blue_dolphin

Sounds similar to a beef chuck roast that was a regular when I was growing up. Plopped into a dutch oven with one packet of Lipton's onion soup and one can of Campbell's cream of mushroom soup dumped on top. On occasion, the potato situation that @Smithy described was employed, along with carrots and onions but sometimes it was served with mashed taters instead along with the delicious gravy that resulted. I remember that this stuff smelled absolutely amazing while it was cooking that I always happily ate some which was not the case with many meat items.

Avocado & kimchi toast topped with a poached egg This idea is from Julia Turshen's Small Victories. There's a little drizzle of mayo + kimchi juice. The avocado was a Stewart avocado. I should have taken a photo before I started mangling it. The Stewart has a very thin, smooth skin that's edible. It's black when ripe and has a rich texture and flavor which surprised me. I was afraid it would have that thin, watery texture that some smooth-skin varieties like the Fuerte have so I was pleasantly surprised.

Alon Shaya has a hummus recipe in his cookbook where he lets the crushed garlic marinate in lemon juice for at least 30 minutes, then strains it out. It adds a nice, fresh raw garlic flavor without the harshness that sometimes intensifies over time as hummus sits. I've been using that trick in other recipes.

Two boxes landed on my doorstep together this afternoon: my bean club shipment and a new cookbook, Cool Beans: The Ultimate Guide to Cooking with the World's Most Versatile Plant-Based Protein, with 125 Recipes by Joe Yonan Must be a sign!

@rotuts, you can go to Eataly and pick up some bottarga. Other online options listed in this Serious Eats article. Plain old salmon roe won't be the same thing. Though it might make for a lovely (just different) meal!

If you find yourself with some bottarga, I very much recommend following Marcella with this one. There are a lot of recipes out there. Some, like Anthony Bourdain's, are simpler with just olive oil and garlic. Others, like the Batali recipe in Babbo add additional ingredients like chili peppers, tomatoes, etc. This one allows the bottarga to be the star but adds a bit of savory/sweetness from the onion (Marcella recommends scallions but allows that regular onion is more traditional) and lemon zest for brightness. There's also a little parsley for color and a little bitterness. Pretty much perfect to me! Edited to add that I went out and picked up a bottle of Vermentino from Sardinia to go along with this and it was the perfect accompaniment!

A treat for lunch - Spaghetti with bottarga from Marcella Hazan's Classic Italian Cooking Marcella makes this with butter which makes for a very luxurious dish.

Thanks for the great photos showing off that beautiful view and the stunning skies! Where are we heading once the generator's fixed?

Yesterday's breakfast Scrambled Harissa Tofu with Avocado & Cucumber Salad from Ottolenghi's Simple. The scramble was served, per the recipe, on toasted sourdough Today's breakfast: Black Bean & Tofu Scramble from A Modern Cook's Year, served with a whole grain pita bread from the recipe in Shaya

Interesting - so many cocktail weenies! And what's up with the Irish Stew in Iowa? Buffalo Chicken Dip was the most Googled recipe from California and I had to Google to find out what it was - a dip FOR chicken or a dip made with chicken? It's the latter, in case you were wondering. And while that was the top recipe for the whole state, Tortilla Pinwheels were on top in Los Angeles and 7-Layer Dip in San Francisco. Must be a lot of it going on in San Diego! Edited to add that I made guacamole and margaritas, both from the recipes in Nopalito.

Debating what to have for breakfast while sipping a mug of café de olla I've been testing and tweaking recipes since I went to a restaurant in Burbank called Café de Olla and enjoyed their signature beverage. I think I've nailed the spice mixture and coffee strength. I also like using a separate piloncillo syrup so I can add just a touch of it in a hot mug to complement the spices and a little more in a tall glass of iced café.

