blue_dolphin

It's not subtropical here but I'm lucky enough to live in an area with year-round fresh produce from local farmers markets. @sartoric's post inspired me to take a jaunt to the Sunday morning market in Ojai, about a 40 min drive from here. Sadly, my phone has decided that it's only good as a phone (imagine that ) and little else and I was only able to sweet talk it into 4 photos before we both gave up. Clearly, I will have to go again. As far as fruit goes, citrus is still the star at this time of year. Navel, Blood, Valencia and Cara cara oranges, multiple types of mandarins and tangerines. I bought a bag of Tahoe Gold tangerines from Friend's Ranch and some mandarinquats from Mud Creek Ranch. Various lemons, limes, limequats, etc. were also on offer. I bought one of these big leeks from Roots Organic Farm in Los Olivos. The white part is about 12 inches long. I also bought some pork sausage from a stand selling mostly lamb and a few pork products. These nice berries are from Pudwill Berry Farm in Nipomo, north of Santa Barbara. They also sell at my local market and manage to have these 3 types of berries year-round with a mix of other seasonal produce like figs in the summer-fall. Temps were up into the 80s when I left around 11 AM and the folks manning this popsicle stand were doing a brisk business. Perhaps a future career opportunity for a popsicle maker such as myself???? The Ojai market has a bit of a flower child vibe so there are vendors selling lavender and other flower scented oils, soaps, candles, etc. And a regular fixture at this market is the fellow who sets up with a big sign offering "FREE HUGS" I'll have to go back with a functioning camera so I can get some more photos. Missed the avocados, walnuts, passionfruit, strawberries, eggs, orchids and other flowers.....

Egg with a slice of Black Forest ham and a little sharp cheddar on one of those little Parmesan-rosemary rolls from Trader Joe's

I don't normally eat ketchup but there's a bottle of Heinz in my fridge, left behind after houseguests and @robirdstx's breakfast post planted a thought. Green pepper-phobes, you should avert your eyes or imagine the green bits are spinach

My library just got this in and I was first on the hold list so I've had it for a couple of days. I agree with the annoyances that have been posted previously. My own experience with the brussels sprouts cooking directions that I knew would produce a poor result don't make me confident about following directions for other recipes. For now, I've decided to enjoy reading - the photos are lovely!

Over in the meatball topic, you wrote: I loved that you had barberries at hand in the Princessmobile!

Thank you! I am a hushpuppy novice but the little croutons were very good. The recipe said to drop 1/2 teaspoon rounds (or "annoyingly minuscule scoops") of batter into the oil. I used this little melon scoop and you can see how they puffed up. They only took about a minute or so to cook. In spite of my aversion to frying, I would certainly make them again.

Thanks, @rotuts! The window wasn't really my intent but the egg sort of stuck to the knife. It did allow me to pick up pieces of asparagus and dip them into the yolk inside. Very handy!

I have yet to outsmart them but I've determined that ants come into my house for a variety of reasons. Top four: Too wet outside Too dry outside Just passing through Cat food And honestly, I think the cat food is just a bonus. It's surely a bonus that warrants calling in reinforcements but I don't think it's the main draw. The last incursion, after a good rain, emerged into the kitchen from a corner where the wall meets the ceiling, smack-dab in the center of the house. The other side of that spot is behind the furnace but I can't see it and never figured the actual point of entry. I believe they are in control and allow me to occupy the house, most of the time alone, of their own good will.

Today's lunch is the Charred Spring Vegetables with Creamy Scallion Dressing and Hushpuppy Croutons. The vegetables are asparagus, scallions and radishes, charred in a cast iron skillet, then tossed with lemon juice and salt. The dressing has buttermilk, yogurt and mayo with Parmesan cheese, scallion tops, lemon zest, lemon juice, S&P. The egg was not part of the recipe but I couldn't help myself. The hushpuppy croutons are totally addictive, particularly when dipped in to the scallion dressing. The recipe uses some club soda which makes them light. Except when you eat ALL of them . It's a good thing I don't fry things very often.

