BeeZee

Between this thread, and the thought of a co-worker en route to Scottsdale...I'm hating the winter just a little bit more (as I sit here at home in my sherpa fleece lined sweatpants).

Fuji with a touch of lemon juice should work well as Granny Smith alternate. Couple of months back I had bought some GS apples for a recipe and they were almost sweet. I prefer tart apples, but the Cosmic Crisp is pretty tasty.

Having signed up for emails from Wild Fork, just got one this morning that they are opening a store about 5 minutes from my office. Nice.

I can recommend City Peanut Shop’s peanuts from Boise, Idaho. We got some at the office as part of a Holiday gift basket. www.citypeanut.com I have had the plain (Virginia Redskins) and the BBQ, those have a little “kick”.

Chicken cacciatore-ish. Couple of enormous bone in breasts. Served with farro.

Panko crusted tilapia, creamed spinach, garlic-herb “Right Rice” (atoning for last night’s carb laden dinner). Managed to hit the timing perfectly on the fish to get crispy brown topping while keeping the filet moist.

Local Asian supermarket has a "special" for 2 lbs of wing flats (they call it "middle wing") for $6.99. Prices are indeed inflated at the moment. I know I used to pay 99 cents/lb on sale.

I would have liked @Kim Shookgrilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch, since I'm at the office had to make do with cream cheese on a lousy supermarket bagel, served with tomato soup from a carton. The original plan was to melt some provolone over the bagel halves in the toaster oven, but it was moldy when I pulled it out of the fridge. But I can only dream of that delicious Soul Food spread!

@liamsaunt, was the flounder simply poached in the curry broth to cook? It looks like it's holding together very well rather than flaking apart.

I feel your pain...my husband uses flavored creamer for his coffee, but likes to dilute it with half+half. Usually the half+half goes into the flavored creamer bottle, rather than the other way around, but I've learned to check before assuming.

We got take out Thai for NYE dinner…a place we had previously tried not long after they opened last year, and hadn’t gone back since we were underwhelmed…but they seem to have found their footing and we had a good meal. Nice to have another option for take out that is so convenient!

Thanks for the perspective, everyone. I was considering using Wild Fork for seafood. We don’t eat a lot of meat, on the rare occassion that DH wants beef, the local options work fine for his tastes. We probably eat seafood more often than other proteins, so I’m focused on that first. There is a good Asian market near my office, if I plan ahead and bring a cooler (I have a 45 minute drive home)…might see what options they have, as well. I have bought produce there, which was very good.

Having resolved to clear the overstocked pantry and freezer…Thanksgiving leftovers (fresh roasted sprouts) and Stove Top cornbread stuffing. Of course I made a huge amount of mushroom barley soup today, so no net gain in freezer space😆.

This, plus the metal implement you use as the chisel should be warmed.

I see that @weinooand @KennethTmention using Fresh Direct...I'm kind of fed up with my local supermarket and am contemplating using some alternate suppliers (especially for seafood). Any perspective on what you think they are "best" for vs what they don't do well. I am still leaning towards buying the majority of produce locally (Whole Foods or Wegmans) since I can't wrap my head around trusting someone else's judgement for most of that (particularly fruit). I looked at the prices online and for sure they aren't as low as the local ShopRite for "basics", but they aren't unreasonable given the convenience.

Had to cut back on things for a couple of days since DH sent his blood sugar through the roof with his gorging on sweets and carbs all week (he's type 2 diabetic and does fine...if there is no temptation). Modified fast on Friday. Saturday was baked orangy roughy with nut crust, asparagus, and Right Rice (faux rice made from lentil flour, it's marginally edible). Sunday was Asian coleslaw salad with chopped up grilled chicken and toasted pepitas (actually very tasty - a recipe not to be repeated since it was a "mix in the bowl" kind of thing).

THIS! I have a box of latex gloves that are put to use when I make ground meat balls/patties/loaves. And some of those shrimp, what did they eat, yuck! I've started buying "EZ Peel" shrimp sometimes just so I don't have to deal with deveining. I love my kitchen shears for trimming raw chicken, I can hold it with a utensil or gloved hand and "snip snip" with the other.

I have a dishwasher and rarely use it, I find hand washing dishes meditative and the noise as it runs for an hour or two just annoys me. As a two person household, we wouldn’t have enough dishes to justify running it most days, I can’t stand the idea of leaving dirty dishes for multiple days…so it generally gets used when we have guests for dinner. Which is to say, rarely these days.

The one item I know I bought as a direct result of a post by @andiesenji was a silicone muffin "tin". An instant read thermometer also replaced my old style (probe with dial) one. Popsicle molds purchased after reading @blue_dolphin's posts.

This takes the prize for 2nd strangest Holiday office food gift, ever. First prize was the crate of potatoes from an Idaho-based vendor.

No shortage of Philadelphia cream cheese bricks at Shop Rite, but they did have no or very few tubs of the flavored varieties except for chive.

Trader Joe’s Belgian butter almond thins. Thin, crispy, and buttery. Not overly sweet, very nice with tea.

@liamsaunt, I love the "boat" cut on the roll, great way to hold those scallops in!

It's the most important meal of the day! This time of the year...Christmas cookies at the office. The chocolate one has melted mint/chocolate candy as frosting (guessing Andes).

Whole wheat/oat and berry (mixed, frozen) muffins. Used coconut sugar, so they get rather brown.