Smithy

Sprouts "Farmers Market" in Yuma had pine nuts in their bulk section. Strangely, they didn't reveal the source. That probably means they're from China. I tasted a couple, decided they were good enough for my pasta purposes, and bought some. I put "Farmers Market" in quotes above because it is a store chain that feels more like a very good grocery store than a farmers' market...more like, say, Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. Nonetheless they can have pretty good stuff, and I'm glad one has opened in Yuma in the last few years. I'd have taken a few interior pictures to post, but the doors are posted with Very Stern Warnings against videos or photos.

The transglutaminase portion of this discussion has already passed, but...is this the topic you were looking for? Pork Reconstructed

I stopped. Truth is, I've never liked my own yogurt as reliably as I've liked what I could buy in the store. I'm not sure why the flavor was so uneven, but a few months ago I decided to stop trying to figure it out and work on other culinary challenges. Edited to add: there was no reduction in waste, either, since I had to buy the milk...and I still have whey left from the last batch!

Breakfast today, with apologies for the fuzziness of the photos. I didn't realize until I'd eaten that they were out of focus. I've switched favorite yogurts from Chobani Greek (plain, nonfat) to Fage Total, 5% milkfat. It's probably the fat content that gives the Fage a richer mouthfeel. I haven't been able to find plain Chobani with any fat for comparison in the local stores. At any rate, this is my new favorite. A quarter of the aforementioned Bacon Avocado supplements it nicely, and I got brave enough to add some of my homemade granola. "Brave enough?" you ask. Well, this was my first attempt at making granola, using my best friend's recipe and method as best I could remember it from a recent visit. For 1 cup of oats I added 1 Tbsp honey and 1 Tbsp safflower oil, then mixed thoroughly. I also added some sunflower seeds to the mix. Then I baked it all at 350F, turning and checking, for about 15 minutes. There are two problems with the final result. First, the granola is overtoasted: I cooked it too long and it's browner than I would prefer. My friend says she generally only cooks it for 8 - 10 minutes, and pulls it while it's still soft because it will crisp up as it cools. I was waiting for it to turn crunchy in the oven. The much larger problem, alas, is the pecans. These pecans are so tough to break that I have unwittingly added bits of shell to my granola. Ouch! Ptooey! I may throw this batch out and try again. I'm glad I made a small batch. The grapefruit is something I scored in Yuma on Monday. Folks around here have proflific backyard trees and are happy to share the bounty. It's almost like zucchini in the Midwest, except that AFAIK nobody is dropping off bags at night on doorsteps. I have been delighted to receive some of the bounty. I was a bit nervous when I peeled this one and discovered a slight blush to the fruit: I think pink grapefruit is much too bland. Happily, this grapefruit tastes like a proper white (or yellow, if you will) grapefruit. And I have several more!

I scoffed at the idea of cooking pasta in the Instant Pot, until I ran across a recipe for Chicken Bacon Penne in a Garlic Cream Sauce (from Pressure Cooking Today) and tried it. Delicious. As @JAZ notes, recipes that make the sauce while the pasta cooks in the same pot can work well in the Instant Pot and save some dishes afterward.

Once again, Amazon has saved me from buying the same cookbook twice. (I refer to Charred and Smoked.) OTOH I thought I already had ¡Cuba! and I didn't, so my library has still expanded -- even as Samsung complains that I'm getting low on tablet space.

Seen at the farmer's market: a sign advertising Bacon Avocados. Of course I had to investigate. I liked the information that these came from a California town, rather than Mexico. After another customer or two had finished swooning over the find and making their purchases, I asked about the flavor and quality. Very buttery, very creamy. Delicious! I was told. "Wait, but no bacon flavor? Then why are they called Bacon Avocados?" I asked. The salesman laughed, and said "I really wish the guy who developed them had been named Jones, or Smith, or anything other than Bacon. It would save me a lot of explanations!" I bought some. Here's yesterday's. Good flavor. Not as rich as the Haas, but quite acceptable...as long as you know you'll have to add your own bacon!

