What's "Cooking" in Tiki Central?

Is that a pizza?

Look out your door Amy,is there a Tiki Bus there? sad face for Mikes olives!
Pizza Party!

On 2010-09-14 21:38, MadDogMike wrote:
Well, another batch of olives crashed and burned :(

"Spanish Gypsy Olives - Just a blush of Purple - 10 day water bath, saltwater brine, limes cubes (I didn't have any lemon), cumin seeds, oregano, garlic, vinegar, olive oil. Ready in 2 weeks."

The 2 weeks was up so I cracked them open and tried a couple. They are too bitter! Uncured olives are VERY bitter, seems that I tasted them after their 10 day water bath and the bitterness was gone. Now they have a good flavor but they are just a little too bitter. I can't tell if it's from the lime peel or if it's the natural bitterness of the olives.

Then to add insult to injury, I either got food poisoning after eating them or coincidentally got the flu. I followed the recipe fully and was very careful to keep everything clean. The two other people who sampled the olives last night didn't get sick so who knows?

So far the only successful batch was the lye-cured ones that taste like canned black olices. They are OK but black olives are about the most bland olives ever created.

It might have been the lime,I have substituted limes for lemons in the past to undesirable results,something about lemon & lemon rind(zest)
that lime does not come close too, Example:lemon in Salsa & Pico de Gallo tastes awful, it has to be lime, Drink wise if you put lime in a
Lapu Lapu instead of Lemon juice,it doesn't taste anything like it should,it has to be Lemons!

Lime juice seems to get bitter over time,anyway my 2 cents?

Halved avacados, drizzeled with olive oil & lime juice then roasted. Remove from oven, fill with salsa and then cover in shredded cheddah! Yum-yum-yum!

On 2010-09-16 15:15, rugbymatt wrote:
Halved avacados, drizzeled with olive oil & lime juice then roasted. Remove from oven, fill with salsa and then cover in shredded cheddah! Yum-yum-yum!

That sounds awesome! I had a hickory smoked burger with PEPPERJACK, red onion, pickles, tomato, coarse ground mustard and bbq sauce. And oven fries.

WestADad, what no picture? sounds like a classic Burger, I don't think any of us regulars here on the thread
are fans of bland food,lots of love for the PEPPERJACK!

All hail the PEPPERJACK and the SHREDDED CHEDDAH!

Yea! what Amy said,in yoo face!

I think you're right ATP, I'm implicating the limes in the olive failure. They really are not as interchangable as people would think they are.

Well, no oven for me yet. Sears came out and wanted $350+ to fix it, I can buy a new one for not too much more. The worst part is that I had to pay $130 for them NOT to fix it! Yes, I knew that up front and I realize that you need to pay for them to drive and and check it but $130 seems a bit much. Worst part is he could have done it over the phone;
Me: The oven was on when it went POP! and read "F1"
Repairman: Did you unplug it, wait a few minutes and try again?
Me: Yes
Repairman: OK, the control board is out
He never looked at or touched the oven.

To add insult to injury, while they were going to be out to check the oven, I thought I'd save a service visit call and have them fix my fridge door at the same time. They sent a seperate technician for that, he put a $3 plastic shim on the bottom hinge and charged me $155!

Needless to say I won't call Sears repair anymore, we now have a Lowe's so I doubt that I'll buy any more Kenmore appliances. :x

I feel your pain Mike,the two months it took the plumbers to fix our gas lines,and destroy our oven in the process was a nightmare
not to mention not being able to cook & the cost of getting take out all the time sucked!

a good plumber should have done it in a matter of days not weeks.

ATP Smash!

Just a quick meal tonight...Grilled Bacon & Cheese and Homemade Danish Pea Soup.

On 2010-09-18 01:02, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:
Just a quick meal tonight...Grilled Bacon & Cheese and Homemade Danish Pea Soup.

Bacon AND Cheese!! Oh yeah!!

On 2010-09-18 01:02, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:
Just a quick meal tonight...Grilled Bacon & Cheese and Homemade Danish Pea Soup.

ATP...That looks so tasty and comforting. I'll pretend there's no bacon in the grilled cheese. :wink:
Sorry for no posts lately, but we've been making breakfasts & some lunches lately, but no dinners.

On 2010-09-18 12:28, Tonga Tom wrote:

On 2010-09-18 01:02, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:
Just a quick meal tonight...Grilled Bacon & Cheese and Homemade Danish Pea Soup.

