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My sense is that inexpensive multi-use devices rarely perform multiple tasks really well. I tend to doubt that an inexpensive vegetable chopper, handy for dicing lots of onions would also produce lovely, garnish-worthy egg slices. But maybe you're not looking for pretty eggs. Personally, I'm very happy to use the same sharp knife for both tasks but I'm not slicing dozens of eggs nor dicing more than 5 lbs of onions at a time so I absolutely understand why someone might want an alternative. Everyone has their own needs and value perceptions, both of which change over time.

I love it! We had Kool-Aid for a rare summer treat but it was always mixed up in an opaque plastic pitcher. I was sure that it must have tasted amazing in that chilled glass pitcher! Never connected the dots but I do have a weakness for pretty glass pitchers!

Leftovers for me, too. Breakfast quesadilla with that corn-poblano salad mix that I used on Saturday, scrambled eggs (the two that broke when I was trying to make the fried egg in that post and pepper jack cheese.

It's nothing like Jerusalem or Ottolenghi, Plenty, Plenty More or Nopi, but I hope you’ll find 3 bucks worth of good things to try!

I was wondering about that as well. If they formatted the pullout tables with links to the recipes, it could be even better than the print version. Also, I love being an enabler 😂

The Kindle version of Ottolenghi Test Kitchen's Extra Good Things (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) is $2.99 on Amazon in the US and Canada. Today only. Price expires at midnight, all least according to Alexa, who informed me of this deal. I think it's quite a good little book and had more (way more 🤣) to say about it over in this post back in Feb.

The book actually calls for beer or white wine but suggests hard cider or diluted vinegar as alternates in the header notes. No beer or white wine in the house but I had a bottle of cider hanging around It's this Henry Hotspur's Hard Pressed for Cider which I think may be a TJ's label and I know nothing about cider so I have no idea what style it is. I put the rest of the bottle in the fridge and will give it a taste later. I'll be curious what you think of Ruffage. At a minimum, I think you will enjoy the stories she tells throughout the book. I've said this before around here but I think Abra Beren's books are great "idea" books where she throws out a bunch of variations and lets you run with them. Some of the variations are as simple as short lists of alternate ingredient combinations and others are literally sketched out in the form of a drawing with a few arrows and fewer words. In Grist, her second book, she tends to provide a bit more information. In both books, she leans into condiments which appear in the front of the books. I know some are annoyed by sub-recipes like that but I've found most of them pretty simple so no disaster if I forgot to plan ahead. I've read through her new book, Pulp, but I haven't cooked anything from it yet. It's based on fruits that are grown in the midwest. For each fruit, she offers several prep methods (raw, roasted, grilled, poached, stewed, baked, preserved) with both a sweet and savory recipe for each method. Instead of condiments, there's a "Baker's Toolkit" up front with recipes for breads, batters, doughs, crusts, toppings, etc. that are used later in the book.

Braised collards with sausage and apples from Ruffage with grainy mustard and sharp cheddar cheese toasts. This was good and pretty quick for something with "braise" in the title. I think the intent with this recipe is to use a small amount of meat as a seasoning but I had a package of Toulouse sausages I'm working on finishing so I made it into a main dish. The hard cider used for the braise brings a nice acidity to the greens.

This link to Eat Your Books should take you to the list of recipes in the book. Does that help? Edited to add that the Index at the back of the book is 12 pages long. The table of contents in the front only lists the chapter titles, not all the individual recipes.

Garlic-smashed chickpeas with poblano-corn salad and a fried egg topped with paprika chili oil from Grist This is so true! I wanted a nice fried egg for this breakfast and managed to nick the yolks on not one, but two eggs before I got this one out of the shell unscathed. I should have just scrambled that first one, but noooooo! Now I have to go bake something that uses 2 eggs 🤣

I wonder if it could be spelled perchero? Google translate gives that as the Spanish for coat rack. I like the idea, similar to the little purse stools they brought us in fancy Paris restaurants. Perfect for showing off your Hermès bag to the dining room. Or, in my case, my handy backpack 🙃

Thanks for the opah mention. I just signed up with a weekly "catch of the day" service here in SoCal and opah is listed as one of the optional "add-ons" for the coming week. I don't think I've ever had it and certainly not cooked it but may give it a try!

I'm not sure how much room is inside those small stars, but I have some battery operated, rechargeable tea lights. The candle base is 1 5/8" in diameter x 7/8" high and the faux flame bulb adds another inch to the overall height. Since they're not real candles, they could go in at any angle. Not all that realistic on their own but they flicker gently so they're not bad inside a holder of some sort. And they'll never ignite a cat or kitten tail or cause a conflagration if I leave them "burning" 🙃

Very excited that my favorite sandwich guru, Max Halley, will be a guest judge on tonight's episode. He's really a hoot and I'm wondering if they'll let him be himself or not. Could be a challenge language-wise. He's looking uncharacteristically serious in this photo he posted on his IG I also want to watch the NCAA women's gymnastics semifinals and have a Zoom Jews United for Democracy event on my calendar, all at the same time. Weighing my options!

