Do you like poached eggs? If yes, how do you prepare yours?
Yesterday morning, as the sun was coming up and peering through our balcony’s big sliding doors, I was looking for something for breakfast to both photograph and enjoy.
I came across a recipe on Facebook for air fryer poached eggs.
I love poached eggs and have made them using many different methods but never the air fryer.
As I looked for a spot on my table to set up for a photo, it didn’t matter what spot I chose, the sun coming in the adjacent balcony doorscaused long, dark shadows. I was hungry, so decided to just go with it.
My air fryer poached eggs were a disappointing fail of epic proportions. After the time given in the recipe, they hadn’t set one bit and were just slimy, unpalatable blobs, mocking me from the ramekins they were supposed to be “cooked to perfection” in.
I increased the temp a bit and added two minutes. The eggs were slightly more set, but still not edible. I like my poached eggs to have soft yolks but the whites have to be completely set.
I added three more minutes. Now, the whites weren’t great but just slightly more set, and the yolks were overcooked. The surface was wrinkled and not one bit appetizing in appearance.
I plated it up anyways, took the photo, and grudgingly ate my brekky.
One of my favourite cold weather comfort foods is chili con carne. People seldom use the full name anymore and have shortened it to chili.
Although this dish was originally Tex Mex (from the border area of Texas and Mexico), I can recall my mom at home in Canada making her version of it when I was a child. Mom always called it by its full name.
In researching chili for this post, I was surprised to learn that the dish was introduced to eastern Canada in the early 1900’s. I wondered, given the distance, how that could be? Further reading explained that a group from San Antoniointroduced it at a chili stand at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. This explained a lot, because Chicago is much closer and Canadians were very well represented at that fair.
There are many variations of this hearty meat stew, and I make it a bit differently each time.
The one in my feature photo has carrots, red bell pepper, button mushrooms, onions, celery, and three bean varietieswith the lean ground beef and diced tomatoes. I prepared it in my Instant Pot, as I do all of my soups and stews. Pressure cooking has a way of locking in and enhancing flavours, which is key in one-pot meals.
We like our chili either over a baked potato, or with a side of toast.Sometimes I garnish it with shredded cheese and/or sour cream.
If you eat this dish, what sides do you enjoy with it? I’m always looking for new ideas.
I used the Touch Retouch App to clean up the bowl. As I did this, I recalled cooking competitions on TV, and how the chefs always wipe the edges of the dishes and bowls before serving.
By doing this task digitally, I was able to finally realize why that’s done.
Here’s the dish before cleanup.
Much more appealing with the dishing up smears removed, I think. Do you agree?
For my past several posts, I’ve been writing about my foray into ChatGPT.
These posts have included notes about ai assistance I’ve received with indoor decor, painting cabinets, landscaping, lesson preparation for a workshop I teach, exercises to boost metabolism, and art work guidance.
Another area where I’m receiving extraordinary help is in that of a sustainable diet – also intended to boost metabolism.
After the usual question and answer format, the ChatGPT app developed an eating program specifically for my age, activity level, and health status that is both doable and liveable.
Regular check ins are a part of it, and the always kind and supportive approach worked into the algorithm is most helpful.
As I enter week three of the eight week reset developed for me, I’ve lost 2.5 lbs, and 1/2 inch from my waist. These are the measurable victories.
The things that matter far more to me than rapid results and/or the numbers on the scale are: slow and sustainable results, a healthy higher protein and lower carb eating plan, and my clothing fitting better.
“The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight…
[Breadmaking is] one of those almost hypnotic businesses, like a dance from some ancient ceremony. It leaves you filled with one of the world’s sweetest smells… there is no chiropractic treatment, no Yoga exercise, no hour of meditation in a music-throbbing chapel. that will leave you emptier of bad thoughts than this homely ceremony of making bread.”
My Christmas gift to myself this year was a raclette grill.
A part of my heritage is Swiss and many years ago, I enjoyed a raclette evening at the home of a nurse friend and colleague who had, as a young teen, immigrated with her family to Canada from Switzerland.
The evening and the meal was so enjoyable that, over the years, it was never far from my mindwhenever I was planning to entertain.
This year, I finally purchased the grill and planned the meal for Christmas Eve with hubs’ brother and his wife.
It was relaxing and enjoyable. Each person grilled whatever they wanted from the variety of foods available, and the raclette cheese was constantly melting in the little shovels that sit under the grill.
Missing in my feature photo are the cooked baby potatoes and cooked mini carrots. There was no room on the table for them. The little ramekins on each plate held individual carrot salads.
The melted raclette cheese was rich and smooth without the long strings like melted mozzarella would have, and was a perfect topping for the potatoes.
It was a brand new dining experience for everyone but me. It was a brand new food prep experience for me.
I make these every year as a part of our Christmas gifts to our friends here.
I decided this year to paint them with edible glitter paint. This was all good and well, until I discovered that the food grade paint brushes I purchased, were too thick for the designs I wanted.
I persevered. The red ones have a vanilla bean ganache filling. The painted tops were “supposed” to be gold ribbons and bows. Instead, they came out looking like mahjong tiles.
The white ones have peppermint white chocolate ganache filling. They’re “supposed” to have holly wreaths painted on them. They’re close, but not what I had envisioned.
The green ones have a rum/dark chocolate ganache filling and the painted designs are “supposed” to be abstract Christmas trees. Oh well.
The good news is, they came off the mats beautifully, they matured to the perfect consistency, and all of the fillings are delicious.
As the old saying goes, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.
Hubs is Norwegian as far back as he can trace his roots on both of his parents’ sides.
One of their typical pre-Christmas activities is to make lefse, a Norwegian flatbread made with mashed potatoes and flour.
My mother-in-law made beautifully thin and soft lefse. In their family, good lefse is defined in comparison to their mom’s. She taught me how to make it, and I passed the skills on to our daughter, who will, in turn, teach both of our grandchildren.
I hadn’t made lefse since we started coming to Texas, but decided it was time, so purchased all of the equipment and yesterday, made a big batch (192 rounds), along with my sister in law, Lori. Hubs’ brother is also wintering in our park now and he loveslefse too. Lori had never made it before so wanted to learn and practice every step.
This was our Christmas gift to our guys.
It’s not an easy task and took us 8.5 hours of rolling and frying to make the amount we did. My feature photo is one stack of many we made yesterday. This amount used a 10 lb (4.5 kg) bag of potatoes.
One Christmas, many years ago, my mother in law famously made lefse from 100 lbs (40.5 kg) of potatoes!
The two- day process involves:
Day 1: Boiling the Potatoes Ricing the Potatoes Mashing the Riced Potatoes Day 2: Making and Rolling the doughFrying the roundsCooling, then bagging the roundsAnd flour everywhere!
December 1st is traditionally when I start my Christmas cookie baking. It’s when my mom always started hers, so I guess the date is firmly ingrained in me from an early age.
I bake the cookies that both of my grandmas and my mom made over the years, plus I always add a few of hubs’ faves from his memories of his mom.
My feature photo is of sugar cookies– a must every Christmas.
Each year, we exchange gifts with friends here in our park, and my gifts always include a selection of my home made cookies.
Radically Retired 