ATP...That looks so tasty and comforting. I'll pretend there's no bacon in the grilled cheese. :wink:
Sorry for no posts lately, but we've been making breakfasts & some lunches lately, but no dinners.

Tom,I am sorry to notify you that the Pea Soup has Ham & Bacon in it.
Your vegetarian friends are giving you funny looks now!

But we still love you!

On 2010-09-18 13:32, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:

On 2010-09-18 12:28, Tonga Tom wrote:

On 2010-09-18 01:02, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:
Just a quick meal tonight...Grilled Bacon & Cheese and Homemade Danish Pea Soup.

ATP...That looks so tasty and comforting. I'll pretend there's no bacon in the grilled cheese. :wink:
Sorry for no posts lately, but we've been making breakfasts & some lunches lately, but no dinners.

Tom,I am sorry to notify you that the Pea Soup has Ham & Bacon in it.
Your vegetarian friends are giving you funny looks now!

But we still love you!

Dang! Bacon gets everywhere...I guess it's true what every chef, cook, and judge says on Food TV: Just add bacon to anything, and it's a winner.
I wonder if vegans say that butter is the crutch of vegetarians? :)
Thanks for the love!

[ Edited by: Tonga Tom 2010-09-18 14:17 ]

Butter.......Donuts........Sprinkles.......Ohhh Myyyy!

Bacon and a new red plate too! :o

Birthday party for my sister-in-law tonight, she requested smoked ribs :) Served with homemade mac & cheese, potatoes au gratin, cheese & bacon bisquits, salad, veggies, and lots of dessert! But alas, I was so excited to eat I forgot to take a pic :lol:

Its Stacey's Birthday so I made two Gallons of Mai Tai's, Tonga Tom was at Don's and took lots of pictures
if you ask real nice he may post some.

That dinner Mike sounds Excellent!

[ Edited by: Atomic Tiki Punk 2010-09-19 02:42 ]

2 gallons of MaiTais? Oh My!!!! I guess we won't be hearing from you early this morning :lol:

Happy Birthday Stacey!

Well actually I am right here Mike! I woke up to hydrate but I am sure I will be napping threw the day.
Fortunately I did not try to consume all the Mai Tai's myself, I did have a few Painkillers too!

Fun was had by all & no one was killed, There was a Singles mixer in the back room at Don's last night
so the place was pretty crowded, Cougars & Single men on the make,kept coming threw the Dagger Bar & giving the Tiki crowd
funny looks,a Bunch of us snuck into the mixer to check it out, they put on name tags and all.

At the end of the night when most of the Singles had paired up and left,a large group of us went to the mixer in the back room
to boogie down to the cheesy DJ spinning Disco music,Tonga Tom was there with camera in hand,so I know you all are going to get to see
some Blackmail Pictures!

Oh and to get back on track I am sure there will be food sometime today.

[ Edited by: Atomic Tiki Punk 2010-09-19 09:03 ]

:music: So gather up your jackets, and move it to the exits - I hope you have found a friend :music:

Sounds like a good time was had by all! :D

Okay, we didn't make this Red Snapper for dinner last night, but it was too cool not to post...Just ask ATP. I like how it's displayed, as if it were pulled from the ocean covered in seaweed.

It even has teeth!

Alright, now I have to spend the rest of the day going through incriminating photos from last night.

TOM! so it begins......

That picture is so cool,be kind to us old folks now!
I did mention how I like you,didn't I?

I CAN'T EAT THAT!!!! IT'S LOOKING AT ME!!! :lol:

Zombie Fish. I would totally eat that!

Sorry no pix- we've been working late, and out of town and all that sort of not much cookin...though plenty of good eatin just the same. :wink: I'll cook this week.

Happy Birthday, Stacey!

[ Edited by: amybean 2010-09-19 15:26 ]

Sounds like there was a hell of a birthday party!

Whipped up a spicy shrimp curry as it never got above 56 degrees here today and I was too lazy to smoke a pork tenderloin for chili. And I can't find the damn camera. :(

Moving slow today,So I just threw together a nice
Chicken Salad with red pepper,onion,celery,fresh herbs,cherry tomatos from the garden & crumbled BACON! oh yea!
The ever so tasty bastard child of a BLT & Chicken Salad all-in-one sandwich.

now I can take another nap!

