blue_dolphin

Thanks from me, too. I will certainly give this method a try. Sounds like a promising way to avoid my usual problem of overcooked eggs when I make shakshuka-type things.

@Smithy, in either direction, did you note any Covid-linked differences in border crossing protocols? Were you driving or is there a pedestrian crossing? And sign me up for the glassware club!

Thanks for taking us along once again. Love the combination of take-out and home...er...rental-cooked meals and as always, your photographs are amazing!

I do like the wine glass there in the background. Always nice to have a sip while you unpack!

Quiche du yesterjour

Quiche du jour Asparagus, mushroom, onion and red bell pepper

Yesterday, when I went out to Roan Mills for bread, they had some sausages for sale in their freezer case. I bought some strikingly pink ones that had beets listed among the ingredients. Should have waited until I had some proper rolls but had to give into my curiosity and enjoyed one on lightly toasted bread with grainy mustard and caramelized onions.

That's especially understandable after that last pizza pie! When I go over to Roan Mills, I can't resist trying one if they have some thing I haven't had yet.

Two more savory hand pies from Roan Mills. Lamb: The filling was mostly ground lamb with leeks, dried cherries and a bit of carrot. I debated adding some cherry mustard from the fridge but by the time I'd settled on it, I'd polished off the whole thing. Pulled pork: I had this one a while ago and I can't remember exactly what was in the filling. Mostly pork. It was very tasty.

Not sure if you're still enroute but if so, safe travels and, as always, thanks for taking us along!

It's true there's not much of a selection of French butter in the average US grocery store but speciality shops offer more. The one I shop at has Bordier (about a dozen flavors/sizes), Echire, Isigny Ste Mère, Le Gall, and Sèvre & Belle.

I got my first vaccine dose yesterday in Ventura, a few miles away from the only WinCo in my area so I went in to take a look. Verified the whole frozen ducks as mentioned by @Toliver. They were $2.99/lb. Also the goat meat, lamb legs, pork belly and frozen head-on prawns that @David Ross mentioned were all there along with beef soup bones and both pork and beef neck bones. The bulk section is indeed huge, though right now, it's all pre-bagged. I liked the way much of the produce was set out right in the shipping boxes rather than being arranged into artful piles by store staff. Less handling and potential for bruising. It's a huge store and I didn't take the time to go through everything but I'll go back again. Thanks all for bringing it up! Like I said, I'd never heard of it before.

I would also be delighted to receive a wonderful butter with a great loaf of bread, cornbread or the like. The nice thing about butter, assuming it’s wrapped well to protect it from picking up odors, is that it keeps in the freezer for a long time. I like to keep some of those small bars of Bordier butter in the freezer so I can make up a little basket with bread and butter to go along with jars of marmalade or jam that I’ve made. Always very well received.

The Aldi that recently opened near me offers delivery via Instacart and curbside pick-up. That said, I’m not familiar enough with their offerings to order sight-unseen.

Another option I should have mentioned, especially if you are concerned about a high alcohol burn, is to just infuse the zest into a vodka you find acceptable, maybe giving it a bit longer if you are going with a lower proof option. Then, just strain and add your sweetener to taste rather than diluting further with additional vodka. You can add a little water if it's still too "hot" but I'd let it sit a while before you decide if that's needed. I went that route using lime zest and tequila and got a nice result.

A lot of recipes say to let the ingredients "marry" for about a week or so after sweetening so I'd recommend that you taste it again in a week and see if that affects the burn you are tasting. I generally use an inexpensive 151 proof vodka for the initial extraction and don't have an issue with the harshness after it's been diluted and rested a while. It looks like you used a microplane to zest the the lemons, I don't think you need more than a month for the extraction, though you could try. I've done all sorts of things when I forgot a batch! It's possible that the missing lemon flavor is really tartness so you could also try squeezing a little wedge of lemon into your glass to see what you think. I'm sure it's not at all traditional but I like the addition of the fresh flavor. And your glasses are perfection! Edited to add that this recipe from Kathy Casey's book Sips & Apps is a delicious use of limoncello in a cocktail.

For unknown reasons...maybe the carbonara that @Ann_T prepared for Moe on Monday...I made pasta for breakfast yesterday and today. Today, I made Eric Kim's NYT recipe for Creamy Asparagus Pasta featured in this recent article. That's probably about 1/4 of the suggested amount of roasted seaweed on top. I added the rest after the photo and it was an appropriate amount but would have photographed like a bowl-o-seaweed. I dialed back the pasta and upped the asparagus to 3 oz each/serving. Cooking the pasta in a kelp broth and adding more to infuse the cream sauce is a good move. I enjoyed this though it's not as decadent as the amount of cream would suggest. As the title of the article says, this is not an umami bomb, it's a balm. Yesterday was a recipe for Pasta With Marinated Artichoke Sauce from Food52, where marinated artichokes get blitzed into a sauce. A few are reserved and added at the end. I added asparagus and red bell pepper for color and texture. This was OK. Glad I tried it but no need to do it again. Lemon zest or maybe some preserved lemon might help. Maybe a different brand of artichokes, too. For marinated artichoke pasta tricks, I prefer a Mollie Katzen recipe that cooks sliced onion and garlic in the marinade. I generally add other veg to that one, too.

Viewed on my iPad, the shadows in the rice are warm rather than neutral but I'd stop short of calling the whole image orange.

I know. I was going to look for an April Fool's thread but it just made such a good fit here with the Peeps Pepsi and root beer Peeps 🙃

Green Giant® and PEEPS® Partner to Introduce Limited-Edition Cauliflower Flavored Marshmallow Bunnies Available beginning April 1. Photo from PRNewswire at the link above 🤣😂🤣

Yep, this one especially. It's a relatively small, black-owned, family business specializing in catering which, of course, has disappeared so they've been doing take-out to keep the lights on. Hope they make it!

It was really good. He's got the soft shell crabs on the menu as an a la carte item and I'm seriously tempted to order again but 2 decadent meals in holy week doesn't seem right!

Wrong forum 🙃!

Took myself out to lunch....well take-out...and ordered a crispy soft shell crab po'boy Edited to add that I considered posting this over in the Ladies Who Lunch thread but it's not exactly a ladylike sandwich is it? Here's a link to the photo the restaurant posted on Instagram this am which lured me in: https://www.instagram.com/p/CNFqcZdgC1a/

The price here was 95 cents/lb for the spiral cut hams. That price is still the same here but I am tempted by this week's 69 cents/lb for the unsliced