Text 28048, 64 rader
Skriven 2012-08-07 21:17:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: picnic winding down 86
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A maple syrup sampling with the aid of pancakes made with
almond flour and Living Harvest hempmilk. The pancakes were
pretty good, one just noticing the almond flour and
thankfully just not noticing the hempmilk, which I sampled
by itself, and it's just plain nasty, tasting like
marijuana but not nearly so good. The results were almost
unanimous, the dark amber deemed most flavorful and generally
preferred, the medium amber second, and the light amber last,
though some renegade liked it best (Burt I think).

Ghirardelli chocolates - 64%, 72%, 86%. No consensus on
these, though Nancy and I agreed that the 72 was the best
compromise. In earlier years it's been the 86 for me, but
I'm getting old and timid. Those who like sweeter chocolate
of course preferred the 64.

Ah!laska chocolate syrup - vegan, organic, but not all
that different from Hershey's. Alas, even chocolate syrup
couldn't make the hemp milk taste good.

The Kracht household has a Sodastream system, by which you
can satisfy your soft drink craving at a fraction of the
commercial cost. It works, with the flavors mimicking at
least the house brand sodas if not the name brands: at
least with the couple I tried.

Wegmans caffeine free diet cola is surprisingly decent
tasting despite having almost no natural ingredients.

I'd pot-cooked the meat in broth all night. Pulled out the
brisket and served it sliced alongside the rest of the
pastrami - instant deli, if you will. I think I should have
foiled the brisket and reheated it slowly (I did one this
way a couple weeks after at Williamsport), but it was okay
the way it was.

The bear-tooth mushrooms got sauteed in butter and oil,
bulked up with some crimini. I liked them.

==
Later we had the chuck roasts, which owing to longer cooking
and the natural grain of the cut, were tenderer than the
brisket but of course (being cooked in the same broth, the
same aromatics, and the same veggies) tasted much the same.

A side of garlic spinach - I guess I was in the throes of an
electrolyte outage, as I made it a little too salty - and a
pound of Wegman's gluten-free spaghetti (made in Romania out
of corn) in a sauce of sauteed mushrooms and garlic
moistened with pot roast liquid.

I particularly enjoyed this meal, not because it was so
wonderful, but because I don't get to cook in quantity that
often any more.

After which Ron and Matt went into Ithaca for a Purity run.
They were incredulous when I said I didn't want anything, so
I relented and ordered the smallest possible dish of chocky,
which came about a full meal's worth of calories, delicately
and pleasantly flavored with cocoa. Nancy's vanilla was
better, and her hot fudge sauce was really fine.
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