Olympics Day 10: Kenyan Rice and Beans

Saw some great Olympics tennis today. Congratulations to Andy Murray and Great Britain on the tennis gold. While I was writing this, I got involved in the final minutes of the US women's water polo game against Italy. Both coaches were ejected. We won by a score of 9 to 6. Now we have switched to US women in volleyball against Turkey. The US can lose and still take the top spot in the next round. I think I can write and watch at the same time.

Gail made Kenyan Rice and Beans that worked perfectly for lunch. The flavors were slightly unusual, but worked well with the dish. It was a good flavor profile, but came out a bit bland. We added some salsa to snap it up. The vinegar and sweetness did the trick. Gail found the recipe at All Things Kenyan.

I had a lovely glass of seltzer water with my dish. We searched and searched for a Kenyan beer, and finally found Tusker yesterday. The beer poured with the limp head you see in the picture. I mowed the lawn today, so this lawnmower-beer was a decent choice. It reminded me of Miller, which I think of as the perfect lawnmower beer, but Tusker is five times the price.

FrogTape Outperforms Blue Tape in Accidental Head-to-head Test

I usually blog about food and drink, but FrogTape^® has earned an exception. I bought a roll on a whim for a previous painting project. I admit, I didn't find anything special about it. I ran out of FrogTape in the middle of this weekend's painting project, so I replaced it with the standard blue tape.

I just got done removing the tape and was surprised that the cleanup under the green FrogTape was much simpler than under the blue. In all but a few spots, the FrogTape left a clean, sharp line requiring no cleanup. I needed to tidy up nearly every inch of the edge of the blue tape.

I'm sold. I won't even finish this roll of blue tape before getting a fresh roll of FrogTape.

Olympics Day 9: Another Odd Mix

I saw an odd mix of Olympic events today including boxing, basketball, soccer, volleyball (both kinds), water polo, and rifle. Rifle? That's a sport? I am hard pressed to call something a sport where success depends on not moving. Nevertheless, it was compelling to watch.

Gail made pelmeni again for lunch, this time with thinner dough. I was better with the thinner dough, yum. She had some leftover filling, which she sauteed as little meatballs. The pelmeni filling is a mixture of pork and beef with about as much chopped onion as meat. It makes a delicious meatball.




I had a Belhaven Wee Heavy from Scotland. It had a delightful red color, with a thick, malty flavor that didn't linger. This beer was a wee bit heavy for lunch.

Dinner was Chinese, perhaps the best Chinese outside of China. We went to Mary Chung's in Cambridge and had all our favorites: Suan la chow show, Peking ravioli, lion head meatball, and dun dun noodles. We forgot to take a picture, which is a shame since these dishes are all so photogenic. This picture will have to do to give you a sense of how good it all tasted.

Olympics Day 8: Australian Shrimp on the Barbie

A dear family friend spent a year traveling abroad including a long leg in Australia. She brought us back a large dish towel with Australian recipes, including a recipe for drover's damper. We wanted to make this bread in honor of Australia and our friend. Bread, though, is not enough for dinner so we added shrimp on the barbie. Very simple, and here's the recipe: Skewer the shrimp and cook them on the barbie.

In addition, Gail made us a delicious ratatouille of eggplant, tomato and leeks. The meal was wonderfully satisfying. It felt like an American meal. Shrimp on the grill is something we make all the time. And while ratatouille is decidedly French, it is a staple in our house in the garden season. Finally, the drover's damper was an unusual bread, but still felt American. It is a baking soda bread with a flavor half way between a biscuit and a white yeast bread.



The recipe said to serve the bread with either jam or golden syrup. We got Lyle's Golden Syrup imported from Australia. The flavor was like Karo Syrup mixed with maple syrup, and it had a honey-like texture. We thought it could use a bit more salt, but also found that it didn't need salt when served with a little butter. It is a versatile bread.

Drover's Damper

2 c flour
2 ½ t baking powder
1 t salt
2 t sugar
1 T butter
1 c milk

1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Sift flour with powder and salt; stir in sugar.
2. Rub in butter; mix in milk to form soft dough.
3. Knead lightly on board till smooth; pat into round.
4. Place in baking tin; glaze with milk. Bake until cooked through, 20-40 min, reducing heat if getting too brown.

For Beer Damper substitute beer for milk.

Speaking of beer, tonight I had the quintessential Australian Foster's, but to toss it up a bit, I had the ale. It had an amber color, with a lacy head. The beer was extra bitter on the back of my tongue, with a slight sweet aftertaste, which didn't over-linger. This beer drinks light, but is not a gulping beer. And, who can resist the Foster's oil can. I particularly liked the fire red pull tab against the gold top.

