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Coffee Experimentation

December 31, 2013 Chris Malme 3

Experiments with my new coffee maker are going well. Initially, I had some issues with the temperature of the coffee coming out of the machine – fine if you drank it immediately, but it quickly went luke warm. I was almost considering returning it for a refund.

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Electrolux Favola Coffee Machine

December 27, 2013 Chris Malme 0

Over the last year, I have considered getting myself a pod coffee system. I don’t drink a lot of coffee – I am a seasoned tea drinker, and dislike instant coffee. However, I do like the occasional cup of expresso, and when working at home, I sometimes neglect myself with regard to drinks if I am too busy to go down to the kitchen to get a brew on. So I thought a small machine in my office would be ideal.

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My garden 2013 – a review

December 17, 2013 Chris Malme 0

It hasn’t been a very productive year this year. It was nothing to do with the weather, or soil conditions; it was simply a case of procrastination and laziness, and not getting things into the earth when I needed to. It’s true that the late spring threw me, but I have nothing to blame but myself. I’ve just annoyed myself by walking around the garden, and thinking what I could have planted to over-winter.

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Quick and tasty beef stew

December 7, 2013 Chris Malme 0

I am working this afternoon, and having got back from the shops I have only an hour to have lunch and relax before starting a job that is not going to give me much time for breaks for the rest of the afternoon, and possibly the day.

This is how I cook

December 3, 2013 Chris Malme 1

There has been some conversations amongst my Facebook friends recently, about slow cooker recipes. Although I follow recipes for bread and cakes and similar, for slow cooking (and to a certain extent, BBQ) I tend to wing it. This is how I cook – my culinary life runs on substitutions, approximations and lots of “that will probably work”.

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Another slow cooker

November 27, 2013 Chris Malme 1

I love slow cookers, they are a very easy way to turn cheap cuts of meat into deliciousness, and because the cooking is so gentle, it is almost impossible to spoil something by overcooking it.

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A brush with danger

November 14, 2013 Chris Malme 0

It is important to keep your grill surface clean. I used to use a wire brush, like most people, but it seemed to me that they soon got very tired and flat looking. For the last year or two, I have instead used a ball of ordinary alumunium foil. It gets the grill grate nice and clean, and you just throw it away afterwards.

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Cold Smoked Olive Oil

October 29, 2013 Chris Malme 0

In May, I tried smoking some olive oil, using oak. I poured a 500ml bottle into a very shallow bowl, and placed it on the bottom rack of my cold smoker, while I also smoked some cheese and butter. It was probably smoking for 6-8 hours.