blue_dolphin

Lebovitz cites the Union Square bar nuts as his inspiration for the recipe in his book. Based on this discussion, I was prompted to make another batch last night. With a white (yellow?) negroni-type thing.

Last week, I made the Spicy Glazed Nut & Pretzel mix from David Lebovitz's book Drinking French. I expected the nuts to be great but the pretzels were surprising delicious as well. Sadly, it's all gone. The recipe is also available here on his blog. The book also has a recipe for quite a few tasty snacks that I'm looking forward to trying. The Rosemary Bar Nuts were quite good.

Finally got around to trying Wylie Dufresne’s Scrambled Egg Sandwich that I mentioned upthread and @liamsaunt shared here. As @liamsaunt noted, it is indeed very rich and I also only ate half though I'm considering going back for another bite 🙃 It held together much better than expected - I was sure the eggs would squish out all over the place but they did not. I nibbled some pickled onions on the side but I think it could benefit from a smear of something spicy on the bread. Maybe I'll saved the other half for lunch and dip it in tomato chutney.

Growing up in the far reaches of northern NY, I first experienced Sunset at the home of neighbors from California who subscribed to the magazine and had lots of back issues as well as cooking and gardening books in their library. I looked after their cat when they traveled and they encouraged me to spend time in the house so poor Toby would have a bit of company. I was happy to spend hours sprawled on their lovely Turkish carpets (after cleaning up Toby's hairballs, which he apparently NEVER hawked up when they were at home) and paging through Sunset magazines and books. I just loved the indoor-outdoor living they featured, something that didn't exist in a place where an open door elicited shouts of, "Shut the door! Shut the door!" most of the year because either freezing air or bugs would get in. Fast-forward to today, I live in a 1966 So Cal home that could well have appeared in the magazine. It's not uncommon for first-time visitors to say, "Wow, this looks like it belongs in Sunset!" I subscribed to the magazine as soon as I moved to So Cal. Back then, every issue was absolutely packed with content and they were cooking and trip-planning guides for many adventures in my new state. Lots of fond memories. I no longer subscribe but I'm always happy to find a new Sunset at the dentist's office. And believe me, there is nothing else happy about those visits!

Not sure if this is the best place for this but here goes.... I know there has been discussion in various threads about grocery delivery and mentions of Instacart and how they treat their shoppers (not well). I saw this article, A smaller competitor to Instacart is a better deal for shoppers, in the LA Times about a different app called Dumpling. That particular article is more about the shopper side of the business but I found the model appealing. I still haven't needed to use any grocery delivery services but if I do, I quite like the idea of being able to establish a relationship with an individual who's motivated to keep my business. Not sure how widespread their services are but I found several shoppers in my area. Has anyone used Dumpling?

Veering back towards the topic title of Alexander Smalls... for those interesting in listening to more of his speaking, LA cookbook store Now Serving is hosting him on virtual book tour this coming Wednesday, June 17 at 4 PM PDT where he will be speaking with LATimes Cooking Editor Genevieve Ko You can register for the live web session here: Now Serving Event Calendar After the event, you may be able to find it on this page where they have been sharing previous events: Now Serving Event Recordings He was also interviewed recently on this episode of Why Food on Heritage Radio. Alexander Small's new book is Meals, Music, and Muses: Recipes From My African American Kitchen, available from Amazon or Now Serving.

Crud?

I was already thinking of New Orleans BBQ shrimp so after reading this, I decided to make a batch of cornbread to compare with the crusty baguette that I'd planned to use to sop up the juices. Both the cornbread and shrimp recipes are from Toni Tipton-Martin's book, Jubilee. I really preferred the flavor of the cornbread with these shrimp but as a sauce-sopper, this particular cornbread is too crumbly. If I was craving shrimp surrounded by cornbread, then this would NOT scratch that itch and I'd much prefer a shrimp corndog. Since I was going for BBQ shrimp, I was happy. Finally, pardon me for using peeled shrimp...at least they still had their tails!

Well, if it never set up as well as it did the the past, then I was wondering if the oven temp could have been off and it might have needed more baking. Any chance the overnight fridge temp was lower than usual? If it was colder, that could have taken longer to bake and I'd imagine that if parts of it came close to freezing, then thawed, that could have prevented the custard from setting up. My own fridge is subject to random acts of freezing...when I least expect it! I stand by my guess that it will be perfect next time!

A bowl of grits topped with a soft-boiled egg, crispy chorizo and a quick salsa of tomato, avocado, pickled onions and jalapeño

The cheesemaker's website recommended a pinot noir or Champagne with that Dorothy's cheese. I had a nice Rusack pinot and it was a good choice. I bought another cheese and will try something sparkly with it this time. I also need more bread. I ate the rind, too! I like the Phigment also and thought it was a good buy at that price. I have a bottle of the Roustabout but haven't tried it yet. I've been drinking some of the Bogle Phantom red blend from 2013. Used to be around $9 or 10 at TJ's but the price seems to have crept up over the years. I haven't bought any in a few years. On one of my recent visits, they had this Hess Select Pinot Gris for $5.99. Seems to sell for around $12 elsewhere. Winery released the 2019 in March so maybe they gave TJ's a deal on the rest of this? It has a lot of tropical fruit and drinks almost more like a light viognier than a pinot gris. I think it's a nice summer sipper and something a little different. Probably not something that will stick around in their stores forever.

