BeeZee

I will be interested in what you think, I am almost out of plastic wrap and they are supposed to have this in stock at Ocean State Job Lot, which opened a store very recently about 15-20 minutes away from me. I often use plastic wrap to separate items within larger freezer bags or containers.

WW bagel with cream cheese and locally grown heirloom tomato (which was a little mealy, TBH, but still tasty).

Had a lunch time presentation in Philadelphia's Chinatown neighborhood, so afterwards I grabbed a Vegetarian bahn mi (grilled tofu) from Bahn Mi Cali and found a place to sit outdoors and enjoy the nice day. They had asked if I wanted hot sauce and I said "no" thinking there might already be jalapeños...but there were not, so the sandwich was lacking a little zest. Photo from their website, I was eating my sandwich out of a brown bag in a parking lot. Pigeon got the crumbs.

Another Trader Joe’s recall, possible metal fragments in crackers. I know they use different vendors for all of these items that have had foreign bodies, but holy cow.

In N.J., I've only been able to get frozen grouper at Wegmans. However, my crappy Shop Rite supermarket has small vac packs of ground bison meat and venison in the tiny Organic meat case.

I have the exact same gripper, purchased a couple of months ago, it has good thickness to it.

@Paul Bacino, Purple Cherokee is my favorite, as well, what is the flavor profile of the Pineapple tomato (sweet/acidic?)

I had a new to me fish tonight, ocean perch. The fillets have a beautiful red skin (similar to snapper) and the flesh was sweet and moist. I cooked it simply on a piece of foil on the grill, skin side down. Just brushed the flesh with a little oil and some basic seasonings, it lifted nicely off the skin when done. Red sweet potato (par cooked in micro, finished on grill) and Greek salad with lots of fresh dill, got some nice NJ tomatoes.

This is the best time of year for fruit...cherries and nectarine with Greek yogurt

I was skeptical when I saw it posted online, but you can prevent cut apples from browning by soaking for 10 minutes in a salt water solution (1/2 tsp sea salt dissolved in 1c water). Rinse them off to remove the salty water, pat dry, and good to go. I took a bag full of slices for golfing snacks and they were fine for 5 hours. I've read of a similar method using honey diluted in water, but I may save that for a time when I can wash my hands if needed.

Something going on with Trader Joe's, last week there was a recall of cookies due to rocks, today it was fully cooked falafel with rocks.

With really good tomatoes, I have my sandwich open-faced. Bread is the carrier.

@curls, I've been getting red cherries at $2.99/lb or sometimes even $2.49/lb here in NJ, but they have been disappointing. I don't shop regularly at Wegmans, but they probably have better suppliers than ShopRite, I'll take a look. Red Cherries at WF were $3.99/lb (IIRC) yesterday. I'm stuck in the mental barrier of "last year I bought them $1.99/lb on sale"...😉 edit to add, next week’s sale flyer shows $1.99/lb!

At $7/lb, I hand picked those 8 cherries😁

I treated myself to a handful of Rainier cherries since they looked good at Whole Foods. 8 cherries cost me close to $2., at least they were tasty.

I just ate some SC freestone peaches that were pretty good. Nectarines have been very good this year, cherries not so good, they have been from CA rather than WA, which I prefer.

As a child, I used to read cookbooks front to back, and had been given a Betty Crocker (IIRC) cookbook geared towards children. I'd pick something out and ask my Mom if I could make it. One time she had another couple coming over for dinner (friends since I was a toddler) and I asked to make Baked Alaska for their dessert. I don't think that was the first thing I cooked (my guess is grilled cheese or Kraft dinner), but it was an adventure and I was pretty thrilled that it turned out right!

The serving sizes continue to be laughable on the labels, I needed to pick up something for a quick desk lunch and purchased the plastic container "lemon chicken and arugula salad". The label states 2.5 servings - and the only think I can think of was the 5 little pieces of chicken divvied up as 2 per portion🤣. The salad was perfectly acceptable ($5.49), a bit of baby arugula on the bottom, topped with large/pearl couscous, scattering of dried black currents, some other grain (quinoa?), and a sweet/spicy red pepper dressing that was far too sweet.

Shelby, I make this up as I go and depending on what I have. This time it was 3 small squash (thinner=less seeds) and 2 carrots cut into strips lengthwise with a Y-peeler, one chopped up Roma tomato (I usually prefer halved cherry tomatoes). I made a vinaigrette using a small dab of anchovy paste, spoonful of dijon, S/P, Aleppo or smoked pepper flakes, some dried thyme, red wine vinegar + rice wine vinegar, drop of honey (reduced sharpness), olive oil. I just mixed it in a small bowl, it probably was around 1/4c of dressing. After tossing everything together, added more salt after tasting, and some crumbled feta cheese.

Raw summer squash “carpaccio”…it softens slightly after marinating about an hour, but retains most of its texture.

I found a couple of meals were OK, IIRC they had a chicken breast with peanut sauce that had good flavor. The chicken is good quality, none of that injected spongy textured stuff.

I had bought it a couple of months ago at T.J. Maxx or one of those types of stores that has random food items, bottle of "smoked pepper flakes". Seems to be smoked Aleppo pepper, and I am loving it on avocado toast, cheese toasties, or on hummous. Very smoky.

Negamaki!

Joann Fabric has a "Primo Days" special for 25% off everything, shipping is $1.95 under $75 (IIRC). They have a fair amount of Wilton pans and other supplies for casual home bakers.

Set of 3 mini springform pans, silicon baking mat, set of mini silicon tart molds. Have some visitors coming next month, so I figured I'd play around with small batch baking and maybe ice cream cake/icebox cake.