All Activity

This is a tall order. From reading your Instagram posts, I know more or less what you mean by "understand things on a high level." I don't have the information you seek, but do have a couple of ideas: I am sure @Chocolot (or someone who is familiar with her work) will point out her classic book, Candymaking. I would consider her an expert in caramel. Second idea is Jean-Marie Auboine in Las Vegas. In one of the eGullet workshops I witnessed his making of an amazing caramel with all sort of ingredients one doesn't usually associate with the making of caramel (isomalt, lecithin, sorbitol, to name a few) And his addition of cocoa butter to caramel was quite surprising--and has proved useful in my otherwise too-fluid caramel recipes. Thinking of caramel as an emulsion akin to the making of a ganache was also a game-changer, this idea from @teonzo. Mark Heim is another expert in all things confectionery. I suspect @Kerry Beal will be, as usual, your best source for who can provide what you seek.

Fried Scorpions.

I finally got to the grocery store and bought a fresh loaf of bread. I made and downed a delicious BLT so fast that I didn't take pix.

Sigh. To reset my Anova to Celsius I actually had to read the manual...again.

Kimchi Jjigae from one of the “Curry Guy” books - diced pork belly, tofu, kimchi, kimchi brine, scallions, onions, light soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, gochujang and gochugaru get braised in chicken broth. Served over rice

Yunnan Province in south-west China has international borders with Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar / Burma. Internally, it borders Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi and Tibet. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. It is renowned for its biodiversity and especially its abundance of mushrooms, with over 800 different edible varieties. Many are exclusive to Yunnan, some not so much. Yunnan Mushrooms For the next few days, I’ll post just a few starting with this: 红牛肝菌 (hóng niú gān jūn), Boletus gansuensis, Red Boletes. These are also found in Gansu province, hence the scientific name.

The GE Profile bluefish was a revelation. Smoked over hickory, two hours at 102C, then a further two hours at 77C. It was like fish candy! Normally I avoid the skin of oily fish but the fat of the bluefish skin melted and the skin melded with the delicious meat. Sadly the result was overly salty, as expected after the unintentionally long brining time. I was minded of the Finnan haddie my dear mother prepared back in the early 1950's. As I recall she steeped the smoked fish in milk to attenuate the salt. The remaining pieces are now vacuum sealed in the refrigerator. I assume they should keep for a good long time.

ChefSteps has released new ice cream content including some recipes which accommodate the Creami. Subscription required to view, I assume. https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/ice-cream-parametric

Mrs. C had muhammara (roasted red bell pepper and walnut dip) at a restaurant and recreated it at home. Toasted naan to go with. Delicious! More jambalaya fried rice, this time with shrimp and extra chorizo. There is at least one more meal's worth in the refrigerator . . .

Review of the GF puff pastry. AWFUL. No layers, no flake whatsoever! Can't say that was a surprise given the ingredients list. Oy!! On the plus side, I saved a lot of calories by not eating the crust. And my filling was good.

Great article! Don’t forget to review the slightly newer Salt Cod Diary topic for more ideas!

@Shelby The young girl was so sweet and shy - we couldn't ignore her. Basically, we saw her talking to her mother about us and then the mother approached us and asked for permission. They were so happy when we agreed for some pictures, and then proceeded to have pictures taken with at least 4 phones because everyone wanted their own. So, of course, we then gave them our phone for our own set! The mangoes were ok. I still haven't found an Indonesian mango that I love like some of the Thai ones. Some were juicy but pretty flavorless and some smelled like they were doused in a bucked of perfume. Most were fiberless, but not all.

YES! I'm sorry. I always try to put @Jaymes' squash in my description. I make that at LEAST once a week. Need to get more Laughing Cow cheese--that's my favorite to use.

And I see you're still making squash like I posted so long ago. That recipe came from my grandmother who owned a "meat & 3" restaurant in South Texas back in the 1920s. And that's still how I make it today. It really makes me smile to think you're carrying on the tradition. Thanks!!

For a second I thought that the mangos were pawpaws.

Im drinking this : right now . could not wait to try it. From Tj's posted here : https://forums.egullet.org/topic/155097-trader-joes-products-2017–/page/65/#comment-2454266

I pulled out from freezer some frozen grocery-store puff pastry sheets. To my surprise, they are Gluten-Free, an import from Italy. Mi esposo bought them months ago to replenish our freezer stock, unaware they weren't what I usually buy (Pepperidge Farm). My plan is to make them into turnovers (or square packets) filled with a mixture of cooked leftover chicken shreds, (well drained) spinach and cream cheese. The package shows 400 degrees baking temp; I find I have better luck with Pepperidge farm if I put (well-chilled) item into a 425 degree convection oven. Any advice on using this GF version of puff pastry versus the Pepperidge Farm brand?

Were the mangos amazing? It's been a while since I've had a good one. Lol, your wife is a great sport! It never crossed my mind but I guess redheads aren't super common there.

