HungryChris

TJ's pork & red sauce tamales. I buy them fresh, but freeze them. Six minutes of steam and PR seems about right for four frozen tamales. Served with nachos, pico de gallo, sour cream and fresh salsa. HC

RRO, we need your full attention to stay on track here. Get well soon. HC

Begal with cream cheese and homemade gravlax. HC

One of our favorites: Korean BBQ rotisserie chicken with fresh potato salad, Brussels sprouts (I don't know if it is my Irish genes, but I am compelled to serve my sprouts soft, not mushy and with a little bit of butter and cider vinegar). This is a meal we have at least once a month. I look forward to cooking it as much as eating it! HC

Anna, It is something I have been doing for many years and is a very simple refrigerator pickle. The basic recipe is this: to a quart jar add 1 TBS kosher salt, 3 large peeled cloves of garlic , 2 bay leaves and a TBS of dill weed. Pack whatever you are going to pickle into the jar and fill to the shoulder (where it starts to curve to the lid) with white vinegar, top off with water, secure the lid, shake to dissolve the salt and refrigerate for 3 days. When I do zucchini and onions, I will sometimes add a dash of crushed red pepper and a splash of Kens Italian dressing to give it a slight marinated flavor. I do the same with cauliflower, sliced frying peppers, par boiled pearl onions, par boiled asparagus, sliced, roasted beets and sliced raw turnip. For cucumber pickles (I grow the picklers) I omit the dressing. Green tomatoes, take about 6 weeks, but just about everything else is ready within a few days and never lasts very long in my fridge. When the pickles are gone, I will taste the brine and add salt, vinegar, dill and or garlic, based on what it seems to need, and more veggies go in. Piece of cake! HC

Anna, Pickled zucchini and onions and capers, yes. The pickles are something that takes a few minutes to make.I have come to use them in salads, sandwiches and as sides. They keep a nice little crunch. I am just about ready for another batch. HC

Found some fresh, small, Point Judith squid today and made fried calamari. A fresh potato salad side and spicy kimchi tartar sauce makes it a favorite. HC

1/4 begal and cream cheese, orange supremes and an espresso. I intend to try my hand at making lox in the next few days. That would make a nice complement here. HC

I used to work in a medicinal chemistry research lab that had a Rotovap that we used regularly to work up reactions. Typically, we used it to remove solvent reagents from whatever step in the process we were performing. I can see how it would be interesting to concentrate flavors, like the centrifuge, but having a small kitchen, myself, I couldn't justify the rather big footprint it would take up, not to mention the expensive collection of round bottomed flasks you would need to support it and their storage requirements as well. That doesn't even begin to take into consideration the setup time involved and the need for a vacuum aparatus. I can think of so many other items that would bring in many more miles of culinary adventure at much less expense. Just my two cents. HC

Chicken and dumplings? Well, yes and no... wings and gyoza, well, yeah. Greek salad rounds it out. We had a huge wind storm last night that downed a bunch of trees and power lines. Still running off the generator here, having lost power around 3 am. It sounds like the power will be out until around 11:00 pm tomorrow night. I was able to do the gyoza on the gas stove top and the wings on the gas grill. HC

Kimchi Bokkeumbap kicked up with a few items like last nights kielbasa, baby bok choy, onions and chili peppers. Major victory, as Deb will not touch kimchi, but actually put some of this aside for lunch! HC

Last nights scalloped potatoes, a fried egg and Russian rye toast. HC

Watercress, endive and avocado salad with a lemon, rosemary and caper vinaigrette. I have two rosemary plants that I am trying to winter over indoors. They seem to like the western exposure they are in. They have long spindly new shoot that are not at all woody and lend themselves quite well to the vinaigrette. HC

I just spread some mushroom compost on my little asparagus bed. It's 4 years old this spring and I hope this is the season that it actually puts some on the table. Fingers crossed. HC

Mortadella with zucchini and onion pickles on Russian rye with a side of pickled green tomatoes.

I am surprised that on the first Friday of Lent, I had to search so hard for fresh fish, but I covered a lot of ground before I found some. I had my heart set on fish and chips and finally found some fresh Stonington fleet cod. I spent one summer working for a local fish market and would often be sent to the fish docks to buy boxes of fresh whole fish. As part of that experience, I would see older individuals buying whole fish off the boats and that is what I want to do. I just have to work my way into that schedule. Anyway, we got our fish and chip fix tonight.

I normally open and eat these one at a time at the kitchen sink, but this time I changed the format for the sake of posting. Noank Oysters.

I would love to try those, but just not stuffed. I also have a thing about prawns (which usually means fresh water) and I am more comfortable with gulf shrimp. A lot of prawns are raised in questionable conditions ( raised by eight year olds down stream from the battery factory) in Asia.

Finally got to try out the new smoker. Hickory smoked baby backs, vinegar based BBQ sauce and slaw. The old one you plugged in and it reached whatever temp it reached. The new one lets you set the temp and the time. Much happier with that and the fact that you can simply open the door, pull out the racks and mop or spray. The old one you would have to take them out to get at them.. HC

Salads with a variety of lettuces, avocado, Compari tomatoes, cukes, pickled zucchini, pickled onions, pickled asparagus and blue cheese crumbles.

Nothing like it and the price is right. I do believe it to be well worth the effort from time to time, Shelby, and seeing that pic, makes me want to go out and buy a chicken today!

Just returned from a trip to Cranston, RI to replenish my supply of kimchi. The brand I like best is Kimchi Pride http://www.kimcheepride.com/about.cfm which for some reason is becoming harder to locate lately. The local Oriental market switched brands recently and now carries a brand that is good, but just not as good as this stuff. I started out buying the pint size jars and quickly graduated to the quarts, then moved on to the half gallon jars, which I love for my pickle making. When I arrived at the market in Cranston, they only had one left and I was faced with the prospect of leaving empty handed or with a gallon tub. I chose the latter. I think I am up for it. Kimchi fried rice, anyone? HC

Found some fresh gulf shrimp today. These were U-8's. Biggest I have ever stuffed. Deb loved them, but I think U-10's are about as big as stuffed shrimp should be. She marched through all three, but I only managed 2. Put a couple in the freezer for steak and shrimp down the road.

RRO, Now that is a sammich!!!! Gimmy Somma that! Happy Valentines Day indeed!

I couldn't wait to try the start in cold oil French fries. Had burgers and fries tonight. Had a russet big enough to hollow out and go to sea in so I turned it into fries. This method produced some great fries. Much less stressful and easier to coordinate with the rest of the meal. Thanks, Shelby!