All Activity

I’d love to say there were no hitches in this week’s CFM, but I can’t. Just after the labels were made and it was almost time for plating, my husband informed me we only had 7 of the three compartment to go containers left! We had plenty of the single compartment containers, but I didn’t want to use them. Costco is less than a mile away, but neither of us was prepared to go. How lucky that we managed to get an Instacart delivery within 20 minutes of realizing the problem? Had to pay $1 extra for faster delivery, but problem solved almost painlessly. Yay! Cornbread was made (more than pictured), and sourdough was purchased. Both were dried out in the oven Jimmy Dean sausage, browned, along with the trinity, plus extra celery. Combining the meat mixture, cornbread, sourdough, and chicken stock. Seasoned with Tony’s, poultry seasoning, plus a little extra sage and thyme. I added four eggs to each pan of dressing for binding. And after baking. There were two pans. I baked at 350, covered, for 45 min. Removed the foil at 45 min, and decided to moisten with more stock, returning the pans to the oven, uncovered, for 15 more minutes. For the green beans, I started with bacon grease from the crock I keep in the fridge. Softened the veg. Added the canned green beans, a few tablespoons of Better than Bouillon chicken base, and seasoned with Tony’s. Not much to say about the chicken! Seasoned and baked at 400 for 45 minutes. The tray on the bottom rack was moved to the top and cooked about 15 minutes longer to even out the browning. One tray pictured. Dessert The plated meal. I try very hard not to say anything when my husband changes capitalization or punctuation or uses random bolding. But if you bold baked chicken and green beans, why not cornbread dressing? And why not be consistent with spacing between items. AND WHY NOT JUST COPY AND PASTE EXACTLY AS SENT?! (Can you tell which of us is the nice guy and which is a controlling um, person?) Regardless, success!

Have you considered an additional career as a professional food photographer/plater? Your plated salads look so inviting.

Okay, sign me up! It'll be fun to meet people who like to make some bonbons (and similar.)

I try not to let my husband’s food idiosyncrasies affect my choices for the CFM, so I’ll also try not to consider the food idiosyncrasies of @Darienne’s husband, or @chromedome’s GF! 😂

Coincidentally, I came across this today. https://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/food-drink/experts-say-storing-potatoes-one-36556687

Roasted butternut squash salad with pears and Stilton from Fine Cooking magazine (RIP) The recipe called for bacon but I was out so I used guanciale and I pretty much ignored the plating instructions.

I’m not a Canadian but I grew up in northern NY, about an hour south of Montreal and have visited both places multiple times. I’m sure you would enjoy either option but I agree with Kerry that Quebec City is worth a visit. It’s pretty unique, almost like visiting another country. And it’s small enough that with good planning, you can see a lot in 2 days and it would add a very different experience to your trip. The weather is likely to be a few degrees cooler than Montreal, not enough to make a big difference but in mid-May, you may notice that trees that have leafed out in Montreal are still in bud in Quebec City. There shouldn’t be crowd issues that can make the place less charming in July so you can make the most of your time. If you’re interested in a more urban, metropolitan experience, then staying in Montreal might be better for you. Lots to do and see. Two great cities - you really can’t go wrong!

Spinach, chorizo, and eggs with onion, garlic, and chiles. Cilantro, thyme, and Mexican oregano for aroma; a little yogurt for richness.

If it were me, I would go to Quebec city.

Canadian friends, I need your help with a decision! My hubby comes with me to these workshops and does his own thing while I’m in sessions — we always add an extra day or two to explore wherever we are. We’re trying to decide what to do after the workshop. Should we spend a day and a half exploring Montreal, or drive to Quebec City Sunday afternoon, spend two days there, and return from there? We don’t have time to explore both Montreal and Quebec City. Suggestions? Will I regret not seeing Quebec City? 😊

I wish I'd remembered (or looked for) this topic last October, when I received a 5-gallon bucket of russet potatoes! My DIL and her family had been out to a potato patch after the harvester had gone through, and they quickly scooped up buckets and bags of the things. I've been working away at my stash since then and marveling at the sturdiness of the potatoes. I didn't think to try burying them in sand, though. They're just in the same bucket they came in. Since I'm in northern Minnesota, they're quite frozen now. There may be some degradation in quality, but as long as I wash and process them from frozen they're holding up pretty well.