Olympics Day 8: Dutch Hodgepodge

I came home for lunch today and was greeted with the smells of sauteing leeks and sausage. Gail was making me a Dutch leek hodgepodge with sausage. I now see where that word comes from. This is a bunch of sauteed ingredients mixed into mashed potatoes, a true hodgepodge. The picture makes the dish look like something you would get in a high school cafeteria, but the flavors worked extremely well. What a delicious and simple dish.

Dutch Leek Hodgepodge with Sausage
Ingredient per serving

½ c warm mashed potatoes
½ T olive oil
½ c sliced leeks
½ c chopped red pepper
3 oz cooked wurst sausage
1 oz grated cheese

1. If necessary, prepare mashed potatoes. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in heavy skillet over med heat. While oil heats, halve leeks lengthwise; spread leaves; clean thoroughly under cold tap water; slice into thick rings.
3. Remove seeds from red peppers; chop into bite-sized pieces.
4. Saute leek and pepper pieces until tender, about 5 min.
5. While vegetables sauté, slice sausage into bite-sized pieces.
6. Mix leeks, peppers, and half of sausage into mashed potatoes.
7. Grease oven dish; transfer mixture in; arrange remaining sausage over top; sprinkle with cheese.
8. Bake 20 min.

Olympics Day 7: A Bit of Everything

Spoiler alert. Actually, no, but I don't know why not. Tonight's results were spoiled for me at least four times today. I'll enjoy the events anyway, but come on people.

We made weisswurst for lunch. I browned them in a pan, then added some water to cook them through. If you need more recipe than that, I can't help you.

For dinner we started with a Ukrainian fish ball called tolcheniki. These were boiled and served on a bed of sauteed red onions. Our recipe only made two balls, so that dinner turned into a very nice appetizer. The flavors were very good, but a little bland. We think they would make a delicious fried fish cake, which would turn the flavors up a bit.

Gail had another dish nearly ready to go, so we added that to our meal. It was a Siberian pelmeni. Apparently, Siberians make hundreds of these things in the fall and store them outside over winter. Our recipe had the dough rolled to an eighth of an inch, and didn't go far enough to use all the meat. We are confident that thirty-secondths of an inch would do the trick. Gail cooked them three ways, boiled, steamed and pan fried, like Chinese pot stickers. The extra thick dough made it difficult to pick a favorite, but I liked the fried best.

My drink best fit with the weisswurst, but I held it off for dinner. I poured a German Aecht Schlenkerla Helles Schlenkerla Lagerbier. The straw color fooled me into expecting something lighter in flavor. It was quite bitter over a strong sweetness. While the sweetness lingered way too long, the flavor was good.

Olympics Day 6: Jamaican Jerk Chicken

It's early still, but we haven't seen a bit of Olympics. That doesn't mean that it hasn't been an Olympic day. We started it off with our last international coffee, Starbucks Brazil Peaberry Yellow Bourbon. Finally, a coffee that was better than what we usually get in the grocery store, although probably not better enough to be worth the extra price. The beans were smaller than normal, note the "peaberry" in the name. There was a noticeable aroma, and a full, but not burnt coffee flavor. It was a nice, rich coffee.

We made Jamaican Jerk Chicken for dinner, which was quite an adventure. The Simply Recipes recipe called for a habenero pepper, which freaked both of us out more than a little. I cut the pepper, carefully holding it with a paper towel to not get the capsaicin on me. I decided to pick out the seeds to moderate the heat.

After adding the chopped pepper to the marinade, I was careful to wash everything that touched pepper very well. I scrubbed the knife a few times, and then tested if I got it clean by licking the side of the blade. I was surprised that it made my tongue tingle, so I washed it a few more times.

Gail and I both admitted that we were a bit afraid to eat the resulting chicken. I took the first bite, and while it was slightly spicy, there was no problem. I would call it mild. I think we were wise to be careful, but after cooking it and discarding the extra sauce, I would have liked a bit more heat.

The chicken had strong flavors of the lime and cinnamon, and we both enjoyed it. Neither of us thought the flavor was worth all the fuss.

To extend the Jamaican theme, I poured a Red Stripe lager. It's been a long time since I drank a Red Stripe. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this easy-to-drink beer. It had a simple, malty flavor with very little sweetness. I particularly noted the full mouth feel with no lingering aftertaste.