Susan in FL

LOL!I was a long time die-hard O's fan, when I lived up there. I cheer for the Yankees now (Mike Mussina is one of the reasons), and if my first husband and I had remained married, he would surely be divorcing me now because of that. Tonight was chilled tomato/roasted red pepper and avocado soup; chicken breast, arugula, blue cheese, tomato, onion, and mayo-Dijon sandwiches; and Victory Hop Devil IPA.

Rachel, I love that CIA Gourmet Meals in Minutes book. It's one of my newest cookbooks. I looked at the recipe you're using, and it seems to me the vegetables will be soft enough after coming to a boil first and then simmering 30 minutes. They would suit our tastes, anyway, as we like most vegetables al dente. I'm looking forward to hearing how you like the dish! (I, too, take my time with chopping, etc. )

Welcome! I enjoy all the food blogs, but whichever one is going on at the time is my favorite. So, right now, yours is my favorite. I do enjoy reading something I can identify with. Thanks for doing this, and I hope you enjoy the week as much as we will.

Just after I was saying how I don't eat breakfast often, it's been three days in a row. This morning I invited a friend/colleague over before she went to work. She loves French Toast and I made Orange French Toast, assembled last night and baked this morning, with Johnnybird's Toast Dope sprinkled on it before baking. We ate it with butter and maple syrup on it, and I was in sugar shock the rest of the morning.

If I kept track of all the ways I've used Johnnybird's Toast Dope, I would be able to publish a cookbook about the stuff. ...Used it in an orange french toast recipe this morning, and sauteed apples in butter and Toast Dope recently and then put vanilla ice cream on top. Another thing I love when I have a slight sweet tooth late at night is buttered popcorn with Toast Dope on it, and to drink bubbly with it.

Suzi, sounds good to me! (P.S. Gotta tell you about two recent Johnnybird's Toast Dope foods.)

Percy, the sight of much of your food lately has been pretty much driving me wild. Where is it you live? ...You might find me on your doorstep some day. I love how you did that timbale with the couscous and the ragu, with the blanched spinach in between. That is something I want to remember and try. And the Trilogy, yesss... isn't that good?! We had lamb tonight, too, but I must say pale in comparison to that. We were out of sync in our timing, and because of that I didn't even get a photo of the presentation... well let me start with what was good about it... Before dinner I hosted a brief work meeting with cheese, fruit, and Pinot Noir on the porch. Then after that was over and my colleague left, dinner... I've been wanting to try this Red Cabbage Risotto since I saw the picture of it in the current issue of Italian Cooking and Living. Here it was on the stove. We had a little piece of a leg of lamb which we boned before grilling. That made it even smaller and a perfect size for two, so we wouldn't have leftovers, but we underestimated the time it needed to grill. Meanwhile the risotto was ready and so were the green beans with EVOO, garlic, and toasted bread crumbs. So we had the risotto as a first course, and then the lamb and overcooked green beans and Zinfandel. This risotto is better as an accompaniment than a separate course, and next time I'm going to add some diced pancetta as it is started. Then it will be perfect. Last night Russ cooked. I requested "his" spaghetti, and we had that with salad and Chianti.

Cool! Thanks, Katie.

I am definitely drawn to it!

Oops, sorry, wrong thread! LOL!

Awesome, beautiful, and all those adjectives I use for your posts, as always! I see you're a talented writer, as well as cook and photographer. Thanks so much for sharing the fun.

Same here on that part of it. Thanks a bunch. It sounds like just the advice I needed. Now I'm eager to make risotto, with enough for left-overs. They were so good... I'm trying to get my husband to become more active on eG. Of course, it won't take much to be more active than one post. He's a good cook, and we each like doing different things, so we compliment each other in the kitchen. That is a real good method for a duck. When we do it that way, we keep the boiling liquid each time, freeze it, and then use it next time. Great idea for the sauce, and the entire dinner sounds wonderful.

