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Recently our local Costco stopped carrying the short grain rice (Calrose) that we have been buying for years. I ventured out to our local international foods store and found that most of the short grain rice there was close to it's expiration date. This was the last push I needed to check out the Rice Factory in New York (via their website). We read through the options, realized we had no idea what we wanted, and ordered 6 different 2lb bags of rice. They arrived today! And then I saw that the Rice Factory recommends consuming the 100% milled rice we ordered within a month. That's not going to happen! Our 12 lbs of rice will more likely last 9 or 12 months. So how do we best store good rice longer than we should? Do we freeze it? Is it better left sealed and unfrozen? I appreciate your wisdom!

A multi grain sandwich bread from the “Turkuaz Kitchen”, a charming book. The bread also has flax and chia seeds included in the dough but I had neither so I just put a generous quantity of sesame seeds on the top along with oatmeal. Besides great toast, this bread is slated to be used with smoked salmon.

There have been a few recent ads for titanium pans which claim that they are truly nonstick. Is that a valid claim? Anyone use titanium pans?

I get the celebratory thing ... I have thought about baking a bundt, but not beng into baking that much, it's alwys been on the back burner. The pics have given me some inspiration ...that dripping frosting looks so inviting, and while I don't find much taste advantage to a marble cake, they've always made me smile and feel good. Time might be coming soon to do a little baking.

It's different in that, at least to me, it seems more celabratory than a loaf. Other than that, you're right.

Thanks! Here’s a link to the recipe online. Instead of making the sweet tomato chutney, I mixed some tomato chutney I had on hand with a bit of mayo and used that to dress the burger. I’ll try her recipe at some point.

That looks so delicious ... mmmm, I want a slice ... I've never made a bundt cake. I imagine it'sno different than a loaf cake except for the pan

That looks delicious! What are the spices involved, especially in the lamb burger?

Spicy lamb burger and masala oven fries from Made in India by Meera Sodha

Had a craving for marble cake. My aunts will be by tomorrow so they can help with it.

This couldn't be more timely. Ronnie doesn't know it because he hasn't had the need to open it yet, but the exact same drawer in my oven is stuck. Has been for weeks. I've kicked it, rattled it..you name it, I've done it. Now I know I need some Anoia.

Happens to me with freezer drawers. There's always room "for one more thing" as we say around here. Until, that is, you go to retrieve it.

When I arrived here at our boondocking spot, I celebrated. I took pictures. I walked, and gleefully thought about having time to cook! What should I eat? I decided to celebrate with the last of a package of Trader Joe's chicken and green chile tamales, along with a green salad. (It was especially a celebration because I'd thought these were all gone until I started packing for this trip, then found them buried in the freezer. I bought them back here and since then have been through an entirely different and disappointing brand of Trader Joe's chicken and green chile tamales.) (Edited to add: I just realized that those very disappointing tamales were cheese and green chiles, with no chicken at all!) I needed to steam them, and reached for the pot with steamer basket that lives in the bottom drawer of the oven. This drawer. It was jammed. Shut tight. Remember in the last post, where I said I'd used 3 baking sheets? They had come from 2 different storage locations. Heck, I'd thought, they nest just fine. I'll let them all ride together. That turned out to be a bad idea. I thought a lot about Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, and Anoia, the Goddess of Things That Get Stuck in Drawers. She can sometimes be appeased by simply rattling drawers. Would that do the trick, or would a more serious sacrifice -- like, my beautiful oven -- be required? It took a lot of rattling until I could get the drawer open a little way, then prying and shuffling items blindly with a spatula and ruler until I could things rearranged enough to unstick the drawer. Out came the pot in question... ...and out came the offending 3rd sheet pan. It's back in its earlier position now. Be careful about how much stuff you put into a drawer, especially in a house that moves! Whew. I steamed the tamales, made myself a nice salad, and breathed a prayer of thanks. Thanks, Anoia!

On the night before a big move, it would make sense to get everything cleaned up and ready to go, and get to bed early for an early start. Wouldn't it? Of course it would. I'm afraid that's not my style. Never has been. Maybe it's a form of foot-dragging because I really don't want to move. Maybe it's because, as my darling used to assert, I'm more deadline driven and need the pressure to make me move. (He used to say that most people are crisis-driven and tend to leave academic issues like papers and studying for the Last Possible Minute. He was not like that. I'm guilty.) Whatever the reason, I found myself roasting vegetables and taking advantage of the last predictable water, power and trailer dump on my last night in Alamagordo. I'd been to the grocery store and picked up fresh vegetables. They needed to be roasted. Oh, what a good time I had! Whee! I used 3 racks and 3 baking sheets in the oven. I roasted peppers, cauliflower, and mushrooms on 3 sheets, then combined them onto 1 sheet until they cooled enough to be stored. Some of those peppers and mushrooms are a bit overdone; the bottom "rack" of the oven is actually the bottom of the oven and I didn't mind the heat carefully enough. That's all right, though; the results are pretty good. Of course, this is what faced me in the morning: I was able to get everything put away and the trailer ready to go without too much trouble. My poor darling, who was a morning person, would have been stamping and gnashing his teeth, but we always did work best at opposite ends of the day. It's probably no surprise that it takes longer to set up and tear down with only one person. In the Good Old Days he'd be doing the outside chores while I did the inside chores, and someone would still find the time to take the dog for a walk. Now it all falls to me. Anyway, I told you this story (about the vegetables and using 3 sheet pans) so I can tell you the next one.