Mine hangs on the inside of a tall cabinet door in the kitchen and I use it a lot. I was thinking of getting another in red or black and trying the one with the rounded neckline this time. I'll have to watch for a sale or free shipping offer to nudge me into ordering!

I have little experience with the overnight soaking method so feel free to ignore my 2 cents. The ratio of milk to eggs looks similar to what I use in quiche which sets up fine with half & half, marginally with whole and not well at all not with skim or 2%. Any chance the milk was different? When using a lower fat milk in a quiche, I've found that tossing the cheese with a teaspoon of cornstarch or Wondra helped the custard to set up. Not sure if that would be useful with the overnight method here or not. Any chance the cooked sausage was hot enough to start cooking and coagulating the eggs when it first got mixed so there wasn’t enough protein to make a custard by baking time? Finally (or maybe it should be firstly 🙃) do you think the custard mix didn’t set up properly or do you think it set but then broke? My prediction is that this will work perfectly for you, as it always has and we’ll never know what happened!

I noticed that @Shelby posted about her Sriracha Maple Snack Mix in this topic so I figure I can continue the theme with this Spicy Glazed Nut & Pretzel mix from David Lebovitz's book Drinking French. The recipe is also available here on his blog. Not that you can tell in the photo but everything got coated in a mix of brown sugar, maple syrup, butter, salt, cayenne & cinnamon before baking. Very good. Now to track down that Sriracha Snack Mix recipe.....

I think the sixty cents is probably key! Picked up my first post-virus cookbook from the library today! I'd put it on hold shortly before they shut down and was first in the hold queue all this time!

I loved the first section, liked the second one and found it a bit of a slog to get through the final two. That said, after the Netflix series came out, I went back to re-read them and it seemed like a package that made great sense with the videos to break up all that reading. But we're all different so anyone considering their $3.99 investment would be wise to take your advice and steer clear!

The Kindle version of Samin Nosrat's Salt Fat Acid Heat is currently $3.99 on both Amazon.com and Amazon.ca. I'm not wild about cooking from ebooks but, in my opinion, the value of this book are the first 4 sections as named in the title. Great textbook for learning how to cook, especially if you take occasional breaks to watch her Netflix show of the same name. From Amazon's "Look Inside" feature, it looks like Wendy McNaughton's charming illustrations come through well. The recipes that follow those sections certainly do work but this is also a book that you could just read through and get a lot from. Edited to add: The Kindle edition of Smitten Kitchen Everyday by Deb Perelman is $4.99 so maybe not a crazy bargain but still a good price for a solid book. I own the paper version and like it. This one is NOT currently bargain priced on Amazon.ca.

In the header notes, Toni Tipton-Martin says these Lowcountry Shrimp and Grits from her book, Jubilee, are outstanding served for breakfast. No argument from me! The shrimp kinda sank into the grits but there were 6 big, lovely shrimps in there and I ate them all!

Trader Joe's used to sell shrimp corn dogs in their frozen section. Came with a sweet chile dipping sauce. I haven't seen them in quite some time. Tasty little buggers they were.

I've been trying to make this salad and failing to assemble all the ingredients at appropriate ripeness. Finally gave up and made a sub. It's the Watercress, Mahón cheese, Nectarines and Creamy Lime Dressing from Amá. Only a little of my watercress was still perky by the time the nectarine was ripe. I used what I had and added some romaine. Arugula would have been better. This didn't completely wow me but I will remember the addition of a spoonful of heavy cream to a citrus dressing used on a salad with fruit. These are still early season nectarines so I'll try it again in mid-summer.

@RWood, you have ruined that child for all other cakes and set yourself a very high bar for repeat performances, which I’m sure will be demanded!

I'm stuck with a narrow sliver of freezer in a side-by side fridge and have long envied those of you with big freezers. After reading these last comments, I'm at least consoled to know my losses will always be limited! 🙃

Nana's Deviled Egg Sandwiches with Pickled Oregano Onions both from Josef Centeno's Amá I've posted about this recipe before. So many things I never put in egg salad: onions or shallots, celery, cilantro, Calabrian chiles, chile powder. And that's in addition to my usuals: Dijon mustard, mayo, capers, black pepper and crumbled bacon on top. Somehow, it all works. I need to remember to try the deviled egg version, which is actually the main recipe .

No frozen hash browns here but I do have some cheese and spicy pepper stuffed potato balls taking up space in there The sauce is the Mexican Sriracha from Josef Centeno's book Amá. Great stuff that I've been putting on everything!