (2 tsp) fine sea salt
350g (1 1/2 cup) water
Optional SUPER SEKRET INGREDIENT(!):
16g instant cheese powder packet 😜
1. In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk the flour, yeast, salt and secret ingredient (the cheese pkg from your favorite boxed mac & cheese mix). Add water, and with a wooden spoon or your hands, mix thoroughly.
2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and allow it to rise at room temperature (about 72F) for 18 hours, or until it has more than doubled. It will take longer in a chilly room and less time in a very warm one.
3. Flour work surface and scrape out the dough. Divide it into 4 equal parts and shape them. For each portion, start with the right side of the dough and pull it toward the center; then do the same with the left, then the top, then the bottom (the order doesn’t matter, what you want is four folds). Shape each portion into a round and turn seam side down. Mold the dough into a neat circular mound. The mounds should not be sticky; if they are, dust with more flour.
4. If you don’t intend to use the dough right away, wrap the balls individually in plastic wrap or store in plastic cylinders for up to 3 days. Return to room temp by leaving them out on the counter, covered in a damp cloth, for 2 to 3 hours before needed.
Broiler Method Pizza Baking Instructions
Place Baking Steel on the top rack of the oven and second ateel on bottom rack. Preheat on convection bake for one hour at 500 F.
Launch pizza onto the center of the Baking Steel. Bake on convection for four minutes. Protip: Use your iphone timer!
Give your pizza a spin and switch the dial to broil for 2-3 minutes (depending on pizza toppings). Be sure to watch your pizza carefully. I usually check it at a minute to make sure it’s not getting too dark. If desired, put pizza on bottom steel for 1-2 minutes to get bottom crust tp your desire doneness.
Take your pizza out of the oven and enjoy!
I used a gas oven with a gas broiler, this technique works for both gas and electric. However, electric broilers have a mind of their own and will not likely start broiling right away. So timing may be extended when using electric ovens.
[Broiler making method: http://www.bakingsteel.com/blog/perfect-pizza-using-baking-steel-broiler-method ]
Can you even….?? I made homemade tonkotsu ramen with pork belly chashu & ajitsuke tamago, all from scratch!
Lemme tell you, these last two weeks-worth of major kitchen activity have been ridiculously active and overwhelmingly busy! I wouldn’t have been nearly as successful or productive that first ramen-making weekend if it hadn’t been for TheHubbs™ willingness to do all the grocery shopping for me on that Friday afternoon while I was busy getting treatment done.
Not only did it take 18+ hours to make the tonkotsu broth the first time (20 hours for the second time) but it also took about 5 hours to make the chashu pork belly – these are seriously tasty and swoon-worthy projects that would make any weekend kitchen warrior proud!
I’ve always been keen to try tackling the job of making homemade ramen for years but I knew it would definitely be a project of serious undertaking. I didn’t realise TheHubbs™ was even keen for ramen until he had actually voiced a craving for it numerous times after he had watched an episode of Chef’s Table with me, on Netflix, about chef Ivan Orkin of Japan’s Ivan Ramen (Season 3):
I am super proud to say that with encouragement from TheHubbs™ and a serious boost of steroids from my recent hip injections, I successfully made tonkotsu ramen broth using Kenji Lopez-Alt’s recipe from the Serious Eats website!
It’s an easy recipe to execute, it just takes time to do the tiresome job of cleaning and de-scumming of the pork & chicken bones. One very useful tip I would offer before actually beginning the broth-making, if you have the time: let your pork bones soak overnight in a big bowl of water in the fridge. This will give you headstart with getting rid of the extra scummy stuff when you do a quick 5minute hardboil purge(?) before actually making the ramen broth to give you a nice, clean, and eventually, super milky broth.
If anything, be prepared to do a fair amount of veggie prep-work and make sure you stock up on scallions… LOTS of scallions!
As for ramen’s traditional accompaniments: The first weekend I made ramen (two weekends ago) I made a very acceptable chashu substitute that was made with thin bone-less, and thick bone-in, pork loin chops. Before boiling the marinade, I evenly divided the aromatics in half and separated them into two cheesecloth pouches, then added one pouch into each sousvide bag along with half the marinade before adding in the pork chops. The key to making the pork loin chops juicy and tender, like pork belly chashu, is to cook it sousvide.
Make sure to cook the boneless chops separately from the bone-in chops so you don’t overcook the one or undercook the other. Once your porkchops are cooked for their preferred times, pull the bags from their hot water bath and dunk’em straight into an ice water bath to cool the meats right down and leave them in the marinade until you’re ready to eat; although I wouldn’t recommend keeping the cooked porkchops in their marinade for longer than 4-6 hours, as the meat will likely toughen up considerably because of the salt content from thew soysauce. If it’s going to hang around longer than the six hours, just drain the marinade into a separate container to use for later.
Speaking of the leftover marinade: With all that amazing porky-infused marinade juices leftover, make sure you save it to make your soft-centered eggs; you can’t have a proper bowl of ramen without a signature soysauce marinated egg!
Below, I have listed all the recipe links from Serious Eats that I’ve been using instead of writing it all out. Believe me when I say it’s easier this way — you’ll have all the answers to your most burning ramen questions at your fingertips from Kenji’s collection of ramen articles in one place.
