More flowers and such today. The chicken was roasted earlier in the week and I decided to stud it with dried cranberries. I’ve also been craving cheese lately, so I cubed up some cheddar and scented it with thyme flowers. Keep in mind that I usually make these the night before so the scents have a chance to make nice with each other. As usual, click through for details.
Do you bring your lunch to work? It doesn’t have to be bento to be interesting. The ‘brought lunch’ has a international following, from the brown bag of the U.S. to the tiffins of India to the bentos of Japan. I’d like to hear how you handle lunch when your kitchen is out of reach.
April 18, 2008 at 4:09 am
What’s a persian cucumber stick?
And do you know why your cheddar is so orange? I’m sure it all looks like that out your ay - but I’m used o it being more yellow over here. Does it taste the same as English Cheddar?
We have a company here in Melbourne who delivers tiffin - which is lovely in winter. I pretty much always take my lunch - soup is very popular in Winter - I make up big batches on the weekend. And salad in summer, which I generally out together the night before as salad is often part of dinner.
The alternative is a beautiful Parisien style baguette from my favourite waffle and baguette guy - he is French and his baguette is beautiful. I get Ham, Brie and Cornichon with mustard and butter. Yummy!
April 18, 2008 at 5:27 am
A lot of American cheddar is that color (mostly thanks to a lot of annato or even food coloring). Though uncolored cheddar (which is pale beigey color) is popular among folk who shop the health food store circuit.
American cheddar, depending on the source, is usually a lot milder than the English imports we see. Texturewise, if you were to compare them side by side, the English import has a lot of heft and grain to it. American is more smooth and can be rather soft. There are aged cheddars here but they still don’t quite reach the complexity that you find in some of the imports.
I’ll also say that cheddar isn’t my favorite cheese, but it was in the house and it was cheesey, so there it is. I have a pretty limited experience with it.
You’re making me long for a ham and butter sandwich from the candy store. At 5:30AM
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Thanks for sharing, as always!
April 18, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Interesting - I’ve noticed that American and European Butter is much paler than ours (and the Brits - we are quite similar in someways) - I believe this is due to our cows eating mostly green fodder all year, rather than hay for up to 6 months in US and Europe. And I am used to seeing Monteray Jack cheese being a startling orange. BUt I was bit surprised by the cheddar angle.
We have quite a lot of artisinal cheese production here - and can even sell and import some raw milk cheeses which is lovely. I quite like our aged cheddars, which can be almost gritty and crumbly and are quite distinctive in flavour, much like the English ones.
http://www.maffracheese.com.au/Home1.jpg
I get the “cheeses” myself sometimes! Luckily at the moment I have hoarded an aged organic goat cheese for my next craving - might be soon!
Rightio - we’ve off to “Live Like Winemakers for the Day”