Mezzomondo Negroamaro Rosso Salento

Another wine from a mostly unknown region--Salento, the heel of Italy. Negroamaro is the native grape. It is not a great wine but very good. Dark, plum, perfumed, the tannin is a little rough but not harsh. At C$9.99, I always keep a few around.

Argiolas Costera

When one think of wine, Sardinia is not usually near the top of the list, but this is a very nice wine. Tasted it at the last VIWF and found it interesting enough to buy a couple. It is very well made, lot of fruit, lovely cherry, but without the heaviness one may expect from hotter climate. Maybe a little pricey for what it is at C$25, it is good to have for it's uniqueness--native varietaals Carignano and Bovale blending with Cannonau (Grenache). Come to think of it 25 may not be too much after all.

Schloss Reinartshausen Hattenheimer Wisselbrunnen

Chris asked for drinks and here starts a few alcoholic drinks I drank in the last 10 or so days. This is a mild surprise. I wanted to buy their first growth at the last Vancouver International Wine festival after tasting it, but it was sold out so I picked this up at C$21. Drinking it without comparing to the first growth, it turns out to be very satisfying. Full but not heavy, lots of stone fruit, just slightly oily; it does nothave the mineral level of the first growth but very balanced and bright. The bottle is also great, beautiful blue long bottle with a glass stopper. I will steam off the label and use the bottle.

Steak!

Sometimes you just need a steak. Ribeye, red wine reduction with shallot and crushed pepper. Simple and enough beef for a month.

Nordic Maki

Hidekazu Tojo said he created inside-out maki, and since I live in the same city, I make one also. On the outside is gravlax with cucumber and crispy salmon skin from the gravlax. It is not bad but the cucumber sort of thin out the taste too much. Maybe I should use avocado next time.

More Smoked Salmon

Garden vegetable pasta is good but add some smoke salmon, it is better. Here is olive oil, garlic, chili pepper, tomato, yellow summer squash, basil, oregano, smoke salmon, salt and pepper.

Salad

Other than the cucumber (from my neighbour) and the radicchio everything else is from my garden. I particularly like the yellow beans, sweet and beany, called Kentucky Wonder Mix.

Chicken with Plum Sauce

Continuing with the plum. Here I sauté some garlic and onion in olive oil then add browned chicken pieces, deglaze with some white wine, add some thyme and cut up plums, brown sugar, salt and pepper. Cook until the sauce thickens and chicken is cooked. Very brightly flavoured, sweet and sour.

Plum Cake

I have a Italian prune plum tree and this is plum season. I have to find ways to eat a whole tree of plums (I still have preserves from last year's harvest in the fridge!). This is easy and tasty. The batter is just a cup of flour, a tablespoon of baking powder, a touch of salt, 2/5 cup of sugar, half a stick of butter, 3/8 cup of milk, an egg just mixed together. Usually this is made with the plum's fresh side up, prettier that way. I like it facing down with the plum melting into the cake, think it tastier.

Quick Pork Stirfry

This is pretty basic: thin slices of lean pork, garlic, ginger, onion, red bell pepper, Sichuan hot bean paste 郫縣豆瓣醬, Shaoxing liquor 紹興酒, scallion and sesame oil. Hot pan, add oil and then ingredients in that order. Perfect to go over rice.

Not Bad as Dinner

Yes, I said the outside round roast isn't great for dinner, but it is good enough. I made a pan sauce with dijon mustard, pepper and a little beef stock. The side is a seasonal vegetable stew of orange bell pepper, asian eggplant, yellow summer squash, potato, onion, garlic, olive oil, basil and oregano. Not refine but very happy kind of meal.

Horny Tomato

Well, what else can I say...

Outside Round Roast

Cheap cuts like outside round may be too lean and dry to make a good dinner oven roast, it does make a good cold cut. I do it simple--salt and pepper, brown in a pan, roast at 300℉ to 135℉ in the centre. When sliced thinly it makes great sandwiches and I even float them over rice noodles and chicken broth. A very economic and tasty standby.

Smoked Salmon Quiche

I still have a pie shell in the freezer and smoked sockeye in the fridge so what is better than a quiche. Sauté some onion and red bell pepper add the fish and some herbs put into the pie shell pour over the custard and back, very simple. I just follow the instruction on box regarding the custard and baking, comes out well.

Summer Garden Spaghetti

Even when there isn't much coming from the vegetable garden, a little of this and that is plenty enough. A couple of tomato, a small yellow summer squash and a few springs of basil are all I have. Chop and cook them with a little olive oil, garlic and crushed chili, salt-n-pepper, toss with some spaghetti and one of the best tasting pasta dish is made.

Smoked Salmon Omelette

If you have a little hot smoked salmon hanging around, omelette is a good way to go. This morning I take a small piece of my own smoked sockeye, sauté some onion and red pepper, add a couple of eggs and voilá a very tasty omelette.

Roast Pork Shoulder

Shoulder is good everyday roast. It is interesting because a few different muscle groups run through it and give the roast different texture. Just don't overcook, slice thinly and it is a very good eat. Here I stuffed it with garlic, thyme, parsley, rosemary, salt and pepper, pan seared the outside and roasted in 300℉ until the centre reached 160.

Giant kernels

Bought a few ears of corn from the farmer's market, every but one is normal and regular. This one, however, has some giant kernels! Taste like others, very sweet.

Tomato Salad

Late summer is great tomato time. The rainbow colour tomato join my own home grown early bird tomato and basil in this salad. Even without cheese, just a simple dijon mustard vinaigrette is enough to make a very fine salad.

Rainbow Tomato

I don't know what this variety is called but I picked it up at the farmer's market. Certainly very colourful, quite tasty too.