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I didn’t put the clock on them but after reading your post, I started tasting early on and they seem largely intact. My plan for them was a Nancy Silverton recipe for seared, rare tuna with lima bean purée and harissa but they took long enough that I started getting hangry and tossed this together. Tuna will happen tomorrow. Thanks for the succotash tips, they sound good. I’ve only had the simplest version with corn, limas, a little onion, a pat of butter, salt & pepper.

… and then there’s this Wheat Mix Bread, The bakery is in Beijing and doesn’t claim dual nationality, settling instead on German. However, it’s firmly Chinese and most of their goods are the same old Chinese not-bread bread. They sell these OK 500g loaves for $5.75 a loaf, but recently slapped on a ridiculous $5.16 delivery charge, essentially doubling the price. I had been buying them for about two years at a much lower delivery price. The sourdough above has free delivery, so these fake Germans are now off my shopping list.

One saving grace. I’ve never met anyone in China who knows what sourdough is but I know the Chinese; it’s 酸面包 (suān miàn bāo), literally sour bread. A couple of months ago, I found this online, described by the seller as “Whole Wheat Sourdough Rubon Country Bread Multi-grain French Old Bread German Sourdough Bread”! The sellers are obviously confused. Rubon county doesn’t exist and isn’t even a possible Chinese name and as far as I remember France and Germany are two different countries. The bread is baked in Anhui province, 1,368 km / 850 miles from me. It takes 2-3 days to arrive, but isn’t bad, if not great. It’s also rather pricy for China at $7.25 USD for a 500 gram loaf. But needs must..

Did they cook quickly? Did you stop them cooking in time for them to keep their shape? I've always winged it when it comes to succotash; it's one of those things I didn't grow up with. I take corn kernels off the cob and sauté them for a few minutes with a little garlic and basil or other herbs. Mix the corn, lima beans and halved cherry tomatoes and a little red onion and dress as you like. If you are into bacon cook a few strips first, then fry the corn in the bacon fat and add broken bacon pieces to the salad. Would be good with Indio oregano and roasted green chile, you think?

@JeanneCake @blue_dolphin I was eght, nine years old. Recipes weren't even in my thoughts. That said, over the years I've compiled a dozen or more succotash recipes. The issue with many contemporary recipes (for me) is that they stray far from what Mary made. They tend to be relatvely complex, with ingredients added to punch up what was essentially a simple Native American recipe, similar in respect to what has happened with Three Sisters Stew. When I want succotash, I cook up some corn kernels, lima beans, red pepper, onions, maybe some tomato, possibly a bit of garlic. If possible, I'll sauté the veggies in animal fat (tallow, goose or duck fat, once Bison Blubber) and use a home made chicken stock. If I can get ramps, which I've not had in a very long time, I'll use them instead of onion and garlic. Sometimes I'll add a chili pepper or flaked/ground chilies. A lot of people add bacon, which is a nice addition, but I generally stay away from it ... not that I've never used it. I like my succotash simple. I'll dig through my collection and post one or two that look interesting. That'll have to be tomorrow afternoon, at the earliest.

And also realize that AI isn't the answer to everything!

I used this recipe as a guide to make lamb pistachio burgers for grilling. I hand blended crushed pistachios and the other ingredients with ground lamb. Came out very well, used his sumac yogurt as topping. https://ottolenghi.co.uk/pages/recipes/lamb-pistachio-patties-sumac-yoghurt-sauce

Getting ready for Charles birthday, I thought I would do a little make-ahead stuff and also cooked some St. Louis ribs today for our dinner.

What do CFS pros do? I have been trying to figure that one out since I found out Charlie was looking for one like his school cafeteria days. One of the things I have tried is giving an already tender cut of meat a pounding for texture then cooking. The breading stays on a little better if I make them ahead and let the coating set on in the fridge.

The sorbet cheat sheet that has been shared is great info, but it is too bad that it isn't all done by weight because I am starting with frozen fruits. I converted the mango recipe, and scaled it for a 24 oz Creami Deluxe beaker. Cook's Illustrated Mango Sorbet for Creami Deluxe Mango chunks 608 g Water 67 g Sugar 93 g Lemon juice 18 g Vodka 8 g If you are also using frozen mango, you will need to let the chunks soften overnight in the fridge before you can blend everything. The mix is too thick to process frozen, at least it was for my Vita-Mix. BTW, to do this conversion, I cheated... I used an AI chatbot instead of personally searching for the average yield in grams of a peeled and pitted "medium" mango, and doing the other conversions. I also asked it to create a recipe that accounted for the actual volume of the blended product, which requires some math for the sugar/water mixture. It produced a converted and scaled recipe that perfectly filled a 24 oz Creami Deluxe beaker. I do have a brain, I could have done all of this myself, but I have to admit it was fun to get the answer immediately and get back to the kitchen. If the output sucks once I spin it, I will amend this post and confess.

