Candied ginger - day 6

Yes, I know what you are thinking - why is there a day 6 for this 5 day recipe? Well, I think I covered that yesterday when I said I didn't read the recipe properly.

The ginger was too sticky yesterday , when I put it on the racks, to do anything with it. I left it overnight and today I used two forks to separate the large chunks of ginger into small chunks, or maybe I should just say smaller chunks. It was too difficult with the stickiness of the syrup on the ginger to separate the chunks into individual pieces. This part was quite time consuming, because of the stickiness.

This is what the ginger looked like after I coated the pieces in granulated sugar and put it into a container. I fear the ginger will all congeal into a giant block, as the sugar gets absorbed into the syrup...

Assessment of the ginger: From a taste perspective, I think my first attempt at the recipe was a success, because the ginger is nice and tasty with some good heat in it. From an aesthetic perspective, I don't think I did so well because the ginger is all stuck together in clumps, and not in nice individual pieces like when my mum makes it. Also, the syrup is so very thick - even thicker than molasses - so I am yet not sure what I can use it for.

We are finally receiving the benefit (haha!!) of the extreme cold weather that plagued western Canada over the past week. It was -20C and is supposed to get to -24C overnight. This means that our outdoor freezer (nature's freezer) is having no problem preserving some of the excess soup that I made last week. Here's a photo showing our outdoor freezer. Haha.

Taz feels the cold a lot more than Tawny, partly because he has less insulation (fat) on his body, and partly because he doesn't have a thick fur coat like Tawny does. Freda covered him up when she let him in this evening, and he looked so cute all covered in a towel!

Candied Ginger - day 5

Okay, so I'm thinking that I didn't read the recipe properly yesterday. Or else I did something wrong, like overcooking the ginger. The ginger and syrup was one big lump of stuff, so it would have taken a month of Sundays to "drain the ginger". So I reheated the saucepan a bit, and added a little bit of water to thin the syrup.

Once the syrup was thin enough to actually remove the ginger and lemon, I followed the directions and set out the bits of ginger and lemon on a rack. The bits of ginger were actually more like clumps of ginger... I tasted a piece and it was deliciously hot!

Yesterday I said I didn't think I had 5 cups of anything, although the recipe said it makes 5 cups. I poured the syrup into a measuring cup and I got almost exactly two cups. It is very sweet and quite gingery. I took this photo after the syrup had cooled to room temperature, so you can can see how thick it is.. :)

Canton Candied Ginger
Day 5:

• Drain the ginger from day 4 cooking.
• Reserve the syrup for sauces or gingerbread.
• Put the ginger on a rack over a tray.
• Leave uncovered overnight.
• The next day, (day 5), roll the ginger in granulated sugar.
• Store in tightly covered glass jars.

Rereading this section, it now seems that I should have drained the ginger at the end of day 4. Oh well, will have to see how it turns out.

Candied Ginger - day 4

This is day 4 of the recipe for making Canton Candied Ginger.

Canton Candied Ginger
Day 4:

• Bring to a boil and cook.
• When the mixture drops heavily from the side of the spoon, and ginger is translucent, pour into sterile wide mouthed jars. Seal.
• Makes 5 cups.

Wow - I must have done something wrong because I definitely don't have 5 cups of anything. Maybe I didn't have enough ginger to start with, I don't know. Also, the mixture kept bubbling up like this when it was cooking today. I was stirring it constantly and it was like this for the entire time. I think I may have overcooked it somewhat, maybe...

Candied Ginger - day 3

December 14, 2009

Although the weather has been below 0C, the lake still has a small open patch that you can see in this panoramic photo. Compared to the photos from the previous days, you can see an obvious difference in the lake with it gradually freezing over.

And now, it's time for the Candied Ginger update.

The recipe called for "one seeded sliced lemon" to be added on day 2. Unfortunately I didn't have a lemon yesterday, so I got one today and added it. Cutting up the lemon certainly puts a refreshing scent into the air - it is no wonder that so many cleaning products have a lemon scent to them.

Here are the lemons in with the ginger, boiling once again. And here is the next part of the recipe.

Canton Candied Ginger
Day 3:

• Reboil, stirring frequently to avoid scorching.
• Add one cup sugar, and stir. Simmer 30 minutes.
• Add one more cup sugar. Bring to a boil.
• Remove from heat, cover, let stand overnight.

Candied Ginger - day 2

Before we get to the candied ginger update, I want to include some photos of Tawny, since I am sure you are all wondering what she has been up to.
Sunday December 13, 2009

This panorama photo shows that the lake is still not completely frozen over.

Sunday dawned and it was quite nice. Not too cold and not too windy, although it did pick up a bit later. Tawny enjoyed taking in the air on the deck. Her fur looks darker in winter, although I'm not sure if it only looks darker because of the contrast with the snow.

Both Tawny and Taz were fascinated by this spot in the snow, although Tawny was more so. She completely buried her head in the snow, and pawed at the snow to expose more of the amazing scent, whatever it was.

Here is Tawny, pawing at the snow again. Dogs do this to disturb the snow and grass etc, and dislodge more scent particles so they can figure out what it is they are sniffing.

Well, time for the Candied Ginger again...

Canton Candied Ginger
Day 2:

• Reheat, simmer gently for 15 minutes after coming to a boil.
• Add one seeded sliced lemon, and one cup of light corn syrup.
• Uncover, simmer 15 minutes more, stirring occasionally.
• Remove from heat, cover, and let stand overnight.

I didn't have the lemon today, so I will get one tomorrow and add it in then.

