lemniscate

As the kid of a potato farmer, I am going in my memory way-back machine, and my hypothesis is the potatoes were not harvested correctly. We used to kill the vines 2-4 weeks before harvest to force the sugars in the spuds to convert to starch. It also hardened the skin to protect from blight and make the potatoes easier to store and handle after harvest. It's possible that these potatoes were harvested too soon so there was low starch, high sugar and high acid. Certain varieties of potato need the set time in the ground more than others. We grew Sebago and Kennebec from PEI seed potato stock and they definitely need ground cure time, if I recall correctly.

I also do this with the "normal" mayo (which I won't touch, Hellman's is demanded by the Household, not me) with a eternal squeeze bottle. The Kewpie bottle is a design that cannot be refilled, it's narrow, tall and very supple. It's weird, but iconic. I've never seen jarred Kewpie in my AO.

You mean, like, put a non-ferrous pot on top of the griddle part and heat up? Hmmm, don't see why that can't work, would be something like those metal heat diffusers I got with my original Burton. Just a transfer of heat.

I have resorted to cutting the top 1/3 off the bottle when I can't squeeze out anymore Kewpie and using a thin spatula to scrape out the remains of the bottle, Kewpie Frugality. I think the squeeze bottle is quaint, but it sure ain't efficient. But I will not give up my Kewpie, ever.

Empanadas might be a thing to try, these Santa Rita Chihuahuan style sound pretty interesting. Interesting spices in it.

I prefer bialys over bagels anytime. Those are as good as I've ever seen.

Nope. Not in the market for one. Just passing along an email offer.

It said 48 hours in the email I got a 4pm PDT, so not sure exactly how long that is since there's no end time on my info. Just Studio Pass subs, but I think there's a prorated upgrade from Premium to Studio Pass, or at least there was recently.

There's a 15% off offer on the Control Freak if you are a member of the ChefSteps Studio Pass subscription. Probably a small target population, but just putting it out there in case there's a possible match to desire. From the email: Members of Studio Pass in the United States receive a 15% discount on this incredible device. This deal lasts only 48 hours, so if you have been thinking of joining Studio Pass, now is the time. The discount is worth more than the cost of a year of Studio Pass, so you would be getting the subscription more or less for free. That's smart.

@SLB My deepest condolences to you and your family and friends during this time. Regarding your elderly rural Maine loved one, maybe Schwan's? I have absolutely no experience with Schwan's but some of my Midwest and NE relatives use them and seem to be very pleased with the meals. Also, Costco has an online version of Schwan's frozen meals (at the Costco discount with delivery included). I trust Costco, so I'd imagine the delivery would be well executed. Here is a link off the Costco website detailing all the Schwan's choices they are offering at the moment.

This week we are planning to order each dinner from local restaurants. I've been home cooking so far. Last night was green chile burros with a bunch of side sauces. Yee Haw! Missed that tangy heat. I bought a dozen frozen also for future. Tonight, planning take out Thai to keep the heat going. Or Italian. Will flip a coin. Cornish Pasties and fish and chips later in the week I hope. Maybe some Middle Eastern also, there's a place that does great Shawarma and a plate with lamb tongues that I love.

Costco online also has a Staub special going. There's 2 kinds of griddle items and at least 1 coquette there. Similar prices to the other sales. I bought our favorite St. Michel galettes online at Costco instead of pots and pans though..........

My guess is the olive oil might have not been a lively one for the dish. Do you use the same brand/style consistently?

Townsends has been covering bread in the frontiers for quite some time and I love the videos he does trying to decode how and what was used to make bread without readily available yeast. Leaven and Bread with No Yeast are really interesting. I have made a starter with locally foraged juniper berries. It's fun to experiment with these techniques. Not always successful but fun.

@Porthos This video shows you can use other common kitchen items to replicate a dutch oven for bread, ie a big metal bowl.

I was speaking to an acquaintance over text messaging, and they admitted they panic bought food items that they normally never use and really don't know how to use, (ie bread flour, yeast, cornmeal, canned fish etc). They don't bake or cook from scratch normally at all. She was kind of joking/lamenting that "when this is all over" a lot of it would be not needed because she just doesn't have the pantry space for all the extras. Of course, the canned goods can be donated to food banks, but stuff like the flours and yeast are probably going to get tossed eventually. I suggested that maybe in the near future, friends could go "shopping in each other pantries" and help use what could potentially be trashed. Maybe barter system. I am not going to let that bread flour, yeast, and cornmeal be wasted if I can help it, it seems just too precious now.

Those kind of look like Sardinian crackers. TJ's used to carry some that I loved, but now the dreaded discontinued word is associated with them. These kind of look like what you have in that package. Maybe?

One minor success for me is getting to the bottom of the half used jars of condiments and sauces and pickled stuff and jams/jellies that were languishing on the fridge door shelves. I have been able to pick a target and think up ways to use it until gone. I think I'm down by 5 jars, but more to go. Some examples of the "gone" half used stuff; Ikea brand seaweed caviar; small jar of giardiniera, small jar nduja; pickled eggs, rose jam...........makes one think creatively to use.

As luck would have it, I received some smoked pulled pork from a family member. The remains of it were heated in the A4 with some tomatillo sauce (TJ's), some chopped hoagie sauce (Centos) and some cheap grated yellow cheese. Scooped up with the TJ's flax seed corn chips. And beers. And sunset. Patio food. It was excellent and relaxing.

I have my Grandmother's Columbus. She used it for a family of 12 kids + related from the 30's to the 70's. I've had to use the cutting board situation for clamping it to certain countertops. I think countertops have gotten thicker while pasta clamps remained the same over time. I also have had that type of clumping in the skinny cutter like you have shown. And, had the cleaning frustration. It was from not allowing the pasta sheet to rest and get that leathery feel to it before running it through the cutter. There's a certain surface texture you need to get to so the the sheet can go through without clumping. It just takes practice, that's the answer. Get used to the process. Learn from the frustrations, I did. The crank falling out is just learning muscle memory to know how much force or lack of force best works for turning it. Again, practice, not the most popular answer, sounds like Mom and Dad advice, right? I will say, making homemade pasta is deceptively easy, yet can be extremely demanding for a lot of little reasons combined. Now, full disclosure, I also have the Kitchenaid pasta rollers and those work great!

I need breadcrumbs for a future planned dish. I don't have any in the pantry. I am now baking a loaf of white bread for the express purpose of making breadcrumbs. <sigh>.

Half a head of cabbage, some leftover IP shredded pork plus some of the fat. Lots of black pepper for kick. Caramelized a bit, outside cooking due to, ya' know, cabbage. Cabbage is one of those veg that is made for the word pandemic. Not pretty, but pretty good.

@Kim Shook Milk Street freebie courses has a Instant Pot class WITH a whole section on how to do pasta and sauce. It's a pretty good course. I've had an IP for a while and thought "I'll enroll in the class and probably won't find it useful". I was Wrong. The course documents and recipes are downloadable in pdf form. The videos and the host are pleasing and do not feel time-wasted to me. I do have a short attention span, internet style. I say Check It Out. Milk Street online courses (free)

King Arthur Back of the Bag Oatmeal Sandwich bread with added small handfuls of roasted pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. Super easy loaf to mix up. Chefsteps Rich and Moist Cornbread baked in various small forms for experiments. Not easy to mix up. But it's rich and moist for sure.

I made a batch of candied peel from the white grapefruit a while back. I found eating it makes my mouth numb. Grapefruit juice does not do this to me though I did find if I drop a piece of candied peel into my citrus base cocktails, it amps up the flavor and add a bit of sweetness. So my peels are now in the cocktail cabinet.