FauxPas

While this topic overlaps with some others (tipping culture, being a line cook in Vegas) I don't know if it should be relegate to one of those? Anyway, it's some details about a line cook working at Le Coucou. Has anyone here eaten there? I wish they had gone into more detail about the actual workstation work, though I still found the article interesting. And yeah, it's crazy that these high-end restaurants are effectively paying their waitstaff so much more than the people actually cooking the food. https://www.bonappetit.com/story/line-cook-nycs-fanciest-restaurants?mbid=nl_nl20180305fig_trendingrecipes&CNDID=34168170

I ran across this before but some of you may get a giggle out of it if you haven't already seen it yourselves: How to Make Wine in an Instant Pot

I'm sorry but I laughed out loud when I read that, because it's EXACTLY the sort of thing I would do. You can buy a replacement one at the Instant Pot site, but they are currently sold out (though they will email you when available). The one for the 8 qt is $9.95 which seems quite pricey but the smaller one may cost less and shipping is usually free. https://store.instantpot.com/collections/parts/small-parts I suspect you can live without one, though. Just be a bit careful when you lift the lid off.

With the inner (cooking pot) in or not? The cooking (liner) pot extends higher than the outer pot alone. It's close to 9 3/4 inches for my 6 quart DUO with the liner pot inside.

I'm sure that someone else will be a better source of information than I am, but I have purchased verjus (and some lovely balsamic vinegar) from Venturi-Schulze winery on Vancouver Island in BC though this hardly helps you as it is a long way from you and even though they do ship to the US, their verjus is currently unavailable. But I did see a NY Times article from 2010 on verjus and they recommended a Long Island vineyard that still produces and sells verjus. Wölffer Estate Vineyard. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/dining/27power.html

Pretty similar, anyway.

But first let us know if that even makes any difference, because I still had a hard time!

I had a heck of a time getting mine on, too! And then I saw something in the instructions somewhere that showed a diagram of bending it a certain way. Wait, here's a photo from p 12 of the manual, which suggested to me that I had to pinch the top of the cup together before pushing it into place. Even so, it was awkward. But I got it on there. Did anyone else have this problem?

The meal kits in the local Fry's (Kroger) were near the produce and deli sections and close to one of the entrances. Beside produce and in front of deli as you come into the store, basically. Looks like they introduce some new ones each week.

Here is our second experience with the Fry's/Kroger Prep+Pared meal kits. It's a vegan one, Black Bean Street Cakes with sautéed squash and verde rice. These patties were really good! I think even most non-vegans would enjoy this meal. And it was nice to dress up the rice with the salsa verde. The corn grits base for the patties was tasty and held together well and the spices were fun. It was a fast, easy and fun meal. I would absolutely try a similar one.

At the end of the day, we were pleasantly surprised by this meal. It's a very simple one and it all depended on a couple of simple ingredients, We both loved the shrimp and the pre-cooked pasta. We were really surprised by how tasty it was. Would it compete with a good restaurant, maybe not. But it was surprisingly decent. And really fast to make. And reasonably priced. My husband loved the shrimp and we thought it was a very generous amount. We had a hard time finishing it all. Not the best photo, I just don't have any more time tonight. The meal was good.

I assume you are talking about plastic shopping bags? I live in BC for half of my life and while you can potentially recycle plastic bags, most of us on Vancouver Island don't use them at all anymore. I don't. My grocery store doesn't use them at all and hasn't for years. And I almost never use them here either. However, that doesn't mean that there is no plastic packaging. But if you want to compare plastic waste, I will measure the components in any way you wish and compare them to any other packaging. But maybe this should be a whole other category.

The recipe card for the Shrimp Scampi says 8 oz of shrimp, but the shrimp packaging says 10 oz. I will try and weigh the shrimp before cooking. The Black Bean cakes were $14, the shrimp dinner was $18. A bit pricey in some ways, but they really do make it easy for people. The meal kits are in a special cooler near the front of the store, so very easy to grab and go. And you can preview them online first and presumably order them through ClickList if you want to do a drive-thru pick-up. There are lots of people who visit here (or other areas) for a week or a month and many of them have kitchen facilities but may not want to spend a lot of time shopping or ending up with unused ingredients. These could be perfect for nights when they want to cook at home, but without much fuss and yet go beyond the basic ready-to-go options. And no subscription required.

