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I have an Echo Dot in the room next to my kitchen and use it primarily as a timer. I like that I can state the time any way I like and Alexa confirms. Egg timer for six minutes and thirty seconds, Washing machine timer for 112 minutes (she confirms this as 1 hour, fifty two minutes), bread proof timer for one hour, etc. There's no visual display but you can ask to check any timer to find out how much time is left. I really don't like speaking to inanimate objects but I'm sold on this function. The Dots and other Echo speakers are often heavily discounted for Prime Day (will that happen this year), Black Friday and the like. The timer that @JoNorvelleWalker mentioned above was always my go-to timer in the lab and I was quite fond of it. They are sturdy but don't last forever. I always had a backup or two. The Amazon price seems rather more than what I used to pay for them, but it's been a while 🙃. They do indicate which channel is ringing but it's up to you to remember whether that's an egg, bread proof or the laundry while Alexa will announce that, assuming you remembered to tell her when you set the timer. Even though it's a 4-channel timer, you can't see all 4 at once. However, for the channel you are viewing, the numbers are nice and big and can be read easily at some distance.

Maybe post a screen shot of what you are seeing and indicate what device/browser you are using. It is working for me with Safari on an iPad running iOS 13.4.1

That looks similar in size to my little All-Clad half quart “butter warmer” saucepan. Very frustrating that it’s not what you wanted but mine is one of the handiest pans in my kitchen. Perfect for reducing small amounts.

Leftovers here as well. A slice of pissaladière from last night topped with a soft boiled egg. Yesterday's egg recipe dressed them with a mix of lemon, olive oil and za'tar. I had some left so I mashed an anchovy into it and drizzled that on today's eggs.

Baking is banned? Why is that? Especially now.

I thought to make this for lunch but it’s almost 6:45PM so I’ll call it dinner. Pissaladière, with a chilled French rosé Melissa Clark adds tomatoes in her new book so I put them on half. Fine either way.

Good job having nephew cook for the group as well as for his own separate preferences. Not that grilling a couple of pre-made burgers is a ton of effort but it's extra effort still!

Hassan's easy eggs with za'tar and lemon from Sami Tamimi's new cookbook Falastin. The recipe says to roughly quarter the eggs by hand so they aren't too neat, and arrange yolk side up. A rather fiddly operation to obtain a casual looking plate! Tomato and homemade pita on the side.

Leftover tarte flambée, carrot salad with preserved lemon, both from Dinner in French, asparagus and fresh tomato

From the LA Times: Everyone is cooking on Instagram. These are the best chefs and celebrities to watch I have to say that José Andrés cooking with his kids while singing along to songs from Hamilton is pretty hilarious!

Peanut butter & banana on homemade whole grain toast, tangerine and coffee Listening to David Lebovitz interview Sami Tamimi about his new book, Falastin

A couple of other perspectives. Gabrielle Hamilton, writing about Prune in the NYT: My Restaurant Was My Life for 20 Years. Does the World Need It Anymore? Related podcast episode of The Sunday Read: Closing the restaurant that was my life for 20 years An interview with Chef Edward Lee who pivoted his Lee Initiative young chef mentoring program into an operation supporting out of work restaurant staff across the country: US restaurants band together to feed out-of-work staff

A (not) classic tarte flambée Starting with a recipe from Melissa Clark's Dinner in French, I used a mix of whole milk ricotta (homemade) and crème fraîche (organic heavy cream that was not so fraîche anymore and had thickened of its own volition), nutmeg and white pepper. Diced Broadbent's country ham, thinly sliced red onion and asparagus.

A couple of Marisa McClellan's (of Food in Jars) preserving books are current Kindle bargains on Amazon.com. Preserving by the Pint: Quick Seasonal Canning for Small Spaces from the author of Food in Jars is $2.99 is one I've had my eye on for some time for small batch preserving. Naturally Sweet Food in Jars: 100 Preserves Made with Coconut, Maple, Honey, and Moreis also $2.99 Both are $3.99 on Amazon.ca

Polpo is a favorite of mine. Lots of ideas for crostini and other small bites in the Cichèti chapter.

Yes! These are from Freyr Farms in Oxnard and I believe they grow them in hoop houses to get them this early. When I went out to Roan Mills for bread and flour, they had a big basket of Cherokee purples, reds and golds, marked as the first heirlooms of the season. Five bucks a pound, but I couldn't resist getting a few and was happy that they have good flavor and texture. The nice baby romaine lettuce is from Kenter Canyon Farms, the parent of Roan Mills. The bacon is completely non-local 🙃 hickory-smoked pepper bacon from Broadbent.

