Ryan J. Allen » food

Broil King Signet 70

Ryan J. Allen — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 23:53:02 +0000

Today I received my new Broil King Signet 70. This is a 3-burner barbecue with rear-burner and rotisserie. You can read up on the details at the specs page or jump right ahead to my barbecue porn.

I bought the grill at Preston Hardware and was very impressed: free delivery, free assembly, and they were competitively priced. They communicated very well during the process, and ordered in the specific model I wanted (not many stores had this model).

Twittered

Ryan J. Allen — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 02:28:42 +0000

I went to the International Chicken and Rib Cook-Off on Sunday after church. It was delicious. Alex and Matt came to the city to pickup a subwoofer but couldn’t stay for the cook off, in part due to an incident at a Tim Horton’s.

Later in the day I had a milk emergency, which I twittered about.

I still worry about Lindsay Lohan.

Pour Me a Bowl of Mini Wheats

Ryan J. Allen — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:32:08 +0000

This morning I rolled out of bed, grabbed a bowl, and took the milk out of the fridge. I reached for the box of Mini Wheats that I bought last night and opened them. Imagine my surprise when I looked down into the box of cereal and saw Lucky Charms. I had forgot that I switched Mini Wheats out for Lucky Charms–both of which were on sale–just for something different. A bit of a treat, even.

Breakfast. The most important meal of the day.

Pork Hock Sauce

Ryan J. Allen — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:41:52 +0000

Internet,

For dinner last night I made the family-favourite Pork Hock Sauce. It was my first time making this. I took some photos of the process. My favourites are:

I had some of those traditional Italian breadsticks out before dinner. I served a home-made caesar salad and home-made garlic bread along with the spaghetti. It was incredible. We even had a selection of two pies for dessert. A great, great meal.

Ate some funny tasting fish; if I don’t make it…

Ryan J. Allen — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 00:00:49 +0000

Tonight I ate some funny tasting fish for dinner. If I don’t wake up tomorrow you’ll know why.

Was it really much of a challenge? Hershey Eggies vs. Cadbury Mini Eggs

Ryan J. Allen — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:58:01 +0000

A coworker of mine had purchased some Hershey Eggies on sale after this past Easter weekend. This lead us to discuss the differences between Eggies and Cadbury’s Mini Eggs. He challenged me on what I thought was universally agreed: Cadbury Mini Eggs are better than Hershey Eggies. His statement was that they are the same.

We later found a bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs left in the kitchen for everyone to enjoy. Using a selection from this bag, and a selection from coworker’s Eggies, he put me to a blind taste test to see if I could pick the Mini Egg. Surely I did, without hesitation. It was as formidable a moment as the time I smelled the difference between a glass of Coca-Cola and a glass of Pepsi.

I sought out the truth from the Internet and found that I am not the only one who believes Cadbury Mini Eggs are better.

Dinner – Pan-seared chicken breast with balsamic vinegar, garlic, and onion sauce

Ryan J. Allen — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:34:01 +0000

Let me tell you about dinner.

Soup was a tomato and roasted red pepper soup from the PC blue menu. I added some fresh basil to give it that edge. We had some fresh buns that went really well with the soup.

The entree was a pan-seared chicken breast topped a balsamic vinegar sauce with garlic and onion. This was accompanied by steamed asparagus, mashed potatoes, and a trio of butter sauteed shrimp. The sauce turned out really nice: while searing the chicken breast I added garlic and sliced red onions, then added a 1:3 balsamic vinegar:chicken stock mix (1 cup for 4 breasts), some fresh basil and thyme. After the chicken was cooked I removed it and reduced the sauce, adding a bit of butter to the mix.

For dessert I served fresh strawberries and blueberries with a chocolate sauce and whipped cream. To my surprise we ate all of the fruit. It was delicious.

Gourmet Sloppy Joes

Ryan J. Allen — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 04:34:22 +0000

Tonight we started with my home made feta pate, served with sliced fresh baguette. This was followed by an Italian tomato and bocconcini salad with fresh basil in a balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing.

For the entree I served sloppy joes topped with a slice of avocado and a side of fresh, baked French fries tossed in garlic, celery seed, and sea salt. For desert we had hand made truffles from Ottawa’s own Truffle Treasures.

The meal was paired with an Australian shiraz from the LCBO vintages collection. Desert was served with a vidal icewine from Ontario’s own Niagra region.

Berlin Wrap-Up

Ryan J. Allen — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:06:31 +0000

I was in Berlin. The proof: I know about the Ampelmann. Oh, and there are my photos from the trip.

Church was lively and fun, the Currywurst museum was great, and the rain saved itself until the end of my weekend. Well, actually, it rained about an hour before I had to set out on my journey to the airport. I was spared from the rain by a couple from the US, who invited me to a cup of coffee while we chatted about life in Germany, past and present.

The flight and train rides were both quite fine. Tegel is a small airport, and strangely setup. It is not my favourite. Flying with Lufthansa, which I did for the first time, was quite a treat.

A number of weeks ago I went to Stuttgart for a day and visited the Porsche museum. I finally uploaded some photos from that trip as well.

I Have Started a Thing

Ryan J. Allen — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:40:13 +0000

I know that there is at least one person who has read that headline and become very afraid about what this post is about. But fear not: this is a follow-up to my pumpkin pie story!

You’ll recall that I recently hosted dinner and pumpkin pie for a few colleagues. At lunch today I learned that one couple has already made a pumpkin pie of their own. I was pretty excited to hear this.