blue_dolphin

Welcome home, @Smithy and thank you for taking us along once again. I do enjoy "our" adventures in the Princessmobile!

The rhubarb drink recipe can be found in the link that I posted above!

Today's breakfast was beans on toast. Specifically the Smashed Fava Beans, Pecorino and Mint on Toast from Six Seasons p 91. These are very nice. I used a mortar & pestle instead of food processor since I only made small amount though I had to resort to a fork to smash some of the slippery little beans. I would usually make a fava bean crostini by tossing the same ingredients used in this recipe (except for the green garlic), and piling them on garlic-rubbed toasts. The smashed beans make for a more tidy eating experience. Delicious either way.

No worry. When you turn the lights down to tapa bar levels, everything looks orange

Not exactly "cooking with.." but I think I'll put this here anyway. Last night, Six Seasons won the James Beard Foundation award in the Vegetable-Focused book category and today Joshua McFadden brought his medal along to a segment of CBS This Morning. The segment is available online at this link along with several recipes from the book.

Gotta love that you noticed that wayward celery stalk! The CSA boxes that I got from these folks were always packed like beautiful gift boxes. I think the staff know how much work goes into growing this stuff and enjoy making the produce look its best!

This is more of a farm stand than a market but I'll put it here anyway. I forgot to buy green onions at the farmers market yesterday and my parsley got frozen in the fridge so I decided to visit Underwood Family Farms to pick up those items, some more fava beans and a few more photos to annoy those of you presently lacking in fresh produce . This stand is ~ 7 miles from my house. Underwood is a good sized operation. They sell at a number of farmers markets, have farm tours for kids, a u-pick business and the farm stand. I used to get a CSA box from them but they discontinued that. Fun fact: Underwood grows all the red jalapeños for Huy Fong Sriracha. I used to get a bottle of it in my CSA box every now and again. It's still early in the season but the vegetables were looking particularly lovely this morning. Carrots of various shapes and colors: Beets and turnips: Lettuces, greens, radishes, cilantro, cauliflower of various sorts: More greens, fennel, parsley, green onion, broccoli, leeks, several kinds of kale, celery, collards and cabbages They also had English peas, sugar snaps and fava beans, Brussels sprouts, broccolini, avocados, citrus and strawberries. On the not-so-good side, I should have taken a picture of the very sorry looking, locally grown rhubarb they were selling for $3.99/lb. That would have made those of you still enduring the cold weather feel better

Booze and Vinyl by André Darlington and Tenaya Darlington is not strictly a cocktail book but a fun guide to pairing music and cocktails or as the book says, "how to host a boozy listening party." There are 70 albums, divided by mood with an A-side and B-side cocktail for each album, along with "liner notes" about the artist and album and party ideas. There are classic cocktails like the Manhattan and Tuxedo that are paired with Frank Sinatra's In the Wee Small Hours while others are a bit different like the ouzo/Campari/grapefruit Santorini Sunset paired Blue by Joni Mitchell. The index is good - you can look up an artist, album title, cocktail name or individual cocktail ingredient and the photographs are very well done - lots of turntables and retro record players! I like music and cocktails so expect I'll enjoy playing around with it and I think it would make a fun gift. The back of the book has some brief sections on cocktail basics that provide should provide enough guidance that a cocktail novice could enjoy the book.

Santorini Sunrise from Booze and Vinyl by André Darlington and Tenaya Darlington. After listening to an interview with the authors on the Good Food podcast, I bought a copy of the book. It's a fun guide to pairing music and cocktails or as the book says, "how to host a boozy listening party." There are 70 albums, divided by mood with an A-side and B-side cocktail for each album, along with "liner notes" about the artist and album and party ideas. There are classic cocktails like the Manhattan and Tuxedo that are paired with Frank Sinatra's In the Wee Small Hours while others are a bit different, like this one. Tonight, I flipped the book open to Blue by Joni Mitchell and this was the A-side cocktail. I brought some ouzo back from Greece but rarely use it and I had everything else handy so I queued up the music and stirred one up. Santorini Sunrise 2 oz ouzo 1 oz Campari 3 oz fresh pink grapefruit juice 2 t honey 2 wheels pink grapefruit slices 4 mint leaves Muddle the fruit, mint & honey, add ice and the rest of the ingredients and stir. The ouzo is there but it doesn't hit you over the head. Very refreshing. I'll make it again

