blue_dolphin

I was thinking maybe a side of hollandaise 🙃

@rotuts, how do you access this program? I couldn't find it on BBC America.

It seemed to me that food was woven into almost every scene in Crazy Rich Asians - from the famous Singapore hawker centre to lavish banquet spreads to homemade dumplings and even the homemade meals that Rachel's mother packed for her to take on the plane. I went to the movie after having dinner with friends and we were all starving afterwards! There's a video clip of some of the night market scenes here and an article on the Bon Appetit website here: Dumplings, Kaya Toast, and Chili Crab: Inside the Food of Crazy Rich Asians

When I searched for Korean melon recipes, the first one highlighted was Korean Melon Popsicles. Apparently Google knows me all too well

I'm not @BonVivant, but we get yellow Barhi dates that look like this in local farmers markets around this time of year. They are sweet but not cloying with a firm, crisp texture. According to this article in the LA Times, the Medjools and Deglet Noors are too astringent at this stage but the Barhis only have a hint of that and are the only locally grown date variety that's sold at this stage. Apparently there are many such varieties grown in the Middle East.

Yes, I understood you and tried to make a small joke....very badly, it seems🙃

Perhaps you should tip better???? 🙃 My cocktail options at Blackbird restaurant in Santa Barbara, CA: And my choice, the Fit for Battle, which I should have photographed before it went around the table for shared sips. Thanks to the shared sips, I also tasted the Purple Rain, Rosemary's Baby, Whiskey Smash and a Cosmo, all ordered by my dining companions but was happy with my choice. Smoky, bittersweet and a little spicy. I'm sure there is a better comparison but to me, this was kinda like a Perfect Manhattan with Cardamaro in for the Sweet Vermouth and Cocchi Americano for the dry with smoky tea and spicy bitters.

Heirloom tomatoes, boiled eggs, crumbled bacon, toast

@Darienne, I think you mentioned that one of your regular meals was a selection of salads. Would something like that, maybe with some nice breads work? Quiche or a frittata or a hearty soup or chili plus salad, bread and fruit are my go-to lunch/brunch items for friends.

Beans on Toast from Six Seasons p 256. This is a winner for me because I love the combination of beans with garlic and rosemary, something I came to love through Heidi Swanson's White Bean Spread in Super Natural Every Day. I haven't found any fresh shell beans so I followed the advice in the book and substituted dried beans, Rancho Gordo Eye of the Goat beans. I make various versions of beans on toast and usually just scoop the beans on to the bread and mash them with a fork enough that they'll stay put. This is more complicated in asking that some of the beans be put in the food processor and spread on the toast like "frosting a cupcake" with whole beans spooned on top. A bit fussy for me and I wouldn't bother with it again but that garlic and rosemary infused olive oil makes it all delicious. I had this with fresh tomatoes, thin slices of pecorino and a few olives.

@blbst36, I'm laughing at my suggestions now that I know it's a camping lunch! You can just throw all of that out the window - or save it for later! When it comes to trying cheeses beyond what's available in the pre-packaged sets, you might try a Whole Foods. They usually have a basket of small pieces of different cheeses, usually in the $2-3 price range. It's a good way to sample some new things without committing to an expensive purchase. I always look through when I stop in there.

You can do whatever you like with the fig jam. I like to put a bit of cheese on some bread or a cracker and drizzle just a bit of the jam over the top. If that's too messy, you can certainly spread the jam on the cracker or bread. I also like to have a savory spread in addition to the sweet - so maybe an interesting mustard or tapenade in addition to your fig jam. In my opinion, pineapple is not the best accompaniment. For fresh fruit, I would prefer any berries, grapes or wedges of ripe pear or apple but you should go with what you love. I am told some people like pineapple on pizza I am not the biggest fan of dried blueberries because they look like shriveled little stones, but again, use what you love. Dried apricots are good if you have some plump, pretty ones and dates are also nice. Yes, salami is a good choice. Sopressata or pepperoni are also nice. A log you slice yourself is nice, although I recommend pre-slicing it before you arrange it on the platter. I also recommend pre-slicing at least some of the cheese. You don't want it to dry out but I've found people are much more likely to pick up a pre-cut piece and less likely to make a mess of the whole wedge if you give them a starting point. A small variety of nuts is nice but the Marcona almonds are always a treat and it's fine to go with just one. I always like to add some pickle-y things like cornichons, olives, pickled peppers, etc. I like water and food but if you don't, they you should drink whatever you do enjoy with food. A cider would be a good alternative to wine. Or sparkling water with a splash of a fruit vinegar or shrub. Your cheesemonger selected 3 mild cow's milk cheeses with similar textures. Sounds like that is what you'd like for this platter so that's perfect. For your next round with more adventurous cheeses, consider trying some with more variation in texture (soft vs hard), flavor (mild vs sharp) and milk type (cow, sheep, goat).

