Our Picks

 
OK, I was over in the same area later this afternoon and popped back in to pick one up. I ended up with two. My husband wanted to try the shrimp quality and I wanted to try a vegan option. Not that I am a vegan or even interested in becoming one, I just find it interesting to see how appealing they can make vegan kits. I was thinking of making the Black Bean Cakes as a starter, followed by the Shrimp Scampi, but decided the Shrimp would suffice. 
 
Here are some pics and details...
 
The packaging is quite good. The boxes are all the same size, a fairly long and narrow box, good for fitting into the fridge. Info on the box shows if a meal is gluten-free, vegan, etc and the shrimp was labeled as a dietitian's choice. Time to cook is given (are they all 20 mins or less?) as well as level of spiciness and whether you have to do a bit of chopping or none at all. The plastic window lets you see at least some of the ingredients. 
 

 
Here's the contents of the shrimp dinner. It's only 10 oz (less than 300 gms) of shrimp and the other ingredients are very simple, so the quality of the shrimp and the cooked (!) fettuccini will be key. The onions are already diced, the garlic and parsley minced. Pats of butter included. 
 

 
Here's the contents of the Black Bean cakes - instant corn grits, cooked basmati rice, black beans, diced red peppers, cumin, sriracha, salsa verde, diced squash and minced garlic. 

 
The recipe card for the Bean Cakes:

 

 
And for the shrimp:
 

 

 
 
 

Little recon around the room to see what's up
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
B and I went there last year in 2016. How time flies!
 
We found our experience not as good as it could have been.
 
We arrived early, and they didn't seat us until 50 minutes later, 20 minutes past our reservation time. When I asked what was taking so long, I was told "Well, you arrived early." That's not the point -- we had a reservation time of 9 pm and it's now 9:20 -- does everyone who comes here get seated late? Strike #1.  Furthermore, we were seated at the bar and no staff came by to alert us; I had to get up to go speak to the host.
 
On to the food...
 

 
"Thai soup" -- while it reminded me of tom kha gai and hit all the right flavor notes, I was asking myself why are we eating pseudo-Thai food in this restaurant? 

Not exactly an auspicious beginning. Strike #2 was that it took nearly 5 minutes *after* being seated before we received the menus, and when they brought us the menus, they also brought us the first amuse-bouche. It felt like a weird combination of: (1) we're being rushed and (2) we're being punished.
 

 
Buckwheat blini, salmon, osetra caviar.

Well-made blini -- perfect, actually. Like butter-flavored clouds.
 

 
Seared foie gras, caramelized onion, poached rhubarb.

Plating doesn't exactly inspire confidence, a theme you will see repeatedly throughout. Was prepared well though from what little I tasted.
 

 
Figs, arugula, fennel, Gorgonzola cheese.<br style="background-color:#ffffff;color:#353c41;font-size:14px;"> <br style="background-color:#ffffff;color:#353c41;font-size:14px;"> Average salad, nothing special.
 

 
Seared scallops, morels, English peas, Madeira.<br style="background-color:#ffffff;color:#1d2129;font-size:14px;text-align:left;"> <br style="background-color:#ffffff;color:#1d2129;font-size:14px;text-align:left;"> Excellent flavor, from the bite or two I stole off of B's plate. Sear on the scallops poorly executed though.
 

 
Lamb loin with farroto, Medjool dates, carrots and chermoula.

The lamb was well-cooked. The plating sucked, the sauce was oversalted (basically, if you can taste it, it's too much), and the accompaniments slapdash.  At this point, I was starting to become irritated. This is a restaurant that is supposed to be in the vanguard of San Francisco dining and for the prices that are being charged, everything should feel like perfection from the moment you step inside to when you depart.
 
This was not it. Ixnay on the square plates.
 

 
Cheese cart.
 

 
Sauternes.
 

 
Louisiana butter cake, peaches, huckleberry compote, vanilla ice cream.<br style="background-color:#ffffff;color:#353c41;font-size:14px;"> <br style="background-color:#ffffff;color:#353c41;font-size:14px;"> Amateurish plating. Cake itself was "fine". Maybe I ordered wrong.
 

 
Flourless chocolate birthday cake.
 
I suppose it might have been a good restaurant -- in 1995. You can do better in the City.

 
There are definitely quality levels in processed cheese. Kraft Singles, for instance, are processed American "cheese food product". They do not qualify to be called cheese. Velveeta is also a cheese food product. There is also American cheese that does legally qualify to be called cheese. Kraft and Borden make versions that can be found alongside their cheese food product slices. My favorite is American cheese sliced to order at the grocery store deli in front of the customers. It is also processed but retains enough cheese to legally still be called cheese. The processing allows it to become creamy instead of stringy when it melts. At the very bottom of the heap is imitation cheese food product, made with oil. Now we are talking plastic. This stuff is vile. 
 
