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Today I used the first method, non microwave. What guides my choice can be any one of several things, and sometimes a combination of things. If, for example, I may have recently eaten something very soft, let's use whipped potatoes as an example, or hummus, I may want something with more crunch to provide strong contrast. The first cooking method can provide somewhat greater crunch ... I can get the tots almost kettle-cooked, rippled potato chip crunchy. The choice of seasoning affects the decsion. Sometimes, like today, I'll use straight vinegar, usually malt or cider. The straight vinegar soaks into the tots more than other condiment choices, like ketchup or hot sauce, both of which are thicker or more roughly textured. To offset the soaked vinear somewhat, method one is helpful. My microwave oven sits at an elevated position, and because of my complicated back issues, it may be uncomfortable to raise the plate with the tots to oven height, so method one is used. OTOH, if my back isn't bothering me, or if I've taken my pain medication, I'm more inclined to use the microwave method. And then there's my mood. I may not want to take the extra steps to plate the tots, microwave them, crush them with a fork, and then Brevillize them. Just dumping a few straight from the bag onto the tray in the Breville is more to my liking - quicker, less fuss, allows me to do other things besides baby sitting Potato Tots. HTH

As mentioned earlier , similar , but now 2 baked potato dinner. smaller generic diner peas . I like peas this way. previous mushroom gravy ' enriched ' [ Chef-Speak ] w IDS CkStock. thickened w a little Wondra. Superb it all was.

this is what I sliced out of the above , to add to the mushroom gravy for tonight's MLDinner this is @ room temp. 68 F. ' straight up '

Thanks! Which method did you choose today and what guides your choice?

I do it in one of two ways. The first, I preheat the Breville at 425 or so degrees for a few minutes, cook for 20-21 minutes, then add a minute or two of the broiler at 500-degrees. The other method is to heat the tots in the microwave for three-four minutes, crush 'em a bit to create more rough edges, and them cook 'em in the preheated Breville at high temp. Both work well for me although the results are slightly different.

@Shelby everything looks so delicious. and when the discussion is Pizza , the answer is always @Shelby's Id die for that pizza , right now.

It's been an odd weather summer. Lots of rain (not complaining). Garden hasn't done as well as in past years but we're getting enough tomatoes to eat every day so that's all that matters. It's been a high in the mid 70's the last few days. So strange for August in Kansas. @rotutsyour meatloaf looks delicious. I made some a few nights ago but forgot the bacon on top. I need to remember to do that next time. @Smithyhow I love Chile rellenos. I just don't love making them from scratch lol. Maybe I can talk Ronnie into stopping into TJ's next time we're in the area. Chicken and hatch Chile stuffed peppers with homemade salsa and a fig galette. Last of the homemade bread --BLT's, fries and shishitos. I need to make more bread. I know it looks like we've fallen off the low-carb wagon but I swear we haven't . I just seem to only take pictures of carby meals lol. The apple tree we've had forever that maybe produces one apple every 2 years decided to have a bumper crop. I picked these earlier this month and right now I have a huge basket full that I need to make pie filling out of. They aren't the prettiest apples but they are MINE lol. Pizza and salad Needed to use up some fish we had frozen before it gets burnt so a mix of fried walleye and catfish along with zoodles and stuffed jalapeños. SV'd pork chops, squash and greens With quite possibly the best dessert I've ever made (which might not be saying much because we all know that's not my forte lol). Maybe some of you saw the peanut butter and jelly popcorn I posted in the snacking section? Anyway I've had PB&J on my mind I guess. I had some delicious Thomcord grapes (my favorite grapes ever) that I got from Misfits. I decided to make a galette out of some of them and thought OMG what if I spread a bunch of peanut butter on the crust before I add the grapes??? SO GOOD. I was so looking forward to making another one but Misfits didn't ship my Thomcord grapes this week . I have them in my basket again for next week so maybe I'll get lucky.

Well this looks awesome. It's been a while since I've been enabled 😳 I do not need this I do not need this. But I love soft serve.

First Look: On Meat

Yes Peel tomatoes and put into your pot. Add chopped jalapeños right away and let it all cook for a while. Season with salt. Can as you normally would. If you have leftover tomato juice it makes wonderful bloody Marys. Rotel uses green chilies....if I ever had any on hand at the same time as I'm making this I'd add some of those, too.

@liamsaunt Looking good , in this case , might not be tasting as good.

