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Back in 2019, someone marketed the A4 Box Induction Cooker, and our champion eGullet members/enablers tried it out. You can read the initial discussions here. It's an interesting and fun gizmo: lightweight, heats by induction, small enough to fit into one's travel kit if traveling by car or trailer; easily suitable for a dormitory (unlike the electric skillets my best friend and I used, that nearly scorched the furniture and carpeting). What was especially wonderful about it was the variety of inserts available. It came with a flat plate and ridged griddle; there were also 3 inserts: for deep dish (as in, soups) and a couple of different inserts with indentations for pancakes or ball-shaped stuff or whatever. @Kerry Beal brought our attention to it here and Anna N, may she rest in peace, ignited the rage with her experimentations here. Trouble is, the darned thing was charming but cost as my as my full-sized kitchen stove. I couldn't imagine buying one for my purposes. I think a lot of people must have felt the same way. Then it went on sale! Cheap!! And I bought one, and several other people did as well. Without going into a lot of detail, I noted that mine was on the way here when it was on sale, and a lot of other people enjoyed the same bonus. Good news: my original package, in the blue I preferred (there was much discussion about color choices, back in the day) became available for $40 instead of the original $250 or whatever. Maybe it was more. Bad news: the extra inserts (pancakes, deep dish, aepleskiver or octopus balls, take your pick) were not available. They haven't been available for well over a year. So the company was probably blowing out inventory while they circled the drain. Upshot: this magic A4 box, which is quite definitely not related to a printer, is a fun toy that doesn't live up to its original promise. But I have one, and I'll keep it around. It is gratifyingly compact and easy to clean.

Here’s a couple pics of the light show outside our room. It was Godzilla’s 70th birthday while we were there. I must have poorly worded some post on FB, several people wished ME happy birthday.

On other days we had a considerably lighter lunch and pigged out at dinner. You will see from the furniture, this was not a high end establishment. Soup and smashed cucumber salad to start. Horse sashimi was surprisingly delicious, and it looks like some salad with egg. And I really didn’t need these, but who could resist grilled boneless chicken tails ? I could feel my arteries hardening. Classy place, you could tell by the furniture.

I think we had around 5 days in Tokyo, some were spent just wandering around - 20,000 steps without even noticing. We popped into many eateries and often had two small lunches. Lunch one, gyoza and chicken karaage. Lunch two, a snack of edamame, fish cakes, soup and pork. We didn’t buy a single Kit Kat, despite the unusual choices.

Dinner last night was spicy baked chicken wings, using a Nagi Maehashi recipe. I bolstered the chilli and reduced the sugar, as I usually do. Served with leftover rice, sesame green beans and her smashed cucumber salad (with the addition of chilli flakes).

What is this miracle box ? It’s not the cardboard kind carrying sheets of A4 paper, that’s for sure 🤣

Interesting, thank you.

...and Boomberg has noticed. (Gift link, hence the length) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-25/ai-slop-recipes-are-taking-over-the-internet-and-thanksgiving-dinner?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc2NDA4MzUxMCwiZXhwIjoxNzY0Njg4MzEwLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUNkFGNzVLR1pBSlowMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJFNzAxNENGQzIzNTI0MzU0QTVENUY2QkREMDAxOEU3NiJ9.zVeH6d7ceqUngdCBCfynlfmG4wiYTU-Dv8BjiwikQsU&leadSource=uverify wall

Annnnd, senna leaf herbal tea. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/celebration-herbals-brand-senna-leaf-herbal-tea-recalled-due-salmonella

One pistachios, one not. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/aoun-brand-tahineh-recalled-due-salmonella-2 https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/various-pistachios-and-pistachio-containing-products-recalled-due-salmonella-5

I've been roasting vegetables today: red bell peppers, carrots, red onion and eggplant. They're nice to have on hand as easy additions to other dishes. Today I excavated a smoked duck breast from the freezer and allowed it to thaw. Looked like a good accompaniment to the vegetables. The final result: linguini that I'd forgotten I had, put together with a sauce of butter, olive oil, cheese and half-and-half (not really up to Alfredo standards) and the ingredients in question. The duck breast had been seared first. Pretty good. Is it worth trying to reproduce? I dunno. Will I be able to finish the remains? Easily.

