Quaintrelle Weekender

Four ways to a better weekend

Welcome to Quaintrelle Weekender.

This is a short list of things I am currently loving to make eating, drinking, and hosting easier and a lot more interesting.

Earlier this week I turned on pledges for this newsletter. A few of you have been confused as to what that means. I agree, it’s not super clear on the auto form, so apologies if I freaked anybody out.

Pledges simply are promises (like those rings your high school boyfriend gave you, but ideally a bit more meaningful) that when I start creating paid content, you will be a happily paying member of this community. While you do enter your payment details with a pledge, you are not charged until the payment actually goes on.

A further note. Notice above I wrote: happily paying. This is key for me. I want to keep you happy, and I will hopefully do that by producing entertaining and useful ideas to make your parties – whether for two or 200 – better, easier, and more fun. If you are not happy, then I am not happy, and that’s no fun for anyone.

When the time comes (probably in October), I will give you plenty of notice. Like I am doing right now. And if in that time, you think, nah, this girl is not worth my hard-earned dollars, you can always cancel your pledge. Similarly, if you get one or two months into paying and decide Quaintrelle ain’t for you, you can also unsubscribe anytime with an easy click of the button. I will be sad to see you go, but we all want volunteers, not prisoners, right?

Also, I will still offer free content, as well as previews to the paid content, so you can decide what is best for you.

Regardless of what level of membership you want, I am am grateful for your support.

Party Hack

Salami “chips”

Years ago, I started frying sliced chorizo to add to my charcuterie boards. The cooked texture was much better than the simply cured, and it added an interesting dimension to the boards.

A little while later, I was having lunch at a winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and the chef added a toasted prosciutto slice to my caesar salad in lieu of lardons or bacon bits.

Recently, as the chopped salad has come back in vogue, people are adding sliced salami. Nothing wrong with bumping up the protein with some salty nitrates, but, texturally, that doesn’t work for me.

Instead, bring interest to salads and charcuterie boards by cooking your salami. You heard me.

You can either fry slices of salami in a dry pan (no need to add oil, the salami will render enough), or bake in a 400°C oven for 5 minutes or so, until they crisp up. It’s simple and unexpected and people love them.

Kitchen Tip

Clean and disinfect wood cutting boards and butcher’s blocks somewhat naturally.

If you’ve seen any of my Instagram videos, you know I always have a thick, wood cutting board on my counter. I use it for everything – meats, seafood, and stinky vegetables like garlic and onions. Therefore, disinfecting and getting rid of funky smells is kindof important.

To get my board odour- and germ-free, I use the same vet-advised method as we used on my poor cat, Max, when he found himself on the business end of a skunk: hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, water (and lemon.) Max loved it. Just kidding. He didn’t. But to be fair, it wasn’t the high point of our day either.

Alright, when looking to disinfect (and remove stains!) mix food-grade hydrogen peroxide (35%) with baking soda and water into a paste and rub it into the board. Allow it to sit for 10 or 15 minutes and rinse away with hot water (incidentally this works really well for stinky shoes and arm pit odour – not that I have either.)

When I just need to get rid of smells and not do a serious deep-clean, I pour rough Kosher salt on the board (the cheap, hard-rubble, no-name stuff comes in handy here, not the $12-a-box Diamond Crystal), and rub it into the board with a cut lemon, squeezing out the juice as I go. A rinse with hot water, and your back in stink-free business.

Work It Out

@janeketofit

I discovered this sexagenarian firecracker quite by accident on Instagram and I am hooked!

She offers tons of quick workouts for all levels and with (or without) all kinds of equipment. I find it especially useful at the cottage where I don’t have weights.

At home, I use her fast and effective workouts when I’m short on time, energy, or enthusiasm. So, almost always.

To Read

Summer Island by Kristin Hannah and Miss Eliza’s English Kitchen by Annabel Abbs

Two standouts from my summer reads.

I’m nearly through Summer Island, a book I picked up only days ago. Written by Kristin Hannah, who is probably best known for the 2015 novel The Nightingale, this is one of her earlier books, published in 2001. I have no idea why this was on my holds at the library or who recommended it, but I’m glad it got there. This is a tender, moving, and lyrical novel about family relationships – what drives us apart, and what brings us back together and the humanity that swirls through it all.

And Miss Eliza’s English Kitchen, I do believe will be a top contender for a best pick of the year for me. Bold praise with four months left to go (eeek) but a prediction I am comfortable making.

It’s based on the true-life story of Eliza Acton and her kitchen assistant of 10 years, Ann Kirby, who created one of England’s earliest cookbooks, testing and retesting recipes for the modern home cook keeping in mind quality, ease, and cost. Author Annabel Abbs expertly marries fact with fiction in this compelling novel of friendship between classes that’s united by two unusual women seeking independence and professional fulfillment.

The novel all swirls around the making of the real life cookbook, Eliza Acton’s Modern Cookery for Private Families that was published in 1845 and became an immediate best seller, until that fraud Miss Beeton, burst on to the scene in 1841 with her Book of Household Management. Of course, she stole 150 of Eliza and Ann’s recipes, but that’s a story for another book.

I’m loading up my Libby library app (honestly that’s a recommendation in itself), with juicy novels for beach and hammock reading. If you’ve got any must reads you think I should know about, please leave them in the comments!

Thank you for reading Quaintrelle.

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This is the third last weekend of summer. Whatever you’re doing, I hope you squeeze every last drop out of it.

xo-Erin

Here’s what you missed last week: