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Chicken Francese for supper. It's an Italian dish. Wondering about the name Francese...named for a lady chef? It was quite nice, with just a hint of lemon in the sauce. A friend introduced us to Mustard Pickles. She had given us a couple of jars and we really like them. So I made my own batch last week. The pickle goes well with chicken pork, hot dogs. That's the yellow stuff on the lower left.

I broke into another of the packages I bought back here: this time, the Papas Rellenas: mashed potatoes around a beef filling, with a crispy outer coating. I hadn't planned far enough in advance to thaw one of the other treasures i'd purchased. These are to be cooked from frozen. The cookery is easy enough, as you see from the package instructions. I fired up my Cuisinart Steam Oven (which still needs to be cleaned so it actually produces steam) and preheated it, on convection bake mode, to 350F. Then I put in half the box's worth, i.e. two spuddy thingies. I wondered whether it would be enough, but I had already been pecking away at snacks and sandwiches earlier. Besides, I wanted the other half of the package to sit in reserve in case I could think of refinements. Not bad. The coating was indeed crisp, and the mashed potatoes inside the coating tasted good. I think I'd prefer a higher ratio of crisp coating to soft interior, as in mashing them to get a flatter surface. That might not be practical for this packaged food, but gives me ideas about how I might could do it better at home. I found the filling itself rather disappointing. Sure it was ground beef with seasonings, but I thought the onion was overpowering; also, some spice (they don't list cloves or allspice, but it's along those lines) wasn't to my taste. If I'd especially liked the beef filling I might have been disappointed in the ratio of beef filling to potato coating, but as it was I didn't mind. For my tastes, a dab of salsa improved the flavors. Here are some attempts at cutaway photos, to show the interior as well as the exterior. I still have half the box's worth: that is, another package of two. I'll have no trouble eating them later, but I wouldn't bother getting these again. On the other hand, they make a fine template for something to try making from scratch!

@ElsieD - what an absolute delight! I could wish we had something like that nearby, but I'm pleased to read about your pleasures. I never knew John had culinary training.

Le Cordon Bleu here has special menu events from time to time which they hold in their Signatures Restaurant. Tickets are pre-sold for these events; today's was sold out, the capacity seemed to be about 40. This event was called Boulangerie Delight and so it was. Below is the menu and pictures of the courses. The servers, cooks etc. were students in their final year with the head chef supervising. There must have been 14 of them roaming the tables, but they were never obtrusive. The food was mostly good, though the carb cakes could have been hotter. The coffee was cold, but cheerfully replaced. As you can see, the last picture is of the desserts, 5 each. As we were leaving, take-away boxes in hand, one of the students came over to tell us that there was an extra box waiting for us. That turned out to be a duplicate times two of the third course, so we came home with 18 assorted pastries! John shared a brief memory with the head chef about his time at Cordon Bleu when he took Cuisine Basics. They both lamented about banging their heads against the overheads above the work stations. Not meant for tall people. John is just over 6'3" and I'm guessing the head chef is the same. A nice change of pace for us.

You had me at steamers sticking their necks out of the sand. Your crowd never seems to order them, Doesn't anyone like them? Of all the things I miss from the east coast that's almost at the top of my list. I just love them. And of course there are none here on the west coast. It's mostly a clam desert except for manilla clams, which are okay but tiny and can't match the little quahogs.

Carpano Antica is a favorite. I love it in summer just over ice. I also like the Cocchi di Torino but can't remember the last time I had it or how. I love the amaro bitters, but surprisingly I don't like compari / or a negroni. My mother always had a bottle of Punt e Mes around in her dotage. Needless to say she didn't have a drop of Italian blood, but she did have an Italian boyfriend.

I haven't used it yet but my plan is to use it in peach frozen yogurt and ice cream along with peaches to bump up the peach flavour. I'm trying the same thing with strawberries. Maybe smoothies or protein drinks?

This may be OT, but peach powder sounds like it could be amazing! How do you use it?

@Shel_B, as I recall, they worked just fine.

I have these: (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies by Edd Kimber... They were fine. A way of using up sourdough discard, I suppose, but I'm not sure it brings anything to the party.

Just a strip that has gone out of temper likely. Looks like the block wasn't cooled properly when it was formed.

@Smithy the stock this was made in wa very bland. Ill have to boost that flavor considerably next time.

@FauxPas, what a sweet husband you have! That's a very nice gift.

It does look delicious. So sorry to read that it didn't live up to its looks! Why do you think it fell flat this time?

working w some fresh RANA ravioli , in this case mushroom. looks good . home made stock w 1/3'd puck of MoreThanGourmet Two beaten eggs , added off the heat after the ravioli were cooked. 4 min . Fresh spinach and Campari tomatoes , Tj's parmesanish and window green onion. this was very underwhelming . a disappointment . I used to make this sort of thing all the time , and it was very good. not this time.

Not a terribly good picture but I snapped this this morning in the supermarket. As you can see, not a single piece of chicken in view.

I second the Lustau (red) recommendation - you won’t be disappointed 🙏

Grilled shrimp with white beans, charred tomatoes and arugula. In a white wine reduction of caramelized shallots. Lots of pimentón picante.

@Maison Rustique Do you remember how well or poorly the gripper worked? Did you use it on a typical 1/2 sheet? I hope things become less chaotic for you ...

Another curiosity from A Super Upsetting Cookbook About Sandwiches, the Broccoli Classic with mayo, roasted broccoli, lychee muchim, ricotta salata (I used feta) toasted pine nuts and fried shallots. Not sure where lychees show up in any classic sandwich but, honestly, spicy pickled lychee are pretty good and I look forward to using them in other ways.

For a sweet red, Lustau is good and widely available. I'm also a big fan of Contratto. I very seldom used a dry white, but when I did, I used Dolin.

My go-to sweet vermouths are: Cocchi Vermouth di Torino when I want a light touch, my summer vermouth Carpano Punt e Mes when I want something more forward with a touch of bitterness Carpano Antica for something luxurious, my winter vermouth and a must for holiday cocktails Dolin Dry is my favorite dry vermouth

Looking for a very nice sweet and a dry. Anything you'd like to recommend?

I'm feeling a bit crappy today and decided to skip the big weekly Farmers' Market. I had mentioned to my husband previously that I wanted some chili crisp from one of the vendors. He surprised me by sneaking off to the Market (which he NEVER goes to) and bringing home some chili crisp plus a couple of delicious pineapple buns. Yum.