I also like good quality American cheese on a burger. Occasionally, I'll be in the mood for cheddar, provolone or a Swiss and mushroom burger, but I keep going back to the American version. I don't like blue cheese, but almost every good burger restaurant around here offers a burger with blue cheese. I always bend the corners off a square slice of cheese and place them up nearer the center of the burger so they don't melt off into the pan or grill. The smoked provolone I'm currently buying is cut from a round log and is already perfectly shaped to melt on a burger.
 
Sometimes with very good perfectly cooked beef, I will eat it on a bun as a plain burger with nothing else, or if in a really purist mood just eat it as a "steak". It's all good if you stay far away from the imitation cheese food product. I can't believe they can legally sell that drek as food.

 
Asparagus was first blanched for about a minute, then quick chilled in an ice bath; drained and briefly stir-fried, then tossed with Soy Vay’s Teriyaki Sauce to coat. Served with Teriyaki Chicken Donburi, Mushrooms and Pickled Ginger.
 

 

This is what they look like today, after air drying for a day. The sweats!! Grrrrr...
 

 
Recipe: 
 
2 cups puree (~550g) (I used frozen strawberries, unstrained, with 10% sugar added) 3 cups sugar (675g) 2 - 3oz packs of Certo Liquid Pectin 2 Tablespoons of Lemon juice  
Heat puree to 140 F Add sugar and heat to 235 F Add liquid pectin and boil for 1 minute Take off heat, add lemon juic Cast in pan

Like many who have contributed to this thread over the past decade, I have been nursing a jar of vanilla for several years, started back in the good old days when a pound of perfectly serviceable beans could be had for sub-$20. A few weeks ago I happened on a forgotten stash of those beans, which I was even happier to discover were still vacuum sealed. Recently I came across an article about infusing vanilla in the pressure cooker so I decided to give it a shot. I filled 5 eight-ounce mason jars with 20 grams each of chopped fresh beans and beans fished out of my working bottle, then added 60ml each of cheap vodka and everclear. An hour in the Instant Pot at high pressure, natural release, resulted in a lovely dark, nicely perfumed infusion - has a fairly sharp alcohol aroma and flavor,  but less than I expected. Definitely a great way to jumpstart a batch. For comparison, below is a photo of the bottle into which I dumped a bunch of the  used beans and equal amounts of vodka and everclear just now; the pressure cooked batch; and the bottle that has been brewing in my basement since sometime in the late oughts. The lighting is not the best, but the color of the pressure cooked bottle is virtually indistinguishable from the legacy bottle.
 

 

This is an asparagus appetizer dish I did for Easter.  Simple blanched asparagus with sliced cucumber, then some lox-style salmon.  Lemon mayonnaise dressing.  The little pastry in the upper right corner is a savory gougere made with parmesan and then filled with a smoked salmon mouse.  Without the asparagus it would be pretty bland.

Inspired by @liuzhou, asparagus spears wrapped in phyllo.

Rather decadent.  Served with the Preserved Lemon Aioli from Shaya which is nice but I should have trusted myself and used less extra virgin olive oil.  At 1:1 extra virgin olive oil:canola oil, it's a little heavy tasting.
 
I'd say these stalks are medium sized and they were nicely cooked in the time it took the phyllo to brown. For super thin spears, you can wrap 2 or 3 together.  Big thick ones could be blanched but I think there's room to cook them longer in the oven without resorting to that.
I cooked these in the CSO at 350°F (mine seems to run a bit hot) on convection bake for 12 min, then turned them and baked 3 min more.  

My favorite asparagus dish of this spring is the Raw Asparagus Salad with Breadcrumbs, Walnuts & Mint from Six Seasons. The header notes say to make this dish with the first pristine spears of spring asparagus, before you do any cooked dishes. The recipe is available online here.

I like the way the asparagus spears are sliced thinly, at a sharp angle and I seem to be using that method of cutting them a lot lately.
 
Today I made an asparagus riff on another Six Seasons recipe,  Pasta alla Gricia. That recipe is also available online, at this link.

He calls for 4 oz of sugar snap peas/2 oz pasta/serving. I used the same proportions, but with asparagus......and added an egg.
 
Here's another recent asparagus/egg combination, this time on an English muffin:

 
Lastly, asparagus quesadillas from Nopalito:

 

Where I grew up I haunted the creek looking for the trailing arbutus, wild violets and the first of the wild asparagus.  The creek was a brackish one and the asparagus I found was half the size of the pencil ones you buy now.  I would eat it RAW!!!!  I was taught NOT to be greedy and take all but let some go to seed for the birds.  Once the first asparagus were found it was off with my mom to look for others on public property..
 
