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Introduce Yourself > Ardyth DeBruyn

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message 51: by Patricia (new)

Patricia (patriciasierra) | 2388 comments Thanks for the recipes, folks. So I can just walk into a grocery store and buy coconut milk? I thought I'd have to go to Hawaii.


message 52: by Andre Jute (new)

Andre Jute (andrejute) | 4851 comments Mod
Couldn't find any pumpkin for the soup in the kitchen and didn't have time to dash out to the shops. So made houmous instead, with coriander and lime juice, because that was what I found ingredients for. Refreshing on an oatmeal bickie.


message 53: by Margaret (new)

Margaret (xenasmom) | 306 comments Well, Andre, I learned another new word today---bickie. Can't wait to use that at school with the kiddies.

And Patricia, you are a hoot!


message 54: by Patricia (new)

Patricia (patriciasierra) | 2388 comments I don't bother with lite anything. The fatter the better.


message 55: by K.A. (new)

K.A. Jordan (kajordan) | 3042 comments The great thing about cooking for yourself - you can make it your way.

It is hard for me to eat certain places, because I make better at home.


message 56: by Patricia (new)

Patricia (patriciasierra) | 2388 comments I broke down and bought a stove so I wouldn't have to keep going to restaurants. I've reached the point in my life where the effort involved in going out is more than I want to devote to that. I've also grown bored with the selection of nearby restaurants and/or I've been served one too many lousy meals. But I'm not at the point Kat and Bethany have reached. The quality of my cooking is not yet a reason to eat at home.

Bethany, my "fat" weaknesses are: olives, cheese, butter, and sour cream. It would be ice cream, too, but I no longer allow that in the house because I have no self control. When it's in the freezer, I make it my mission to devour it as quickly as possible to eliminate the temptation.


message 57: by Andre Jute (new)

Andre Jute (andrejute) | 4851 comments Mod
Bethany wrote: "Of course his his moto is you can't trust a skinny chef."

Chef in New Orleans cooking shrimp gumbo, pats his notable stomach and says, "This is my credibility."


message 58: by Amos (new)

Amos Fairchild (amostfairchild) | 305 comments In Australia we have to make gumbo with prawns. lol.


message 59: by Andre Jute (new)

Andre Jute (andrejute) | 4851 comments Mod
In South Africa we didn't bother with catfood like prawns, we made our gumbo with whole lobsters.


message 60: by Amos (new)

Amos Fairchild (amostfairchild) | 305 comments We can't afford damn lobsters any more. lol. Catfood gumbo it is.


message 61: by Andre Jute (new)

Andre Jute (andrejute) | 4851 comments Mod
We dived for the lobster off Cape Agulhas. My house there was the southernmost house in Africa, right on the tip, next stop Antartica. Ten paces this way you were in the warm Indian Ocean, ten paces that way you froze your nuts off in the Atlantic. It was a shifting line though... After a hard night partying, choosing the wrong rock to dive from for your breakfast lobster could sober you up for life.


message 62: by Amos (new)

Amos Fairchild (amostfairchild) | 305 comments lol


message 63: by Patricia (new)

Patricia (patriciasierra) | 2388 comments After a multi-year love affair with lobster, I switched to crabs (no, not that kind) and never looked back.


message 64: by Patricia (new)

Patricia (patriciasierra) | 2388 comments I think the claws were invented so they can be Christmas gifts for people you don't like.


message 65: by Margaret (new)

Margaret (xenasmom) | 306 comments Crab---lobster---I will take either one. Boy, now you all have me craving them big time.


message 66: by K.A. (new)

K.A. Jordan (kajordan) | 3042 comments I was raised on the shore of Lake Erie. For me all fish is poisonous.


message 67: by Amos (new)

Amos Fairchild (amostfairchild) | 305 comments Some people can tell. Some can't. We did a test with catfish once. Freshwater cats are frowned on over here. People couldn't tell what they were eating (sure, okay, we lied.). Some threw up when they found out. People are strange sometimes. lol.


message 68: by Patricia (new)

Patricia (patriciasierra) | 2388 comments I must be nearly dead. I've been eating Lake Erie perch all my life.


message 69: by Ardyth (new)

Ardyth DeBruyn | 33 comments You people keep making me hungry, even if I don't eat seafood.

Yesterday I was forced into cooking by my mother for a family party (it was my youngest sister's birthday... she's sixteen already? I feel OLD.), so at least I have lots of tasty leftovers. We made vegetable moussaka, green bean casserole, ceaser salad, garlic bread, and ice cream cake, and I was pretty much too tired to care about eating any of it but the ice cream cake by the end of it. :) Today though, it's quite delicious.

