Thursday, August 30, 2007
A Czech Classic
Fried cheese is definitely a Czech classic. You can get it at street vendors or at fancier restaurants. What is it, you ask?
It's a square of edam cheese, coated in bread crumbs, and deep-fried in oil. Yes, it's as gluttonous and artery-clogging as you could imagine. It's tough to eat a whole one, unless you love cheese more than anything in life. It also looks like it was pulled out of a package and dropped in the deep frier.
That's because it probably was.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
More Czech Food
I don't even know what this dish is called, but it was part of a large array of dishes brought out for my sister, brother, and I.
Monday, August 27, 2007
First Night in Prague
I've been meaning to post Prague food pics for a long time. Now that I have some time, I'll show you the best the Czech Republic has to offer. First up, my first night. We had taken the train to the middle of nowhere and then settled down for my first pork meal in a long time.
The starter was a cabbage soup, not unlike borscht. Accompanying it was a pint of Pilsner. The main course was a rack of ribs. Mmm...
Only problem is that some part of this meal was categorically rejected by my digestive system.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Croatian Seafood
After living in land locked countries for the last year, you could say that I was craving some good seafood and that is exactly what I got on my trip to Croatia this summer.
Now I'm back to Czech goulash :(
Blanka
Here are some examples. Fresh, simple ingredients and usually prepared over fire.
Local Fisherman's night along the pier
Now I'm back to Czech goulash :(
Blanka
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Canadian Road Trip Food
Back in June (sorry, Kent...better late than never!) my cousin and I decided to spend our summer vacation driving across part of Canada, from Winnipeg to Ottawa. Five gazillion trees later, I really needed a pit stop at Tim Hortons.
For those of you that aren't familiar, Tim Hortons is a Canadian donut shop. Famous for double-doubles (two cream, two sugar) coffees and fresh-baked donuts and pastries (that are now shipped in par-baked and frozen and reheated), the marketing team at TH is equally famous for tear-jerking commercials and a claim that you can drive across Canada stopping for sugary, fatty snacks every few hours.
Well, they LIED.
After we left Thunder Bay, Ontario, we drove for several hours- maybe a lifetime, but probably closer to 6, before we found our Mecca.
Thank god, because after all that time in the car, I was ready to leap out the window!
So here is photographic proof:
One honey-glazed Crueller and a frosty Iced Cap.
And also, as a special bonus? A shot of me running from a moose as a result of the Tim Hortons sugar high!
For those of you that aren't familiar, Tim Hortons is a Canadian donut shop. Famous for double-doubles (two cream, two sugar) coffees and fresh-baked donuts and pastries (that are now shipped in par-baked and frozen and reheated), the marketing team at TH is equally famous for tear-jerking commercials and a claim that you can drive across Canada stopping for sugary, fatty snacks every few hours.
Well, they LIED.
After we left Thunder Bay, Ontario, we drove for several hours- maybe a lifetime, but probably closer to 6, before we found our Mecca.
Thank god, because after all that time in the car, I was ready to leap out the window!
So here is photographic proof:
One honey-glazed Crueller and a frosty Iced Cap.
And also, as a special bonus? A shot of me running from a moose as a result of the Tim Hortons sugar high!
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
How to: Blanche
Believe it or not Blanche is more than just a first name. Here is a little step-by-step explanation about how to blanche things:
- Buy vegetables
- Boil water
- Put all of a single type of vegetable in the boiling water (you can mix, but some veggies take longer than others)
- Remove promptly (after about a minute, although it depends on the vegetable you are blanching)
- Place veggies under ice cold water for about as long as you had them in the water for.
- You're done. Congratulations.
- Peeling certain vegetables - tomatoes are much easier to peel after blanching
- Flavour - blanching can enhance the flavour of things
- Appearance - as this is as important has how the food tastes, use blanching to improve colour of vegetables
- Freezing - you can blanche things before freezing to ensure that bacteria is killed
(compliments of Wikipedia)