I did consider bleach with mine but I was concerned that there might be some residual odor that might come through in the steam and decided I'd prefer vinegar over bleach 🙃 Just in case.

A moment of silence, please, for this box of cornstarch: I was tempted to keep it around until January '18 so it would be a full 30 years after the "Buy Before" date but I finally used it up

I have seen this in mine. I thought it was algae. When I see it, I give it a good rinse. It doesn't seem very adherent and rinses right out. Then I use 1 cup water/1 distilled vinegar and steam per the decal instructions in the manual. My tank was right under a fluorescent under-cabinet light. It burnt out a couple of months ago and I haven't replaced it, thinking I'd soon replace them all with LEDs. Without the light - no more algae....or whatever the green stuff was.

I have to say the mushrooms were quite behaved and didn't make nearly the mess as those corn fritters where the kernels randomly popped like popcorn and sprayed hot oil all over the kitchen and the cook! I used the same deep pan and amount of oil for both but there were just a few little spatters from the very civilized mushrooms!

I used a grill pan on the stovetop so I didn't get that nice smoky flavor you'd get on a grill, but it was OK. Mine were globe eggplants but smallish, ~ 4 oz each.

Grilled Eggplant with Tomatoes, Torn Croutons and Lots of Herbs from Six Seasons p 236 The eggplant was nice but those tomato were the star of the show. I let some chickpeas sit in the vinegar/tomato juices mixture in the mixing bowl and added them to my plate so I could call this dinner. The recipe says to let the dish sit for a few minutes to let those same juices soak into the croutons. I gave half of them the soak time and added a few more crispy ones at the end. I prefer crispy.

Boozy mushrooms on toast from Diana Henry's Simple

Several of Mark Bittman's books are on sale again (or still?) including the newish How To Grill Everything. I'm not a huge fan of the "Everything" concept but I borrowed that one from the library recently and thought it had a good selection of recipes, particularly non-meat recipes. How to Grill Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Flame-Cooked Food Mark Bittman's Kitchen Matrix: More Than 700 Simple Recipes and Techniques to Mix and Match for Endless Possibilities How to Cook Everything (Completely Revised 10th Anniversary Edition): 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food How to Cook Everything The Basics: All You Need to Make Great Food--With 1,000 Photos (also on Amazon.ca) Another repeat listing is Guerrilla Tacos: Recipes from the Streets of L.A. I wavered and missed the sale last time it was shared here. I subsequently borrowed it from the library and decided to snag it if it appeared again. Done! All the above mentioned kindle editions are showing up at $2.99 on Amazon.com for me, a US Prime member.

I guess you could say that about many simple restaurant dishes. Still, I'd love to try the flatbreads at the Green Zone, @Hassouni's new establishment in DC. I've also enjoyed the flatbreads from this local bakery. The first two would certainly work on a pizza. I don't really care for chicken on pizza but even the third one wouldn't be out of place on a SoCal pizza.

These are the Crispy Mushrooms with Green Herb Mayonnaise from Six Seasons p 324. I was going to skip most of the deep-fried recipes but this one took me right back to my college days when deep-fried mushrooms with ranch dressing was a thing. Yes, I am that old! I don't have much experience frying things so I first made the batter too thin and by the time I mixed in additional flour and cornstarch to thicken it, any fizz from the sparkling water was long gone so I didn't get quite the light puffy batter that's pictured in the book but they were still enjoyable to eat. The Green Herb Mayonnaise p42 was a nice accompaniment, especially with extra lemon added to balance the richness. Seems sort of odd to add egg yolk and olive oil to purchased mayo but it certainly takes away any anxiety about having it emulsify properly - it's foolproof this way!

This Ultimate Tomato Sandwich, With Jammy Eggs & Herby Mayo from Food52 passed before my eyeballs recently. Today, it made it on to my plate:

Again, but with a few peaches on top. Going to for a haircut shortly and this will come along.

This is the "Build a Heartier Soup" variation of the Tomato Soup recipe from Six Seasons p 270. I used hot Italian sausage from Trader Joes and Rancho Gordo Alubia Blanca beans. I tasted this with just the beans and basil and it's a great vegetarian option but the sausage takes it over the top. Yum!