blue_dolphin

The info I've seen attributes price increases to the delays in opening the Washington, Oregon and Northern California (Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties) commercial Dungeness crab seasons in order to give the crabs more time to fill with meat and harden their shells after molting.

Thanks for the reminder. I had a bunch of stuff in my cart but almost forgot to go back and pull the trigger - got in under the wire!

Good for you! I'm afraid I will hear them calling to me from inside the freezer! These got convect bake @ 400F for the first 10 min then, after rotating the tray, I bumped it up to the recommended 425F for another 10 min. I'm thinking about using steam-bake for the next round as they'll be coming direct from the freezer. Will report back when I do.

I'd never made sausage rolls but decided to try the recipe that @Anna N mentioned in response to a sausage roll question. I used the sweet Italian sausage called for in the recipe but seems like a very adaptable recipe. Baked off a few in the CSO and have the rest stashed in the freezer. Oh, and my puff pastry was NOT made especially for me - Trader Joe's sells this stuff to anyone . It's actually a nice all-butter product and I should pick up a few boxes while it's still in stock.

I think this T-shirt is the most food-related gift I received: I also received a number of more beverage-themed gifts: A "Novino-phobia" tote bag, a couple of little decorative items, a Irish whiskey chocolate bar and several nice bottles of bubbles. I also received some Amazon gift cards which will surely go towards kitchen-related stuff.

Turkey was always a Christmas tradition when I was growing up and many of my family still adhere to that. Last year, the cousins who I joined for the holiday served ham for the big Christmas Eve dinner and received so many squawks of "Where's the turkey???" that they resolved never to do that again! Christmas Eve dinner with my cousins for 26 guests - Nibbles: cheeses, salami, crackers, spiced nuts, black bean, avocado, corn & pomegranate salsa with chips Main: roast turkey with stuffing (actually 2 turkeys), gravy (mass quantities) mashed potatoes, green bean/mushroom casserole, Swedish meatballs, lefse and lingonberry sauce Dessert: Homemade Christmas cookies - my favorites of the 9+ varieties: kolaczki, chrusciki, spritz, Russian tea cakes and peanut butter pinwheels Christmas dinner for 10, with the same cousins - Nibbles - same as above plus marinated, grilled shrimp Main - broiled, maple-glazed salmon, rosemary roasted fingerling potatoes, green beans with almonds, Brussels sprout, apple & pomegranate salad with blue cheese vinaigrette Dessert - eggnog gelato with fresh berries and more Christmas cookies

Smitten Kitchen's Mushroom Bourguignon, which came to me via the Food52 Genius Recipes cookbook that I recently I picked up for a song when it was an Amazon/Kindle deal (still listed @ $2.99, at least for me in the US) Served over Instant Pot polenta, using my grandmother's dishes.

I agree! Your loved ones know you so well - no doubt some of them have been the beneficiaries of your culinary adventures and hope to encourage further efforts!

A number of people mentioned making orangecello/arancello over in the Limoncello topic. Since the method is quite similar, you may find some helpful discussion over there. I only tried making a small batch of the orange version and ended up with a layer of orange oil on top - maybe because I used more peels than recommended. The flavor was very nice though!

Wow! Bespoke puff pastry - I'm ever so impressed!

I kinda think you're going to have to eyeball it to some extent. The 9oz box of Birdseye frozen creamed spinach says it contains two 1/2 cup servings. The recipes I've seen for using fresh spinach to make creamed spinach are all over the place as far as the yields go and some only call for "bunches" of spinach. Of those that actually specify the spinach in weights, I've found a couple that use 2 1/4 lb fresh spinach leaves to make 8 servings and another that uses 10 oz fresh spinach for 4 servings, and some that use 30 oz fresh spinach for 10 servings. Those are all pretty consistent, and although they don't state the serving size, you'd probably be fairly safe in assuming something around 1/2 cup.

Eggnog French Toast I put a glug of bourbon and plenty of freshly grated nutmeg into the egg-eggnog mixture and another spoonful of bourbon into the maple syrup. Feeling festive !

I was wondering that as well. I do see the value of having a kitchen-dedicated tablet. I've got a bunch of Kindle cookbooks on my iPad and it's great for reading but I find it a nuisance to go find it, make sure it's charged, change the settings so it doesn't power off as quickly, put it in a bag or cover the screen with plastic wrap, etc. each time I want to actually use it in the kitchen. Lazy, I know ! Just last night, I pulled out an old iPad that I'd given to my mom and I'm going to update it with the cookbooks and try keeping it handy in the kitchen.

Indeed! Here's a piece (complete with annoying ads) from the local paper describing some of the efforts associated with the recent fire: Celebrity chef Jose Andres visits Thomas Fire relief efforts in Ventura

I need a "Wow!" button for this!

I don't have a smoker and am no fan of meatloaf but I ALWAYS order some smoked meatloaf when I visit my local BBQ place.

OK. I gotta ask. What's Windy ham? Today: Spinach & onion quiche

I see $59.99 for the 3qt IP. Looks like the glass lids are expected back in stock on Dec 25. Maybe Santa is bringing them?

I think it's highly variable, depending on the facility. What I've seen most commonly is a daily menu sheet with various choices to be checked off for the next day's meals. Some hospitals (for example, MD Anderson in Houston and several where I've visited friends here in So Cal) have gone to a room service model. Patients have a standing menu and can call in their order any time. Patients who are on special diets get a custom menu to select from. The food is to be delivered within 30 min. At MD Anderson, the staff delivering the meals are actually dressed like restaurant waiters - black pants, white dress shirts and black bow ties. I thought the food was pretty good, although if someone is hospitalized for an extended period, I can see that boredom would set in. Edited to add link: Room Service offers our cancer patients culinary creations and care

A Bitter Pineapple Daiquiri The recipe and photo use a rocks glass (no rocks specified) but I was in the mood for a stem

That's so frustrating!

I like that idea! I figured it was an egg beater but since stirring is only a secondary function, it has to be something else.

I see those prices whether I am logged in (as a US Prime member) or on a different browser where I've never logged into Amazon so I assume those prices are for all US customers.

And does that function include stirring or mixing in some way?

In Gail Simmon's new cookbook, Bringing It Home, she has a recipe for Bloody Mary Eggs (recipe online here) that I thought sounded interesting. Then I remembered that I still had some of the Cocktail Tomatoes from Vivian Howard's Deep Run Roots that used similar flavors so I dipped out a ladle of them, blitzed them into a chunky sauce and heated it up. Pilot experiment with a pee wee egg: Good enough to continue with regular egg: Forgot the celery leaf garnish from the book.