French Onion Soup

Sorry about the missed post yesterday.  I ended up taking a really bad picture, and I was too exhausted to fix it.  And a few other reasons why.  So,  here is the bad picture.  I did have the joy of burning a few hundred fire ants that were in my grill for some reason.  I took great pleasure in doing that.
Oh, that was the grilled onions.  I couln't eat them.  But My Beloved and Chef Turbo enjoyed them.

    Tonight, I made for the first time "French Onion Soup".   I did not have any cognac on hand, so I used Red wine vinegar.  Sadly, that kind of runined the soup.  I am happy to say that after watching tons of videos on how to cut produce,  I almost got even cuts on my onions!  I was inspired to learn after watching the first three episodes of Masterchef.  I realized I did not know how to really cut things, and if I were put up to the challenge,  they would kick me off the show after seeing me just hold the knife... not anymore!   YAY for youtube!

  Anyways.  I think the soup to onion ratio was off.  There were to many onions.  When I was in France,  I could have sworn that there was more broth and that the onions were few and had room to move in the sauce.  So either Mr. Bishop loves onions,  or I put too many in.  Oh well.

Meatloaf and Onion Rings

Sites I got the topping recipes:
Yellow mustard and ketchup #1: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/recipe?id=6875165
Ketsup #2: http://www.recipetips.com/recipe-cards/u--4203/meat-loaf-with-brown-sugar-topping.asp

My very own topping recipe!  Ketchup, red wine vinegar, and brown sugar.  Adjust for your own taste.

Avocados, Mangos, Pancakes, and Onions

Different Avocados

Well,  this week is going to be interesting.  I will tell you later why.   Let me tell you of a few other things that happened over the weekend first.

   1) I found another species of avocado at my vegetable store.  So I bought both the Haas Avocado and the Florida Avocado to compare.  The Haas is smaller,  has a smooth seed, and more flavor.  The Florida has less flavor and a large seed that danced inside the avocado.  My cat's paw has nothing to do with this experiment.  I now know that I will stick to the Haas all the time.

Mango Seed

Tree and Bear Pancake

I finally got the guts to purchase a Mango.  I was more afraid of having a reaction after handling the fruit, but nothing happened.  I had fun asking Chef Turbo "What color do you think is on the inside?" He guessed green.  All the other questions he got right, "it's sweet,  there is a big seed inside."  We enjoyed the flavor.  I learned that mangoes pair well with anything tropical, avocados, and lime.  I ended up making a little compote with pineapple, blueberries, and mango.  It was really good!



   This morning I made pancakes.  One of the things I love to do is to make things out of the batter.  Today I made a tree and bear.  Ok,  now onto the dish I made out of the cookbook.

red onions are perfect for roasting

In Mr. Bishop's cookbook there is a whole chapter on onions.  Ever since starting I have dreaded this chapter,  and I thought now would be a good time to just get it over with.  This week I am dedicating to getting over this chapter.  I'll still have one more recipe to finish next week,  but I am willing to do this.  Are you ready for a fun week?  This is also part of my challenge to "fall in love" or even just tolerate onions.

Tonight I made Roasted Onions with Balsamic Vinegar and Rosemary pp.231-32. 
    I kind of sat there reading the directions wondering cut through the polar regions??  I knew what that meant.  But all I could think of was that the ends will stay there.  So I cut them off.  How foolish was that?  Very foolish.  I needed the ends to stay on to hold the quarters together.  At least I am pretty sure they were supposed to stay on there.  Anyways,  I cut them off,  which made it challenging for Chef Turbo and I to get the olive oil on them intact.

meh

 This might have made a great Wordless Wed. Photo.   I was trying to convey how I feel about this.  When it finally came down to trying one,  My Beloved ate them up.  I wimped out.  My Beloved said these were really good,  but that was not enough for me to get over the pain of thinking of eating just an onion.  I have finally gotten to the point of eating onions in stew (tiny tiny little pieces).  This is extreme!  Tomorrow night... Grilled Onions!