Candied Ginger - day 1

December 12, 2009 - pano

The day dawned on a beautiful winter day. Not too cold, but a bit cooler than I would prefer, especially with the wind.

What to do on a cold day but --- make candied ginger!! (Apologies to Dickens and Scrooge...) It's a five day process, so this is Day One.

The first step is to peel the ginger. Mum says the spoon is the best way, and it made peeling the ginger very easy indeed.

The next step is to cut it up into little cubes. I didn't realize that ginger was so yellow. The aroma of the fresh ginger was really wonderful!

Then you put the ginger on the stove with some water and sugar.

This is the recipe:

Canton Canded Ginger
Day 1:

• Have enough ginger cut into 1/4" pieces to make one quart. (about 1 1/2 lbs)
• Put ginger into a large stainless steel pan, cover with water (enough to cover it, but not too much water, or you will have to boil it away at the end).
• Bring slowly to a boil and simmer, covered, until tender, about 20 minutes.
• Add one cup sugar, stir until mixture boils. Remove from heat and leave covered, at room temperature overnight.

Making soup

So I decided to make a batch of vegetable soup. The comments for the recipe I chose said "filled up both my crock pots", so I figured I would need to use our big stock pot.

This is our big stock pot, after all the peeling and cutting and chopping. It includes carrots, celery, green onions, green peppers, cabbage, squash, parsley, mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic, chicken stock, and zucchini. Except for the tomatoes and the garlic, everything else was fresh. The squash was the last thing I put on top, and that was before the addition of the tomatoes and chicken stock.

Freda said "oh my, that pot isn't big enough". So we divided the contents up into another, and then another, and then another pot, so we ended up with four pots of soup.

That is a lot of soup! I also added salt and pepper, and white peppercorns and some chili too. It wasn't ready in time for supper last night, so we ended up having something else. I had it for supper tonight and it was quite yummy.

The downside is that there is so much soup that we don't have room for it in the fridge. We put quite a bit in the fridge, but the rest we put in containers outside, since it is below zero quite handily right now...

The Million Dollar Storm

The first winter storm is OVER!

Pano - December 10th, 2009

I took this panorama this morning before I took the dogs for a walk. We got something on the order of 20 cm of snow. You can see the lake is still open in places (might need to click on the photo to see the full size version). The press is reporting that the snow clearing for this storm cost a million dollars, as if it's a big deal or something. Well, that cost was budgeted so it was expected - I think they just like to throw big numbers around.

The really tricky part was that although the snow had stopped falling, the wind was pretty strong and created a lot of drifting. I had to call for the road to get plowed when I came home. Someone had made a path down the road before the snow plow went down the road.

At least it wasn't cold (like it is out west), except for the wind.

Making cookies

What to do on a blustery, snowy evening? Well, how about making cookies!!

I decided to make two different kinds of cookies. This first kind is called Molasses Crinkles. The description reads:

The zing of ginger and the sweetness of molasses combine in perfect proportions in this cookie, sent to us by Jane Booth Vollers of Chester, Connecticut. Her grandmother, Helen Dougherty, made batches and batches of them every holiday season.

Hmm, it sounded yummy and it reminded me of the cookies my mum used to make. So I had to give it a go. Here it is in Freda's pink (yes, pink!) mixer, just before adding the flour.

The second kind of cookie I thought I would try was Macadamia Butter Cookies with Dried Cranberries. These sounded yummy too! The description for this one read:

We love these thick, satisfying cookies as humble as peanut butter cookies but not as crumbly. Dried cranberries provide a slightly tart counterpoint to the macadamia nuts' richness.

This was after mixing up the dough, and adding the chopped cranberries, but before they were mixed in (yah, so obvious, I know!!).


Here they are after they came out of the oven. The molasses crinkles are all done, and the first tray of the macadamia cookies just came out.

I left Freda to take the last tray of the macadamia cookies out of the oven while I went out to snowblow the driveway. That wasn't too much fun because there was a fierce wind blowing...

Sometime later...

As the photos on the store-bought cookies say, "enlarged to show texture". This looks almost good enough to eat, doesn't it? Actually, they are very yummy, although they are crisper than my mum's cookies.

I had a difficult time finding the coarse sugar (also called 'sanding sugar') that the cookies were dipped in. Stores just don't seem to carry it. Strangely enough, I had a difficult time finding caster sugar, or extra-fine sugar, that is used to make meringue. Some stores had that, but they called it 'instant dissolving sugar'.

This is the one of the macadamia butter with cranberries cookies. The recipe said to dip them in regular granulated sugar, but since I had extra of the sanding sugar in the bowl, I just used that. I like the look of the extra texture that it gives.

Guess what? The cookies were all awesome!!! In fact, we decided that we needed to freeze some of the cookies otherwise they would all disappear far too rapidly! :)

December 8th

It was quite cold today. I guess Mother Nature is setting us up for the 15-20 cm of snow that we are forecast to get tomorrow. Taz feels the cold a lot more than Tawny, so I got him a vest that is like a windbreaker. This photo shows Taz modelling his new vest which has some retro-reflective strips on it. Taz is also licking his lips, anticipating snacking on foolish burglars...

Pano - December 8, 2009
Click on the photo to see the full size version. The lake isn't much different from yesterday's photo - still large expanses of open water. There were geese out there early this morning, honking away, but they flew off before I took the dogs out for their morning walk.

Tonight I made a pot roast encrusted with rosemary and peppercorns. It smelled wonderful.

Oh, I also made a green peppercorn gravy - yummm-mmy!!!