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We have that one, too -- along with four other plain red Waechtersbach mugs, two of which are so old they were made in West Germany.

@FeChef Croquettes are a fabulous dish . Difficult to come by , and made properly . Id consider taking an Rx for a classic Ham and Bechamel , and sub crab meat for the ham. I dont mean to be flippant by saying this . its the creaminess of the croquette , contrasting the crunch that puts it over the top. A diner in downtown Boston , a million years ago , at dinner when the downtown was deserted made a Ham and bechamel that was ass good as one could get in France. and after thanksgiving , a turkey/stuffing/bechamel version that I used to go and have whenever I could. flatten the croquette and call it a cake. you might also consider pouring dome bechamel over your favorite crab cake

We have way too many mugs but these are notable. My mother used to pick up mugs from local craft fairs and these were two I kept from her collection. We have mugs from some, uh, unusual federal sites. I got the CDC mug for giving a pre-conference lecture there. Sorry, hard to read the lower right but that is from Camp David, the presidential retreat. This mug has seen some adventures in the past 25 years. It has a rubberized bottom and survived a several-block trip on the roof of my car. Eventually I figured out that the driver next to me was not being rude, he was letting me know I was about to lose a coffee mug. The mug also survived a car crash that caused several thousand dollars worth of damage without spilling a drop of coffee.

A gastrique with balsamic, rosemary and cherry jam goes awesome w Duck!

What I had: Opened cans of coconut milk, crushed tomato, and chipotle in adobo. Spinach and shrimp in the freezer, and Mexican chorizo in the fridge. Usual procedure after that. Sear shrimp and remove. Fry chorizo and remove. Saute sliced onion and minced garlic, fry dry spices (coriander, cumin, cloves, canela, black pepper, cardamom seed) then deglaze the pan with blended chipotle and tomato. Simmer with spinach then finish with fish sauce and coconut milk. Spicy, rich, and aromatic, but I knew this would not be a pretty meal.

Christmas dishes!!!! I love the gnome decorated plates that our daughter gave us many years ago. They are up at the Drive Shed, somewhere only Ed knows where. I'll get him to bring them to the house today.

I'm just now getting my Christmas dishes and decorations out, but today my coffee is in one of those Waechtersbach mugs: I went crazy over those some years back, and still treasure them. This cheerful sight of my cupboard shows more of my Christmas mug collection: The 2nd and 3rd mugs from the right were a clever idea from a friend who threw a 95th birthday party for another friend, who was a Midwinter's Day baby. The party organizer scoured thrift stores for Christmas- or winter-themed mugs. It was quite a collection, and she invited us to take mugs home after the party. I took 4, kept them in the Princessmobile, and have 2 out for this season. Memories!

I just ordered the SOMA panetonne. Shipping after December 15.

Sent to me just now: I think this gal is going to get in the blind with them

Good morning! It's a frosty, foggy morning over here. The guys are of course out doing their thing. They saw lots of deer yesterday but nothing tripped their trigger (haha). These are nice bucks And oh man was the moon bright last night. I would suspect that a lot of feeding went on overnight because it was almost like a bright sunny day lol. Super moon before it got dark last night And early this morning So...hopefully a nice dry doe will be gotten today. I'd like to have venison steaks for dinner tomorrow. But, if not, I have some nice choice beef steaks I'll sous vide. I got my Misfits boxes yesterday, thank you FedEx for not screwing up lol sigh. So we have a decent array of vegetables for a while. Anyway that took a bit to get everything put away and before I knew it it was time to put out some kind of snacky stuff. Not fancy but enough to take the edge off. Then I got busy on the ducks. I put paper towels over them to get them as dry as possible and then rubbed them with a ton of butter. I forgot to mention that we brined them before we froze them. After the butter I sprinkled with Lawry's salt and fresh black pepper. Then I stuffed them with a lemon wedge, and sprigs of thyme, rosemary and sage. After that they lounged on the counter for a while. Then I sorted through the tomatoes and got out the ones that needed to be used and peeled them. Next I did chopped onion, garlic and celery in butter, added the tomatoes and seasoning and let that simmer for a while. Right before serving I tore up a piece of toasted sourdough bread and added that. No picture...stewed tomatoes are boring lol. Next I fried a few strips of bacon, removed those and added trimmed up Brussels sprouts to the pan along with more onions and garlic and got those nice and roasted. Seasoned with yep, more Lawry's and black pepper, added a few glugs of chicken broth, put the lid on and let them get nice and tender. Just before serving I added shredded cheddar and the crumbled up bacon. I started the steam boys on 450 F about an hour ahead of time to get them nice and warmed up. Pintail and teal were done in about 15 mins. Mallards I did for 25--they were in the slower oven. Our hunter friend said they were just like an excellent steak so I think he liked them Today will be a busier day for me--sooooooooooooooooo much frying to do. I've already prepped my cast iron so it's all ready to go at least. I'm also thinking of making an apple galette out of the last of the apple pie filling I made from the apples on our tree. I was toying with making a lemon posset because I have a ton of lemons but I'm not sure I have room in the fridge for 3 dessert cups sigh lol. Anyway, we'll see what I get up to today. For right now I'm going to enjoy my hot cup of coffee that is mostly sugar and cream and bask in the quietness of the house.

