Cheeses are like people. They have character or they have not. Tou must choose them carefully just as do a friend.

Cheese from the friendly land of Denmark has centuries of cheesemaking experience behind it. Modern Denmark has added scientific know-how and the last word in hygienic standards to produce fine quality cheeses. Danish cheeses make friends wherever they are served in countries as far apart as Britain, the United States and even in Japan.

Making good cheese takes several weeks before it reaches the degree of mellowness that appreciative customers demand. At every stage the Danish State Quality Control regulates the standards of quality, hygiene and purity required. The State Quality Control was set up in 1906, at the request of the the farmers themselves, using the symbol the Lurmark.

Danish cheeses are amongst the finest in the world, wholesome and satisfying, simple or sophisticated, to please every palate.

The very small text at the bottom left of the image above reads:

Issued by: Danish Agricultural Producers, 2/3 Conduit Street, London, WIR 0AT on behalf of the Danish Export Board.

These leaflet dropped out of a hardback cookery book of the same era that was donated today in a large bag of other books. The book has joined the growing selection of cook books in the back room, but I couldn't resist holding on to this charming little leaflet. Who would have thought there were so many cheeses made in Denmark?

As you can imagine, I just can't wait to try out the "Samsoe Sputnik".

Cut 6 oz. Samsoe in 3/4" cubes. Cut a slice from one end of an orange to make a firm base. Pierce the cheese cubes on a cocktail stick. Add a grape, cherry, mandarin segment or piece of pineapple to each cube. Push the other of the cocktail stick into the orange to form a decorated "sputnik".

The Friends of Castle Acre Church Charity Bookshop is open 10:00 - 16:00 every Saturday and public holiday, and is found at the eastern end of Castle Acre's high street in west Norfolk. Thousands of paperbacks and hardbacks already in stock, with no small number containing similarly delightful little historic documents between their pages.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Hunters%20IV/189/99/23

A luxe (and original) wedding gift: stainless-steel nesting bowls by the Japanese designer Sori Yanagi.

It's wedding season, and so far I'm attending four. When you take into consideration the engagement and bachelorette parties, the bridal showers, rehearsal dinners and post-wedding brunches, there go your free summer weekends and year's savings.

I admit I'm the wedding Grinch. I dread all the planning hoopla. And I especially cringe at the thought of buying a wedding gift from a registry, the bridal equivalent of saying, "Here is my list of things I want, or sort of want, or don't really want, but know I have to choose so I don't end up with some homemade wreath from a distant aunt." At a recent bridal shower, I found myself sitting in a circle of 12 bonnet-clad ladies, oohing and aahing as the bride-to-be opened her gifts — items that she couldn't recall zapping with the Crate & Barrel registry gun a few weeks prior.

My favorite wedding present to give this year is this set of stainless-steel mixing bowls, which I've used every day since I bought them two years ago. Sound boring? Well, these aren't your average nesting bowls. Sure, they'll hold your cake batter as well as any, but these Sori Yanagi bowls make me feel like I do when I don a fancy gown: sexy and composed. It's about the way it feels on or in your hand. Made of sturdy material, the bowls are surprisingly thin and sleek, with a finely curled lip that makes holding them somehow feel luxurious. I bought this pricey set (five bowls for $118 at Tortoise in Venice Beach, Calif.) for the same reason a car nut chooses to splurge on a Porsche: for the look, the feel and the ride. And when you do something every day, you might as well enjoy it. Gift wrapping is included, which means more time and money for me this summer.

Read previous posts by Jill Santopietro.

You see, I just couldn't put it to rest. By now you know my compulsive side, right? Yep, I see you all nodding and rolling your eyes. Well, if you tuned into Justopia Cooks last night for the Mediterranean feast you had the unique privilege of watching me melt down as I tried in vain to whip up -- literally -- a batch of Garlic Aioli for Papas Bravas.

