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I'd include Velveeta as well, the cheese of my childhood. It has a definite place in any list of important cheeses. My earliest memory was that it came in a wooden box: California's Humboldt Fog is another great cheese ... my friend Schelly calls it swoon-worthy. It's a goat cheese that has an edible layer of ash through its middle, and which develops a wonderful, creamy texture as it ages. It's made in one of the northern-most counties of California by Cypress Grove Creamery. No list is worth anything without Reggiano, in all its iterations.

Potato salad for dinner. It took care of the red potatoes that have been sitting out on the counter; most of the parsley and green onions sitting around in the refrigerator; capers (I'm so glad I found that jar amongst my pantry supplies); lemon juice; vinegar; olive oil; and a bit of mayonnaise but not enough to make it gloppy. I was at least in my 30's, maybe my 40's, before I discovered that potato salad doesn't have to be sweet. For that matter, it doesn't have to be gloppy although the glop doesn't bother me as much as Miracle Whip or sweet pickles. These particular potatoes aren't holding their shape well, but the overall flavor suits me. And now I've used a bunch of ingredients before they could go off, and I'll have something easy to reach for when I'm feeling peckish. The little bowl of chicken salad I showed earlier today is already gone.

If I recall correctly, you are very careful about the types of fillings you tend to use, namely, those with long shelf lives (caramel, gianduja). If the fillings in the bonbons in question are of that type and if the outsides show no signs of melting or softening, I would probably sell them as usual. If there were ganaches, I would check them more carefully for deterioration, but if it's been only one day, they should be OK. We all know (or suspect) how customers abuse our storage instructions. I have started using bold type for my storage info at the top of my guide included in the box and have made the language stronger as well. As for the shops that store them at room temp, I don't do that. I had a restaurant approach me today about purchasing some 4-piece favor boxes to give to guests at the end of the meal, and I led my reply with refrigeration availability. In saying that, I hope I don't sound holier than thou, but I have had a mold episode and have never gotten over that.

If I may sneak in a second mountain in my range. Twin Peaks. Gruyere Grana Padano Mozzarella di latte di bufala Occelli Castagna (Chestnut leaf) .... and if I'm being very sneaky Stilton

A few photos of recent dinners. Last night was a trip to the freezer for a bacon wrapped turkey tenderloin cooked SV finished with a quick dip in hot oil. Served with mashed potatoes and asparagus. I posted the turkey prep details last year under the SV thread. Shrimp and pasta. The shrimp were seasoned with a seafood curry spice blend from Spicewalla, oil and lemon juice. I made a quick sauce with the marinade/pan juices, a little yogurt, water and cornstarch. I visited my sister in March in the Washington DC area and was treated to a wonderful meal at Joon. Lots of new food flavors to me including Tahdig rice. My first attempt at a Persian based menu-Tahdig, cauliflower curry, roast carrots and roasted chicken thighs. Chicken thighs with preserved lemon and a green mystery spice blend from Turkey served with grilled eggplant and steamed broccoli. I previously posted a dish with a mystery red blend that I was gifted. The green spice blend was somewhat similar to the Spicewalla seafood curry blend. I don't think I've had a spice blend to date that that I did not enjoy!

Anybody else need totes in the 'ludicrously capacious' size?

I hope that you know that all of you are killing me slowly with your cheese. 99.9% of all the cheese that you are listing are cheeses that I can never find down here. And the ones that I do get are pretty poor imitations of the real thing.

Sweet potato, mushrooms, and elk steaks.

Irish porter cheddar (I loved Cahill's) Dolce Gorgonzola Smoked Mozzarella di Bufala Sartori Bellavitano cabernet sauvignon (Costco)

In London, you might like BRAT.

Oh, yum, Ann. That dinner looks fabulous! I didn't locate the parmesan breaded mushrooms on tibeaultstable.com. Could you list the ingredients, please.

Sounds delicious! We are in the lounge waiting to board now. We are going to London for a few days first. Our London schedule is pretty packed with tourist stuff, and our Paris plans are, shall we say, more fluid. I will report on where we end up eating in both cities.

hmmmm indeed!!! interesting... TBH, my knowledge of Thai food is not very much anymore, but I do still remember some of the language which is why I called it out...

