Protect Food with Simmer-Mat on the Stove

My black Dutch oven is sitting upon a simmer-mat that has been placed on the back burner. The metal accessory is also known as a "flame-deflector." This inexpensive, invaluable tool protects the pot and its contents from scorching, while slow-cooking at low temperatures. Many cookers just cannot be set low enough to prevent burning foods or even destroying the vessels in which they are cooked. Simmer pads solve that problem in an easy and elegant manner.

©Jeanne "M-J" de Mesterton

A Great American Coffee: Starbucks' Blonde Roast

Starbucks' Blonde Willow Coffee: Do Not Confuse Light Roast with Weak Cup!

Fresh-tasting and robust, Starbucks' new Blonde Roast is coffee the way it tasted in the United States and Scandinavia before the dark-roast craze made everyone forget.... Yes, there is a good, old-fashioned coffee available in the ubiquitous Starbucks cafés, and you can take home a bag of the ground beans and brew it to your desired strength. My Scandinavian mother-in-law brought me this bag of Starbucks Blonde Willow Blend ground coffee recently, and as I made it for dessert in our French press, we passed it round the table so that we could breathe-in its lovely aroma. Usually, coffee smells better than it tastes, but not in this case--this new offering, which I brewed using two tablespoons per cup because we Scandinavians prefer it strongly-brewed--tastes delightful (many who patronise Starbucks confuse strongly-brewed with darkly-roasted, and they are two vastly different things).

©Jeanne "M-J" de Mesterton

Elegant Cheese from Ireland

Ballyshannon is a flavourful Cheddar style cheese that is soft and properly crumbly at room-temperature.
Dubliner, also made in Ireland by Kerrygold, is a rich, mild and clean-tasting cow's milk cheese.
©Jeanne "M-J" de Mesterton, THE ELEGANT COOK, 2012