BeeZee

Indeed, opening an oil-packed tin can be a little nerve wracking, I always go as slowly as possible to minimize the risk of splashing fishy oil on my clothes!

It's that time of the year at work...

Roasted carrot soup with ras el hanout, the color is intense!

The set of 3 definitely looked more like what I'm accustomed to seeing (I'm in a heavily Italian-American area of the U.S.), and like Smithy, I pronounce with "ch", have never heard anyone using "sib" in the pronunciation. We have used these for burgers since the crust definitely holds up to meat juice or other wetter toppings. The downside is the crust can be a bit tough to bite through as a sandwich...I sometimes will opt for open faced instead.

I may replace my black plastic/nylon things just because they are so old, and there will be deals for Black Friday - which brings up a thought I had in that if they are (let's say) 15+ years old, maybe they are less likely to be "contaminated"?

Available, but certainly not low in salt https://www.pacificfoods.com/products/pacific-foods/organic-mushroom-broth/

Miso, if you use a clean utensil to scoop it out of the package, lasts a VERY long time in the refrigerator. Commercially packaged stuff is fine for a year.

My first instinct was to say cinnamon, and black pepper is probably a staple, so I'll agree with chili (with so many varieties, you can really fine tune the flavor/type of heat).

Last year I gifted a 3 pack of local artisanal fruit jams/preserves, which was well received. I like getting food items that I don’t need to eat all at once, with the deluge of food around the holidays, it gives me a treat to enjoy later in the winter.

I challenge myself ala “Chopped” and dig into the pantry or freezer to find some odd bits I squirreled away and figure out some way to use them. When grocery shopping, I try to buy something that will enable me to use something I have on hand - for example, saw a nice little spaghetti squash at the market, and remembered I had pesto in the freezer and a little red bell pepper getting old in the crisper drawer, so there’s the veg for the evening’s dinner. Sometimes I just go to an ethnic market and browse the aisles like “window shopping” to imagine what I could use items for, and find inspiration.

What is everyone making, “tried and true” or anything new? I am probably only having 6 people this year, possibly 8 (sister is a last minute call, and BIL doesn’t eat turkey if he comes) so I decided to make the roast turkey breast with fig-olive tapenade that was a big hit last year. Nobody cares if we don’t have a bird to carve. I use a recipe for make-ahead turkey gravy that doesn’t rely on drippings. Starting with curried coconut and carrot soup. Veg will probably be simple roasted green beans with toasted almonds. Mom is bringing stuffing and twice baked potatoes. Stepson bringing dessert, and I will have ice cream on hand.

Grew up on Long Island, NY and bluefish was a local catch. As noted, it has to be fresh or it tastes really strong. Last time I had it was at a local Greek-owned diner that always prepared fish well, “special of the day”.

I am in the same boat, Smithy, I love salads but as the weather turns cooler, they don't hit the spot in the same way. I try to keep some soup on hand to have alongside for the "warming factor".

Watching Ina Garten this morning inspired a riff on Charlie Bird Salad. I had leftover cooked farro and sweet potatoes, added some cooked shrimp, used a bit of goat cheese instead of parmesan. Very simple and will make it again (in some form!).

Straight out of the tin, with a plastic fork. The fish was in small chunks, rather than fillets (the little veg cubes were underneath), but the flavor was really good.