Kouign Aman

And now, in a spirit of self-punishment, is the middle shelf, same cupboard: Hunts spaghetti sauce - 2 large cans. sh..ugar. These must have been here since 2004 at least. blackeyed peas - 1 can kidney beans - 1 can garbanzo beans - 1 can abalone mushrooms - 1 can goya anchovy stuffed olives - treasure! How did those escape me before? water chestnuts - 1 can refried beans - 2 can enchilada sauce - 1 can 'fancy' mustard - 2 jars - I'll save that til the summer barbecue season morello cherries - 1 jar - HOORAY! now to buy some lamb... ?Abalone mushrooms? What are they? Dang am I glad this thread was started.

It does. Thank god. Its hard enough to find that I'd be very sad if it had a short shelf life. I stock up when relatives come from old blighty. yum, coconut rice................... ← I never think of 'having to use up' rice, because I love it and collect it. Coconut rice sounds so good! I shall try to fit that in over the weekend. Also I should look up mango rice because I have too much mango in the freezer. Yeah, canned sauerkraut has quality issues that make it less appealing in such applications as Reubens, but I think it still does pretty well braised with your favorite chunks of pork--when it cooks down and absorbs all that pork fat, it gets pretty darn good. Re: the oysters--when I was a kid, my family used to make a super-simple but super-good clam dip consisting only of softened cream cheese, canned minced clams, enough of their liquid to thin the mixture to a dippable consistency, plus seasonings to taste (usually involving a bunch of black pepper and garlic powder--nowadays I'd probably substitute real garlic, minced, for the powder). I bet the smoked oysters, minced, would do great in a similar dip. If there isn't enough liquid in with the oysters to do the job, I think you could use bottled clam juice, or for that matter any other kind of broth whose flavor would match well. ← mizducky, thats exactly the type of dip I had in mind. Anything with bacon is good tho, maggiethecat. Best of all will be if I open the can and end up eating them as is. Never tried pork that way. Love pork. hmmmm - will open can tomorrow and see. oooh luverly! Pstreudle is oozing all over the baking sheet, smelling good. Used one of the jams and some of the cointreau and ginger marmelade. Damn, we have a lot of dribs and drabs of liqueurs too. I WANT those tamales. Oh my oh my oh my!

Purple - one nice generic stir-fry here Green - some kind of curry ? There's a fabulous zillion bean / lentil soup or some dhals in there. chicken pesto pizza with sundried tomatoes.. Can we trade pantries, please?

How about hot reuben sandwiches (corned beef, swiss, & sauerkraut on rye). The classic condiment is Thousand Island dressing, but I like mustard on mine, too. ← OH KA, as a sauerkraut sort-of-connoisseur, trust me on this one....... Ditch the canned 'kraut without so much as the slightest guilty inkling. ... Toss it. Please. My Polish ancestors are beggin' ya on this one...... ← :laugh: Pierogi, I know what you mean. I'll open it and taste it. I love reubens but to do them would mean buying: rye bread, corned beef, swiss cheese and russian dressing. So I think I need a different option. Maybe a casserole of some kind. If the stuff turns out edible. If not, hello compost heap! hummingbirdkiss - sweet tamales. Brilliant! Yes, you may compost the seaweed if you want to. Heck, waste money, send it to me, I'll promise to use it, and then you'll never know if we ate it or fed it to the tomatoes. Tonight's a good night for a project. I have all that jam to use up. I never know what to do with canned fruit either. Is it possible that a fruit tart could be made with crust, jam, the canned whatevers? Serve with creme anglais, birds custard or chocolate, depending on who's eating? Oh who am I kidding. I'll pull the frozen puff pastry out and make pstreudle. No one but me will eat any. I will have a delicious weekend.

Top shelf revealed. Not as bad as I feared, percentage wise. The tenor's been stocking it with frequently used stuff. Still...... Marmite - 2 large jars & 1 travel pack Nutella - 1 large jar, one small jar of a clone brand (Nugatti) mustard - 1 jar pickle relish - 1 jar miracle whip - 1 jar Branston pickle - 1 jar Raspberry chipotle sauce - 1 bottle tomato soup - 1 can evaporated milk - 1 can peanut butter strawberry jam can for popcorn - sadly empty Tahitian vanilla beans - 2 Teachers Highland Cream Scottish Haggis - 1 can manuka honey bush honey lehua honey tupelo honey clover honey orange blossom honey caffeinated chewing gum - 6 packs Soy milk - 3 quarts. Whooops - expired in summer 07. Tossed that. Pavlova mix - two packs (a gift from someone) sauerkraut - 1 can coconut milk - 2 cans pineapple rings - 1 can (where and when did those come from ??) mulberry preserve (whole fruits) pumpkin butter deep orange home made jam of some kind from some one - apricot maybe (gift) larger jar of similar (darker color) (gift) home canned apricot halfs - pint jar (gift) passion fruit jam cream of mushroom soup - 2 cans chicken broth - 1 qt smoked baby oysters - 2 cans anchovies - 1 can The top is stuff that can stay - we use it regularly even if it is in gross oversupply. The lower half ... that stuff's gotta go. Even if we replace it, its been in there a while. I wont try to use up the entire honey collection, but the clover and orange blossom should get consumed. They are easy to replace. Pavlova and passion fruit jam seems easy. (What is with a mix for a meringue for pete's sake?) Other than brats, what to do with sauerkraut? ?a simple curry for the coconut milk? The oysters were for eating on crackers, but the tenor wont eat them, my eating-smoked-oysters partner was on chemo and couldnt think of them, and I cant eat an entire can alone. Make dip for a party?