As I understand it, bulletproof coffee is also known as butter coffee, and people have discussed it here: Butter Coffee. I can't be much more help than that, because I haven't tried it. It doesn't look as though you need special equipment or sources.

Thanks for that info. It's interesting, and a bit discouraging, that they didn't get a (pine) nut crop at all last fall. I've signed up for their emails, and will keep an eye on their web site.

The pasta dish above would have benefited from some crunch. My darling thinks that croutons are the all-purpose crunch answer to everything, but the idea was off-putting to me. It wanted nuts. Specificallly, it wanted pine nuts. That made me realize that I haven't purchased or used pine nuts / pignolas for several years, and to wonder why. Was it because I was disappointed in them when they came from China? Was it because the pine nuts in the shell given to me as a gift went off before I managed to shell enough to use them? (@Darienne raised the question of unshelled pine nuts some years back, and got excellent advice about how to shell them, in the topic Nevada Pine Nuts. I'm still working on the pecans I purchased unshelled in 2015. I do not need unshelled pine nuts!) Does anyone know a good source of local pine nuts, preferably shelled, especially in the desert Southwest? I'm looking at @FauxPas and @lemniscate in particular, but anyone who has a favorite source should feel free to answer. I've posted this question also in the Pine Nut Source topic, looking for an update because @andiesenji's mail-order source is dead. Failing the local source, a reliable mail-order source or even grocery store source would work.

Does anyone (especially @andiesenji) have an update on reliable sources of pine nuts in/from the USA? The first link in Andie's post above is dead. Although I like the idea of the second source, I know myself well enough to know that I should not purchase unshelled pine nuts. (Unshelled pecans are bad enough!) Failing that, a reliable source of pignolas from Italy, or Spain?

The Pan did wonderful service again last night. I bought 3 pounds' worth of New York Style Calabrese sausage at the Stater Bros in Twentynine Palms when we went through in January. My darling thought it excessive at the time. Now he agrees with me that we should have gotten more. It has a delightful complexity of flavor that's most noticeable in a side by side comparison with other hot(tish) sausages, but that same complexity works well in a pasta dish like this. More gratuitous flower shots.

Lunch today. I really don't need this much. The salad is typically enough. But my darling just cleaned up the leftovers from last night's shrimp dish, so I DESERVE the remaining ham and spuds!

I thought you'd appreciate the "red" idea. Do you mean the whisk needs to be washed by hand, or are you referring to the pan? Not that it matters in the Princessmobile, since our dishwasher(s) are strictly manual. I have seen travel trailers with dishwashers, but those tend to be the super-luxury models that aren't intended to be moved much. In our case such a dishwasher would likely be used as a storage cabinet.

Same here! I think it's the same two books!

@rotuts, are you able to get spinach in bunches? It's a little more work than simply opening a bag and washing the contents, but I think there's a lot more flavor that way.

