Mapril Dim Sum Sunday

HAPPY MAPRIL!

HAPPY DIM SUM SUNDAY!

HAPPY MARCH MADNESS!

I had to throw that last one in there because the Kansas Jayhawks pulled off the upset last night and it's pretty much been insanity here in the prairie hood. But back to Mapril. As you recall, the inspiration for Mapril is to celebrate all things Maple in the dreary time that is the end of March and hopefully the end of winter and the beginning of April and spring. My good Canadian friend to the north, Susan of 29 Black Street, still has bits of ice and snow and gray in her world. She needs some hot pink flowers and lovely maple dishes to blow those winter blahs away. For some of us, spring apparently is done and we're heading into summer. Our predicted high today is 88 degrees so hot pink sunburn may be in my future.

I had three maple dishes lined up for Mapril Dim Sum Sunday. Sadly it was not to be and I have no one to blame except myself and not trusting my own damn common sense. You see when searching the internets for inspiration and ideas, I generally use Google image to find potential recipes. Generally my theory is if a photo makes me salivate then it must be, at the very least, a decent recipe. This has worked out fairly well in the past. Bit me in ass this weekend. You see I saw a photo and ended up at this recipe. They used a quick soak method of cooking beans but only had 30 minutes of post soak cooking time. This is where I learn culinary life lessons so you don't have to. Dried beans don't cook in 30 minutes. I don't think dried beans soaked over night cook to tender in 30 minutes. I don't know how long these freaking beans took because I spent all evening with them, gently tending to their needs. I finally decided that I actually wanted to get some sleep so I dumped them into the crock pot and went to bed. This morning found them tender but all the other ingredients cooked to mush. They are ok taste-wise. I'm sad for the cup of beautiful maple syrup that boiled away in the process. I am glad to know that I should stick with the chefs, authors, and websites that I trust. People who actually know how to cook, test and write recipes for the general public. My only guess is that someone was writing a recipe for a pressure cooker version of baked beans but forgot to cook in a pressure cooker because that's the only way this recipe is so not wrong.

Still, they do make for some pretty on this hot Sunday. Guess I'm the April Fool for making this recipe. Keep visiting the comments during the day to see who else decided to get all maplely (yes I know it's not a word...).

Mapril Dim Sum Sunday

Susan of 29 Black Street thinks it's time for a little Mapril Dim Sum Sunday. I would have to agree because while it's an explosion of spring color here in the Midwest, up in Canada there's still ice and grayness. She could use some Mapril goodness. It's a quickie since we're going to do it this Sunday but hey...you could incorporate Peeps into your Mapril dish. Actually I was hoping for a special Angry Birds version of Peeps but looks like it's not happening for 2012. So make a dish with maple syrup, Canadian if you're trying to suck to Susan or good ole American maple syrup if you want to make me happy. Take a picture, post what you made and come back here on Sunday and leave a comment in the post I'll have up. We'll all come visit all your lovely Mapril creations.

But no cheating by ordering these awesome maple peeps from the Pieces of Vermont online store.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to our dear blog friend in the Great White North, Susan Black of the blog 29 Black Street.

Susan is an artist and graphic designer extraordinaire.

She's a prolific and talented photographer

She also loves good food and knows how to make us all want to come to her house for dinner.

Happy Birthday Susan, please enjoy some NamaimoBars on us.

Celebrating Mapril

What is Mapril and why are we celebrating? It's pushing the month of March out the door and getting a jump on April. Why? Because my good blog buddy, Susan of 29 Black Street, gets the blahs at the end of March. Instead of focusing on the last gasps of winter, we're focusing on the joys of Maple. Did I mention Susan is Canadian? Did I mention that occasionally she sends me pure Canadian Maple syrup? I didn't? Did I mention how much I appreciate this? I do especially if you've seen the price of maple syrup lately. In an attempt to cheer Susan up, I made her Candied Maple Bacon. Hopefully I've got some more maple mischief up my sleeve for the rest of Mapril. Feel free to join in and cheer Susan up. By eating more bacon and maple. God Bless America and Canada.