After breakfast, we headed to the supermarket located in the mall connected to our hotel to get some fruit for our room. This is the same supermarket as before. Durian - you could smell this around the corner in the mall... After picking up a bunch of mangoes (they had no mangosteen on this day, but had some later on), we went off for some sightseeing. We decided to see the National Monument It's in the largest public square in SE Asia. It's here where we became a tourist attraction ourselves, again, as this is a large attraction for domestic tourists visiting Jakarta. The young girl in the turquoise shirt above desperately wanted photos of us (mostly my wife because she has red hair) so we spent about 10 minutes taking photos with the whole family. They then stayed with us while walking around, the young girl asking my wife lots of questions - like what were her hobbies, etc. You can go to the top of the monument, but to do so required standing on a long line, so we decided to skip it - especially considering that there really isn't much to see. We then continued walking around the area on the way to the main mosque, the largest in Asia, only to find it closed - we forgot that it was Friday... Some walking around photos:

I just learned about them two days ago ... https://www.butlerfoods.com/product-list.html

went looking for a Chablis @ TJ's , to take down to the WHPS in a week or so. found one , butt my WineBuds recommended this white Bordeaux : it was $ 8.49 or so . I haven't had a white Bordeaux in Ions , not for any particular reason. used to get some all time . This one is a delight. My white table wine ( Index ) is the Tj's Coastal Chardonnay @ $ 4.99 Dry , no Oak , decent ' mouith feel ' this Graves is very very nice as a complementary to that : dry , crisp , light body : would be excellent w shellfish , and other very fresh fish. my WB's suggested it quite a bit pricier elsewhere . After a sip or three ( very cold ) I googled it its $ 17.99 ( USD ) elsewhere . I wouldnt get it for that price differential , but for what it is in my glass. Im taking a bottle of this , along w the Chablis down to the WHPS to compare at the same time. granted , grapes vs other grapes , but why not ?

Breakfast was included in our hotel price, which is great because this hotel's breakfast buffet was amazing thanks, in large part, to there being a lot of domestic travelers staying there so they had a lot of Indonesian options. They also had sushi, some chinese dim sum type stuff and western stuff (omelettes, yogurt, cheese/meats, etc.) that we didn't partake in. Gulai is like a thin curry using similar ingredients to rendang. with shrimp crackers, green and red sambal. In padang food, these are the primary sambals - called, unimaginatively, sambal ijo (green sambal) and sambal merah (red sambal). Neither one are super spicy, but definitely add a lot of flavor. Colo-colo is a condiment/sambal type from eastern Indonesia and typically served with fish/seafood. The fish was really meaty and nicely cooked. With squid ink crackers. Fantastic pineapple Turmeric jamu - this is supposedly healthy - it's made from (at least) ground turmeric, ginger and lime juice. My wife got some of the chinese dim sum - I don't kow what it was though. Lastly, I got some beef soup with beef balls and some kind of fish ball that is made from both fish/shrimp paste.

Jambalaya fried rice with seared shrimp, kimchee, habanero and Fresno chiles, garlic, and a rare double-yolked egg. Probably have something similar for dinner - Mrs. C made a lot of jambalaya (not that I'm complaining, mind you).

I hope you enjoy the tuna-stuffed Poblanos! And I have taken inspiration from your array of summer salads - I love a salad when it is hot and muggy, but don’t make them nearly often enough.

We are back on St. John. We arrived Saturday evening. Everyone was tired, so we just went into town for some light snacks at the island brew pub, mostly so my nephew and husband could pick up some crowlers of beer for the house. I thought I took a picture of the beer menu, but I guess not. Here’s the food options. Niece chose chicken wings The rest of us shared a hummus plate and a salad with some mahi mahi on it We stopped by St. John Scoops so niece could get her favorite chai tea latte ice cream We got in an evening dip in the pool before crashing We had the house provisioned by a grocery delivery company before arriving. That’s because when you try and go shopping on the weekends, everything is sold out. We stopped by yesterday to pick up some water and ice, and attempt to get some salad stuff (no luck on that front until the second store). Empty grocery! The only vegetables were onions, potatoes, red cabbage, and winter squash. I did snag the last loaf of raisin bread, and they had ice, so it was ok. We just spent the day reading at the villa. Too tired to beach it. Nephew made the drinkers watermelon margaritas (we brought a cooler from home with some stuff, including fresh squeezed and pre measured juices for cocktails and mocktails) He grilled some bread (got a bit charred) that I topped with garlic scape butter I made at home, and a couple of ribeyes (also brought from home), supplemented with pasta and a “salad” made from the only vegetables I could find at the second market we stopped at-a cucumber and some peppers. evening views Breakfast under the palapa with our trusty scavenger companions We were blocked in this morning by the pool and landscaping maintenance guys, but it’s finally time to go to the beach!