I would've guess that PCing after frying would lead to the breading sliding off! It's startling that it doesn't. [FWIW -- I've never used and IP, I use an old timey pressure cooker, I know they must be different because the bean cooking times are so very different]

That's true - my brain temporarily had a nap and I forgot that you used a breading. You'd have to thoroughly cool and dry them before breading otherwise it will not stick...

Pennsylvania. I would say the Diner in question serves mostly PA dutch food. The crab cakes are closer to dare i say maryland style but i don't detect much if any old bay. The flavor reminds me more of crab imperial.

My Ikea single free standing induction does beep, but pretty quietly and slowly, and I don't find it obnoxious.

After years of hating induction I finally got one in our latest kitchen. One of the biggest things that put me off was touch screen controls - they have absolutely no place in a kitchen. thankfully (though not for my bank balance) gaggenau now do cooktops with optional physical dials. We’ve had it about six months now and honestly I couldn’t be happier. The knobs make all the difference to the cooking experience. The other big plus is how much it lets me just get on with stuff, no beeping when I move a pan, no switching off when I put a tray or plate elsewhere on the cooking surface - zero second guessing. The gradations have been great for everything I’ve needed - it has 13 power levels (12 + boost), but they aren’t linear, so you get much finer adjustment below level 9. Having been solidly in team gas until now I feel like I’ve finally been converted - I actually prefer it to my previous Wolf rangetop. pic of it in situ:

1 Traditional, 1 Triple Chocolate, same as last year. I wanted to try the SOMA chocolate also, but decided against it. Maybe another time, if there is another opportunity.

Where did you have these crab cakes? With regard to the title of this thread, sorry but I have never used bechamel in crab cakes. Not opposed to the idea, just never tried it. But I am curious whether these were Maryland-style mostly-crab cakes or whether the filler played a larger role.

What are you getting?

I local diner near me has these baked crab cakes that are insanely creamy. They reminded me of croquettes due to their mound shape. So i went down a rabbit hole and came across crab croquettes that use a bechamel sauce, but these are fried and seem to be asian inspired. That is not what i am after. I think i need to incorperate a bechamel with a traditional mayo/egg/cracker base. I just don't know what a good ratio would be. I want these to be super creamy and not end up dry like most mayo based crab cakes end up.

Almost bought a turkey at Aldi today. Jennie-O brand frozen birds for 0.77/lb. Most were big but I was tempted by a little 13 pounder. Could have had some entertainment for 10 bucks but I resisted!

There is virtually nothing authentic about this Thai green chicken curry, but it’s how we like it with potatoes and spinach.

We have a number of favorite mugs but my camera does not do close-ups. If our daughter comes this weekend, I'll get her to take the photos.

A few years ago, for some reason friends started giving me mugs. I'm not sure how it started but I ended up with about 30. Two years ago, I moved house and left most behind. Deliberately, only retaining some few favourites. Here are a few of those.

I believe I might kill for that counter.

It's hard to tell where our mugs end and where our kitchen counter begins 🇲🇽