blue_dolphin

If by "freezer" they are referring to a free-standing unit, then I'm surprised by the 2000 figure of 94% ownership and if they include the icebox in the fridge, I'm surprised that only 15% had them in 1974. One way or the other, that stat surprises me.

This 1974 figure surprises me: "According to the survey, just 15% of households owned a freezer in 1974. By 2000 that figure stood at 94%." I recall the '60s era freezers of my early childhood in the US were of the tiny "ice cube compartment" variety but think it was pretty standard to have one by then. But how interesting to have so much historical information from these surveys to analyze! I keep thinking of different queries I'd like to run on these data.

No bacon for me. Or any cured pig bits that might substitute. I don't eat that much meat but had gotten rather fond of adding a little bacon here and there. The other night, I really wanted some pasta carbonara but all in all, this is not as hard as giving up wine, which I've done for the last few Lents. Also trying to cook from my pantry/freezer and shop as intentionally as possible.

Wow - that first photo is right out of The Attack of the Killer Prawns! Luckily, you have the cleaver for self-defense and a phone at the ready to summon the emergency squad if need be! Amazing! A much more sedate rainy night supper here. Soup and grilled cheese:

I know - doesn't that look good! It's even raining here so maybe tomato soup and grilled cheese for supper?

OK. Had to give this a try. I used some homemade melon liqueur I made last summer. Basically vodka infused with Saticoy melon. The melon was super sweet so I didn't sweeten it further and the product is amazingly aromatic, as was my drink. Tart and refreshing.

You are correct. I think they are at their very best at this stage when the skin is mostly yellow with just a blush of green remaining, the flesh is still pale green and they are bursting with juice. Is "blush of green" an oxymoron? I dunno. But at that stage, they are more juicy but still lime-y. When the skin gets all the way yellow, and the flesh starts to fade towards yellow, they become less tart and lime-y. At some point after they get really yellow, some of the pith that runs down the center can start to turn brown and they aren't as good with some bitterness creeping in. That's all my 2 cents - I have one lime tree and am no expert!

My first thought is, "You show-off ," second is "Wow, would I ever love to eat that dish - every last bite!" So gorgeous and thanks for sharing!

@Anna N, your spicy peanut sauce and today's hot weather made me want some cold noodles with spicy peanut sauce but I'm apparently out of the Chinese noodles I like for that dish. So a made a spicy peanut slaw with a "Cruciferous Crunch" mix (kale, brussels sprouts, broccoli, green and red cabbage) from Trader Joe's to accompany one of their frozen crab cakes and some raw baby carrots: The curious colored citrus is a lime that's been hanging on my tree long enough to turn almost yellow - just enough green left to look neon!

That sounds very interesting, @lindag! I love the combination of sausage, potato and kale but usually make it in a clear broth soup (less potato than this recipe and with dried beans) rather than including any milk so this is a very different spin on it. Do report back back after you make it.

So, here we have um, grilled chocolate and chile sandwiches. Really. I got the idea from a Food52 piece on repurposing leftover Valentine's chocolate. My leftovers were even older - a Valrhona advent calendar that I received but forgot about a few days into the season and apparently left where it got hit with a spot of afternoon sun . I added a smear of the sweet-sour chipotle salsa negra from More Mexican Everyday to one sandwich and some red pepper and ancho chile jam to the other. Cara cara orange to go with. We went from this: To this: I'd say that's a good use of leftovers!

That looks just beautiful! Do you follow the tradition of tossing it up in the air?

Egg Poached with Ancho Chile, Kale, Potatoes and Fresh Cheese from More Mexican Everyday. The potatoes and kale are nicely flavored from cooking in the the mix of red chile adobo sauce (one of "Four Secret Weapons" Bayless recommends keeping on hand) and chicken broth. Not sure it did a whole heck of a lot for the egg other than turning the white brown but it was fun to try a little something different and the flavors are quite rich for something that comes together so quickly. Not the best looking picture here. I cut the recipe down by 1/4 to make a single serving so I could cook and eat from the same dish, which ends up looking very messy in the picture and while I tried to angle the dish in the sunlight, it's still hard to see the potatoes and kale in the dark sauce. Edited to add that the recipe calls for bacon and I omitted it.