I tried. And I tried. And I tried some more. I was even offered help by MissouriMatt54 who has culinary training, yet to no avail. Other viewers were supporting me and trying to keep my spirits in check as I blew through about 8 eggs, countless cups of oil, teaspoon after teaspoon of lemon juice and vinegar and nothing. Just bowls of soupy sloshy yellow-ish, albeit tasty oil, vinegar and eggs that would not stand up to the fried potatoes that it was meant for.

Well, fret no longer citizens of Justopia and all that visit! As of 10:45 this morning WE HAVE MAYONNAISE!

First I want to remind you of yesterday's Mayonnaise Mania and the greenish-yellow tint of expensive, incredibly olivy (made the word up) oil that wasn't fit for the king's food testers. Warning, it's not a pleasant sight!!

DON'T say I didn't warn you!!!!

f

And this morning, with the help of Alton Brown and a few omissions and additions to his recipe -- ok, we call that adaptation in food blogger world -- I finally achieved the DEElicious, creamy, smooth, thick to the right consistency mayonnaise.

And YES! I am going to add it to tonight's menu. Joe has requested Carne Asada, and Carne Asada he shall get, but not before starting with some Tapas, the focus of which will be Papas Bravas! Hey now. It's Spanish in origin and we are having food with Spanish names, so it's going to be A-OK! Nothing to worry about.

The real question is -- what the hell am I going to do with all this mayo for the rest of the week? Any and all suggestions, as long as they are food related people -- are welcome. Send them to Justopia@justopia.com please.

And again, FOOD related only! This IS a PG rated show -- for God's sakes, 1/2 of my viewers now are Jonas Brother's fans, so that puts the demographic in the pre - adolescent range along with the rest of you more "mature" Justopia followers, to whom I'm very grateful.

Now, get your friends, your family, your worst enemies to tune in and to read the blog -- please! I'm trying to get some visibility here ya know!

Guest Appearance(s)

We've been doing this for how long now? Let's take a look at the calendar. I've been writing away at the blog since May 2, 2007 which means I've been doing this for 14 and 1/2 months. I've been broadcasting since September 14, 2007 which means I've been at the live video thing for 10 months and 2 days. It's all pretty hard to believe and what's more difficult to believe is that I've kept this all a secret from my family, well, from my parents and my sister and her family. That is, until tonight! I am not quite sure what prompted me to make the big reveal tonight, but about 30 minutes before Joe rang the bell I was on the phone with my mom and something in my head told me tonight was the night.

Perhaps it was the fact that I was planning a special show tonight. Maybe it was because we were having a serious discussion about exactly what it is I want to do with my life. Or maybe it was just plain time to share.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

So, on to the guest appearance of JoeInIraq at Justopia.com World Headquarters. Tonight Joe showed up right on time. A little early actually, but punctuality is a thing with me, so it was perfect. He'd timed things so that he wouldn't get stuck in traffic driving in from Baltimore and he ended up here just a few minutes early. I'd just gotten off the phone with my folks, so my immediate reaction was, "You're here already?!" How rude of me -- I just wasn't thinking clearly.

Anyway, we chatted for a bit, set up our broadcasting gear and got into the kitchen to get dinner going. It was a wild night. I had family to bring up to speed, a guest host, Week 2 of the Name That Exotic Food Contest and a feast to prepare.

I think Joe enjoyed the meal, although he was a bit preoccupied with the Orioles game, but he did manage to finish up the carne which I was very happy about. I always have so darn much left over and tonight I was just left with what's going to be a DEElicious lunch to bring to work tomorrow. It was also great fun to be able to share a meal with a fellow broadcaster.

You've watched me put these meals together each night, but can only take my word for how good it tastes. Tonight Joe gave the thumbs up and cleaned his plate. It seemed to be a success.

I would imagine the next guest appearance will be my sister, which will be a great thing because she's a great cook. Maybe I'll get up to my parent's house and we will all broadcast a feast because mom is a wonderful cook as well. I am conjuring up visions of Thanksgiving at my Sister's this year if I can get off from work which is not likely at all. :( Maybe we'll have to do it here this year.

