Fried Mac&Cheese Balls

mac and cheese balls

People ask me, "do you go out very often, over there in Bremerton?" The thing I tell them, and this may shock you to the core of your being, is "no."

bunch of balls

more fried stuff

The main reason being is that my heart can't take it. Spicy fried mac and cheese balls are tasty, yes. But I don't want to die like that. I want to live!  And what else is on the menu? Fish and chips. I might as well bacon up my sausage (warning, awful video)!

This is the Bremerton Bar and Grill (warning, awful music), btw. Right doon by the ferry dock, in that old bank what's now a restaurant. You know the one. The one they turned in to the Bremerton Bar and Grill.

New Years Herring

Happy New Year, dear readers. You will probably know by know of my affinity for tinned fish. So for my first meal of the year, I broke out a tin of fried herring. Obviously, I just have some sitting around; see point one.

It's german, tangy and slightly spicy. And it's quite good on toast. Have it with with sparkling wine and you've got the breakfast of champers.

In a can

on toast

in bits

Turkey Curry

rice

cooking up

The idea for this meal came from outside of casa rakkaleff (which is still a thing. white stripes metaphor, yadda yadda). It came from an Irregular Shed. Since he's half a world away, he can mention a boxing day dinner on boxing day, and we here can copy him also on boxing day. The internet. It's tops. (Why I waited to post this I have no idea)

So, yeah, turkey curry. In true casa rakkaleff style this was both a joint effort and made up as we went along. It started with onions. Then some peas and curry powder. Like, four tablespoons of curry powder. We don't play around.

Normally casa rakkaleff curry has diced tomatoes from a can, the juice of which is the base of the sauce (anybody who wants to argue over the authenticity of this need to remember two things. 1. the hot peppers that curry is known for come from the same continent as as the tomatoes. and 2. we're crackers). This time we went for chicken stock.

Of course, we weren't waiting for hours. Who plans out a meal more than an hour in advance [smart people? -ed]. We thickened it with some yogurt.

And it was good. I had the left overs for breakfast the next day. That's the kind of man I am.

finished product

Cheese and Wine

Broiled Provolone

Yes, this is dinner. It's made of cheese.

There's nothing quite like the simplicity of a cheese and wine dinner. Except, of course, it's not simple at all.

Making cheese is a pretty complicated. Have you ever tried it? You can make queso fresca with stuff you've got in your kitchen but even then it's complicated. If you want to make stuff that's going to be aged, pwwft.

Wine is the same way. Think you can just chuck some grapes in the blender, add some time, and get wine out? Well, you can't.

Bread, Cheese, Wine

Even bread. I've made bread. It's not that big a deal. You just add the magic yeast granules and... And oh, right, where do those come from? If you had to make bread with out a packet of fleischmann's yeast would you know how? Will all post-apocalyptic breads be flat?

These days, even the simple pleasures are facilitated by a vast conglomeration of teams of people. And that's a lot of people. Think on that the next time you have a cheese and wine. Though to what end, I have no idea. Really. There's not much of this wine left...

Tandoori Tikka Chicken

Speaking of World Market. This marinade fell in to my basket while I was there. Luckily I just happened to have a kitchen full of chicken, skewers and electric grills.

No trick photography! This is a single, shocking shot!

The funny thing about this stuff is there's "No ... Artificial Colours", and yet the package clearly depicts bright red/orange (rorange?) chicken bits. How is this not false advertising?

It's easy. Easy peasy. In the directions they tell you to add orange food dye if you want orange chicken.

Mmm. Charry.

It's nice to have the choice to be honest.

Anyway, it's a simple and quick marinade. Yogurt and the packet. We had greek yogurt, which worked out very well, actually. I think I'll be doing this again.

Mint Aero Bar

After some encouragement from santos, I'm attempting to dust off this blog. I'm going to start with the fantastically photogenic mint Aero bar.

Mint Aero Bar

Because, damn. Look at how green that is!

They're rare here in Seattle, but cost plus has 'em. Get 'em while they're GREEN.

leff brand kimchi

Ever since I was 10, and my sisters came to us from Korea, we had kimchi in the house. I've never gotten to the point where I eat it with every meal, although I certainly see the appeal of that aspect of Korean life. In short, yay kimchi!

raw kimchi

Also, yay home food! Up with home pickling! Obviously, I snagged a copy of Wild Fermentation the first chance I got. And naturally the first recipe I tried was kimchi. It was incredibly easy, and surprisingly successful for a first attempt.

It goes like this. Chop up your asian style cabbage and a daikon radish. Brine it for a bit. Drain it. Mix in the hots and spice paste, push down until it's covered by it's own juices. Wait a week or so, and voila, kimchi. I'm not going to copy out the whole thing because if you're in to home pickle you're getting the book anyway.

Pre funk

I had fear that it wouldn't work. I had western peppers like habaneros and junk. But the spices did the trick. I was amazed. It tasted like kimchi almost immediately. After a week of sitting out, it tastes even better. Obvs, I recommend the book if you're into the idea at all. It's got all kinds a stuff in there.

bubble bubble toil and trouble

Note about the container. I've tried sauerkraut in the wrong shaped deal. It failed. If you're gonna try it, get a nice strait walled bucket thing. You'll be much happier.