Porthos

The weather is cooling off a bit so I've made the aforementioned beef stock. I'm not interested in running the oven at 400F when it's hitting the nineties. The stock is chilling in the fridge for easy de-fatting. Then I'll check to see if I'm happy with the amount of reduction of the stock. If not, I'll reduce it more. My Sweetie and I happily gnawed the meat off of the bones after I pulled them and the veggies out. Now I need the right weather and timing to make Barley Beef Soup, something she has been asking about having. Scaring up some beef to cube and put in it will be easy. Jackpot! I just remembered that I have some left-over trip-tip in the freezer. 😄 We're going to "visit" my FIL this afternoon, which is standing on the patio of his room at the care facility, looking at him through the French doors and talking to him on the phone. His is frail, but still hanging on, the cancer continuing to do it inoperable damage. The care facility shut it's doors to visitors pretty early in the ramping up of the virus here in the US, for which I'm grateful. We'll have to briefly stop at a market on the way. We bring him cookies and have none, due to my lack of foresight. The cookies are left on the table on the facility's main patio. The wonderful, caring staff will retrieve them from there. Makes for a no-contact delivery. Because of how we time our visits with my FIL (when he will most likely be awake) our dinner tonight will be some lucky fast-food drive through. We live about an hour away from him and waiting to eat when we get home isn't an option. I pretty much eat on a schedule as part of managing my Type 2 diabetes.

Yesterday morning I realized that I needed potatoes for the potato salad I was serving for dinner. Off I went, and I made use of already being there for a few other groceries, then head home. This morning I bought an almost 7 lb bone-in choice ribeye roast. Interestingly, when I went to bone it it had already been boned and the bones packaged with it. I cut it down into a 2 lb roast and 3 steaks. I had planned on making a mushroom-bacon quiche for Mothers Day dinner. When offered a ribeye steak instead my Sweetie chose the steak (color me so surprised). The real point of this pandemic post is that I don't make my own stocks. As I was looking at the beef bones I had just acquired I figures I would make some beef stock. As I thought about my general reticence to make my own stock I realized that the major impediment to doing is that I rarely, really rarely, buy bone-in meat, which leaves me with no scraps to utilize. I don't foresee changing my buying habits, and I use maybe 2 quarts of beef broth a year so it isn't really worth my effort. I have to confess that shelter-in-place isn't happening very well with me. The good news in that, however, is that I go to the store, buy what's on my list, leave and come home. I'm practicing social distancing, wearing my mask, wearing gloves, and either quarantining my purchases or disinfecting them as needed. I'm using and sanitizer or soap & water as needed. My go-to supermarket does not offer a shop-for-you service. You want food from them, you do the shopping. I have no problem with this. My grocery budget goes much further there than the gimmicky typical chain stores.

I thought I'd just pop in here to let you all know that I sous vide about twice a week but it's nothing to post about. A protein of choice with seasonings, nothing special. But the proteins I cook this way are done sous vide to keep them moist enough for my Sweetie. The only exception to that is steaks. I like the control of doneness it provides, and a quick sear finishes it off.

@Smithy See Lemniscate's comments up-thread. The one's the harvester missed were most likely already finished with the post-kill-the-vines waiting period.

We ended up asking our newly-unemployed daughter over for Cinco de Mayo so now there's an actual menu: Carne Asada, Mexican rice using a recipe that my other daughter got from one of her Hispanic friends, black olives because both my grandson and I love 'em, home-made guacamole, and store-bought chips, possibly some canned re-fried beans. We will eat in a very casual fashion in our family room with a coffee table and TV trays. Her husband works swing so he can't be here but we'll send a plate home for him. Dessert will be whatever's in the freezer.

As well as the two Thermworks timers in my kitchen, on those rare occasions I need a third then I use a kitchen timer app on my android phone that looks like an old-time kitchen timer.

I just coudn't figure out that particular rebus. So I went to Lone Star for the answer.

As ever. thank you for taking us along.

Now I've got to add root beer and coffee ice cream to my shopping list.

I would be hard-pressed to go with induction. I am a gas stove fan. During a power failure my oven my be down for the count but a butane clicker or a match means I can still cook.

I've had that problem just boiling russets. If they're old sometimes they just don't want to soften up.

I have hearing loss so the adjustable volume is a blessing for me. I actually own two. This is it. When Thermoworks came out with their TimeStack I bought one for my ren faire kitchens.

Wowzers.

That must be a regional issue. My regular supermarket has all of the varieties they typically carry.

Before the health department had reason to start coming into my Northern ren faire kitchen I was fond of cutting off the long tail of a beet and sticking it just under the stove with the "rat tail" sticking out.

