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Yes. Stir fried. Usually with garlic and chilli round here.

I've forgotten how you cook them? Fried? (I personally am fond of their byproduct, but I've never tried eating it.)

I wish I'd seen this before trying the tortilla bakers tonight, but now at least I've tried them with plain, fresh flour tortillas. I'm still getting to know this oven and may have overcooked the first shell slightly. It holds its shape well after baking, though. Tonight's dinner: Meh. Not impressed with the flavor of the shell itself -- and maybe the advertisement that this brand 'doesn't puff" is not a good thing. I'll try Dave's suggestion next time around, to see if that helps with the flavor.

I'll have chances to try the tortilla bakers again soon. This morning I attended an event close to the Sprouts "farmers market" and parked in their lot. By way of thanks, when the event was over, I went into Sprouts. I really have wanted bulgur. Resolutions to work through beans and rice first have gone out the window, and I was right there at -- as far as I know -- the only place in town I can get bulgur. What did I see first? A whole display rack of tortillas! Corn. Wheat. Many sizes. Many brands. Was it time to get more? I wandered through the store and left the tortillas for the time being. Sprouts' produce section is beautiful. I didn't really need produce, except that I've been jonesing for nice crunchy cabbage. The gravitational pull was strong. I said "yes" to the cabbage, some kale, and -- because I'd dealt with the prior bouquets of cilantro and Italian parsley -- another bouquet each of those. The olive stand caught my eye. Look! They also had salt-cured capers! I'm nearly finished with the stuff I packed. I know there's another huge jar waiting for me at home. I thought I'd picked up a package anyway, but since it isn't in my bag now I must have changed my mind. I picked up the bulgur that I'd come in for in the first place. Then I wandered the other aisles. The olive oils looked interesting. Mine is getting low. I kinda wanted to buy both types, but I settled for the one you see on the right. Ounce for ounce it's more expensive, but it's from an olive variety I don't normally see...and the bottles are plastic. Better for travel than glass bottles, although I've plenty of those on board. I went back by way of the tortillas. What the heck. And then, when I went to the checkout line, I was seduced by a sample of this chocolate, grated atop a dairy-free yogurt that turned out to be pretty good (coconut cream based) with blueberries. I skipped the yogurt but got a chocolate bar. On my way to yet another errand, I ran into the nearby Albertson's for "just a few things" and came staggering out with enough pet supplies and coffee to last me until I get home, I hope. Well, most of the way home. I have been avoiding the urge to "panic-buy" against the price rises due to anticipated / threatended tariffs, but I do love my coffee. Starbuck's Sumatra coffee, specifically. I bought several large bags of it. I wonder whether the supposed "sale price" shown here is really a price reduction? Albertson's usually is more pricey than the Fry's where I usually shop. I wouldn't put it past them to post a "normal" price that's very high and then reduce it as a "sale" price. Exhibit A: This bread is normally in the $4.50 - $5 range at Fry's. I left it alone here. On the other, other hand, this was a pretty good price for this oversized jar of peanut butter. I'll be relying on it heavily soon. I bought it.

I am delighted to have learned today that I can have live silkworms delivered to my door within 30 minutes. Only $0.68 USD for eight of the 3-year-olds . They even bring their own food with them! I may adopt some!

Getting ready for Pasqua Gravy

Funny, I brought mine last year and Bernie “tried” to take take it home….lol….

Does anyone who's driving have The Chocolatier's Kitchen book, and would you be willing to bring it? If no one has it, I’ll carry mine in my backpack on the plane, though it’s a bit heavy for that. I'd like to try a few recipes from it.

Yesterday (Saturday), The Guardian ran a story under this this headline. Have they never heard of beer? 🍻

Large flour tortillas (corn won't work -- too stiff). Brush with oil. Sprinkle of salt. Bake.

Unlikely, yes. But if you do find yourself deported to China for any reason, I suggest you avoid fish totally. Most fish is served gutted but otherwise whole and on the bone. There are exceptions but no menu ever tells you which is which, even if you can read it. 🐟🐡

Fat might help. I did try dampening one with water a little bit as I patted it into the mold. That's the one that split. 😄 At any rate, corn tortilla experiments will have to wait a while. Probably a long while, given my rough travel plans and today's shopping expedition.