L'heure du souper, Canadian Style

I love getting mail. I know it's a dying art, hard copy mail. Luckily I've found someone who enjoys getting packages in the mail as much as I do and her name is Susan Black. Earlier in the year I had sent her some of my favorite hometown seasoning, Old Bay. Apparently her local grocery doesn't carry it. By way of thanks, Susan decided to send me some of the best of Canada has to offer. Love that little Maple Leaf. Susan and I have a little cross border rivalry going on but it's all in good fun. However when it comes to food, we could be sisters. We both love our seafood so it was only natural that I found this in my package. Not only a can of lovely fish but a beautiful card of Susan's own design......along with a recipe for Fish Cakes.But first I had to investigate what the heck this was?
Palmaria palmata or red algae. A great source of protein that you can use in soups, salads or on top of fish cakes. But a word of caution, dulse will burn quicker than pine nuts if you don't watch it carefully when you toast it.
The fish-potato cakes were wonderful especially when served with the Macaroni and Blue Cheese I made with the Dragon's Breath Blue Cheese that Susan also sent. Spiced with Canadian Summer Savory and healthy sprinkle Old Bay the tin of chicken haddie produced a hearty, crispy patty that was more than welcome on a cold winter's afternoon.

Even had time to whip up a little dessert.
A pineapple, banana, cream cheese and nut filled dessert spring roll. Still a work in progress but tasty none the less.

When the Going Gets Tough...

...the tough hide in the kitchen. An old school Winter has announced it's presence with authority here in the Midwest. I fear for my sage plant, Old Faithful. She's survived 3 previous winters only to come back each spring with bright green leaves. Spring, however, is still months away and Old Faithful and I have a whole lot of snow to deal with.I decided the best way to deal with the snow was to channel my friend Susan (29 Black Street). You see Susan lives in Nova Scotia. Dealing with long cold winters is more her thing and since she was kind enough to send me some of Nova Scotia's finest artisanal blue cheese (Dragon's Breath), I decided it was time to put it to good use. Now I could have just nibbled it with a good crusty bread. Despite it's name it's not an overly sharp blue. I toyed with making blue cheese deviled eggs but what I really wanted was something warm and comforting. Something simple and quick. Macaroni and Blue Cheese was what I was craving.If you'd like a recipe, you could use this one from Epicurious. I used a nice mild cheddar to pair up with my creamy tangy blue cheese. You don't want to go too sharp on the cheddar and you don't want to use an even milder American cheese or the blue will overpower the whole dish. No, you're looking for the Ying/Yang balance. I punted on the chives instead decided on using Panko breadcrumbs mixed with chopped bacon as my crispy topping.
This is exactly what I needed. Warm and comforting yet fun with the wonderful depth that the Dragon's Breath brings to the pasta. Serving it up with a big pile of Kale and Cranberries made my hibernation process just a little more pleasant.

Supper Time

Part of the reason I love Dim Sum Sunday is getting to see what each person brings to the challenge. Last week, Susan over at 29 Black Street made a stuffed pumpkin I knew I had to try. She got the recipe from Dorie Greenspan's blog. Dorie is an accomplished cookbook writer and her blog is wonderful. Her recipe is fairly easy, resulting into a crusty cheesy pumpkin full of goodness. I took Susan's suggestions and fried up some bacon, then caramelized a sliced onion in the bacon fat and some butter otherwise I followed the recipe. I suggest you do too the first time but don't worry this recipe is very adaptable to your personal preferences. Perhaps the only thing I'd think about next time is to season the pumpkin a bit more before I stuffed it. With Thanksgiving coming, I can't think of a more beautiful and delicious treat to bring to the table.

Dim Sum Sunday - A Little Something

Our last Dim Sum Sunday - In the Bag saw some mouth watering dishes. So good I had to bring them back.
First we have Susan's Baked Cod with Olives over at 29 Black Street. The photo geek in me also loves this polaroid shot of her dish.
From the coast of Canada to the beaches of Florida where Dani bagged her own garden veggies in with salmon and a beautiful orange at Gardening Under the Florida Sun.
Hmmmm, home grown vegetables are the best. Thanks ladies for rising to the challenge and sharing these wonderful dishes.

We can thank La Diva Cucina for our upcoming Dim Sum Sunday. In a recent radio interview she reveals one of her small bites she likes to teach in her class, fried cheese stuff olives. So let's see your favorite snack or hors d'oeuvre.Don't forget Halloween is soon upon us so if you've got a special creepy Halloween snack, you know we'd love to see it.

Dimsum Sunday faves...

Although the first "Dimsum Sunday" got off to a slow start, there were two entrants that really put not only their cooking skills, but their hearts into the challenge...check out their entire Dimsum Sunday posts at:

Buzzkill's Buzzkill

29 Black Street

Thanks for participating, and props to you both!!

For those who weren't able to participate, we hope you'll join us next week - the theme is "Shellfish and Crustaceans".