blue_dolphin

I'm with you! I blame the recent stretch of hot weather with threats of rolling blackouts (so no oven) and now the beige, smoky skies. And, of course, the pandemic. They've all teamed up to make me less active and that's pretty much shut down my appetite and interest in making anything other than popsicles...and even that is waning! I'm trying to avoid going to the store. If I forget an ingredient for something I planned to make, I'd normally just pick it up the next day. Now, I say, "Forget it, I'll have another egg salad sandwich!"

You should be able to go to the App store, search for iMovie and download it.

Good suggestion. I don't care for it cooked, either, but like it raw. Cut into julienne, kohlrabi can replace cabbage in any sort of slaw-type salad.

That inexpensive little waffle iron I own is non-stick so no sticking and no mess.

Poached eggs on toast... ...in the yellow morning light we have around here

Spaghetti waffle per this recipe: Waffled Spaghetti Pie with Pecorino and Black Pepper Not bad!

Having them already cooked to mush does take a lot of options off the table. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's damson recipes You could make great popsicles, too!

Just realized that I forgot to share my other 2 hand pies. First up is a ham & cheese hand pie: Reheated in the CSO on convect-bake @ 350°F I thought this might be a thin slice of boiled ham and Swiss cheese rolled up to fit but it was actually good sized chunks of ham in a very cheesy sauce Nice. No issues with doughy crust on this one. I left the pizza hand pie for last. Sort of regretted buying it. Doesn't pizza belong in a yeasted crust like a calzone? I reheated this one on steam bake @ 425°F. The bottom felt soggy and damp so I put it back in on convect-bake for a while to dry it out. I'm not sure the steam did the crust any great favors as you can see by the way the piece on the right sort of drapes over the half on the plate. See the ham & cheese above for comparison. Even though it was a bit soft, the crust was cooked through - no doughy layer - the filling was very tasty with thin slices of pepperoni, a chunky, flavorful sauce and a good amount of cheese. I ended up enjoying this in spite of my prejudice.

I think that looks great, @liuzhou. I didn't reply earlier since I've never been to Cincinnati but I'll chime in with my 2 cents. Love that you are including a squid recipe as it's one of the first recipes I learned from my Chinese coworkers. I still have her recipe on a page of lab notebook paper, titled, "Protocol for Squid" complete with the instruction that removing the skin from squid was like peeling meninges from brains and you just do your best to remove it but don't worry if there's a little left ❤️ Anyway, you say that "your seafood purveyor" should be able to prepare the squid. In my US supermarket experience small squid are usually available at the fish counter either whole or pre-cleaned and offered as separate tubes & tentacles or sometimes rings. Frozen are most economical, but do require cleaning. The duck recipe calls for a pound of duck meat, preferably from legs & thighs. I can buy whole duck, leg quarters or breasts, all frozen but have never seen frozen duck leg/thigh meat that would be easy to chunk up like the dish in the photo. Nor would I know how much to buy to get a pound. I was wondering if boneless, skinless chicken thighs could be offered as a non-traditional and less desirable alternative? You do say that you've been told that the duck meat is available in Cincinnati so you should probably just ignore me on that! As mentioned above, mustard greens could be a challenge which made me wonder whether a substitute could be offered, again with the caveats that it's not traditional or desirable. I know writing up recipes like this takes a lot of time and thought and how annoying it must be to be asked about substitutions for something that you've already thought about carefully so a preference to stick with the traditional is very understandable. Since pork is inexpensive and easy to find here, I was wondering if you'd considered including a pork dish. I don't know if you are expected to highlight certain sorts of dishes typical to Liuzhou but in the past you'd shared some student recipes for the common and ubiquitous tomato/egg dish. I thought they were quite endearing and liked knowing that was often the first dish they learned to cook. Any chance you could share one of their recipes for that? Or rope a young person into writing one up for you so you have proper permissions? It's so simple, maybe too simple for this project but that also makes it quite approachable.

While the layers in my pops don't look quite as pretty as the one held by the young gentleman above, they do taste pretty good. Blueberry, mascarpone & peach

It's supposed to be 108°F today. These roasted peach & bourbon pops will be on the menu for later in the day. Note they are modeling their new bags 🙃

Nice pops, @BeeZee! I love blueberry and the addition of cassis sounds perfect. Re-answering your question because I ran out of snack-sized zip top bags the other day and didn't need anything else from the store so I ordered these popsicle bags from Amazon. They have an adhesive strip so don't need separate stickers like some similar bags. You put the pops into the bags, peel off the protective strip to expose the adhesive and fold it over. The result is a more professional appearance than the zip tops. Also, less bulky for freezer storage. The price, $6.99/200, is comparable to what I pay at Target for the zippies. I'm sure the pros have better options for volume purchases of such things but these seem a reasonable option for me. Since they're just folded over instead of zipped, there may be implications for odor transfer or freezer burn. Right now, I'm giving them away at a brisk pace so I'm not too worried but will keep an eye on it.

