Category: Food

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Thursday/ cooking with pressure is a pleasure

I have had my Instant Pot pressure cooker for a week now, and I’m still learning to use it —but I like it a lot.

So far I have cooked regular oats, steel-cut oats, rice, Brussels sprouts, asparagus and sweet potato in it. Asparagus is ready in an instant with an official cooking time of 0 minutes. You put them in, and they’re done. Howzat! 😂
Let me explain. The laws of physics still apply. Even if you put the water and asparagus in the cooker and tell it to cook for 0 minutes, it will still take 5-10 mins to get to the operating temperature and pressure inside. During that time it already cooks the food inside. Something as delicate as asparagus is then cooked already. Voila.

I put this sweet potato in for 20 minutes and it came out perfectly cooked. (I let the pressure go down by itself for another 10 mins or so). I used to bake these root vegetables in the oven: a 45-minute endeavor with tin foil, and then the sugar sometimes oozes out of the venting holes I made into the skin with a fork, and bake into black, as well.
Water, the versatile substance of life, comes in three phases, depending on its temperature⁠— and the pressure it is under. Liquid water under a higher pressure cooks (turns into steam) at a higher temperature. A pressure cooker operates at roughly 2 atmospheres of pressure —12 to 15 pounds per square inch (psi) above atmospheric pressure (which is roughly 15 psi). At 12 psi above sea level pressure, pressure water boils at 117 °C (243 °F). Yes, that sounds like a modest temperature elevation compared to an oven, but the steam sealed in the cooker has an enormous capacity for carrying and transmitting heat to the food to cook it. 
Just as an interesting aside: the triple point of water occurs at 0.01 °C in a near-vacuum. That point at the upper right called the critical point is where water vapor (steam) is warm enough so that no amount of pressure brought to bear on it, will liquefy it.
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Wednesday/ of buds and brews

The breakfast Buds I had looked for far and wide, suddenly showed up on the shelf in the QFC on Broadway, and I grabbed four boxes.
Push had come to shove, and I was no longer playing nice by taking only one or two boxes!

And ⁠— I returned my ‘black stainless’ coffee maker, and got a slightly different model, after all.

Interesting how the wide-angle lens of the iPhone 13 Pro makes ‘vanishing edges’ of the sides of the boxes of All-Bran Buds.
My new Cuisinart coffeemaker has a bigger digital display, and a slightly bigger carafe as well. Yay! Now I can leave the instant coffee behind, and go back to filtered coffee again: the stuff that is a royal treat, fit for a king.
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Thursday/ about the ‘black stainless’

My coffeemaker was kaput, and the new one I had ordered, landed on the porch today.

I wasn’t paying attention and ordered a ‘black stainless’ model instead of the ‘brushed chrome’ one that I had before. It’s all Amazon’s fault! .. with their ‘Order in 23 minutes to get it on Thursday’ message as I was about to order it. (Lesson: don’t order items late at night when you are bleary-eyed and tired). I think it will be OK, though. I’ll even get to like it.
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Saturday/ a taste of South Africa

blatjang
/ˈblatjaŋ/, /ˈblatʃaŋ/

noun
A tangy sauce made of dried fruit (usually apricots) and chillies cooked in vinegar; chutney.

Archaic forms: blaatgham, blatcham
Origin: Afrikaans, Malay
It is probable that in late 19th century Afrikaans this word still had two meanings:
1. A. Pannevis’s Afskrif van Lys van Afrikaanse Woorde en Uitdrukkings (1880) defines ‘Bladjang’ as being made of dried chillies and stewed dried apricots in vinegar;
2. H.C.V. Leibbrandt’s Het Kaapsch Hollandsch (1882) lists ‘Balachan’ and ‘Blatchong’, both with the same meaning as the Malay belachan; and the Woordelijst van het Transvaalsch Taaleigen (1890) includes ‘Blatjang’, defined as ‘een zeker gerecht’ (a certain dish).

When you say ‘blatjang’ or ‘chutney’ in South Africa, you really mean ‘Mrs. Ball’s Original Recipe Chutney. It is nonpareil.

The Woodstock, Cape Town factory that first made Mrs. Balls’s chutney, opened in 1917.

I ordered this jar of Mrs. Ball’s chutney from Amazon. I have loved this stuff for a lifetime.
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Thursday/ animals in LEGO

I ran out to Walmart in Factoria to go look for All Bran Buds today, but no luck. (All the stores here in the city seem to be out of it. Amazon has none, unless you want to pay $10 or $15 per box, from sellers in Canada!).

I almost bought a LEGO set at Walmart, but they lock them up in a display case, and the store assistant was swamped with four other shoppers.

