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Charlie wondered if we could have chislic today. I said that would entail getting some lamb and the only place I know that has it are the Mexican groceries and they only sell it by the quarter, like a whole leg or shoulder and it would be frozen. So he said how about some marinaded steak then. I said I saw a Kabob recipe a few days ago that was grilled and basted with a compound butter. That is what we decided to do. The recipe is just for the meat. I added the vegetables and cooked them on the gas grill for 30 minutes and the steak in the smoker firebox for about ten minutes over charcoal. Charlie really liked it and wondered of it was an Asian recipe. I didn't know. He looked at the recipe and the last line identified it as coming from a Viet Phu Inc. cookbook. That is the Red Boat Fish Sauce company in California.

I made the "Healthy Soup" yesterday, p 434. It was horrid! I should've known something was up with the "healthy"; but the real flag was the 2t salt, for 3 quarts of liquid, 3 lbs of chicken; and a pound of green vegetable (I used bok choy). Don't get me wrong, I'm gonna be able to eat it. But tricked out with copious olive oil (or, let's keep it real: bacon grease); cheese; and A WHOLE LOT MORE SALT.

Have you seen this BBQ sauce at your TJ's? I've not seen it at my usual store yet word on the 'net is that it's back in stock. It appears that many stores are carrying it.

I think it depends. We've had some duck breast in various places in France, years ago, that was rare and really tender. It has to be the duck because one of the places was a Burgundian fondue place where you cooked your meat in a pot of hot oil on your table. Also had Charolais beef and lamb. I'd love to go back to that place.

Breaded Pork Chops. Corn OFF the cob for hubby and new taters. Tried out VH new flavour dipping sauce: Orange Ginger - can't beat the discontinued Mango Chili 🤥 A friend brought over Ho Fun with shrimp. I cooked up Shanghai Bok Choy with garlic scapes. Cleaning up when freezer and pulled out a bag of homemade apple pie filling. Made Canadian Cheddar Cheese Apple Crisp. No oatmeal was harmed in this crisp. Canadian Cheddar Cheese Apple Crisp - from E.D. Smith Pie Filling - Recipe on can Basic Recipe: 6 portions 1 - 19 oz. E.D. Smith apple pie filling 1 - cup all purpose flour ¼ cup sugar 1 ½ tsp. baking POWDER ½ tsp. salt 1 ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese ( I use old cheddar) 1/3 cup melted butter ¼ cup milk Combine and sift all dry ingredients Mix in cheese Mix together the melted butter and milk. Add to the above mixture Mix gently with a fork until all the flour is incorporated Spoon apple pie filling into a shallow 1 quart / 1 litre baking dish Drop flour/cheese mixture by forkful to evenly cover the entire dish. Don’t press down! Use the fork to spread the dough if lumpy Bake in pre-heated oven at 375F for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown The recipe calls for a shallow 1quart dish. I used an 8” x 11” Pyrex glass dish. I made 1.5 times the topping recipe but 2 cans filling Great with ice cream or by itself.

Seared bay scallops with roasted chile Poblano rajas, onion, chile Serrano, and garlic, finished with heavy cream and cilantro.

Over in the appetizer topic, I mentioned making the Ricotta dip with hot sauce butter pine nuts from Mezcla by Ixta Belfrage. The header notes suggest using it as a base for grilled asparagus so that was today’s breakfast, topped with a poached egg. The asparagus were quite huge so I was pleasantly surprised that they cooked up so nicely on my little Philips grill. I used one of Andy Baraghani’s flatbreads to wipe the plate clean.

@KennethT Pleased to see you are on you way to another Adventure via Singapore. Congratulations on your UpGrade. great fun to see High-End airline food. Thank you for the menu(s) . May you have a Fine Time , taking us along.

