blue_dolphin

I've seen some that use ground nuts in the sauce. Here is one that calls for ground almonds: Jamie Oliver's chicken tikka masala

That makes sense to me as the whites in the eggs that got the longer chill have a little more time to firm up around any air pocket that was inside the shell as compared with the eggs that were peeled immediately and can relax more as they cool. I usually bash the eggs around in ice water enough to crack their shells, then leave them to cool at least a little as I noticed how easily the still hot egg whites deformed (just from contact with a plate or each other - no wonder those cute little egg molds work so well) when I peeled them right away. Sheesh, how many variables can there be in something as simple as a hard cooked egg !

Wow, what a cake! But I gotta ask. @Panaderia Canadiense - ICBM? Surely not intercontinental ballistic missile, but what?

Yes! I had the same thought after reading @Lisa Shock's post. To my taste, strawberries give just the perfect amount of sweetness to Tequila por Mi Amante - no additional sweetening, and I'd bet your ripe raspberries would do the same. An ounce or so of that, from the freezer or over ice, with a squeeze of lime is like summer in a glass, anytime of year!

Over the years, I've very much enjoyed your insights and "behind the scenes" views into an aspect of the Ren Faires that I was completely oblivious to. I look forward to those posts continuing. It sounds like you have planned a wise transition into a role that will afford you much involvement but shift some of the more physically arduous tasks. I hope you'll find that altered role as fulfilling as previously, though relinquishing partial control is potentially a uneasy situation. Since you've been responsible for so much for so long, it may be rather a shock to the organization as they realize how much you have been doing. I hope all goes well for you. When the So Cal Ren Faire was in Agoura, I used to attend pretty regularly but I haven't been since they moved down south. I think that was in 1988, so it's been a while!

Seeing this thread pop up again piqued my interest. I've enjoyed tiny bites of these pâtes served at the end of a meal and wondered if I could translate my lime and ginger marmalade into this sort of confection. Reading through this thread from beginning to the present convinced me that this is sticky business indeed and I am quite unqualified to jump in! That said, I came upon this Lucky Peach recipe for a 2 layered Grapefruit-Campari Pâte de Fruit and especially this related article, "Opusculum: Pâte de Fruit" by Michael Laiskonis that I (as a competent scientist but confectionary bonehead ) thought offered solid, concise coverage of many of the points around pectin, acid, etc. discussed in this thread so I thought I'd post and add the link here. If it was mentioned earlier, in this thread or the many other eG confectionary threads, I apologize for the repetition. I'm not sure I am up to the task of making pâtes de fruits, to be added to my little homemade holiday gifts, but if I do, I certainly appreciate all the expert guidance shared here.

Thanks to @Lisa Shock for posting about this. I saw the headline on Serious Eats, "How to Make Rich, Flavorful Caramel Without Melting Sugar," and assumed it was about either candy or a sauce and didn't click through to read it. I will certainly give it a try next time I have the oven going for a while. I'd love to play with it for cocktails and have some on hand for other things. I know you indicated no disrespect, but Stella's piece did cite the original research authored by Prof. Schmidt and co-authors. She mentioned that she had been playing around with it before then but without understanding the underlining science. I very much appreciate her attention to citing original scientific publications.

Tuna salad with capers on a leftover mini croissant (nicely revived in the Cuisi steam oven), raw sugar snap peas, jicama and carrots and few bread & butter pickle slices: I could have the same thing for lunch. Or not. We'll see.

Grilled sandwich with pulled pork, spinach and Swiss cheese: I debated: cheese on one side or both? Hmmm. I hate it when the sandwich contents squirt out between 2 layers of cheese so I went with one side. Next time, I'll try both as I think the pulled pork would hang on OK. Still plenty tasty!

Thank you, @Shelby! I was worried that stirring would mash my already tender beans so I probably did the right thing last time but this gives me a good guideline for the next round.

@Anna N, I don't keep milk around either but I had both whole milk and half & half leftover from the brunch I hosted last week and I've been enjoying this batch. I'd sent my brother out for the smallest container of milk and he came back with a 2 qt carton so I have lots! I know real ricotta is made from leftover whey from sheep's milk cheese in Italy, not from leftover cows milk in my kitchen but I think it's still a treat !

@Shelby, can I ask how long you simmered the beans + combined ingredients and what Instant Pot setting you used? Last week, I made some delicious baked beans, roughly following this recipe, which calls for soaking beans overnight then cooking them in water until tender before adding the rest of the ingredients and baking in the oven for 5 hours. I cooked a pound of unsoaked Rancho Gordo yellow eye beans in the Instant Pot for 20 minutes (manual), expecting to simmer them for a while longer after releasing the pressure but they were already done and some were already splitting. I'd planned to do the rest of the cook in the Instant Pot but when I saw how tender the beans were I was afraid I would end up with an Instant Pot full o'mush. I have more confidence in my ability to simmer beans in the oven so I transferred everything into a covered casserole, into the oven @ 275 for 4.5 hrs and ended up with very tasty beans. I have no complaints with the results but I'd like an oven-free method to use in the warmer weather. I have never pushed the "Slow Cook" button on my IP....is now the time?

