Smithy

FWIW I was in a TJ's earlier this week and, while I was checking out, heard two clerks discussing a cabernet that they'd found very disappointing. Based on what they said about it ($20 price for $100 wine! and "let it breathe at least a half hour" I think they were discussing this one. I'll be interested to see what the rest of you say about it. My TJ's loot is already stowed, so I have no photos. I stocked up on my favorite grilled and marinated artichokes; sun-dried tomatoes in oil; aioli mustard, a bunch of pastas. If anything unusual pops up as I unpack it, I'll post a photo and information about it.

I suspect it's the portability, combined with the new-toy factor, but I too would like to know whether it's better than cooking with a pan. Easier cleanup, perhaps? As I write this there's a 30% discount on the A4 and the pans, for the next 48 (and counting down) hours, using the code CHRISTMAS, so it's especially tempting. That said, I would like to know the answer to lindag's question!

It appears that the 3-pan combo (6-hole, octopus ball and deep pan) is also eligible for that 30% discount. Right now I'm looking at the A4 and that 3-pan combo, with free shipping, for $236.60 because of the discount. Tempting, indeed.

Thanks so much for this blog, @Shelby. I always enjoy your updates! What seasonings, if any, did you put in the sausage?

Hello, @Chocolatemelter - your question belongs in the Pastry & Baking forum, where the members can see it. Your membership has been approved, and you are now free to post there and in the rest of the forums. You may also wish to introduce yourself in the Welcome Our New Members! forum. See you around!

How did it go? Got photos to share?

Welcome, Paul / @Kb9kre! I think you'll find you're in good company here. The cooks here range from fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants improvisationalists to strict by-the-book cooks. I do a bit of both, but my best dishes unfortunately belong in the Journal of Irreproducible Results, much to the dismay of my husband. Come on in and join the fun! If you have questions about where to post something or how to use some of the forum's software, feel free to ask a host (I am one) by Personal Messenger, or else ask publicly in the Moderation & Policy Discussion forum.

Yayyy, it's huntin' season! I'm late to this party but glad to be catching up. I agree with you, going back a few posts, about the hypnotic effect of watching bubbles travel through clear piping. Your photos of the windmill and tub, looking into the sun, have a beautiful mood. Here's hoping it's a good hunt, and a good time. I so want to invite myself to one of these hunting parties -- I bet I'd learn a lot about being a successful hunter, as well as being a good cook! I'm looking forward to the feasts.

Braised beef short ribs, green beans with bacon, creamed corn casserole, crash smashed potatoes. I quite forgot the carrots, which we had today along with leftovers, and we were too full for the persimmon panna cotta. The beauty of going to all that trouble yesterday is that there was no cookery needed today except simply reheating. The caramelized carrot "salad", incidentally, was done by this method and was good even without the bearnaise called for in the recipe, although I did dab some remoulade sauce after taking the photo. I liked the extra kick.

How peculiar. At this moment, the 6-quart Instant Pot Duo is listed for $89.99, yet the 8-quart Instant Pot Duo is listed for $64.99! I think you started something, rotuts. Ah...I think the difference is that, as rotuts noted above, the 6-quart has wi-fi.

I hope you got a backup CSO while it was under $100! I missed it while I was dithering. Meanwhile, the Instant Pot Ultra 6-quart is $81.99. I think you like your Instant Pot? If you want extra flexibility for temperature control, and the extra safety feature of an automatic vent closure when you lock the lid in place*, this pot is for you. It's a heck of a good deal! *The vent can be reopened if you don't want it closed, but it automatically closes every time you lock the lid. I think it's a great feature.

The starter was about 1/2 cup of Old Home Plain Greek-style yogurt. I quit trying to keep a starter around last year because I thought my starter culture must have gone off. Then I tried using starters from different brands of yogurt that I liked, but got the same results. I had quit making yogurt because I liked the commercial results so much more. This yogurt became yogurt only because I ran out of time to try making burrata, and had to do something with that gallon of milk I'd bought for the purpose. Got any other ideas? You have a lot more savvy about this stuff than I do.

@Anna N, are you a kebabs type? I'm thinking of chunks of chicken marinated (or rubbed) and then skewered and browned on the grill. They need to be accompanied by (rubbed or marinated, then) skewered vegetables, but with all served over rice it's pretty darned good. The leftovers are good too. What a fun present! Even if you didn't want it! Way to go, @Kerry Beal's DNA!

AHA! After I decided to punt, I also opted for a glass of wine. That meant diving into the "wine cellar" under the bed. I KNEW the rings had been stored there! I had just forgotten that I'd stored them outside a storage sleeve* instead of inside said sleeve. *Yes, I know that storage sleeve looks like it contains Scotch. It doesn't. Any more.

I quite agree. What a lovely recommendation!

I must have been a squirrel in a previous life. Either that, or I'm doomed to be one in the next. I am very good at packing things into small spaces and finding unlikely storage spots. That trait bites me whenever I move, because I keep unpacking small spaces and having unlikely quantities come out, rather like 25 circus clowns disgorging from a Volkswagon Beetle. The other time it bites me is when I've squirreled something away, only to be unable to find it later. So it is now. I bought 4 ring molds specifically for a panna cotta dessert, tomorrow and again at Christmas. I know, I could simply cut the bottoms off a couple of cans, or use jars, but I don't have cans of the right size, and it's supposed to be unmolded and dropped (impossible from a jar), and I bought those molds specifically for the purpose. I also know that I should give up the elaborate lifestyle I prefer for the half-year we're in the Princessmobile. But I don't want to. So I've looked where I thought I had stored those rings, and the next most likely places. Next up are the really obscure squirrelly spots. And maybe I'll end up punting, and those darned things will appear only when we move out of this trailer.

