blue_dolphin

Back home. No lake view. Po yegg to cheer me up: Notice the buttered toast under the egg. Gilding the lily!

I have not tried the plate tongs but will be interested in hearing from anyone who has. I bought the silicone mini mitts and have found them helpful for pot in pot cooking or to remove the inner pot when it's hot and full. Also useful for retrieving items from the Cuisi steam oven. At 12 bucks, they are probably overpriced and one of the less expensive options would probably work just as well.

Showers and thunderstorms on and off all day yesterday so I wasn't sure what my AM coffee spot would bring... The last English muffin, peanut butter and banana, blueberries and iced coffee on a cloudy porch: Thus fortified, I'm heading to the airport and home so I will stop spamming the breakfast topic with my off-topic sunrises . Though they do add a lot to my morning coffee!

I know this is the gardening thread and not the cooking thread but I see many zucchinis amongst the daily pickage so I thought I'd pop in to offer an enthusiastic two thumbs up and add a link to the recipe which also appears in Sara Moulton's book Home Cooking 101. The recipe says to grate the zucchini with a food processor or box grater. I had neither available so I julienned them with a knife but I think it would also adapt perfectly to spiralized zukes or other tender-skinned summer squashes. As I mentioned over in the breakfast thread, the salting/draining step concentrates flavor and removes enough water that the squash retains a nice crunch but doesn't get watery at all after cooking. Since I am in fridge clean-out mode, I was tempted to throw in kalamata olives, feta, roasted tomatoes, whatever but I suspect the simple seasonings of lemon, thyme and sautéed onion are probably all this dish needs. Good stuff!

First course - a mostly monochrome Monday morning view with my coffee: Followed by breakfast on the porch: Scrambled eggs, cherry tomatoes, the Sara Moulton zucchini with onion, lemon and thyme that @Anna N mentioned over on the garden thread, flatbread bushed with olive oil, garlic and thyme. That zucchini is really great. The salting/draining step removes enough water that the zucchini retain a nice texture after cooking and the lemon and thyme add flavor but don't overpower the squash. That's a keeper!

My practice is to remove the silicone gasket and give both the lid and gasket a scrub with a soapy brush or blue scrubby sponge, a rinse in hot water and air dry after each use. If the lid is very greasy or spattered (like when I followed the Serious Eats recommendation for baking soda in garbanzo beans for hummus and every part was coated with liquified beans ) then I do what I read over on hip pressure cooking and put it in the dishwasher. I bought an extra gasket to avoid transfer of garlicky flavors. So far, I've been able to temper the most of the garlic smells with a soak in baking soda and water, rinse and a few hours out in the sun but the spare is still nice to have on hand.

Thanks! The combination of textures and flavors in that birthday dessert is delightful - with or without nut spikes!

OK. I give up. Google is not helping. What's a nut spike?

Excellent use of 2 of my current top 3 favorite small kitchen appliances: Cuisi steam oven, Instant Pot and Anova - eG-inspired purchases all 3 !

First cup of coffee with... Folowed by....toasties! La Brea bakery semolina cheese bread, whole grain mustard, sautéed mushrooms and onion, cherry tomatoes and McCadam "Wicked Sharp" Adirondack Cheddar. @Tere, my gracious! Whatever did you do to deserve the punishment of a year in Port Henry and Willsboro High School ??? Honestly, the area is blessed with natural beauty but I suspect a teenaged visitor would find it rather lacking in excitement (and interesting food, as you pointed out.)

I'm on the NY side of the lake, south of Plattsburgh. In my photo, you see the sun rising across the lake, over Grand Isle VT so North Hero would be not far out of the frame to the left. It's a beautiful area, I hope Johnnybird enjoys his weekend. I will confess that my first meal on arriving was a Michigan (local lingo for a hot dog with chili sauce) from Clare & Carl's and an ice cold Labatt's Blue. Of course that wasn't for breakfast so I should post it in another thread !

