Amazon Wishlist

As it has happened in the past that I got 2x the same French comics as presents, I started to maintain an Amazon wishlist here.
You don't have to pick them from here if you wish to offer me something, but you are taking risks :p. Suggestions of additions are most welcome.

Spring

Yes the cherry trees are flowering again !

This is like 2 blocks south from our building :).

Goat leg roast

Reposting here so I don't lose this home made recipe :).

Ingredients
-6 garlic cloves
-1/4 preserved meyer lemon
-4 tbsp olive oil
-1 tbsp sweet paprika
-1 tbsp cayenne (you can go lighter if you don't like too hot)

-1 goat leg roast (or lamb)
-a few slices of bacon

-1 lemon juice
-parsnips
-turnips
-potatoes

Crush the garlic,preserved lemon, paprika, cayenne, and blend in olive oil with a bit of thyme. Coat the meat and let it rest (longer is better, it can be a day). The entire roast should be nicely coated by the red mix. My proportions are approximated (as usual) so you might need more oil and spices (if it looks like too much just coat it with a thicker layer).
Cover the bottom of your oven proof dish with a few slices of bacon, add parsnips, turnips, potatoes (leave them whole or in 2-3 inches pieces) to the side of your lamb/goat leg, add a cup of water and the lemon juice, you should not need to add any salt as the preserved lemons should already be salty enough. Put in the preheated at 300F oven, covered with foil tightly so water doesn't evaporate too fast, reduce the temperature to 260F and bake for 7 hours. Baste once in a while (I did it mostly at the end last time so you can leave it unattended for a while without any problems) and add water so it doesn't dry up. Finish at 350F until browned nicely. Veggies should have soaked lots of yummy juices. I didn't turn nor move anything, the bacon prevents anything to stick to the bottom, and veggies are so tender that you would mash them in any attempt to move things.

To make preserved lemons, cut organic lemons (so the skin is not full of chemicals) in 8, layer them in a jar, add like a tbsp of salt per layer to coat the lemon. Once jar is full of lemons fill it with olive oil. Let it rest for 3 months. You can use the oil in salads or to cook, it's delicious. The lemons lose all acidity and are great to incorporate anywhere you could add lemon. We love to use Meyer lemons for this, they're the best.

Cooking utensils that make a difference on the way food taste

I know I still haven't finished telling about my sabbatical (missing the end of the France trip and Chile) but I'll go on a small digression. For our wedding and our birthdays we received a lot of food related presents (well we asked for them :) and I have been utilizing many new utensils, pots and in general cookware. I have found some of them to not really provide much, but on the other side I found some of them to really make a difference so I figure I would list them here, and if I find a new one keep the list up to date.

I will start by not listing knives that actually cut because this is a prerequisite :).

• The first one is a terrine, you can make pate without one, but honestly it doesn't taste the same and if you want something that tastes good (like real fresh pate), use a terrine. I verified this last weekend, when I had way too much meat and had to prepare some in a regular oven pan. The result, using the same meat and spices mix is one is average, and the other one is really good.
  

• The second one is a cast iron dutch oven, it just doesn't cook things the same way... I use ours for pretty much all stews now, and especially dishes that need to go from the stove top to the oven. Things cook faster, more homogeneously and taste better (same thing, I once had too much for the dutch oven and cooked the rest in a regular pot on the side, and it was not the same at all in the end).
  
  

• The third one is a perforated metallic pizza pan, I had never managed to get the crust crispy enough, probably because I tend to load my pizza too much, but with such a pan it is just better.
  

• The fourth one is a cast iron griddle, the meat cooked on that thing is just better, I've never managed to get it as good in a regular pan or in the oven. You can probably get the equivalent on a grill, but a griddle is so much easier. This is also pretty much the only way I manage to get asparagus to have the right texture.
  

That's all for now, for the rest of the tools it helps a lot with the enjoyment the cook gets but it's harder to taste the difference in the plate.