blue_dolphin

It's a rather imposing tome!

In a Facebook group cooking from this book, I saw people report good results with that recipe by oven roasting the carrots that had been dipped in egg and rolled in the rice crumbs instead of frying them. I also saw one report of par-boiling the carrots first. A possible alternative for your menu, the Couscous with Sesame-Roasted Carrots +Feta from the same book, p.154 has gotten a lot of positive comments as a side dish that one can prep ahead and serve at room temperature. I'm sure you could skip the couscous if you are set on a carrots-only dish.

Yeah. I used to bring bagels in to work meetings. Had to get one of those bagel guillotines (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) and banish all knives from the conf room to avoid lost-time incidents amongst my staff!

Pickle wars? What a great segue to this upcoming interactive food history event from the University of Southern California Libraries The video I linked below will take you through some materials in their collection that feature early British recipes for/documentation about Indian-style pickles. Here's the text that appears beneath the video if you watch it on YouTube with the requisite links to the recipes and an option to register if you want to participate. https://youtu.be/TOOoD4UtgVI

Might be just as well, at least for your Canadian giftees. Most of my Canadian friends have either a revered family buttertart recipe or a strong memory of the ideal buttertart that nothing else can ever measure up to. As a non-Canadian, I wouldn't mind trying a few of those non-buttertarts 🙃

I live in the Conejo Valley in So Cal. I may need to try this one!

I've been drinking this 2019 Ténèbres from TJ's for little while. It's a French GSM but instead of being from the Rhône valley, this one is from farther south in the Languedoc. Only $5.99. Very drinkable and worth a try if you like Rhône varietals. They had cases of it on an end cap for a while but it's now moved to a spot on the shelves with the other French reds. I should pick up a few more bottles. Something I will not be picking up again is the TJ's frozen pie crust. I'd sworn these off before but in the interest of limiting shopping trips, I picked up a package of them the other day. Still as broken as my previous experiences. I let this one thaw 24 hrs in the fridge and 1 hr at room temp. Frozen pie crust is supposed to be a time saver, not a craft project! Too bad as it's a tender, buttery crust with a reasonable list of ingredients. I'll go back to the doughboy 🙃

A while back, I mentioned that I was curious what Herbdacious would be like with more dill. I made a batch and it's good but it's not quite as flexible a condiment as the original recipe. I was going to make a smoked salmon and cream cheese quiche with dill so I decided to just add some of that Herbdacious to the custard. 😮 oh my, it's green...it's absolutely Herbdacious! There's a bunch of skinny asparagus in there, too. I was worried it might be stringy, but it was fine. This tasted quite good but I'm not sure I'd make a green quiche to serve to others! The crust was a frozen one from Trader Joe's which required as much patchwork as an Amish quilt. I'd sworn them off because of similar problems in the past but in the interest of limiting shopping trips, I picked up a package of them the other day. No more!

Enjoy! I have the 20 and 25 cm paella pans and am always tempted to get a few of those little 15's. Would be good for single servings but perhaps a little heavy for earrings! 🤣

Just watched Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles, a documentary about Ottolenghi's 2018 commission from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to put on a culinary gala in conjunction with their Versailles exhibit. Ottolenghi recruits Dominique Ansel, Ghaya Oliveira, executive pastry chef at Daniel in NY, fancy UK jelly makers Bompas and Parr, Ukrainian architect/baker Dinara Kasko and Janice Wong, a pastry chef/chocolatier/creator of edible art from Singapore as the artists who will use their own techniques to reimagine the fabulous pastries of pre-revolution era Versailles. I would have loved a whole hour on each artist to better see what they were doing but it's still excellent eye candy! Here's a trailer. I watched the film on Hulu.

I agree on the podcast recommendation. I thought I'd heard it all because he's been all over the place but hearing the whole story was interesting. Pricing was one of the things they went into. None of the big companies were interested in taking on the project without a commitment to enormous batch sizes so he partnered with a smaller, artisan-type pasta maker. They ended up pricing the cascatelli at $4.99/lb, lower than any of that company's other offerings at $5.99-7.99/lb. I'd guess most buyers are already at least occasional purchasers of Italian or other artisan pasta in those price ranges or are willing to fork out the premium over something like De Cecco. It could turn up on Amazon (doesn't everything?🙃 ) but I doubt it will be battling Ronzoni for low price leader at Walmart. I was going to wait until the hubbub died down but a couple weeks ago I decided to go ahead and order. Still got a couple of months to wait.

Darto keychain pan I've been wanting one of these for ages. Maybe 2 for earrings? So cute!

In my post above on recent acquisitions, I want to call out 2 books by Max Halley, owner of Max's Sandwich Shop in London. I ordered them after listening to a Zoom author event hosted by cookbook shop NowservingLA in support of his recently published Max's Picnic Book. Max was interviewed by Zach Brooks, market manager of Smorgasburg LA. Max is an absolute hoot and didn't really need an interviewer. I was laughing out loud through most of it. An archived version of the Zoom session can be accessed at this link or on Nowserving's recorded events page here. Here's the publisher's blurb on the book: If it's a fraction as entertaining as the interview, it will be a very fun read. There's a preview of the book available here on Eat Your Books. Here's a video of Max making the Make a Ham, Egg, and Chips Sandwich from his shop. https://youtu.be/fsnSvcnrTJM

My 2021 cookbook acquisitions thus far, some are older books and a few not arrived yet. Not mentioning several pre-orders. Yes, I have a problem 🙃 2021 books: At Home in the Kitchen: Simple Recipes from a Chef's Night Off (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by David Kinch and Devin Fuller Max's Picnic Book: An ode to the art of picnicking (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)by Max Halley Mister Jiu's in Chinatown: Recipes and Stories from the Birthplace of Chinese American Food (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)by Brandon Jew and Tienlon Ho Simply Julia: 110 Easy Recipes for Healthy Comfort Food (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)by Julia Turshen Zoë Bakes Cakes: Everything You Need to Know to Make Your Favorite Layers, Bundts, Loaves, and More (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by Zoë François Kato - 8 Mistakes We Made For You (Jon Yao) Sonoratown - The Road Less Traveled (Jen Feltham,Teo Diaz) 2020 books: I Cook in Color: Bright Flavors from My Kitchen and Around the World (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)by Asha Gomez not a fan of this one, I will donate it shortly. Koji Alchemy: Rediscovering the Magic of Mold-Based Fermentation (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)by Rich Shih & Jeremy Umansky Dessert Person: Recipes and Guidance for Baking with Confidence (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)by Claire Saffitz Older books: Tender: A Cook and His Vegetable Patch (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)by Nigel Slater Julia Child & More Company (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)by Julia Child Max's Sandwich Book: The Ultimate Guide to Creating Perfection Between Two Slices of Bread (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)by Max Halley

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.