A Trip To A Southern Season
My annual bonus from work was burning a hole in my pocket and I needed tahini for the hummus (though I later realized the molcajete could probably grind up sesame seeds as easily as it does anything else), so the siren call of the gadgets was nearly irresistible. I immediately picked out a Benriner for $120, but I didn’t pick it up right away.
$120 is a lot for a plastic vegetable lathe, maybe I should buy a raclette. Mmmm, a grill with a broiler for melted cheese scraping, that would be a novel thing to try once or twice. A waste. How ‘bout a high-end bread machine? Nah – I enjoy kneading, mixing, and baking way too much. Why let a machine have all the fun?
I wandered about in the specialty food section, genuine Elvis King Creole seasoning, lemon curd, 800 mustards, even more hot sauces, but nothing looked appealing. Found some pickled herring in tomato sauce for Liz, then some kippers in brine, some wasa brot, and, what the hell, a baguette. I picked up the tahini and went to the butter section.
Butter, butter, the forbidden fruit of the udder; lawdy, lawdy, how I love butter. Can’t eat it much, so when you do, eat the good stuff. Irish butter- perfect with St, Patrick’s coming up – Kerrygold, timely name. That’s my bonus reward to myself for being an adequate corporate whore.
Stopped over at Liz’s house and gave her the canned fish. She suggested I make corned beef and cabbage for Saint Paddy’s, better yet Irish bacon and cabbage, maybe some soda bread. Now I have to learn how to make Irish bacon. Looks a lot like Canadian, made from the loin, but it’s different.
(Update: Google has failed me in the quest for Irish bacon creation, but down deep in my heart, I know it is juniper berries that make it un-Canadian, more like shinkenspeck. BTW, after reading that recipe at Recipe Cottage, I recognize it as my own, adapted from Rytek Kutas, and posted a long, long time ago on usenet. Nowadays, I would recommend using pork loin instead of ham - more delicate and easier to manhandle.)
2:14:44 PM 
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