Journal

2016 - Week 26 Cooking Results

Lamb, Apricot & Fennel Seed meatballs

Even with half the fennel seeds asked for, there was still quite a bit of fennel flavor.  Why Half? I clearly overestimated how much was in the little containers (yes I feel vaguely guilty about not going to Allspice).  So I used ground mutton (it's what I had in the freezer).  Because of the amount of carbohydrates in the dried apricots, this had more carbohydrates then I was expecting.  Even so, it was quite good.

Sausage & New Potatoes

Shannon wasn't a big fan of the sausage (green curry and something) and it wasn't my favorite either.  The other thing about this was figuring out what 5oz of potatoes actually was.  Since that would be within my carb limit, it made sense, but wasn't as much as I thought it might be.  And yes, I weighed it on a scale.  Clearly my eyes don't know wtf they are seeing.

Celery Chicken

So the PBS website suffered some downtime...of some sort (clearly vaguely graceful, considering it gave me an error message), while I was trying to make dinner, so I had to call an audible.  I used the baby white carrots I picked up yesterday, some Green's mix (both from Cleverley farms) and then some Basil Feta from Reichert's Dairy Air.  And some seared chicken thighs.  Made for a really good salad.  The white carrots were a bit more earthy then I was expecting, but made for a nice accent to the rest of the salad.

Grilled Cheese with Spicy rotisserie chicken

Ok I forgot to add the spicy to the rotisserie, but even so it was a pretty good combination.  I made a lightly dressed chicken salad (chicken + mayo + dijon mustard)...with a cheese that I should've written down (French, unpasteurized, combination of sheep and cow milk, I think, why can I remember all that and not the name?).  On some of Wild Yeast Bakery's sourdough.  Magnificent.

So so on top of the celery chicken audible, I had these sour cherries I needed to use, so, Sauce!  Cherries, a bit of port and a pinch of sugar.  Over a pork loin.  Good stuff.

Also, first picture using new(ish) camera, for food.

2016 - Week 25 Cooking Results

 

Seared chicken, sunburst tomatoes, crumbled jowl bacon, arugula and garlic scape chevre over gem lettuce.

So this started by thinking about what to do with some early popping sunburst tomatoes, then I had some leftover cooked jowl bacon from the breakfast earlier that day.  This really turned out really good.  A nice combination of flavors, textures and smells.  and everything but the chicken was local and from a small scale producer.

Chorizo, radish and cilantro tacos.

A good combination of flavors and tastes.  Fresh ingredients, local chorizo.  Good stuffs.

Smashed Pork Burgers

Due to the fact that my carbohydrate intake has been ratcheted down, I find it difficult to buy a pack of (cheap) buns, where I will end up not eating the other ones (not worth the carbs in them).  So while I know my wife prefers appropriate bread, I made an executive decision to just use some sourdough bread.  I was able to make these quickly before my class (was late leaving work too), Turned out well.

Green Curry & Coconut Pork Sausage with Broccoli over rice

Shannon did not like these sausages.  I didn't feel like cooking much, so we just had sausages and a salad.  These were not...what I was expecting.  I didn't dislike them, but they weren't up to the same practiced flavor profile that I expect from Story City Locker / Lucky George.  I did end up splitting what Shannon didn't eat and having them on a sandwich later, which was a bit better (bread, mustard, pickled goathorn peppers).

Sesame Beef and Snap Peas

Again, the desire to cook was low, so we had steak sandwiches.  turned out well.

Old Southeast Water Trough (1906, Des Moines)

Always read the plaque

N 41° 34.974 W 093° 36.057

Around the House, light, shadow, texture, cats and SQUIRREL!

After wondering around the city for the purpose of shopping and photography, we got back to the house and I wanted to take a bit more in the way of photos.

DTFM & Downtown

Clearly I'm still having problems with the amount of light to let in and how to adjust them to get the right amount.  The combination of the f-stop (smaller = less light), shutter speed (slower = more light), and ISO (higher = more light).  So in less then ideal (very cloudy) conditions, it took a while to adjust the settings up or down to get the right set.

To be fair, one class, had the camera for 10 days.  Though I have taken 378 photos so far.  There were a couple of photos that turned out pretty well.

So I originally invested in an refurbished Canon T5 (already discontinued), because it reduced the startup cost for a hobby.  However, I've dropped money on extra memory cards (~$20), extra battery (~$15), and the most recent round, arriving today, a bag, tripod and lens hood (~$60).  So much like when I hear friends talk about adding motorcycle parts, it's about accessories.  Though to be fair, so far my accessories are way cheaper then motorcycle ones.

I really enjoyed the part of my morning at the DTFM after I put down my shopping bags and just started taking pictures.  It was calming and quiet.  Looking for things to shoot, playing with settings.