blue_dolphin

Egg scrambled with sautéed onion & red bell pepper, oven roasted cherry tomatoes and a Porto's cheese & spicy pepper potato ball.

Made the Star Anise Orange Marmalade from Dishoom yesterday and had some on toast for breakfast. Bordier's yuzu butter on the toast to continue the citrus theme. I confess to some inattention while this was cooking down but managed to rescue the pot before we reached the stage of candied orange peel!

I bought a new pair of cut-resistant gloves (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) a couple of months ago and am very happy with them. They come in sizes down to X-small (what I got) and provide so much more dexterity than the bulky kevlar ones that had at least an inch of empty space at the end of each finger. I'm still very careful and push small pieces through with the next larger one or use the pusher. If you really plow your hand into a blade with a lot of force, I can't say it will protect any better than the ones that failed @lindag but the improvement in dexterity seems to help me be aware of where my fingers actually are so I thought I'd pass it on in case anyone else with small hands struggles with bulky gloves for this purpose.

A couple of posts back, I made Julia Turshen's Kimchi + Avocado Toast from her book, Small Victories, on a hash brown. Today, I put the same stuff on one of TJ's Taiwanese green onion pancakes If I'd left the egg off, I could have folded it over and picked it up but the egg makes it so good and worth the knife and fork!

I'm willing to take a look if I'm down in that area, though I could be put off by the parking situation at that Westwood location. I don't see any snails in this photo from their website:

I have a two-sided stove top griddle with ridges on one side. My major gripe is that with my gas cooktop, it's impossible to place it so the burners are of similar intensity. I understand that staggering the burners makes sense to accommodate pan sizes but it makes it extremely challenging to maintain even heat across 2 adjacent burners. I've tried using my baking steel for pancakes and it's the same issue with getting even heat. If I used a double-size griddle often enough, I'd try to find an accessible space to store that electric one.

The 13 inch pink ones are my least used. I use all the others quite a bit. I’ve been using the small blue 5 inch size a lot on bags of spices and chiles and need to get some more of them. Otherwise, I probably use the medium 8.75 & 7.25 inch sizes the most in my fridge, freezer & pantry. I rarely have bags of chips or snack stuff around but the 11.25 inch are good if you do.

I love my Gripstics, too. I use them for everything. Love the idea of using them to reseal a sous vide bag, @TdeV! They make some really big ones that turn into a handle for big bags of pet food or garden supplies. Rather expensive but so handy!

Shaved Fennel + Kumquat Salad from Small Victories. This is a spin-off of the Shaved Carrot + Avocado Salad. I dressed it with the Preserved Kumquat Vinaigrette from Amá This is a fresh-tasting, crunchy winter salad. Perfect to pair with something rich. I've made fennel salads with all sorts of citrus. This was the first time using kumquats but won't be the last. I used pistachios instead of sliced almonds and decided to dress it with the preserved kumquat vinaigrette from Amá which is a great citrus dressing.

Just realized that I forgot to provide an update on that pie. It's a delicious, meaty treat! I wasn't sure what the size would be but it's made in a 9-inch pie pan and it arrived at fridge temp. Here's the pie: The ingredients: Mushrooms aren't mentioned but they are definitely in there. Here's a serving: The CSO does a good job reheating. Very delicious.

Smoked Sardine & Kumquat Crostini from Nik Sharma's Season The topping mixture contains sliced kumquats, minced shallot, Thai chilies, smoked sardines, white beans (he calls for canned butter beans, I used Rancho Gordo vallarta beans), lemon juice. olive oil and fresh dill. A fun mix of flavors and it works well scooped up with chips or crackers.

Yep, it was mentioned but I don't think there was much interest at the time. I thought it was a good episode.

I enjoyed reading a sweet little article by Tracy Wan in the NYT: Try New Fruit. The Weirder, the Better Surely it's paywalled against non-subscribers. Sorry for that but read it if you can. A quote: or two: I always figured those fruit names were designed to appeal to the 6-year-old inside each of us!

@Toliver mentioned them in this post about 2 years ago. There are some unfavorable comments that follow. @Kim Shook commented on them again last year here. Maybe you've gotten a new and improved version?