@Shelby, are you doing anything for this very odd September Derby Day? Anyone else? Mint juleps aren't really my thing but maybe I'll make some sort of cocktail with mint since I have quite a lot.

Excessive heat warning in effect here through Monday night. Passion fruit & yogurt: Got the passion fruits at the farmers market. Should have bought more but this was sufficient for a test run Peach & yogurt: Fig, goat cheese & honey I considered adding some chopped, toasted walnuts to the goat cheese mixture. Consulted with my cousin, who thought it was a bad idea so I left them out. I've got a bit of that mixture left so I'll try freezing up a little ice cube with nuts so I can see.

I've never had a MoonPie. Seems like they might be nice if you were to freeze them. Especially the mint ones. Yes. It's hot here. The pumpkin spice variant didn't sound awful to me until I saw the orange-colored coating. No, thank you.

Here's the Marie Callender restaurant pot pie deets from their website.

This comment is pretty good, too:

Thanks! These are all dry and go nicely with food, so it might be worth exploring to see if you can find some you like. These exact bottles may not be available but I'm sure you can find a dry rosé from Provence that would be similar to the Chateau la Tour de l'Eveque, a brighter, fruity, but still crisp rosé from the US and/or a Tavel t compare. Thanks for the tip! I see my local BevMo has the La Crema so I will check that out. Their price is $16.99. Both of the shops, K & L and Hi-Time Wine Cellars, that I occasionally order from for delivery, carry that Muga Rioja Rosado so I will certainly try it. These tasting notes on the K & L listing make it sound delicious, indeed!

I hope @Rebel Rose will be back to join us and help facilitate some more discussion, but I thought that in the meantime, I might get us started on our next topic. Per the list outlined in this post it's Dog Summer Rosés. I only have cats, no dogs so I'm not entirely sure of the meaning of "Dog Summer." From this article, What Are the Dog Days of Summer? I learned that the dog days of summer got that name from the period when Sirius, the dog star, rises and sets with the sun, a time that generally coincides with the hottest days of summer in July and August. We may be a little late, but I'll share some of the rosés that I drank during the official dog days of summer and will continue into the fall. Hopefully you'll join me so we can find some new rosés to try. Who's drinking what? From right to left: The Chateau la Tour de l'Eveque rosé from Provence is one I purchase at Total Wine. It's $17.99 at my store. It's a blend of 53% Cinsault, 15% Syrah, 14% Grenache, 9% Mourvèdre, 7% Ugni Blanc, 2% Rolle. Lovely pale salmon color with crisp, but delicate flavors. I started buying this a couple of years ago when it was ~ $12 with Total Wine's 6-bottle discount but the price jumped a few dollars this year. Not sure if that's due to import tariffs or what. It makes me feel elegant to sip this one. The Trader Joe's Petit Reserve Napa Rosé @ $5.99 and per the Fearless Flyer, it's a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Petite Verdot, and Cab Franc. It's a pretty pink, very fruity but still dry and crisp. I feel playful when I drink this. Tavel, in the Rhone region of France is the only appellation devoted entirely to rosés. This Reserve des Chastelles Tavel Rosé is also from Trader Joes @ $8.99. It's a blend of 60% Grenache, 25% Cinsault and 15% Syrah and has a deep rose color and complex flavors that go with dishes that might also be served with a light red. IMHO, this compares well with Tavels sold elsewhere in the $20 + price range. It's a good rosé to take into the cooler weather. I feel serious when I drink this. On the far left, is the Trader Joe's Reserve North Coast Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine. This stuff is sold around the holidays @ $9.99 when I drink it with abandon and then hoard the last bottles of it throughout the rest of the year. It's excellent. I love to bring it to parties or pull out a bottle to celebrate almost anything with my friends. Very few gatherings this year means I've got almost a case left and we should be seeing a new allotment in a few months so I plan to treat myself to a few more "champagne" brunches with this stuff. I highly recommend picking up some of this when and if you see it. It makes me feel like celebrating when I drink this.

I used convection bake. I'll try steam-bake when I reheat the others. They'll be either coming from the fridge or freezer. It was pretty good. Thankfully, there were no mushy peas 🤣 The only savory pie that my local Marie Callender's has on their current menu is a chicken pot pie. It's $12.99. The nutritional info lists it as a single serving @ 1140 calories and 1020 mg sodium.

