Smithy

I'm with Shelby on the hash browns. Great photos!

I've had kumquat marmalade once and thought it was the very best marmalade I'd ever had. I don't know whether it was because of the recipe or the kumquats. As a rule, I'm not a marmalade fan, but this was enough to change my mind. I'll be interested to hear how the pickling goes. It also sounds like a delicious way to use those little fruits!

Thanks for the link. I was wondering whether there was a Higgs Boson connection somehow. Now, seeing the choices on the menu, I'm reminded of a series of salsa marketed for a while under the brand name "Religious Experience". I don't remember any of the stages except their very hottest. It was titled "The Wrath", and the label was hot pink with lightning bolts. Back to barbecue sauce: I'm with gfweb about sweet sauces; most of them (IMO) are too sweet. I have been known to stand in line for good 'cue, though. It's a mystery to me how some places manage it profoundly well and others end up drying or shredding or undercooking. I'm still trying to get it right myself.

That looks a LOT like my mother's meringue cookies. She used Nestle's chocolate chips and walnuts, but they were one of my very favorite Christmas cookies. The combination of hazelnut and chocolate sounds good too.

"God sauce"?

You may find this topic interesting: Soylent (Food Replacement)

Cocktails can look so pretty! The Bijou is a fine example.

It looks like this on their web page, but I can't find a URL with which to actually send a link. Do keep in mind, though, that I took liberties with the recipe as noted in my earlier post: roughly the same quantities as in the recipe, but with slight differences in the ingredients.

We both thought it quite filling. The tortillas (and baking dish) I used only allowed 5 enchiladas, but I don't think they were oversized from the recipe. We each ate two, which was the serving size. My darling is just eating the last one now.

I've driven through Las Vegas a few times, but I'm not sure I've ever stopped there. My Nevada casino experiences have been in places like Reno and Laughlin, where the hotels or dinners were inexpensive. I'm looking forward to the sorts of foods and sights we'd be able to enjoy if we went to the fabled Vegas!

We have had some beautiful sunsets here. For reasons I don't fully understand - health issues described earlier? Age? - we haven't been making as much use of the campfire as we did last spring, or even last fall at the beginning of this trip. We did get out a couple of nights ago, however, when it was calm. We enjoyed the campfire... ...and then went inside to make hash. His favorite. I've been using the avocado pulp in various dishes. If I ever have reason to freeze it again, I'll follow @Nancy in Pátzcuaro's advice and puree it with a bit of salt and possibly lime juice. Most of this stuff is bland. It's possible the loss of flavor is because the fruit was already fading before I saved it. It's certainly edible. This morning I used some in a kick-over-the-traces breakfast: Quesadilla with shredded cheddar and avocado, warmed just enough to melt the cheese and stiffen the tortilla. Stiff enough to hold, gooey with melted cheese, avocado enhanced by the cheese. Good stuff. But I think a squeeze of lime in the puree would have helped.

Add me to the list of followers! I too would be excited to have a kitchen like that in a rental. If I were the rental owner I might be quaking in my boots about the damage renters might do to the equipment. Did you have to pass a security screening, submit references, anything like that? It's interesting to see the foods available in that "upscale" market. I noticed the D.L. Jardine's sauces - a Texas product - so that store is presumably casting a wide net. I'm surprised, though, at the prices of the Australian produce. I know Australia's a huge country, but have no sense of where things are grown. Did those stone fruits have to travel a long way? They should be still in season, I'd think. A fair number of folks should be able to answer your question about miso. @heidih, @Dejah and @ElsieD come to mind immediately, but I see it used in the cookery of a lot more members than those three. If the weather stops weathering, some scenery shots would be nice...and don't worry about pistachios and nachos for dinner. Heck, some of us here - no matter how much we like to cook - sometimes settle for popcorn.

