lemniscate

I met with an architect in the first process of planning a future home. I told her I didn't want a traditional kitchen since I don't plan on having a range. I use portable induction hobs, sous vide, Instant Pot, and portable convection oven for cooking now. I will need lots of open counter space and lots of outlets and easily accessible storage. Almost like a lab. I thought she was going to wince; quite the opposite, she excitedly agreed that kitchens are going to change rapidly from the traditional. I guess the architecture community is expecting it. Ikea has an induction hob meant to store hanging, Tillreda, I think I'll pick one up on my next expedition there. My Burton is showing its age badly.

I did a large batch of Costco bone-in chicken thighs yesterday, so big I had to pull out the old Dorkfood sous vide controller (my first one) with the Betty G crockpot. Now that's "old school". "New school" Joule was also employed.

Freeze dried cherries and pears from Nuts.com. They had a coupon last week. I spent $money$ there. I love the dried pomegranates too.

I make beef jerky with eye of round.

I have one of these bucket grills. I bought it from the local Asian supermarket. My intent was to use it on the back patio as a yakitori grill. The weather hasn't cooperated lately for the first tryout though.

Swear to God, runny egg yolk is one of my most favorite condiments. I only like salmon as lox/gravlox also, so this post is killing me in a good way. +1 for the rye bread.

I bought the TJ's Bamba a few months back for the peanut lover of the household. I don't care for peanuts so it was lost on me. The review was it wasn't peanutty enough and not a craveable snack for buying again. One and done on that one.

That sauce is the real deal. Love it on breakfast eggs and such.

Huy Fong Chile Garlic sauce is my go to sauce. So much flavor and balance. I gave up on their Sriracha after having it. TJ's used to have their own brand of Sriracha that was really good, but I haven't seen it in a while, maybe discontinued. It did not taste like Huy Fong's, it was less salty and a bit sweeter. TJ's Green Dragon was fruitier and hotter than the Sriracha. TJ's Yuzu hot sauce is very very good. An unusual hot sauce I found locally (cheap, like a buck a bottle) is La Negra Va, an inky black hot sauce, I'm not sure what gives it its color. It is hot, and not tangy with vinegar. It's marketed for seafood. La Negra Va (Facebook link)

Just FYI, I've had the Kitchenaid plastic housing meat grinder and the plastic housing vegetable grater/slicer attachments and BOTH of the housings have split/cracked where it meets the drive piece of the mixer. Kitchenaid would not do any warranty on them due to lack of receipts. Both were gifts. I wouldn't recommend the plastic Kitchenaid accessories unless the design has changed significantly. The pasta rollers are metal and I've had no problems with those.

TJ's Ruby Cacao reminds me greatly of the coating on the TJ's Yogurt Stars cookies (discontinued a while back). I like it, but I like white chocolate a lot. I agree this is a very berry-like flavor. TJ's was demoing it by dipping pretzels in it and drizzling it over fresh blackberries the other day.

Yeah, if this is meant to be Detroit-style deep dish, it's a steel pan. Buddy's is the supposed origin, the pans are shown quite a bit in this video.

Very pretty. Chocolate and raspberry is one of my most favorite combos. Those look Valentine-y. I'm gonna stalk TJ's to obtain the Ruby Cacao this week, if it's in this region.

Peanuts and peanut butter. Blueberries. (always have a musty smell and aftertaste to me, even in baked goods) Mac and Cheese (or pretty much any type of suburban casserole type dish, even the green bean thing at T-giving, ugh)

Ha, currently binge watching Corner Gas on Amazon Prime Video. The Potato Bowl episode is funny in an eGullet way.

I'm trying to use up some pantry odd-n-ends lately. Had a bit of cornmeal looking for a project, also some freeze dried pineapple and cherries. I decided to give Alton Brown's Pineapple Upside-Down Cornmeal Cake a try. I used small corningware bowls instead of the skillet for convenience/portions. There was a bit of batter leftover after filling my prepped bowls so I baked another bowl with just the cornmeal cake, adding chopped spice pecans and bacon bits on top. I am very pleased with the cornmeal cake part, it's moist, smooth and not overly sweet as I feared it might be. It looks a bit of a mess in the picture, but that's what one-handed phone pics get you.

The original version is one of my ringtones currently......🎶

I had a rice failure of all things in the IP yesterday. I steamed some TJ's frozen red shrimp PIP with some butter, soy and chile garlic sauce. It was grand, but there was a lot of leftover juice in the bowl. I thought, hey, cook some white rice in that! I put the two cups of rice in and topped off the liquid, on the rice setting. Weird. Complete mush around the sides of the bowl and raw in the middle. Maybe had to do with the bowl I used still being hot from the shrimp. I dunno. I've made plain long grain rice this way without any issues in the IP, no problems. Anyway, didn't want to toss the rice mixture mess, so I made congee with it this morning. Shrimp congee is good on a slightly wet morning. Not all mistakes are mistakes in the end.

Now my interest is piqued into the psych of Mushroom Hunters. There's a book by Langdon Cook called "The Mushroom Hunters: On the trail of an Underground America". Sounds like a fun read, and I normally do audiobooks, so it's on my list now. Our cow pasture would erupt in what my parents called puffballs and the extended family would come out and harvest them. I don't recall eating them though. We always had a healthy fear of wild mushrooms as kids and knew not to just grab any old fungus. We did find morels a few lucky times on the farm.

Wow, my reading comprehension is really on the fritz lately. The funny part was the taunter took the time to laminate their response, very organized and didactic. I wonder if their father smelled of elderberries................

What did the "taunting laminated card" say? Inquiring minds want to know.

I don't have a ton of Instant Pot "only" accessories, I've been able to use things I already had for most things. I did break down and just bought this Oxo lifter/trivet. I used it this morning for PIP rice and no more burnt fingers! It's sturdy and not floppy like I feared. It lifted a stainless steel bowl with 4+ cups of cooked rice right out. Another thing I had already that has served me well in the Instant Pot is the Lekue bag. I use this exclusively for hard boiled eggs. I was having problems with some of my hb eggs cracking during the cook. I think it was because they would touch the metal sides of the pot while cooking as I load up the metal trivet with 8-10 eggs at a time. Since I have been putting the eggs in the bag, not a single cracked one has been found. It also allows for the eggs to be lifted out wholesale and put in the ice water all at once. I've had the bag for years but never found a good use for it until now.

Interesting read. I still shop Whole Foods at a minimal level, which is more than "before Amazon" when I didn't shop there at all. I almost exclusively shop the sale items, like the fresh seafood and cheese, and some produce. I am a Prime member with the Prime Visa, so I get those Amazon points for purchases. I feel I'm getting good perks. I am kind of surprised that my shopping there isn't increasing though. I still default to Costco and Trader Joe's for the vast majority of groceries. I don't recall seeing Whole 365 groceries being offered on the Prime specials, maybe the pricing doesn't allow for it. I would have the Prime membership with or without Whole Foods, but I appreciate them trying to entice me with the special pricing.

I have vague memories of a restaurant chain called Victoria Station that was made of of railcars. I think I had a birthday dinner there when I was a little kid.

I am on my 3rd use of the Instant Pot today and my 4th for the weekend. I did rice this morning, then a batch of bison sloppy joes (cross posting from the Freezer thread, used up some of my red chile cubes), and now doing a full pot of bone broth. Yesterday I did a large amount of sweet potato puree (using ChefSteps as a inspiration), some for me and some for Mom who is in the midst of dental work and needs soft foods. I am staggered by the usage of it when I stop and think about it. I think I average using it everyday somehow. Changed my life in the kitchen.