[Cincinnati Help?]

9 hours ago, liuzhou said:

What's the fuss about? I used the common American term first. I merely pointed out an alternative name. I wasn't attacking anyone or suggesting anyone was wrong or asking anyone to change their vocabulary. Calm down!

I don't think anyone is really fussing.  I know I wasn't.  I think it's mostly interested chit-chat.  

[The Crusty Chronicles. Savories from Bakeries.]

From looks only Opie's seems to win the pastry prize - flaky with no visible goo!

[Snacking while eGulleting... (Part 3)]

[Cincinnati Help?]

1 minute ago, liuzhou said:

 

I only used it as an alternative name, which some, probably a minority, in the US do know.  I gave the better known term in the US, first.

Perfect.  A teaching moment, then.  😁

[Gotten any fun stuff lately?]

My last book order for a little while:

It looked fun and was only $4.  

[Cincinnati Help?]

I confess I had to look up "mange tout".  I'm 61 and I've lived all in a few different regions in the US (including the Cincinnati area) and I didn't know what it meant.  I'm not being condescending, but I don't know that your average Cincinnatian would know it.  

[Show us your coffee cups!]

I am not much of a hot beverage fan.  An occasional cup of tea or cocoa - no coffee EVER.  I so looked forward to becoming a grown up in order to appreciate coffee.  I loved the whole business of adding sugar (and swore I'd only use cubes) and the swirling cloud of cream.  But I guess I never did grow up because I still detest the taste of coffee in any form.     I do, however live with a man who must start the day with at least 3 cups of coffee and who ends each day with a cup of tea.  So, I do have cups.  Here are my favorites.  These went on my wish list many years ago and Mr. Kim made sure that his parents knew.  They gifted them to me for my birthday that year:

 

These I got myself at The Christmas Tree Store:

 

This one is very special and no one drinks out of it:

A good friend, who used to go to England every few months and knows my incurable Anglophilia, brought this back for me after the birth of HRH Prince George.  It is the official commemorative china from the Royal Collection Trust and one of my sillier treasures.  

 

[SF Bay Area imbiber]

Welcome!  Looking forward to your contributions! 

[Caesar Salad]

Not necessarily for yours, @MetsFan5 (which looked delicious, BTW), but just to add to the mix, the best Caesar I ever made was a Geoffrey Zakarian recipe.  It is a fairly classic (though with anchovies and mustard, not perfectly authentic) recipe and the big difference it seems to me is the use of white anchovies.  They were a bitch for me to find, but they made the salad.  I'm not particularly picky when it comes to Caesar salad - I've enjoyed practically every version I've tasted, but this is a truly special one.  

[Dinner 2020]

@Ann_T – I just showed Mr. Kim your Tourtiere pictures and a few minutes later he said, apropos of nothing in particular, “Do you ever think what it would be like to be able to drop by some of your eG friends’ houses for dinner?” 😄

 

@David Ross – I showed Mr. Kim and Jessica your lamb burger and they both have requested it. 

 

@Captain – I would give a LOT to be able to get short ribs that look like that.  Wow.

 

@Raamo – I’ve bookmarked that rib recipe.  They look beautiful.

 

@shain – that gallery of Focaccias is gorgeous! 

 

@weinoo - "Screw the grill".  We said that some time ago.  I know you were joking, but we probably haven't used our grill for 3 years, at least.   😄

 

A lot had to happen for dinner to come together last night.  I made some bread in the bread machine:

 

Then I made gravy.  My roux:

 

Before reducing:

 

Finished gravy:

Dinner also involved using up some leftovers – broccoli casserole from last night:

 

I also had still more chicken leftover from the chicken spaghetti and the quesadillas, so:

Open-faced chicken sandwiches with gravy, Stove Top (the dregs of a cannister – SO salty.  Note to self: don’t buy the cannister pack anymore), candied sweet potatoes made from a can in our “stash”.  And I also found a can of cranberry sauce in the stash:

 

Open-faced sandwiches with gravy are a favorite of mine and I’ve been craving this for a long time.  Nice to scratch that itch!

[Experimenting with my Bread Machine]

I made a decent 1.5 lb. loaf of the "Soft Bread" from the owner's manual of my machine:

 

 

My frustration at this bread machine just grows and grows.  I was in the dining room when I was using it to make the Milky Loaf on 8/28 and never heard the “beep” at the end.  I think that the “keep warm” function allowed the loaf to overcook.  So yesterday, I set my phone alarm for a couple of minutes before it was supposed to be done, so I could be beside it and make sure that the “beep” sounded.  I checked the time left when my alarm went off by tapping the “Start/Stop/Pause” button less than a second (as the instructions seem to say).  I must have paused it, though, because when I checked it again, it had the same amount of time on it.  Sigh.  I never heard the beep because I just took it out at that point.  I really don’t know if I’m going to be able to make anything besides the basics.  No matter how much I read it, I can’t seem to understand how to change it from the default settings. 

