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Attendees Chocolot Kerry Beal alleguede curls RanaMN Melani RobertM DianaD

To an extent it depends what sort of butter we're talking about. I only usually buy salted butter, which is difficult to find here, so I buy a few packs at a time and freeze them. The one in current use just goes into the fridge in its original packaging and lasts as long as it takes me to get through it. Certainly weeks. Living in the tropics, I'm careful not to leave it out any longer than necessary. Unsalted butter I'd be more careful with. Also with my annual treat of artisanal French butter imported at great expense !

My house is a couple of degrees higher than normal today (warmish outside, heat still on). For me, the butter fell out of the bell today. Not happened before (I think). But when I smushed the defrosted butter into the bell this morning, I didn't push it up against the walls (also unusual). Live and learn!

My latest cookbook about pies.

@Beusho asked about learning the 'why' of cooking over here. I personally don't know anything much about pastry, but I wish I did. I have a lot of pie books and, every once in a long while, I make some pies which are sometimes tasty, but rarely pretty. Yesterday I received a used edition of The Pie Room by Calum Franklin. So that's how I spent my evening. My early understanding is that The Pie Room exists as a part of the Holborn Dining Room which celebrates the long tradition of British pies along with some astonishing new twists. Great food p0rn. In that short read, Calum Franklin answered a number of questions which repeatedly roll through my head when I (try to) make pies. So, if you're interested in looking at great British pies, I recommend The Pie Room: 80 achievable and show-stopping pies and sides for pie lovers everywhere by Callum Franklin (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

@liamsaunt & @KennethT Indeed . the Best Places.

Thanks for the report! So interesting to see that part of the world. I feel like we always go to the same places…

@Beusho I have seen all his BBC-like shows . and looked over his books. outstanding Chef , of the older school : no clicks and click bait. find the shows , then move to the books as a reference you will not regret it.

Eggplant Parmesean and arugula salad with toasted walnuts

I'm in and looking forward to it.

in the cooler months, I use a "butter bell" on the table, at room temp. it has a water seal to keep butter 'fresh' dates back to my 1960's experience in Europe. eggs on the counter, butter in the bell..... does not work for me in the warm months - the ambient temp is high enough that the butter sags and falls out of the inverted bell . . .

That looks really lovely. I made an upside down cake yesterday too, but mine was with pears and gingerebread. No picture but this is the link. https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/upside-down-pear-gingerbread-cake/ It was well received.

When we did the charcuterie cups for my daughter's wedding (I ended up doing them for my other daughtere's wedding too,) I got some beer flats from the liquor store, turned them upside down and my husband used an xacto knife to cut X's in the bottom that we pushed the cups into to transport them from our basement fridge to tent in our back yard.

She used Crystal shot glasses. At a dollar store I can imagine that you could pick up some glass shot glasses pretty cheap.

That's it. I'm moving to SoCal and will be your housemate. I could live on salad. We have it 2 out of 3 nights...I mean nothing else besides salads of all kinds. They don't look as good as @blue_dolphin's but I love them.

It sounds delicious.

Another salad based on the roasted vegetable salad matrix from Good Things. Roasted cauliflower, roll-cut carrots and chickpeas on a bed of baby kale with pickled onions, dressed with the tahini sbagliato dressing and a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds. The first time I used this dressing, I found it overly garlicky, surely due to my use of a huge garlic clove, but happily that flavor didn’t intensify and the roasted vegetable salad stood up to it just fine.

Mushroom, zucchini, and chile Poblano tacos with chorizo. Yogurt cream sauce with white onion, garlic, serrano chiles, thyme, and Mexican oregano.

Have you read Samin Nosrat’s book, Salt Fat Acid Heat (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)? The first 4 chapters span 200 pages and are the most accessible intro to cooking that I know of. The book also has recipes but those first chapters are the most valuable, in my opinion. That section of the book ends with this cartoon that may help you focus on the specific areas you want to explore AFTER you’ve taken the time to read the background.

You may have already looked at this and found it wanting, but for learning to improvise, Michael Ruhlman's "Ratio" come to mind. We had a discussion about the book when it was published that you can see here:

It sounds lovely to me! If your hostess is expecting platters of shared appetizers, this might not be what she had in mind but I think it’s much more interesting than those Costco shrimp cocktail platters that I avoid like the plague!

Caneles. A few too many cul-blancs (white asses), but overall satisfied.

I also thought about pickled green beans or carrots, too. I would take the cocktail sauce in a jar, take all other components in baggies and put them together at the hostess's house. I'd never be able to juggle all those little cups. And I just checked and I have exactly the right size plastic cups for them. And pretty sure I've got some fancy cocktail picks unless they are packed. But that's easy to pick up.

@Maison Rustique Thank You

A while back someone made and brought almost exactly the same thing that you are describing to a party that I attended. It was an impressive presentation and very well received. As I remember it, it had a cocktail pic with two pickled onions instead of olives. She had had a problem transporting it and brought extra supplies in case some of them spilled which they had.