blue_dolphin

It's a winner. Doesn't show up in the photo but the entire underside of those eggs is crusted with those crisp, toasted breadcrumbs - yum!

Zuni Café Cookbook Fried Eggs in Breadcrumbs I tend to go with sherry vinegar for the finishing step but used balsamic today. The toasted crumbs are dark in part because I used whole grain bread but also because they soaked up that balsamic vinegar. Not burnt. Or at least not burnt to me 🙃

Another breakfast sandwich Chimay Autumn cheese, fried egg, Broadbent country ham biscuit slice on toasted whole wheat focaccia.

@liuzhou's link in the post above took me to a paywall but when I googled Financial Times Hummus, I got a link that took me to the article titled "The fight to save hummus from extinction"

I'll look for that one. When you first mentioned it, I thought it was something they no longer carry. I have one of those wine aerators that someone gave me as a gift so I'll try it with these wines. My TJ's was selling the 2018 vintage of this Rancho Sisquoc River Red for $9.99. They're a local winery that I visit from time to time so I was curious to try it. As you might expect, the 2018 was very young and aggressive, even after going through the aerator. I may pick up another bottle to two to set aside for a year or so.

I bought a bottle of the Stick Figure to try. Not sure what grapes are used here but I generally like the blends of Rhone varietals often made in the Paso area where this is from. It's also $8.99 here and is listed in the TJ's Thanksgiving flyer.

Today: Egg, bacon and cheese on toasted whole wheat focaccia I wasn't wild about this batch of focaccia but it toasts up nicely for a sandwich so I'll slice it up accordingly and stash the rest in the freezer. Cheese is that deliciously rich and creamy Chimay Autumn cheese from TJ's (I hope they have some left as mine is almost gone!) and the bacon is Broadbent's hickory smoked. Previously: Pear, bacon and cheese toasty on Sonora wheat baguette. Bacon and cheese are as above. Slices of that perfectly ripe bosc pear from the farmers market are under the cheese with more on the side.

If you use Eat Your Books for your cookbooks or online recipes, you can choose to add the ingredients to a shopping list. It looks like this, with the recipes names at the top and the ingredients sorted into categories below. You can print it or view it on your phone at the store. I don't believe there is any way to add other, non recipe items to the list so if you also need trash bags and a gallon of milk, you'd need another list. It's also not smart enough to know what's already in your pantry, but I'm often not that smart either!

That's actually the one that got me started today when a friend from NJ posted it on Facebook while complaining that no one in Atlanta had ever heard of Mischief Night. Of course, I had to look up the other one map to find one with my Cabbage Night on it! I am endlessly entertained by those maps and the questionnaires that identify where you are from based on your responses!

Good idea! I'm going to make a bit of simple syrup with both the Thai and holy basil. At least enough to make a few popsicles from each. I've done peach with basil and it was very good. Or I could go in a lime-ginger-basil direction. Thanks! That helps me narrow down my search. I'm putting some stems into water so hopefully they'll keep for a few days.

Any favorite recipes that you think really showcase either of those?

I only had about 10 kids last night. I turned off my porch light at 8:30. The doorbell rang once after that but I didn't answer. I'm a couple of days late on this one (the story of my life 🙃) but what do you call the night before Halloween? It was Cabbage Night where I grew up in northern NY but I've never heard anyone out here refer to it by any name.

I did spot a recipe for a Thai basil mai-tai. It only calls for 10 leaves for 2 cocktails. I could make a lot of them....

I'm looking for suggestions for saving or using up this bounty of purple basil, holy basil and Thai basil. A friend asked me yesterday if I needed some basil and I said, "Sure, I can make some pesto to freeze." I was expecting a few clippings of sweet basil. Here's what she brought - big bunches of purple, holy and Thai basil: I figure I can go ahead and make purple pesto with the purple basil but what should I do with the Thai and holy basils? I've only used Thai basil a few times and have never used holy basil and would love ideas for using them. Can I purée them in oil and freeze in a zip-lock as I've done with sweet basil? If so should I blanch the leaves first?