Ricotta dip with hot sauce butter pine nuts from Mezcla by Ixta Belfrage. I started out with chips but switched to flatbreads. I thought this was OK, quick and easy with ingredients I usually have on hand. It would be prettier spread on a plate with the pine nut mixture swirled over the top. I’ll keep it in mind but probably won’t make it again. I was intrigued by this because the header notes suggest using it in various ways: as a dip for chips, crisp veg or chicken wings, tossed with pasta or tomatoes for a salad or as a base for various meats or grilled asparagus (see here in the breakfast topic for that.) The dip is kind of a ricotta-enriched raita with ricotta, yogurt, cucumber, garlic, lemon zest, green onion and chives. The hot sauce butter pine nuts is a flavorful, oily mix of toasted pine nuts, ghee, olive oil, hot sauce and smoked paprika.

...If teeth I had.

You're absolutely correct...I'm of the opinion that too-rare duck sucks. And I don't think it has anything to do with the duck you buy. (Exception might be for wild duck).

@btbyrd that plate screams summer and I'd like to place my order for lunch now!

2nd meal of Sing Air (about 8 hours later): Appetizer of citrus grilled shrimp salad with ginger balsamic vinaigrette. My wife got the duck confit from the standard menu. It looked a little tough. She said it was ok. I got the shrimp/pork wonton noodle soup. This was really good - super thin wonton skin, perfectly cooked shrimp, noodles had good texture in a nice chicken broth with not over cooked Chinese broccoli. They topped it with fried garlic chips and some fried garlic oil. Then came the dessert trolley: I got the apricot tart. Just in case there wasn't enough, they came around with a tray of chocolate...

In addition to the menu choices they have something called Book The Cook - a bunch of choices you can pre-order up to 2 days before the flight. And you can view the standard menu items at the same time so you wind up with maybe 12 choices of meals, plus the special meals like vegetarian, kosher, low salt, etc.

Whole Foods annual ice cream sale 7/2-7/8, 50% off for Prime members.

We had 6 large established hosta beds (courtesy of former homeowner). We also had a huge deer population as we lived in one of the last 5 acre subdivisions in urbanized Fairfax County VA, and our home was lakefront. Our winter herds were 20+ and they slept just off our deck! Every spring we'd had at least 3 or 4 fawns. We loved watching the deer. Our solution was to use dried blood as a deterrent, we had to reapply often. We'd do it all summer, then we'd stop in late September and let the deer have at the hosta.

Gyro Roll up Lettuce/ tetziki/Greek dressing/onion/Gyro meat/tomato/feta

@KennethT Wow ! the chicken-rice was not on the menu . did you order in advance ? or was C-R a standard off menu item ?

@Steve IrbyAre you doing fresh dills with the pickles? It's rare I can find small pickles here and they're usually over the hill, but I love a half-sour out of the jar/crock. Can't even seem to find the commercial half-sours here anymore, tastes are changing it seems.

If you ever become a camp cook. Please let us know where. Strawberries are gorgeous. But I am struck by the bacon. That is the leanest looking bacon I can remember seeing. Is it local or homemade?

I will grant you, there are applications from a number of cuts that is superior to any one use of a pork shoulder. It is the collective contribution of the shoulder to carnitas, to sausage manufacture, to sunday sauce and pulled pork that puts it in a class by itself

Singapore Airlines NYC-SIN. This time is something special - we were able to upgrade to Business class with our miles... Menu for dinner (served around 1AM Ny time) First course: Salad of smoked trout with micro greens, pickled onion and spiced hazelnut. There was a choice of breads - I took the garlic bread - really garlicky and nicely toasted. Chicken rice with chilli sauce, sweet soy sauce and lots of grated ginger. It was quite good, although I don't think Wee Nam Kee has anything to worry about. Chocolate ganache cake - holy crap this was good. Inside was a nice orange compote of some kind - not too sweet and not too orangy - just a hint.

@Dr. Teeth Correct , esp SV shoulder , then Maillard . ( Dover-ish ) Sole and very fresh wild salmon , from close to the salmon's head are possible exceptions to this rule.

With all due respect to beef briskets, duck breasts, chicken thighs, ribs of various sorts, pork bellies and the filets of every fish in the ocean, pork shoulder is the single most perfect cut of meat on the planet. If you were served a shoulder that you could not get your teeth through, it’s not the fault of the pig or the butcher.

@Dr. Teeth still the same , my area.