Everybody knows Zippo Lighters and I, personally, love them. Since there might actually be a non-smoker among my 5 – 7 frequent readers and I’m un-motivated to work at the moment, here’s a simple tutorial on Zippo lighters. I have to refill mine anyway.
Bangers & Mash
I made “Bangers and Mash” today, which is sausages and mashed potatoes with onion gravy. Veeery yummy! Here’s how:
The Lady of the House
May I introduce to you:
“Gattina”
my most beloved and precious Lady of the House. Unofficial Head of State in my dwelling, cheerer-up in bad times and general scurrying-around sunshine.
We found her 11 years ago under a bush in Italy, abandoned by her mother, skinny, sick and hungry and we slowly pampered her back into shape. “Gattina” is just the italian word for “Kitten”, but meanwhile she’s a really heavy Momma, well nourished, self-confident, very cuddly and with a character of her own. We love her.
Pressure Cooker How To
Since I was an absolute beginner when it came to using a pressure cooker (and I somehow lost the manual…), I looked for instructions on the internet lately. Some were plain BS, some just dramatically told elementary stuff and left out the real instructions and, finally, some (especially the relevant forums!) were very informative. I threw everything together and tried it out (BTW – here’s a good article on what a pressure cooker actually does – I won’t describe the principles of pressure cooking here).
So, here’s my personal “Pressure Cooker How To for Dummies” (tested, illustrated and in full color!):
Honey-Soy glazed Salmon
Super-easy and fast. Oh, I forgot: also yummy!
Ingredients:
Salmon for 2 (~350g)
Marinade:
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. ginger, minced
½ tsp. red pepper
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup honey
Slow Cooker Pork Neck with Honey Balsamic Glaze
Dug out my slow cooker again yesterday after some time and made some pork neck. I don’t know where I got this recipe from anymore, but I really like it every once in a while since it’s very yummy and easy to make. The meat comes out fork tender and juicy and it has a nicely round and savoury taste.
My Kitchen Equipment
Since I’ve been asked, this is my standard cooking equipment. Oddly, when digging through my kitchen cupboards I found that it is not so very much. Of course there’s some more, since kitchen utensils have a tendency to accumulate like old socks in your drawer, but I don’t use everything regularly. I do almost everything with a very manageable amount of rudimental, yet essential tools that I use everyday:
Mushroom Rehydrating Time Lapse
I like cooking asian and this often involves the use of dried mushrooms. They can easily be rehydrated with boiling water in a few minutes. While for wood-ear mushrooms boiling water is perfectly ok, some say that it is not for shiitakes and one should rather use lukewarm water (having to accept a longer rehydration time) in order to preserve flavour. I personally can’t find any difference, so I always use boiling water for both.
This video is about 20 minutes condensed to 1. The wood-ear mushrooms are perfectly good after about 12-15 minutes, whereas the thicker shiitake take at least 20 minutes to rehydrate. You can save the flavourful liquid from the shiitakes for later use (the wood ear don’t deliver any), for example as soup stock addition etc. And don’t forget to remove the stems.
