One thing you'll never regret as a parent, is teaching and encouraging your children to cook!

For example, this basil fried rice,

with yellow chicken curry

 

Or these pork dumplings, 

and a sauce to go with it

Or this steak!

With vegetables

No idea what it's called, 

But this baked dish with mainly Italian ingredients,

and some Ontario wine, 

is so tasty!

A good friend is someone who brings home a large live lobster ...

... And then we get started on cooking it

This is the largest lobster I've cooked!

The cutting board and my large knife look so little 
☺

What you need ...

Chop onions, garlic, ginger and green chillies. 

Fry the onions till they are light brown, then add the garlic, 

ginger, green chillies and fry a few minutes. 

Add Kashmiri chilly powder, clove powder, 

cinnamon powder, coriander powder, 

and 

when the mixture begins to stick to the pan, 

add a finely chopped tomato, 

and a little vinegar to prevent sticking to the pan.

Add the lobster which must be cut at the joints. 

For large pieces crack the shell so that the spices penetrate in for flavour. 

Mix very well to prevent sticking to the pan, 

turn off the heat, keep shut 

and allow to cook for about the time it takes to set up the table, 

and have a sip of Gewürztraminer

☺

Sharing is loving!

Barbecuing a whole chicken

Made a marinade with Kashmiri chilli powder, 

ground dried red chillies,

Soy sauce, half a fresh lime,

freshly ground garlic and ginger,

a little salt,

and 

a flat teaspoon of sugar.

The secret is to cut the chicken this way ...

make slits in the chicken, 

and marinate well under the skin

(I've started using gloves these days,

imagine after all these years of not using them)

Cover and keep the chicken for 48 hours in the refrigerator to marinate well

The chicken can be spread out on the grill because of the way I've cut it,

And it will cook well on the inside on low flame

Meanwhile, 

a Polish friend had given us a small bottle of Żubrówka Biala 
which they brought back from Poland. 
I added some Canadian ginger ale, 
squeezed some fresh lime and made a drink 
(this is not part of the recipe)

While I was focused on the chicken,   
A wasp flew into my drink.  I quickly rescued it and let it go!

Back to the chicken

Basting the chicken

Voilà! 

a  few minutes later,

 a second wasp flew into my Zubrowka Biala!

☺

No doubt, this is a tasty cocktail

(Here are the social wasps on the hummingbird feeder)

I rescued the second wasp ... 

And I must say, 

the Polish drink tasted good, after two Canadian wasps!

To wrap up the BBQ chicken story ...

You could add fresh onions 

(Anna hates it when I eat raw onions)

☺

Have a good week, friends!

Friday morning Raccoon at Square One

And while everyone was busy trying to catch a bus to work ...

Chick-a-dee-dee-dee

For its beautiful song, 

its looks, 

its friendliness, 

and its peaceful behaviour, 

this Black-capped chickadee 

just won 

the 'Bird of the Backyard' award

Here are all the other contestants 

Cooking Duck Dopiaza

Found some really fresh duck at the Chinese store,

And decided to cook something different this time.

I remember eating a Chicken Dopiaza that Anna made years ago.

Dopiaza in Persian means "two onions"

This is originally an Afghan dish. 

Here is my version. 

Let's call it Duck Dopiaza!

We need 4 large onions,

grind 1 of them into a paste (in the white dish below)

cut 2 into quarters,

and chop 1 finely.

Fry these 3 and keep them aside.

Also chop 2 tomatoes, 

and 8 small potatoes

Grind whole fresh spices - 

8 green cardamoms, 3 tablespoons of black pepper, 

4 dried red chillies, 10 cloves,

1 inch cinnamon

Stir-fry the onion paste, 

when brown, 

add fresh ground ginger and garlic,

when brown, 

add the ground spices,

keep stirring to prevent sticking,

add the tomatoes

Add the duck 
already cut, washed and drained. 
(I buy the duck whole and prefer to do the cutting myself)

Keep stirring,

add salt, a teaspoon of sugar,

butter, and a cup of yogurt (see below)

Keep shut, and cook till the duck is cooked,

then add the potatoes, 

and cook till the potatoes are cooked!

Add the fried onions, and mix well, cook for 2 minutes, 

turn off the heat and leave shut.

Serve after 20 minutes with naan or rice, 

or whatever you like!

Here's my spicy duck curry recipe

Breaking open a coconut

Don't even try this method, unless you know your knives very well.

☺

We use sliced coconut in some of our cooking,

And today I found some very fresh coconut 

**(Once again, don't try this method of breaking the coconut, 

unless you know what you are doing)

Each knife has a specific purpose,

one to break the coconut,

the other to take the coconut out of its shell

and the third to slice the coconut

Now we have enough sliced coconut to use 

and store away

... And fresh coconut water 

to make a summer cocktail with Russian Vodka 

Cheers!