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@Smithy thank you for the pictures of the stores shelves. I enjoy seeing how various stores stock this and that . esp in other locals , and countries .

Flavor is Rosemary, which is a regular flavor in my 16 piece assortment. Out of 96 made, I got about 40 decent ones for a special order (phew). I can melt the rest with more cream to make a new batch. I probably will, to me they look sooo much like the CB stuck to the mold, even if it didn’t. thanks!

I admire your restraint in not purchasing everything in that store lol. I think I'd have to ban myself from the cheese section.

I've definitely been doing really bad about about sticking to the low carb/no carb thing. I hope I'm not slowly killing Ronnie one French fry at a time lol sigh. It's just hard in the throes of winter. I want alllllll the comfort foods and that means carbs. So, I hope I'm forgiven by his doctor. But I bet I'm not. Anyway. We've finally climbed out of the deep freeze. The snow that hasn't melted will today. I've turned the heater off that was by the pipes in the basement and turned the faucets off from the incessant dripping that was driving me crazy--but that's better than busted pipes. I better order my seeds for the garden within the next week or so because spring is fast arriving. Picked up a Sam's rotisserie chicken and got several meals out of it --quesadillas was one. Zoodles with the last of my venison meatballs and salad Really wanted some seafood so I dug out some of the oysters from the freezer--I have enough left for one more meal. Did some shrimp Alfredo with a mix of zoodles and regular pasta (I blame @Dejah--her shrimp alfredo up yonder looked so good). I had one jar of "apple" pie filling left that I canned --it's actually zucchini-so I made a galette for dessert Pizza night because I had left over sauce Chicken wings, squash and a cabbage salad Jalapeno sausages and fries Last night I climbed back on the no carb wagon and did SV'd pork chops, salad and cheesy cauliflower and broccoli

I bet the people really enjoyed getting that delicious looking pizza! I know I would. I, too, am cheering you on and wowed and awed by what you're doing.

That's an exhausting commitment. I would certainly not expect that you could keep it up indefinitely. Many hurrahs to you and your husband for what you re accomplishing. I stand in awe of you.

I applaud your goal! But I can see what you mean about needing your husband's help and support on this. I look at those stacked boxes (or bags, at other times) and think about all the money that you're spending on containers as well as supplies. It's wonderful, it's laudable, and it takes a household.

Yes, it is definitely all the same system. It’s just bad luck, and you cannot control the weather. One year we went to St. John in June for 21 days and it absolutely poured for 20 of them! There was so much rain that the roads flooded and cars were floating down the streets. We could not leave the rental house. It was nuts. We just turned up the music and danced in the living room every afternoon. We never got I. The water other than the villa pool, but it actually ended up being a nice break! Yesterday turned into a decently warm and sunny day. We decided to check out another beach near the house, Sapodilla Bay. This is known as the “relaxing party” beach. You can rent chairs and umbrellas, and there are little beach bars. Low key reggae plays, and you can rent water toys like kayaks and even jet skis (yikes). Everyone working at the beach was really friendly, but it was too crowded for us, so we just walked the length and then went back to quiet Taylor Bay. Here are a few pictures of Sapodilla Later that day we went back to the Bight to walk on that beach. It was nice and calm. We found another washed up US Coast Guard buoy. The one we found earlier in the week was green, and this one was red. They are really huge. I wonder what storm washed them ashore? For dinner, we went to the Marine Room, which is across the street from the Bight. Menu Cocktail/mocktail Husband had the tuna tartare to start. He wanted the lemon shark but they were out of it. I had the yellowtail crudo Husband had the squid ink pasta and I had the prawn risotto We shared a slice of the key lime tart for dessert There’s some more unsettled weather moving through this morning, but it is supposed to clear up this afternoon. We have plans to go investigate another area of the island that we might stay on for a future visit (if we decide to come back, the jury is still out on that question) and then we want to find some more conch salad or similar for dinner.

I needed a quick and easy meal for this week’s CFM, and chose to repeat French bread pizza. Pictures are minimal. What can I say? I bought 13 loaves of French bread (an extra, just in case). The plan was that each plate would get one of the halves of each loaf of French bread. For that half loaf to fit in the container, it was cut in half. Preparing to add butter and garlic powder to the first batch. These will go into the oven for a light toasting. Afterwards, pizza sauce will be added, followed by shredded mozzarella, and as many pepperoni slices as I can fit onto the bread. Test batch to see if broiling is the final step. Nope. Didn’t want to get them this done (however, it tasted pretty damn good). Although they don’t look as cheesy as I would like, there is actually a good bit of cheese on each, and I didn’t want to get too heavy handed. Plated. Yep, nothing else but the pizza. I revealed to my husband that my personal goal was to do this for an entire year. Although I made some grocery and meal donations in May and June, I didn’t start doing them weekly until July 2. That means I hope to be able to continue this through the end of June 2026. That won’t mean I’ll stop altogether, but will reassess. Not sure how on board he is with that length of time, but his participation is essential, and not just the physical participation.