Plus, if you don’t can’t easily get access to a slab of pork belly, here’s my sousvide porkchop chashu; it really does make for a great pork belly alternative, especially if you prefer to have a less rich form of pork for your bowl of ramen. I’m really quite proud of it, even though it’s essentially a riff of the Serious Eats recipe ^_^
I have to say, I’m pretty pleased with how the ramen turned out given I’ve never actually eaten a ‘properly made’ bowl of ramen, my problem now is I still have to figure out how to properly season individual bowls of ramen before serving. I just wish someone could tell me how to make a bowl of shio and miso ramen like they do in Japanese ramen shops!
Sousvide Chashu Pork Chops
3 x Bone-less porkloin chops (1cm thickness)
2 x Bone-in thick cut pork chops (1″ thickness)
Chashu marinade
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 cup sake
1 cup mirin
1/2 cup sugar
6 scallions, roughly chopped
6 whole garlic cloves
One 2-inch knob ginger, roughly sliced
1 whole shallot, split in half (skin on)
Divide scallions, ginger, garlic and onion in half and wrap in cheesecloth pouches, tie with string.
Drop cheesecloth wrapped aromatics into pot with water, soy sauce, mirin, sake & sugar and heat until sugar is dissolved.
Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
Preheat sousvide bath to 65°C
Meanwhile, put porkloin chops together in a separate sousvide bag from bone-in chops. Set aside until marinade is cooled.
Into each sousvide bag, remove aromatics from their cheesecloth pouches and add to porkchops.
Divide cooled marinade evenly between each bag of porkchops. Remove air from bags, seal and drop into sousvide bath.
Cook boneless chops for 30 minutes.
Cook bone-in chops for 60 minutes.
Remove bags from sousvide bath after cooking and drop into ice water baths to cool down.
Put pork chops into a large enough container to accomodate all the chops and cover with marinade until ready to eat, up to 4 hours. If not eating right away within four to six hours, remove chops from liquids and set aside in a separate container to use for flavouring individual bowls of ramen broth, if desired, or discard.
Use any extra remaining marinade to marinate softboiled eggs.
Sousvide Soysauce Eggs
6 eggs, cold from fridge
Leftover cooked Chashu Marinade
Cheesecloth (or paper towel)
Ice water bath
Optional (yet very useful): drawstring produce pouch to hold eggs
Preheat sousvide bath to 90°C
Put eggs gently into drawstring pouch and set aside.
When temperature is reached, gently lower eggs into bath and clip drawstring to pot.
Cook eggs for 9minutes.
Immediately remove drawstring pouch from hot water bath and drop into ice water bath.
Crack & remove egg shells when cool enough to handle but still very warm, then drop eggs into chashu marinade.
Cover eggs with cheesecloth soaked in marinade and refrigerate until ready to eat.
When ready to eat, cut egg in half and serve.
If not eating within 4hrs, remove eggs from marinade and discard to prevent rubbery eggs.
Eat your heart out: Soft cardamom buns filled with homemade marzipan-cream and dusted with powdered sugar for the most perfect accompaniment to a cup of coffee to be enjoyed for Fika; Swedish coffee break.
Semlor can be yours!!
I admit it: I use a bread machine whenever I need, or want, to make bread. I just mix up the dough in the machine and do the rest by hand. It works for my needs and I don’t die from over exertion or exhaustion ^_^
If you possess the physical stamina that I do not, on the other hand, then go about making them as instructed in the original Semla Bun recipe link found here.
75 g (5 tbsp) salted butter
300 ml (1¼ cups) milk
1 egg
500 g (3½ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour, extra may be required
55g (¼ cup) sugar
1 tsp freshly ground or cracked cardamon
10 g (3¼ tsp) “instant” fast action dried yeast
– Pour butter, milk, egg into bottom of bread machine tin.
– Add flour, sugar, cardamon and yeast on top of liquid ingredients.
– Set bread machine to dough setting and press start.
– When cycle is complete, remove dough from bread machine tin onto lightly floured surface.
– Divide dough into ~50g pieces and roll into buns. Makes 20 buns.
– Place formed buns onto parchment lined cookie sheet and cover with towel to proof 30-40minutes.
– When ready to bake: preheat oven to 400°F/200°C and bake for 10 minutes.
– Remove buns to cooling rack and make marzipan filling. Marzipan Filling
200g almond meal
100g castor sugar
100g powdered sugar
100ml water
1 tsp vanilla seed paste
Pinch of ground cardamom
– Put almond meal, castor sugar and powdered into food processor. Pulse to combine.
– Add water and process until smooth-ish paste is achieved. [Note: If too wet, add more almond meal and sugars in the proportion 2:1:1]
– Add ground cardomom and vanilla bean paste and pulse a few times more.
– Almond paste is VERY STICKY! Put filling in a ziplock bag and set aside until ready to use.
And finally…
How to assemble your delightful semla bun ❤:
(P.S.: semla is singular for semlor)
1) cut top off your cardamom bun
2) pull out some of bun’s innards
3) break up innards and mix with some homemade almond paste
4) lighten almond filling with whipped cream
5) fill empty bun with almond cream mixture and top with extra dollop of plain whipped cream
6) put semla’s top back on and dust with powdered sugar
7) admire your semla and consume without getting too much cream or powdered sugar all over your oxygen hose 😂
8) alternative serving method: place marzipan cream-filled bun in bottom of a bowl of warm milk and enjoy slightly less messily ^_^
Dream a Little Dream with Me 