In'n'Out fries hlocally are generally very dried out and horrible. Carl's Jr makes adequate fries. I like Jack's new fries, hated their old pureed version. McD's fries are too skinny.

Jamie Lee, in this challenge as in all of life, YMMV. Feel free to reframe this to work for you. You have a pantry-consuming dish that requires you to buy two ingredients in order to use up those that have been living on your shelves rent-free? Give yourself permission to get those critical ingredients. Given what's on my shelves, and my very limited skills at creating dishes, that is the only way I will get that top shelf cleared. I know I have at least 3 jars of homemade jam (gifts) on my troubleshelf. I'm not going to eat that much jam, so I think I'll need to buy puffpastry and make strudeltype thingies. Or jam thumbprint cookies (to store in freezer and hope I dont forget when Easter comes..... oh dear. Slippery slope there.....) Tonight I must try to do the inventory thing. Totally forgot it when I got home. sigh. Someone asked about wheat berries. Perhaps soak them and incorporate them into bread? The 5-min a day bread seems to be very forgiving.

Sunday night: half a bag chips, half pint onion dip. Monday am: everything bagel, cream cheese, tobasco, sausage patty sandwich Monday lunch: entire box of lemon creme girlscout cookies (surprisingly good too). Monday pm: potato chips, booze, mac'n cheese with tobasco Tuesday am: cheetos - both traditional and flaming hot. I think the beast is tamed, for now. I hope.

That not being able to watch thing? The 3.5 year old munchkin experiments a lot with food. Last night it was dipping fried chicken into strawberry yogurt. Her father couldnt look - it made him gag. I asked him how it was so different from the afghan lamb and cherries dish he loves so much, but that didnt seem to bring him comfort. Its funny to watch her propose something, him start to respond, and me cut him off with 'try it honey, you might like it'. He also twitches when she dips meat in mango juice, tho he loves sweet'n sour sauces. His revenge comes when she wants to taste the raw eggs. Maketh me unto shudder, that does.

Good Lord, I didn't know this was classified as nuts But, I just realized I do the same thing with Skittles....except it has to be two different colors UNLESS it's the purple ones. The purple ones go in two at a time I'm not going to sleep tonight worrying about this....... ← After crinkling open the packet and taking out the black ones. And tossing the two on each side that might have touched. There's just something transferrable about that dusty powder that conveys the licorice taste to its neighbors. And I LOVE fennel and basil and anise stars in stuff---just no black lickrish. ← I think there is the invitation list to a perfectly delightful party here. Easter's coming - may I invite y'all over? We can display our oddities, laugh at each other & ourselves, and secretly cringe when forced to watch someone who's ticks dont conform to our own.

Sounds like nutbars and nutchews and nut pies are in the future. Caramelly nutty chewy bars laden with nuts and bottomed with dark dark darkest chocolate. Ayuh. Me neither. Given my ability to plan and schedule food consumption, the major challenge is beyond me. But I am accepting a subportion of it. The top shelf of the corner cupboard is where the 'we should make something with this sometime' things go. I will work my way thru that shelf over the next couple weeks, so that it contains only items used on a weekly basis when I'm done [and the sacrosanct can of haggis in scotch, belonging to the tenor. Never to be eaten nor discarded. sigh]. Should I be successful, I shall consider tackling the middle shelf. Its just barely possible I will inventory the freezer as part of this project, and use some of its contents. No promises, even to myself. But lots of hope....

Status report 22Feb08 - progress is minimal I will eat ..... Oh yes, I will eat! Um yes. Often and copiously. I will make that persian lamb & cherries dish the tenor likes so muchI know which book has the recipe, I just cant find the book! Plus, its not the best time of year for lamb. Another month....thats my excuse I will find a new 'favorite' vegetable / veg preparation for the family, or at least for the munchkinSon of a Gun - the tenor made eggplant parmesan and everyone loves it. Perhaps I'll be able to get spicy eggplant into the repertoire after all? :fingers crossed: I will learn how to plan ahead for a special recipe, since the tenor does all shopping and how to cook spicy garlic eggplant because I like it so much Still no progress. In fact, bought everything for palak paneer, made the paneer, spices all nicely arranged on kitchen counter, recipe out, never made the final dish. Sigh. The eggplant recipe? Not even close I will teach the munchkin more about cookingYup: measuring. Wheee! I will read ... nothing in particular comes to mindNor has it yet And I will grow vegetables we like to eat and cook. And yeah verily, the munchkin shall help me. And we shall look for the unexpected, like red carrots, purple potatoes and black tomatoes Its time to place the mailorders and start the seeds in the window.