[Ugly Delicious on Netflix]

Mr. Kim and I have watched it in its entirety for the past few weeks.  Jeez, he can be a real horse’s ass.  I understand he’s split with David Meecham and done the obligatory Mea Culpa Tweet, but still.  In the New Orleans episode, it opens with him saying how much he loves Galatoire’s and then he proceeds to disrespect it by not following their dress code and mocking them on air about having one and being staid.  Dave, if you love the restaurant so much, you have to know about their dress code.  And, no, being a chef does not make you special and exempt from showing the respect of dressing as the restaurant requires (also looking at you, Duff Goldman and Antonia Lofaso).

 

In the pizza episode he orders Domino’s pizza to be delivered to Lucali, an Italian-American pizzeria in Brooklyn where he and Meecham are interviewing the owner/chef Mark Iacono.  He insists on both of the others tasting the Domino’s and excuses himself for liking it by saying it’s what he grew up with.  In later episodes, he becomes visibly irritated at non-Asian-Americans cooking Asian foods. 

 

The shows were interesting and I loved seeing all of the places all over the world.  We finished Somebody Feed Phil before starting Ugly Delicious and it was great seeing some of the same places in both shows.  Watching the delight that illuminates Phil’s face when he tastes something really good is such an improvement over Dave’s, “That’s so f***ing good.”  

 

Having said all of that, there is something very engaging about Dave Chang and I loved seeing him with his parents and wife.  And, of course, he's a Northern VA boy, so I have to root for him. 😁

[Breakfast 2020!]

16 minutes ago, pastameshugana said:

So last night I was working on another sourdough (baking it often to try to improve it) and it was looking good, and in final proof, when I heard hair-raising screams outside and my youngest came through the front door yelling "dad come quick!"... So, daughter #2 fell off a little ledge, about 4 feet, into a big nasty patch of cactus, hitting it with sufficient force to drop her onto her bottom and then forward onto her arms... And of course in summer kids are never dressed appropriately to handle stuff like this.

 

I had to cut her clothes off and carry her back to the house, and it took 3 of us 2 hours to get the 'big' needles out. A long soak and ministrations from mom-meshugana and she's doing much better today, thankfully. Parts of her looked like she had fur they were so thick.

 

Needless to say, the sourdough proof was forgotten about, and it collapsed. But after the drama I rediscovered it and tossed it in the oven anyway, and it turned into a ridiculously good french toast in my wife's hands. She paired it with a spinach omelette, and blueberry syrup that the (formerly poky) daughter made a couple days ago.

 

Oh, NO!!!!  I am so sorry that happened to your daughter.  What a trooper to have to endure all of that.  If it helps at all please tell her how sorry I am (or not if it would embarrass her to know others know about it) and that I think she's had to be very brave and I admire her!

[Cincinnati Help?]

I think that @dtremit and @blue_dolphin have given you some good feedback.  I very much agree with @dtremit's comment regarding finding bitter melon in stores specializing in Indian ingredients.  We have stores in my town that say they specialize in Asian, Hispanic, and Indian foods and I've had good luck finding things in these stores.  Duck quarters may be an issue unless they go to a specialty butcher shop or a halal market.  I think all the recipes that you came up with sound interesting and doable! 

[Gotten any fun stuff lately?]

@andiesenji - If you can manage it, I'd love to see a picture of it in your hand.  

[Hello from S Florida]

Welcome, Carol!  I'm really looking forward to seeing your food.  Do you do any Portuguese baking?

[Ice Pick - Recommendation needed please]

23 hours ago, Hassouni said:

https://www.cocktailkingdom.com/pitchfork-ice-pick?___store=default&UseLoc=US

 

As someone who uses an ice pick almost daily, let me tell you that you want a multi-pronged one, such as that

Thank you, everyone.  I think we're going with this one!

[Dinner 2020]

On Friday, I put together some Chicken Spaghetti to take to a fellow church goer and his mom (this is the guy who didn’t wear a mask and exposed us to Covid😠).  Before mixing:

 

After baking:

This makes a LOT and so the plan was that half would go to them with bread and a vegetable to make 2 meals for each of them.  And half would stay with us a become dinner and leftovers.  Unfortunately, my MIL ended up back in the hospital and didn’t come home until yesterday.  So, I wrapped up the other half and Jessica took it out to them.   

 

Mr. Kim made a good salad tonight – with nuts and apples and much more interesting stuff than I usually manage:

Topped with Momofuko Ranch and fried rice noodles.  We had some leftover chicken from the chicken spaghetti, so I went with chicken quesadillas:

(Mr. Kim’s with jalapenos). 

 

Jessica is doing our shopping since we are seriously quarantining again, and she got tons of broccoli.  I did @Marlene's Broccoli Gratin with Streusel.  Before the topping:

 

Out of the oven:

[Lunch 2020]

@CantCookStillTry – lovely looking crust on that quiche.  Quiche is one of my very favorite foods and I hardly ever make it.

 

@BonVivant – I believe I got drunk looking at your gorgeous figs.