When I was a kid, I can remember a brand of yellow mustard (don't remember which one) coming in a glass jar which, once it was emptied, became a drinking glass. My grandmother had a full set of them.

Seared shrimp with mushrooms and mashed sweet potatoes: Boiled sweet potato cubes and mashed with butter and heavy cream. Sautéed mushrooms with butter, S&P, and a sprig of rosemary, then added the shrimp. Discarded the rosemary and deglazed the pan with bourbon and heavy cream. I thought I made a lot but I had forgotten just how much food the boys eat. Peas with butter, thyme, and sage.

It's Pierre Franey's recipe from his 1970s cook book 60-Minute Goumet. I have adjusted over years to suit ourselves. It's pretty close to the 60 minute mark, though I'm not as zippy as I was in the 70's. Try this link. https://www.nytimes.com/1979/03/28/archives/60minute-gourmet-paella.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4E8.1ekH.OaHfNjs_jKS1&smid=url-share

No pizza for me tonight. I'm having leftover Momo at half-time of the Celtics game, which started at 4 pm and I thought that was odd. Back when I worked, I always had to work the day before T-Day.

Actually, @gulfporter, we had our Thanksgiving on Sunday night. Sous vided yellow beets (with sherry vinegar) and roast duck. We'll have leftovers tomorrow. In writing this message I see an unposted response to you for this post. Do you manage to make the paella in 60 minutes? And have you posted that recipe somewhere on eGullet? I'm intrigued.

I'm sorry that the Last Supper didn't work out as well as the first time. We've had that happen to us many times but it's always sad. But I enjoyed your short trip, so thank you!

Honestly, I think they are just producing so many of these different newer tomato varieties. All these corner fruit and vegetable stands most likely get their stuff from the Hunts Point Produce market, the same distributors that stock many restaurants and stores...they just get what the stores and restaurants haven't taken at the end of the day. Tomatoes seem especially cheap; apples, pears, strawberries, etc. are almost the same price as at a place like Trader Joe's or the brand new LIDL which recently opened across the street from TJs.

Show of hands 🖐️🖐️........ How many of you plan to order pizza 🍕 tonight (Wednesday before 🦃Day)? Appears to be a tradition with many friends and extended family members.

I think that's one of the most gratifying experiences in cooking / baking / confectionery and, for that matter, in any other skill. It means you're really getting a grip on the process! Congratulations!

That’s much more like the way we did it back in the olden days!

I've been enjoying this salsa for a few months and it's really quite good. Not anywhere near as watery as some store brands I've tried, thick, but not overly so, and a nice level of heat. This is something of a Goldilocks salsa for me, just right, and a perfect choice for TJ's dipper-style corn chips. This has become my go-to salsa. Guests have liked it and said so.

apparently not every McD's uses the same method. this is an egg cracking speed contest - but you can see it's a big ole' flattop with many more egg pockets....

Regarding my latest little creation. I think it could be called "chocolate praliné". At least that's as close as I get. It consists of cocoa beans, caramellized sugar, half a vanilla bean (the scraped part) (i grind this into what resembles dry biscuits as the cocoa beans start to release some of the cocoa butter),add somewhat melted browned butter and mix it more, tonka is added with some sea salt, and finally hazelnuts. I did it in this order as I want the cocoa beans, vanilla and sugar to be mixed into as tiny pieces as you possible can - so I later could add hazelnuts and better control how much fat to release from them. Maybe I can do it in a different way, but it felt like a somewhat good way?! It's one of the best things I've ever made. I really love how I just went "let's try this," and it turned out bloody amazing.

Not too many photos from Monday, as we did exactly what I said we were going to do: sit on the deck and take in the view and read books. Here’s a picture of the sunset from our deck. And the afterglow, looking towards the hotel Dinner was at Solaris again. Unfortunately, we did not like it as much this time. Amuse bouche of smoky gazpacho. This was really tasty. Husband ordered the rockfish. It looked pretty, but was a little bland. I had the catch of the day, which was grouper. This was better than the rockfish, but still a little bland. The pickled parsnip salad on top was the best part. We shared a dessert of pavlova with pistachio cream and strawberry-basil ice cream. This was our favorite part of the meal. And that ends our quick visit to Bermuda. We will be back.