How about the Wine Seller/Cellar and Brasserie? (sp?) Its just off MiraMesa Blvd, a few blocks east of 805.

Two layer cheesecake: caramel / coconut chocolate. Go a bit darker than milk chocolate, because the cheese milks it up a lot. Drizzle on top in a ring, with melted chocolate and caramel, and top with coconut flakes so that the whole thing looks like an oversized Samoa cookie from the top.

Eggplant parmesan Spaghetti carbonara Pasta alfredo hot fudge sundaes for dessert

I layer vegetables in a roasting pan, rub the ribs with seasoning of some kind (not much salt), cover the whole thing with foil, and bake at 250-300F for hours. Usually 2 is enough but more doesnt seem to hurt. Sometimes I put the veg on top of the ribs too. You dont get the crust, but they are falling apart tender. Choose vegetables with care to your preferences for flavor. They should be fairly wet ones, or you'll need to add some liquid to the bottom of the pan before starting. Onions and peppers produce a fairly sweet sauce. They are my usual choice. Mushrooms change the result nicely too. and of course, Lots of Garlic. My mom used to make ribs in the oven with a maple syrup/mustard glaze. Lots of basting. The recipe is in McCalls cookbook.

On a direct route from airport to Cabrillo Monument is Point Loma Seafood. If its a nice day, perhaps try that instead of Mexican ? Its a wait-in-line, place-order-at-fish-counter, grab-a-table-outside kind of place, on the edge of a marina.

Gorgeous. What fun to drink from! Thanks for blogging, this is very interesting! Will you have time to show us your chocolates making setup?

Oh yeah! I was trying last year to get cilantro into a dessert. Never thought of cheese cake, and my skills werent good enough to pull off the sauce I had in mind. So happy to read about your cheesecake!

And how much due to stereotyping? San Diego is always getting dissed as a food town, even by those who live here. And even in comparison to that amorphous beast, Orange County. I find it odd. We're not at the top of the heap (not a Chicago, NYC, Napa), but we've got some excellent 'classic' restaurants, great fish, excellent produce (Chino Farms, take a bow), lots of Asian and Latin American markets. Granted, we have more than a reasonable density of chains of varying quality, still we are far from a dismal slum in terms of the food available to residents or visitors. There's no need to go hungry when here, but that seems to be the way people think of it. Local boy represents USA in 2007 Bocuse d'Or: Gavin Kaysen, El Bizcocho Chef de Cuisine - Rancho Bernardo Inn, San Diego, California This incarnation of Nobu is a recent arrival: Nobu San Diego At the other end of the price spectrum, Rubio's was founded here, bringing the fish taco across the border from San Felipe, Mexico to the US.

Oh Lola. Perhaps you need to experience one, just because. I think you will find one's enough. I like your method. Mine is different but equally effective. But... got that one, and now I know why. Without it, I could not have fully appreciated this lovely bit of writing!

The "Divorced Eggs" served at a restaurant near me feature two fried eggs, separated by beans, and with enchilada sauce on one and tomatillo sauce on the other (red, green). Perhaps you could do the upsidedown wedding cake, decorated in two totally incompatible styles (half each).

Goormett Mac'n cheese: gas station nacho cheese sauce on ramen noodles. I love the "frito pie to go" idea upthread. Top it with the same nacho cheese sauce. "roulade" - gas station burgers, sliced thinly into rounds (try to rescue those painted on grill marks), stuffed with ?god-knows-what, rolled and tied. (stuff with ?chopped sliced pickles, olives from the nacho bar and ..?) Or you could call it 'boliche'. If you can manage tiny slices of those, served on goldfish crackers, go for it. The 99c store usually has inexpensive but not necessarily recognizably so ingredients in cans. Please please please please please please take and post pictures. Please!

I'm in the 'room for both' camp. And three cheers for scanning, OCR, etc. Backups are good. But I still dont like electronic stuff in my kitchen. I dont want to buy a new e-book reader any time there's a spill, even if the contents are safe on my computer. I've done the trick with putting the laptop in a giant ziplock bag, so I could use it to update sample inventories in the lap. PITA. The recipes I do print out from electronic sources get sleeved and reused. I dont like printing over and over. So, the e-source still becomes the palimpsest (you should see the DutchBaby recipe). Photocopiers also did not kill the cookbook, tho in theory they could have limited sales to one copy per neighborhood library. And bless them, for we have a photocopy of Gma's recipe for chocolate cake, which turns out to be in GREAT Gma's writing. I have a friend who is entirely enamoured of her Kindle. I'll ask her how she feels about using it in place of cookbooks. (hmmm. Not sure she uses cookbooks. She cooks extensively and well. hmmmm.)

Butter is good. Microwave is good. We keep a box of Nucoa for when Gma visits, because (:boo hoo:) she says its easier to spread straight on bread than the cold butter. She is, of course, correct. But......But...... 10 seconds in the nuclear oven renders butter perfectly spreadable. We eventually trained her to make one cup of coffee using actual ground coffee beans, and she realized it only took 30 sec longer than 'instant'. We may eventually convert her on marge. I dont really care if we dont. The fridge is big enough for both. (I HATED storing that instant coffee jar tho. Dont know why, really.)