Driscoll grows berries all over the world. I have no idea what drives their price differentiation in various markets. @heidih is correct that I'm not far from where Harry's Berries are grown. Also TONS and TONS of Driscoll berries. Differences are that Harry's Berries are organic (I'm sure Driscoll's has an organic line as well and would surely be more expensive as strawberries) and they are picked ripe either the day before or the morning of our market. Perhaps most importantly, the varieties that they grow may not be high-yield but are very flavorful. These are Gaviota. Seascape, which will come along soon are my favorite. Driscoll surely chooses varieties that are firm and can tolerate being knocked around. My berries hold quite well in the fridge for up to a week but would be a mess in a commercial shipping and grocery warehouse situation.

They were expensive but worth it for a treat!

Tomato & Strawberry Salad with Feta and Olives from David Kinch's At Home in the Kitchen The berries (from Harry's Berries at the farmers market) were spectacular. Tomatoes were also from the market but were so-so. Nice trick of using feta brine to make quick dressing.

Avocado, kimchi and soft boiled egg on a hash brown with a drizzle of kimchi mayo

Modernist Pizza (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) currently priced at $300.30 on Amazon in US.

I have one burner where the igniter clicks but often doesn't light right away. Then, I ended up rustling around for a match to light it. After reading these articles, I spent $12 on one of these USB rechargeable lighters (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) to keep by the stove. Should help cut down on the gas emission and I'm sure it's cheaper than getting a new igniter from Wolf.

Check out this beef cheek and bone marrow pie: My friends are headed to Roan Mills bakery this AM and I'd already put in a request for a baguette when this photo popped up in their Instagram feed. I put in my request and am excited to try it!

I've had variable success with that bowl shaking trick for peeling garlic. It’s worked well a few times and been a noisy failure on others. I’ll try the MW trick next time I have a lot to peel.

The pasta section at my TJ's has been a bit sparse of late. Shelves are completely filled but a lot varieties are missing. No spaghetti or fettuccine for some time. Dan Pashman's said that the TJ's version of cascatelli is in stores but may take a while to make it to all locations, particularly on the west coast. I haven't seen it here yet. I'll continue to check. I did purchase this fusilli corti bucati recently. Like bucatini, the little spiral shapes are hollow so they cook quickly - the package says 7-9 minutes. In my hands, 7 min was plenty and I'd go with less if finishing will take more than a min or two. I saw someone recommend them for soup. To my taste, they're a little big for that but maybe I should try before deciding that. Here they are with hot sausage, baby kale and Parmesan from a recipe adapted from Julia Turshen's Small Victories (she uses orecchiette and baby spinach): In addition to the named ingredients, this dish gets its flavor from caramelized onions and lemon zest.

I very much like the book. The stories of Cho's own background and Chinese bakeries across the US and beyond are interesting to read but it's very much filtered through a Chinese American lens so I'd put the book in that niche rather than saying that it defines a style of regional Chinese cooking. There's a section on buying Chinese ingredients and a lighthearted calendar of Chinese celebrations that those much more familiar with the culture might find unnecessary and incomplete but make the book and the recipes accessible to those lacking that knowledge. Kristina Cho grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, spending much time in the restaurant her grandparents started after they emigrated to the US. Some recipes are quite authentic, I think, to what you would find in Hong Kong bakeries, where her grandparents were from. In others, she takes the traditional methods but puts her own spin on them, treading well into fusion territory in some recipes. She's had a food blog, Eat Cho Food, for quite some time and the book is filled with excellent step-by-step photos and descriptions. You can see how her recipes are written and get a sense of her photography on her blog. You can see a list of the recipes from the book here on Eat Your Books and if cooking those dishes piques your interest, I'd recommend checking out the book.

Yes, clothing, including shoes, can be the best PPE in the kitchen! As to apron strings, I suppose they should be long enough but I very much dislike them and their special ability to entangle an entire load in the dryer. It's why I like the Rough Linen versions - no strings at all! I'm not challenged by putting them on but clearly that is an issue for others so I guess it's good to have all sorts of options.