kbjesq

Yes, in the USA at least, Aldi's now takes credit cards. And I guess with all this Aldi's chatter, it's going to get its own thread! Take that, TJs. LOL

Sadly 2 bottles barely gets us through a month. We love fish sauce over here, in fact there are some ppl in this house that love fish sauce and don't even know it Since I started buying the Red Boat brand, it seems to disappear faster, probably because it's much smoother (if that's the right term?) than 3 Crabs or Squid brands, which we also use. To me it's like the difference between Jack Daniels and Gentleman Jack, if that makes sense?

Wow that's the best price that I've seen. Aldi's doesn't carry fish sauce AFAIK. My local Asian market charges $9.99 per bottle, which is high, but still cheaper than driving 100 miles to the closest Asian Supermarket. Nearest Whole Foods and TJs is also about 100 miles away.

Re: pineapples - just slice, cut into chunks and freeze in a large ziplock bag (lay flat until frozen so you can break off chunks as you need them). I often use frozen pineapple in smoothies

@rotuts if you visit the Aldi's website, you can type in your zip code and see what is on sale this week in your neighborhood. Recently, I purchased 6 gorgeous, huge pineapples for 99 cents each and now the fruit is chopped and in my freezer and the tips are growing in my garden. They often have nice avocados for 49 cents. This week, blackberries and raspberries are 99 cents/pint. I also like the price and quality of the goat cheese, kefir, Chia seeds, flax seeds, various nuts, agave nectar, chocolates and organic vegetable broth. I'll be curious what you think if you try it and compare to TJs. BTW you must bring your own shopping bags or pay extra for them.

Bring on the bacalao fritters, yes please! I'll take a double order to go. Uh, make that a triple order

Interesting! Maybe the Aldi's brand is better? Aldi's and Trader Joe's were once part of a grocery market owned by two brothers back in the day. They got into a disagreement apparently. One brother opened what eventually became known in the United States as Trader Joe's and one brother opened the store that is now known as Aldi's. Around here we don't have TJs but we have its brother (?) Aldi's. I'm a fan of Aldi's - more emphasis on basic ingredients and generally less of the prepared foods that seem to be a very large part of the TJs that I've seen. Great cheese selections at both stores IMHO. Lots of organic and gluten-free (if you're into that) at Aldi's Slate article on TJs and Aldi's

Oh, I need to un-see this! We have Aldi's not Trader Joe's here, but they have the same cookie, under the "Benton" brand and made in Canada with real maple goodness. As I'm from New England, I have a huge soft spot and weakness for all things that are maple, and that's a rarity here in Florida. After buying three boxes and eating all three by myself, I now deliberately walk past that portion of the store as fast as I can. These cookies are absolutely delicious and completely addictive

I'm thinking of making a malted coconut cake that I saw recently and saved to my flipboard - it's certainly gorgeous! Recipe here: Malted Coconut Cake

Hot Cross Buns are traditional, but admittedly not my personal favorite: Hot Cross Buns from Food52

Hummingbird cake? It's Southern Living's most-often requested recipe, first published around 1978, I think? There are now quite a few variations: Southern Living's Hummingbird Cake

Can you post a list of the chowders that you've entered (at least for the last 5 yrs that we missed)? Also if you use evaporated whole milk in your chowder, you don't have to worry about it breaking. I'm from new England originally and I don't like a heavy broth, such as the occurs when too much butter or cream is used. We traditionally thicken the broth with some of the potatoes that have been mashed and returned to the pan. I have never heard of using a roux or cornstarch to thicken the broth, that's blasphemous. .I'm anxious to learn what you have submitted in the last few years and how your entries fared. A lot of your success, obviously, will depend upon the audience and who is judging. But for my money, a simple chowder highlighting the seafood is always my goal. And yes to the addition of dry vermouth (or dry Sherry, here in FL where conch chowder is popular) ETA : I just realized that you've already updated to announce that you won in the classic category. Congratulations! I would still like to see a list of the various chowders that you have submitted and the results. - It's not too early to start planning for next year!

