suzilightning

wow, gabriel. if that market is a week day i wonder what it is like on a weekend! what beautiful pictures and your food is spectacular. thanks for letting me hitch along for the ride - an i can't wait to show my boss the dancing pig

yesterday i was kidding with a couple i know at work saying they were on a date(nb - i used to have several couples who would hire a babysitter once a week so the husband and wife could go out for an early dinner at the local diner, do something else if they wished and then come to the library until we closed - 4 hours of together time). eileen said "yeah some date going to the library then grocery shopping". after work i stopped at our local pathmark(hey, last day of triple coupons and i had some nonperishables to buy) but it was packed. then i remembered - it was thursday. growing up every other thursday was grocery day(on the island) when my mom got paid. we went off island once a month for the non perishables and stuff you couldn't find in the local IGA - unless you could get a deal which, when you figure in the cost of shipping to an island, is rare. now i find myself shopping in a different, almost european? way. from june through august i use the farmers market, buy extra whenever i can and blanch and freeze. i buy pork and beef in bulk and add to the freezer whenever john is up to visit family i give him a list to suss out at Quattros in the valley for the freezer and fresh - as well as my order for christmas! when i am too busy to get to the farmers market on sunday i hit up the local farmstand and buy what they have grown - usually corn, peppers, squash, tomatoes, herbs and melons. i have also found a place that has good pork and chicken from pa as well as a deli that has my beloved prosciutto de san danielle for john's chicken saltimbucco. in the last three days i have been to the green grocers buying chicken tenders, prosciutto and provolone on wednesday for the saltimbucco, then today for a rib pork chop i had the butcher french so i could pound it and fry it to serve with apple sauce, a mustard, dill and caper sauce, sauerkraut with witbier and caraway seed. then i tend to buy any cold cuts in slices (eg - 8 slices which will translate into 2 sandwiches) and will buy them more frequently than my mom would. have your (i'm guessing more likely united states) shopping habits changed over time?

oh, my precious baby..... only 28 days today it has been snyders multigrain pretzel sticks stuck in a dip of miracle whip, toffuti faux sour cream and a packet of lipton onion soup mix, fudgy bourbon brownies and both deli potato and macaroni salad. what i am craving is red meat but it's too late for me to eat. tomorrow ...... edit to add - i want that crispy chicken skin.

i thought i ws through with this but yesterday WHAM and it was a baconator sandwich from wendy's along with a medium vanilla shake. today i am craving chocolate and meat..... when will it end? edited to add i will NEVER do this again. the burger comes with plastic cheese, flabby bacon and without a pickle, lettuce or tomato. but i ate the danged thing anyway..... the shame.

i copy out the recipes i'm interested in then save the mags up to send as a "little extra something" when i have FREE cookbooks to give away. you might try getting some Princeton files like the ones we use in the library to store magazines and definitely they should be alphabetical and chronological. good luck, susan.

ditto llc45's mention of zoe's. you can see my birthday dinner there in the foodblog i did. also in sparta is the Plaza Bistro which is BYO or Krogh's which is a brew pub. you might head to stanhope for Bell's Mansion or into Wharton for Hot Rod's BBQ.

or give her what john gave me for a birthday present one year - a .22 caliber rifle with a spotting scope and 15 round magazine. great for yard critters and threatening computers. you might want to add in some chalk, too.

Have you tried the recipe in the Les Halles cookbook? It's excellent. We add cream at the end, and a little white wine instead of the sherry. My husband also prefers to have mushroom slices in the soup, so I use a very large teaball, and put extra (additional) mushroom slices in it. Then I pull it out, puree the rest of the soup, and add the mushrooms back in. We love it. ← ditto on this recipe llc45. i made it with creminis instead of white buttons. neither johnnybird nor i are big mushroom fans but loved this recipe.

I have to ask if the Pac Man shaped potatoes are intentional? lisa, i didn't even notice them... no, not intentional but a blemish in the last of the white sweets from the farmers market so i just nicked the blemish out of each slice. but hey, if it would get him to eat more....

happy anniversary!! my rule is unless it is on the gift list on the fridge it has to be edible or potable. gift certificate to a favorite coffee shop? bottle of champagne? box of chocolates?(never mind - i did see your stash). have fun and celebrate each other and what makes you special as a couple

i am trying to contain myself since i am at the reference desk right now but i love the writing and your delving into the world of the fridge is wonderful. hey, freezing your bananas is the best way i know for banana bread or banana cake. just take the required number of pods out of the freezer, let thaw in a bowl and they are the perfect consistency for use. glad i finally got back to work to catch up...

