Saturday Stuffs: A Gift from a Friend, How does our garden grow, and Cooking at Catalina Offshore

 Glico Beef Curry Lee X 20:

A few weeks ago I received an email from FOY and fellow food blogger Dennis, whom you might know from his wonderful blog - A Radiused Corner. He told me he was sending me some nice and spicy curry he brought back from his recent trip. How thoughtful! A few days later a package arrived....it was the curry.

A couple of days later, it was cool enough for me to try and eat this. I simply heated in the typical way and served it over rice. Not having any pickled ginger, I garnished with some of our piclekd onions.

I loved the "nose", you could tell there was some heat involved. Overall, I liked the heat, it was enough to get the sweat going a bit, but not in an uncomfortable way....it did slowly build, but was nicely buffered by the creaminess of the curry. This was quite nice. I'm almost tempted to chop up some ghost peppers into some curry next time!

Thanks Dennis! This was so very thoughtful!

If you'd like to read Dennis's experience with the X30 - made with Moruga Scorpion Peppers, you can read Dennis's post here.

How does our garden grow:

So here's our garden update.

So, this is usually when the chilies start really doing well. But we've been most impressed with the okra. The plants look really fragile and delicate. We've got 6 plants and I don't think they're growing right in our raised bed, we're only getting about 4-5 okra ready to be picked at a time. But man, those fruits are quite robust!

Meanwhile, the chilies are starting to give off quite a bit of fruit. This year though, the ghost peppers aren't quite as burning hot as last year....they seem to be very fragrant...much more fruity than last year. We've been using them in stir-fries. Not sure why it's not as spicy. Could it be the padrons and shishitos close by? Is there some cross-pollination that's affecting the peppers? Or has the weather been too cool overall? Who knows.

Now, I know folks have been curious about these.....

The Moruga Scorion Peppers. These are pretty straight forward spicy, mildy fruity, with a burn that lasts about 15 minutes. I have a feeling that our scorpion peppers aren't quite as spicy as they should be either. Still, there is a burn.

And it is quite a bit more spicy than the Bhut Jolokia.

So we've been playing around with peppers....mostly using them in various stir fry dishes for the Missus. The Red Habaneros are not bad, a nice buzz, not sustained very long.

Recently, after two years of asking (nagging), the Missus got Her patio set. I gotta say, I'm really enjoying it as well. Here's my favorite past time on a typical evening.

We don't have the most beautiful backyard....but there's something serene about looking over our plants as the day ends and things start cooling down.

Cooking at Catalina Offshore:

So, I'm not sure when Tommy realized that I have a food blog. I'm pretty sure he knew this for a while, but it got really funny when a food blogger had mentioned "Kirk"....who Tommy knew as "yeah, he just comes in here and buys fish every week." But the one thing that gave Tommy some leverage was being called the "grandfather of food bloggers in San Diego". I'm flattered and all (Faye), but man, you just gave Tommy a response...."Hey Mister Grumpy, what's up"...... "Not much Grandpa, what's happening with you..he, he, he...." I love you Faye, but man, did you have to go and do that.......

Anyway, Tommy had been wondering for a while what the heck I was doing buying that salmon every week. There was always better salmon available, but I always went with the Scottish..... when I described to him that I was smoking salmon every week for the Missus, he thought it was quite an effort. When I told him it only really took about 25-35 minutes to do he was intrigued.

Which led me to bringing my now 9 year old Cameron Stove Top Smoker and smoking some salmon.

No, it isn't being filmed........so you won't find this on Catalina's Youtube Channel.

I mean really....do you want to watch smoke wafting up from a stovetop smoker for 30 minutes?

The one really interesting thing was that Tommy told me when I arrived that Sam the Cooking Guy was doing a demo at 10. No big deal since it was 8 am and I could get this done in like 40 minutes total....Tommy was not a believer.

He is now....... I put out some baquette slices, dill mustard, dill creme fraiche. Spoke to a couple of customers and got out of Dodge. I'd say Tommy is a believer....he now has his own Cameron Stovetop smoker. Sorry to say I didn't take a photo of the end product, maybe next time I will... Tommy told me that we'd (I'd) be doing this again.... Not sure when. We'll see..... Cooking with good ingredients isn't very difficult.

Thanks Tommy....and yes, even you too Faye..... I think. 

Comments

[Dennis]

Glad you enjoyed the curry Kirk. Smoked salmon sounds pretty good right now.

[TFD]

Wow! Your garden is growing! I want to see your end product next time!

[kat]

those okra are huge! glad your garden is doing well.

[caninecologne]

If you went last Saturday, it was a few hours before Cathy and I stopped by. We saw Sam the Cooking guy setting up his station...

Lovely garden, epecially the okras!

[Kirk]

Thanks again Dennis!

Hi TFD - You will soon enough!

Hi Kat - We're both surprised how big our okra is growing.

Hi CC - Yes, Cathy mentioned that to me last week.

[Lynnea]

oooh, yum! fresh okra =) i love really really fresh okra just raw. just eat it whole. yum!

[Soo]

Wow! That's cool Kirk. Everybody calling your Grandpa now or just Tommy?

[Kirk]

Hi Lynnea - The okra is really sweet. It's been a pleasant surprise.

Hi Soo - I'll let Tommy do it because I call him all kinds of stuff....Mr Grumpy, etc. You, not so much....

[alnc]

Hi Kirk,
Are those pans on top of the smoker for putting weight on top or is there something cooking in that frying pan?

[Kirk]

Hi Alnc - No those pans are to weigh things down....I've had my stove top smoker for over 9 years now and I've found that weighing it down helps the seal.

[Faye]

I called you the godfather of bloggers! Not the *grand*father of all bloggers!

The Scottish salmon is the middle grade salmon they offer now. Do think the Scottish can be used to make nigiri or sashimi? I've always wanted to learn how to smoke something but thought I needed some fancy contraption. Going to research the Cameron Stovetop smoker. How fun you got to cook at COP and teach Tommy a trick or two.

[Kirk]

Many sushi bars use Scottish Salmon Faye. And you know Tommy.....he saw a chance to poke some fun at me and went for it!