BeeZee

caramel mascarpone pistachio gelato...oh my. I'm lucky my office is next to the kitchen, I keep going back to the freezer to scoop more into my coffee cup. I went to ShopRite by my office to poke around at lunch time (they have different stuff than my local store) and this was on sale for $2.88, a small manufacturer from Maine. If it wouldn't melt on my 45 minute drive home I might grab 6 more pints, it probably is being discontinued.

I am eating the crunchy raspberry, since I am compelled to try anything raspberry flavored. Not enough raspberry flavor, but the crunchy texture is nice. The candy shells are 3 colors, red, brown, and cream. They are sort of irregularly shaped due to the crunch center (ie, not perfectly smooth discs like standard ones). I think the mint flavor may be the best best, if they do it right it would be similar to Thin Mints. If anyone is looking for these, I bought mine at Walgreens.

Beautiful, thats a real labor of love.

I just had one of these bars. I think they call it "caramelized creme" because of the tan color, they didn't want you to expect the usual white chocolate flavor. I don't think the intent was a caramel flavor, but maybe the thinking was the salt from the pretzel was reminding people of salted caramel. The first note I detected was peanut, then as you chew you get the salt from the pretzel bits. I thought it was OK for a change, if you consider its not fine confectionery. I do like white chocolate. As a side note, they don't seem to be in wide distribution, I looked for a while before finding one (at Wegmans, and I think I saw them at Target last week).

@shain, I had leftover charoset for breakfast, also. Mine was simple, finely diced granny smith apples and walnuts, cinnamon, cardamon, honey. I should make it year round, I really enjoy it plain and on yogurt.

I prefer a matzoh ball with some density, mine were fluffy (ie, floaters), I make them from mix and use Eggbeaters instead of whole eggs, so the extra whites may have some impact. I made matzoh ball soup with lots of parsnips and carrot, brisket, bone-in chicken breasts, roasted yukon gold potato wedges, Mom made roasted broccoli and a Persian style quinoa pilaf. Dessert was brought by Uncle, mandel bread and macaroons (plain and chocolate) which felt like they weighed a 1/4 lb each. We had good wine (not Kosher) because there is a limit to our suffering.

Agree, if I am going to indulge, it has to be worth it. Something made in house, not just a reheated brownie with a scoop of mediocre ice cream on top.

Bungee cords

I bought freezer tape so I won't be dealing with mysteries on ice any more (AKA, defrosting something only to find it wasn't what you had expected). That's a step in the right direction. Plus, having eaten a lot of the frozen unknowns over the recent spate of snowstorms, I'm going in to non-replenishing mode.

Cooked an extra (small piece) tuna last night for planned leftover. Went to the market near my office at lunch time and picked up pita bread, an "ugly ripe" tomato (which was actually very flavorful), and crammed the lot (with a teeny tiny avocado from TJ's) into the pita. Yum.

I thought it was good, as well, because they kept it simple. I work with people who range the spectrum from highly educated about food, eats only organic (mostly due to food allergy issues) to moderately ignorant (type 1 diabetic who thinks there’s nothing wrong with his son drinking a whole Gatorade for breakfast, because he’ll “burn it up”) to heart attack waiting to happen (practically drinks ranch dressing and has fried chicken for lunch). If someone read it, I think they could grasp the message.

Avocado (teeny tiny-single serve size from TJ's) on Lundberg rice cake with Crystal hot sauce and black pepper. That vinegar from the hot sauce really works well with avocado.

Guy in Panera Bread in Princeton, right? I read that there were no hostages, and that he was suicidal.

brunch, since I have a snow day, working at home...lox and cream cheese on Wasa crispbreads. Fuel for the first round of shoveling (DH is out of town, I plan to do a couple of intermediate shovels so I'm not left with a foot+ of the heavy stuff to push myself).

another freezer dive...decided to take an extra work at home day prior to the big mess of snow tomorrow. Turkey stock, torn up baby kale leaves (leftover from weekend), cubed baked tofu simmered for a couple of minutes for some healthy soup. That stock was really good and the baby kale leaves don't dissolve to mush like spinach does.

My Mom often makes them for Passover and dips the tops in semi-sweet choc then sprinkles with finely chopped salted pistachios.