Brunch did turn out to be more breakfast than lunch. I used leftover chicken to make chicken hash and a fried egg, and enjoyed it on the porch even though it is a rainy day.

Speaking of slicing it, I like to make two fairly big slices that will remain intact, maybe 3/4-inch, from the very center of the head, roast them, and then to plate dinner we put something on top of that... grilled or roasted shrimp, or a ragu, or who knows what. Vertical food presentations, what a kick!

My husband, "Prepcook" on eG, was again much more than the prepcook and cooked dinner outdoors last night... Deep-fried cornish hens (our grill has a deep-fryer) and grilled vegetables. Delicious! The idea of deep-frying cornish hen halves came from eG, and to give proper credit, sorry I can't remember from whom on what thread.

I'm glad you mentioned how you make risotto cakes from leftover. Do you use that method no matter what kind of risotto it was, or was that preparation particularly for risotto with tomatoes? I usually have trouble with mine breaking when I'm frying them, so I'm thinking your brushing with egg before you rolled them in bread crumbs might help that. Mmmm, rolling in "bed" crumbs... that sounds like fun!

I just found this post, Lloyd. I didn't get the usual email notification. Yum, I would love to have some of that Imperial Stout from the tap in the brew pub! So far, we have no trips planned for coming up north, ever again. LOL. I'm sure something will come up, and if it's this winter, we will surely include some of that beer in the plans. Thanks!

I would like your mother and you to cook my birthday dinner!!

I love that dinner party idea. Only thing... I don't think I've ever seen purple cauliflower in our stores. Brocoflower, yes; I guess that might be an idea. I'll be on the lookout for purple. Thanks.

I'm way behind. This was tonight's dinner: bruschetta; grilled prime rib; and a pasta with anchovies, red peppers I roasted a couple of days ago, garlic, olives, bread crumbs, etc.-etc.-etc.- Russ gave me the bone from this nice little prime rib roast for two (with one bone), one example of many ways to say I love you. Last night was hamburgers on the grill, after happy hour out. Let's see... this past week... went out one night and had pho. Yum. Another night I made roasted eggplant dip and spiced pita chips and veggies. The recipe called it a milder version of baba ghanoush, as it had no tahini. I think that was the night we grilled steaks and peach halves, roasted cauliflower! and had penne pasta with butter and fontina with it. Now we are about to have some apples sauteed in butter and Johnnybird's toast dope, with vanilla ice cream on top. I apologize for the close-up photos, which are not so gentle on the eyes. I'm experimenting and practicing on my food photography. I wish I could do better on the close-ups, but I'm not good at that.

Walt, thanks for the post. We are trying to decide when to go to the festival, and I was going to post a note asking who had been yet. I'm wondering how it is going, and if there is anything remarkably different this year. Sorry, but what did you mean by a soft opening of the booths the night before with shorter lines? I was a little confused by that tip, since the festival is 45 days long. Yes, Illuminations is great while sipping!

Kris, I enjoyed the article about sake in the current issue of Food & Wine and I thought of you. I haven't seen a mention of matching up sake, wine, or beer with your beautiful foods. What beverages do you enjoy with dinners, and what are some of your favorite pairings?

It was Dogfish Head's first medal?! I had no idea! I see also in category 10 was an Orlando brewery I've never heard of... I'll have to check that out. Iron Hill two, and this was Dogfish Head's first medal? I am surprised. I'm very happy to see Goose-Island-anything win, but especially an IPA. Wow, Dogfish Head never won a medal before? You who know me and know of my previous love-hate relationship with Dogfish Head beers might think I'm trying to be sarcastic rather than facetious, but I am sincere in my surprise. Of course, this could mean that I've been right all along... it's been only in the past year or two that I have thought his beers are worthy of their fame. Finally, the different batches are consistent with each other and reliably good.

I do understand the appeal of something like that which is a carry-over from childhood. It's like it's not necessarily peas, but a food unto itself.

I will be happy to mail you some cans of Goya beans! Please email or PM me if you would like me to... No reason for you to do without something that you miss which is so easy to get here!