Shrimp and Chorizo Taco from Wes Avila’s “Guerrilla Tacos” - corn tortillas are filled with seared shrimps, cherry tomatoes and crumbled chorizo. Topped with tomatillo salsa (tomatillos, avocado, serrano chili, garlic, cilantro and lime juice are pureed)

Wednesday my husband and I walked into town to go to the farmers market. I bought a couple jars of local honey to bring home: one early summer honey (lighter and sweeter), and one made from August flowers (darker and more potent) I noticed we have an apple tree growing in the yard. I am not sure what type of apples they are (google image says they are Liberty apples) or if it’s allowed to pick them as a renter, so I am just leaving them there. We spent the afternoon walking around the beach and pier near the house. We ended up having to jog back to the house because severe weather moved in very quickly. We had crazy lightning and even large hail. A beautiful rainbow appeared in the backyard after it was over. My sister and niece showed up and wanted to go to Mac’s Shack (of course). There was a 90 minute wait for a table. Drinks It was very dark by the time we got food, so I only took a few pictures. Oysters Fried cod cheeks Seafood stew with clams, mussels, and scallops in a lobster broth Halibut with lobster mashed potatoes Yesterday my husband and I got up early and did a six mile walk. My niece and I then walked out to the little used bookstore in town. It was pretty depleted since they are closing for the year in a few weeks. My niece found a couple of things to buy, but the only thing I discovered was an entry for my annual “strangest book I spotted on the Cape” contest My sister really wanted to go to dinner at Pepe’s in Provincetown. I am not a huge fan of this place but was overruled. We did go for a long walk at Herring Cove beach before dinner, which was nice. The meal was, as I anticipated, pretty mediocre. Oysters Rockefeller (dry) Grilled vegetables with burrata (I think they forgot to grill the vegetables. they were essentially raw) Clam flatbread (did not try, but was told it was good) Cod dish (lukewarm) Clams with linguica (no comment from my brother, but he finished it so it must have been pretty good) Halibut (overcooked, everything on the plate but the fish was cold) Steak frites (overcooked) Coconut cake. This was good. They charged $7 for the scoop of ice cream that was on the $16 slice of cake. Sigh. Hopefully we can skip this place for the next few years. We barely made it back to the beach in time for sunset Afterglow

What's your method for an extra crispy tot? I know some swear by deep frying them. Maybe an air fryer would do the same? Whenever I heat a frozen item I want to be crisp, I use a temp 25° higher than specified, place the items on a mesh tray and cook for a few minutes longer. Never thought of calling it extra crispy, just the way I like it. Today's breakfast is the Broccoli, Egg & Cheese from A Super Upsetting Cookbook About Sandwiches by Tyler Kord. The broccoli is deep-fried in a light, tempura-style batter, the egg is scrambled, the cheese is smoked Gouda (which the recipe specifies is melted on to the top while you dance to “Easy Lover” by Phil Collins and Philip Bailey exactly 2 times*) and the book adds ketchup but I used tomato chutney, which I always think of as “adult ketchup.” It should be on an English muffin but I used a small ciabatta roll. * that’s a 5 min song and I’d already pre-toasted the bun so one round of dancing was sufficient and easily accomplished whilst frying the broccoli.

Meatloaf I haven't made meatloaf in quite some time. no idea why not . Mine ( multiple awards , year in , year out ) starts w ground turkey. in this area its StonyBrookFarms , 20 oz packs. I used two. add-ins : two exlarge eggs , large dollop of TJ's dijon , granulated onion, garlic and this time Spanish smoked paprika . I lived in Spain and love the stuff. usually I use Bell's seasoning Panade in the past was finely ground quaker oats. didnt have any so used TJ's ( hot ) oatmeal mix this technically might not be a panade , as i didnt mix the oatmeal w milk the mixture was quite wet . topped w generic de-salted bacon ( 3 hrs w multiple rinse seems to work ) sorry , iPone sometimes doent focus well not the fat // jus in the pan Generic peas , rinsed and soaked a bit ( MB no longer carries generic no added salt , but this turns out well ) Micro's 2 cup pyrex measuring cup // one can peas // pyrex top micro 3 -4 minutes until hot dinner day one delicious better picture , day two made mushroom gravy 1 lb brown button mushrooms , 1/4 to 1/3 bottle of both Tj's coastal Chard and Motif Cab table wine day two : those are bits of mushrooms on top of the ML , as I didnt thicken the gravy CSO baked russet , generic , Idaho . micro 5 min ( w fork holes ) then 425 F until very crispy butter . window green onions outstanding dinner tonight : quite similar , but two baked potatoes , and a dollop of IDS CkStock in the gravy. https://forums.egullet.org/topic/167917-cooking-with-a-countertop-indoor-smoker/page/11/#comment-2457920 delicious . easy ( in steps ) and many days worth of mighty tasty meals.