Yeah. My thoughts exactly. Rough day for you two. But I guess someone has to do it !

Also in Southern California, Tomatomania has begun its annual round of tomato seedling sales events. I should get me some.

It's funny, I searched for a cured egg yolk topic on eG before I posted but didn't find one but now, when I search for anchovy cured yolks, Google took me direct to @ninagluck's post in this thread! Live and learn!

That sounds interesting but might take a lot of anchovies! How did you set it up?

You know, I've never made this. My mom used to make it for us kids from time to time. Always when my dad was out as he had developed a WWII US army aversion to the dish. I liked it. Crisp toast, salty meat, creamy gravy. What's not to like? Except sometimes there were canned peas in the gravy No can do canned peas. No can do.

Yeah, I'm always a sucker for a trio of different sliders

Along the lines of @Anna N's suggestion, you could use the brownies as a base or layer in an ice cream cake. The cranberries are a little hard to flavor match with an ice cream or sorbet but you could always go with chocolate on chocolate

Could you use purchased wafer sheets like these?

Thank you! The almost fluorescent condiment is beet tzatziki. It tasted fine - roasted, chopped beets mixed with yogurt, parsley, mint, dill, garlic, lemon zest and juice but the color is rather over the top, isn't it? I love the idea of lamb merguez meatballs as a taco filling. As much of a cultural bend as me getting that tzatziki recipe from a cookbook (Deep Run Roots) by a chef known for showcasing the cuisine of Eastern North Carolina

Their IP poll is missing 2 buttons: I already have one I already have more than one (for @Shelby)

@Smithy, I know what you mean about those enormous chicken breasts that often come in the "value" packages. Where do those mutant birds come from? I think I'd run the other way if I ran into a live chicken that big! This guy has a video with a nice trick for creating a pocket in the breast to contain the filling. I haven't tried that. I usually cut it the way he shows but cut it all the way open instead of leaving the pocket. Then put it between plastic wrap and go to town pounding on it. I will try the pocket method next time.

I love seeing all these different meatballs! I'll play by adding a version I posted the other day over in another thread. Apologies for the repetition if you've already seen them. I was following a recipe that included grilled lamb kebabs but I couldn't find any small packages of suitable lamb, and I don't have a grill anyway so I bought a pound of ground lamb and made meatballs instead. I adapted this recipe, which appears in the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, to include the marinade seasonings (coriander, fresh oregano, rosemary, lemon zest) from the kebab recipe. I baked little meatballs to skewer, making them somewhat uneven to get some crispy kebab-like edges: And froze the rest as slightly bigger slider-sized balls: They cook up nicely, direct from the freezer, in only a couple of minutes longer than the originals. From seeing all the posts in this thread, I should really make more meatballs!

I don't mind having some sous vide chicken breast on hand for making salads, sandwiches or something like those tasty looking salad rolls but I think the best SV thing to do with a boneless, skinless chicken breast is to pound it out and roll it up with something tasty - prosciutto, cheese, pesto, spinach and mushrooms....- plastic wrap or string to secure the rolls, bag them up and SV away!

No discount there, that's for sure. Maybe the price will drop when it gets closer to release.

I'm on a Deep Run Roots mission this month . The previous three mornings, I've had leftovers of the Lentil Apple Soup with Bacon for breakfast. It did not change in appearance from when I posted it here. Today, I had a treat with the Blueberry-Rosemary Breakfast Pudding, as seen in this post. Mmmmmm.

Deborah Madison has a new book coming out later this month, In My Kitchen. It was recently reviewed in the LA Times here. I really like her books and have several. Savory Way and The Greens Cookbook are my favorites. After that, and the big tomes like Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, they started to get a bit repetitious. The subtitle of this new one, "A Collection of New and Favorite Vegetarian Recipes," suggests that it may have a mix of old and new. I wasn't going to shell out until I could get a look at it, but I see the price on Amazon is $16.79 (Kindle $16.99) which is affordable so I may cave. Or not.....