blue_dolphin

Today's sunrise was much improved over yesterday. Imagine the sound of loons calling over the water.... I went up on the bluff for a different vantage point. Crab Island is in the middle. The mist is obscuring our view of the Green Mountains on the other side of the lake. That performance was followed by a soft boiled egg, pepper jack cheese & mustard on warm bread.

As I do when I'm up here in northern NY, I ventured out to take a scenic sunrise photo to share with you, along with my breakfast. Here is the view over Lake Champlain at sunrise (5:10 AM) today. Apparently I didn't bother to focus but I don't think it would have made much of a difference. 61°F, rain and gusty winds. Back inside, I made a pot of coffee and nibbled on a slice of espresso walnut loaf cake (recipe here) that I'd stashed in my bag as emergency provisions

That dinner sounds amazing! I saw Joe Batt's Arm on the map and was wondering if it would be on your route. Love the name of the place, and the restaurant, too!

Thank you both for the kind thoughts. It's not super fun trip but it's all OK. I was blessed to have both of my parents for many years and enough time has passed that it's gotten easier to focus on the happy memories. Both of my brothers are coming for a couple of days so we'll make some decisions about how to sort things out. It will be good to see them and there will be a little time to catch up with a few old friends, too.

Mine was pretty gunked up and I cleaned it up a week or 2 ago. I kinda followed this How To Clean a Oven with Baking Soda method except that I skipped the vinegar. I ran a steam cycle @ 210 °F for 30 min, then applied the paste of baking soda and water and let it sit overnight. The next day, just kept cleaning with a wet sponge and plastic scrub brush until I got it as clean as I could. I used a razor blade to get everything off the glass on the door. Then I ran 2 more steam cycles. I was actually afraid to try this until I had my back-up unit, just in case the baking soda messed something up but so far it's working fine. It's not perfect, but not bad, as you can see in this photo I posted earlier today: You can see that I didn't clean the rack. The only part that I didn't get super clean is the top (ceiling?) of the interior. With 3 elements to work around, it was kind of a pain and I started to lose interest. It's cleaner, but could be better.

Sadly, no. Flying into Burlington VT (via Newark, NJ) and heading across the lake to northern NY to start clearing out my late mom's house. The cuisine will lack the beautiful seafood you've been enjoying but I'll partake in the delicacy, a hot dog with chili sauce, known locally as a michigan. How's that for gourmet 🙃?

I figured you had enough on your hands, trying to stay warm while avoiding potholes, moose and ticks so I figured I could help add some local color. Also, I have a flight tonight at 12:55 AM and am procrastinating about packing my bag! I hope your weather improves!

With the shelf on the bottom position there is space for the Lodge LCC3 Combo Cooker with its lid in place. You'd need to cut off about an inch and a half or so of the handles, on a diagonal, to allow the CSO door to close.

Here's a photo of the Lodge combo cooker in the CSO. The lid is on top. You can see that the handle is just a bit too long to allow it to fit. It's close, but the door won't close.

I went to a U-pick cherry orchard the week before last week, on their opening day. Not cheap @ 6.00/lb but the quality was stellar. The weather has been relatively cool. When it gets super hot, they can go from ripe to overripe in a flash. They've had an odd year and had to close for a few days in between the Brooks and Rainiers and again for several more days before the Bings ripened. Usually they go fairly seamlessly, with some overlap between the varieties. I got an email from them saying they expect today to be the last day of picking. I'd hoped to go back for some Bings but I'm heading out of town tonight so that's it for my cherry picking this year. I reported on my bounty in this post.

Google maps seemed to know the place. Whether they'd actually get you there on passable roads is another question! Newfoundland map - Stephenville to Twillingate You guys are covering quite a lot of territory!

I have that Lodge combo cooker. It's a very useful pot. Good for baking bread in a regular oven. But it won't fit in a CSO.

Pasta alla Gricia with Sugar Snap Peas from Six Seasons. I added some shrimp which weren't in the recipe. Nice but not necessary.

Ditto the thanks! I also enjoyed this video that queued up following your link with the same 3 Roman chefs preparing their versions of carbonara: Wish I could try them all!

I was just going to say the same. Amazon prices over the last year:

Thanks for mentioning this. I went back and re-read the whole Part I CSO thread. Good stuff there!

I'm just plugging the places that @ElsieD mentions into Google maps, not actually making anything interactive. Edited to add a link to the route as of today: Newfoundland-Stephenville to Springdale

In honor of our current adventure, I'm re-reading @ElsieD's first Newfoundland blog. It's a wonderful travelogue so I'm adding a link here in case anyone else would like a little more background on the area: A good scoff, cod tongues, toutons and tea on The Rock aka Newfoundland. I'm also keeping a tab opened to a Newfoundland map so I can follow our route. Thanks for taking us along, @ElsieD, I'm enjoying the trip!

It certainly woke me up!

Six Seasons leftovers. The recipe for Smashed New Potatoes with Lemon and Lots of Olive Oil p 161 suggests making hash browns by shaping the smashed potatoes into pucks, dipping in bread crumbs and shallow frying them until browned and crisp. So, I did: Topped with Charred Scallion Salsa Verde p 109, soft boiled eggs and a few bacon crumbles. Tomato chutney on the side.

Evan Kleiman's Good Food podcast/radio show on KCRW devoted today's episode to Anthony Bourdain: Remembering Anthony Bourdain The Good Food blog contains personal remembrances from several of the show's staff: Good Food Remembers Anthony Bourdain. That blog post also contains a link to a Los Angeles Times article that Evan wrote: He may have had a bad boy persona, but Anthony Bourdain was lovely, loyal and so damn smart

From Amazon.com.au

Good point! If I'd looked at this salad as a good way to use up leftover roasted cauliflower, I'd probably have been more forgiving in my review!

Roasted Cauliflower, Plums, Sesame Seeds and Yogurt from Six Seasons p 188. I'd say this is an agreeable salad/side dish but it doesn't really show off either the cauliflower or plums to their very best. It turned out better than I thought it would but isn't quite my thing. I wasn't sure I'd be able to make this as cauliflower usually disappears from local farmers markets around the time that plums and other stone fruits start to appear. But our cool spring has kept the cauliflower in good shape and I managed to nab some first of the season Santa Rosa plums so I figured I'd give it a try. I adore roasted cauliflower and think it's best nibbled straight from the oven - golden and a little crisp on the outside, piping hot and tender inside. In my book, cooling it down and dousing it with lemon juice and yogurt does it no favors. Tossing lovely ripe plum pieces along with the above as I tasted and adjusted the seasonings made both of them look bruised and beaten and turned everything faintly pink. That said, it was pleasant to eat. The toasted sesame seeds brought out similar nutty flavor notes in the roasted cauliflower and contrasted nicely with the sweet-tart plums and slightly bitter parsley leaves. If I'd had some, I might have served this on a bed of romaine or the crispy lettuce for a little more textural contrast.