I’d also be interested in a stellar succotash recipe! After reading @Katie Meadow's post, I cooked up some Rancho Gordo baby green limas, tossed them with Trader Joe's lemon pesto and had beans on garlic-rubbed toast.

they have this at my local MarketBasket ! Ill look into this , this weekend. thank you for pointing this out ! growing up , in Los Altos , CA way way way back when dirt and gravel roads , apricot orchards we used to go into ' town ' : two streets , < 100 M long but a Clints Ice https://www.losaltoshistory.org/collections/explore/ they had a very large , rotating ' ice cream cone ( sugar cone ) ' on their roof. fantasmagoric when you are 4 - 5 and ice cream ( all made there ) that was 1/2 vanilla , 1/2 fruit sorbet do I remember this ? you bet.

@rotuts it's a very nice, not overly sweet, flavor for summer. Pairs nicely with anything fruit. I hope you can find it, we get spoiled with a lot of Tillamook flavor variety!

@YvetteMT Yum and more Yum ! Im a bit puzzled by the ' Tillamook old fashioned vanilla and white chocolate raspberry ice cream '' ' old fashioned vanilla ' is understandable but ' white chocolate raspberry ice cream ' ? I had to google it https://www.tillamook.com/products/ice-cream/white-chocolate-raspberry-yum Ill be looking for that, as soon as it cools off so it gets to my freezer ' solid ' not liquid,

Did Mary your lunch lady give you the recipe she used? I've never had succotash and now I'd like to try it. I always gave away the lima beans and sometimes traded the Royal Coronas in my Bean box but now I'll save them to make this...

@Paul Bacino those potatoes are beautiful!

I am by no means a baker but I made a peach crisp for a dozen roofers we have working on the house today. Served with Tillamook old fashioned vanilla and white chocolate raspberry ice cream.

You're right ... I recall many people who disliked - detested - lima beans. I was not, and am not, in that group. When in grade school, we'd get a school lunch made by Mary Palladino, the "lunchroom lady." She ran the small cafeteria/lunch room, including menu planning and cooking. She frequently served succotash, and I'd always make sure she'd save some so that I could have seconds. Years later, I was a classmate of her daughter in high school, and when I found out that Angela's mother was the "lunchroom lady," and told that to Angela, I soon after found myself with an invitation to Mary and Angela's home where Mary made a big pot of succotash for me, enough for lunch and a batch to take home. Mary remembered me as "the little boy who loved her succotash." To this day, I still enjoy a bowl of succotash every now and then, and I still enjoy calling up my memories of Mary.

It is *really* hot here in NYC. I may have mentioned somewhere, in teh context of summer cooking or possibly preserving, that I don't have A/C. Well. I found some cooked RG chickpeas in the freezer, though, which are currently thawing on top of my head. Efficiencies, etc.

You and I are on the same bandwidth....I just finished prep for tonight's Ottolenghi meal.

Helen’s Bolognese from “Comfort” by Ottolenghi - an interesting, spicy, very good “Asian” spin on bolognese, made with ground pork, onion, garlic, carrots, celery, ginger, star anise, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, sichuan peppercorns, fennel seeds, shaoxing wine, doubanjiang, light soy sauce, scallions, cornstarch, cilantro and sesame seeds. Served over fettuccine and with quickly “marinated” cucumbers (rice vinegar, honey, sesame oil)

@Paul Bacino perfect looking L.C's look like double chops , my favorite. outstanding.

According to Politico: A White House official, granted anonymity to discuss the negotiations, said the administration plans to impose the tariff only on goods that do not comply with the 2020 USMCA, though the ultimate details will be up to Trump to decide. Fingers crossed...

I'm with @Shelby so far: happy to live vicariously for the moment. Still, this is looking mighty good. Please keep the info coming.

Fired up pizza oven First--no yeast pie/ four cheese base-garden suace-pepperoni-jalapeno-calabrian chili --parm cheese Rack of lamb/ skillet potatoes from garden red and white/ lamb seasoned with northwest fire penzy, garlic, rosemary, brandy, what's this here sauce, evoo