As it is Mother's Day here I want to add a rememberance of my mom who I lost almost 38 years ago... though it could also go under the foraging topic as well.
Once I found those first spears we would get in the car(a green Chevette) and roll along the local roads with me in the passengers seat and my head out the window looking for things that I told my head weren't supposed to be there - mainly at this time it was those tiny, thin spears of sweet asparagus.  I would also begin to make note of blooming wild grapes and where the tangles of berries would be later in the summer - blackberries, wine berries, wild raspberries.  Throughout the seasons we would cruise around with me looking like a deranged lab with my head out looking left and right.   Love and miss you, Mom.

We were driving through Southeast Washington when suddenly Marnie shouted, "look, there it is, stop the car!" Needless to say, we were all a bit stunned and thought there must have been some critter scooting across the highway.  And then I saw it for the first time: asparagus.
 
It was decades ago, but every spring I relive the memory of seeing asparagus growing for the first time.  Our family had been at a horse show in Pasco, a town in the Columbia River basin in South-Central Washington.  We decided to drive over to Walla Walla, the heart of Washington's asparagus fields, to visit Whitman College.  Mother had graduated Whitman in 1946, and we were taking our family friend Marnie to visit campus where she would start her freshman year in the full.
 
It was then that I fully understood why asparagus--seasonal, local asparagus--is a prized delicacy of spring.  I had the idea it grew on a bush.  Or maybe it grew in some sort of cluster, cloaked within a heavy blanket of outer leaves like cabbage or cauliflower.  Yet there it was, one stalk at a time,  bursting up through the rich soil fed by the Columbia River.  Rows and rows of single stalks of asparagus standing in a perfect line.
 
Given Mother's ties to Whitman College and Walla Walla, the role that asparagus would play in shaping our family's tastes for this special vegetable should have been easy to predict. (As an aside, Walla Walla is also the home of the "Walla Walla Sweet" onion.  Mother used to tell us she loved a raw Walla Walla sweet sandwich on white bread with mayonnaise).
 
Now I'm sure you've got your own culinary memories and favorite asparagus dishes to tempt us.  So today we'll begin eG Cook-Off #77: Asparagus, the Spear of Spring. (See the complete eG Cook-Off Index here.)

Midnight Sun (Aquavit)
1 1/2 oz Aquavit (Tattersall) 1/2 oz Grapefruit juice 1/2 oz Lemon juice 1/4 oz Grenadine (Homemade) 1/2 t Sugar 1 sli Orange (as garnish) This was great! 
 

Looks like risotto tomorrow.

Next morning, I had another bánh mì for breakfast, this time from a street cart. It was  OK, but not so good as yesterday's. Then I headed down town to play at  being a tourist for a day. It was now the weekend and so no work to be done.
 
I last visited HCMC/Saigon in 1988, so it had changed a lot, yet still retains its unique feel despite the modern office blocks and star-wielding hotels. It is the sort of city I like. Unlike almost all Chinese cities, they haven't destroyed the old to build the new. It is a happily confusing mix of new and old, rich and poor. Someone described it to me as "a mess". He was being disparaging. Yes, it's chaotic, but the energy levels are high.
 
I revisited places I remembered. The Old Post Office (built 1886-1891)  has now sprouted a McDonald's next door. The post office is a popular tourist destination, but is also still a functioning post office.
 

 

 
Outside,  I met these lovely ladies.
 

 
Next to the post office is a wonderful short street full of books, both new and second-hand (including some in English).
 

 

 

 
At the far end of the street, I found a Book Café where I settled down for a nice cup of ice tea. They have shelves of books along one wal which customers are encouraged to browse. AS far as I could see they were all in Vietnamese.
 

 
Opposite the post office is the French built (1863-1880) Cathedral - Basilique-Cathédrale Notre-Dame de l'Immaculée Conception. All the materials used in its construction were imported from France. Unfortunately, it is undergoing restoration work, so much of it is covered with scaffolding.
 

 
All this looking at things had me hungry again. There are all sorts of options in the area, but I decided on a pizza! I had passed this place with a proper wood burning pizza oven earlier in the day, and as I haven't had a decent pizza in decades, thought I'd give it a go. I was at their No. 2 location.
 
 

 
From a relatively short menu, I chose this baby.
 

 

 
It's a prosciutto and rocket/arugula and very pleasant it was, too. Also the cold beer was welcome in the heat. It was around 35ºC. Also, despite being in the heart of the tourist area, the prices were reasonable.
 

 
That's the equivalent of $13 for the pizza and $1.75 for the beer. Plus 10% tax.
 
 
 
 

Can I play?
 

 
 
The astute may notice a hint of color.  In my defense it is a brand new pan and the first ever single egg omelet of my life.  I couldn't quite manage Julia's motion.  Though the omelet formed itself and slid right out without resort to a utensil.
 
Even with the orange I thought the omelet was excellent.  Not the least dry.  Parsley from my dining room.
 