lovely soups but it was about 90 degrees and humid here today. earlier in the week i did make a zucchini-rice soup that was served warm, not hot. it was from The Flexitarian Table cookbook which i would highly recommend checking out.

wow, i should NOT read this when hungry. now i'm craving imperial shrimp and figs... A few simple dinners recently since the hawkwatch is in full swing in our neck of the woods. This was for John. Pan fried salmon with a glaze of honey, lime and tamari sauce. The veg was zucchini and yellow squash with onion and a ton of white pepper and olive oil. Crusted chicken breast with white sweet potatoes and yellow beans in a dill and garlic hollandaise. This is what John requested earlier in the week: sloppy joes(manwich style no New Jersey deli style). I added the broccoli salad dressed with sherry vinegar, lime and some red pepper flake.

For John this past week it has been blueberry and apple cake. For me: or as the saying goes in our house "Apple pie without the cheese is like a kiss without the squeeze". John still prefers it for dessert and with vanilla tofutti.

I don't know much about Latvian cuisine, though I suspect it's quite similar to ours, as the cultural influences have been more or less the same (at least re: Russian and German influences). I imagine Scandinavian/Nordic elements are more prominent in Estonian cuisine.. Re: exotic meats - that's a tricky one. I don't think pork, beef and wild boar count as exotic at all I could go for some bear meat at Olde Hansa medieval restaurant, but not sure I'll have time during the week I will try, however, to use some little known fish in my cooking this week. And I'll get back to the topic on Scots food soon. Tomorrow, probably.. ← darlin' for some people around here vension is considered "exotic". bring on the boar, the caribou, and the fish. and the pork, please. i love my pork. your apple cake sounds a lot like john's german grandmother's . i still make it but use toast dope on top instead of the pearl sugar which is hard to find around these parts.

LOL I forgot to take final pics I must have been too hungry. To us, the Teal is the best tasting duck there is. It's not as "heavy" or "gamey" as other ducks. ← i agree. i prefer them to black duck or mallard but now you so rarely get them in season or in migration. <sad and grumpy face>

too, cool, pille we have a local restaurant whose owner/chef is latvian. any good(read exotic for most) meats? red deer/ caribou? or for johnnybird any salmon? what do you miss most about scots food that you can't get where you are now?

From professional reading the cover story fromPublisher's Weekly I also stumbled on The Reader's Club and this one as well while reading an article about Readers Asvisory at Reference.

ohhhhhh beet salad with goat cheese and walnut. yum.. i really love golden and chiogga beets but to no avail. johnnybird is the husband of 25 years and he says that they taste like dirt. course this is better than most of his family that feel that vegetable s are the devils work (quote from my father-in-law " do i have horns or antlers? of course i dont want anything green"). i'll take them roasted or as a borsht. thank you for the vicarious pleasure

hey catew and jtravel - spent a lot of time on Euclid Street. actually got engaged to Johnnybird there. he went to ESF which was based on SU campus. Definition of sun - a rare celestial occurance. worked with a guy from syracuse/liverpool. he made some of the best salt potatoes.... freaked everyone down here in jersey out the first time he served them at a party. can't wait. i hear dinosaur has reopened. someone i work with has a son in his senior year at su.... will alert her and said son to the blog.

tracey on that ride through sussex county this morning/afternoon did you hit up the farmers market in lafayette village? you should have stopped by and visited me at the library..... love the house and you are an intrepdid traveler. where is the daughter going to school? william patterson or ramapo? will keep my eye out at the yard sales next spring for miss cow's missing siblings

allan - maybe a hit of 30 minutes at a high hear for a crisper skin? what kind of cheese did you have on the beet salad - goat or feta? lunfortunately john can't stand beets so if i see them out - especially salad i go for it.

it was hot last night so tried a new recipe,blender gazpacho(very good). served with some coleslaw and a grilled chicken with sundried tomato and basil sausage. johnnybird is off at the Farm Aid concert. wonder what i should do for dinner tonight? edited to say i think i should have posted this on the regrettable dinner thread. wow what a clash of colors

i've read it and it is spectacular. especially the section on sag harbor and the fresh fish.

that looks like the makings of salt potatoes on the left - a syracuse specialty. and goodness knows there is tons of snow there as well. onions...... there are bunches of places that grow onions like near Florida. maybe phaelon or mrsadam?