First course was this beautiful sunrise: The minute I took this photo, it started to rain. I appreciate that it waited until the sun was up. Second course was some plain yogurt with blueberries, raspberries, chia seeds and a bit of maple syrup to sweeten. It got uglier as I stirred in each addition so no photo of that course ! Third course isn't all that photogenic either. Leftover flatbread from last night's dinner out plus tomato, cuke and onion salad: The flatbread was billed as "Pan seared Cajun hangar steak, creamy garlic sauce, caramelized onions, blue cheese and fresh mozzarella." I confess to eating most of the steak chunks in between the kitchen and the porch and it was very tasty.

I tried this with the husk-on. The husk did slip off easily as with the microwave method but the corn was still quite raw. It had been in the fridge and after 12 minutes of steam at 140 deg, it was still less than room temp. I chalked it up to the cold start and leaving the husk on but I had to pop in in the MW for a couple of minutes. Maybe super steam would work better for me? Or the handy old MW !

Leftover flatbread topped with zucchini, mushrooms, onion, kalamata olives and feta. Tomato, cucumber onion salad. A little white wine and (mostly) seltzer water. The porch table and chairs may be plastic but I picked a pretty crystal glass for my wine .

Good morning, Friday! Scrambled eggs, leftover flatbread topped with zucchini, mushrooms, onions, kalamata olives and feta, fresh berries and coffee:

Indeed! Whenever I order from Fishing Vessel St. Jude, I always get at least a few cans of their canned tuna belly. It is lovely stuff. I always struggle to get enough into the recipe due to nibbling it right from the can!

Skype? ......or was it an audible smirk?

I have indeed done this. The whole milk alone makes a very nice ricotta but several times I've had some cream or half & half leftover and have added it to the pot. Unfortunately, I didn't measure or record anything in my laboratory notebook . I suspect it would have been less than one cup added to 1 or 2 quarts of whole milk. If there was a full cup of cream, I would likely have done something else with it. Sorry, not much help there.

No, I make sure to align the hole in the crumb tray with the drain to the tiny tiny tray and don't find any water beyond the small amount in the tray. However, I live in a fairly dry area so moisture doesn't tend to accumulate anywhere. Edited to add that yesterday was one of those 90 degree - feels like 96 days here in this no AC house in northern NY and I very much noticed the difference between this and a 90 degree/single digit humidity day in So Cal!

No, I make sure to align the hole in the crumb tray with the drain to the tiny tiny tray and don't find any water beyond the small amount in the tray. However, I live in a fairly dry area so moisture doesn't tend to accumulate anywhere.

That looks good. Since it says, "trim to fit," it sounds like it would be possible to poke a hole in the liner to align with the drain. Is that right? I leave the crumb tray in my CSO all the time because it's easier to pull it out and clean it rather that reaching in to clean the bottom of the oven.

Thursday sunrise over Lake Champlain: Thursday breakfast on the porch: Peanut butter & banana on English muffin, fresh local berries, coffee.

First cup of coffee down by the lake, waiting for the sunrise. Joined momentarily by some ducks: Main course was the same as yesterday but enjoyed out on the porch: and I didn't over cook the egg so much.

Ditto!

I suspect this has been discussed in previous iterations of "eG goes to Manitoulin" but I was wondering how your provision costs compare to prices you are familiar with in the Toronto area. Are prices higher across the board or does it vary for different categories or items? I was thinking about this yesterday when I went to the local liquor store here in small town northern NY and paid $33 for a 750 ml bottle of Campari vs $20.99 on special at Hi Time Wine back in So Cal - I really wanted a Negroni ! They were selling a handle of Beefeater's for $46.99 (vs $19.99 at my local Total Wine) but also had Laird's 100-proof at $23.99, less than my local price of $29.99. The 375 ml bottle of Carpano Antica was $15.99, about the same as at home.