I didn't want to get into the packaging issue right now. I think I have commented on it previously when we used to get kits from Sunizona farms. Sometimes it does seem like a lot. Edited to say: But feel free to discuss this packaging part of the whole meal kit product, I understand it's important. I did still plan on talking about it, just not before I made dinner. I am unlikely to use these kits often and don't really feel a need to defend them. But these aren't subscription kits, they don't need the extra packaging to travel through delivery systems and various weather. Those ones need protection from temperature change and handling. So I suspect these fare better in terms of packaging than those. But I will say that the packaging is somewhat proportional - if you are buying a bag of uncooked black beans (bulk or not), you are probably buying more plastic than what is used for the beans in this meal kit. Same with rice, butter, etc. I have more plastic in my package of beans from Rancho Gordo than what is contained in this kit for the beans. Will my RG beans go further? Absolutely, but they do not come without waste. And yes, you could buy an onion or garlic without packaging, but I see people using the plastic produce bags for even single bits of produce all the time. And certainly for damp parsley, etc. I think the packaging in these kits is not too bad compared to others I have seen. The boxes are recyclable. I think they have tried to minimize the plastic. But what if we compare this to take-out food? How does it compare? Is it preferable at times? What about to some of the other packaging in the grocery stores? The Uncle Ben's pre-cooked rice, or the Trader Joe's mirepoix in plastic tubs? But yes, it would be nice if the world used less plastic, created less waste, etc.

Just found a Fry's page with all the current menu offerings: https://kroger.softcoin.com/programs/kroger/prep_pared/?banner=Frys&origin=mealkit#kits I think you should be able to see the current offerings as well as the previous ones. Spicy lemongrass pork and pork chili verde, chicken enchiladas rojas are some of the previous ones. That mushroom stroganoff over cauliflower hash cakes sounded interesting, too. They look really simple and fast, but the meals also look fairly appealing.

OK, I was over in the same area later this afternoon and popped back in to pick one up. I ended up with two. My husband wanted to try the shrimp quality and I wanted to try a vegan option. Not that I am a vegan or even interested in becoming one, I just find it interesting to see how appealing they can make vegan kits. I was thinking of making the Black Bean Cakes as a starter, followed by the Shrimp Scampi, but decided the Shrimp would suffice. Here are some pics and details... The packaging is quite good. The boxes are all the same size, a fairly long and narrow box, good for fitting into the fridge. Info on the box shows if a meal is gluten-free, vegan, etc and the shrimp was labeled as a dietitian's choice. Time to cook is given (are they all 20 mins or less?) as well as level of spiciness and whether you have to do a bit of chopping or none at all. The plastic window lets you see at least some of the ingredients. Here's the contents of the shrimp dinner. It's only 10 oz (less than 300 gms) of shrimp and the other ingredients are very simple, so the quality of the shrimp and the cooked (!) fettuccini will be key. The onions are already diced, the garlic and parsley minced. Pats of butter included. Here's the contents of the Black Bean cakes - instant corn grits, cooked basmati rice, black beans, diced red peppers, cumin, sriracha, salsa verde, diced squash and minced garlic. The recipe card for the Bean Cakes: And for the shrimp:

There's another type of competition in this 'planned meal' category. It's not a meal kit, but it's similar in intent. The Dinner Daily will let you select eating preferences (vegan, no red meat, vegetarian, etc) and then provide you with weekly menus based on the stores you select for shopping. They link to the stores' flyers and online coupons, etc and provide you with a customized shopping list that is supposed to maximize the weekly savings. So you still do the shopping but they provide the details for you so you don't have to do your own menu planning or make up shopping lists, search for coupons and so forth. It sounds quite smart to me. All they are selling is information so they don't have to source ingredients, portion and ship food, etc. I haven't tried it, but I'm mildly tempted. They say it starts at $4/week which might be worth it if their overall planning is well done. I only quickly viewed their site, so I hope I haven't misrepresented their service.

I would have considered doing so, but I was in a hurry, just buying something non-perishable and wasn't going home right away. I didn't want anything perishable sitting in the car. I could consider doing one in the next few days though!

I see that our local Fry's (Kroger) grocery store is carrying meal kits now. They varied in price from $14 to $18, I think and a choice of about six to eight. (I was in a hurry and didn't count!) I wonder how often they will introduce new ones.

This doesn't relate to the Instant Pot Pressure Cookers that almost all of us have. The problems are with some of their Gem cookers, which are not pressure cookers - they are more like slow-cookers with additional heating elements or something. Washington Post article, Everyone Take a Deep Breath, Your Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Has Not Been Recalled

That looks like a lovely place to visit and a sweet rental home, also. Thanks for sharing!

I saw this model on the Instant Pot site when I was looking for glass lids, but lost interest when I saw it doesn't pressure cook. I like the Washington Post article, Everyone Take a Deep Breath, Your Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Has Not Been Recalled

I had to wait a bit to get the lid after I bought the pot. I bought the Mini on December 18 and ordered the lid at the same time, but had to wait until early January to receive the lid. I hope you didn't have to wait too long!

What went into this, Kerry? It looks delicious!

I expected more stars, based on the write-up! Your food sounds and looks wonderful, so creative and such powerful selection/sourcing of ingredients.