blue_dolphin

I didn't like having that kettle challenge so late in the season. I guess making the very act of cooking so difficult can inspire creativity but I don't care for them, especially this late in the game. Preparing 200 portions of a vegetable centered dish, outside, for that crowd of chefs was enough of a challenge without throwing in the kettles. I also missed having Gail at judges table in so many episodes this season. She always seems to come up with nicely verbalized summary comments about the dishes.

It's good to know that @Anna N is starting her day appropriately fortified Me, too: Bacon & parsnip fried rice topped with a crispy fried egg inspired by a riff on kimchi fried rice in Julia Turshen's Small Victories. Crisp up some diced bacon and reserve, brown diced parsnips in the bacon fat then add cooked rice (TJ's brown rice medley), the reserved bacon and a handful of parsley. I added a crispy fried egg,

No, I don't think you've been rude. From my understanding, and consistent with @chromedome's small survey (n=1) many, maybe most hotel guests don't tip the housekeeping staff. I tip, in part because that's what my parents did on the rare occasions when we stayed in hotels, but mostly because I know they work very hard in an environment where many of their colleagues (bell staff, parking attendants, room service, restaurant wait staff, etc) are regularly tipped and it's an opportunity for me to offer a small token of thanks.

Fritters from leftovers: I had leftover filling from the Cabbage & Mushroom Hand Pies I made yesterday and leftover brown rice medley from the Broccoli & Wild Rice Fritters from lunch the other day so I mashed up the recipes and made Cabbage, Mushroom and Wild Rice Fritters. Served with sour cream and apple mustard.

Made a version of the Peach Melba Popsicles from Smitten Kitchen Everyday. I've been wanting to make these since they appeared on the Smitten Kitchen blog a couple of years ago and finally got around to it. I'm not good at softening ice cream - I usually forget about it until it's become entirely liquid - so I used Greek yogurt instead of the called-for vanilla ice cream. I added a little of the simple syrup to the fruit and mixed the rest, along with a little vanilla extract, into the yogurt.

Since we're talking about tipping, how about tips for the housekeeping staff? Do you tip more in a suite? When traveling with a pet? I'm pretty tidy and don't make a big mess so I generally leave $5 - 10/day. I make sure to leave a tip each day. I double it if there's anything extra to clean up or if I've made a request for more towels or something. Still doesn't seem like much given how hard they work. I've been leaving that same amount for years and years and it used to seem OK to me but now I'm thinking that I'm being too cheap.

I don't perceive any slam against Sqirl in the LA Times comments that you quoted. The place was indeed new and innovative 5 or 6 years ago when Jonathan Gold wrote his first review of Sqirl. The fact that it's still on his list of the top restaurants in LA suggests some regard, even though there are a lot of wannabes around town these days. I'm looking forward to hearing more about what you're cooking from the cookbook. I have it on request from my library so when I get it, I hope I can try some of your top favorites.

Cabbage & Mushroom Hand Pies from Six Seasons p 338, served with some of the Apple Mustard from Deep Run Roots and lightly dressed baby greens. I used the cheddar cheese dough from Art of The Pie and used an egg wash. I inadvertently let the mushrooms, leeks and cabbage get a bit brown and having read that some people found these lacking in flavor, I may have been generous in measuring out the seasoning ingredients - balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard and hot sauce. In any case, I thought the results were tasty and I'd make them again.

I bought the book because it's this month's book in the Food52 Cookbook Club. I enjoy Deb Perelman's writing and have tried enough of her recipes from the blog that I figured it wouldn't be a complete bust. Neither did I expect to be overwhelmed with inspiration. So far, I've been pleasantly surprised. I've got a list of recipes that I'm looking forward to trying and I'm adding to that list as I see recommendations from other group members. It's a very accessible book, no particularly difficult-to-source ingredients or complicated preps. In spite of that ease, the recipes I've tried deliver pretty well in the flavor/texture/interest department. It's not a cookbook that absolutely inspires me to cook but so far, I've found easy (and easily adaptable) recipes that are different from my usual same-old preps so I don't regret buying it. Stay tuned throughout the month and you'll see more as I'll be using it often.

Broccoli, Cheddar, Wild Rice Fritters from Smitten Kitchen Every Day. I used broccolini and Trader Joe's Brown Rice Medley with a handful of wild rice thrown in. Served with a kimchi mayo sauce (~ equal parts chopped kimchi & mayo) that I learned from @HungryChris With the brown rice, they have a great crunchy on the outside/chewy on the inside texture. Should be a fun recipe to play around with different vegetables and rice/grain blends.

