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DO NOT be afraid when ordering btg to ask the server/bartender “Was this opened today?” Usually they will know, and if they say “no, it was opened on x but we gas them” then they will usually follow up with either “want to try it first?” Or “I can open a new bottle…” Don’t jump to opening a new bottle if it is a red. Ask for a taste b/c some reds are better the next day even if not gassed. Even some sparklings a hold well overnight. All this is to say that do as your mom told you years ago: Use your voice. Make a friend. Do it with a smile and don’t be surprised if later in the meal you are gifted a little libation surprise. Everyone loves a wine geek. No one likes a snob. And your wine and food experience will be way better than starting your meal with a shot wine. Who wants THAT?

Adapted from the new Le Sud cookbook recipe: Market Day Chicken. Roasted garlic and lemon critical. Pulled chicken to rest and put the pan back in to crisp stuff up a bit. 45 minutes at 400-425 and done. Easy peasy and so good.

I grew up on it, and my grandmother always made a vanilla custard and store bought Nila wafers. I don’t like meringue, so I scrapped that off. I prefer whipped cream. I used this recipe when I was making it at my last restaurant job, and the banana liqueur really added to it. I made a crumble of crushed Nila wafers, butter, sugar and a tiny bit of cinnamon that I baked I until golden. Sprinkle on top right before serving.

@KennethT how was the Bison ? Looks like you Chef'd it perfectly ! would you get it again ?

Practically the only other thing found in my local Wegmans supermarket, ground bison. We had received a couple avocados from our online supermarket for free last week. There were no rolls so I used a frozen English muffin. Also chipotle puree I keep in the freezer. My wife opted for the low carb version:

More done with chicken wings.... Indonesian chicken soup with ridiculously spicy sambal cobekan using my home grown rawit chillies.

Why bother , even if the risk is ' small ' ? and dont do it again

Before you even get to the food, you may encounter another problem. What are you going to eat it with? As you may have heard, China uses chopsticks for nearly everything. If you are chopstick-challenged you may request a spoon. You may not get one though. Spoon is 勺 (sháo), rising tone. Get it wrong and use a falling tone 哨 (shào), whistle and they'll bring a whistle (in the unlikely event they have one.) You may thing you'd prefer a fork (even more unlikely to be had than whistles). Ask for a 叉 (chā) meaning fork. Flat tone. Screw up again by using a rising tone and they'll be happy to oblige with a nice cup or pot of 茶 (chá), tea. Never ask for a knife! They're taboo outside the kitchen.

I'll start with a footnote to the above post. After resetting the breaker, melting the block of ice from the chickens' heated waterer and getting it set back up, the next morning it was again frozen solid. It appeared that the extension itself wasn't working. Now, this particular extension had previously met with misfortune, and I had replaced the female end on it, and taped it well to keep out the elements. So I shrugged, and resigned myself to removing and reinstalling the end, thinking that some moisture had made its way in there after all. ...until I went to use the snowblower, and found a two-foot length from the middle of the extension cord stuck in its teeth. I had very diligently lifted the front end of the thing to cross the cord when I was clearing a path to the chickens' run, but apparently it slipped my mind when I was widening the path on my way back (sigh). Which would also explain blowing the breaker. In my defense, it was early and I can't drink coffee any more! It feels ridiculously early, but we've just bred our does for the first time this year. The kits from this round of litters will all be at "adopting age" when Easter rolls around, because as mentioned in previous years we get a lot of people wanting one as a pet. Fortuitously this also coincides with the new-to-homesteading crew wanting breeders to work with (and, for that matter, established bunny people looking to freshen their bloodlines), so this is when we sell a lot of our rabbits for the year. In a good year, what we make from selling bunnies in early spring will essentially cover their food costs for the next 3-4 months. So, a funny story. Serious commercial breeders, as I've mentioned before, will monitor the bucks' attempts and will, if necessary, manually intervene to ensure a successful breeding. We're not that hardcore, so I just leave the does with the bucks overnight. It's not as certain but we seldom fail to get a litter, and when we do we just breed that doe again on our next cycle. No big deal. So Saturday morning, after leaving the bucks and does together overnight, I was moving the does back to their own cages while I fed and watered them all. In one of the end cages was Hilda, a big black doe, with our new silver-grey buck (Horatio). As I was puttering, Horatio found himself at their shared cage wall at the same time as the (ahem) "doe-eyed beauty" in the next cage. They stopped and each pressed their noses to the wire, sniffing at each other with their whiskers a-quiver, and you could all but hear the "Heyyyy, baby..." from him. Suddenly Hilda, who'd been facing the other way, whirled and began chasing him around the cage and bowling him over (she's much larger than he is). It's hard not to anthropomorphize at moments like that.

