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My first one is about 4 years old and still going strong. It is my most used kitchen appliance and I use it multiple times every day.

Not that anyone can actually replace Jonathan Gold, but some months after his passing, the LA Times added restaurant critics Bill Addison, formerly roving national critic at Eater and Patricia Escárcega, a native Southern Californian most recently working as a dining critic in Phoenix. In April, after years of staff purges under previous ownership resulted in it being reduced to a page on Saturday, the LA Times re-established a standalone print edition Food section under the direction of Peter Meehan, former editor of Lucky Peach. Cookbook author Genevieve Ko and Ben Mims, formerly test kitchen director at Lucky Peach were added to the staff that also includes Lucas Kwan Peterson, Andrea Chang, Jenn Harris and Amy Scattergood. That's a long winded intro to sharing a link to this week's Food section which is devoted entirely to memories of Jonathan Gold. One of the articles is a full page of Gold quotes plucked from many reviews and the online version, A collection of Gold-isms, trumps the print edition as it contains links to the original reviews.

Upthread, there are mentions of Stella Park's DIY Fudgsicle recipe that appeared over on Serious Eats a few years ago but I don't recall if anyone actually made them. I used the Cacao Barry Extra Brute cocoa and skim milk that's recommend and I strained the mixture before pouring it into the molds because I was worried particles of cocoa or gelatin would adversely affect the texture but I didn't catch much in the strainer and the texture is very smooth and creamy. I subbed Grand Marnier for the 1T crème de cacao. It's barely detectable so if I really want an orange flavor, I'll need to add some orange extract or orange oil or add orange zest to the cooked mixture and strain it out.

This was my experience as well.

My old CSO still makes good steam so when I started using my new, back-up unit, the main difference I noticed (aside from the cleaning button, that I knew about) was the pre-heat on the convection-bake function. The old CSO starts counting down the time right away while the new one preheats then beeps before starting the time. I burnt a couple of things before I figured that out 🙃

Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies from Sister Pie. The recipe can be found online in a blog post at this link. Not that it makes any difference to me, but this recipe uses all buckwheat flour so they are gluten free. I bought my whole grain buckwheat flour from a local mill and it is fairly light in color as are my cookies when compared to some I've see that were baked with Bob's Red Mill buckwheat flour. See the photos in the link above for the difference. The recipe calls for using a 1/4 cup scoop, mine are probably about half that size.

Adding my thanks and a question - are there any exotic 🙃 foods or cooking related items that you'll be bringing home from your travels?

No Amazon food/cooking purchases in line for me today but I might spend a few bucks anyway. I've been reading books on my iPad and am considering trying a dedicated e-reader so today's Kindle paperwhite price looks appealing. And I might order another Dot for the garage where my laundry is located. I've got a Sonos speaker out there already and the addition of voice commands would be handy. Whole Foods had organic, free-range, air-cooled chickens for $2.19/lb so I went over and got one to qualify for the WF $10 off Prime Day deal. Spend $10 at Whole Foods from July 3-16 and get $10 off on Amazon today and tomorrow. Not sure if I got a free chicken or $10 off a kindle or neither 🙃 Eat Your Books has added print cookbooks that are Prime Day deals today to their usual list of Kindle bargain books. The ones I looked at don't seem overly amazing deals. About five bucks off on Six Seasons, for example. Worth taking advantage of if you were already considering it but they're not giving stuff away. EYB also mentions the promo code PRIMEBOOK19 to save $5.00 when you spend $15.00 or more on Books offered by Amazon.com. Not sure if that works in other countries but it's listed under the US section so perhaps not. I noticed that a cookbook I'd had in my cart for about a week suddenly went up $5 in price yesterday. I'm curious if it will drop back down again after Prime Day.

I always gotta look things up. From Amazon's Wedding registry FAQ:

I've had quite a few toasters over the years. There was one that might have made better toast than the CSO but most of the rest were on par or less desirable. I got rid of my toaster when I got the CSO. It was a space, not functional decision but I have no regrets. I often toast slices of baguette, ciabatta or other non-standard breads that can be awkward in a regular toaster so the CSO is a win there and I love being able to pop the toast back into the warm oven to melt butter or cheese or broil any of the "stuff-on-toast" items that I often make. There is a bit of a learning curve to get it to suit your liking. I'm currently using my new "back-up" CSO and it runs a bit hotter than my older one but I've adjusted to it. If I remember correctly, my newer one was a "used" Amazon warehouse purchase. Not refurb. The box had been opened, the baking "tray" was replaced with one that is not the standard type but quite functional. Aside from the fact that everything was rattling around inside the oven instead of being securely packed it seemed to be pristine and unused.

Setting aside the unfortunate cases where a spice is overwhelming, I don't see any reason why a variety of fruit preparations can't be used and enjoyed. My favorite peach grower has varieties that he'll be bringing to the market from now into October. Sure, I'll enjoy them on their own to savor their perfection. I'll also make simple cobblers or tarts with a bit of lemon zest and a pinch of salt but I'll also put them into spicy salsa, in salads with tomatoes and buratta and a basil vinaigrette and every sort of peach popsicle I can think of, including my signature version with bourbon and ginger. Perfect fruit will only make those carefully spiced things better!

