blue_dolphin

Crispy cornmeal waffle with fresh orange slices

Now, that's what I call a banana for an optimist. When I see bananas of that color in the store, I always pass them by, thinking, "Not sure I'll live long enough for them to ripen." "Wall to wall" is exactly the way Gabrielle Hamilton directs but your sandwich is exactly the way they were made at my work cafeteria. Not sure why they couldn't spare 5 sec to spread stuff out at least a little.

Shrimp and Grits Waffles from Joy the Baker's website.

Maybe that's actually a chia-date PET. Just douse it with the spring water and see if it sprouts 🙃

@rotuts, I totally agree with your assessment of that jarred artichoke antipasto. TJ's used to sell a refrigerated Lemon Artichoke Pesto that I loved. When it went away, as TJ's stuff does, I hoped I might be able to doctor up that jarred stuff to substitute. No way. No good. Had to figure out my own recipe for the pesto instead.

I'll be interested in hearing what variety you have. I love peaches and O'Henry is one of my favorite varieties, too. Here's a sign I've posted before from my favorite farmers market peach vendor, Tenerelli Orchards, showing some of the peach varieties in the order that they ripen for the market. They are located in the Antelope Valley area of LA County, a bit SE of Palmdale. This year, due to the mild spring and early summer weather, their stone fruits are ripening later than usual. Today, they had mostly Elegant Lady peaches with a few boxes of July Flame and Fancy Lady that are a little past peak - recommended for immediate consumption or using in recipes. They told me their O'Henry's are still about 3-4 weeks away. I'm snacking on one of those July Flame peaches right now:

My first thought was just, no. But the spices that go into "pumpkin spice" stuff often turn up in ham glazes so maybe it's not that bad. Or maybe it is?

And you got a sweet story to remember and share. Thanks for doing that!

Awww! Thank you so much! I used another one of those waffles to make a breakfast sandwich with sausage & egg:

I'll take the plate in the 2nd photo 🙃

Israeli Couscous with Summer Vegetables and Caramelized Tomato and Watermelon and Feta Salad with Harissa. Both from Shaya. The salad is excellent. Recipe available online at this link.

Preference-wise, I'll give a slight edge to frying as it produced a more delicately crisp coating while baked was a bit more crunchy. Both had a nice contrast between the panko coating and creamy interior. After tasting the first batch, I decided to try baking because I thought they'd be nice made with small eggplant slices for little one- or two-bite appetizers. No way would I want to fry a million little slices but baking a big tray full would be fine. Baked was absolutely acceptable and what I will do when I make it again. Edited to add that I peeled eggplant for the baked slices because I thought the skin might get too hard in the oven. It's also nice to get the coating to stick to the sides.

I had the same thing today except that I baked the eggplant slices instead of frying

Fried Eggplant with Caramelized Tomato & Goat Cheese from Shaya, in the chapter, "My Grandmother's Peppers and Eggplants." Edited to add that the recipe is available online at this link. The book describes a "tomato paste-o" as the secret weapon of the dish. Warm garlic and parsley in a bath of olive oil "until it smells like garlic bread" then add tomato paste and a bit of salt and continue to cook until everything is caramelized. It's delicious! The cheese is equal parts cream cheese and goat cheese and a mix of fresh herbs.

You could add some bacon drippings to the pan you cook them in 🙃

It wasn't really too much effort and such a fun idea to translate a cocktail into an ice cream sundae. I was especially intrigued by the Carpano Antica syrup and was going to just put that over some figs and ice cream but decided I might as well go ahead and flame up some bourbon for that part, too.

I was going to say that it might look something like this, if you can imagine the fresh figs I used are nectarines. Then I realized that I put the fruit on top of the ice cream instead of the other way around, so you'll have to imagine that as well 🙃 I used fig butter for the jam and added lemon juice and the extra bourbon. I tasted them after a couple of hours in the fridge and they definitely tasted better after sitting overnight. I preferred the fig/bourbon mixture slightly warmed rather than straight from the fridge, which contributes to the melty-ness of my photo. It was still delicious!

I posted this over in the gardening thread as a question to @Shelby but should probably have put it over here for those with general okra interest. This morning when I was listening to Evan Kleiman's Good Food podcast she hosted Chris Smith, author of the recently published book, The Whole Okra: A Seed to Stem Celebration (the interview is available here.) When asked to name his favorite recipe in the book, he said it was the Okra Kimchi. I tracked down the recipe online: Okra Kimchi Recipe. I haven't tried it yet but I'm especially intrigued by the idea of dehydrating that okra kimchi and using it as a seasoning.

@Shelby, how's the okra coming along? This morning when I was listening to Evan Kleiman's Good Food podcast she was interviewing Chris Smith, author of The Whole Okra: A Seed to Stem Celebration (the interview is available here.) When asked to name his favorite recipe in the book, he said it was the Okra Kimchi and of course, I thought of you! I tracked down the recipe online in case you want to try it: Okra Kimchi Recipe. I'm especially intrigued by the idea of dehydrating the okra kimchi and using it as a seasoning - I figure you can make some of that and mail me a small packet 🙃. What do you think? Edited to add that there's a longer Chris Smith interview, this one with Margaret Roach (transcript available here), that goes into more detail about growing okra, something I'll never do but still found interesting!

Another one from Batch Cocktails, All She Wrote by Jeremy Simpson when he was at Bestia in Los Angeles. The batch recipe from the book is available online here and is one of the "Drinks that Keep" and are recommended for aging. I made a batch of these for a gathering back in June and have been enjoying the leftovers since then. In honor of the last glass, I assembled the ingredients for this group photo. This is strongly flavored enough to sip slowly but relatively low in alcohol. The suggested garnish is a pinch of salt and I found it to pull the flavors together nicely.

Another one of those light, crispy yeasted cornmeal waffles with praline bourbon bacon syrup. This time with fresh figs.

Thanks for taking us along! I especially loved seeing all those beautiful sunsets without a single bug bite 🙃

There's a an excellent thread over at this link that you can mine for ideas. Almost every homemade gift I've given has been well received, so I'd encourage you to pursue your ideas. When I receive homemade food gifts, I always appreciate recommendations for using them. I used to put together baskets of baked goods and everyone got a small fruitcake. Then the anti-fruitcake articles that always pop up around the holidays put me off but a lot of people have asked so I should make them again. I like to troll the thrift stores for cocktail or liqueur glasses and to give along with a bottle of homemade limoncello or tequila por mi amante or some other homemade liqueur and a cocktail recipe or serving suggestion.

Fresh figs, toasted baguette slices and Point Reyes Blue

Thanks so much for taking us along and especially for catching up on that last, marvelous dinner....and those toutons!