lemniscate

The bananas used make a huge difference. I no longer buy any Cavendish variety. I use the finger bananas or the Thai varieties that the local Asian markets stock. Night and day difference in flavor depth. I will set a reminder for this bread when baking season is here again. Too ruddy hot here at the moment. Mini-loaves for the win.

I would put the A4 on the high setting and not cover for crispness. Or you could slight cock the lid a bit to allow steam to come out and keep most heat in. The lid really works well to keep the steam in, to the detriment of crispiness.

One of the most unusual snack foods I've purchased from Costco, Quail eggs prepared 2 ways. So far I've used them on ramen. The flavors are really not too intense, the texture is a bit rubbery. Each individual egg is packaged in something like a food service jam package. Shelf stable. No one else in the house is a fan.

Very, very interesting situation for basically the entire published recipe industry.

Bison burgers with green chile, wild rice (unfortunately I overcooked it a bit, with mushrooms), green beans, apple/pecan tart (purchased). Prickly pear/pomegranate,vodka spritzers. Soaking in the outdoor tub and naps.

@Steve IrbyAre you doing fresh dills with the pickles? It's rare I can find small pickles here and they're usually over the hill, but I love a half-sour out of the jar/crock. Can't even seem to find the commercial half-sours here anymore, tastes are changing it seems.

Wow. The Violet Hour closes permanently in Wicker Park after 18 years

Not to sidetrack cuisine, but one of my bucket list items is to touch feet onto some portion of the the Hahnenkamm. What an iconic area.

Childhood recollection is a kamikaze which is mixing all the soda at the dispenser in the convenience store together. Predates dirty soda. Also known by other slang that the algorithm won't like. There's dirty soda places all over the east side of the Phx Metro now, came down from Utah. I don't drink sweetened drinks, never was a fan of soft drinks. But these do a brisk business mostly drivethru.

It's roadtrip season for us. I usually make a big batch of beef jerky, and I wanted to make a "sweet" for the road. I gave an AI a list of stuff I had on hand, with my dessert preferences and parameters. I ended up greenlighting a recipe it offered. Black Walnut & Toffee Blondie Recipe with Cake Flour sprinkled with Maldon Sea Salt. I had an old box of cake flour, some leftover black walnut bits and an elderly Walker's Traditional Nonsuch English Toffee slab as the main "want to use" items. I also had it scale the recipe to a 10"x10" pan. I found I didn't have brown sugar on hand, but had blackstrap molasses powder. It helped use that to make brown sugar. It suggested browning the butter also. However, I had to bake it much longer than the AI thought, it said 18-23 min at 350F, it was 35 min in my oven at that temp. It's got that fudgy texture that I prefer in my blondies. Nice experiment with the Skynet chef, no Terminator in sight yet.

I know I've posted about this before, but when I roadtrip, the A4 comes with. It's light, fairly easy to keep clean, fits on most hotel countertops. I use it on the patio during pleasant weather for al fresco cooking. I do have all the accessory pans, I paid full price when the A4 was first offered. @JoNorvelleWalker makes a good point about the takoyaki pan, it does a good job for meatballs and egg bites. I am more than satisfied with the device and accessories. I did order the deal for a second one as a backup or possibly a gift. That being said, there are very similar appliances like this one (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) that exist. I don't think it's an unusual cooker appliance in Asia, but in North America, it's a bit of an anomaly.

I find if I'm looking at random stuff in the fridge and I have that "I dunno what I want", I think of what could go in a ramen bowl or a quesadilla and most times it works out. I have the plain instant noodle packs (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) on hand and frozen tortillas.

I like Harney & Sons fruit flavors, Fruit d'Alsace, Black currant, and Capri blends are some I purchase repeatedly, they are available in bags, I use loose tea for my iced tea. I don't drink these hot. They do have "iced tea" blends on their site, but I've not ordered those specifically.

A couple of TJ "misses" for me, the Parsley crackers and the whipped feta. The crackers have a chalky texture to them, not crispy, but not tender either. Not a strong herb flavor either. Just a green color. A weird mouthfeel. The whipped feta was bland, I expected FETA flavor, but it's feta flavor. I like the texture, I think I'll try making a home version with a stronger feta, like the ones @blue_dolphin highlighted. I saw an X post that stated the TJ's is mostly an adult snack store. I gotta say, that made me stop and think a bit about what I buy there. In every jest there is truth.

Okonomiyaki . I liked it, I had been wanting to try one, but they aren't widely made in sushi/teppanyaki places here. I have heard of a sushi place not too far from me that has them on the "secret" menu. But it's just not in my normal territory so I have missed out on trying it. Comes with the sweet tangy sauce and the bonito flakes. There's microwave and stovetop instructions. I bet an airfryer could work too. I used the microwave, it of course wouldn't be crispy but I like the taste and texture and I will buy more of these for the quick eats cache.