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@paul o' vendange, I don't buy lamb often but I have a meat shipment coming this month that will include ground lamb and a rack of lamb. You might look into ButcherBox.com. It's a subscription meat service, very flexible as to what you purchase and how often, and they claim that the meat is all sustainably sourced, humanely raised, no antibiotics, etc. Again, I don't know how much selection you'd have for lamb cuts, but you should check it out.

Not feeling so well this morning, and considering that I made chicken stock last night, we had Jewish/Vietnamese penicillin.... Mien ga... (Chillies are for decoration - they're drying on the table)

$21 at the consignment shop.

Thanks Darienne. Congratulations on your time together! I'm 64 now, married coming up on 28 years only. But yes, amazing to look back on life. I was in terrible health for many years, until diagnosed properly some years ago (and then again with EDS a few years ago). I was up to 280, on a road to an early death. But per below, things have turned to the good. Began cooking before 10, French food by 12 when my mom bought me La Technique and I worked it cover to cover (below, the famous "cream puff swans" from Christmas, when I was 13). I cooked the entire Christmas meal. Fluent by 14 owing all to my beloved teacher, Mme. Lewis, who took a damaged kid and made him, for all intents and purposes, her TA for all 6 periods by 9th grade in an attempt to keep me in school. Life was since then a wandering through many things and I have no regrets - currently swimming up to 7500 yards daily, in fantastic health, though I mourn this pretty ancient connection to "Frenchness". We'll see if I find my way back. All good. Thanks for your post and again, all blessings for many years more.

Interesting question. Takes me back a long time. Ed and I were married 65 years ago...soon to be 66...and dirt poor. Two very foolish university students and soon to be parents. Where on earth were our brains? (No answers, please!) About the lamb. Back then, in the 'olden' days, lamb was the very cheapest meat you could buy in Ontario, Canada. And so I bought lamb. And although I could happily eat a bit of lamb every now and then, Ed has categorically refused to eat lamb for forever!!! Good luck in your search.

Not sure how to do the quotes: But the TheAvidHomeChef said earlier : ____________________ there's a new built-in cooktop called the Impulse Cooktop. It came out earlier this year back in Jan. It's got a battery that boosts your US 110v outlets(normally 1800w) to output 10kwh, which translates to boiling 1 liter of water in 40s. That's incredible fast. And it has the same precision temp control and exposed sensor like the Breville. And the installation is easy as you don't need to pay an electrician to come install a 240v outlet. Because it can be plug into your existing 110v outlets. ___________________ Time will tell if this impulse cook up has the same rock, solid liability of the control freak but if so I think it’s a game changer. Our next kitchen reno was going to have a simple stainless steel shelf wide enough for three spaced out control freaks with electrical to match. Now I’m am not sure.

I've made this before, but we got a new pot yesterday on BF Clearance at William Sonoma AB's Shakshuka It's the perfect size for a 2 person quality of Shaksuka, we fry the eggs instead of poaching them (better texture for me)

I have been out of cooking a long time now, and it has been fitful coming back. Not sure I ever really will. To show how long, I was saddened to just read Jamison Farm shut down back in 2021, in good measure due to the restaurant closures suffered under Covid. They were our sole lamb provider for our short-lived restaurant Waterstone, in the Upper Peninsula (2004-05). Where do you obtain your lamb? Things like shoulder clod?

I'd forgotten about this once guilty pleasure. It's time for a Mimosa!!!

Totally forgot to post my Thanksgiving stuff. Roast turkey with thyme, parsley, sage, tarragon, and a dash of chile powder, with beer/giblet gravy and duxelle stuffing, side of mashed potatoes. Plus homemade cranberry sauce by Kelly.

Me, too! I bought 3 bags of each for little gifts!

Love the cat and dog shapes!

If you’ve seen the “Cooking with Six Seasons of Pasta” topic, you’ll know that I’ve been cooking a lot of pasta lately. With all the talk of impending tariffs on Italian pasta, I decided to try out a more local source, Etto, manufactured a few hours from me in Paso Robles, CA. I ordered a few shapes from them but it’s also available at Whole Foods. And for holiday stocking stuffers, I got their novelty dog and cat shapes, Fido and Figaro:

We had steamed broccoli with cheese sauce for supper last night. Ed prepared it (a first for him). I'll look in the garbage to see if our broccoli, purchased on Thursday, had any identification marks on it. We are both fine gut-wise today. According to Mr. Google: Salmonella symptoms typically appear between 6 hours and 6 days after infection, though the onset can sometimes be between 8 and 72 hours. Aha. Ed bought broccoli heads...not florets. So we are in the clear. Added: The etymology of Salmonella comes from Daniel Elmer Salmon, an American veterinarian who, along with his colleague Theobald Smith, isolated the bacterium in the late 1800s.

I have been smoking to 165F-190F depending on the meat, then SV in a steam cooler. Its basicly an Anova circulator in a large igloo cooler with a rack raised above the water. The meat gets put into an aluminum pan and loosely tented with foil or butchers paper. I hold the meats for 12 -15 hours at 150F. So far its been the best method ive used over the decades.

Let us know what you find out. I know a lot of shippers have stopped accepting packages for the US. The apple pie version is calling my name but it says the last day to preorder is tomorrow,

I should probably get one of those since it is just me now. My Weber is getting old and it is pretty rare I ever use it for enough to actually fill it up. The critters knock off the ash tray at the bottom and play with it all the time so it gets pretty banged up. At the least I guess I should replace that!

A better-late-than-never response to the above... in Hong Kong, the colour in char siu classically comes from the use of fermented red bean curd in the marinade. But these days red food colour in the marinade and/or glaze is not uncommon. At least one fancy restaurant here (Above and Beyond at the Hotel Icon, recommended) uses carrot juice, which I think is a great idea, but I haven't tried it myself.

Yes, I'm planning to order panettone from @Alleguede. Has become a delicious annual tradition. Hoping that Gouter is still able to ship to the United States.

Did not know about the reset switch, so that's useful knowledge. I guess maybe GF and I are outliers? She got her Keurig before we were a couple, when she worked at Sears, so it dates from.. I dunno, 2012 or 2013?... and is still working fine. We use the refillable K-cups, partly because of frugality and partly because (in my case) I maintain that the factory-made K-cups (8-10g) don't hold enough coffee to make an adequate cup, even at the smallest 6oz setting. With the refillables I can use 15-18g, which is rather more adequate. I still have/use my Aeropress and French press, but I have to reset the grinder to use the French press, and both of 'em take more time in the morning than I'm willing to invest (with you on that one, Yvette), and... now that I'm stuck with decaf (medical reasons) it just doesn't seem to matter so much anymore.

Broccoli florets being recalled for salmonella, Ontario and points east. Also, more pistachios. What're the odds? https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/certain-your-fresh-market-brand-broccoli-florets-recalled-due-salmonella https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/various-pistachios-and-pistachio-containing-products-recalled-due-salmonella-5

Panettone has never appealed to me. But I'm watching a Jamie Oliver Christmas special where he used panettone to make a bread pudding that sounded pretty good

Rice Paddy Fish Fried RIce

World’s best braised cabbage from C. sapidus . I had Ed buy some cabbage this week to make that very recipe.