blue_dolphin

Having grown up in northern NY in a house on the shore of Lake Champlain, the local wisdom was that one should never take off for 2 weeks of vacation between June & Sept because the summer might come and you'd have missed it!

Toasted English muffin topped with butter and marmalade mixed with fresh ginger. This was inspired by the Sandwiches of history guy and I must say that adding freshly grated ginger will really give your marmalade a punch!

Bought a packet of frozen gorgonzola, toasted walnut and endive ravioli from Roan Mills the other day. Made a walnut brown butter sauce with tarragon and added asparagus.

I don't think that looks bad at all and I think it would also be fine with a 36" wide fridge of that same depth. That said, I wouldn't want it to stick out any further and I do think it would look a bit nicer if it were more flush. I totally agree that when the fridge is at the end of a run of cabinets, it's barely noticeable if it sticks out but when it's in the middle, it's more obvious. I think it also matters if that side view is one that you often see from other vantage points or just from within the kitchen while cooking. The former is more bothersome to me than the latter. Gorgeous kitchen in any case!

I put my first thoughts on Sally Schmitt's Six California Kitchens over in the 2022 cookbooks topic. I think it's just lovely!

I received Six California Kitchens a couple of weeks ago and just finished reading it. If you enjoy food-related memoirs, it's very much worth a read. I think the recipes sound delicious and look forward to cooking from the book. I've mentioned elsewhere that Sally Schmitt passed away last month which is certainly sad but what a lovely memoir she's left behind in this book. It's full of stories, recipes and photos woven together to take us through a lifetime of cooking - from her mother's 1930's kitchen where she first learned to cook to her restaurant kitchens (The Vintage Cafe, The Chutney Kitchen and The French Laundry) to the Apple Farm where instead of retiring, she continued to cook and teach cooking for years to the Elk Cottage on the Mendocino coast where she and her husband lived for 8 years before returning to the Apple Farm to live closer to family. Such a treat to read. I feel like I just had a cooking lesson from my grandmother....if, you know, my grandmother had started the French Laundry 🙃 Sally advises us to read through a recipe carefully, three times before beginning to cook, to clean as we go and to take a break for a few minutes if the soup seasoning isn't coming together as you'd like. The recipes are written with clear, simple instructions paired with the ingredients as they are used. Measurements are given in both cups and spoons and grams and milliliters. She doesn't use any equipment fancier than a blender or mixer and while she's mostly a "scratch" cook, she doesn't shy away from doctoring up some good old Best Foods Mayo. I haven't started cooking from the book yet but have quite a few recipes marked to try. Amazon's "Look Inside" feature includes the recipe listing and several recipes so you can see what's included and how they are formatted. That Amazon sample is from the Kindle edition so notes that appear in the margins of the hard copy are kind of merged in with the rest of the text although they appear in red for memories or stories or blue for notes that pertain directly to a recipe, the same text color scheme used in the hard copy.

And much like the items you mention, you can always put an egg on it - as I often do!

None needed - I'd start my day with a bowl of pasta over cereal - hot or cold - any day of the week! I've been rather remiss about my breakfasts of late. There was a nice leek quiche with asparagus, mushrooms and red bell peppers. This probably accounted for 3 or 4 breakfasts so the last slice gets a second photo: Then there was the last pumpernickel bagel from my recent batch. This one with the dried apricot and thyme cream cheese schmear from Cathy Barrow's bagel book: Both were good. The schmear was not as appealing to me as much as the others I've made from the book. Perhaps I could have gotten better dried apricots? Perhaps I don't like sweet stuff so much with my bagels? Tuna fish salad on seeded spinach waffle which was one of the last bread-type items in my house on this particular morning: No complaints from me. I always think of @Anna N when I make something like this because I know she very much dislikes tuna, at least in this form. I believe I made this more than once before yesterday's bakery run provided me with more options. Today's breakfast was the same as yesterday's, a roasted mushroom hand pie from a local bakery:

My condolences, @Kim Shook, on your mom's passing. Where I grew up, it was very common to hold springtime burial services for those who had passed away in the winter while the ground was frozen. I always felt it was a bit wrenching for the families to revisit that grief at a distance and even more so for everyone who lost loved ones in these last few years and had to postpone gatherings. How lovely of your friend to handle the food, too. It's so nice to be able to visit with people over a bit of food and drink, especially when they may have traveled a ways. My lunch today - spaghetti with asparagus fashioned after the recipe for pasta alla gricia with sugar snap peas in Six Seasons. Asparagus going in for the sugar snaps is the obvious sub but I also used diced country ham instead of pancetta. Those little biscuit slices from Broadbent's are ever so handy to have on hand! The asparagus spears were big and fat but very tender and delicious. I peeled about the last inch or so but I don't think it was necessary.

