More Snippets

What's in a Name?
Poor Ryan. I made the mistake of calling him "Ry" when he first arrived at Vinoteca and everyone thought I said "Roy." Fatima has been calling him Roy for the last 2 days event though he did correct everyone. //laugh// I just keep calling him Ryan now and hopefully she'll remember . . .
Update - yesterday Ryan was Ryan, Ry, Roy, and Ray. //laugh//

Quote Query
Fatima was joking around yesterday about the customers leaving the restaurant, she said "after they are gone, we clean up and then we drink wine!" After that I said "and then we dance" (with a sort of Spanish accent). I'm convinced that's from a movie but I can't remember which one. Am I nuts?

Snippets

Or a catch up post because I keep forgetting to update things.

You Want What?
Today a customer finished lunch and asked for their dessert to go. Not so unusual I suppose, except that we don't have any take out containers (they were advised of this fact) and that the dessert was a creme brulee. //Huh?!// We detached it from it's ramekin and packed it very carefully in tin foil and sent them on their way.

Working for a Living
Not me, Ryan. I found out the other day that Vinoteca needed a dishwasher, and Ryan needed a job. So voila, Ry is now a dishwasher. He had his first shift today.

Forget All You Thought You Knew
. . . about everything. I've been busy unlearning a lot of what I spent that last 10 months learning about cooking. //grin// At school we learn the "classical" methods and during work experience we learn how it's really done. Ve-ery interesting.

Old Men in Hats?
I just about got wiped out (again!) the other day, this time by a guy who didn't even slow down to make a right turn. Lucky I was paying attention! The driver was an older Sikh gentleman wearing a turban, does a turban count as a hat when driving?

Chicken Littles or Little Chickens?
Yes, we have added yet more beasties to our menagerie. Five juvenile hens came home a week or so ago. Four are Selena's and one is Ryan's. They have names but I can't remember them. I think there is one Cornish, one Americana, and they others I can't remember (they are varying degrees of black and white). It's quite funny watching them run away from the falling sky (chicken scratch).

She's Ba-ack!

Selena is back from camp. She got home yesterday in time to go out for dinner for Ry's birthday. Very, very tired. So far no fights.

We went out to a little Indian restaurant called the Spice Shack Eatery last night. I think they do mostly take away, I'm guessing that by their lack of tables. I think there were about 5 in the whole place, very spartanly (is that a word?) decorated, but the food was really nice. There was also a lot of it so we ended up bringing about half of it home (it didn't help that I had to eat 2 pieces of cake at Vinoteca just before I left). We had tea and cake and present opening at Mum's when we got home. Ry seemed to be happy with his gifts, it's always kinda hard to tell.

I also got more birthday presents, from the kids. An all singing, all dancing toaster and a Euro cool silicone grill brush. I get the feeling the kids don't think much of our Value Village 70's era toaster //grin//, the new one has 4 slots, adjusts for bagels and has a few other features I'll probably never use. But then it wasn't really for me, was it?

Pay at the Pump or Not?

When I go to a self serve gas station I like to use the "pay at the pump" option, especially when I'm in a hurry. Yesterday I stopped for gas on my way to the restaurant, did the Visa thing in the machine, pumped the gas and waited for the receipt. I also prefer the stations where you can choose "no receipt". So the screen says "printing receipt" about 3 times while nothing comes out, then it says "your receipt is inside." I'm standing there thinking "inside what?" Oh, inside the 7-11. I left my receipt "inside."

I do pay at the pump so I don't have to go inside. sigh. I don't know what the deal was with that, usually if if is out of paper the screen says "out of paper". Maybe this is a new ploy by 7-11 to sell more Slurpees ("well, I'm inside anyway I guess I must buy something"). All it did was annoy me. Yes, I am easily annoyed when I've only had one coffee . . .

Playing with George

My 1/6 scale George Lucas (or "Toy George" as I am calling him //wink//) is now dressed, shoes and all. I need to put a stitch or two in the fly of his jeans to keep him from exposing himself but otherwise his clothes (middle aged man suit included) fit quite well.

Festivities

Yesterday was my birthday (see below) and today is my Gramma's birthday. Gramma decreed a while back that for her birthday this year There Would Be a Potluck Dinner on July 3 (my birthday). That meant that my birthday dinner had to be earlier or later, since Selena is off at camp this week we decided on later. This year Ryan and I will share a birthday dinner on Friday, probably Indian take away but we haven't decided yet.