I love the concept of a world map here, and also the idea of using as few bricks as possible to an animal or something recognizable that represents that country.
So which is the cutest: the sleek bald eagle, the orca, the toothy crocodile, the angry lion, the macaw parrot (a psittacine; all parrots belong to the order Psittaciformes), the fat giraffe, the brown bear, the sleepy penguin, or the mama kangaroo (a nice touch, that joey squeezed into its pouch)?
Here’s the other way: to use hundreds of bricks to create a lot of detail. Nice teeth for this tiger, to maul you with🐯. ROWR.
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Monday/ red pears

I bought some Red Anjou pears at Amazon Fresh. They are not nearly as red as ones I see in pictures online, but that’s OK. They taste fine.

My favorite pear is still the famous bell-shaped Bartlett pears, though.
(Also called Williams’ bon chrétien pear. The origins of this pear is uncertain).
My mom served up for canned Bartlett pears with custard, as a quick dessert.

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Thursday/ mini chocolate cones

Last night we had little chocolate cones after our beers and dinner.
The chocolate comes from Ukraine.
(Thanks to Ken & Steve for finding the intriguing chocolates!).

Roshen Confectionery Corporation (Ukrainian: Кондитерська корпорація) is headquartered in Kyiv, Ukraine. The name is a truncated version of Poroshenko, the last name of its owner.
The cones are bite-sized, and are filled with a creamy inside.
P.S. Happy belated St Patrick’s Day. Three more weeks to go for my green cast, then it all comes off for good.
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Thursday/ any way you slice it (works for me)

I recently filled out a crossword clue that said ‘Source of milk for manchego cheese’. Answer: EWE.
As placed my Amazon Fresh order last week, there it was: sliced manchego cheese.
So I added it to my order, just out of curiosity.

Here’s the one-armed bandit opening his sliced cheese The slices are not squares, nor rectangles, though: they are little wedges.
(Manchego is a cheese made in the La Mancha region of Spain from the milk of sheep of the Manchega breed. It is aged between 60 days and 2 years  -Wikipedia).
Voila! .. it still works on my toast with slices of tomato.
It’s a firm cheese with a salty, zesty taste that is not overwhelming.
(As for slicing the tomato: as long as the tomato is still firm, I can pin it down with my right elbow and slice it OK with my clumsy left hand).
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Sunday/ got milk? .. sort of

No organic (nor regular) whole milk left on the shelf. The shopper texted me a picture of a fancy lactose-free Omega-3 whole milk, which I was OK with.
Among the other items I requested was a SLICED loaf of bread, though, which was also not available. He substituted it with an UNSLICED loaf without checking with me. Maybe I will just break chunks off and eat it that way :).

A Sunday night grocery run was not possible, so I had groceries delivered to my house for the first time.

I used my QFC account that I had used for pick-up at the (previous) height of the pandemic.

QFC uses Instacart, which means an Instacart person picks your items in the store, and then drives it out to your house.

I added a generous tip online with my order, and said to just leave my items by the door.
A text message notifies the customer that the items had been delivered.

It all went fine, for the most part.
Still, next time I will try delivery by Amazon Fresh, and see how that goes.

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Thursday/ keep calm and carry on

‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ was a slogan on a motivational poster produced by the British government in 1939, to prepare the country for World War II.

The ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ theme is nowadays seen on all kinds of products, complete with the Tudor Crown (the symbol of the state of the United Kingdom). I got this tin of shortbread cookies at the British Pantry store in Redmond on the eastside of Lake Washington.
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Wednesday/ two beers at Two Beers

I had a picture of my vaccine card ready as we stepped into Two Beers Brewing Co. in Seattle’s industrial district, tonight. As of Monday, proof of a coronavirus vaccination —or a negative test— is required at most indoor businesses in King County.

Checking for one’s proof was done at the counter serving the beers, and even then it was very cursory. The place was busy and they seemed a little short on staff, as is the case in most places these days.

The first of my two Pilchuck pilsners by Two Beers Brewing Company: a Czech-style pilsner, hopped with Saaz and Perle hops (5% ABV). Saaz is a “noble” variety of hops, named after the Czech city of Žatec. Perle hops are a well-rounded German variety.
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Monday/ biscotti with almonds

I made another Sunday night run out to Amazon Fresh on Jackson Street last night.

They were again out of the Amazon branded milk and Chobani yogurt that they had previous times, and that I was looking for. It’s not a big deal; I was just a little surprised.

On the plus side: I discovered that they stock these biscotti called Nonni’s Biscotti ‘Originali Classic Almond’. 
The biscotti are so dry that I dunk them for less than one second in my coffee, and then they are all soaked up and ready for eating.

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Thursday/ beers

We walked down to Chuck’s Hop Shop in Central District for our beers tonight It was barely 60°F/  15°C, with a little wind chill.
The beer was good, though, as were the burgers and chicken sandwiches from the food truck nearby.

Poster at Chuck’s Hop Shop, advertising a ‘fresh hop’ beer fest on Saturday. (That’s Fresh Hop Bear, the mascot).
A Quick Hops Primer: Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant Humulus lupulus. The first documented hop cultivation was in 736, in the Hallertau region of present-day Germany. Hops are traditionally dried for their use in beer, but since the 1990s some brewers have started to use fresh hops: picked from the vine and immediately used for brewing beer. (Hops are harvested around this time, at the end of summer).
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Tuesday/ grocery run

I made another run to the Amazon Fresh store tonight.
Every time I go there, they give me a voucher for another $10.
So will I have to go back again :^).

