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Darn, I thought I fixed it. I guess just go to Wayfair.com and search for kitchen islands.

Hunan food never skimps on chilli!

The link just sends me to the top of this page

They don't skimp on the green chilli!

This link should take you to a search for kitchen islands and carts on Wayfair. They have quite a few options at affordable price points and should at least give you an idea of what’s available. I was able to find similar items at Home Depot and Lowe’s, though not as many options.

@AlaMoi you are correct about ' local ' and ' fresh ' however , quite some time ago , there were 2 versions of corn , developed as each was missing an enzyme that converted sugar to starch . thus the corn you purchased , ever at a farm stand , of these two varieties stayed sweet much much longer. cant remember the enzymes names , but for a while , those names were displayed prominently when those varieties were sold. very good stuff.

For complicated reasons, tonight's dinner was a delivery app favourite. 青椒肉丝 (qīng jiāo ròu sī), green chilli pork slivers, a Hunan favourite, but found in homes and restaurants all over China. Served with rice, of course.

@Smithy, yes you are correct. The Boos islands are definitely out of my budget. Sorry I'm not terribly quick to respond lately--I am frantically packing and moving stuff all the time. Owning 2 homes during this heat wave is giving me major heartburn with the cost of a/c running in both places. I don't want to get off-track, but also been sending photos to the auction company who is coming to pick up my militaria/home front/sweetheart/childrens' toys and uniforms collections. Too many irons in the fire! @TdeV, your island is beautiful, but definitely not in my budget. @blue_dolphin, my needs are precisely like those of your Mom--extra storage and stretch the prep work if it is a larger dinner that my sis is here helping with. Two people trying to work in a tiny space can get dicey--have a rolling island that can be moved out far enough that the other person can still get into the oven/fridge will be a huge help.

The only way to get a bird, chicken, duck, or goose, with the giblets is to buy a live one and slaughter it yourself. Many people do. Otherwise, both supermarkets and market vendors remove the precious giblets and sell them separately. This can be in mixed giblet packs like these and include parts I suspect most don’t come with the birds in the west. Intestines? Or, you can buy each type of giblet separately. Hearts, livers, gizzards, intestines, necks, etc. I always have chicken or duck livers and hearts in the freezer but until very recently was unable to find goose liver or hearts that hadn’t been pre-cooked or, in the case of livers, turned into foie gras. I can now buy both online but have to buy a minimum of 2½ kg / 5 pounds at a time. I’m guessing they are mostly sold to the restaurant or foie gras trade. Goose intestines are especially prized.

Keema Matar based on a Milk Street recipe - ground beef is cooked with red onions, garlic, ginger, garam masala, mashed tomatoes, tomato paste and peas. Finished with some yogurt and cilantro and served over rice and with more yogurt

That looks great Smithy. I split gizzards and give the inside a bit of a scrape. They're generally clean but I don't like the texture otherwise.

My tomato season is over for the year. Rainy season puts an end to tomato production unless it's under cover. I'll have to wait until December to start my seeds for next year's crop to be planted in February. So a nice clamshell of Campari tomatoes would really hit the spot right about now.

In drinks I use stainless steel 'ice' cubes. never wet, never dilute your drink.

I use ice cube -by-cube for brown spirits. So a few small nuggets is too much surface area and therefore dilution. But, by careful experimentation, one can find a small nugget ratio that is workable, I guess. EUHOMY...I guess means true or good HOMY. I do have a bit of trouble thinking my way through TUATNUT.

To follow up on my last post, the cheap nugget machine was unsatisfactory. It went back. It was replaced by an EUHOMY. Good as the EUHOMY is I found another brand, TUATNUT that I like better, possibly because the water is easier to drain. I make ice most evenings. This morning I ordered a different EUHOMY (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) This one makes crescent ice rather nugget ice. It will be fun to see how they compare. How do people feel about crescent ice vs. nugget ice?

Followup: actually, these hearts and gizzards (no liver in this batch) have an odd aftertaste that's gotten more unpleasant as I've eaten. I don't know whether it's something in the marinade or something essential to the organs themselves. I can see a case for the fine chopping and soaking suggested in some of the other recipes. A good rinse, even, to get rid of a grittiness in the gizzards. Thoughts, anyone?