Oh, and it's a children's novel, I think it's more junior high level than high school so I'd call it MG not YA, but some people call most children's books YA, so I'm rather confused about the categories.


message 70: by Ardyth (new)

Ardyth DeBruyn | 33 comments Also, how did I forget my happiest news? I got my very first 5 star review!

http://www.ebookitreviews.com/?p=425


message 71: by K.A. (new)

K.A. Jordan (kajordan) | 3042 comments Good for you!


message 72: by Andre Jute (new)

Andre Jute (andrejute) | 4851 comments Mod
http://www.ebookitreviews.com/?p=425

Super review. Congratulations, Ardyth.


message 73: by Ardyth (new)

Ardyth DeBruyn | 33 comments Thanks guys!


message 74: by Sharon (new)

Sharon Tillotson (storytellerauthor) | 1802 comments Great review, Ardyth. Congrats!


message 75: by Ardyth (new)

Ardyth DeBruyn | 33 comments Thanks!

Also, we made pumpkin pie yesterday, mmm, it's already gone. I would eat it for breakfast, lunch, and diner if I could.

I love fall. Besides the pumpkin dishes going, we have fresh apple cider and local fruit of various kinds. Somehow my thread here always makes me think about food now, everytime that I get an update on it, even if it's not a post about food... But honestly, fall is an excellent culinary season over here, even if I'm trying to get other people to do the cooking.


message 76: by Claudine (new)

Claudine | 1110 comments Mod
I like fall recipes here too. I'm contemplating trying out a pumpkin baked cheesecake. No one else I know is willing to try it though and I don't want to waste it.

My favourite fall type dishes are those one pot casserole types where you brown some onion, chuck meat in it, add a bottle of good red wine and come back the next day to eat it.


message 77: by Sharon (new)

Sharon Tillotson (storytellerauthor) | 1802 comments My fave cheesecake is pumpkin. Decadent!

Almost everyone I know loves the autumn, but not me. Autumn means winter is coming. Even though I have helicopter skied and am very proficient at it, I've had enough of winter and want to live in perpetual summer. Warm bones and sunshine, that's what I seek...

I do however, love slow cooking. I want some of Claudine's casserole. My favourite fragrance is that of roast meat - beef, chicken, pork, you name it. As it is Thanksgiving here this coming weekend, I will be having roast turkey and all the autumn trimmings. Numm...


message 78: by Claudine (new)

Claudine | 1110 comments Mod
Oxtail Pot :

We cook this outside over hot coals for at least half a day until the meat is completely falling off the bone.

Enough meat to fill a pot (around 3kg)
4 or so large onions sliced in half rounds
Oil to brown the onions and meat

Get the oil really hot, add onions and brown. Remove the onions and brown the meat. Add the onions back in.

Add a couple of tablespoons of chopped garlic and mix. Chuck in a bottle of good full bodied red wine, put the lid on and check every so often to ensure it isn't burning. At about the halfway mark, when a knife can just penetrate the meat, add some flavourings like a packet of dehydrated oxtail soup, some water in case the liquid has cooked off, some chutney, whatever else you would normally add to a meat stew. When the meat is nearly falling off the bone, add some roughly chopped carrots. When the carrots are just about done, add a bowl full of precooked or tinned butter beans, a handful of fresh parsley, salt and pepper to taste. Serve once the beans have warmed through.

We usually do this overnight, make the pot while bbq meat. Just reheat the pot the next morning over the hot coals and eat for lunch.


message 79: by Andre Jute (new)

Andre Jute (andrejute) | 4851 comments Mod
Claudine wrote: "... one pot casserole ... Oxtail Pot."

You want to stop now or the next thing you know, the bunch of people at your front door with their suitcases will be us...

Oxtail pot. I've died and gone to heaven. Here you go to jail for cooking oxtail. It is illegal since the CJD or the BSE or one of the other scares. Classed as offal, and prohibited with anything else that might contain bone marrow or have touched bone marrow in the slaughtering.

On the general subject of autumn. Also my favourite season. Stellenbosch, my spiritual home (except Coetzenburg (1)), is lined with oak trees and is most beautiful in autumn. Here in Ireland too autumn is generally balmy and I don't mind it being overcast and drizzly because my skin is so light.

One of the things Roz cooks in autumn is root vegetables rubbed with oil and tossed in spices, and then roast with a joint or chicken or whatever. I could eat a plate of these roast roots for a meal by itself.