Not trying to rub it in Chris but I smoked a loin yesterday while I was doing ribs AND I've got a camera :lol:

Woke up and made "Red Beans & Rice"
Here is a view from the "watch me eat" webcam

[ Edited by: Atomic Tiki Punk 2010-09-20 01:26 ]

On 2010-09-19 18:39, MadDogMike wrote:
Not trying to rub it in Chris but I smoked a loin yesterday while I was doing ribs AND I've got a camera :lol:

Oh it's so on now!! JK :) Looks great Mike!

Sherri made this fig (fresh picked from our tree), mascarpone, and chevre tart yesterday.

Tell Sherri that looks pretty! nice job.

Sherri made us each two poached eggs, with black beans and cilantro rice with home fried tortilla strips.
Extra tomatillo sauce on the side...and Tapatío (not pictured here).

Sherri getting down with her BAD self! very nice presentation!

Look it's....
Fried Beef Tacos with Homemade Salsa & Chips
Oh and shredded Cheddar & Pepper jack!

[ Edited by: Atomic Tiki Punk 2010-09-21 22:54 ]

Lookin' good. We're on a Mexican roll here on TC...

Fresh tacos! And if that fig tart tasted half as good as it looked it was a slice of heaven.

Still without an oven until tomorrow, I made Tri-Tip today. I like to do Tri-Tip in the smoker but I don't really like to grill it - it's so hard to cook evenly because the thickness varies so much. I fired the grill up to about a thousand degrees scorched it 5 minutes on each side to give it a good char. Then put it in the crockpot on low for about 10 hours, delicious!!! (ATP, I liked your POV camera angle but my camera couldn't figure out where to focus)

And we had Kraken Painkillers to "celebrate" that Tiki-Kate is no longer in pain. I would have never thought to put nutmeg in a cold drink :)

How did you like the Painkillers,Mike?

They were good, I like sweet & fruity :D I used coconut syrup and they may have been a little too sweet, maybe a little lime would have helped balance them out?

Nice looking hunk-o-meat Mike! I need some breakfast!

Chris

Nice job on the Tri-Tip, MDM!

Along with hitting the gym, there have been investigative stops at the local Jamba Juice. They close too early during the week, and it doesn't really fit with our DIY fresh scent anyway....so enter the newest member of our culinary fleet. Yes, we chunked down for a blender after reading up on all the different features, and ultimately inspired by what we saw in Cook's Illustrated. They've done us right on so many other purchases. Wow- this thing makes hella crushed ice in a few seconds!

Trader Joe's frozen berries and fruits, some mangosteen juice. I later added a splash of milk to take the tartness down a notch.

ok- now for the unabashed product placements: L to R: Odwalla OJ, Muntiki Robot Brains mug, Kitchen Aide 1.75 liter blender, Penguin Soda Siphon, some random bamboo cutting board, signature yelpy glasses (Brian worked there for a few years) and real fruit smoothies (say that like Strong Bad would say it) made with frozen pineapple, mango, blueberries, raspberries. Pina Coladas cannot be too far behind, eh?

PS- lest you think it was all virtue, the Trader Joe's cheese twists showed up just after this shot was taken.

That's cool Amy,I have to say I am a Smoothie Affectionado myself, I like Jamba Juice smoothies
but kind of hate going there, it is always full of Uber Yuppies where I live, fresh out of the Gym
who like to eyeball people in vintage Hats & Hawiian shirts or oldschool Punk Rock T-Shirts (My daily mode of dress)
Orange County is sort of sucking for any real individuality,these day's. (End of mini Rant!)

I find if you talk like "Clint Eastwood" when you order food,you get your order quick & accurate
it's also great for getting those pesky neighborhood kids off your lawn.

I know- Jamba Juice is so weird! We always try and make the cashier laugh because we know their job kinda sucks. Here it's moms with screaming kids.

We did learn how to make a good smoothie by watching, though. Using pre-crushed ice and frozen fruit is definitely the way!

I'm proud to say the nearest Jamba Juice is 70 miles away! :D

I know most people prefer gas ranges for some lame reason :lol: but you just can't beat a glass top electic for ease of cleaning!

I have lived in all electric homes almost all of my life. We live in the sticks, there is no natural gas available and I don't want to mess with a propane tank. We have an electric range, electric water heater, electric clothes dryer, electric heatpump AC, electric ceramic kiln... I would expect GROG to cook over a fire but the rest of you COME OUT OF THE STONE AGE!!!!

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2010-09-23 11:31 ]

Electric Cats!

BIG ELECTRIC CATS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_kk8mGqBj8

Electrified Cats!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tF3kxLhkU0