Fava & Pistachio Pesto on Pasta from Six Seasons p 95. The recipe has you blanch the basil and half the garlic. The other 2 cloves of garlic are gently cooked in olive oil with red chile flakes and are never called for again in the recipe. No worries, I just threw it in at the end. Half of the favas go into the pesto and the rest get tossed with the pasta. The combination of blanched and cooked garlic plus the sweet, nutty favas and pistachios give this pesto a rich, mellow flavor that's quite different from the bracing sharpness I expect from traditional basil pesto. This is excellent as is and would be delicious with some shrimp or seared scallops on top. Two thumbs up. While I was prepping the fava beans, I noted the book has 6 fava bean recipes which call for a total of 16 pounds of fava beans (in their pods). Delicious as they may be, I can say for sure that I won't be shelling, blanching and peeling 16 lbs worth anytime soon. I needed a cocktail just to get through the ones for this recipe!

The basil and tomatoes are from a local hydroponic grower who uses hoop-houses in the cooler weather. They're not as flavorful as summertime produce but since they're picked ripe just before the market, it's still better than supermarket stuff. Amen.

There's a little more info up on their website. Pre-sale discount of 30% from May 1 - 15 or when they reach 15,000 units. Delivery not until Oct -Dec. There is a photo of the new pans but no individual specs or prices posted, at least that I could find.

Today's market purchases: Clockwise from the eggs, we have avocados, cilantro, basil, carrots, radicchio, lemons and tomatoes. I didn't buy any but zucchinis have arrived so summer is certainly on the way.

Looks like they are making the sides more steeply sloped to increase the flat surface area.

Over on the EYB Kindle bargain listing, I saw Spritz and clicked on it thinking, "Oooo, a whole book about pressed cookies, that could be fun! I found a rather different book, that I was aware of and really should have made the connection . I bought the Kindle edition of Spritz: Italy's Most Iconic Aperitif Cocktail for $1.99

Couscous with English Peas, Apricots and Lamb Meatballs from Six Seasons p 88. The sauce, couscous and meatballs all have mint and scallions and I was worried it would seem redundant but the other ingredients give each component unique flavors. All the mint and scallions in the yogurt didn't exactly give me a drizzle-able sauce but it was still delicious - I think I ate 2 servings worth of that so next time, I will make extra. The vinegar-marinated apricots and sweet peas make the couscous look very spring-like and the meatballs are nicely flavorful. I was short on English peas so I added some sliced up sugar snap peas and I think it worked fine.

I just want to try a slice - that would be a first for me, too!

The hardcover version of Matt Jenning's book Homegrown: Cooking from My New England Roots has been selling on Amazon.com for $3.48 for about a week or so. Not sure how long that will last. Sadly, not on Amazon.ca

Such talent and fun going on there! I remember reading those challenges while they were happening and thinking, "I am not worthy to join this group!"

This is what remains today, after peeling off 4 big ribs for the braise and chopping several inches off the top for some tuna tuna-flavored celery salad: I am embarrassed to show my messy condiment-crammed fridge but it does demonstrate the size of that celery!

In an attempt to barber down a 2 ft long bunch of celery so it would fit in my fridge, I decided to try the recipe for Braised Celery p 153, sidebar from Six Seasons. I think braising in a generous amount of olive oil - no broth or other liquid other than a little bit of white wine - may help concentrate the celery flavor. I had some for breakfast with a poached egg: The olive oil used for the braise is deliciously garlicky and flavored with red chile and thyme so I drizzled some over the egg and on my toast. Now I'm curious to try the Braised Celery and Radicchio Salad that this is used for in the book

Is that really all one restaurant? I can find review of Blanchy Street as a Japanese-Peruvian restaurant but none of the reviewers mention Lebanese items. Regardless, a remarkable mash-up to find in Ho Chi Minh City!

Two more pops from Nopalito Paletas de Fresas (Strawberry Popsicles): Paletas de Mango con Chile (Spicy Mango Popsicles): Both of these are a fairly thick fruit purée (4 cups fruit + 1/4 cup orange juice) sweetened with agave nectar. Strawberries were fresh from the farmers market but I used frozen mango chunks from Trader Joes. The strawberry version gets a little lime zest and the mango pops have chile powder added. I reduced the amount of chile in the mango pops so it can be added to taste - I like Tajín for dipping because it has that little hit of salt & lime.

In a recent omelet discussion, @DiggingDogFarm shared a link to an episode. I wasn't aware of Alex before that but have been watching a few episodes here and there. Funny.

That has been my experience as well, although I see the current iteration of those tables has been edited, in some cases significantly, from what's in the booklet I received with my IP and the edited times are more in line with what I've been using.