Happy Leap Day! I've been away doing things unrelated to food, although eating well. I don't know how interesting my salads would have been, or the mac 'n' cheese 'n' ham made from leftovers of our latest ham. Certainly the tube steaks cooked over the campfire, or the hash done on the camp stove, have been seen before. I'll show 'em again in due time. Maybe. Don't want to bore you. I posted about this in the Yard Sale topic, but I'll note it here too: at a recent yard sale to raise money for a bunch of musicians, I bought a wok pan / everyday pan in excellent condition. It cost me all of $2! It's the shape I've wanted for a long time, although now that I have it I'm challenged to find a place for it in the Princessmobile. There is no more wall space from which to hang anything, and it doesn't fit in the cupboards. For now it's living in my half of the closet (along with surplus dates, surplus olives, and presents awaiting my sister)(and, of course, clothes). It's too heavy to ride there for travel, though; the closet floor is too flimsy. I'll probably stow it in the underbed storage, or possibly the belly box, when we hit the road again. I have to weigh both items to be sure, but I think this pan outweighs the mandolin I also bought at that sale. Maybe the pan will simply ride atop the bed, with the musical instruments, when we move. @rotuts recommended a silicone whisk for the pan. Ironically, I had a nylon whisk that I'd bought for my darling to use when he scrambled eggs in his precious nonstick pan. I got rid of it because he didn't like the shape and he never scrambles eggs. I now have a silicone whisk, of the type recommended by rotuts, on order. Red. Last night I used the pan for the first time, and finally got around to trying the Butter-Poached Shrimp and Orzo recipe from Tasty.com that @Anna N put us all onto. I used asparagus from the farmer's market, instead of spinach. It was outstanding. A keeper of a recipe! And we have leftovers! Many thanks, Anna! Spring is springing here. So far the heat hasn't been brutal, but when the afternoon temperature pushes 80F outside the Princessmobile gets unbearably hot. I want to lie around and do nothing. Yesterday we went out for a stroll and found that a light breeze, and shade, made things better for both of us. It also gave us a chance to admire the flowers, which are coming out more by the day. One has to look carefully, though: many of them are tiny, and require careful attention to where one steps. There are exceptions, of course. The prickly pears are conspicuous. One still needs to not step on them.

rotuts, many thanks for that suggestion! In fact I did some whisking last night in the pan, and all I have with me is a metal whisk. I worried about scratching the surface. I'll buy one of those silicone whisks, pronto.

I grew up slathering butter (margarine, really) on saltines as a snack. Sometime in my adulthood when I started thinking about fat, I stopped - but really, it isn't very different than cheese on crackers! I may have to try some today. Mmm.

This beauty cost me $2 at a yard sale. It's in excellent condition, of the style that might be called a wok pan or an everyday pan. I like the rounded sides and the anodized nonstick surface. The bowl is about 12" across at the top. It's pretty heavy: my scale says 3lbs 2.2 oz, and I'd have guessed it to be even heavier. That may be why somebody no longer wanted it, since the sale was in a retirement community. I used it last night and delighted in its heft.

I've never bothered to reseason my unglazed clay cookware after long disuse. So far, it hasn't seemed to be a problem.

Welcome, Steve! I wish I lived near enough to come try your Key Lime pie or the Swingle; based on your description and your attention to the juice they both sound delicious. You're right that this is a welcoming and informative forum. Feel free to wander around, ask questions, and let us know about other aspects of your culinary life. Do you cook at home, and if so, what? You should also feel free to ask questions about how to use the forums, if any questions arise: either by sending a PM to a host (I am one) or by asking in the Moderation and Policy Discussion forum.

I should probably follow up with what we tried, given available materials: mixing par-cooked potatoes into it and finishing the cooking; cooking rice in the dish (with additional water, and additional tomato paste). Neither helped, and in fact succeeded in diluting the flavor without diluting the heat as FeChef suspects immediately above. It has been pointed out to me since this episode that cooking the rice (or noodles, or potatoes) separately and putting the stew OVER it, as kayb had suggested, might have had different results because of having two distinctly different flavors in each bite. We did not have yogurt available, and couldn't make a cooling drink such as lassi to tame it by accompaniment. Sour cream in the dish helped, but not enough. In the end, we fished out the pork chunks -- which were still delicious, although hot -- and put them on tortillas with chunks of avocado and a touch of sour cream. Perfection! The avocado turned out to be a nice accompaniment that cooled the spice-heat; the pork still tasted great; the flavor was not diluted. Thanks for the tips, folks. If I ever overdo it again I'll have some better ideas of what to try. The best option, of course, will be not to overdo the spice-heat.

Hello and welcome! What sorts of foods do you like to eat and/or cook? What was the book in which you found eGullet?

That's a great collection, Alex, and a great offering. I hope someone avails themselves of it. I'm interested, but not terribly surprised, at the overlap in our collections.