(1) You and your husband can have Coetzenburg, Claudine -- my memories of it are all of Danie Craven running us up the 45 degree hill next to it until we hurled our breakfast. I remember that better than our team winning the Donges Cup. Mind you, I fondly remember the girls I used to take for picnics in the forest behind Coetzenburg, a bottle of wine, a book of my poems, a crusty bread, cheese, fruit, a cashmere picnic blanket -- nothing more or it would be too heavy for the girl to carry up the steep hill.


message 80: by Sharon (new)

Sharon Tillotson (storytellerauthor) | 1802 comments Sounds absolutely delish, Claudine.

Makes me nostalgic for the days when I lived inland on a lakeshore in wine country where we had a BBQ pit in our yard rather than the Bay view apt (flat for you Brits) where I now live. But only momentarily, I do love it here at the ocean in the heart of Vancouver (well, except for winter when it rains nearly every day and the sun rarely shines).

And I can always use my fabulous slow cooker and (sort of) duplicate the experience...


message 81: by Sharon (new)

Sharon Tillotson (storytellerauthor) | 1802 comments LOL, Andre. I believe we can still buy oxtail. Hamhocks are good too.

Our posts crossed. We roast root veggies all year here. In tinfoil in the oven in the winter, over BBQ flame or toaster oven in the summer...

Off to get my slow cooker out of storage, take some stewing beef out of the freezer, and make a list of grocs: Carrots, beans, little round mixed potatoes, tons of garlic, onions, celery... I think I have everything else...


message 82: by Ardyth (new)

Ardyth DeBruyn | 33 comments Now the Pumpkin cheesecake, wow, there's an idea I could get behind. ;)

I need to try that one... if only I actually liked to cook, sigh.


message 83: by Katie (new)

Katie Stewart (katiewstewart) | 1099 comments I'm with you, Ardyth. Eating it sounds good. Making it...meh.


message 84: by Sharon (new)

Sharon Tillotson (storytellerauthor) | 1802 comments LOL, you two. I had a period a few years back when I was really into making cheescake. They are easy, but I don't seem to make them anymore. Probably have at at least a dozen recipes. Had two pumpkin ones which were my faves - along with an Apple Stuedel that was to die for...


message 85: by Claudine (new)

Claudine | 1110 comments Mod
Recipe for the Struedel please!


message 86: by Sharon (new)

Sharon Tillotson (storytellerauthor) | 1802 comments Oops, Streusel, but who's counting?

Oven: 350 F, 180 C

Crust: 1/2 cup butter, softened, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1 cup flour (I always use 1/2 whole wheat)
Cream butter and sugar, blend in flour. Press onto bottom and 1/2 inch 1+cm) up side of greased 9" (23cm) springform pan. Bake 12-15 mins until slightly golden.

Meanwhile, peel, core & halve 5 apples and cut into 1/3 inch slices.

Filling: 1/4 cup sugar, 2 TBSP butter, 2 TBSP whipping (thick) cream, 1 pkg (250 gr) regular cream cheese, softened, 1/2 cup (125 ml) packed brown sugar, 2 eggs, 1 cup sour cream, 1 lemon, juice & rind.

In frypan melt sugar with butter over medium heat. Cook apples for 3-5 mins until just tender and lightly browned. Add cream and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 mins. Set aside.
In a large bowl, with electric mixer, beat cream cheese w/ brown sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time until just blended. Beat in sour cream, lemon rind and juice.

Using a slotted spoon, arrange apples over crust; cover with cheese mixture.

Topping: 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 cup packed brown sugar, 1/4 tsp (or more to taste) cinnamon, 1/4 cup softened butter.
Mix ingred until crumbly, sprinkle over filling.

Bake 45 mins or until centre is just set. Do not overcook.

Cool thoroughly at room temp. Chill at least 4 hours or overnight.


message 87: by Ardyth (new)

Ardyth DeBruyn | 33 comments Yum. That sounds delicious.


message 88: by Sharon (new)

Sharon Tillotson (storytellerauthor) | 1802 comments It is, I assure you. Maybe Claudine will make some and send it to you, LOL.


message 89: by Margaret (new)

Margaret (xenasmom) | 306 comments Sharon wrote: "Oops, Streusel, but who's counting?

Oven: 350 F, 180 C

Crust: 1/2 cup butter, softened, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1 cup flour (I always use 1/2 whole wheat)
Cream butter and sugar, blend in flou..."


Delicious, Sharon, I can't wait to try this.


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