These paper bags work better in my high-tech cart than my heavy canvas bags (that cannot stand up, opened). Amazon Fresh gets bonus points from me for carrying my hard-to-find Irish oatmeal. Shockingly, though, they were completely out of plain whole milk tonight. (Got milk? No.) So I settled for a half-gallon of Amazon brand lactose-free Happy Belly Whole Milk. I am sure my belly will be happy. 
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Monday/ three seed-rusks

rusk noun \ ˈrəsk \
a sweet or plain bread baked, sliced, and baked again until dry and crisp

biscotto noun bis·​cot·​to  \ bi-ˈskät-ō \ plural biscotti \ bi-​ˈskät-​ē \
a crisp cookie or biscuit of Italian origin that is flavored usually with anise and filberts or almonds —usually used in plural

[Definitions from merriam-webster.com]

I sometimes buy biscotti at Whole Foods, but they don’t always have it.
The best bet for me, when I want a special treat to dunk into my morning coffee, is to go to British Pantry in Redmond. They usually have some of Ouma’s rusks, an import from South Africa.

Ouma’s* ‘three seed rusks’. This box is going to be gone in a week .. or less. :). The box depicts storage of them in a traditional glass jar. And what are the three seeds? Pumpkin, sesame, and sunflower. The rusks come in a seedless buttermilk variety as well. 
*Ouma is Afrikaans for grandma.
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Sunday/ some Key lime pie

A large piece of the 12″ Key lime pie I had bought at Costco ($14.99) is left over from yesterday.
I had a piece for dessert tonight (of course).

Thomas added the garnish of orange onto the Key lime pie pie (I did not have limes). This pie is made with sweetened condensed milk and with key lime juice from concentrate, says the ingredients label. Key limes are smaller than golf balls, with yellow-green skin that is sometimes splotched with brown. Key lime trees are native to Malaysia, and it is thought that the fruits or seeds first arrived in the Florida Keys in the 1500s with the Spanish.
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Wednesday/ a beer with the amigos

There is rain on the way, that will arrive early in the morning. The rainfall here in the city has been low the last few weeks: at 0.69 inches (normally 1.60 inches this far into May).
Late afternoon, I walked to The Chieftain pub on 12th Avenue with my amigos, for a beer and a bite.

Whoah! A new all-black beast of a Model S? I wondered as I walked by on Harrison Street. But no, it’s a 75D (75 kWh battery capacity), said the back of the car. Tesla had stopped making these in early 2019, and replaced it with longer-range models.
Here’s my beer, from a pitcher of Elysian Brewing Company ‘Full Contact’ Imperial IPA (8.8% ABV! .. yikes). I see an on-line reviewer calls the color hazy medium gold, and the head ‘a one-finger white pancake batter head, very slight on the sudsy side’.
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Wednesday/ beers & grub at The Elysian

Yay! We made it back into The Elysian tonight, for the first time in some 15 months. (We had ordered take-out meals from it several times during this period, though).

Ordering beers and food is done by each individual, using a smartphone. The diner zaps the QR code on the card with the phone’s camera (card visible in the middle of the table), pick items from the menu, and pay for it on the phone by credit card, tip included. The wait staff shows up with the items a little bit later.

Will restaurants like The Elysian go back to physical menus in say, 6 months or so? Time will tell. One would assume that they do take orders from patrons that do not have even one smart phone in the group, to place an order with. (Aliens from Mars?).

Cheers! Three amigos at The Elysian. My beer is an Elysian Superfuzz Blood Orange Pale Ale (6.4% ABV). Indoor dining in King County is allowed at 50% capacity, but it seemed to me that not even 25% of the seats were occupied.
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Thursday/ the tub of Marmite

It was time to open my tub of Marmite today. Whoah!

I did not expect the inside of the lid to be coated with Marmite, but that’s no matter – I will eventually consume every last bit of it. I have until June 2022 (the expiration date), and it will be gone long before then :).
There’s my fried egg & toast, part of my lunch for today. A little Marmite goes onto the toast, and then some avocado. Yum. (Cheese and marmite go together very nicely as well).
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Thursday/ I want my Marmite

All three of my regular grocery stores were out of Marmite.
Well, I want my Marmite, and so they ‘forced’ me to search for it on Amazon, where it was available in tubs.
Whoah. Sign me up, got to get some of that! I thought.

Check it out .. the little jar on the left is 125g. The grocery store fleeces me for it: 8 bucks. (When it’s almost empty, I run my index finger around inside it, to sweep out every last bit). The tub (it’s made in Ireland, bless them), is 600g, and I paid $22.50 for it. That is 40% cheaper than the grocery store price — admittedly for a bulk purchase (the equivalent of almost 5 little jars).