Not exactly the sweet treats shared thus far in this topic but I paid a visit to a local-ish bakery this morning and figured I could share here. Roan Mills grows the grain, mills it into flour and bakes a range of goods they sell at the bakery in Fillmore, CA and at local farmers markets. On the sweet side, today they had several kinds of croissants, scones and pies. The same family own Kenter Canyon Farms and since the pandemic, they have been offering their produce in the bakery. What I bought today: Clockwise from the nice organic asparagus are a bag of polenta, a Sonora sandwich loaf, sourdough baguette, English muffins, a bunch of tarragon, a bag of mixed cremini, shiitake and oyster mushrooms, a frozen packet of Gorgonzola, toasted walnut and endive ravioli . In the center, a very tasty roasted mushroom hand pie that I had for breakfast (brunch?) when I got home.

I love Massa Organics brown rice. It's medium grain, not the short grain you ask for but it's absolutely chewy, hearty and not mushy, at least as I cook it in the Instant Pot. I realize it's not what you asked for but it's very good stuff. Not sure where you would most easily find it locally.

This thread got me to check into what food delivery services might be available for low income seniors in my area so I consulted the website of the largest area food bank. I was rather shocked at just how low the threshold is. They are using 130% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines as the qualifier and show the table below on their website. Sounds reasonable, doesn't it? But before looking at the table, consider that the average rent for a 1-bedroom apartment around here is $2305/month. Good grief.

I figure food is cooked if heat has been applied to it.

Yes, I'm sure this is due to all the planning work you did up front but it really does seem to be moving quickly....of course I wasn't the one washing dishes in the bathroom 🤣 Looks really great!

Does anyone have both the book being discussed in this thread, Super Easy Instant Pot Cookbook: Quick Prep, One-Pot, 5-Ingredient, 30-Minute Recipes (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) published this month and the somewhat older title, 5-Ingredient Instant Pot Cookbook: Simple Recipes to Get Meals on the Table Faster (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) that was published in Nov 2021? The titles are a bit similar so I was wondering how they differ?

Excellent idea! I was going suggest making a paw-paw shrub with coconut vinegar but making paw-paw vinegar would be even better!

I know nothing of Paw-Paws but have made a number of fruit-infused liqueurs. With a fresh, ripe fruit, you don’t need a high proof spirit or the very lengthy infusion times as often recommended for limoncello. Choose your base spirit based on your intended use and personal preferences. Vodka will be most neutral and let the fruit flavor dominate. A white rum or blanco or reposado tequila might also be nice. I’d recommend this recipe for tequila por mi amante as a guide for you to use with vodka, rum or tequila, as you like. Use the paw paw flesh without skin or seeds in case they have any bitter flavors. Or leave them in to see what happens. In any case, the infused spirit will taste smoother after it sits a while after straining. You can sweeten it at this time, as one would do with limoncello but I’ve found fruits like berries or melon to be pleasantly sweet without added sugar. Edited to say that you can add some citric acid and malic acid for a bit of tang if that’s needed.

I suppose they could be pancakes...I always make all the waffles. I eat the last one, freeze the rest and enjoy resurrecting them into sandwiches or just themselves with different toppings. Do report back on your preferences. Edited to add that I guess a year is a long time to wait!

Great looking bagels, @Dave R! I know Stella Parks (aka Brave Tart) has a food processor bagel recipe over on Serious Eats. I was interested in trying that mixing method but not her exact recipe so it's good to know that you had good results with it. I've been using my KitchenAid mixer but with the smallish (6 bagel) recipes in Cathy Barrow's bagel book, the dough hook doesn't really engage the dough as well as I think it should. It kind of nudges it around the bowl and only really flings it about every now and again. I'll try the processor next batch!

I agree with @heidih. I wouldn’t think freshness would be a big issue with dried seasoning packets - those herbs and spices were at their best before being packaged and any recipe calling for them assumes that. If you receive packets long past their 'best by' dates, go ahead and return them. Otherwise, see if they match your fast food memories!

Lots of recipes online for Popeye's style chicken tenders (like this one) Which ones have you tried and what would you like to improve in them?

I don’t have a grill but wrap unpeeled beets in foil when roasting in my regular oven and in the CSO with no steam, then rub off the skins. I recently tried a recipe that specified first peeling and cutting up the beets and oven roasting. Interesting bit of browning on the edges but I don’t like to peel beets so probably won’t repeat.

I grew up on tuna fish salad sandwiches. Prickly pear fruits are called tuna but I doubt my family was wanting to make that particular distinction. I also learned cod fish at home, depending on the dish so codfish cakes, creamed codfish (both made with salted cod) but probably cod filet without the fish part. Edited to add that I did wonder if tuna fish was a regional usage. I grew up in northern NY state and this usage seems less common here in SoCal.

Added a splash of cream to yesterday's fiasco, piled it on toasted sourdough and ran it under the broiler with a sprinkle of Parm to turn it into this caramelized (ahem) leek, mushroom and country ham toastie: Tasted pretty good. Probably could have gone ahead with the quiche, even if it wouldn't have been the light, bright spring style I had in mind!

Thank you. I'll have to try making my own someday but that $2.49 price point on the TJ's product isn’t really incentivizing me! How well do they freeze and reheat? Do they maintain the crispy flakiness?