Breakfast for Dinner. Brought home leftover red cambray potatoes from lunch out and made a potato hash. No meat, no cheese, only eggs and my usual onions & peppers. I fry a heaping pan of onions, sweet red peppers and poblanos every week and store in fridge. It goes on and in a lot of our meals. Omelets, burger topping, pizza topping, tacos, quesadillas, etc.

Brunch today was a smaller version of yesterday's grilled cheese and tabbouli on jalapeno popper sourdough bread. Did you know bulgur would pop when it hits a hot griddle? I didn't, before now. Getting back to the tortillas for a moment: there's still the question of just what to do with them. I made a road-food sandwich in Papa's Pan with one of them. For oil I used the salad dressing remaining in the bottom of the bowl after my dinner salad. I didn't bother taking a photo of the interior, but that's all right, because it was entirely forgettable except to remember not to make it again. The filling was several types of sliced meats and cheeses, all melted together in the wrap. I think I included salad greens, which is an unkind treatment for such delicacies. I didn't include pickles because it would be messy to eat. The process of cooking it in Papa's Pan worked well enough; the pan kept the wrap doubled over on itself until the interior set. The difference in color you see here is because I put all the salad dressing on one side and didn't want to make a mess trying to distribute it. I'd made enough mess already, and I'll tell you about that later. I had more success once I got here, making a quesadilla of sorts. I tried the ridged side of my reversible grill, because I like the grill markings. Well, I like the grill markings from my panini press at home. I'm not so sure about this one. (I think there was cheese in there. Maybe it's just a griddled sandwich.)

I'd probably try to buy one if I'd watched it much longer! Wouldn't that be a hoot to have at home, in your outdoor kitchen, right next to the giant grill? Incidentally, that 10-pack of tortillas was only $2.99. Quite the bargain. In case someone's interested, here are the ingredients: That's a very different ingredient list than for the flour tortillas I usually buy. The dough relaxers and conditioners are probably why they puffed up so much.

It's Zingerman's annual Spring Sale!

Weight Watchers Air Fryer Crispy Chicken, Cavendish Flavour Crisp Fries (So handy!) Shrimp & Mixed Veg" Quick meal! Eating from the freezer. Took inventory and actually made a list on a white board. No shopping for protein for a couple of months! Cumin Spiced Chicken, pears, and scalloped potatoes: Weight Watchers recipes Chicken steamed with Shitaki mushrooms and Lap Cheung Salmon baked between 2 layers of herbs: B Chinese New Year! Savory Tang Yuen Buddha's Delight: so many goodies! Spicy Shrimp and Cheesy Grits: Another Weight Watchers recipe Snow days! More cooking in the kitchen, with a free facial included: Made 3 dozen Char Siu Baos!

Lamb ragu from Six Seasons of Pasta by Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg This is a delicious, meaty ragu made with chunks of lamb shoulder and ground lamb. No tomato; instead, chicken broth provides the liquid. Since I cut and trimmed the lamb shoulder chunks, I had bones and trimmings and could have made a lamb stock but I went with the recipe. I was afraid of it being too mutton-y but I think it would have been fine. I’ll make the stock next time. He recommendeds a pasta like radiatore to catch the meaty bits and suggests adding a handful of nettles. I had the radiatore but was fresh out of nettles so I used arugula and it worked well. The book includes a recipe for pasta with snap peas, lamb ragu and fiore Sardo. He says the fiore Sardo (a lightly smoked sheep milk cheese from Sardinia) is worth seeking out. I’m debating whether it’s worth a $20 shipping charge. We’ll see….

Merci beaucoup! Haha! I didn’t want to admit that I thought people (me) might like ketchup with their quiche, too. (But only if the quiche is somehow lacking.)

Milk proteins bing to polyphenols mostly. Mutes down bitter flavors. So if you like bitter flavors (and I do) may not be your jam. Chunks of stuff get filtered as well. I didn’t really show the whole process or list all the ingredients (I assumed it was more than folks wanted to know)

anyone as amused as I about ads for the smart oven driven by QR codes? drooling tv presenter: 'tastes like it just came from a restaurant" . . . . giggle - she doesn't know how accurate that is . . . .