I'd been wondering about freezing sauerkraut and see in the article @liuzhou provided that it says yes. Anyone tried it? I don't want to end up with a bag of mush, although if that happened, I'd likely just mix it into mashed potatoes.

This falls squarely in the "you probably know someone" department. (Some) Pillsbury Pizza Pops are being recalled nationally for E. coli. I vaguely remember there being another such recall recently, but this one says it's "New" rather than "Updated," so... (shrug). https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/certain-pillsbury-brand-pizza-pops-recalled-due-e-coli-o26

As a bald person who raises rabbits, I find that rather amusing.

I have had homemade sauerkraut turn to mush in the fridge. Don't really know why that happened.

Yes, it can but I routinely ignore sell by dates. The manufacturers build in wide margins of error to cover their backsides. Your sauerkraut is only four months over. I'd bet its OK, but read this before you decide. https://www.chefsresource.com/faq/what-happens-if-you-eat-bad-sauerkraut-2/

This was the coldest January for the prairies; real temp last night was -42C, windchill temp -51C or something crazy like that. Many are dealing with frozen water pipes, and we were in that group! Plumb said to put in space heaters where the pipes are. Luckily, we only have one bathroom frozen. The other pipes are fine as our handyman put heat tape on them. It's been 3 days, so tomorrow, I will urge the plumber to come and help us track down the frozen pipes! Meanwhile, I've been baking to add extra warmth to the house. Also needed something warm for my belly! Thai Coconut Curry Chicken: +Steamed Beef with preserved Sechuan turnip. This was the first traditional Chinese dish I cooked for my Scottish hubby 60 years ago when we were first married. It's still his favourite! 60 years ago would have been made with ground beef. Still had a piece of the sirloin used for last night's supper. Did up a quick supper: Black Bean Garlic Beef & Bell Peppers: Been enjoying pomelo for dessert: $2.88 each. Persimmons are also available and reasonably priced right now. However, they are different to what we have been getting. The crisp Fuyu (tomato-shaped) and the astringent, jelly-like Hachiya (acorn-shaped)are not what they used to be when I chose them by shape. I've been picking up Hachiya ones, but they are firm like the Fuyu ones! Sweet, but almost crunchy. Might be a hybrid? Still lovely, but I miss the soft silky texture of the original Hachiya persimmons.

Much better than microwaving it. That's how I do it too. Although the last time I had the burner up too high and burned the crust. 🤨

I should have clarified that my Cleveland Kraut has no preservatives--just green cabbage, kosher salt, and caraway seed. I see that both Silverfloss and Kissling have sodium benzoate and sodium bisulfite as preservatives. I wonder if that makes a difference?

I like rabbit, served any style but have to be careful with my tone when ordering it in restaurants. Mr. or Ms. Bunny is 兔子 (tù zi) with a falling tone on tù, while the zi is neutral in tone. Get the tone wrong and they're going to refer you to a trichologist or shave your head or set you up with a Yul Brynner type lookalike. 秃子 (tū zi) with a high flat tone means a bald person.

Things in a bowl, the almost bun cha version. Spicy pork patties on rice with white beech mushrooms, salad stuff, fresh chilli, mint and coriander all drowned in nuoc cham.

I have a Kissling's that I've been dipping into for at least a year.

I can't speak for that brand, but i have had kept bags of silverfloss in a container in my fridge for well over a year and they never went bad. I keep them till the kraut losses its krunch.

This package of sauerkraut has been refrigerated since I bought it. "Best used by" date is 09/09/25. It smells ok. What do you think? Can I still eat it? It will be cooked with other ingredients.

Skillet chicken with lemony orzo, chopped frozen kale simmered in the mix as well.

Chicken thigh schnitzel, warm potato salad and snap peas tossed with house dressing, all from Good Things by Samin Nosrat.

Ginger chicken: Saute sliced chicken thigh meat with garlic, then mix in sliced onion, slivered ginger, oyster sauce, fish sauce, white pepper, sugar, sliced Shiitake mushrooms, and a mix of sliced peppers (red bell, roasted Poblano, and Cubanelle). Finished with cilantro. Mrs. C made a sweet potato salad with pecans, dried cranberries, dried black currants, feta cheese, and a champagne vinegar dressing.