Then you already know the answer but per Eat Your Books, there is indeed a recipe called, "Dean's tortilla soup with south-of the-border flavors"

I'm with the majority who don't want to bring negative energy to the whole table but I've politely asked if there's a way that a barely tepid soup could be warmed up. I'm more inclined to just leave it on my plate uneaten but if asked, I absolutely explain, calmly and pleasantly, why I didn't eat it. If the server doesn't ask, I let it go and chalk it up to a learning experience. I'm kind of with your husband on the cheap swill. If I were served a glass of wine that was bad, I'd call the waiter back and say that I'd like to order something else. Life is too short for this cowgirl to drink swill 🤠!

I've been playing around with Maggie Hoffman's Batch Cocktails: Make Ahead Pitcher Drinks for Every Occasion. One of my favorites so far is Bound by Venus from bartender Jesse Cyr. Maybe like a rosemary forward Puritan cocktail with fino sherry subbing in for the vermouth? Bound by Venus from Jesse Cyr (8 servings) 2 cups gin infused for 2.5 hrs with 4 sprigs of rosemary w/occasional shaking, then strained 3/4 cup fino sherry 1/2 cup yellow Chartreuse 3/4 cup plus 1T water Mix, chill in the freezer and serve in chilled coupes.

Buckwheat waffles with lemon rosemary marmalade butter as described over in the thread Dorie Greenspan's waffle book, yogurt with candied lemon peel and a white peach

Buckwheat waffles with orange marmalade butter p 58 In addition to a small portion (1/4 to 3/4 all purpose) of buckwheat flour, these also contain rolled oats, wheat germ (I subbed ground flax seeds) and walnuts so they're more of a multi-grain waffle than just buckwheat. The header note says these are best made in a deep-grid Belgian waffler. I used the thinner one I have and got four half cup, 7.5 inch diameter round waffles from a half recipe. They are to be served with maple syrup and an orange marmalade compound butter (1/4 cup marmalade whipped into 1 stick of butter and shaped into a log). I substituted lemon rosemary marmalade and found it a bit soft to slice into pretty pats - I'd just pack it into a little pot - but the flavor is quite nice. No maple syrup needed.

Thanks for resurrecting @Darienne's comment from some years back and adding your own as it gives me a chance to share this LA Times article: Sikh drivers are transforming U.S. trucking. Take a ride along the Punjabi American highway. It's not a food article but food certainly plays a role. And: How a rural Oklahoma truck stop became a destination for Sikh Punjabis crossing America Also this background piece: Behind the Story: On a search for Sikh truckers

The new Vivian Howard PBS show will be called South by Somewhere and will air on PBS in early 2020. From Eater: Vivian Howard Will Explore the Diversity of Southern Cuisine on New PBS Show

In this post, @Anna N shared her method for freezing individual portions of rice and reheating in the microwave. Would something like that work for you?

These Mustard Waffles with Chunky Egg Salad p 82 have already been reviewed above so I just posted them over in the Breakfast thread but decided to add my waffle comments here, too. The waffle recipe is available online at this link. My yield was six 1/2 cup, 7.5 inch diameter waffles. They softened rapidly after coming out of the waffle maker but crisped up nicely in the CSO. I froze the leftovers and they reheat nicely. I ate some as open-faced egg salad sandwiches for lunch yesterday as soon as they were made. I re-heated a few wedges for cocktail nibbles with a smear of chèvre. I finally got around to plating more or less per the recipe with arugula (I dressed it lightly with a preserved lemon vinaigrette) and tomato for breakfast this AM. Excellent combination. I'll make these again.

I've seen wedding registries that include "experience" gifts like trips so things like cooking classes, wine tasting trips, etc. might be a fun option. Or gift certificates to a gourmet grocery or a place like Eataly.

It hit the spot. Crisp, toasted whole grain Sonora wheat baguette, salted Kerrygold butter and melty chocolate - what's not to like? I liked the flavor of that chocolate bar from TJ's but eaten on its own, I didn't care for the gritty texture of the coarse ground coffee they put on the outside so it had been sitting in the cupboard waiting for me to chop it up into cookies or something. This was a perfect use! Today's breakfast was what I'd intended for yesterday, the Mustard Waffles with Chunky Egg Salad from Dorie Greenspan's Waffles from Morning to Midnight. These waffles are kind of addictive. They soften fairly quickly after coming out of the waffle maker but are easily re-crisped in the oven.

I had plans to make waffles with egg salad from Dorie's waffle book. While the eggs were boiling, I happened on @Anna N's speculation over in the Manitoulin thread: So I had this with a mug of black coffee:

Nice!

Previously frozen roasted asparagus & potato waffles (revived nicely in the CSO), scrambled egg and tomato salad with spicy ponzu from Tim Anderson's Japaneasy