Last's night's dinner was some of the planned-over panade, and a couple of bites of steak before I gave it to PJ. 🙂 I'm not sure what my dinner plans will be. A few days ago I bought another rotisserie chicken and, after eating a bit of it, pulled the meat from the bones and put it all into a container. The plan was to make the Peruvian chicken stew (Aji de Gallina) that I've been rabbitting on about, now that I finally have all the ingredients. Well. It's hot outside. Really hot. 98F, and don't bother telling me that it's okay because "it's a dry heat". Although I have air conditioning in the trailer, I'm still disinclined to make a nice hot stew. So just now I chopped some of the chicken meat up with chopped parsley, capers, lemon juice and mayo. It made a nice chicken salad. Even better atop Triscuits. This may be dinner as well, along with some good lettuce salad or some of the broccoli hanging out in the crisper drawer. Seen on this morning's walk: Back in the day, only a few years ago, I was interested in harvesting prickly pear tunas and making prickly pear syrup from them. I'm pretty sure I still have some of the commercially prepared stuff from that time. When I noticed a cactus along my walk that had the fruits, I briefly considered asking the owner whether I could harvest some. Then I decided not to bother. Now look at it. Starting its new blooms; nobody ever collected the tunas. No, I'm not sorry that I didn't bother. I'm sorry to see them wasted, though.

Yeah, I remember that ad from the 90s. (This YouTuber says 1997. Sounds about right.)

I found the menu for our visit to Soces on February 8th this year...

Good food for thought. I buy most of my produce at the farmers market. They aren’t affected by the grocery store regulations and still offer plastic bags. I limit my use of them but still use some occasionally. In particular for collecting food scraps and waste that must be segregated from the regular trash but oddly, in my area, can’t go in a compostable bag. The Wirecutter found the reusable bag best at keeping veg fresh were the towel-like Vejibag that you dampen and re-spritz when they dry out. Just the ticket if you want your veg to have a spa experience. They’re also expensive and bulky but some less expensive draw-string top cotton bags also performed well. Edited to add that a nice feature of those bags for use at a grocery store is that each has a little tag with the tare weight stamped on it. I might rifle through my stash of kitchen towels (or pick up some new ones from TJs) and try stitching up some drawstring bags of appropriate sizes. I know the towels tolerate washing in hot water and bleach as I’d want for something like this. And as others have said, I routinely wash greens and store them wrapped in damp towels. I’ll report back on how this works.

the day after Thanksgiving was The Event @ Filene's basement . people changed into items they wanted to try on right there in front of the counters.

I know lots of people have big Easter parties or other spring gatherings and might want a bunch. They’re pretty inexpensive compared with similar paper bags. They’d make an OK reusable lunch bag but beyond that, I couldn’t come up with a “need” for them. My mom lined up in the wee hours and bought her wedding gown at a Filene's basement event. She was very thrifty but would likely have passed on these little TJs bags!

Here , limitless . I understand that is was indeed yesterday they were introduced here. and sold out before noon , perhaps . then restocked for today . dont see the point of buying 20 0r so. good luck e-bay-ing them for @ $ 250 each. we do live in unusual times . thank you , Internet , Soooo much

As @rotuts said, they’re quite small. Appropriate for a little gift bag. Given the pastel colors and timing on this release, I suspect many will be used for lEaster baskets. They showed up at my TJs yesterday, unbeknownst to me. When I arrived, close to 9 AM, I noted more cars in the parking lot than usual. Inside, near the entrance, there were 2 staff members standing in front of a big bin of these bags, enforcing a limit of 4/customer. Everyone in front of me got some. I did not. Most got 4. By the time I'd worked my way through the produce, meat, cheese, and dairy, I heard a big cheer from up front, indicating they had sold out.

Lazy day yesterday and hadn't really planned anything for dinner and didn't feel like going out. So, I pulled a 16oz Sterling Silver New York Strip steak from the freezer. Cooked on the grill and cut in half to share. Served with just a salad that I had been actually planning to make for two days. From an Italian cookbook, this salad had parmesan breaded mushrooms, served with a variety of baby greens. The steak was delicious and Moe really loved the salad.

Heh. No ginger in the recipe [Spicy Prik King Shrimp (Gkoong Pad Prik King)], from 'Dancing Shrimp' by Kasma Loha-Unchit. Recipe notes state that prik king means "chilli ginger", but also states that dried red chillies and galangal are the key ingredients. Yes, confusing. I have written in a note to add ginger, which I have done in the past. Edit: A quick check of David Thompson's 'Thai Food' shows a recipe for stir-fried wild pork with beans and green peppercorns (pat prik kink muu bpaa) that also uses galangal but no ginger (although it does have shredded grachai, but not in the paste). Hmm.

@Smithy they are really small . https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/mini-pastel-canvas-tote-bags-079986 the frenzied crowd was buying them by the dozen , very odd. a click-bait site suggested when out of stock , they were selling for hundreds of dollars on e-bay ?