Ignoring brands, I sear in cast iron pans on my 16k burner very successfully. I'm curious if to know you use a wok often enough to need the 22k?

@kayb I had the dead tree version of A Cook's Tour. Only read a small portion of it. Gave it to a friend who reads a lot since I only read in fits and starts*. He got more use out of it. I don't know if he passed it on or not. *I bought Helen Hoover's A Place in the Woods in December and am only about 70% through it.

Wreck Alley Imperial Stout from Karl Strauss, a southern California craft brewery.

Bought Kitchen Confidential immediately. Downloaded it already. Thanks, Toliver.

I can't remember what article my wife sent me recently regarding frozen pizzas but she was amused/pleased at the ranking of one of the pizzas reviewed. For simple dinner fare we buy Red Baron Original Crust 4-Cheese frozen pizza, then add our own toppings including more cheese, Parmesan all over and on her half sharp cheddar. This particular brand was rated #2 in the article. My memory regarding the article was that it was a reputable source. An unimportant detail. I'm a dyed in the wool carnivore. However, I prefer veggie pizzas topped with olives, mushrooms, onions, artichoke hearts, etc.

I'd never thought of freezing beans, which is why I buy canned beans. I don't like cooking small amounts of beans. I'll give this a try. I know that brown rice freezes beautifully. One cup of brown rice is enough for my Sweetie and me. I typically bake* up either 14.5 oz or 18 oz at a time (matches 4 or 5 cups of water), serve some and then freeze the rest. This past week I baked a batch just to freeze and my Sweetie and I snacked on the leftovers after portioning and freezing. When we want rice I just nuke a package and then season it at will. *Alton Brown's Baked Brown Rice. I created a spreadsheet of the recipe so that I can enter the weight of the rice and know how much of the other ingredients I need.

I ventured in to my local Total Wine a couple of days ago. My Sweetie and I are very particular about tonic water, Schweppes or nothing. I was surprised that they had plenty of regular, but were out of Diet Schweppes. I needed assistance with my Tangueray. There was hole on the shelf for the 1.75 liter bottle and they did get one for me. I like the cost savings of the large bottle and that will last at least a half a year. They didn't have any of the cigar brands-types I normally buy so I didn't get any, but that's not a problem. I went there because I was out of beer and what I like to drink is hard to find in supermarkets. I ended up with 6-packs of Karl Strauss Red Trolley Ale and AleSmith Nut Brown Ale.Since I have cut way back on beer consumption (diabetes-related) that should last for several weeks. I'm repeating myself, but I go out with mask and disposable gloves. When I get back to the car one glove comes off so that my keys aren't exposed to anything I might have touched, I unload what I've bought into to trunk with the gloved hand, then that glove comes off and I use hand sanitizer. If I have more stops, each new stop gets new gloves. Oh, I also carry my own disinfecting wipes and wipe down the surfaces of the grocery cart I'm likely to touch. When I get home I wash my hands/forearms. It all may be overkill, but I'd rather practice overkill than end up sick. I touch my face a lot but not while wearing the gloves. We need to be in Orange County today and our trip is planned so we can get to-go sandwiches for dinner from a great authentic Italian deli-market, Cortnia's Italian Market.

My childhood enchiladas were corn tortillas dipped in sauce with a diced onion and cheese filling, rolled and put in a baking dish. They were covered with sauce, cheese, and sliced olives, then baked. I was once told by a co-worker that traditionally enchiladas were a meatless Friday dinner. I have no idea if that's true or not. I won't be making a complete Cinco de mayo meal, just carne asada and whatever sides strike me.

@David Ross Thanks for bumping this thread. It's very timely for me. I grew up on Las Palmas Mild Red Enchilada Sauce. My children grew up on it. So, after over 50 years, Las Palmas has changed the recipe and upped the heat. That doesn't work for my Sweetie and me. About a month ago I decided I would learn to make my own sauce. The posts in this thread have given me a great starting point. For the chili component I'll be gently using Penzey's Ancho Chili pepper. I'm not quite ready to jump in today, but most likely do so within the month. That's when I'll make my next Chicken Enchilada Casseroles. I sous vide B/S chicken thighs in a little bit of the sauce, then cool and chop; we like small chunks of chicken in the casserole. I make enough casserole for 2 meals, splitting it between 2 glass baking dishes, freezing one for the future. Our casserole sounds similar to the stacked enchiladas mentioned up-thread, except we bake it to heat it through after assembly.

I was taken by surprise at the start of the panic buying when bleach got snapped up. There's been bleach in our home since we were married in '78. I thought everyone kept bleach at home. I was apparently mistaken. At least my favorite ice cream treat hasn't suffered a similar shortage.