So we had a potluck dinner that consisted mostly of lasagna (mum bought 2 and the uncle/girlfriend combo who usually bring green salad brought 1). Luckily for Niko and our cousin Christine there was ham and gluten free chicken wings (Niko also made corn muffins and biscuits). And the cake was also gluten free (and very tasty). Somebody brought some fairly vile Champagne type wine for a toast to Gramma (some day I must explain that just because it has a cork and says "Champagne" on the bottle doesn't mean it's good). Wow, one week at a restaurant on a vineyard and I'm a wine snob. //snort//

Anyway, the good part of the evening happened before the dinner. I got to open most of my gifts (I can't open the ones from the kids until they are here). I got a nice card from Gramma & Grand-dad Silvester, a nice card with a cheque from Gramma Staniforth, a funny card & Bolen certificate from Dad & Cat. More books, more books! Thank you!!

Mum searched high & low for just the right KitchenAid stand mixer (it's cobalt blue!) and she also found an attachment set. Apparently these are hard to find. The one I got has a grinder, a slicer & shredder, a strainer, and an instruction booklet in 6 languages. I can hardly wait to mix something!

From Niko I got books - the first two Sister Fidelma mysteries by Peter Tremayne, and a lavishly illustrated book of selected stories from A Thousand and One Nights. The funniest bit (and hardest to explain to Mum) was the nekkid man. Or rather the "one-sixth scale Nekkid Action Figure (Headless), figure by Dragon" with the accompanying "one-sixth scale Middle-Aged Man Suit (for 12" action figures), custom clothes by nico" and "Extra Padding for 1/6 scale middle-aged man suit (sold seperately)". If I had a drink I would have spewed it everywhere reading those labels!

For the non-geeks out there, I got a headless 12" action figure, an action figure "body suit" with padding to emulate a middle aged man and some extra stuffing in case the body suit isn't pudgy enough. All of the above is for my custom George Lucas. He is almost complete - no longer headless and is mostly dressed //wink//, I'm just trying to decide how much more padding he needs and fighting with the shoes (I'm beginning to think George needs socks). Now I just need to get him a 1/6 scale movie camera and accessories. Of course, I also need a good Henry Jones and a 1/6 scale motorcycle with sidecar (I aready have an awesome custom Indy - not done by me).

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, today I am 37. Mostly I don't feel any older than I did in my 20's except when I remember one child just turned 10 and the other will be 16 next week. //hack, cough//

I'm feeling pretty positive about the coming year - according to my plan, this is the year I stop going in circles (sucky job, unemployment, school, another sucky job, etc) and regain some control of my life. It seems to be working so far, in that I love cooking and have managed to clear a lot of junk out of the house (see Toy Sale). I still have quite a ways to go but it doesn't seem to be the odious task it was once. We'll see. Anyway, Happy Birthday to Me!

Recipe #5 - Duck with Sweet Potatoes & Spicy Orange Sauce

This is the main course from my final cooking exam, I found it at Adlib Eaterie - The Definitive Guide To Restaurants In Ireland. It's from the Wineport Lodge in Glasson, Co. Westmeath, Ireland. Our instructor told me twice how much he loved the sweet potatoes, he liked them so much he didn't even tell me ways to improve them. The only change I made was to use a royale (or custard) with the potatoes instead of just the cream called for in the recipe - I needed to cut the potatoes and make them stand up for presentation marks. The sauce is to die for, lick the plate yummy too. //mm mmm// Thank you chef Feargal O'Donnell!

Pan Seared Fillet of Duckling
with spicy orange balsamic jus & sweet potatoes dauphinoise

4 Duck Breasts
16oz sweet potatoes
3 cloves garlic - finely chopped
3oz smoked bacon (cooked & diced)
1pt cream
2 whole eggs
salt & pepper
1 orange
juice of 2 oranges
1 clove star anise
1/2pt water
4oz sugar
1/2oz sesame seeds
pinch of chili flakes
4tblsp balsamic vinegar
1tblsp sesame oil

Instructions:

Trim off excess fat and season duck breasts. Sear on a very hot pan on both sides until golden brown. Place on a roasting tray in a medium oven (180C) for 20 minutes.

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into slices 1/4" thick. Build into layers in an oven-proof dish with garlic & bacon in between. Mix cream and eggs, cover potatoes and bake for 25 minutes.

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan boil the sugar, water and orange juice. When reduced by half, add the remainder of the sauce ingredients. Reduce until the sauce is of a thick consistency then strain into a clean saucepan. At this stage the potatoes should be brown & bubbly, and the duck crispy on the outside and pink in the middle.