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I'm told that yesterday was National Ice Cream Day in the US. I was feeling left out last night but then spied a container in my freezer: Just one serving left: Saffron, pistachio and rose. The sahlab gives it a bit of a chewy texture. Need to go get more.

I have a 2-drawer style dishwasher (Fisher-Paykel) so basically just one shelf per drawer. Whenever I see those "top shelf dishwasher safe" labels I just throw it in and hope for the best. No heating element in the bottom so I think I'm safe.

If you want to can just a few jars, it seems OK for waterbath or steam canning but not for pressure canning. See this from Food in Jars which suggests the company is working with McGill University on testing pressure canning with the IP Max but I don’t believe they have it wrapped up.

Thanks - sun-dried tomato and roasted cauliflower are great partners! I made another jar of Little Green Dress this morning. There was still some remaining in my last jar but I'd forgotten to date it so I decided a fresh jar was in order and I'm glad I did as it looks and smells much livelier than the stuff I tossed. Then made myself a Gas Station Focaccia breakfast sandwich - a riff on the recipe for Gas Station Biscuits that's in the LGD chapter. Added a fried egg - yolk too runny for neatness but we don't worry about that down at the gas station 🙃

I don’t like it. The tone of a voice conveys more than the words of an email and Bourdain's voice was iconic. Using AI to reconstruct a poor quality voice recording is fine if it's transparent. Likewise, using a voice-over narrator to read a character’s writing is fine as viewers understand it’s a reconstruction. But using AI to make a deceased author speak sentences they wrote but never spoke and not making that clear is inappropriate. Disappointed.

As someone who doesn't eat much meat, I'm not sure what came over me, but I decided to try a local BBQ pop-up that's been getting some good press. That's a 1/2 lb piece of brisket in front and a beef rib (aka dino bone) in the back Cut side of dino bone. See thumb at lower left for scale: I suspect this will be lunch and dinner and maybe lunch again....

I posted above about making the Very Versatile Smear of Stuff from the V's Nuts chapter of This Will Make It Taste Good. Yesterday, I tossed some of it with capunti pasta, roasted cauliflower, parsley and toasted pine nuts.

The farmer who sells at some of the local farmers markets around here offers a range of conventional cuts of goat so it would seem that it can be done: Jimenez Family Farm goat

How about using the Italian names for various precious metals or gemstones or semi-precious stones? They could be used to differentiate by price levels. Using the Italian names for various herbs could also work and connote an eco-friendly position.

Grapefruit White Chocolate Cake from Yossy Arefi's book, Snacking Cakes, a cute little book where all the cakes are designed to be baked in 8 or 9-inch square pans with modifications provided for loaf pans or to scale up for Bundt or 9 x 13 inch pans. I baked this in three 5" baby loaf pans which is not one of the provided options but rather handy giving me one to snack on and 2 to give away. You can see that I likely pulled them out a bit too soon but it was certainly edible. Since I was using pink grapefruit, I thought it might be fun to use some of the pinkish Ruby chocolate from Callebaut instead of white chocolate. Most of the pieces kind of sank to the bottom and don't look particularly pink after baking. I don't think they added much flavor either so I wouldn't bother with that again but I do like the cake. Not too sweet and the grapefruit flavor comes through nicely. I usually skip glazes but I like this one a lot.

Spinach, caramelized onion and cheese quesadilla

If Cooks Illustrated is to be believed, the whipped stuff may not give the best texture in a baked cheesecake but should be fine in a cream cheese frosting or anything that's not heated as long as you measure by weight.

Well, since I had those green tortillas, I decided to try Hippie Burritos p 87 from the Can-Do-Kraut chapter of This Will Make It Taste Good. This basically a riff on a bean burrito, made with lentils. Vivian uses diced kielbasa, I had some exceedingly dry salami that I diced and cooked along with the lentils to soften it up. The "salsa" made from sauerkraut, diced apple, onion, parsley, mint, lemon, hot sauce and honey is quite a nice little condiment that I'm making note of to try with other things. I wasn't sure about this but ended up enjoying them.

Apologies if this has already been shared here

Thanks for the tip! Both Kindle versions are now available for $1.99 on Amazon.com as well. Dining In: Highly Cookable Recipes: A Cookbook (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by Alison Roman. I have the hardcover version of this one and I like it. I know she's gotten in trouble for cultural/ethnic appropriation but she's very good at writing recipes that work. High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by Jessica B. Harris

Everything I've ever seen or been served as a wrap has a waxy texture when chilled as most wrap sandwiches are served. Not that different from a cheap, un-warmed flour tortilla

More leftover chicken so I decided to try Wrapmagic p 304 from the Sweet Potential chapter of This Will Make It Taste Good. This is pretty good. Kind of a salad-stuffed burrito crossed with a quesadilla. Not a fan of the wrap, in general. Those waxy wraps add little beyond containment (and sometimes fail at that) and have as many calories and more fat than a slice of nice bread. But Vivian's description intrigued me so I bought a package of green wraps and gave it a try. Not disappointed. I used kumquat Sweet Potential and subbed baby kale for arugula, apricots for grapes and lemon juice for orange juice. No panini press so I put a cast iron skillet on top. Probably didn't need something that heavy - mine def looks more smooshed than the book photo but it didn't do any harm and the two crispy sides make this better than any wrap I've had.

Where are you doing the above shaping and topping? In the kitchen? Outdoors next to the oven? My Ooni has yet to ship so I'm biding my time by taking in all this excellent info and thinking about where I should set the thing up. I don't have a grill or any sort of outdoor cooking area so considering what else I want nearby. Seems to be some sort of propane shortage around here so I should get that sorted, too. I ordered the Koda 16 but was thinking of cancelling and getting the 12. I don't plan on making 16" pies but ordered it because of the burner config and to have a little extra room so I was especially happy to read this. I'll stick with the 16.

I do, too. Nice with a cup of tea or coffee. Should have added that!

I used some of the chicken I roasted on Monday to make the Chicken Salad Worth Discussion p 216 from the Herbdacious chapter of This Will Make It Taste Good. It has cucumber and red onion that are quick-pickled and added separately. I had pickled shallots that I'd already made from another book so I used them and added some pickled Fresno chilies for color, though the heat was a good addition. Vivian tosses cooked chicken breast chunks with lemon juice and black pepper, a nice trick for adding flavor. The mellow Herbdacious makes friends with the pickled vegetables in a way that pesto wouldn't do as nicely. If you've got a bunch of pickled stuff on hand, this recipe could certainly accommodate to use what's available.

Yes, I have an Oxo V-slicer which is quite mandoline-like. A vegetable peeler would work fine, too. The olives weren't bad at all but the flavor and texture were too similar to the rest of the salad to add much contrast.

Per Whole Foods website, Mary's Organic Chicken is $3.99/lb this week, at my local store.

Yes, that brand of chicken is sold at my Whole Foods. They have the turkeys at Thanksgiving, maybe other times, too. I have had the turkey. It was fine. I don't remember it being anything remarkable but I'm usually more interested in the side dishes at that meal!

Do not judge the world of figs by the Newton. Perfectly ripe, fresh figs are worlds away from commercial cookies made from dried fruit.

I have no expectations based on the "Heirloom" label but I've also had positive experience with these birds. I don't have access to the fancy breeds mentioned above but always look for air-cooled birds over the water-cooled supermarket standard stuff that's often waterlogged and tasteless. I also have better luck finding these birds in the 2.5 - 3.5 range rather than pushing 5 lbs like most of Mary's birds at Whole Foods.