chromedome

The reflection in this image fooled my eyes briefly, and made it look like a deep cauldron. I thought "Gee, that's a really impractical pan for lasagna..."

There was something similar on tap from one of my local microbreweries when I was last at the liquor store. It was interesting, but not something I wanted to fill a whole growler with, so I walked out with a non-holiday themed double IPA instead.

I'm on the homestretch now, with a last two trays of brown-butter shortbread cookies in the oven. I have several dozen mini-loaves made ahead and frozen, and I don't even know anymore how many dozens of cookies. Today I begin assembling baskets for the neighbours here in our building, and then over the weekend I'll make up the ones for friends and immediate family. Each basket will contain a few mini-loaves and a selection of cookies. The ones for friends and family will get the "fancier" cookies, larger loaves made in 6-inch paper tube pans, and also some rum balls and chocolates if I can find the time. I know nobody in our immediate circle has a drinking problem...I wouldn't give rum balls to anyone I didn't know just in case. Last night my GF and I treated the kids from our building and the next building to a holiday cookie-decorating spree. There were sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies, homemade icing in bowls with spreaders, store-bought icing in squeeze tubes for details, all manner of sprinkles and decorations, plus crushed hard candy in various colors and Skittles and Smarties (like M&Ms but flatter). At peak I think we had 18 kids, most of them 8 and younger. It was a lot of fun for everyone, except perhaps the parents who had to put them to bed for school afterwards.

In similar circumstances, I've made soup. The salt mostly goes into the broth, where you can compensate for it. It's a frugality thing on my part, of course. Tossing it is also a perfectly valid option.

Toast some pine nuts in a pan, then tip them out. Caramelize some onions, than add a generous double handful of green seedless grapes. Stir until the grapes are heated through and acquire a beautiful, milky jade color. Add back the pine nuts, and some chiffonaded fresh basil. Serve with grilled or broiled chicken breasts. It's one of my favorite things to do with pine nuts, other than the inevitable pesto.

Then there's this... https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/weather/2019/12/17/australian-man-slow-roasts-pork-his-hot-car/2673073001/

I like the foam dispensers too, because they appeal to my frugal streak (and when you wash your hands a LOT, using less soap helps keep them from drying out). Diluting your own hand soap of choice to make it work in the dispenser is actually pretty trivial. Depending on the soap, you'll need to dilute it 3X to 5X to make it foam properly. Start at 3:1, swirl to mix well, then try pumping. If it's not giving you a smooth supply of foam, add water a bit at a time until you get the right mixture. Once you know the right proportion for your own soap and dispenser, you can (ahem) "dispense with" the trial and error in future.

If you like 'em with balsamic, try pomegranate molasses sometime. A similar balance of sweet and tart, but with some nice fruity notes. And the color is much more complementary.

Quebec only, Coaticook brand cheddar, for potential listeria: https://www.inspection.gc.ca/food-recall-warnings-and-allergy-alerts/2019-12-16/eng/1576561478528/1576561485300?utm_source=r_listserv

To me it feels like an induction version of my large electric skillet. I'm not in the market for such a thing, but I can certainly see the utility of it.

On a somewhat related note: https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/12/judge-serves-up-sizzling-rebuke-of-arkansas-anti-veggie-meat-labeling-law/

An update/expansion of the Sunflower Crisp salad mix recall: https://www.inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/complete-listing/2019-12-12/eng/1576180047004/1576180047316

https://ny.eater.com/2019/12/5/20978234/tripadvisor-best-nyc-restaurant-rankings-scam

Foreign matter (plastic) in PC brand cranberry goat's milk cheese: https://www.inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/complete-listing/2019-12-11/eng/1576113490340/1576113496379?utm_source=r_listserv

Two words for you... "medicinal purposes." My paternal grandfather didn't hold with drinking, and had no respect for anyone who did drink. He did, however, keep a small bottle of brandy on hand for when he had a headache (a "bad head" in Newfoundland parlance, oddly echoing the French expression). These headaches occurred with suspicious regularity at the end of each week, though in fairness he reportedly only had one glass each time.

A friend of mine had a hollow one years ago. The whole point of the exercise was to fill it with ice cubes, so it would keep your pastry super-cold as you roll it. I can't say I was impressed with it. I have two, a tapered one and one with handles. The one with handles is about 16" wide without the handles, and the...uh...barrel?...of it (the business portion) is about 3, maybe 3 1/2" in diameter. Works pretty well.

Good enough. Lots of crisp skin. The bird of course was well done, because that's how this particular recipe works, but it was tasty enough and still moist. I bought two while they were on sale, and will probably do something different with the other one, but the results were perfectly acceptable.

It's just the loin. When you're talking about beef, it's the "NY strip." (ETA: In humans, it's called the "OMG, what have I done to my back this time...?")

As it happens, duck and Brussels sprouts were on the menu at my place tonight, too. The duck was a version of the five-hour slow roast that's been going around of late, and the sprouts were tiny ones from my garden (blanched and frozen a few weeks ago after harvest). In my case the sprouts were caramelized slowly in a skillet with onions from my garden. Other sides were roasted potatoes (in duck fat, natch) with roasted carrots and parsnips (the latter also from my garden) and braised cabbage (ditto) with onions and apples. No photos, alas, as my kitchen is currently a shambles with Christmas baking. Also laziness...

"Sunflower crisp" salad kit from Fresh Express, for E. coli. https://inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/complete-listing/2019-12-08/eng/1575846136193/1575846136974?utm_source=r_listserv

I only eat them sporadically (unlike a friend, who grew up in the stereotypical Big Irish Family that went through 100 lbs/week) but you don't need to be a frequent binge-er on french fries or potato chips to see the problem with a major shortfall in production of a significant staple. Bad news for everyone.

Oh, and fwiw the link works fine for me.

They're not tempered glass, so they're susceptible to thermal shock. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Personally, having gone to the requisite effort, I prefer not to risk the ignominy of scraping a batch of mixed jam and glass shards into the trash.

It certainly can't hurt to try. It's quite striking the difference aquaculture practices make. There are two salmon-rearing operations in my immediate vicinity, and when I opened my restaurant I tried them both head-to-head. One is among the largest players in salmon production, and they cater primarily to the price-sensitive mass market. Theirs was just sad...pale in color (not that color *really* matters) and equally insipid in flavor. The other was a smaller operation targeting a higher-end market niche, and theirs was vastly superior in every respect. Better color, better flavor, thicker fillets, firmer texture. Their cultivation practices were better as well, with pen densities at less than 1/3 of the populations stocked by their larger competitor. They also produce their own feedstocks, as opposed to buying feed. You'll have little trouble guessing which supplier I opted to use...

I had a similar mishap with my most recent pot of steel-cut oats. Thought I'd turned the pot off, but instead somehow had just lowered the induction hob to its lowest setting. Left it to "cool" for an hour, and returned to a smell of overdone oatmeal cookies. About 2/3 of the pot was salvageable, though I deliberately didn't scrape out as much as I could have in order to limit the whiff of scorched-ness. Too damned cheap frugal to throw it out, so that's been my breakfast the past two days and I'll finish it tomorrow. Next batch will be babysat with the vigilance one normally reserves for a 3-year old with ADHD and a bellyful of chocolate-covered espresso beans.