We went to the Sunset Valley Farmer’s Market, south of Austin to have a look-see. It’s a great neighborhood farmer’s market, with lots of organic produce. I liked the raw milk cheddar cheese from Full Quiver Farm but they ran out so I couldn’t take a block home.
We picked up lunch from the Deli Bento vendor to bring back home. I haven’t had a bento in ages!
What are the best dinner rolls you ever ate? I remember once eating some great bread in a steak restaurant near Provo, Utah. Forget what they were called, but they were good.
When Annie and I were dating, every so often we’d go have the buffet at the Plumeria Beach Cafe in the Kahala Hilton on Oahu. Besides the awesome spread there (oh, for the days when we could eat lots more and not worry about the weight), they had a basket of rolls with different selections from regular to whole wheat to sourdough to taro. The taro bread was especially good.
Annie made these two types of dinner rolls for us the other night. The first was “Butter-Dipped Dinner Rolls” from “The Bread Bible” and the second was “Dark & Soft Restaurant Dinner Rolls” from “Whole Grain Baking” by King Arthur Flour. Here are both doughs rising before shaping.
After baking. They were both great, but I think the edge went to the butter-dipped ones. Those were so light, airy, and buttery
These were the best rolls I’ve had in a very long time.
Aloha, Nate
Annie made this great chopped salad based on the “Chopped Mexican Salad with Roasted Peppers, Corn, Tomatoes & Avocado” recipe from Fine Cooking Magazine July 2006, p 57.
First, she roasted some seeded red bell peppers and corn in the oven with olive oil until the peppers were soft, then diced the peppers. She also diced up some tomatoes and avocado. She blanched some broccoli and chopped that up as well (the original recipe calls for diced jicama). All the ingredients were mixed together along with a drained can of black beans and garnished with chopped cilantro.
The dressing was a honey-lime-cumin vinaigrette which included garlic, lime juice, orange juice, shallots, honey, toasted ground cumin, olive oil and fresh ground black pepper. This is a great salad which has a lot of flavor and texture.
Aloha, Nate
For most people, chicken on the grill means wings, drumsticks, thighs, or breast pieces that are laid down on the grates and cooked over direct heat. Chicken pieces are a lot easier to deal with, and they all cook at the same time so there is less chance of overcooked meat. (For food safety, you want to cook poultry until the juices run clear and no longer bloody.)
Doing a whole chicken, however, is a whole different animal. The bird has such an odd shape that doesn’t cook evenly. Grill the bird long enough to fully cook the dark meat, and you risk having dried out white meat. You have to find a way to cook the chicken until it’s done, while keeping both the white and dark meat moist.