Broccoli Melts from Smitten Kitchen Everyday. Broccolini, garlic, red chile flakes, melted anchovy, sautéed in olive oil, tossed with pecorino, lemon juice and zest, piled on toast and topped with grated gruyere. I made this as a light supper while watching the Oscars last night and repeated it for breakfast.

My thoughts as well. I don't question the Popeye's indulgence, but the blurry photo made me suspect fowl play!

Many cookbooks include what might be called "pantry" recipes, compound recipes or "recipes-within-recipes" for things like sauces, spice mixtures, pickles and the like that are used throughout the book in several other recipes. Or maybe they're only called for once or twice. I want to see that information clearly spelled out so I can gauge whether I want to double or triple that spice mixture to have enough for other recipes or cut it down. Or whether I want to plan ahead to make several dishes that all use a common pantry recipe. Ideally, I want to see a list of related recipes right on the page with that "pantry" recipe. They could also be listed clearly in the index. Rick Bayless or his editors do this very well in More Mexican Everyday where each of the four "secret weapon" sauces is followed by ideas for using them and a list of all the other recipes (with page numbers) in the book that utilize those sauces. I'm sure there are other good examples of this but many of my cookbooks fail in this regard. Six Seasons has an extensive section of "Go-To" recipes in the front of the book but no way to see where they are used. I plan to cook a lot from that book so I took the time to go through and wrote the related recipes under each of the "Go-To" recipes but I shouldn't have to do that. Here's the list of Six Seasons that use the Dried Breadcrumbs. Would it have been so hard to include that info?

I took these to a brunch yesterday and was advised by the friend who got the leftovers that they go very well with a small glass of port. I need to make more so I can test that out!

Wow! I believe everyone here knows this, but you are so swift!

Certainly not as cute as cute as @patris's baby shower cookies or as decadent as @jmacnaughtan's truffles or as gorgeous as @rarerollingobject's cupcakes, this is Olive Oil Shortbread with Rosemary & Chocolate Chunks from Smitten Kitchen Everyday. Last year, when I was in France, I visited L'Espérantine Chocolates in Marseille where they make artisan chocolates with local ingredients: olive oil, almonds and orange. That memory inspired me to play with this recipe by adding the zest of an orange and some chopped, slivered almonds.

@Smithy, for the 6 qt Duo, lid off but inner pot in place, I get 9 1/2"

@rotuts, have you opened up any of those bacon seasoning packs yet? I'm wondering if it's like what I sometimes get as "ends & pieces," although some of the pieces look pretty big in your photo.

Loaded breakfast potato skins from Smitten Kitchen Every Day There's an egg in there, trust me. Grapefruit & avocado salad with pickled spring onions.

I certainly loved the baked eggs with stewed tomatoes and prosciutto chips from Deep Run Roots and I can imagine that putting that on top of polenta would be delicious! I am committed to making those stewed tomatoes on a large scale this year!

@Ann_T, I just ate and you're still killing me with those cheddar & bacon toasts on your glorious homemade bread. Sigh. A riff on the Polenta Baked Eggs with Corn, Tomato and Fontina from Smitten Kitchen Every Day I made the polenta in the Instant Pot - pot-in-pot method, using the same little oven-proof dish that I baked and served in.

Thanks for posting about this, @ElsieD. My mom had one when I was growing up and it was great for shallow frying and did a good job of maintaining temp. It was also great for pancakes. I've never had one myself but was thinking it might be handy. The ones she had did have the "heat ring" that @lindag mentions but must have distributed the heat fairly well as there wasn't a problem with even cooking. Edited to add that this is the one I was considering. The base can fit inside the pan to save storage space (though that can apparently scratch the non-stick coating) and has pretty good reviews. It's rectangular, so it doesn't fit your need for a square pan.

Evan Kleiman recently interviewed filmmaker Thomas Lennon and the founder of the training program, Brandon Chrostowski on her Good Food radio show/podcast. Here's a link to that interview on KCRW. And the movie trailer

This is the Sausage & Apple Pie from Kate McDermott's Art of the Pie. Recipe available online at this link. What's not to like - a flaky and delicious cheddar cheese crust, pleasantly spicy sausage (I used the Maple-Sage Breakfast Sausage from The Food Lab) and the herbs and cider cooked into the filling are just perfect with the sweet-tart apples. I made extra filling and turned them into a few little hand pies:

They've been doing it for some time and update the list often, as things change. It's my regular resource.