BLT Edited to add that I made a mess when I cut this in half and an even bigger mess eating!

In my local area, the majority of fresh lemons go to the food service sector and that's almost completely shut down these days. Some growers are selling for juice (at lower prices) and others are picking less or not at all. I'd suspect that would affect retail prices in many areas. From the local paper: With restaurants closed, Ventura County lemon growers see reduced demand That's the bigger growers. At my local farmers market, prices have been steady. Lemons generally 4 for $1. Limes 6 or 8 for $1 for both the small Mexican or large Persian limes. It's getting close to the time when supply shifts from Northern to Southern hemisphere. Still lots on my tree if you'd like to come out and pick. They are fully ripe (yellow) and super juicy.

Continuing my exploration of radish toast for breakfast... These are "English Garden Toasts" from A Modern Cook's Year. The bottom layer is a minted mash of peas (I used fava beans), topped with oven-roasted radishes, goat cheese and red onions, lightly pickled in lemon juice.

I freeze cooked beans all the time and they do fine. I cook a full pound of dried beans at a time and end up freezing at least a few servings for later meals. I usually freeze them with some of their pot liquor to help avoid freezer burn.

I may have mentioned this elsewhere but can't resist sharing it here as well. A beautiful 1 hr 15 min documentary, ‘Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf’ is available free for all to stream online THIS WEEKEND ONLY via Hauser & Wirth Gallery: link here A little past the middle of the documentary is footage of Oudolf admiring the spring wildflowers during a visit to the Texas Hill Country. They also pay a visit to Cooper's for barbecue. His comment on the wildflowers, "Beautiful, there is only one word." And on the barbecue: "Completely insane. No other word." The documentary is lovely and very much worth a watch if you get a chance this weekend. Not to mis-represent it. It's about a renowned landscape designer and not focussed on Texas or barbecue!

I had some notion of making dainty little tea sandwiches with a compound watercress/garlic/lemon zest butter from Six Seasons that I had stashed in the freezer. I used the appropriate ingredients but veered way off course from my initial vision. First, I toasted slices from a rustic loaf rather than a cocktail-sized loaf of white bread. Instead of a layer of pale, creamy butter flecked with watercress, the butter melted quickly into my warm toast and the watercress turned a bright green. Once I saw that, I gave up on arranging thin layers of sliced French breakfast radish and just quartered a handful of them. Nothing wrong with the end result, it's just not at all what I set out to make!

After ~ 5 weeks of no grocery shopping except for the weekly farmers market, I went to Trader Joe's during their AM "senior" hour yesterday. They were normally stocked and I got everything on my list except AP flour. I saw on Instagram that a local bakery is selling King Arthur Sir Galahad flour so I decided to venture out again. This bakery mills and sells their own organic flour and had repackaged the Sir Galahad in 10 lb bags so I bought one. I've got bread flour on the way from Central Milling which should be delivered tomorrow or Monday. The little gourmet/import shop that I visit occasionally got in a big shipment of yeast (SAF Red and Gold Instant, Red Star Active Dry and Fleischmann's Instant, all in 1 lbs) so I may plan a trip over there next week. My yeast is well past its "best by" date, although it's still working, I was thinking of replacing it....more critically, I'm running a little low on French butter. I still haven't tried any grocery delivery services despite the Instacart emails that I've received for ages. The other day, I got an email from them encouraging me to sign up with them as a shopper. No, thank you. I did do a curbside delivery at Total Wine the other day so I've got Campari back in stock and a few white and rosé wines. Easy peasy. Just pop the trunk, they put the box in and you're on your way. And, not food, but food-related, I just received Mandy Lee's (of Lady and Pups) book The Art of Escapism Cooking: A Survival Story, with Intensely Good Flavors. It came out last fall and is about her own cooking in isolation when she moved to China for her husbands job but the title seems quite appropriate to these times, too. Her recipes often require more grocery procurement than I'm doing these days but I'm looking forward to reading it

Soft boiled egg on toasted focaccia, sausage links, cherry tomatoes

For today's Instagram Apéro Hour, David Lebovitz made hot chocolate so I did, too: Chocolat Chaud from Drinking French. Served in one of my grandmothers Limoges chocolate cups. I'm now on a sugar high and better go wash the floors before I crash!