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Thanks to a suggestion from @rotuts in the GE Profile Indoor Smoker thread, I decided to try isopropyl alcohol on the glass windows of the Philips. For sometime I had been disappointed with results from the Philips, and cleaning the windows with alcohol made a big improvement. Last night I tested a new fish grilling basket by grilling a branzino on the Philips (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) The basket fits beautifully, almost like it was made for the Philips. Previously I'd always cooked branzini in the oven. This was better. For anyone wondering, six minutes per side. And, yes, I needed to wear dark safety glasses.

many folk who mill their own lumber count one year per inch of thickness for wood to fully "season" - got time? disks/pucks/slices/(many names) are especially prone to splitting. depending on what the end use may be, splits may / may not be critical. i.e. splits in a trivet are not a problem; splits in a cutting board are . . . I'd suggest a search 'how to dry tree slices' - there are many opinions - the woodworking type sites are more apt to have first person experience that a bloke who just makes youtube videos for the clicks . . .

Inspired by @Katie Meadow, I cooked up some baby green limas and could have sworn I posted about them here. Apparently I’m getting forgetful 🙃 In any case, this is the recipe I had in mind when I cooked them. It's the seared tuna with lima bean purée and harissa from Nancy Silverton's book, A Twist of the Wrist. The combination of a lightly seasoned, lemony lima mash with the harissa and herb marinated-whole beans is excellent and could stand on its own without the tuna, though that was a treat, too. The only oddity is that she calls for poaching the beans (she calls for canned or frozen) for 5 min in a cup and a half of olive oil to “infuse them.” Some of the oil is used in the marinade and the mash, but certainly not all of it. Not sure that’s necessary. There are a few more tuna + bean recipes in the book so I’ll be checking those out as well.

I added crushed garlic (I buy the frozen Dorot brand) to olive oil, brushed on sliced bread (happened to be a sour dough). Because I was grilling the lamb, I put the bread on the 'bun rack' of the grill. Have to watch closely! Let them cool completely, then cubed them.

@Paul Bacino very interesting. there is a chance the segment will crack . there are ways around this , https://owic.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/pubs/peg.pdf etc. you then have to decide for your self if PEG treated wood is safe to use for a cutting board. Id use PEG , then dry , then ' profesionally ' slice into 2 4 " rounds. then sand , etc until stable. you can then treat the surfaces w an oil that polymerizes. P.S. leave the bark on . it may decided to come off later , or not, depending on the time of the season the wood was cut. it should stay on as you cut the wood recently , while the tree was growing. if you take it off , you cant put it back on . if it comes off later on its own , is a different matter. I have a cherry bookmatched cutting board I made ' by hand ' from cherry wood rescued from my wood pile . its so beautiful , I just hung it up to admire it rather than use it. after sanding and finishing ( no PEG , as it came from a cure log ) its a joy to see. Ill post a pic here as soon as I find it , as things are jumbled up here due to some over the winter remodleing.

We had to cut down a walnut tree, i salvaged a 8" thick by 14 " circular pc and wonder how i can do it? i'm thinking of drying outside , then remove the bark Thoughts and TIA Doc B

I made both corn ice cream and roasted strawberry ice cream the other day. Both were good, but the roasted strawberry one knocked our socks off. I had read somewhere that adding a teaspoon of strawberry balsamic vinegar really enhances the strawberry flavour. This particular recipe doesn't need enhancement but it piqued my interest enough to ask here if anyone has tried it? Or maybe another flavoured balsamic vinegar paired with the same fruit?

Looks delicious! How do you make your garlic bread croutons?

I'd forgotten about Wayfair, though I should have remembered because my darling and I bought an item or two from them. We had a few laughs assembling the furniture after it arrived, but were quite happy with the products. Thanks for that reminder. There are some nice-looking options in there.

Elk steak, mushrooms and half of a sweet potato which was over 16 ounces whole! Shrimp, corn, yellow rice Thankfully archery season starts in September, I'm down to stew meat, one roast, and a handful of elk steaks left. (Not including trim that's waiting to be made into sausage)

The only out-of-season tomatoes I'll buy are campari. Their taste at least resembles a tomato.