@Anna N's breakfast got me thinking of marmalade so...toast (sadly not from homemade bread) topped with homemade ricotta and homemade lemon-rosemary marmalade. The sun should eventually come out later today but the marmalade added some early sunshine to an overcast morning.

Yes, 6 tablespoons sounds like a lot of mustard, doesn't it? But the recipe is written for 2 lbs of dry beans so that's a LOT of beans, too ! Turns out to be just the right amount to balance out the maple syrup and molasses.

Pulled pork sandwich, baked beans ( @janeer's wonderful recipe over here as recommended by @patrickamory, thank you kindly), mixed vegetable slaw enjoyed with a Lagunitas IPA. And yes, it's barely 11:30AM here. I waited as long as I could. The other half of the sandwich already has a couple of bites out of it !

Wow, it's so impressive to see those beautiful old machines in regular use today! Thanks for sharing!

@rotuts - yes, 1 cup of water was certainly NOT enough to submerge all the meat. In fact, when I started the pressure cook, I could barely see any liquid - looked like a big pot-o-meat ! The recipe called for a 5 lb roast and said to cut the meat into 3 pieces and then arrange them in a single layer on top of the bacon, already browned in the bottom of the pot. I had a 6 lb roast and there was no way it could fit in a single layer so I arranged it so that each of the three pieces touched bottom (and the liquid) and had some portion in the "steam space" above. I ended up with about 3 cups of defatted broth that I've reserved in case the meat needs moistening later on. In my initial tasting, the meat was plenty moist but I'll probably package and freeze the meat in chunks and the broth in ice cube trays so I can easily thaw some of each. To season the meat, I used TJ's smoked sea salt (instead of the Hawaiian salt specified), plus the recipe calls for bacon so the broth has a distinctly smoky flavor. I like the flavor in the meat but it may not be the most versatile broth for other dishes. I'll give that some thought in case I try this again. And I'm pretty sure I will.

Over in the sales and bargains thread, @andiesenji mentioned finding Pork PICNIC SHOULDER - BONE-IN $1.24 per pound at Walmart. My local Walmart neighborhood market didn't have exactly the same deal but had bone-in pork shoulder blade roasts for $1.74/lb so I picked one up and cooked it in the Instant Pot. I followed this recipe for Pressure Cooker Kalua Pig that seems to have a following in the Instant Pot community. Lots of pulled pork sandwiches coming my way!

This AM, another batch of ricotta. For lunch, I used the leftover ricotta whey to make an asparagus risotto with mushrooms and shrimp. I was inspired by this post: Asparagus Spring Risotto & making micro stock on hippressurecooking.com, though I didn't adhere exactly to the recipe. I liked the idea of using the asparagus trimmings to flavor stock for risotto but didn't want the asparagus in the risotto to be cooked quite so long so I just used the tough asparagus ends, mushroom stems and a few dried mushrooms pressure cooked in whey for the "micro stock" that I strained before adding it to the rice. I roasted the rest of the asparagus and sautéed the sliced mushrooms while the rice was cooking and added them, along with the shrimp after the pressure was released.

Leftovers, including quiche du yesterjour: Ahhhh, the last of the houseguests here since Thursday for a family wedding departed via airport shuttle at early this AM. The travelers only wanted coffee, fruit and yogurt before hitting the road but as soon as they left, I assembled a meal of leftovers from the brunch I hosted yesterday. Spinach, mushroom and onion quiche, croissant and fresh fruit. Eaten while enjoying one of the wedding centerpieces.

Interesting indeed! From the Bloomberg article @KennethT linked to above: I took a look at the Chef'd site and was amazed at the number of chefs or other partners they are working with.

I have what remains of my grandmother's dishes and totally support holding on to them if you have the space. My nanny's dishes were not "fine" by any definition. They are a Staffordshire flow blue pattern called Watteau, like this one on ebay. They were much used and many of the plates and serving pieces have fine cracks under the glaze from being heated in the oven because my grandmother always wanted hot food served HOT! A lot of them broke in the Northridge earthquake and sometimes I kick myself for having had them out on display rather than carefully packed away but then I wouldn't have had the pleasure of seeing them on those shelves every day. So my recommendation to you or your mom - if you decided to keep them, use them or display them so that you get to enjoy them.

I think that's a good idea, @Deryn. I did consider some sort of coating - I was imagining poking the big crab pieces deeper inside the cakes and then doing some sort of panko or other crust. I think it might help but I figured if I was going to do all that fiddling I might as well just buy some nice crab and make my own!

I use 1 cup of rice and 1.25 cups of water or stock for 23 minutes at high pressure + 10 minutes natural release. I see from reading the package directions that doesn't exactly save a ton of time but it's easy to just set it and forget it . To avoid sticking to the bottom, especially with a small amount of rice I like to use a pyrex bowl on a trivet with a cup of water in the pot.

Yes, I like it and try to keep it on hand. Cooks up well in the Instant Pot and seems a little more "fancy" than plain brown rice.