Some good ideas here! I opted for a more-or-less yakatori style this time, loosely based on this NYTimes recipe. I say "loosely" because my marinade was simpler; I didn't have all the ingredients they listed. Soy sauce, mirin, brown sugar, lemon, ginger, garlic. I had nothing resembling sake or even sherry. Note: do not try substituting brandy! That batch of marinade went down the drain. Marinating while I did other things: Skewered (with the sacrificial blood -- those gizzards are tough, and my skewers skewered me once too) Finished, after just a little grilling: I won't show you plated, because it's boring: meat and peppers. It needs rice, and I couldn't be bothered. A salad would have been good, but I had that earlier. Oddly enough, I like the gizzards better than the hearts. When my mother fried chicken bits, hearts were my favorite. Have my tastes changed, or is this not a good treatment for the hearts? I'll have to experiment with it. Speaking of experimentation, I appreciate all the other ideas and am glad I have another container of these things to play with for some of the other recipes. I'll make sure my friend knows to keep saving these for me. Thanks, folks! Keep the ideas coming!

so many tomato varieties have been developed to perform "best" in the "picked green, shipped thousands of miles, turn real red when gassed" which is the absolute last criteria any home gardener would apply . . . had about 1000 sq ft garden. lower back ''issues'' have made that 'just not gonna' happen anymore' . . . but, we're fortunate to have a plethora of Amish/Mennonite farmers/farm stands in the area. they do have early (everything) - but because they raise those crops in hoop houses, not ethylene chambers.... sigh . . . one family had relatives in the Carolina's - they always had the uber best early stuff because they ran a truck directly from 'there' to 'here' twice weekly. sigh . . . the patriarch died, they sold the farm into condos . . . no such ultra-fresh Carolina produce in PA anymore . . . freshness is a thing. example: sweet corn. we have one (was two, but cancer has curtailed . . .) stand that pick their sweet corn (white/bi-color) daily - the stems of the ears are still wet/moist on the table.... other stands offer dried up picked ears that have been picked&refrigerated "to preserve freshness" .... I put up aka freeze about 6-8 dozen ears/year. veddy simple - lop off tassel end, carve off kernels to tray, freeze. break up frozen 'layer' and move to freezer bag. beats the living daylight out of any 'frozen kernel corn' in the supermarket/

I agree with your assessment. A lot depends on how stable this needs to be to support the anticipated amount of chopping. A while back, I spent a good amount of time shopping for similar options for my mom’s kitchen. In her case, there was another bit of countertop that would function as the main prep area so the need was primarily storage and extra counter space. I found quite a few options but they didn’t need to be super stable for lots of chopping.

I've been satisfied with every Mastronardi variety I've tried, though my favorite is still Campari. I can't grow Mountain Magic anymore because the plants are too big for my balcony. However this summer I am trying a relatively new tomato called Veranda Red. The little plants grow only a foot or so high, but they produce continuously. Recently I noticed the Veranda Red fruits resembled Sunset Flavor Bombs. Last night I did a side by side comparison. Both varieties are small, with, if anything, the Veranda Red being slightly larger. Unlike Campari, the Flavor Bombs are sweet, perhaps too sweet. Both Veranda Red and Flavor Bombs have good tomato flavor. The Veranda Red have less obtrusive skin. Then again, they don't have to be shipped halfway across the continent. Also the color of the Veranda Red was more red. Flavor Bombs in contrast are more of an orangish pink.

@Maison Rustique is being pretty quiet about these photos, and we don't know her budget. I fear, however, that "relatively inexpensive" may preclude these beautiful works. Then it comes down to getting a "relatively inexpensive" rolling cart that will fit the space and the budget, then put a cutting board atop it. Have I got that right, @Maison Rustique? In that case you might even be able to find a suitable candidate at Home Depot or a similar local store.

I'll support the 'gravy / sauce' use idea. fine chop/dice the giblets, very fast/hot pan sear add to any pan sauce/gravy for poultry. or like . . . 'biscuits&gravy' - usually has sausage in the gravy . . . . replace with giblet nuggets.... in the past I've had cats that thoroughly enjoy scarfing down the heart/liver/gizzard bits . . . but that's times past. any place you are creating/using a thickish white sauce, the giblets chunkettes will do themselves proud.

Garlic-black bean pan-fried monkfish: Coating was chopped cilantro stems, ginger, a head of garlic, fermented black beans, dark soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, cayenne, black pepper, and a little sugar. Fry monkfish fillets and remove. Stir-fry the coating, remove half, add the fish, and then slather with the remaining coating, turning once. A long-time favorite. Finish with cilantro. Jasmine rice to go with. Mrs. C has developed a serious muhammara addiction, and made another batch. Friend made a beet dip, which was very good. Sliced cucumbers and toasted naan to go with. Friend also brought dessert: it was like flan in a puff pastry crust, baked in the air fryer. No pics

I edited my original post to include an "almost" image of my rolling butcher block island.

There are some nice-looking islands in there. I still have the drop-leaf butcher block rolling cart I used as an island, way back before we remodeled our kitchen and put in a full island. However, the manufacturer of my cart seems to be out of business now.