 

On Friday I was putting together casseroles for my in laws and a church friend and his mom (the doofus who went without his mask and exposed us to Covid so that we had to go back to serious quarantining for 2 weeks😠) and I realized at about 4pm that I hadn’t eaten all day.  So, it was yogurt and grape nuts for lunch (I guess it counts as lunch):

[Breakfast 2020!]

@Ann_T – your Tourtiere has haunted me here and on FB.  Seriously one of the most delicious looking things I’ve ever seen.

 

This morning:

“Biscuit Muffins” and a ham, cheese, and egg scramble.  I found a bag of the muffins in the freezer and had no memory of making them.  I looked at my website and nothing.  Finally, I searched “muffins” on my Kitchen Journal and found that they were from a mix someone had given us for Xmas.  We didn’t really care for them, but they dramatically improved by being frozen🤔.  Turns out that they are sold at Publix.  I’ll look for them next time we go there. 

[Favorite Cookie That's Not Homemade?]

Those Carr's Ginger Lemon ones mentioned above.  Three other favorites are Cadbury Fingers, Cadbury Crunchie cookes, and Petit Ecolier Dark Chocolate.  

[Ice Pick - Recommendation needed please]

5 hours ago, Hassouni said:

https://www.cocktailkingdom.com/pitchfork-ice-pick?___store=default&UseLoc=US

 

As someone who uses an ice pick almost daily, let me tell you that you want a multi-pronged one, such as that

Does it have a cover?  We are klutzes.  I have run the tines of a regular fork up my fingernails multiple times.  

[Dinner 2020]

1 hour ago, David Ross said:

Most of the time I keep burgers fairly simple, but this lamb burger was a little something more.  It's a lamb burger with Greek flavors, then a bed of cucumber raita and I came up with a feta fondue on top.  I really didn't want to add just a slice of cheddar or American, pepper jack didn't seem quite right, but I love feta with lamb.  Chunks didn't melt right, so I thought about a fondue style of feta drizzled over the top of the burger.  The raita and feta fondue are delicious on their own with crackers, bread or pita.

 

 

For the Burgers-

12 oz. ground lamb

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup minced red onion

1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper

1 tsp. American Lamb Spice Blend email American Lamb for the spice blend

 

For the Cucumber Raita-

1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced

5 1/2 oz. plain Greek yogurt

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp. chopped fresh mint

1 tbsp. chopped fresh dill

1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp. lemon zest

 

For the Feta Fondue-

1/3 cup Feta cheese with herbs

1/3 cup cream chese

1 tsp. American Lamb Spice Blend

 

For the Burger Buns and Garnish-

2 tbsp. melted butter

1/4 tsp. poppy seeds

1/4 tsp. sesame seeds

shredded iceberg lettuce

sliced tomatoes

2 tbsp. French fried onions

 

Make the Cucumber Raita-

In a bowl, add the diced cucumber, Greek yogurt and dill and blend.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  You can make the Cucumber Raita ahead of time, keep covered in the fridge.

 

Make the Burgers, Garnish and Serve-

Heat the oven to 350. Brush the top of each Kaiser roll with melted butter and sprinkle with the the poppy seeds. Brush the bottom rolls with the melted butter. Place the rolls on a cookie sheet and toast in the oven for 2-3 minutes.  

 

Combine all of the burger ingredients in a bowl and thoroughly mix to combine. Form the burgers into thick patties. Heat the olive oil in a heavy cast-iron grill pan over medium heat and cook the burgers until done, about 5-6 minutes per side.

 

While the burgers rest, make the Feta Fondue.  Heat a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add the feta and cream cheese and let it melt. Season with the lamb spice blend and season with salt and pepper. If the fondue is too thick, thin with a little milk.

 

To assemble the burgers, add some shredded lettuce on the bottom bun, then a layer of sliced tomatoes. Spoon some chopped Cucumber Raita on the top of the tomatoes. Spoon some warm feta fondue over the top of the burger, sprinkle with crumbled feta, then garnish with fried onions and add the top bun.

 

 

I did these burgers on the stove-top in a cast-iron grill pan, but they are even better on the outdoor grill.  

 

Are you being modest?  This is your award-winning burger, is it not?  I can't wait to try this!  👏👏👏

[Ice Pick - Recommendation needed please]

I have two picks like this one.  It claims to be stainless steel and perhaps it is, but the pick is coated with something silvery that is now coming off when used.  Does anyone have a recommendation of a good, but not crazy expensive ice pick for me?  Should I just go to Lowes and buy an awl?  Maxwell's sliver hammer?  Our ice maker is on the fritz right now, so we're buying bags of ice and with the hot weather the ice thaws on the way home and then we end up with a giant chunk in the freezer drawer, so we actually use one a lot.  Thanks!!!

[Moon Pies: have you ever had the experience?]

The problem with them, for me, is the problem that so many confections and snack cakes have - fake chocolate and oil-based coatings and fillings.  I've had bakery-made Moon Pies that were dipped in real chocolate.  They were very sweet, but delicious.