We took a little walk this weekend. I made it into a photo shoot. I can’t help myself. We have so many photos on our computer that we’ve taken to buying yearly subscriptions for online backup. If I lost them, I wouldn’t know what to do. I need them to be saved elsewhere, far away, so if anything ever happened, I would at least have those memories.
Oh yeah, and there was this too. We’ve recently become obsessed with craft brewed ales. Although we’ve always bought beer from local artisan breweries, it’s only recently we’ve expanded our reach to international craft brewed ales. Such as these lovely specimens from Dogfish Head. Love them, all of them.
I never saw myself as liking beer when I was younger. But then we started to attend this local festival, The Great Canadian Beerfest. Eight years in and we love sampling all the amazing beers we can in one slightly inebriated evening. That’s what babysitters are for right? Now I can’t decided whether I like my beer hoppy, grainy, wheaty, sweet, carbonated, flat, warm, cold, spiced, flavoured with Hawthorn fruit (WTF?) or roasted pumpkin. I find myself in beer heaven everytime we hit the beer and wine stores. If only British Columbia (that’s the province I live in) didn’t tax the heck out of all of it. That big bottle, labelled Jiahu? $25 CAD. (OMG!!!!) In the States? Anywhere from $8.99 to $22.00. Amazing what a little taxation can do.
So if you have recommendations on beers that I should try, please let me know. We are always looking for something new and interesting.
On to today’s lesson.
Continue reading “Back to Basics: Culinary Fundamentals (Mayonnaise)” →
 Fall. Autumn.
Time for leaves to be thrown, jumped in, raked and pressed between the pages of an overly heavy book.
Time to relax and let it all go. Accept that winter is on it’s way and not spend too much time grumbling about the fact that it’s dark at 2pm.
Okay, I’m exaggerating a little, but seriously…the end of daylight saving time is always a tough time of year. Especially for food bloggers. For those of us who take pictures of our main meals (dinner) in the evenings, this signifies the loss of all the glorious natural light. Time to break out every source of indoor light we can muster and pray that everything turns out okay.
What I do love about this time of year is the food. Filling, rich and belly warming, autumn brings out everything I love about the ritual of eating.
I recently purchased a Dutch oven. YAY! You may remember me saying that it is one of the culinary tools I did not yet own and something I really wanted to acquire. So when the holiday sales started, I just took the plunge and bought a good one. Something I’ve learned over the years is that kitchen tools are priced pretty fairly. You get what you pay for. You buy that cheap version of a cast iron pan with enamel coating and the first time you use it, the enamel bubbles and chips off. Shoot.
So this time, I just spent more than I would normally be comfortable spending, especially around this time of year. But I can proudly say that four days of Dutch oven ownership have brought me three days of Dutch oven usage. I love it that much. What a versatile tool. I think when I am asked now what kitchen tool I could not live without, this will be the answer.
Continue reading “Slow Roasted Pork Belly with Black Eyed Peas” →
Tree Roots
 Mmmmm…..Monkey Butt
Today on Guilty Kitchen, is the start of a new series that I like to call: Culinary Fundamentals. It’s going to be a back to basics approach to food, kind of like my way of showing you that anyone can cook from scratch. Really from scratch, like butter and mayonnaise and bread. Those kinds of things.
It hit me a couple of days ago, when we were in the back lot of forest behind our house foraging for mushrooms, that everyone should know the basics. Some people have never made salad dressing from scratch, or tomato sauce or even bread! This may not be shocking to you, as you may be one of those people, but to me everyone should know how to do them. In my mind, it is absolutely necessary for people to possess these skills. Why? Because everyone should know how to make their food from scratch, it’s just that simple. It’s such an easy skill to cook, and something everyone must do. We shouldn’t have to rely on the commercial brands to do it for us.
Anyone who’s ever compared the taste of homemade to commercial, can say with confidence which is better. I’m sure there are big brand versions of some things that poeple prefer, but that might only be because they’ve never attempted to make it themselves.
Take today’s first lesson, butter. A simple recipe: cream, salt if desired. That’s it. Most commercial butter contains one more ingredient, colour. It is added to make the butter have a yellow cast to it, resembling the natural hue of grass fed cattle’s pure milky goodness. Natural butter can be anywhere from off white to very yellow, depending on the time of year and the cow’s diet. But the stuff you buy in the store is dyed to make it look more natural…a bit of an oxymoron if you ask me.
Tasting fresh, homemade butter is better. It just is. You made it (in a very short period of time, no less) and you can taste the difference in the finished product.
So I hope the lessons that I will be sharing every Monday will be of value to you, my readers. I hope I change a few minds.
Continue reading “Back to Basics: Culinary Fundamentals (Butter)” →
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Hi! I'm Elizabeth. I like fitness, bad ass tattoos, food, bacon, chocolate, taking lots of silly pictures and my spawn. Check out my FAQ for all the usual Qs or send me an e-mail and tell me all about your cat and your Aunt Sally's amazing apple pie. |