This is going to be fun! Your kitchen looks like a very cook-friendly kitchen, and I admire the contents of your refrigerator and pantry. Like you, I'm addicted to cured meats - it's generally best if I just keep them out of the refrigerator, except during splurge times. Those croissants look fabulous. I hope you'll comment on prices as you go along. In my extremely limited experience with hotel casinos, the food is inexpensive because they're counting on the casino to make money and the restaurant to keep the casino customers fed. I have trouble believing that would be true of upscale places like Bellagio. Blog on!

...and here she is: Live from Las Vegas, it's Smokeydoke!

We got around to making the chicken verde enchiladas, with a few liberties taken. I didn't have salsa verde, but I had fresh tomatillos and some truly wonderful fresh tomatoes with which to make the simmered stuffing. I had no cilantro because my darling doesn't like it. I used chicken breast from a citrus-roasted chicken of a few nights ago. The enchiladas were baked rather than broiled, so the cheese melted but didn't brown quite as well as I'd've liked. Their picture is much prettier than mine! Still, we liked the results. I've bookmarked this one to make again.

Here's the last location shot. I understand it's also from Bellagio, and it's for their Chinese New Year celebration.

@ElsieD, how critical do you think the gochujang sauce is? I have sriracha and two varieties of Tabasco, as well as some Hatch chile salsas. I'm reluctant to purchase yet another bottle of something if, say, the sriracha would be an acceptable substitute.

Here are two more food shots she sent me. She says she used to run a Thai Food Meetup group. I'll save the last location photo for tomorrow.

Perhaps I should have started with this photo first, but I've certainly enjoyed the chocolate fountain discussion. In a past life, Smokeydoke worked in a pizzeria. This is one of her productions: Looks good, doesn't it?

You and I are of one mind on that smell. Then again there was the late, great H.L. Mencken, who reported upon visiting the L.A. area, "The whole place stank of orange blossoms." Our hosts' trees were putting out sporadic blossoms - enough for me to enjoy that smell also - but not as thickly as Porthos' FIL's tree. It is worrisome - and yes, I think it's a result of an unusually warm winter. Probably a sign of times to come.

I'm not sure where the shallots came from. I'll check, next time I see them. This, to me, is a tragedy that should be avoidable. There is something in the packing process that mutes or kills the flavor of the sweeter citrus fruit, in my opinion. It isn't just the navel oranges: it's also the clementines, tangelos, tangerines and to some degree the grapefruit. The best way I can describe the flavor is "tired" - as though the fruit has been sitting around forever and has lost its bright, acidic zing. Is it the sweating process? The fungicide? I don't know, but I wish someone could identify and correct the issue. There's no comparison to the fruit as it comes off the tree, and that's a shame for both the growers and the consumers. What this means, of course, is that most people never get to know the taste of a truly good orange. My best friend, who was from Colorado, claimed not to like oranges when we were in college. It took a single orange that I'd brought from home to convert her. The Valencias are more difficult to find because they're generally grown for juice. It's so long since I had one that I can't comment on how much their flavor changes from tree to market.

Yes it is! Those who wish to "dip" into previous foodblogs should check out the index here.

Jeez Louise! 1. I am such a hick. I should have assumed that a chocolate fountain like that would be readily identifiable to folks more worldly than I. You'll see some of her other teaser photos in the next couple of days, and you can feel free to tell me in what order I should have done them to prolong the game. 2. I told her you lot were quick, but y'all outdid even my expectations. So yes, Alex wins the No-Prize, with assists from ElsieD, munchymom and FauxPas. It's Smokeydoke, live to you from Las Vegas. In a couple of days. Next time, I think I'll try to run the guessing game in, oh, 2 hours.

You're better at object identification than I am. Here's the entire photo:

I'm happy to report that a member has stepped forward and volunteered to do a week of foodblogging! The blog starts sometime on Feb. 23, and I've been provided with a selection of teaser images. I've taken some liberties with the first image, to see whether y'all can identify the object from a visual excerpt. I had to look for a while at the full image before I could figure it out. I'll check in later to see how the guessing goes.