HungryChris

I also believe it to be a double boiler insert with a rounded bottom for a wire whisk. HC

Potato salad with the first chives of spring. Making this got me thinking about the jerk chicken with potato salad we had at Cuzzin's on St. Thomas so I'll be making jerk chicken to have with this tonight! HC

Corn beef, Lorraine Swiss and pickled ribbon zucchini on Russian rye

Thinking about it. Might do a white clam pizza pi. HC

I do have a blade grinder. The last time I was in NYC I went to Kalutyan's spice shop and bought whole cumin seed, but that was over a year ago. When I realized I was running quite low on ground cumin, I toasted some of that up and ground it. It was pretty good, but I think the age played a role in the result. Ground cumin is a big component in the rubs I use for smoking pork and I go through lots of it for both that and fresh salsa, which I almost always have in the fridge. I plan to use up the rest of the old cumin seed for pork rub. I also make big batches of salsa which Deb brings in to work to use as graft among her coworkers. HC

Fried eggs over easy, home fries with onions, bias sliced left over kielbasa and salsa: Speaking of salsa, got a package from Penzeys on Friday. More salsa, pico de gallo, gyoza dipping sauce and pickles!: HC

Welcome aboard, Stephanie, that Pho looks great!

Cicchetti night here. Little bits of what we have and what we like. HC I always insist on a salad. Dinner with daylight makes life so much better!

Poached eggs, home fries, scrapple and fresh salsa. HC

Fried scallops and a composed salad:

Yes, Instant Release...I struggled for the correct term. I had Yukon Gold, so that is what I used. They were quite good. HC

Stop & Shop has corned beef on sale this week and last for $1.96 a pound for the flat cut, which is the only cut I will buy. The point cut is best for pastrami IMO, not corned beef. I put it in the IP on the rack, covered with water, added the spices that came with the beef, bay leaves and 1/4 cup of Crystal hot sauce. Cooked for 90 minutes, natural release after ten minute cool down, wrapped in foil into a warm oven and added the cabbage and potatoes to the pot with the cooking juice for 3 minutes and pressure release. Best corned beef and cabbage I have ever had. I know my great grandfather, Timothy O'Learey was looking on with great approval! Deb could not believe how great it was either.

I'm probably being overly optimistic, but hope to plant Brussels sprouts this afternoon. HC

I love Bartlett pears. It has taken me far too long to understand how to deal with them properly, but this is my current method: Buy them when they are green and hard so that they are not easily bruised, Take the tag off of them as soon as you get home because it will rip the skin if taken off when ripe. Place them in a soft nest like place to ripen.

Absolutely one of my favorites!!!

About eight years ago I purchased ramps at the Union Square Green Market on a day trip to NYC. Even though I wrapped them up carefully in several layers of plastic, the smell of my knapsack for the remainder of that day is still brought up for my benefit from time to time as an example of how not to be socially responsible, travel in the city and on the subway. I did manage to get them home safely and planted them in a bed in what used to be my garden, until the surrounding trees just got too tall. Every year at this time I carefully rake away the leaves and watch for them to emerge and last year there were enough to start harvesting. This morning I had a quiet celebration as I noticed that they have just begun to emerge again. I think a ramp omelet is going to be the first order of business one day soon. Ramps 6, asparagus zip. HC

Tere. I buy it in 1 lb bricks (about the size of 1 lb of butter). It is about the same consistency as cold butter as well. I slice it into saltine like slices and fry it in a pan. You have to wait for it to crisp up before you can flip it without difficulty, then crisp it up on the other side. It is just one of those things (like beef tongue) that I was taught to cook at a very young age and it is a bit of nostalgia to me that I think tastes great. Others just can't get past the ingredients. HC

Poached eggs, Italian toast, scrapple and fresh salsa. Scrapple is one of those items that only goes in the grocery cart when I shop alone and only appears on the menu when I cook for myself. I suspect that I am not alone in this "scrapple purgatory". I believe that, given the opportunity, Deb would replace my feelings of persecution with shame. HC

Poached eggs, home fries and a "monkey dish" of kimchi. HC

Thanks very much, Ann_T , I appreciate it. HC

rotus, My plan is to build a fenced in patio for outdoor cooking, eating and entertaining in the warmer months and I want this wood burning oven to be a center piece that is both effective and aesthetically pleasing. I am thinking that it will be a half barrel type, but squared off to look like a small brick structure. Kind of along these lines, but with more muted colored bricks this one is by Hearth Masters Inc, Kansas City, Missouri, who's president, Marge Padgitt is the host on Wood Fired Radio http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/8/prweb9824205.htm :

Pepperoni pizza (kalamata olives on my half): The dough: Into the 550 F oven:

paulraphael Why does the time it takes to bake a pizza seem so important? If you can get a great pie out of the oven, that should be what you want. Looked great, tasted great, but didn't cook in four minutes? I don't get it. I do admit that I plan on building a wood fired brick oven outdoors in the future that I expect will get much hotter than my electric range can, but still, it's what comes out of the oven that I'm most interested in rather than how much time it spent in there. HC

After breaking my second pizza stone, I went to a local metal fabricator that I first went to for a custom heat shield for my wood stove. I had them cut me a 1/4" steel plate 16" X 17" to fit the rack in the small top oven of my twin oven range. They cut it while I waited and it cost about $20. With the oven and plate preheated to 550 F, it does a fine job with most pizzas in 11 minutes and I could not be happier. I estimate the plate to be about 20 pounds and care must be taken when moving it as it would do a number on anything it was dropped on. HC

Veggies and pickles . HC