I buy eggs at the farmers market from a couple who pasture their hens in an organic orange orchard. They are $7.00/dozen for large eggs and that's rather a splurge for me but I'm lucky that I can afford to make that choice to support a local, small business whose practices I value. Blindfolded, I 'm not certain I could taste a difference, but the beautiful deep orange yolks certainly add visual value to my plate! A couple of stands away at the market, I could buy eggs from Apricot Lane Farms, aka 'The Biggest Little Farm.' They price their chicken eggs at $14/dozen. I have not tried them so my personal "magic number" must lie somewhere between seven and fourteen 🙃

Sounds like what we might call cocktail sausages, which I would never put into a cocktail!

Long time, no popsicles 🙃 We had a high temp in the mid '80s today, no doubt brought on by my investment of a king's ransom in a new furnace which was installed yesterday. I had some very ripe, end of the season persimmons from the farmers market so... Persimmon & cream on the left, persimmon & yogurt in the bottom row and basic persimmon pops. All are sweetened with honey and tarted up with a bit of lime juice.

Sounds like everything came out just fine! My personal preference is to serve the meaty red beans over rice rather than cooking everything together so I would have reheated the bean mixture in the oven, CSO or stove top, giving things an occasional stir while I cooked the rice in the Instant Pot.

If you never visited the Los Angeles Farmers Market that @heidih linked to, you did miss out on a gem. Depending on when you lived Azusa, you may or may not have missed out on others. There were always lots of farmstands around but the California Certified Farmers' Markets that are now widespread weren't established until 1978, when the Direct Marketing Act enabled farmers to sell their own produce directly to consumers. The first Los Angeles County farmers market under the CCFM umbrella consisted of four farmers in the parking lot of a church in Gardena in 1979. I was living in Santa Monica in 1981 when that city started its Wednesday market in the downtown area and there was quite a bit of resistance on the part of local merchants who were concerned about access to their shops being blocked. Very different today, of course. Dates above from the City of Santa Monica website

Bean Club shipping update from Steve via Facebook; Me? I’ll be happy with my beans whenever!

I'm not interested in a straight steam oven. It's the ability to add steam to high heat cooking that does the magic for me.

Sounds like a really flavorful bread! I'd go with a simple tomato sauce with enough bright acidity to contrast with the richness of the bread. If I had any of Vivian Howard's stewed tomatoes from Deep Run Roots on hand, I'd just blitz a jar in the blender, warm it up and serve. Marcella Hazan's iconic sauce would be an easy option. Or is that too predictable?

I got that email also but haven't gotten an actual shipping notification yet. Over on the Facebook bean club group, Steve said that they started shipping last Friday and expected that it would take them a full week to get everything shipped. He said to hang tight until after 1/31 before contacting them if you haven't received your shipping notice.

@Anna N, do consider applying a few drops of that precious artisanal balsamic vinegar to a small scoop of the very best vanilla ice cream. Even more excellent if some perfect strawberries can be involved. But only the very best! I brought a bottle of that extra vecchio stuff back from Italy and am still hoarding a bit of it.

Since they supposedly get better the next day, I want to take them to the library tomorrow. I've put them in a tin and placed it on a top shelf that I need a step ladder to reach. We'll see how that works!

I think you will like them. That touch of salt from the potato chips makes them addictive...I've already eaten most of the uneven ones and need to put the rest of them far away!

Potato Chip Chip Shortbread from Midwest Made. The recipe is available online here at NYT Cooking For this recipe, you take a bunch of potato chip crumbs, mix half into a shortbread dough with chocolate chips then press the dough out onto a layer of potato chip crumbs, then top it with the rest of the crumbs. There was supposed to be an egg wash on top before the chips went on but I forgot. The idea took me back to those days as a kid when our after school snack tin was down to the crumbs. I actually loved getting a few salty potato chip or pretzel crumbs along with a fragment of a chocolate chip cookie or Oreo. These are reportedly better the second day but they taste pretty fine right now.

I put them in the fridge for an hour or two before slicing as the recipe suggested. They were firm enough to need a sharp knife but not gooey or messy to slice. I trimmed off the very outer edges because I thought they looked dry but they are actually just pleasantly chewy. If I'd measured and marked, I could have done a better job but here they are in their box, ready to go to the library: