blue_dolphin

Wow, it's been a while! We haven't had a lick of popsicle weather yet but I decided to get ready anyway. I made a Strawberry and Black Pepper Gin & Tonic from a cookbook recipe and decided to turn it into a poptail. I made a black pepper simple syrup, using tonic instead of water to dissolve the sugar and blended that with the berries. I added a bit of tonic syrup to up the flavor and a tot of gin. I gave them a sprinkle of black pepper after unmolding. Had to make a few classic strawberry & cream pops, too.

Sounds pretty grim!

That's good news! Maybe I'll pick up another bottle to last me 'til then!

For a while, Trader Joe's was selling a bagged salad mix that came with a packet of their dill pickle flavored potato chips and a creamy dill ranch dressing. Those chips were pretty much like salt & vinegar chips with a bit of extra seasoning. It was a limited item and no longer available but I tried it and it was pretty good. Kinda fun to put chips on a salad! Edited to add that they were a kettle-style chip, which I think helped them maintain their crunch better than some others might.

Very good price but probably not worth a cross-country trip to pick up!

I have one and find it so handy to use vs a stovetop pressure cooker. I don’t want to be without it. Not sure it was the fault of the manufacturer but it was over sold to many as some sort of instant dinner gadget. It’s great but it’s not that.

I’m so sorry it was a bust! I ran out of gochujang the other day and my first thought was, Oh no! What if I need Eric's noodles!

I think it's all about the temperature. In my experience, the Lite Ice Cream is one of the longer cycles and warms the mix up a good bit, especially with a re-spin. I've had it warm from -4° to 18° or 20°F. Back in the fridge, it's going to go back down to -4° and be much firmer and less scoop-able than it was at 18 or 20°F. Sounds like you're happy with the texture when it's warm but not when it's cool. You can add a tablespoon or so of vodka to your mix to get an end product that's softer and easier to scoop at your freezer temp. Or run a re-spin before serving, or put the container in the fridge or on the counter to warm up a while before serving.

Quoting myself here after yesterday's trip to TJ's. The Diamond Crystal salt is $8.99/3 lb box. The Golden Caramel Swirl Ice Cream is isn't bad but not a repeat buy for me. It has both chocolate and vanilla ice cream with a salted caramel swirl. The vanilla and the caramel are fine but the chocolate has that faint texture of cocoa powder that I dislike. My store did not have the Bucheron soft ripened goat's milk cheese yet. I picked up the Dorado, a Spanish cow/sheep cheese that's kind of like a Manchego and despite its name, does not taste like fish! I also got the French orange rind Saint Paulin, a semi-soft cheese. I tried the Mandarin Orange Chicken. Mixed together some of the sauce that came in the box with some sweet chili sauce and used that as a dip and it was OK. The coating was nice and crispy. Not really my kind of thing but it took care of my curiosity and I've got several more servings left in the bag so I can try some other sauces. I posted this photo of it over in the Lunch topic. @rotuts, did you confirm with the staff that TJ's is no longer carrying that Kalamata olive oil? It's gone missing for months at a time in my local stores but it's been back recently and I bought a bottle last week. I also have a bottle of the stuff you bought and I think it's nice as well.

Thanks! When you said it was a tube, I was puzzled but when I saw they meant it to look like an ear of corn, made sense. Between the farmers market, Trader Joes and local bakeries, I don't visit regular grocery stores very often but I'll keep an eye for this when I do. Speaking of Trader Joe's, I went there while hungry this morning, such a mistake 🙃, but I allowed myself a bag of their Mandarin Orange Chicken, long a customer favorite, but one I've never tried. Popped some right into the CSO to cook while I put stuff away and added some broccoli so I could call it a meal. That's their sauce. Not particularly good, as others have reported. I mixed in some sweet chili sauce and found the combo OK as a dipping sauce. I'm sure I could improve on it. A lot of those little pieces hardly had any chicken in them. I expected that. Nothing truly bad about it but no reason to get it again either. Unless the hangries strike again!

Yeah, my cat breeder friend got into it back in vet school when cat coat genetics were believed to be more simple and she thought there was more to it. She's been breeding American Shorthairs for decades, has written papers on the topic and still gets surprises popping up!