Cassoulet toast from Susan Spungen's Open Kitchen, recipe online here. I mostly followed the recipe but used Rancho Gordo cassoulet beans and added one of the Toulouse sausages that I cooked for yesterday's breakfast. A big bowl of cassoulet is a bit too much for me, but this always hits the spot!

I also got the email yesterday for an April 12-14 sale. As far as I know, you can only view the current sale so unless you made note of the previous sale prices, there isn’t a good way to compare. I bought that copper core 4 qt chef’s pan w/ domed lid from them in 2020 for $139.95 but have not monitored the price since then. It's a nice pan, but pretty heavy. The pan itself weighs about 5 lbs and the lid is about 1 lb 12 oz so I definitely appreciate the helper handle.

Indeed. Like Kleenex, Tupperware seems to describe the whole category - in this case, storage containers. I never had any of the real deal Tupperware but I absolutely have a Tupperware drawer!

I think they are very good 'idea' books. Lots of variations make it easy to find something to suit what’s on hand. There are photos but they represent a minority of the recipes. That doesn’t bother me but some people want a photo of each dish. She also leans into condiments that appear as sub recipes, also disliked by some. Generally, I’ve found them to be pretty simple so no big deal if I forgot to prep ahead. Some of the variations are minimally sketched out, literally presented in pen and ink drawings with a few arrows, or just as a list of alternate ingredients following the main recipe. I’m always scaling recipes based on what and how much I want to eat so I’m fine with that but they may not suit someone who wants more precise instructions.

Garlic-smashed chickpeas with roasted carrots, broccolini and ras el hanout apricot almond rig from Grist As you can see in the photo, the smashed chickpeas look rather dry. Reviewing the recipe, I see I was supposed to add butter to them along with the garlic. Maybe I'll try that next time. Or not. I didn't really feel like fat was lacking, just moisture. In any case, the combo of flavors and textures is very good.

Over in this post, I shared the recipe for the butternut squash filling that Evan Funke has in American Sfoglino. He simmers the purée with butter and sage leaves to reduce it, making it thick and also very flavorful. Edited to add that in my hands, it reduced in volume to about half of the original. I think you could easily adapt that to a canned purée.

I made this Kabocha Vanilla Chai Ice Cream with the Ninja Creami, using canned pumpkin purée instead of the kabocha squash. It was good. With praline pecans, it would have been even better!

Thanks for the recommendation. Dave Arnold had Benjamin Lorr a few weeks ago on his Cooking Issues podcast: The Secret Life of Groceries with Benjamin Lorr

Thanks! Cauliflower mash is up next! I wake early and have more energy and ambition in the morning than the rest of the day so it's no effort for me. And what I make is never particularly involved, unless it's compared with a bowl of cereal. Breakfast and lunch (sometimes closer to brunch and linner) are my two main meals though I enjoy a cocktail and nibble in the evening. That nibble could even be a small bowl of Grape Nuts 🙃 Pan-roasted cabbage tossed with mustard and apples with Toulouse-style sausage and cheddar from Ruffage This was quite good. The crumbly Cheddar that @Smithy showed us recently would have been great. The Cabot extra sharp I had was too soft to curl. Should have planned ahead and made it into frico chips.

I think @Margaret Pilgrim described it very well here: I just take a quarter lemon and use my fingers to separate the mushy pulp. If I'm making something that might need seasoning, I set it aside so I can use it to add extra salt/acididity if needed. Then I rinse the rest of the peel and slice, dice or whatever. As Margaret said, some slow cooked or braised dishes will call for a whole lemon. Some people like to blitz the whole lemons to make a paste to be used for seasoning. For my taste, and the way I make them, it comes out too salty to be useful but I can see why others might like it. I usually make a fresh batch once a year but sometimes I've used them for several years. Between the acid and salt, and assuming they are submerged in brine, they are a rather inhospitable environment for spoilage organisms. Any pieces sticking up out of the brine or right at the surface can discolor from oxidation and I see some people here have seen some sort of mold growth. I haven't seen the mold.

Parsnip mash with smoked paprika chili oil, baby kale & pecans from Ruffage with a poached egg on top. I gotta say this was a pretty good combo of flavors. The mash is flavored with onion, star anise and orange zest. The greens were supposed to be arugula, uncooked and dressed with that chili oil but I think the cooked, more bitter greens might be better. This would be great with seared scallops or roasted chicken thighs. The egg was a bonus so I could call this vegetable side dish breakfast. Also, yesterday's poached egg was overcooked so I had to reclaim my poached egg mojo 🙃