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Those noodles back up the thread look so silky and delicious. @liuzhou We had ratatouille again and lamb cutlets again. I’m obsessed with feta at the moment and put little sprinkles of it on lots of things. Sourdough breading for mopping up the juices.

Below…..Breakfast of poached egg, ham and pea shoots with feta bits. I’m using olive oil for splashing on when plated like the TV chefs do (hello Jamie Oliver) more often, and although very late to this particular party, I am enjoying it.

Vietnamese tonight for a guest with a mild palette. I can't remember the last time I cooked a meal with no chiles whatsoever. 😬 Napa cabbage and shrimp soup: Soup stock was sauteed onion and dried shrimp with fish sauce and salt. Simmer Napa cabbage until done and then poach shrimp at the end. Finished with white pepper and scallions Beef stir-fried with cauliflower: Marinate thinly-sliced strip steak with fish sauce, soy sauce, black pepper, and cornstarch. Stir-fry onions and garlic, sear the steak, and remove. Stir-fry parboiled cauliflower florets until heated and then mix everything together until the steak is just done. Garnish with cilantro

Fancy some lettuce? Be careful. The Chinese for lettuce is 生菜 (shēng cài). High flat tone on the shēng and falling tone on the cài. Accidentally, change the tones to 剩菜 (shèng cài), both falling tones instead of some nice crispy lettuce, you've aked for leftovers! Or, change the tones to 生财 (shēng cái) flat, then rising, and you've said "make money". Fear not, the vendors will manage that just fine.

A way to use up 1/4 head of cabbage and half a bag of beansprouts: Cantonese Shrimp and Bay ScallopsEgg Foo Young: Still trying out a couple of Weight Watchers recipes: Turkey Shepherds Pie. Glad potatoes are zero points. Would not be the same with mashed cauliflower;-) Pork Butt Roast infused with fresh thyme: The individual servings of unsweetened apple sauce is perfect! Sesame Chicken: I shallow fried the breaded chicken instead of the usual deep frying. It was good with a slight reduction in calories. Picked up a marinated pork tenderloin at our local Co-Op - Souvlaki seasonings. Sared on cast iron pan and finished in the oven. Leftover rice - fried up with onion and egg.

@SLB, under the sofa is BRILLIANT !!

Based on the info I've accumulated, news reports and reviews, the butter I used was made by Bunge, and they were rated poorly in a few reviews. I'd like to find a european-style butter, or even an american butter that's of a brand I trust, like Clovr-Stornetta for something local or Plugra perhaps. I don't know what would be lost in the cooking process, but my intent is to just get a known, good quality butter. There's a market nearby that carries many brands and many arieties in those brands. I'll just see what they offer and pick one. If it's one that's nuanced in flavor, it would be nice to see what happens to those flavors during the process. I'm not too concerned with fat content, but again, it would be nice to see how it affects the result. I don't think it will, at least not much. I'd like to see the results for myself rather than rely on opinions from others

Just curious, what defines “a better quality butter” for you? Fat content? Something else? Seems like the flavor components found in cultured butters, for example, would be filtered out in the process of making ghee.

The latter. Pork reigns supreme here, and beef is more popular for the “finer” cuts (e.g. filet, Tafelspitz, roastbeef, …).

@Duvel are beef ribs less popular due to the price of beef or the more general preference of pork ?

As a friend put it, "my table has rooms!"

Attendees Chocolot Kerry Beal alleguede curls RanaMN Melani RobertM DianaD Lisa M citowolf - Celia D Lambrecht gourmet +1 Sue PEI (possibly with Jane) GRiker Rajala Kate

@SLB, I like the color of the new tablecloth better overall, as well. Agree also that having the leaves in the table makes it a junk collecting platform (oh, so much space, I'll just put these things on the one end and I still have plenty of space to sit on the other end...)

My butcher had Leiterstück on offer - an in Germany rather unpopular beef cut that translates to short ribs 😎. I bought quite a bit and the first dish I made was Gulaschsuppe : plenty of onion, garlic, peppers, carrot and potatoes. Spiced with both smoked & spicy paprika, caraway, bay leaf and marjoram. Cooked yesterday and rewarmed today. Great 🤗 Served with sour cream, breads, and some nibbles … No complaints 🥳

True that - we still have a couple of the Firemixer 14's available!

Yesterday I made another batch of ghee, and this was the best yet, although not quite perfect. The heat may have been a skosh too high, but the result gave me a medium amber liguid as clear as spring water. Judicious skimming and careful pouring negated the need for any filtering. After cooling, I tasted, and this was the nuttiest-tasting ghee I ever made. Some milk fat solids stuck to the bottom of the pan, so that's why I thnk the temp was too high. The pan cleaned up quickly and easily though. Next batch will be made with a better quality butter, mostly to see if there's any qualitative difference between brands. Thanks to everyone who jumped in earlier ... the info was helpful.

Oh, interesting. I have seen recipes that call for instant banana pudding so that's why I thought it would have the artificial taste that I don't care for.

A winterized version of Charlie Bird’s farro salad with the radishes, tomatoes, and mint omitted and roasted beets and spicy maple glazed delicata squash added. I also used much less oil than the recipe called for because my farro was still very moist after cooking and didn’t need much dressing. https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/charlie-birds-farro-salad

Another grilled chicken wrap from Good Things. Samin calls this one Souvlaki-ish chicken. The chicken thighs get marinated in the creamy oregano dressing before grilling. Same smear of whipped tahini. Today’s veg were cucumbers, radishes, carrots and cherry tomatoes and got tossed in the same dressing.

A particularly tasty way to clean out the fridge: Chorizo from a local butcher, fried up with onion, chiles, and garlic. Added in excess frozen spinach, an opened can of crushed tomato, and some excess coconut milk. Herbs and spices included Thai basil, lamb masala, Aleppo chile powder, and Mexican oregano. Fish sauce and a little brown sugar to round out the flavors.

Count Kate in. She can’t post right now.

Turns out (surprise!) that keeping avian predators around is a good way to limit bird/rodent damage to cherry crops. https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/01/tiny-falcons-are-helping-keep-the-food-supply-safe-on-cherry-farms/

I spent some more money, and got an option: Also, I removed one of the leaves. Living in an apartment, its a whole lot easier to leave the leaves in the table than it is to find some place else to keep them. But I decided that having that table all gigantic all the time was inviting junk and also making me feel lonely. So I took one off and put it under the sofa. Anyway, new every-day tablecloth, I ran in the opposite direction of creamsicle. The creamsicle might in fact go on ebay, although it does look nice beneath my heath plates.

Another example is 水饺 (shuǐ jiǎo), meaning "boiled dumplings". Both syllables use a falling and rising tone. If you get it wrong and use only falling tones, 睡觉 shuì jiào, then you are saying "sleep" or "go to bed".

Banana pudding shouldn’t have ANY artificial banana flavor in it! It’s made of layers of vanilla pudding, vanilla wafers, and slices of actual bananas, all topped with either whipped cream or baked meringue! It’s basically a trifle.