No pics this morning. Breakfast consisted of TJ's Ethiopian coffee, fresh-made spinach-apple-carrot vegetable juice, TJ's tots, extra crispy, with Sarson's English malt vinegar.

concentrated stock , from meaty chicken drumsticks , posted earlier. I had two Vac'd packs , 3 each , and 10 smoked let tips I also vac'd and froze decided to make smoked chicken ( dark meat ) stock. used 2 cups water in the iPot , my usual method , 1 hr HP , remove the bones , mash the meat up , 20 min or do more for the meat , then press the meat in the potato press. use the hot stock for the second batch , doing the same . chilled , defatted = 12 oz concentrated IDS CkStock. no seasonings whatsoever at this point. very tasty and nice concentrated flavor. Move Over More Than Gourmet. hope Stop&Shop has another $ 0.89 sale soon on those drumsticks. so easy to make 1 ) IDS 2 ) iPot. using the same hot stock for repeat. the above is 2 X. 3 - 4 X in the future , at the next sale. a Tbs of this , in the pan , is going to make whatever is in there 4 x better.

@rotuts, I got a taste and they are delicious! They are service with wedges of crispy polenta which was also fabulous!!

@Maison Rustique those massive meatballs on the home page of O.B. were talking to me .

My wonderful sis and BIL came in last night (so we could get an early start packing today), and we went to the best local place here that I've talked about previously. Osteria Bianchi We ordered way too much food. Focaccia there is to die for. Made in-house and served with an olive oil-parmesan dipping sauce. I swear I could just eat that and be happy. We also ordered a mortadella pizza as an appetizer. BIL ordered appetizers meatballs and shrimp panzanella as his meal. Sis & I both ordered spaghetti carbonara. Had a lovely chianti with. They shared a chocolate torte while I tried an after dinner glass of italicus rosolio di bergamotto. It was tasty, but a little sweeter than I'd hoped. I doubt I'd drink it again. Got to chat a bit with owner Kelly Bianchi about her vintage stemware buys on eBay. My drink was served in vintage Moselle which my BIL went ga-ga over. Sorry, once again we took no photos. Got home to the raccuties on the deck entertaining us with their usual antics. Nothing cuter than baby wildlife.

The best upgrade from a Victorinox is probably an Opinel or a Robert Herder. These have thin bladestock that makes the Vic parer so desirable, but with better handles and ergonomics. I also like the Wusthof grand prix paring knife that I was gifted for similar reasons but I'd probably buy a Herder if I was starting from scratch and wanted something nice. I have a lot of small knives and those are the main ones I'd recommend for a Western cook looking for a normal paring knife to do in-hand and some on-board work. The paring knife isn't really a thing in Japanese kitchens, but the Mac Pro is perhaps the most recommended Japanese paring knife. Tojiro makes a good one too, but the Mac Pro gets the most love. The Gesshin/Japanese Knife Imports ones are nice for some things - they're the pointiest knives around - but they're quite different from Western knives in that they have a highly asymmetrical edge bevel. They also have cheap plastic handles that I've been meaning to replace for several years. Anyway, they're relatively inexpensive, sharpen well, and are an interesting change of pace. Nice to have if you've already got the traditional version covered.

They were battered and had a bang bang sauce on them, so not traditional flavors for a taco at all. The shrimp were also very large. The whole thing was messy to eat. I ended up taking it apart and using a knife and fork. The tuna topped oysters were not a hit with my husband or his brother. They both felt that the flavors didn’t really work together, and the texture was weird. They did finish them though! I’ll try and bring this trip food report up to date in the morning, it’s been a busy few days.

☺️That was a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek, compliment, not a travel itinerary. I just got back yesterday from Eureka and Redwood country.

I thought you were on the road to Montana. But yoi are still shopping at TJ's apparently.

There's an update on the pistachio recall. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/various-pistachios-and-pistachio-containing-products-recalled-due-salmonella?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23