First, thank you for sharing this saga as I’ve found it very interesting. When you mentioned breeding for coat colors, I wondered how much of that had been worked out. That sent me down a whole 'nother rabbit hole of rabbit coat genetics where I learned how many variations exist (so many cute bunny photos included to demonstrate.) I was especially intrigued by your Mr. Blue Eyes as I had mistakenly assumed all white rabbits were albino though I'd never make that assumption with every species. I'll be interested to hear how the breeding for color goes, especially if you find any surprises!

Thanks! The business I’ve mentioned grows Litopenaeus vannamei in suborder Dendrobranchiata aka Pacific white-leg shrimp, "White Shrimp" or "King Prawns" on the prawn side of the illustration you shared.

I decided to order 1 lb of these shrimps as an add-on item to my fish share and I changed my usual fresh catch of the day share to frozen halibut so I don't need to worry about eating a ton in 2 days! I figure it's worth a try. I'll get them on Thursday and will report back. Yes, this is something I'm curious about. I guess I'll find out! At this time, the company only offers fresh, chilled shrimp/prawns. Their tanks are all indoors in the Los Angeles area and they harvest to order. The harvest date and time are printed on the package labels so I'll be able to see how old they are. They say they are chemical, preservative and antibiotic-free. They offer tours of their operation now and again so maybe I'll drive down sometime, check it out and get answers to all those questions!

If you look them up on Yelp, there's only one review but if you click at the top to see all 24 photos, a user posted a menu from May 23.

@Kim Shook, is this the stuff you get? I don't think I've seen it but there are many things I don't see in the grocery store unless I make a point to look!

I appreciate the input. These will probably be a good 24 hrs out of the water by the time I pick them up so maybe no good. They say to eat within 3 days from the harvest date so I was hoping there was a window there. I assume they’ll be dead as everything is buried in ice for pick up.

Thanks! I have until Monday to decide whether to get them or default to the usual catch of the day. If I don't have a plan by then, I'll wait to get them until I do. I suspect they'll be offered from time to time or I can always drive down to the Santa Monica market.

I couldn't find a cooking topic about shrimp but if there is one, feel free to move this there! The chilly ocean waters off SoCal aren't exactly a shrimping mecca so I've only had head-on shrimp at restaurants or when traveling as I haven't really trusted the freshness of those available, at high prices, in the shops.. There's an LA-area operation that's been farming shrimp indoors called TransparentSea. They sell to local restaurants and at the Santa Monica Farmers market. I'm considering getting some of their shrimp as an option in my regular fish share. They would be jumbo (12-15/lb) and I'd get a pound and a half instead of my usual catch of the week. Searching here, I saw that @KennethT is a fan of head-on shrimp and @Okanagancook posted about cooking head-on shrimp sous vide a while back. I'm a single eater here so I'd like to try as many options as I can, as quickly as I can. I know I can always save the heads for stock and freeze the rest but I'd like to try options that will show them off to their best.

Yep. His kitchen and pick-up location is in Simi Valley, CA.

Dave Arnold describes making a syrup with blood orange juice (see over here on Cooking Issues) and says it can be done with other juices as well. Though he is only making a concentrated syrup, not going so far as to get a sludge. He gives the temps he uses at that link. You could try asking him on Twitter or Instagram for more info.

Ditto that. I always check their shopworn list. Not that they are rock bottom prices but it gets them down at least into Amazon range and I'd much rather buy from a small business. Plus, they have more speciality offerings.

Thanks for passing along Mr. Kim's professional assessment! I liked that the contestants helped each other out a didn’t seem out to trip each other up. I agree it was way more contrived than it had to be. They were all interesting to listen to and I would have been happy to watch straight up cooking without the file cabinets and clothes dryers!

Re-warmed tri tip from ZEF BBQ on garlic-rubbed toasts topped with horseradish mayo... I'll have some fruit later!

Picked up this week's fish and it was fresh ahi tuna loin...again! Not complaining at all, it's just something I usually think of for special occasions and Thursday lunch isn't really in that category. I cut off a chunk and went with a coriander-crusted seared tuna sandwich with gochujang mayo and topped with slaw for a bit of crunch. I added the rest of the slaw after the photo so you could see at least a little of the lovely tuna