They're sitting in a 5-gallon bucket in an unheated garage. Here, at this time of year, it means they're all frozen. I mean, really frozen. When I bring some in to wash them I get a glaze of ice on the exterior when the water hits them! There's some degradation in texture -- that is, as I scrub them some of the peel comes loose as that layer thaws -- and there may be some loss of flavor by now, but it's an interesting experiment. They're certainly edible. Incidentally, these are russets. I've no idea whether more waxy potatoes would behave the same way. Edited to add: I've just rediscovered a topic on potato storage, here. I wish I'd thought of it last October!

Would not be at all surprised to see her there!

@Smithy How did you store these potatoes to get them to last so long? No matter if I get mine at Sprouts or a regular grocery chain, they are sprouting within 2-3 weeks.

I can watch using ExpressVPN (definitely not a free VPN). I have never had a problem with VPNs and "free" services. Netflix (paid streaming) used to be quite aggressive trying to block VPN use. It's worth a try, then other state broadcasters might be available to you for news or other programming.

Haha yes, it's Lotte!

Some time ago, I mentioned that my sister sent me a salt sampler, and while I've not used many of the samples thus far, I have used one (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) with great success. A couple of days ago it was used to season the 2lbs of ground turkey that went into the turkey-bean-vegetable chili recipe that I'm developing, and man, did I like the result. I can't strongly recommend the other salts in the sampler just yet as I've not used them, or used them enough.But if you want toadd some smokiness to your ground meat, this is a ine choice. (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

Miso-Smothered Chicken with Pineapple-Pickled Jicama from “Smoke & Pickled” by Edward Lee - the bone-in chicken thighs are braised in a mixture of caramelized onions, flour, garlic, red miso, cayenne pepper, bourbon, orange juice, chicken broth and soy sauce. Sliced shiitake mushrooms are added towards the finish. Jicama, red and yellow bell peppers are pickled for two days on a mixture of pineapple juice from fresh pineapple, white wine vinegar, sugar, red pepper flakes, star anise, cloves and mint. Served over rice

A quick lunch that presented well. I bought a tray of pre-cooked tiger prawns from Sam's that had been marked down and served some over cheese grits that I had previously cooked and frozen in silicone molds. I microwaved the frozen grit pucks for a minute to defrost then browned in an olive oil and butter mix. The grits were topped with the shrimp, red onions, garlic chives, capers, oil cured olives and sun dried tomatoes that were sauteed in olive oil. Served with a simple salad dressed with olive oil and champagne vinegar.

I'm still trying to work through the bucket of potatoes given me last October. Sometime last week I boiled a bunch and mashed them, peels and all. I had the idea of making potato madeleines (see this old topic) but decided I didn't have the energy for such fussiness. Besides, they probably aren't smooth enough with all that peel. So...potato ball fritters! I rolled them in a mixture of bread crumbs, corn meal, garlic salt and oregano, then deep fried in my Fry Baby. I know I've shown this before but I'm showing it again. The "dipping sauce" that's working out best is mayonnaise and Boursin with garlic and cheese. The pictures aren't pretty, but the flavor is good. Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, and not nearly as watery as the original mash.

Attendees Chocolot Kerry Beal alleguede curls RanaMN Melani RobertM DianaD Lisa M citowolf - Celia D Lambrecht gourmet +1 Sue PEI (possibly with Jane) GRiker

Count me in!

Attendees Chocolot Kerry Beal alleguede curls RanaMN Melani RobertM DianaD Lisa M citowolf - Celia D Lambrecht gourmet +1 Sue PEI (possibly with Jane)

Improvised Thai red curry with shrimp and roasted butternut squash. Jasmine rice and cucumber salad to go with. We had cubed butternut squash that needed using so I roasted it at 400°F with olive oil, black pepper, and Aleppo pepper. Meanwhile, I combined pre-made red curry paste with red chile, ginger, garlic, shallot, and lemongrass and whizzed it up in the Preethi. Sauteed onion, fried the curry paste, and then simmered with coconut milk, fish sauce, palm sugar, and spices. Poached the shrimp in the curry, and then mixed in the roasted squash. Could have used something crunchy, but I liked the flavor combination.

There's two blowers, one is only used when turned on "high". The all-the-time blower has no visible grease. The high speed blower, which isn't used as much, has a few greasy blades, just a few. They've not been cleaned, or even looked-at, for about 10 yrs. The housing has the same greasy film that I ignore on the inside of the hood. So for ten years of use 5 or so days a week there isn't much to clean ETA I just checked the specs on my hood its a B200 MSL Magic Lung ...which is 900 cfm