lemniscate

Found a forgotten portion of pasta dough in the freezer (likely made for Thanksgiving, I think I did 2 portions before for prep). It was a little creaky, but got easier to work as I put it thru the rollers. Tossed in butter and dusted with mushroom broth powder. It's breakfast today.

I’m going to use it to carry all my bad decisions. It’s surprisingly spacious.🥸 I am really thinking I will go back and snag a couple more of these.

No pear/chocolate in stock this year. I tried Demi Sel Flamigni panettone and I love it. I also have a Fiasconaro chocolate one on deck I gifted a limoncello version to a family member already. These were all after Christmas 50% off purchases.

It's a great traveler, but for traveling I just use the flat and/or the grill insert. Use it in several hotels/accommodations. I wish it had been a roaring success for the vendor, but alas, not to be. I use the other inserts infrequently at home. I love it for patio cooking. I evangelized the travel and out of kitchen use as much as I could. I was one of the early adopters who paid the full(ish) price on the unit + inserts. Early bird I guess got the inserts in this case.

I saw something online about mixing it with ginger ale, that sounds wonderful too.

I'm sold. Will pick some up tomorrow.

@chromedome I tried to do the dozens of cookie + decorating thing once and realized how hard it is on my upper back to hold the piping bags steady. Never did it again, you definitely have to have stamina. And I was a much younger person back then and gave up due to the pain of decorated cookies. @Duvel I am in awe of that soup. That reminds me of the old children's story "Stone Soup", at least how I imagined the soup to be at the end of the story. I want to make something like that, just need to find a few dozen or so like minded carnivores to participate. I saw a video of a Calabrian soup, with all the possible pieces of pork on Pasta Grammer youtube channel and have been mildly obsessed with the process and the celebration of these types of soup. I know there's a ton of work and planning but Wow, the payoff looks amazing. Hopefully you enjoyed your own fruits of the labor as much as the guests.

It was veal. One of my elderly relatives was mentioning how they used to eat veal a lot when they were young, so I splurged on a mail order veal roast and made the cutlets. Veal is not something found in supermarkets around here.

I was really pleased how my schnitzel came out, I think someone took a picture, I didn't because I was focused on the process. I found out I prefer schnitzel with lemon squeeze vs. gravy. Dinner was al fresco and we played Bingo (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) for a while which is an all ages game for our group. The weather was a bit overcast but the sun eventually peeked though. Peaceful A selection of pie slices from Rock Springs Cafe was the dessert offerings. I went up a couple days before Christmas and grabbed a selection. I've been imbibing with the ube flavored egg nog every morning while off work. so smooth.

I hope I can find that pear and chocolate panettone I had last year. It was stellar. I think I remember the deli I got it from.

I made a big lot of green chile stew (beef) early for Christmas Day. But the way we've been plowing through it, I don't know if I will have it for long. It's that good. I made my @ninagluck egg nog late, so it hasn't had much time to temper. I went off recipe a bit with a batch and added ube powder. Who doesn't love purple egg nog? It's fiery thanks to the everclear base, but the vanilla ube notes are really nice. My Christmas Eve meal is planned to be weinerschnitzel, mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, braised red cabbage. I am precooking the veal cutlets sous vide ahead of time. I have some Modernist Pantry Ever Crisp and CrispCoat to use added into the breading for extra crunch and stability. Precooking the meat means you just need to focus on the desired breading color and crisp, I find it a very friendly way to deep fry meats, I use that technique for chicken wings also. This is also my first go at schnitzel, what's that old adage? Don't try new recipes for Holiday dinners? Bah, humbug. I think dessert will be cinnamon crisps with a sweetened cream cheese dip. Need simple one this time.

Thank you for the heads up. I will be on the lookout for that tuna.

@Shelby Are you using the Misfits+ membership or do you just do the regular shipments?

I was asked to source a tablecloth for Christmas decor. I dislike the twee looking cheap Christmas designs I have been finding online. I found that Marimekko did some vivid interesting designs for Crate and Barrel a few years back and got some luck and found them on eBay. Not your average Holiday prints. I got a red one and a green one. They haven't been setup yet but I think they are going to look very nice for a Christmas table. Marimekko prints are something you either like or you don't.

Looks like in stock from AMZN (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

I gave food Advent Calendars out this year to close family. One is the Walker's Shortbread to a person who had never had any type of Advent Calendar before that they are truly excited about their cookie a day treat. The other one is kinda pretentious, but not when taking into account the scarcity in the US of the product and the quality of the confection Lakrid by Bulow licorice is a real eye opener, and the flavors are delicious and memorable. I don't like US black licorice candy at all, but I got to try a caramel covered black (salted?) licorice piece out of the calendar and it was phenomenal. I wish Bulow was more available here.

Just a note on another interesting item Misfits had: Garleeks . I love green onions, I bought these out of curiosity. I should have bought 1 bundle, but I didn't know the size and got 2. It's a large bundle of garleeks. Been using them as I would green onions, they are a bit sweeter and not as "hot" on the tongue. The greens I used in Emerald sauce, a local creation by Chino Bandito restaurant. A very simple recipe. 3 cups minced green onion 1 cup minced fresh ginger root 2 teaspoons salt About 2 cups vegetable oil

I've gravitated back to Misfits recently. Mainly for fruits and cheeses. They are carrying a type of kiwi called red transitional and they are great, I'v bought multiples because we eat them so quickly. Jam grapes are a real find, I dislike most commercial seedless grapes because they just taste like sugar water to me. Jam grapes are so close to the vintage concord grapes I loved when I lived where they grow. Buying multiples of those too. Hope their in season for a while. They have cold pressed juices that are a great quality. The cheeses have included Midnight Moon gouda, and Ragged Point brie, aged guyere, whipped feta. Smaller portions to try more styles in nice, usually I buy the Costco cheese hunks and it takes a while to work through them They carry sofrito paste in a tube, grabbed a few for the pantry. Brown calrose, broken jasmine rice, some Heyday canned soups, canned pumpkin (a very low price) for the diy dog food. Some sliced salami, and coppa. There's still a order window to work within, but for some reason it seems easier to deal with than before. I think it's been well over a year since I last used Misfits. Seriously, Jam grapes, they are that good.

Yeah, I noticed that the price really didn't change that much in the last 4-5 years. It was always the premium tap.

Chimay White is $14 for a tulip glass around these parts.

Dumb Oster French door oven has a recall for potential burn injuries. US and Canada. https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2025/Sunbeam-Products-Recalls-More-than-One-Million-Oster-French-Door-Countertop-Ovens-Due-to-Burn-Hazard

I tried this new to me Blond Ale which came in a 750ml at a very surprising low price. I found it delicious, my tastes run primarily to strong Belgian styles.

That's effing brilliant use of that pan. I've done egg bites and meatballs. Never occurred to me to try cake things.

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.