承認自己有菁英主義，其實對我這種鄉愿的人來說是一件蠻尷尬的事。只能說每個人的生存背景造就的性格，讓我是一個比較主動積極，偶爾卻也擅長阿Ｑ地安慰自己。

怎麼說「尷尬」呢？因為我同時認為每個人、每件事物都有它存在的意義和價值，假如他選擇一個容易滿足、容易快樂的生活，那麼他是不是積極向上，旁人又有何置喙餘地？只是在此同時，世界上有更多人一邊怨天尤人，一邊又不求上進，這時候我就會解釋為：他們在這種不自覺的自憐中得到滿足而不自知，而那些無止盡地抱怨，只是發洩生活不滿的一種方式，並非真想改善什麼。

每個人都有自己不足之處，面對不足之處的作為，我是較為積極的一種人，但每個人也都有自己的侷限，對大多數的人而言，再怎樣努力也會有一個無法企及的遠方在那裡，雖然這所謂「無法企及」的限度在哪裡，其實很難說，更多時候是決定在這個人的決心和毅力。不過每個人為了自己存在的必要性，安慰自己、詮釋自身存在的合理化這樣的能力，大抵是不會缺少的。

如此這般。

附上今天做的便當（明天午餐）照片：

燉肉切了一條中小型的紅蘿蔔下去蒸，還挺好吃的！收拾好之後我吃了一塊紅蘿蔔（先把肉用油炒過，然後加上些醬汁，放進紅蘿蔔塊、一些水，進電鍋蒸），另外飯是炒飯，有蔥蛋、半顆洋蔥、一個頗大的青椒，炒起來量變得非常多，還有青菜。

本來是為了eucaly說他會吃不飽而另帶一個小盒，這個小盒現在變得這麼大，他的便當量已經變成我的1.7倍了…。

I don't know what's more amazing: That the Midsummer Classic took nearly 15 innings and 5 hours to play OR the fact that it would have been closer to six hours if the first few innings didn't go by unusually fast. No matter how long it took, it was a riveting game. Great pitching, outstanding defense, and just enough offense to threaten a damburst without actually breeching the shore. I don't blame anyone for going to bed early, but if you gave up on the game early Wednesday, you missed out. Innings 10-15 were the best baseball I've seen a long time.

• Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla had a rough night: 3K's, a GIDP, and 3E's. Yikes! He also had another near error on a grounder and when he did field one, he made a very deliberate throw home. You could tell it was in his head a little bit. The worst part was listening to Joe Buck try to give him the benefit of the doubt, blaming his third miscue on a bad hop. Sorry, but that play is made every day. It was most certainly an error. As bad as Uggla was, I've seen worse. I once witnessed an accomplished amateur infielder make six errors in a playoff game, five in a single inning.
• You may have heard that this is the last year for Yankee Stadium. While its newsworthy and millions have vivid memories of the place, it's just another ballyard. Forbes Field, the Polo Grounds, the Aud, they're all gone, but the games go on. And the athletes who made those venues famous still fill us with awe and wonder. Farewell Yankee Stadium, long live Yankee Stadium.
• Most impressive all-star performances from guys you might not have heard of: Aaron Cook, Christian Guzman, Scott Kazmir.
• Switching to hockey: The Sabres open the season October 10, hosting Montreal. The Sabres also announced that they had signed Dan Paille to a multi-year deal, and Mark Mancari and Clarke MacArthur had accepted qualifying offers from the club. I like Paille a lot. He plays like he has fewer skills than he does. If you've ever heard him interviewed, he's not the smartest guy in the room, but he plays with relentless emotion. Something which the Sabres are in short supply.

The next morning, yesterday, I banged on the door and yelled through it for twenty minutes and he finally opened it, looking groggy.  I silently pushed him along, knowing he had been up all night doing God knows what.  I was an hour late for work because of him.  What tops it all off is that after camp, he pestered me with the question "where do babies come from?" all afternoon.  Wouldn't he have learned that from the porno magazines?  I dodged the question anyway.