Honestly, I'm with you on this. Our family always, always had ham with family feasts - and all too often it was that nasty "Danish Ham" in the roughly triangular can. To make matters worse, it was speckled with cloves, probably my least favorite spice, and probably drowned in some sugary substance. The one exception, all those years, was picnic ham: salty, fatty, not sweet like most hams. That's still about the only way I like ham, and it's a struggle to find what's called a picnic ham down here: cut from the forequarters, smoked but not sweetened. When I buy sandwich ham, it's for him. I get chicken, turkey or beef instead. All that said, ham with cheese -- as in ham 'n' mac 'n' cheese, or on grilled cheese sandwiches, or with eggs and cheese, works for me. I think the fatty cheese offsets the sweetness of the ham. Thanks for the egg compliment.

Ham is the gift that keeps on giving, isn't it? We brought with us 2 picnic hams, cut into smaller portions and vacuum-bagged, from a favorite meat market back home. The problem with cooking them so far has been that the meat is so good and each ham so small that the leftovers don't last long enough for my darling to make split pea soup. Split pea soup is his favorite thing to do with ham bones and leftover ham. So he bought another, cheap, whole ham the other day. Was it Dorothy Parker who said "eternity is 2 people and a ham"? We cooked that one, and the leftovers got split into two containers: nice slices for sandwiches, and little chunks for his split pea soup. The top photos in the collage below show carving the leftovers, and the beautiful potatoes and ham goo left over. We've been eating that separately. This morning we had to deal with the fourth flat tire of the trip. This one happened while we were minding our business, set up and camping. The valve blew, all on its own, while we were sitting inside. I think we have it fixed now, but my aggravation level is very high at the moment. Nothing would do but make scrambled eggs with ham and cheese for brunch after we'd finished. The plate with the fried tomatoes is mine. In other news: last night was our first campfire cookery of the season. It's been cold here - nothing like at home, but too cold for him to be comfortable sitting outside, even by a fire. We finally did it anyway, and cooked Polish sausages (also from home) over that fire. Those were accompanied by potatoes, ham goo and brusell sprouts that had been cooked at the same time as the ham. That has to be one of the saltier meals we've eaten lately, between the salt in the ham goo and the salt in the sausages.

Well, the Breville Joule 1100 Watt circulator is now on sale for $159.99 instead of $249.99.... Credit goes to @lindag for pointing out this deal here.

A lifetime ago, my then-boyfriend and I got a goose to cook for Thanksgiving. I don't remember much about what we did, but I remember that we got a LOT of fat from it and enjoyed cooking with it later. I also remember liking the flavor. Enjoy your goose! That's a great price!

So far I have learned that I really like what my prickly pear juice does for/to yogurt. My homemade yogurt has an off-flavor that I associate with some American-made "Greek" feta cheeses. The prickly pear juice cancels that flavor out, whether by masking or some interaction I don't know. It looks pretty, too. I relayed this all to the above-mentioned Sarah Lee-Allen, and she responded:

I've never seen Pyrex painted like that! I'm no collector and can't comment on the quality of the deal, but my take is that if you like the design and the bowls give you pleasure, that's not a bad price. I hope one of the cognescnti answers you soon.

My mother did something along the lines of a creamy lemon Jello with nuts and fruit in it. I'm pretty sure it included sour cream, as @dtremit suggests. I don't have her recipe cards at hand, but I can check with my sister to see what she remembers about it.

Broken yolk notwithstanding, that looks like an excellent lunch! Or breakfast, brunch, elevensies, midnight snack....

I wasn't terribly impressed with the drinks I tried. In a way that's good, because I had to drive all of 5 miles to get home for the night, but it was a shame not to find a compelling brewery. One red beer I tried had chile in it; it tasted watery at first, and then built an entirely-too-strong-for-my-tastes heat. I think it was habanero chile, but I'm no longer sure. A lot of the beers seemed bent on being very hoppy, very strong, and/or filled with some desert-themed fruit flavor that didn't appeal to me. I tried two white wines from Rancho Rossa Vineyards and Rescued Hearts Cellars, a non-profit organization. Their Casa Cuvee was a bit cloying for my tastes, but grew on me. I liked their Ziggy Stardust blend right from the start; it was crisp and bright and fairly dry. I won't say I'm ready to join the Rescued Heart Cellars wine club, but I would look for the Ziggy Stardust and for opportunities to try other wines from them, given their stated purpose. They're in Elgin. Farther down the path, after I visited the Sting Ray Touch exhibit (mesmerizing, especially at night) ... ... I found Town Under Black Distillery, with their Wild Heritage Spirits. Their Three Sisters cocktail is the only cocktail I tried that night. You can read the sign better than I can transcribe it. What I liked best from this stand was a deeper explanation of the Three Sisters (corn, squash and beans) than I've ever heard before. I always assumed that it was simply an idiom for the native trio of common foods. We have the Cajun Trinity in cookery. Why not the Three Sisters in the desert southwest? The woman from Town Under Black Distillery explained it further, that the three sisters support each other: the beans fix nitrogen in the soil; the squash provides large leaves to shade delicate seedlings; the corn stalk provides something for the beans to climb. I like that imagery of mutual support, very much. Here's the cocktail in question: The foam on top was the aquafaba. Some of the other samplers were delighted to learn that this was a dairy-free drink. It had an interesting texture, and I'm glad I had a chance to try the drink.