I second this fish recipe. Everyone in my house really likes it, and it’s hard to come up with something that everyone in my group really enjoys!

And today's Pearls Before Swine:

Baked potato with spinach, bacon, green onion and sour cream.

"Shakeable bowl" = 1) Open bowl. 2) Open dressing, add to bowl. 3) Re-seal bowl. 4) Shake that thang! (lid stays on) 5) Open bowl, eat salad.

This fad is mostly over in China. Instead, this is now more common.

Honestly, Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies. They’re consistent, not overly sweet, and pair ridiculously well with coffee, especially a medium or dark roast. Simple, but always satisfying.

Agree with this. It's a shame to waste them (and your labor/material cost) if they are otherwise fine. Personally I think the green and purple look fine. Maybe see what some of your best customers think.

What flavor are these? Is this one of your regular flavors? If your customers are expecting a certain look for this flavor... then rebrand or remake this batch.

It's not a bug, it's a feature say my software engineering friends. Others often have different tastes and preferences than I do. Maybe try some creative marketing? How many do you have?

I liked the Bacon Chipotle salt a lot, and bought a large jar an Amazon. (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

Good luck with your repair, Smithy. I hope you can get on the road soon!

This moning, while at the Berkeley Bowl Market looking for some pasta-specific items, I came across this wondeful treat in the cheese fridge. I've had it before - it's not always available - and it's delicious. A baked, lemon-flavored, Italian ricotta cheesecake made with buffalo and cow's milk ... in-effin'-credibley delicious.

I'm no confectioner, but as a customer I wouldn't be inclined to buy them.

These were boggling my brain this morning - the bald patch/pupil is not supposed to be there but is perfectly shiny and there is no cocoa butter stuck in the molds. I splattered silver, sprayed the dot of purple then backed with green. My guess is the center bit of silver wasn’t set and the purple blew it away? Some variation in paint placement is usually ok as long as they’re shiny but these are bugging me. Would you use or re-make?

A jury-rigged repair? That sounds kinda scary to me!

How I wish I had a campfire ring here! But no, the burnables all go into the trash. That will change soon, I hope. The mobile repair folks came today and jury-rigged a repair that I hope will get me through the season, or at least to a dealer with more pleasant weather. I may be able to move on tomorrow. With that in mind, I had what I hope is my last Hardee's breakfast for a while. Well, except maybe for tomorrow. (To be fair: I'm a little afraid of growing too fond of them. Their food isn't half bad, but it's no longer what I'm used to eating, and I don't think I should get used to it again.) I had made it in time for breakfast, so I treated myself to a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit, accompanied by their hash rounds or hash browns or whatever they call them. Potato thingies. I couldn't figure out why the biscuit was fracturing in such a funny way. Was it 2 biscuits? When I turned it over, I realized the fun.... We're coming up on St. Valentine's Day! Much, much later in the day I made what I hope will be my last trip to town, at least for this visit. I needed more half-and-half, and body cleansing tissues (what my darling used to call "baby wipes" and didn't that cause confusion in Egypt!) and I had some hardware I wanted to buy. The hardware was a bust. But this time, I actually used my phone to show you the barest hint of what a "Lunds & Byerlys" grocery store is like. As far as I know it's exclusive to Minnesota, focused much more near the Twin Cities than to where I live, and the highest of the high-end grocery stores in this state. I knew I'd be in trouble if I went in. But it was the closest. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. This greeted me at the door: Sorry for the fuzzy photos, and I forgot to get the price on the mushrooms. But the ribeye steaks shown here and the sirloin steaks in another part of that display were "30% off!" ...from $39/pound. Yikes. They did look good, but I wasn't tempted. Their deli counter, both hot and cold offerings, was lovely. (Those gloved hands were dishing up my dinner.) I bought a Greek salad. What does "shakeable bowl!" mean? I'll find out tomorrow. There were soups I didn't buy and loads of cheeses -- this is half, or less, of their offerings: ...and plenty of produce I didn't need. This doesn't even scratch the surface, sorry. At this point I was wondering where the heck the half-and-half was. Not in either of these display cases! I found it, and found myself mentally yelling "lemme outta here!" as I wandered, lost, along endless aisles. I did pick up some crackers. It took a while to find the ones I wanted. Back home, really quite hangry by now, I tucked into the Mediterranean cucumber salad I'd bought there. Delicious stuff. The dressing is a tart, but not too tart, vinaigrette. I kept thinking it needed something more substantial, so I wandered across the way where I needed to pay my camping fee anyway. They have these things called "tornados" that I've been wondering about. They look like tortillas wrapped around hot dogs, and they seem to be cooked like the hot dogs in these roller displays, where the cylinders rotate over heat and gradually move to the "cooked" area. They advertise the filling as "steak and cheese", "pepperoni and cheese", "Southwestern chicken," and so on. I decided to try a couple. I didn't take a picture of the intact product (what can you do with a cooked, breaded cylinder?) but after trying a bite of two of them, I opened the contents of one: Meh. Didn't finish it. Went back to the cucumber salad and finished it off. At least now my curiosity is satisfied!