Now THAT sounds scary!!! 👻

I remember as a kid being invited in out of the cold and offered cider and homemade treats after we introduced ourselves to our hosts and told them about our costumes and who we were dressed as. Sweet. I don't get too many kids here. I buy the treat-sized bags of chips, Fritos, Doritos, pretzels. The kids seem to like picking out their choice of snack.

I'll just add to @kayb's thoughtful inventory and say that I am much less generous. Except for the nuts, where we agree, I usually dole out ~ half of the amounts specified in her post. I believe Kay also brings something in every category (appetizer, bread, salad, side, main and dessert) to pot lucks ❤️ Edited to add that I may bring more than one dish but often just one! Kay mentions half pint or pint jars. I tend to go with the little 4 oz or half pints. For cookies, I'd only do a full dozen of the smaller pressed cookies, otherwise a half dozen is more like it. Cookies would usually be the bulk of my baskets with several types included. I use little foil 5 3/4" x 3 1/4" loaf pans for fruit cake and quick bread or pound cakes. I might include one fruitcake and 2 quick breads in a basket. Maybe just one in a small basket. Not sure how I measure the nut brittles, usually a big, generous handful? All that said, my baskets have usually gone to smaller families. Often a couple, maybe a few kids. Small treats, not sustenance.

I followed your suggestion and dipped half of each lime pie pop into the crumbs. No graham crackers in the house so I used the TJ's version of speculoos cookies. The crunch is really good with these tart, creamy pops. I also channeled one of my favorite summer desserts - fresh peaches sliced into Moscato and made these Peach & Moscato pops. I didn't roast the peaches as I usually do and I peeled them so the red skin didn't make them too dark and just used a little honey to sweeten them. They may not be quite as magical as the real thing on a summer evening but still refreshing on hot October days!

Beans! I love to cook beans low and slow in the oven as I think that method lets them become their very best selves. I'll do some in the Instant Pot in the summer to use for bean dips but I'm looking forward to cooler days ahead when I can start working through my stash of Rancho Gordo beans.

Thanks! I thought the 24 chest freezers was a tip off!

I use the Instant Pot a little more often. I find my Anova easier to use.

Woman with freezer full of overripe bananas dies never having made banana bread

I am so, so sorry! A number of years ago, I participated in a research study that required eating a very low fat diet. No cheese was allowed. It was a major struggle in the beginning but by the end of it, I had some good ideas for substitutes. Plus, they provided all the food and paid me $1000 so there was that 🙃 You have all my best wishes in finding tasty foods that entertain your cheese taste buds and I hope that at some point there may be an opportunity to reintroduce an occasional morsel of cheese.

@CatIsHungry, I used to make gift baskets of homemade goodies every year. I usually had a couple of sizes of baskets depending on family size. Go with sizes that you can pack full so they don't look skimpy. I recommend using shallower baskets so almost everything can be visible. I used to buy them over the course of the year when I saw a good price and pull them out of my stash at the holidays. I think you've got plenty of things on your list but I agree with @kayb that a loaf of quick bread or pound cake makes a nice centerpiece. And they do fill up space if that is your concern. I saw that you don't have time for bread but you can even doctor up a cake mix into a nice lemon poppy seed pound cake and bake off 6 small loaves from one box. Something to keep in mind if you need last-minute space-fillers. If you don't have cello bags or wraps for everything, you can use snack or sandwich size zip top bags and just put the zip side down, out of sight in the basket. With the number of things you've got on your list, you don't need to give everyone a ton of everything, just a few. Think of those commercial gift baskets - the sizes of stuff they put in there are positively minuscule. I'm sure anything you put together will be much more generous than that stuff!

I remember when purchasing cheeses, including Red Hawk, at the Cowgirl Creamery shop at the Ferry Building, I was asked when I planned on serving them and they selected specimens that would be ready. I had a couple of parties in mind and they kindly separated the cheeses that I needed to set aside for the event that was a week later.