Does not matter, though, because today took the cake.  I had the gall to leave him alone while I picked something up from the office.  When I came back the kitchen had already seen two disasters.  The first disaster is spaghetti sauce and Parmesan cheese all over the counter top.  The second is a pile of neatly thrown pukeon the tiled floor.  My kitchen smells like a one-year-old's Olive Garden birthday party.  Unfortunately, he probably got foodborne illness from undercooked meatballs.  And his mother says he can cook.

I just finished cleaning the mess, and I'm fed up with him

Ingredients

• sesame oil
• peanut sauce and szechuan sauce (in a pinch I use the House of Tsang brand you can buy in the oriental food section at most grocery stores, though making it from scratch is healthier and tastes better)
• fresh ginger (optional)
• red pepper flake
• chicken
• tofu
• carrots, shredded (use a grater)
• dry roasted peanuts, chopped
• lots of cilantro, chopped
• cucumber, julienned
• short, crispy wheat or rice noodles (check the packaging, some aren't too bad for you and some are super fatty and fried)
• bib leaf lettuce leaves (can substitute iceberg)

Cut the chicken and tofu into tiny pieces and toss in a wok with a tiny drizzle of sesame seed oil, the sauces to taste (don't overdo it), some red pepper flakes, and ginger. Once it's cooked through, toss in a handful of crushed peanuts and serve taco-style on lettuce leaves. Pile with cilantro, carrots, a bit of the noodles, and the cucumber. You should acheive something approximating this (only with more veggies, of course):

Other toppings include:

• mango
• extra peanuts
• slices of chili pepper
• dash of soy or tamari sauce

Last weekend, I was making a frittata.  (Sorry, no picture- you'll have to take my word for it!)  I needed some shredded cheese fast- yes, it was something I neglected to do before starting the whole cooking process, but overlooked nonetheless.  I went in to my cupboard in search of a Microplane, but something shiny caught my eye.  I had to take a second look.  What was that?  No pan I own is shiny enough to see my reflection in…I’m not saying they are dirty, but come on?  I USE them, often.  I reached back to the shiny item, and pulled out a box grater.

I don’t recall buying this, but I must admit.  It worked well, and so quickly for the cheese.  For those of you who prefer grated cheese of a little more substantial size…you may consider this.  I think mine was even purchased at the local ‘dollar store’.  It just seemed to work like a breeze for the cheddar that I needed to shred, and clean up was easy, too.

I have used one of these in the past to shred vegetables, to sliced cheese, and it’s not my preferred method, but you could also use it to grate nutmeg.  I want you in this Microplane, speed and convenience craze, to not overlook the sturdy, reliable, effective box grater.  I don’t know where my frittata would have been without it!

P.S. The Microplane people even make a box grater who’s sides are even removable.  This may be completely ingenious for cleaning and ease of use!

During our stay, I was fortunate to partake in a hands-on cooking class lead by Chef de Cuisine Antonio Fallini, an accomplished chef who gave up his position as God at The Four Seasons Hotel in Toyko, as well as cooking for the rich and famous (he confessed to being a nervous wreck at the heels of preparing the late Princess Diana and Pavarotti's meal) in order to take charge at San Felice. 

I want to share a simple yet absolutely delicious dish from the lesson which even a mediocre cook such as myself was able to successfully reproduce at home...Papa al Pomodoro (you must clench your fingers together and waggle them in front of your mouth when you say it). Translated, it's Bread & Tomato Soup. You cannot get any more simple and pure traditional Tuscan than this (photo credit, below, to seppysils).

Ingredients:

1. 500g ripe tomatoes
2. 2 silver onions
3. 1 garlic
4. 50g basil
5. 500g tuscan stale bread 
6. 1 chili pepper
7. Rock salt
8. 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
9. 1 and 1/2 cup stock of choice: vegetable, beef, or chicken

All right, who doesn't like fried rice? This is my little concoction. This recipe took me about 13 minutes to make and it wasn't half bad. It was quick and easy. I am a bachelor so theres no real authority over here to tell me it wasn't awesome. The time and cheapness alone should be worthy enough for you to enjoy this delectable dish. You can also impress your mom that still washes your stained underpants; beware she may find it so tasty that she may shit in her own.

On a side note: As bachelors we are made to settle for something a little less tasty then what Bruce lee's mom would make over in Chinatown. So heres the ingredients and process i used; feel free to leave me your "constructive" comments. You can always improvise on this recipe.

You must gather these to begin your fried rice journey:
1. Olive oil
2. Pam
3. Lemon Juice
4. Soy sauce
5. Assorted Frozen veggies
6. Uncle Ben's 90 second rice (Long+Wild)----> thats what she said
7. 2 eggs
8. Minced garlic
9. salt

Alright try not to fuck this up:

1. Heat your skillet on High setting; While you do this spray a little bit of pan in the skillet

2. Crack your eggs in a bowl and scramble them to they are one color (the color is Yellow, just in case.)

3. After the skillet is hot enough (about 3 min for me) toss the eggs in the skillet. at the same time toss in your frozen vegetables (3/4 -1 cup worth). Let them cook for about 2 min with one another.

4. Now add your olive oil, you do not need much at all, i had no measuring device for this. Just put enough that the amount you pour inside the skillet is about 4-5 inches in diameter "circle shaped" (if your skillet is not lopsided). You could always add more later.

5.Throw in Uncle Ben as soon as you add your oil, and start mixing it all together. Make sure you get that karate chopping action down with your spatchula. You want to get that egg into those tiny morsels that make F.R. so good.

6. Add in some salt, a pinch or 2 of garlic, a squirt of lemon juice and about 5-6 teaspoons of soy sauce.

7. let it cook for about 10 more minutes making sure that you keep tossing it around the skillet. If you let it sit to long you are gonna burn the rice. Check the veggies and make sure they are cooked.

This serves around 3 bowls of the finished product. If you think its slacking tell me what you think.
The only thing i thought was that mine was a little to oily. So care on your oil usage. Good luck.

Yeah, I know it's cheesy, but I just had to be the first to get that headline in. As I write this, the game has headed into the 14th inning, and I imagine as I finish it (or hope, anyway), the game will fall to conclusion. So what's the news in this game? What have we learned?

Well, we learned that Dan Uggla hasn't particularly enjoyed the spotlight. He just finished gaining his third error, on a legitimately difficult hop mind you, but three errors is still three errors...

We learned that Aaron Cook is the National League's savior. Granted, there were a couple amazing defensive gems (that didn't include Uggla) that helped keep the NL in it the last couple innings, but Cook's three stellar frames to help out his coach should definitely make him an MVP candidate... although we've just elapsed into the fifteenth...

We learned that Terry Francona doesn't know what he's doing. Granted, he's got some pitching restrictions imposed by whatever the heck this Kazmir restriction thing is, and I have no problem with using George Sherrill to take out a lefty as he was used, but when you're down to just a couple pitchers, you have to take their ability to take you deep into an extra inning game into consideration, and unlike this sentence, you Mariner fans out there know that Sherrill can't go the distance. It will be interesting to see what happens as the game drags on and the AL is out of both pitchers and bench players.

We learned that Clint Hurdle, and most NL managers, know how to move their players around. Hurdle STILL has a bench player available in case of an injury (okay, scratch that, he just brought in McCann). He gets it!

And what's the best part of this game? Unlike 2002, Bud Selig can't call it a tie! (with a mocking tone) "It matters now." So as we wind down, and I begin to pack up my laptop and cuddle in for a couple more innings of baseball, we're left with the possibility of a team forfeiting for lack of players, or an injury, or out of exhaustion, or because they "don't want to mess up their swing" or whatever host of possible excuses might come out of these big babies mouths.

So, I'm off to bed without conclusion, but I will sleep happily tonight, knowing that Yankee fans are tired and up way past their bedtimes. God it's good to be on the west coast.

Go NL!! (It's not like the M's will need a home field advantage)

I love summer dinners around here. On the nights that it's just me, I eat as many veggies as I can. This weekend it was romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes and scallions from the local produce stand tossed in a salad with this homemade ranch dressing. This is absolutely the best dressing ever (ever) and is simple to make. I already have it memorized. It's that good. Seriously. It will change your life.

