blue_dolphin

@chefmd, for some reason, the packaging of that mustard looks like some sort of medicinal ointment to me After concluding in another thread that I don't repeat things very often, I proved myself wrong with the same breakfast as yesterday.....

I agree. Almost everything I make leaves me with tons of ideas. Agreed again. Shame on IACP for not standing behind their decisions. When Six Seasons was advanced as a finalist, the board voted to allow it to continue and then caved and failed to stand behind their decision AFTER it won the top prize. I have no issue with a professional organization giving an award to a member. Go ahead and pat yourselves on the back when it's deserving. It happens all the time. I'd prefer a transparent process over the direction they seem to be going in proposing to ban the board/officers from winning awards. Edited to add: Thanks for the recommendation on asparagus mint salad. It's on my list to try soon!

Leftovers on toast. Clearly, I started snarfing before I took the photo Toasted ciabatta, rubbed with garlic, topped with horseradish cream and leftover caramelized onions and sliced chuck roast from the Braised Beef with Lots and Lots of Onions from Six Seasons. Bread toasted, meat & onions warmed in the CSO.

I listen regularly. Usually when I'm cooking, doing housecleaning, etc. There is a lot of fluff but I enjoy Dave's sense of humor and his general interest and curiosity in many things.

Beautiful stove! I love visiting this local shop, Antique and Vintage Stove Shop to admire their selection. I've always hoped to get a vintage stove someday, preferably a red one but I'm not sure it will happen. Maybe someday! Here's a couple similar to @TechieTechie's but with solid doors: link and link

When I was putting this in the oven, I was looking at these big hunks o'meat and thinking, "What am I ever going to do with all this meat??" But after tasting it, I was packing up the leftovers and thinking, "How am I going to ration this and make it last???"

Following in @Anna N's footsteps again. Braised Beef with Lots and Lots of Onions from Six Seasons p 356. Not sure what got into me here. I rarely cook beef but I spied some chuck roast on sale at Sprouts and we have rainy weather predicted for a few days so I decided to try it. Here we are, ready to go into the oven. Beef has been browned; onions, garlic & thyme cooked down with a little added butter and a cup of wine added. Had to switch to a bigger pan mid-stream so it took me a little longer than I expected to brown the meat and get the onions cooked down and ready for the oven. This is after ~ 2 hrs in the oven. Flavor is good but the meat needs a bit more time so I gave it a turn and put it back in for another hour And we're done: My those onions cooked down! I used a mandoline to cut them at 1.5mm (recipe says, "as thin as possible") but I would go with 3mm next time so they don't completely dissolve into a paste. Served on polenta - comfort food. Looking forward to leftovers.

If they were motivated to learn and willing to do a little reading, I'd absolutely go with Samin Nosrat's Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. She shares her knowledge and experience generously.

You have 2 focal points here, the slice of cake on the plate and the cut cake on the stand. Decide which one you want to be the star. Right now, they're sort of equal in the photos Looks like you have some nice natural light coming in from the left side of the photo. I would rearrange things so the cut surfaces of the cake are facing the window, or at least better illuminated so you can see the nice layers of cake and frosting. You can put the plate with the slice of cake in front of your cake stand and focus on that, with the cake in the background or focus on the cake itself with the plate, slice and fork a little to the side. 2 cents from a non-pro

Parsnip, Date & Hazelnut Loaf Cake with Meyer Lemon Glaze from Six Seasons p 361. @Anna N posted about this earlier in this thread and I've been wanting to try it every since. The flavor is very interesting, in a good way. I don't think it screams "parsnips" but there's a pleasant spicy flavor that I enjoyed. My dates were kind of dry so I plumped them up in a bit of orange juice and drained them well. I baked this in 3 small loaf pans - 1 to enjoy now, 2 to freeze. They still took 45 min to bake even in the small pans. I usually skip the glaze for loaves like this but I was intrigued by the addition of black pepper and had plenty of Meyer lemons so I gave it a go and I found it a nice touch. It's looks pretty with the flecks of yellow zest and black pepper so if I was give this as a gift, I'd certainly use the glaze.

Leftovers for lunch. I added some microwave-steamed sugar snap peas and yellow bell pepper plus a sprinkle of feta to the pasta with kale sauce from Six Seasons that I posted yesterday. I found this more appealing than the overwhelming green-ness of the original.

@Thanks for the Crepes, sounds like you had a nice weekend! What did you actually get for lunch at the seafood place?

