FauxPas

I bet both batches would have been way up at the top of the list! 🙂

Back in October one of the local farms was selling off jalepenos and I bought a few pounds or so, without really thinking about what I wanted to do with them. Not wanting to let them sit around too long, I decided to do a quick pickle with them. So I sliced them and filled a 1-liter (1 qt) jar with them along with a bit of garlic and then topped that with a hot vinegar brine with some pickling salt and a tiny bit of added sugar. Not wanting to process a single jar, I knew they would keep ok in the fridge for at least 2-3 months. But I kept thinking that we still might struggle to use them up, it seemed like an awful lot of jalapenos when I looked at them packed into the jar. But here we are, 4-6 weeks later and our jar is seriously depleted. These were so good and just a nice amount of heat that we were using them on nachos and Mexican dishes but also on sandwiches and with cheese and crackers. And without the processing, they have retained a pleasant bit of crunch. Almost gone! And even fewer in the jar now. Yum.

I've enjoyed cooking from Andrea Chesman's books, including Pickles & Relishes (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). She has quite a few recipes for green tomatoes, including Chow Chow and/or Piccalilli. It's one of those books that you can pick up for just a few dollars if you are ok with a used book. Not sure if you are interested in this, but thought I would mention it. 🙂

Shop Generalist or Shop Multitasker. Maybe kinder versions of 'dogsbody'? 🙂

Unable to face another night of cabbage, I made a quick tourtière. Went really well with some mango chutney that I made for an Indian meal we had a couple of weeks ago. A salad on the side. We'll have the same for dinner tonight and possibly for lunch tomorrow. 🙂

Yes! I was thinking of Marcella Hazan's Rice & Smothered Cabbage Soup. Did@weinoomention it recently? I think someone did. 🙂

We got quite a lot of cabbage, carrots and onions from local CSA farm. I've made coleslaw of course. Also made some cabbage rolls that lasted a couple of days. And Molly Stevens' World's Best Braised Cabbage which lasted us for a few nights. And haluska/haluski, which I'm sure some people here will know, is an Eastern European dish of luscious slowly sautéed onion, cabbage and butter which is then mixed in with cooked egg noodles and sometimes served with sour cream. All very good, but I have to admit to getting a bit tired of cabbage at this point. 🙂 Cabbage rolls. Molly Stevens' cabbage and carrots leftovers on Day 2 or 3. I always use more carrot than she suggests and also more (homemade) chicken stock. We had some pork sausages on the side. Haluska/haluski with some sour cream on the side. Hard to see the cabbage, but there was a fair bit in there. My husband had some leftover striploin with his, I just had this on its own. I have a bit of cabbage left. Maybe make some soup with it?

NY Times has an article about a man who's dedicated to documenting cases of shrinkflation in the US. (Shareable NYT link.)

This one has some food and drink associations. 🙂

Absolutely! I wasn't implying that this was an Amazon thing. The above examples are due to choices in manufacturing and packaging made by the Campbell Soup Company, Barilla Group, etc. In general, I think shipping costs to ship to Canada or even within Canada are very high, some of it valid and some questionable. 🙂 When gas prices went way up, it was a good excuse for raising some shipping costs but even though oil/gas prices have fallen a lot, the fuel surcharges stay on some goods and services.

This is more about shady marketing and pricing than sale prices, but I think it's pretty closely related. It's not new, but it seems to be picking up steam lately - shrinkflation, or reducing the amount of goods or quality in a product yet still charging the same price or near that. Campbell's soup did this recently in a pretty obvious way - their can size shrunk. Barelli Pasta packaging is sneakier - the same size but now only contains 410 g instead of 454 g. I thought it very interesting that Brazil requires manufacturers to show these changes on the packaging. https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-shrinkflation-1.6654780

Here's another Amazon pricing study. I'm assuming it's based on the US site. I haven't time to go through it in detail today or look for more studies. But: As it turns out, some of those impressive discounts we saw during the hottest sales seasons aren’t that real: some vendors artificially spike the original price quoted, just to show a more staggering discount. And: The biggest sales seasons—Black Friday and Christmas—actually don’t come with significant price drops.

@lemniscate and this study (I believe) were referring to Amazon US. I'm not confident about talking about consumer law in the US, but I do see that Canada has this: From: https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/competition-bureau-canada/en/deceptive-marketing-practices/types-deceptive-marketing-practices/ordinary-selling-price

It shouldn't be legal! Well, the "list price" is really a made up number. The actual selling price is a different thing. Does the "list price" stuff come into play in UK?

There was a study done a few years ago that showed that Amazon was hiking up the "list prices" of items so that a percentage discount seemed like a deal, when in fact the item's final price might even be higher than the original regular price. Does that make sense? Study summary linked above but here's the gist of it: I suspect Amazon may do the same thing for Black Friday sales.

You've already got a lovely menu there, but if you wanted to use the delicata, you could possibly use it in a kale salad. I had that once and it was quite good. Someone else made it but it was roasted slices of squash on top of kale with some dried cranberries, goat cheese and some kind of nuts (might have been pepitas but I think walnuts or pecans or sunflower would also work). Not sure what kind of vinaigrette but I think it was citrus, maybe some orange in it? Or make some chips with the squash, like this, which I am definitely going to try some day. https://food52.com/recipes/19485-delicata-squash-chips

I'm interested in "The Menu", a new film which is billed as "black comedy horror". The horrors of rich-people food. 🙂 Also, review here along with review of "Fresh" which really sounds like a horror film!

Looks like a fun store, though the candy canes don't really appeal to me. (Mac 'n cheese, for example, ha) But as they say, "We make weird." 🙂

California had drought and a spot virus in the crop. Bad combination. We're just starting to see some of the AZ lettuce growers coming online now and I hope that means the prices will drop. I see one of our local stores is offering both CA and AZ lettuce. Right now, both are still $5 Cdn but I hope that will change soon! I am kicking myself for not planting some in my raised bed which has a greenhouse cover. I did hear that it would be a bad year for lettuce. Some of our local farms are still offering various greens but I wonder if they are trying to charge what the market will bear, not what their real costs are. Sigh. Edited to add: It may still be too soon for the AZ lettuce. I just noticed that product listing said CA/AZ lettuce. So could be either. But I do believe prices will come down here in BC once AZ production ramps up. Hoping they don't have any big issues! 🙂

Aw, sounds like a lovely time with your daughters and the food looks lovely. What breads did they serve? The bisque sounds dreamy.

Like others here, I don't think it's tacky if you are discreet. And I'd love to see your pics! Sounds like a lovely evening. 🙂

@Shelbyand @Katie Meadow, thank you both! I will do some digging around and see what I can find. Appreciate your help! 🙂

This looks so tasty! Are the red chilis hot and the green ones sweet? How hot/spicy is the finished dish overall? Edited to add: Do you have any idea of how much longer you will stay in hospital? Whatever the underlying issues, I hope you are getting answers and some good news.

I read those words and had an awful premonition that it would pour down while you were away and you would return to a flooded tent and soaking wet gear. I was so pleased to follow along and find that was NOT the case! 🙂 🙂

@Shelby, can you tell me more about these little casserole dishes? At least, I assume they are little because I think you used them in the CSO. I'd certainly be interested in something similar. 🙂