 
Yes. One of the things I like most about Vietnam. Good bread, unlike in China.
 

 
 

 

If I posted every odd, or just plain wrong translation of Chinese on food labels and menus that I see, I'd never get anything else done, but this one appealed to me in a number of ways.
 

 
If it had just been a case of the bizarre idea of students requiring some sort of pickle exclusive to them, I probably wouldn't have posted this. Nor would the nonsensical concept of non-preservative pickles have merited much attention, but then I read the ingredients list
 
I've never been a fan of rap 'music'. Never understood it. Never wanted to do so. But it's interesting that it is also a type of oil.
 

 
But, most of all, the juvenile in me still appreciates the final piece of advice they offer.


 
From henceforth I shall make every attempt not to leak gas.
 

Sichuan Airlines flight from Nanning, China to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. 20th April 2018.
 

 
This doesn't look at all appealing but actually tasted not bad. L - R Fish, Rice, Pork.
 

 
The rice was accompanied by this pickled kholrabi.
 

 
and when I wasn't paying attention the attendant dropped this piece of corn on top of my rice dish. I detest corn.
 

 
A sweet bread roll.
 

 
Dessert; Herbal Jelly. I always think this sounds more like some quack medicine than food but it's OK.
 
For liquid lubrication:
 

 
This brand is usually translated as Snow Beer on its cans, but the Chinese actually says Snowflake.
 
The flight attendant brought me a second can with which I ate this packet of peanuts which was also included in the meal.
 

 
All in all not too bad.

I've read various threads about which cookware various members would recommend. I don't own All-Clad or Sitram or any of the other higher-end pans that get discussed. For a point of reference I've been cooking for over 40 years. I own mainly Vollrath Pro-HG and Revere pots and pans. What differences would I expect to see if I started adding higher-end saute' and sauce pans to my kitchen. Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

Anyone try this stuff on the right?
 

a new Wagman's opened this AM in the local Maul.
 
its huge .  two stories  .
 
has an escalator for your shopping Cart !
 

 
its going to put a lot of pressure on the two closest markets Stop&Shop and RocheBro
 
lots of eateries , some you bus your tray by the selections and grab a table , some sit down
 
interesting looking Burger Sitdown place   and a fancier restaurant
 
Sushi bar etc etc   very good looking stuff and a vide selection of imported items
 
also bulk stuff a la BigBox.
 
their store brand looks very good for several items I noted , and is very competitively prices
 
Fish looks good , which is saying something.
 
talked to the butcher at the Prime Carving station.
 
knew a lot about SV
 
SortRibs are problematic in my area.   expensive , and not very meaty at all
 
here they had bone-in for 8.99 , but very meaty and not much bone
 
I caved and got a boneless pack , 9.99 / lbs
 
 

 
all their case meat is vacpacked.  their meat sales are decent.
 
Ill RB40 these three  ( 1.78 lbs total ) for 214 then SV at 130 for 36 , try a slice , then continue to 48 if need be.
 
they told me all of their meat gong on sale from time to time , one cut / animal / week.
 
if these SR taste as good as they look , Ill line up when they go on sale.
 
very nice looking vac'd sirloin steaks  , 4 pack , on sale  5.99
 
not wußte as thick as I might like , but not thin either.  will look at those later in the week.
 
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2018/04/27/talkingshop/TSaCCorbAiEwCcTgVjKhOL/story.html
 
note the Cart Escalator.
 
they have a huge selection of prepared food of all varieties , and a similar selection of
 
prepared but cook at home foods.
 
Meal in a Box.

Corn, tomatoes, and clams on grilled bread, fork and knife style, p. 230
 
The corn was from my freezer, but still sweet. I added lots of chili flakes (he says to taste), and put the bread on the side rather than under the clams and broth, because I like some crispiness.  Everyone loved this fast and easy dinner.
 

I use lard and baking powder in my flour tortillas. I use unbleached all-purpose Canadian flour which is a higher gluten flour.

Flour Tortillas
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon to 1/4 cup lard/shortening
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup warm water (might need a bit more)
Place the flour, salt, baking powder in food processor and pulse to
mix. Cut in the shortening and then add the warm water and process to
make a soft dough. Dough should be soft but not wet and sticky. Wrap in
plastic and let rest for at least 30 minutes.
Divide dough into 10 or 12 pieces and shape into balls. Keep covered.
Roll each ball out into a 7 to 9 inch circle. Dough should be thin.
Cook on a dry hot grill or frying pan on medium heat, turning once. Do
not over cook or they will be hard. Butter and roll up and wrap in
tea towel to keep warm as you cook the other tortillas.
(I place the ones wrapped in the towel in a low 200 oven to keep warm,
while I am cooking the rest.)

vegetable fried rice with soy-sake braised king oyster mushrooms