So when I heard about this it made no darn sense, so clearly I had to try it. And the result is… surprisingly good! The maple smoke harmonizes really well with the vanilla and combines into an intriguing new flavor that is actually very reminiscent of rum. I’m confused and delighted.

Let’s not mention the challenge of fileting a fish, but I had a trout left, so I tried a preparation inspired by a dish usually done with eels. Cook the rest of the fish into a stock, reduce it with soy sauce, sake and smoked maple syrup into a glaze, and brush it on the filets grilling over a high heat. Serve on rice with pickled vegetables.

Sometimes you just want to take a whole dang trout, slather it in a paste of parsley, dill, spring onions, olive oil and lime juice and roast it until done.

As if the amount of saucing possibilities weren’t already endless, the shape of pasta itself is an innumerable treasure trove of variations.

It’s been a bit, but the culinary gifts from my mysterious donor still find good use, and I opted for a spicy combo of lightly fried chorizo, scrambled eggs with sheep’s cheese and chives and some lettuce for crunch, served betwixt two slices of the country bread I baked before.

So I really don’t mind hunting for my prey and eating meat and to eat food the considered traditional way. But in my opinion it’s always good to be not too reliant on one thing and to widen your possibilities. And it occurred to me that in these last few weeks Al did not seem to digest the fabulous baked goods of our dear harf so well. So I thought of a way to have a nice Burger for him with what I could find on the local market. The end result is a Portobello Burgerbun with a red and black bean patty, some good tomato, avocado and a soft blue cheese with homemade ketchup, bbq sauce and as a nice twist some good chilli jam.

The chilli jam is always a long lasting “nice to have” to pep up your sweet and savory food.

The things I used to balance out the bbq sauce … I have to say the smokehead really gave it the nicest twist. Mjam

• 

I’ve never had the real deal, so I’m going off descriptions, trying to be authentic as possible, but this sandwich is pretty wild. Marinated BBQ pork, pickles, cucumbers, mayo, liver paté (this is where you’d think it goes off the rails) and a seasoning sauce that is known as Maggi in some places. And let me tell ya…, this is tasty. Pork, paté and Maggi makes for an intriguing savory triple combo that bounces off the other trinity of crunchy bread, pickles and cucumbers. I am pleased, even though my gums took some piercing damage from the bread crust.

I mean, not bad bad, but still… baking on a hot summer day does all sorts of things to screw with your timing, and the loaf ended up a bit flat. Me thinks it was overproofed.

Simpler, yet more complicated. Previously there were eggs to help, now it’s just pasta water and cheese to carefully stir into a creamy sauce.

Bacon, egg & cheese, combined just right into a creamy sauce. Guanciale or pancetta would have been nice, but the bacon worked fine as well.