But in spite of those triumphs, this week will henceforth be renamed "The Backlash of the Dried Pineapple" because of how sore my mouth was all week after overindulging in the fruit last weekend. By Monday I was regretting it greatly and it took all week to feel completely better. I've portioned out the rest of the bag and vacuum sealed them to protect myself.
I was better enough to enjoy a mystery package that arrived Friday from Alexia Foods and Foodbuzz. The box contained a cute black apron and a coupon for a free Alexia product. Though I do make my own sweet potato fries, Alex especially likes the crisp, thin-cut version Alexia makes and they are wheat-free to boot. So today we had them for lunch with some almond crusted baked cod nuggets. A delicious combo, thanks Alexia!
Almond-crusted Cod Nuggets
Makes 3 generous servings
Heat your oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil, spray or grease with oil. Take two pie plates. Fill one with ~1 1/2 cups whole almond meal + 2 teaspoons dried lemon thyme and 1 teaspoon salt and stir to mix. Beat 1 egg in the other pie plate. Separate and cut into equal sized pieces, 1 pound Alaskan cod (or other firm white fish), toss the pieces in the egg and then coat each piece in almond meal. Lay out the pieces on the baking sheet, spaced evenly. Bake for 10-15 minutes and remove when cooked through.
Alex in the Alexia apron, it says "I rewrite the recipe book"
Visit Alexia on their Facebook page, like them and vote on the newest fry to get a $1 off coupon
Getting the meat out of a young coconut (note the terrifyingly giant cleaver)
The raw tomato and summer squash torta, with cashew
McLagan's fat class was next. She began with a discussion of how animal fats have been unfairly vilified and how the perceived health benefits of vegetable oils aren't holding up to scientific scrutiny. For her first demonstration, she used duck fat to confit garlic cloves. While interesting, I didn't see a huge advantage to this over oven roasting. She followed with talking about the types of pork fat and how to render lard. She used leftover pig skin to make cracklings that were marinaded in salt and star anise. She moved on to beef suet and made biscuits and freshly made butter. This was the best part of her presentation for me. She showed how to take frozen chunks of suet and grate them in a food processor to get a replacement for other fats (IE butter) in baked goods. She made a batch of biscuits with the grated suet that were wonderful! They were delicious, light and fluffy without any beefy taste. I just loved them!!
Star anise marinaded pork crackling
Biscuits made with beef suet
I've already talked to my butcher about getting some beef suet and he says he can get some for me. I've had a hard time finding lard in Southeast Michigan but have heard that it's much easier to find in the Traverse area. Conversely, I've been trying to decide what recipes I should try first in Everyday Raw. What attracts me to both of these cookbooks is that they are making real food. This is not the over-processed, over-salted, over-sweetened, or artificially-sweetened, artificially-colored, nutritionally devoid garbage that comes in a can or box that is shelf stable for years. Instead brilliantly new or old but underused ideas for dealing with food are employed that don't destroy the intrinsic value of the ingredients. I hope I haven't scared off forever all of the vegans with the animal fat or bored the meat eaters with the raw foods. I just feel you have to pick and choose what feels right for you. And never stop trying new things!
It was interesting to take more time than I usually do smelling and tasting the beers and comparing them with and without the cheese. I wasn't very fond of the New Holland Lucid and Bass Ale, both seemed overly bitter. I liked the Delirium 
The 