I'm getting anxious for my own tomatoes and cucumbers to ripen. The plants are taller than me now and there are lots of baby tomatoes and cucumbers out there, but none are ready to pick yet. A few more weeks... Next year, we've decided to do several raised beds and stuff as many plants in them as we can. We both agree that it's so much easier to eat healthy when the food tastes as good as it does straight off the plant. We're going green next year, baby. I may even look at starting a winter greenhousein the spring. I bet I can get some old windows at the Habitat Re-Shop or off of Freecycle. That way I can get my seedlings started earlier and not have to wait until August to get my tomatoes.

And for a little home update, this is our new sink. We had one of those stainless steel double sinks in there before and I hated it. It's so hard to wash big items in those dinky little basins. We opted to get a single bowl this time that is much deeper. A week later and we are still amazed at how much we can fit in there- which also means that we're waiting longer to wash the dishes since we can fit SO much in there. Dishwasher coming soon!

Here it is, the second installment of The Great Northern Cook Off 'Heats' at South Trafford College. Now it is time to see if our teams have listened to the chefs and can turn out the dishes as they were intended.

Putting this installment together has been great fun when we have had such good footage to work with and such a nice bunch of people to film.Everyone featured in the films got on with their cooking leaving us spoiled for choice for what to put in.

There is still loads of good footage and plenty of out-takes which will get an airing at the final awards dinner in September so if you (or yours) don't appear in these films you may do in future ones. In the mean time please enjoy this film. If you want to find out more about the competition you can go to The Great Northern Cook Off. If you missed the first film and are wondering what all this is about see my earlier post.

With the exception of cutting back on the butter by half, I stuck to yesterday's recipe, this time using the home-made stencil. Provided you use quality ingredients, the salmon and crème fraîche part of the recipe was relatively straight forward and tasted good even during the first attempt--the trickiest part of it all was really the cones.

While far from perfect, the overall result was still very tasty and I was pleased I went through all the trouble to make them. For those of you who haven't had the chance to try out the real thing, I strongly urge you give this recipe a try!

For my future reference, or if you are planning on making these for the first time and happen to stumble across this:

• Be cautious about baking the batter too long the first time around--they need to be soft enough to roll into cones without breaking.
• If you want the cones to be perfectly shaped and consistent, use a cone-shaped mold.

and extra virgin olive oil.

The scallop ceviche was a simple quick ceviche made with 1 cup fresh orange juice, one cup fresh lime juice, one half of a white onion (thinly sliced), teaspoon each salt and black pepper and one jalapeno pepper (thinly sliced including seeds).  Add one pound scallops (tough side muscle removed) and marinate at least 6-8 hours.  I used jumbo scallops, but you could also use medium sized.

The Cilantro Sauce is made with 1 cup cilantro, 1/2 white onion, 1 roasted poblano pepper, 1/4 of a jalapeno pepper with seeds, 1/4 extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.  I made this sauce up based on a green salsa recipe I had.  I'm not big on cold fish- whether cooked or not so I needed something to top the scallops.  I had a bunch of cilantro in the house that I wanted to use.  It complemented the corn salad and really made the ceviche pop.  Cilantro provides such a fresh flavor to the sauce and the oil binds it together.  You could make it chunkier if you desire, but use less oil.  I simply made it smooth in my food processor.

The corn salad took a roasted red pepper, 3 ears of corn, and 1/3 cup pesto.  I took the cooked corn off the ears and put it in a hot skillet for 3 minutes and removed it from the heat.  I diced the pepper which had been stored overnight in olive oil in the refrigerator.  Once the pepper was added, I stirred in the pesto.  This salad is best if you let it sit in the refrigerator at least an hour.  Take out prior to serving and allow it to come to room temperature.  Some would serve it as a corn salsa, but I thought it was bright contrast to the scallops and cilantro.

We ate this with a cocktail made of champagne and cranberry juice.  Its great served as a midsummer lunch or a late night light supper.  It would also work great with a Sauvignon Blanc or other fruity cocktail.