I borrowed Nopalito from the library and when the sale popped up, I decided it was worth the 2 bucks. Haven't actually cooked from it yet. From the current sale crop, I sprang for: POK POK The Drinking Food of Thailand: A Cookbook @ $2.99 (NOT on sale at Amazon.ca) Simple Thai Food: Classic Recipes from the Thai Home Kitchen @ $1.99 (same price on Amazon.ca) Kristin Kish Cooking @ $2.99 (NOT on sale at Amazon.ca)

@Chris Hennes, I would have put you in the "serious student" category, with your deep dives into various cookbooks and especially recently with breads. I guess there's an element of "one of" experimentation there, too, but you are building what you've learned in each area and becoming more expert as you go. I used to be a repeater. I did most of my cooking on the weekend, mostly on Sunday, sticking with things I knew would freeze well or hold a few days in the fridge, plus a few quicker dinners during the week. I tried new things but depended on some version of the regulars for most meals. I made some sort of smoothie for breakfast every day for years! Now I have more time to play so I'm certainly leaning in the "one of" direction.

Kale Sauce with Pappardelle from Six Seasons p 312. I used a different pasta shape, although it's impossible to discern that through the overwhelming green-ness of the sauce. If anyone's looking for a good St. Paddy's Day pasta, this could be for you . I like the economy of this sort of dish. Salted water goes on to boil, garlic gets gently warmed in olive oil, vegetables are cooked in the water then scooped out to make way for the pasta, then everything comes back together in the same pan with a splash of pasta water. Elsewhere, I read comments from others who thought the the sauce was excessive for the amount of pasta so I only added ~ 2/3 of the sauce. I'd say that's still a bit overly sauced for my taste. I also took note of those who thought the sauce was lacking in flavor so I was generous with the garlic, added a squeeze of lemon juice and used a mix of parm and pecorino Romano for a little extra tang. Feta could also have been good, I think. Flavor-wise, I was happy, though I tend to like pasta with some more textural contrast from lightly cooked vegetables.

The kindle version of Kristin Kish Cooking, Recipes & Techniques is currently on sale for $2.99 on Amazon.com. Sadly, not on Amazon.ca

Made the Deli Rye English Muffins from Smitten Kitchen Every Day. They use 80g dark rye flour + 175g all purpose. No dough-y insides!

Egg & sausage on a toasted English muffin I made the Deli Rye English Muffins from Smitten Kitchen Every Day, added one of the Maple-Sage Breakfast Sausage patties from The Food Lab and an egg from the farmers market.

I happen to like a margarita made with reposado tequila. Maybe I haven't found the right blanco. Or maybe I just found what I like

Parsnips with Citrus and Orange from Six Seasons p 358. I thought raw parsnips might have a very strong flavor, but they were just pleasantly pars-nippy in this fresh-tasting winter salad. I used sweet and very juicy Cara Cara oranges and my favorite oil-cured olives, both from the local farmers market. The recipe has an instruction to use half the vinegar but never tells you what to do with the rest. I added it when mixing everything to macerate for 15 min, before adding the olive oil. During that time, my parsnips started picking up color from the olives so they don't look as snow-y white as in the book. Next time I would add the olives last.

I hope the stove will work out, @TechieTechie. I had an old stove, not as lovely as yours, in an apartment I rented for quite some time. I loved that thing. The burners were way more powerful than my current Wolf, although the new one handles a low simmer better than the old behemoth. A number of members here shared their kitchen renovation tales (@weinoo, most recently here) and it's always interesting to follow along. If you're interested in taking us along on your saga, I'm sure there would be interest.

I pounded mine to ~ 1/8" thick, although they look thicker in the photo I posted.

Welcome to eG, @TechieTechie! I love your stove. Is it one that you were using prior to the kitchen problems or did you purchase it for the remodel? And if you used it before, how did you like cooking with it?

I was happy with the result, but would have been happy to see any of the last 6 or 8 contestants win. Excellent, though predictable, fan favorite, too. Even if she hadn't gotten sick, she would have deserved it because of her hilarious quotes. Overall, seemed like relatively little drama between the contestants this season. I used to think much of that was done in editing but if that was the case, they might have manufactured more of it this year. Either everyone really was that nice or they wanted a kinder, gentler Top Chef season? And while the dishes in the finale looked and sounded great, I might love the Tiny Kitchen versions even better. Here are links to the Tiny Kitchen videos on the Bravo site: Joe Flamm's Ribeye Adrienne's Appetizer

@liamsaunt - your beautiful photography makes every dish looks its best but this stuff looks amazing! Thanks for sharing!