@FrogPrincesse Happy to hear you are enjoying it and found a good use for your marmalade. i use White Lily self rising flour added to the FP in two parts after everything else has been well processed. ETA. …I also made some orange sugar with the peel/zest of an orange for the cake.

I've never tried corn tortillas in the shell bakers. Off the cuff I'd think they would need some fat? Maybe brushing with oil and heating a bit in a skillet or microwave before putting into the baker? I dunno?

I made Marcella Hazan's tomato sauce ... Yesterday, while reviewing some sauce recipes, I realized that I'd never made Hazan's well-known, simple tomato sauce. Since all the ingredients were handy (hard to imagine them not) I gave it a try. Of the various tomatoes on hand, I chose Bianco DiNapoli whole peeled tomatoes. I wanted to use tomatoes packed in a thicker sauce, and the Biancos are packed in a pureé-like sauce which is much thicker than the Argo Sarnese-Nocerino San Marzanos that were also in the cupboard. I slightly modified the recipe by adding a nice-sized pinch of of a mixture of Turkish Aleppo pepper and Calabrian pepper sauteéd in the butter before adding the tomatoes and onion. While the recipe calls for a cooking time of about 45 minutes, increasing the time to cook the sauce down further was the choice I made. Apart from evaporation reducing the sauce, it left a bit of fond on the sides of the pot which I scrapped back down into the sauce while it cooked. The resultant sauce was somewhat darker colored and rustic-textured. I had the sauce for lunch today with fusilli pasta. I saved the onions from last nights cooking, cut them unto strips approximating the length of the pasta, and added them back into the sauce when it was reheated with the fusilli. I also added a very small amount of roasted garlic. This was very good ... Yummy!

After 3.5 hours in hot smoke, out and cooking off. And since the smoker was going anyway, I added a pheasant (breasts and legs) that will be going into gumbo tomorrow. Pheasant is by no means cooked and spent an hour in the smoke, the legs will get braised, the breasts chopped up and added near the end. Should add a nice lil smoke to the gumbo.

No Bernie this year???? SO disappointed...... Looking forward to returning. Would love help finding a recipe for salted caramel that pipes and doesn't do the caramel worm act in a bonbon.

@OlyveOyl And here it is! I followed the original recipe (with butter). I used an extra tablespoon of marmalade in the batter by mistake (the one that was meant for the glaze). The marmalade was a “vintage” homemade sour orange and Jamaican rum marmalade which gave the cake a dark color. The cake is on the smaller side (I used a standard loaf pan), and didn’t rise very much. The texture is lighter than a pound cake and it’s extremely delicious. 😄

I kinda followed @Rajala’s crunchy bottom he had with it. I used Callebaut gold chocolate, brown butter, spices and the nuts and coconut.

Bring ideas for anything you want to experiment with, need help with, want to try, etc. As for tools, I typically bring my own scrapers, offset spatulas, IR thermometer, apron, dipping fork (if I plan to dip anything), or any specialized equipment that you would need for anything you want to try that you don't think we'd be able to provide (which you can always ask if we will have it first). Also if there is a specific mold you want to play around with bring those as well. This is a great opportunity to pick the brains of a wealth of chocolate knowledge, get back to basics, and mostly a chance to meet like minded people and get to nerd out about chocolate for a weekend. It's one of my favorites times of the year

And leave it at just cold? No. I'm the only one that likes it cold smoked. So, I start all my salmon with cold smoke. (Right now it's 40F, breezy, and the smoke tube creates minimal heat). Once the tube burns out, I'll get to hot smoking. With alaskan salmon I usually inhale a piece (or3) after the cold smoke. I'm the only one that eats it and it's my "cooks treat" on smoking day. These are hatchery fish, still wild fish as they aren't farmed, and live their entire lives in fresh water in Montana. My initial experience with these is that the flesh is soft, nearly mushy to me, and borderline unpleasant, so I won't be trying these as cold smoked.

If you don't mind telling, what do you add to the coconut and walnuts to hold them together? Perhaps the same chocolate used for the shell, which appears to be a caramelized white or something similar?