heidih

How many of the mini condiment bottles are stashed in your bag? I love them; re-pack bulk herbs & spices to keep at hand arther than opening big containers when playing in the kitchen.

I am very interested in Roy Choi and Daniel Patterson's idea of local fast food: Locol http://www.welocol.com/about-us/ Going toe to toe with the big guys like McD and KFC in price and raising the bar in food quality; in financially challenged neighborhoods

I generally rely on my home pickled nasturtium seed pods for that "caper" flavor. I'm out until at least late spring/early summer so the caperberries in brine for $2 at TJ caught my eye. Interesting. Seedy inside but I enjoy texture contrast. Not as strong or "mustardy" of course as my nasturtium pods but they play well with olives in a dish and are mingling with friends in a tuna salad.

Yes the sauce is a major feature, but overall I think it is the wood smoke that separates what I get at my local from what I would even attempt at home. You drive up to this little place dwarfed by piles of wood and you have started salivating from over a block away from the wonderful smell.

I'm in Los Angeles. I would argue that florets in a bag are a far cry from a recently picked juicy head like Blue_Dolphin showed. Also she noted that the beautiful beast weighed 4-1/2 pounds! Yes that is about average for a Farmers Market and for that size & quality

Starting about here in the Bento topic, Fat Guy (the late Steven Shaw) chronicles his son's lunches. They are appealing, nutritius and mostly assembly, not elaborate prep

This recent scratch one from Serious Eats looks promising. I like how he analyzed the spice blend. Not as labor and time intentive as yours. http://www.seriouseats.com/2018/01/how-to-make-from-scratch-japanese-curry-thats.html

Is the Soy chorizo a crumbly product like the ubiquitous Cacique product?

This is RareRollingObject's image from her eG foodblog (Sydney). I coincidentally had the same one in my fridge in Los Angeles. We both were happy with this off the shelf brand from the Asian market. Under $8 for me as I recall. It is not subtle stuff.

You coud think of it as as deeper flavored love-child of Sriracha and strong miso. One of those ingredients that brings a spicy umami to a huge variety of foods.

In your search you may want to cnsider one that also does kebab skewers- multi tasker.We had a small countertop one (it has disappeared)

Must be a good bit of the sugar & the starch and awfully concentrated

Finished up the last of some gifted Ethiopian food made by a wonderful home cook. Lentils, split yellow peas, spicy chicken and hard boiled eggs, cabbage and carrot saute, fresh buttermilk cheese, and this injera. She does a long ferment on her batter so it is quite sour. A new for me very enjoyable taste experience.

You might want to take a look at Linda Ly's new book. She and her husband are frequent rugged campers so I think she speaks from experience. The New Camp Cookbook: Gourmet Grub for Campers, Road Trippers, and Adventurers

I could be mis-remembering but I think a farmers market vendor told me about storing the avocados under just below freeze temps so it is possible the cheaper ones are from a prior harvest

When I eat a raw Fuyu I always taste a hint of warm spices. I like the combination in this pumpkin pie spice mix.

Had a 4 hour wonderful potluck brunch this morning. Great conversation and food. I tried to plan so we would not duplicate dishes but it was like "herding cats". Turned out to be a serendipitous combination of flavors. I contributed a tangerine olive oil cake and also a big bowl of just picked tangerines for take-home. Unplanned feast: above cake, fruit bowl, lox, bacon, poached Asian pears (really nice), mini quiches from Trader Joes and a potato/red pepper/tomato/onion hash.

Cobbled together a sweet for tomorrow morning ladies NY gathering but stuck with no car, hyperactive tangerine tree and the only fat in house being olive oil - I tried a simple cake. Nice. I do not bake much but if done agin I would up the citrus and dial back sugar. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/orange-olive-oil-cake-recipe-2042483

The California crop has been severely affected by the wildfires- not good

Nice haul. Is the first image cardoon?

and the moisture content issue

Update on California season opening delay from 2 days ago http://www.oakdaleleader.com/section/27/article/21251/ Found this image on my eG blog taken first week of May 2011. I usually just go with the local rock crabs at a third of the price

That preserve sounds really good. Made or purchased?

I trust Ottolenghi's thinking and recipes. https://food52.com/recipes/22888-yotam-ottolenghi-sami-tamimi-s-basic-hummus If you google his name there are variations. I personally find that I get bored with a flavored one and prefer to add in things like pesto and red pepper/eggplant paste (name escapes me) when serving. Good olives and capers make me happy as well.

One tangeine tree is doing its usual "over achiever" thing + low quality figs from $1 store in pantry = micro batch of jam. I only used strips of the citrus zest and some juice, brown sugar, plus just hint of pumpkin pie spice blend and balsamic. Initially I just chopped the figs but they tumbled off my toast this morning so I whizzed it up with more juice and water, re-boiled and its pretty tasty now.