You've been missed, @chappie

I never stop between SF and Monterey, mainly because most of the driving scares me and I just want to get to Monterey safely and get off that crazy road as soon as possible, but in Monterey, by all means avoid the places on the wharf - tourist traps of the worst sort IMHO. In Pacific Grove, next door to Monterey, there is Vivilo's Chowder House, which is excellent and very reasonably priced with modest decor - sustainable Monterey Bay squid steaks are a highlight on the menu : https://www.google.com/search?q=Pacific+Grove+California+restaurants+specializing+in+Seafood+squid+steaks+Italian+fare&oq=Pacific+Grove+California+restaurants+specializing+in+Seafood+squid+steaks+Italian+fare&aqs=chrome..69i57.6687j0j4&client=ms-android-verizon&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#q=Pacific+Grove+seafood+restaurants&istate=lrl:iv&rlimm=908281185820346557 Also highly rated in PG is Passionfish, with prices to match. Personally, I've never been impressed with the quality of the food or the service especially after paying the inevitably hefty bill. Hopefully locals will chime in with more suggestions! Have a safe trip!

Can't remove this ^^^ weird formatting from my reply. I just wanted to say that I don't care who is blogging or where, if it involves salted fish and lychees, I'm excited. And didn't one of our bakers recently post a photo of a minions-themed cake?

I just realized that after submitting my post - and I see several for sale on eBay for $30USD + shipping! I'm quite sure that my mother would never have paid anywhere near that much, and now that I've done the math, I realize that she probably gave them to me closer to 40 yrs ago than 30 yrs. So that being said, and considering how many times I have moved in the ensuing years, these bread bakers surely have proven to be durable!

My dear mother gave me two of these bread bakers some 30+ years ago when I first started baking. I still have one (the other sadly broke approximately 10 years ago) and use it at least once per week. There is no need to presoak and after several uses, the pan develops a natural nonstick lining. Thank you for sharing the link, I may purchase a second so that I can have a pair as my mother intended!

I'm in love with this book because the recipes work, they really do take very little time, and use (mostly) ingredients easily found in the US:

On every food forum there are questions about "can I eat this" or "is this food safe" etc., (there are hundreds of such inquiries on Chowhound, for example) and this is the most thoughtful, responsible and balanced response that I've ever read. Thank you @Lisa Shock

No offense intended - I've probably lived in Florida too long. Our neighborhood get-togethers inevitably involve over-salted pimento cheese, something called Cowboy Caviar which looks and tastes vile, and an assortment of grossly overcooked meats and vegetables. Vegetables are often boiled to death, then pureed, mixed with mayonnaise and butter or cream, then topped with cracker crumbs and baked again in a casserole dish. My last offering, Indonesian gado gado (a platter of simple steamed & fresh veggies on a bed of Jasmine rice with peanut sauce) went untouched as it was deemed too exotic By the time I left, however, the three 9 x 13 pans of banana pudding made with packages of instant vanilla pudding mix, Nilla Wafers and sliced bananas with Cool Whip has been licked clean I've learned to eat at home and just show up to socialize as my taste in food is very different from my (native) Floridian neighbors Again, no offense to you intended. As aforesaid, I think that I've lived here too long

Interesting invitation. I also live in FL and if I got this invite in my neighborhood, I'd bring an old fashioned 7 layer salad in a pretty trifle dish and say that my oven was out of order.

I'm definitely going to make some version of the sushi cake. This is brilliant. Thank you for posting the link.

@liuzhou I'm not sure that this is of interest to you, but I have had a Zojirushi bread machine for almost 10 years now. I mostly use it for mixing dough (which I then shape and bake in my oven) but when I do allow it to bake the bread, it works great. There is an adjustment for light, medium or dark crust, as well as "homemade" settings that allow you to customize each of the mixing, rising and baking features. It also makes meatloaf and fruit jam. I'm very happy with it. I've never had a bread failure with the Zo bread machine.

Maybe water to use like a finger bowl after peeling the shrimp? What a gorgeous bowl. Love the feet on it. Wish I could see a close up of that bowl! It looks like cut glass?