Egg, Spinach and Pecorino pizza from Ottolenghi's Plenty p 156. No onion or garlic here. The only seasonings are sumac and za'atar. Some modifications. I used a dough ball that I had in the fridge instead of the one in the recipe. Probably could have split it into 2 pies. Used a mix of fresh baby kale, chard and mustard greens plus some frozen spinach, likely more overall than intended. The recipe calls for 2.75 oz grated pecorino on a 7-inch pie. Mine was 9-inches but that much finely grated cheese is rather a mountain so I used less. The recipe says to add the egg towards the end of cooking and use a fork to spread the white around but don't break the yolk. I didn't think I could do that so I separated the egg, spread the white around as directed and cooked until the white was set up before I dropped the yolk on top. Still managed to break it 🙃 but at least I got a cooked white and runny yolk. Good flavor combination. I may this again as I'd like to master the egg on a single serving pizza trick and I'm clearly not there yet!

Add me to the list of those who'd not seen the flipped pot pie. Growing up, the top crust, which had some potential to be crisp and flaky was removed, the contents dumped on to the plate and the top placed back, leaning on the pile of filling. The bottom crust was inspected but generally deemed not worth eating. This morning, I ventured out for a rare trip to deliver popsicles to a friend and made a detour to Roan Mills in Fillmore. I've mentioned them before. They are an offshoot of Kenter Canyon Farms and grow grain, mill it and bake it into bread and various other baked goods. They do the milling and baking at the Fillmore location and sell at local farmers markets and to restaurants, the latter now significantly curtailed. Even their farmers market business was shut down for months when LA County banned the sale of prepared foods at the markets. But I digress....back on topic: While I was picking up some scones for my friend, one lemon, one blackberry, I spied a selection of hand pies, both sweet and savory. I thought: Crusty ✔️ Savory ✔️ From a bakery ✔️ Why yes, I do believe they meet the criteria so I skipped the apricot but purchased one each turkey, ham & cheese and pizza hand pie in order to gain admittance to this thread. Starting with the turkey, reheated from room temp in the CSO at 350°F for, I think, 8 minutes. With ham & cheese and pizza as the other alternatives, I wasn't sure what to expect here - something like a pot pie? or the contents of a turkey sandwich wrapped in pastry? As you can see below, it is more like a pot pie. Moistened through but no actual liquid gravy, which I guess would be messy in a hand pie: Potato, carrot, zucchini, greens of some sort and turkey. Less turkey than I'd expect given its top billing, but it was flavorful. The crust was flaky but too thick so there was a doughy layer surrounding the filling. Since I was eating off a plate with a fork, it was easy to lift off the flaky part and leave the doughy bit behind on my plate. They use all stone ground, whole grain flours and the flavor is great. They turn out lovely pies as well as laminated pastries like croissants so I was disappointed at the doughiness, though I appreciate that it's a fine line between too thick and thin spots that rupture and leak filling all over the place. A satisfying breakfast. The other two went in the fridge and will be reheated for future meals.

It seems best suited to a group activity. One that I'd be happy to participate in. But make them just for myself? No....I'll buy from the folks at the local farmers market!

While it's not a huge favorite of mine, I have to come to the defense of the dreaded Muscat and share 2 very summer-appropriate applications. First up, in Diana Henry's book, How to Eat a Peach, she includes a dessert that's barely a recipe - fresh white peaches sliced into chilled Moscato. I scoped out the tasting notes on the shelves at Total Wine and picked this Cardinale Lanata Moscato d'Asti . The tasting notes promised flavors of peach and honey and it delivered in spades. This photo is from a couple of years ago but I've purchased the same wine several times and served it this way to friends to good reviews each time. I often get wrinkled noses and, "I don't like sweet wine," but they are usually won over in the end. It's so easy but looks very elegant and is perfect when people are insisting that they don't want dessert. The other night, I'd fixed myself a little platter of fresh figs, walnuts, blue cheese and crusty bread. What to Drink with What You Eat recommends a sweet wine with blue cheese. I'd normally go with port but that seemed too heavy on a warm evening. I've got an assortment of dessert wines that I rarely remember to open so I pulled out this 2008 Muscat Canelli that I'd picked up years ago on a visit to Leoness Cellars down in Temecula. It was really delightful with the figs and blue cheese.

I had a basket of nice Harry's Berries strawberries that needed to be used so I made a variety of pops. From left to right: Strawberry & Cream - pour ~ 1T cream down one side of the mold and fill with lightly sweetened strawberry purée Strawberry & Milk - this is from Anna Jones book, The Modern Cook's Year. She blends ~ equal quantities of milk (cow, oat or nut, I used cow) with the strawberry purée. Strawberry & Yogurt - fill molds half & half with strawberry purée and yogurt sweetened with honey and thinned with a little milk, then swirl with a stick I've made the cream and yogurt versions before and prefer the contrast of separate fruit and dairy over the blended version in the middle. The punch of the fruit is diluted and it's kind of boring.