Looks like Pouteria sapota or mamey sapote.

Thanks from me, too, for the farm photos. For years, my commute to work took me past farms on the Oxnard plain. I did stop from time to time to see what was growing and to watch the various harvest processes. So interesting! And every single day, I thanked my lucky stars that I was driving to a different sort of job, one that didn't require me to spend the day stooped over those long rows of plants like the hardworking farmworkers who help feed us.

A small disappointment. A while back, I made this Lemon, Artichoke and Shrimp Risotto in the IP and it came out perfectly. I decided to try it again, but scaling the recipe down by half. The flavors were still good but it really should have had more liquid. Last time, after releasing the pressure, there was still some liquid remaining to be absorbed, as the recipe said. This time, it was not the case. I didn't have more stock handy and I was hungry so I served it as is - lovely sweet shrimp, bright lemon zest, creamy rice but as you can see in the photo, too thick for a proper risotto: I was disappointed as my previous experiments cooking various amounts of rice with a constant rice:water ratio yielded good results. However, when cooking the smaller volumes of rice, I used the pot-in-pot method and put the rice and water into a smaller dish inside the IP. Since I needed to use the sauté function for a risotto, I couldn't do that so maybe the larger surface area:volume ratio had an effect. Or maybe I just screwed up in measuring something!

Part of the reason I like Trader Joe's is that it's so convenient for me. I think there are 5 or 6 stores in a 10 mile radius from my house. I can't imagine driving hours to partake of the TJ Kool-Aid. Though I confess there was that one time I took the ferry across the lake from northern NY to shop at the one in Burlington VT Today's addition to the thread is my second breakfast. Three of those little mini churros with the paper on the patio: They come in a zip-top bag so you can remove however many you want. It says there are about 40 in a bag and 240 calories for a serving of 10 so those 3 on my plate would be less than 75 calories. $3.99 for the bag. Nice little treat. Since I didn't preheat the Cuisi oven, I left them in for a couple of extra minutes so they may be a bit too brown. I'll watch them more closely next time. The packet of cinnamon-sugar to sprinkle on after baking looked like mostly sugar so I used my own. Would be great with some toast dope and some Mexican hot chocolate!

@liamsaunt, I'd happily watch a Batman movie if I got to share those pizzas!

Wow, what fabulous popsicles and creative flavor combinations, @rarerollingobject! You've given me some great ideas to save for the summer. Love the idea of using kiwi - so pretty! I made some lime-ginger marmalade that I should try turning into a pop like your yuzu version. And the key lime pops are my favorite - I usually use graham crackers but the gingersnaps are a great idea. Thanks for sharing!

Unfortunately, I'm fresh out of uni and, wouldn't you know it, I gave up guanciale for Lent! Otherwise, I'm sure I be having RRO's amazing breakfast ! But fortunately, I have some nice eggs from this week's farmer's market. Poached egg on toasted sourdough with green chile adobo: `

I want to nibble on those little pointy bits. Would anyone notice if I broke off a few? Or maybe all of them?

Very interesting to serve the sweet kugel with tart pickles. Brings to mind childhood memories of sugar on snow (maple syrup, boiled so it will form taffy-like threads when swirled on the snow), always served with super tart pickles!

Thanks for sharing this, @JTravel. I've always longed for the sort of travel that would let me settle into a neighborhood and become a "regular" at favorite coffee places or food shops. Maybe someday.....but in the meantime, I appreciate the opportunity to live vicariously - thank you!

Thanks for the tip on Gastropod, @btbyrd, I'm enjoying it. I've also been enjoying Ed Levine's Serious Eats podcast, "Special Sauce." So far, he's interviewing one guest per segment and seems to do a good job of letting them talk.

I had some of the lime ice pop mix left over from those cherry lime pops so I added a little tequila and Cointreau and made some margarita pops. I added a few slivers of candied lime peel to each one. No salt but maybe I'll try a sprinkle or dip into sea salt flakes to see how it tastes.