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Great donkey story! Hope the storm moves through without causing too much damage and you all stay safe!

Saw this recipe for Molly Baz's Niçoise Sando With Smashed Eggs & Black Olive Mayo on Food52 and decided to try it Good sando. I've made it a couple of times. A little on the messy side though

Made a batch of Flaming Orange Gully pops as my contribution to the celebration The Flaming Orange Gully cocktail was created by Dale DeGroff after being challenged by@Varmint during an eG Q&A session back in 2002. You can find the recipe here and read some discussion about it over here. The cocktail recipe uses orange vodka as the base spirit. There's no reason to put vodka in pops as it just makes them melty and doesn't add any flavor beyond a bit of citrus in this case so I omitted it but used the recipe proportions of orange juice, lime juice, Velvet Falernum and Angostora bitters and grated the nutmeg garnish over the pops after unmolding them.

For the eG 20th anniversary party, I made a batch of Flaming Orange Gully pops The Flaming Orange Gully cocktail was created by Dale DeGroff after being challenged by@Varmint during an eG Q&A session back in 2002. You can find the recipe here and read some discussion about it over here. The cocktail recipe uses orange vodka as the base spirit. There's no reason to put vodka in pops as it just makes them melty and doesn't add any flavor beyond a bit of citrus in this case so I omitted it but used the recipe proportions of orange juice, lime juice, Velvet Falernum and Angostora bitters and grated the nutmeg garnish over the pops after unmolding them. Here's the flaming part 🙃

I think they'd be very cute with one of the cakes or ice cream desserts served in little flower pots!

Amazon sells a similar-looking product (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) as dessert spoons, supposedly "prefect for ice cream and watermelon" 🙃

The last recipe with fried eggplant & ricotta is available here though I'm intrigued by the ricotta and 'nduja version she made earlier and may have to try that one first.

Another of the innumerable challenges that might (but won’t) be resolved with a smart phone

Just now, a few bean club members have reported getting the renewal email. Nothing here yet, but it shouldn’t be long.

Inbox archeology tells me my 2nd quarter shipment was shipped on May 25. It had the black garbanzos (ceci neri), Christmas limas, alubia blanca, aycocote negro, mantequilla, pinto and black quinoa. My 3rd quarter shipment last year went out on Aug 20, so we should be getting one soon. In the Facebook group, Steve dropped a spoiler on one of the beans in the next shipment but I haven't seen firm shipping dates yet.

A very messy little sandwich. Smoked turkey (from my weekend BBQ pick-up),lettuce, pickled cherries, a bit of gorgonzola and radishes on a TJ's take-and-bake roll. Dressing was a cherry Dijon mayo - I reduced the brine from the pickled cherries to a thick syrup and mixed that with some mustard, mayo and hot sauce. Smoked turkey was cut up and warmed in the CSO. Good combo but needs work. I wanted the pickled cherries to be distinct but they tend to slide out so maybe I should have chopped them with some of that reduced brine into a relish layer. Too late, but maybe next time!

That combination of ice creams sounds like a match made in heaven! Regarding Piraeus, they've got so much passenger traffic moving through with the cruise ships (perhaps not so much right now) and ferries to the islands as well as across the Med, way more wandering pedestrians than many commercial ports that it's understandable that pickpockets are drawn to the area. I've boarded and disembarked from cruise ships there several times and usually hustled through but the last time, we happened to have a driver who was from the city and took us around to some of the neighborhoods. I agree it seemed a pleasant place to visit. Thanks again for taking the time to share this trip with us!

Made the Espresso Chocolate Chip Cake from Snacking Cakes again and brought it over to my cousin's yesterday for an AM get-together. Last time, I made 3 mini loaf pans, this was a standard 9" pan. Edited to add that this recipe is available online as part of the EYB digital preview of the book at this link. I also brought a bottle of coffee flavored rum and suggested it might make a nice accompaniment if there was still cake left in the evening. My cousin texted me this photo and said she was calling this dinner:

I do not bake the potatoes first, just slice thinly to a thickness that allows them to cook to your liking at the time/temps you use for your crust. Here's one I was happy with: The first time I made that topping, I cut the potatoes @ 1.5 mm and they were like too brown potato chips so needed to cut them a bit thicker. Try a few slice thickness on a test pizza

I'd say your plan sounds excellent. I agree they look like either green or brown lentils, both of which cook quickly and are likely to split and get a bit mushy when cooked longer. I find that acceptable in a soup like the one you have in mind. The French green lentils can take a bit longer to cook (although I think full hour is a bit excessive) and will remain intact longer. I wouldn't sub your lentils for the French ones in a salad where you want them to remain distinct but I think that soup would be fine.

For grins:

Yesterday's lunch (and likely today's as well) pasta & veg with a green sauce from Simply Julia, topped with a bit of feta

This here is Anna Banana's Nanner Pudding, served directly in the 1-pint deli tub I picked it up in along with my BBQ items this weekend. Made by and named for Anna Nicole Lindsay, wife of pit-master/chef Logan Sandoval of local pop-up Zef BBQ, it is apparently one of their most popular items. First time I ordered it, I expected to have a spoon or two to see what the hype was but never expected it to be so good. My brother makes a banana pudding that his family swoons over but it's very sweet and completely unappealing to me. This stuff is another level of banana pudding. Not too sweet. Perfect balance of rich and airy pudding. Nice spices in the crumble layer along with pieces of fresh banana. Mmmmmm. Thoroughly enjoyed with a big mug of strong, black coffee - quite a struggle to only eat half.

Pork belly burnt ends and pineapple kimchi sandwich with just a smear of gochujang mayo on a take-and-bake roll from TJ's Made with planned-overs from yesterday's BBQ pick-up. I sliced the pork and warmed it up in the CSO.

All of my All-Clad pans work on my induction burner, though I understand there are a couple of lines that don't. How is it you have found yours to be "not the best?"

I have not. Sounds like they would be very chilI. May have to investigate. I'm guessing you'd want a mix with some fat to keep the oil dispersed. For @Shelby, I have made frosé pops and sangria pops.

Pictures, please, when you...um....execute on that idea!

Wow, almost August and I've hardly made any pops - best get my act together! Using some of the watermelon preserves I made from Vivian Howard's This Will Make It Taste Good, I modeled these after the cocktail of the same name in the book - Watermelon Mint Gimlet pops: I did label the sticks in my tiny handwriting but somehow stuck the decorative mint leaf on the wrong side. And Roasted Peach & Bourbon pops- a classic! These were all gifted (tipped?) to the folks working at a pop-up BBQ place when I picked up my order this afternoon. They all wanted to buy more pops and told me I need to start selling them!

That's pretty much my experience with pear eau de vie. Clear Creek Pear Brandy is my favorite and but it's still not something I care to sip on its own. It is an ingredient of my favorite holiday cocktail, Chuck Taggart's Réveillon, so I always make sure to have some around at that time of year. If the Tia Maria is too sweet for sipping purposes, which you mentioned earlier, consider diluting it into something like a Coffee Old Fashioned with a bourbon or rum that you view sip-worthy as the base spirit, depending on your preferences. For sipping straight, I'll repeat my recommendation for the Koloa Kaua'i Coffee Rum. Very delicious. Perhaps a bit overpriced at around $30/bottle when you might find a nice rum like Doorly's XO for $16.99 (current price at my Total Wine) to blend with your Tia Maria.

Interesting. When I search ‘liquor shortage’ all the articles are about NC with a smattering of VT, Michigan and a few other places. Haven’t seen any shortages here