I was happy to see the bag of mini avocados at TJ's over the weekend (Teeny Tiny Avocados)...product of Mexico, 6 per bag, under $3. The pit is in proportion to the fruit, the one I had last night was creamy and unblemished. It is a nice size for garnishing a leaf lettuce salad, or avocado toast for one (I find a whole large avocado a bit much and wrapping half is so-so).

Pan seared tuna, just a little salt and fresh cracked pepper. Salad of baby kale with avocado and orange, simple dressing of white balsamic, evoo, s&p, garlic. Tried “massaging” the kale with the dressing for a bit, but I felt silly and gave up after a minute or so. The baby kale was tender enough so sitting with the dressing on it for a few minutes was just fine. Now for my shameful confession, our side was a relic from 2 years ago found in the freezer. Passover farfel kugel (dressing) with leeks and mushrooms. It was well wrapped, no freezer damage, and heated up just fine. Honestly, I was surprised when I saw the date on the wrapper, I guess it kind of got buried somehow

Well, the largest supermarket in this area, Shop Rite, is showing a new item, 15 minute Chef’s Menu meal kits. Advertised as dinner for 2, they are $11.99-12.99. Those prices are “sale” prices, $2. off the “regular” price. Three chicken dishes, one pork, one beef. When I go shopping today I will see if they are in stock at my local store yet to see what they look like. Shop Rite is solidly “middle market”, unlike Wegmans, so I wouldn’t expect much other than high sodium content.

@lindag, an educated guess would be in how the accounting is done for the restaurant...as the food/bev is one “bucket” and tips are another one that gets reported separately to the IRS as income for the server.

@Toliver, you are not imagining, and it has been going on for a long time. I did business with a company in the 90’s whose business was based on that concept, making money off the float.

Repeater with certain holiday dishes. If I am cooking for 12, I want to know that the recipe works and everyone liked it. I tend to mostly wing it on everyday meals for the two of us. And leftovers are often planned for repurpose, so that’s a second iteration without a recipe. I kind of play “Chopped” with my pantry at times.

@kayb, there was something online recently about a waitress at (IIRC) an Applebee's who had to pack a rather large "to go" order for a church group and got stiffed on a tip. It was supposedly an oversight, but she made comments about it online and got fired. Her contention was that the amount of time she spent preparing this large order (not one meal, it was dozens) took her away from the dining room where she would have the opportunity to earn tips. I think you should tip a small amount for take out if there was some assembly/prep needed. But when I take out at Panera Bread (chain) for example, which is paying at least min. wage (unlike what wait staff get), I don't feel the need to tip. I might drop the change into a communal jar if the service is cheerful, but for the usual sullen and unhelpful servers I see, not so much. When it is mostly self serve (like the "meat 'n three" types of places) it becomes kind of awkward. I sometimes go to an Indian buffet type restaurant for lunch. One that I went to, they did absolutely nothing, they dropped a pitcher of cold water on the table so I could refill my own water glass and didn't remove dirty plates. No tip left (although I admit to some residual guilt).

Much like the “clean out your freezer” topic, I am determined to reduce the canned goods in my pantry. I just accumulated too many due to buying duplicates, etc. Tonight I seasoned and browned some chicken breast tenders in a skillet, added a couple of chopped scallions which were on their last legs, a small can of black beans, small can white shoepeg corn, sliced black olives, and a pouch of enchilada simmer sauce. Served with quinoa. Leftover veg/beans and quinoa will be lunch tomorrow.

hastily stuffed in my maw while sitting in the parking lot...a new Indian (East Asian) bakery opened in our little town (it is a local franchise, I know of one other location about 20 minutes away) - was running errands on my day off and spotted the "grand opening" sign. I was disappointed that the items in the bakery case were not traditional Indian sweets, but they did have some savories available. I chatted with the gentleman working there and bought a veg samosa. It was slightly warmer than room temp (guessing cooked up about an hour prior) since I didn't tell him to reheat it. Potato and peas, dough was not too heavy or greasy. He gave me a little container of a tamarind dipping sauce that was tasty if a bit too sweet. It was a dollar and a perfect little pre-lunch snack.