Hunan food never skimps on chilli!

They don't skimp on the green chilli!

This link should take you to a search for kitchen islands and carts on Wayfair. They have quite a few options at affordable price points and should at least give you an idea of what’s available. I was able to find similar items at Home Depot and Lowe’s, though not as many options.

@AlaMoi you are correct about ' local ' and ' fresh ' however , quite some time ago , there were 2 versions of corn , developed as each was missing an enzyme that converted sugar to starch . thus the corn you purchased , ever at a farm stand , of these two varieties stayed sweet much much longer. cant remember the enzymes names , but for a while , those names were displayed prominently when those varieties were sold. very good stuff.

For complicated reasons, tonight's dinner was a delivery app favourite. 青椒肉丝 (qīng jiāo ròu sī), green chilli pork slivers, a Hunan favourite, but found in homes and restaurants all over China. Served with rice, of course.

@Smithy, yes you are correct. The Boos islands are definitely out of my budget. Sorry I'm not terribly quick to respond lately--I am frantically packing and moving stuff all the time. Owning 2 homes during this heat wave is giving me major heartburn with the cost of a/c running in both places. I don't want to get off-track, but also been sending photos to the auction company who is coming to pick up my militaria/home front/sweetheart/childrens' toys and uniforms collections. Too many irons in the fire! @TdeV, your island is beautiful, but definitely not in my budget. @blue_dolphin, my needs are precisely like those of your Mom--extra storage and stretch the prep work if it is a larger dinner that my sis is here helping with. Two people trying to work in a tiny space can get dicey--have a rolling island that can be moved out far enough that the other person can still get into the oven/fridge will be a huge help.

The only way to get a bird, chicken, duck, or goose, with the giblets is to buy a live one and slaughter it yourself. Many people do. Otherwise, both supermarkets and market vendors remove the precious giblets and sell them separately. This can be in mixed giblet packs like these and include parts I suspect most don’t come with the birds in the west. Intestines? Or, you can buy each type of giblet separately. Hearts, livers, gizzards, intestines, necks, etc. I always have chicken or duck livers and hearts in the freezer but until very recently was unable to find goose liver or hearts that hadn’t been pre-cooked or, in the case of livers, turned into foie gras. I can now buy both online but have to buy a minimum of 2½ kg / 5 pounds at a time. I’m guessing they are mostly sold to the restaurant or foie gras trade. Goose intestines are especially prized.

Keema Matar based on a Milk Street recipe - ground beef is cooked with red onions, garlic, ginger, garam masala, mashed tomatoes, tomato paste and peas. Finished with some yogurt and cilantro and served over rice and with more yogurt

That looks great Smithy. I split gizzards and give the inside a bit of a scrape. They're generally clean but I don't like the texture otherwise.

My tomato season is over for the year. Rainy season puts an end to tomato production unless it's under cover. I'll have to wait until December to start my seeds for next year's crop to be planted in February. So a nice clamshell of Campari tomatoes would really hit the spot right about now.

In drinks I use stainless steel 'ice' cubes. never wet, never dilute your drink.

I use ice cube -by-cube for brown spirits. So a few small nuggets is too much surface area and therefore dilution. But, by careful experimentation, one can find a small nugget ratio that is workable, I guess. EUHOMY...I guess means true or good HOMY. I do have a bit of trouble thinking my way through TUATNUT.

To follow up on my last post, the cheap nugget machine was unsatisfactory. It went back. It was replaced by an EUHOMY. Good as the EUHOMY is I found another brand, TUATNUT that I like better, possibly because the water is easier to drain. I make ice most evenings. This morning I ordered a different EUHOMY (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) This one makes crescent ice rather nugget ice. It will be fun to see how they compare. How do people feel about crescent ice vs. nugget ice?

Followup: actually, these hearts and gizzards (no liver in this batch) have an odd aftertaste that's gotten more unpleasant as I've eaten. I don't know whether it's something in the marinade or something essential to the organs themselves. I can see a case for the fine chopping and soaking suggested in some of the other recipes. A good rinse, even, to get rid of a grittiness in the gizzards. Thoughts, anyone?