blue_dolphin

GNS Foods sells the mixed nuts American Airlines offers in their premium cabins and reportedly, Covid-19 caused American to take the warm nuts off the first class tray tables. The company has quite a surplus and is selling them online where one can choose the traditional 'First Class' mix, or an Aloha Mix that is a combination of almonds, cashews, piña colada-flavored pecans, and dried pineapple. I could heat them up in little ramekins, crank the AC so it's really cold and loud, grab a ratty blanket and settle in on my chaise with my Bose noise-cancelling headphones to watch a movie on my iPad.

I like them, too! These are some country-style ribs that I bought at Sprouts a while back. The top 2 pieces were ~12 oz each, the bottom one, with the bone was 16 oz. I often see them thinner but like these meaty ones. I cook them fairly low and slow, as I would a piece of pork shoulder. They're actually a pretty good sub for that cut when cooking for 1 or 2. I believe these guys got browned, then went into the oven at 350°F to braise with some liquid for 90 minutes covered, then another 30 min uncovered. At that point, they were quite tender. Possibly more tender than you'd prefer so maybe something in between?

Honestly, the Vegemite bothers me more than the squareness of the crumpets. I bear it no ill will but don't have a taste for it as a breakfast spread. That said, I'm sure many more might take exception to my choice of breakfast spread today - pesto! Pasta with pesto and broccoli, zucchini, sugar snap peas, carrots, red bell pepper and feta

May I ask what info was a disappointment for you? I lost my sense of smell a while back so I'm always intrigued by the topic. It lasted a long, long time and has never returned to normal, hence my interest. Anything in particular about this book that puts you off?

I've been using the shelf position that puts the surface of the steel just a bit over 5 inches below the broiler element. Any big crust bubbles char quickly so I'm wondering if that is too close.

Shrimp & Grits

I wanted shrimp & grits. Got the shrimp out to thaw but forgot to start the grits so I pivoted to this. Louisiana BBQ Shrimp, crusty bread, corn Edited again to add that peeling shrimp at the table, particularly the breakfast table, is not my jam.

Peach & Pomegranate

Two more. Used the rest of the blueberry purée from above to make peach & blueberry pops. I love the blueberry flavor and this is one of my favorite combinations. Also made these mint chip pops I made mint syrup from David Lebovitz's book Drinking French. Due to a misprint, I used 80 g of fresh mint leaves instead of 20 g. It's very green and very minty and it's what I used to flavor the milk/heavy cream mixture here.

Just ordered the Kindle version of Flavor Bombs: The Umami Ingredients That Make Taste Explode @ $2.99 on Amazon. It's the same price on Amazon.ca The updated version of David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop is listed as a deal of the day @ $1.99 on Amazon. It's the same price on Amazon.ca

Also labeled in stores around here as goldenberries

A friend sent me a NYT recipe for Creamy Lemon Pops With Basil. There's no actual lemon juice in them, just the zest. The recipe suggests adding fresh berries so each one got a few blueberries. I had some of that mix leftover so I puréed up the rest of the blueberries and made these Blueberry with Lemon Cream Pops

Cucumber, mint & lime pops These came out a bit on the sweet side as is but I've been keeping a small glass of rum in the freezer and calling this a faux-jito:

I'm a big fan of Food Forward, an organization here in Southern California that performs similar gleaning activities in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. They used to be able to send out teams of volunteers to harvest backyard fruit. With the virus, they are currently only sending 1 trained picker to residential locations though they can still send larger teams to glean from the agricultural fields. Per their website, Food Forward staff and volunteers rescue over 500,000 pounds of surplus produce each week from fruit trees, farmers markets and the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market for donation to over 1800 hunger relief agencies across 8 counties in Southern California.

This video may provide some guidance for the crust, assuming you'd like a lattice style.

Duck confit bánh mì Edited to add that I toasted the roll a bit too much and apparently assembled my layers upside down. Still an acceptable breakfast.

Fried Egg Bánh Mì from Cook Like A Local. The recipe is available online here. Surely the messiest bánh mì I've eaten! I used Andrea Nguyen's recipe for the rolls and to pickle carrots and daikon. I didn't pickle the cucumber, jalapeño or the red bell pepper I added. This recipe uses a fish sauce-mayo that was an interesting alternative to the usual Maggi seasoning. I meant to add bacon but forgot. Didn't really miss it.

As you observed, they are overbaked. I'm OK with this result as a first pass. I'll work on the time & temp next time but these are not inedible and will be eaten.

I do like a drizzle of Mike's Hot Honey on this so it could happen!

Banh mi rolls from Andrea Nguyen's Banh Mi Handbook. Recipe online here. These are just out of the oven. Haven't tried them yet. I think they're a bit overbaked.

@shain, the figs are killing me! "Improved" is an understatement! I set out to make rolls for a banh mi breakfast sandwich. Shortly after they went into the oven, I got hangry and needed to eat RIGHT AWAY. A quick PB&B on toast Guess that sandwich will have to wait for lunch....or maybe second breakfast?

Pomegranate & Yogurt Pops I added a bit of pomegranate molasses to the pomegranate juice in these but otherwise followed the recipe. And a poptail version of this Pomegranate & Grapefruit Paloma cocktail. These are basically a juice pop so they'll be icy but should be refreshing.

Not at the level of David Thompson, a more entry-level Thai cookbook that I've enjoyed cooking from is Leela Punyaratabandhu's Simple Thai Food: Classic Recipes from the Thai Home Kitchen. Her second book, Bangkok: Recipes and Stories from the Heart of Thailand, is also good. Her website is here. Her most recent book came out in March. I haven't seen it and it's not Thai: Flavors of the Southeast Asian Grill: Classic Recipes for Seafood and Meats Cooked over Charcoal

Mmmmm...that whole meal sounds divine! I was on a savory French toast kick a while back but never tried anything like that! Grits, collards, spicy tomato and boiled egg I ladled on more collards and potlikker after taking the photo.

I've made homemade melon liqueur similar to this recipe. Use a very ripe and fragrant melon and it will really capture the aroma. Fun to have a very summer-y tasting cocktail in the winter! I like to add the zest of a lime along with the melon and I prefer to go light on the sugar. Just taste as you add it to see what you like. And there are always melon popsicles 🙃