blue_dolphin

That looks nice. How does the cost compare to the restaurant delivery you got at the previous hospital or at home?

See? Like I said, I’m not as on top of things as you are!

Given the information that Priya primed the system with, I thought the recipe titles were rather the best part of what it coughed up! The pumpkin spice chaat sounds like it could have possibilities. Maybe small cubes of pumpkin, roasted with some of those spices and tossed with the fresh herbs, peanuts and lime juice? The use of canned pumpkin doomed this one. Green beans with miso and sesame seeds sounds fine to me. Naan stuffing has a lot of potential and I think it could work but naan is so variable from big airy poofs to much flatter and denser breads that it would be a nightmare to develop a recipe that would work across the board. The AI recipe, however, failed on so many other points, bread variability was the very least of its issues! The name of the cranberry sauce recipe, "Cranberry Sauce That’s Not Too Sweet and a Little Spiced," is, laughably, precisely what Priya requested. It's not an engaging name and wouldn't really draw me in, even though it's also what I aim for when making cranberry sauce. The name of the turkey recipe appeals to me. Not something I'd want to make traditional gravy but it sounds a good fit for the rest of the dishes. Sounds like that one might have worked out pretty well if not for the instruction to cook to 180°F! And the cake, with the enthusiastic header note, sounds like something I'd try. I'm not as on top of things as you are, but what seems a tiny bit different from previous examples I've seen is the whole package of recipes complete with titles, personalized header notes and photos of the finished dishes.

Yeah, I'm afraid I need to take a break from the club. I've got a big bean backlog at the moment and just ordered a bunch of garbanzos as they're the ones I use most. The price of the club will be going up next quarter and free shipping on regular orders kicks in at $50 now so the free shipping code isn't a big incentive. I'll miss getting to try some of the beans that don't make it into the shop but c'est la vie. They've really increased the size of the club so if I change my mind, I can just put my name back on the waitlist and hopefully not have too long of a wait.

Not sure if you are looking for a product recommendation or a recipe. If it's the latter, I can recommend two. Kenji's Basic Dry Pancake Mix from his Food Lab Cookbook works well. Available online here. It's just flour, baking powder and soda, salt and a bit of sugar so it's not a just add water mix as you'll need milk and eggs, which it sounds like you are open to. Adding a whole grain to the mix, the Handy Spelt Flour Pancake Mix in Joshua McFadden's Grains for Every Season is also good. It uses powdered buttermilk in the mix so it offers that tang. Also requires the addition of water or milk, vegetable oil or butter and an egg.

Yay! We're on the road again!

Yes, formal USDA guidelines recommend new lids AND waterbath processing for jams, etc. I follow that but many people use alternate methods like open kettle canning, as you've described, inversion canning, or even older methods like paraffin wax seals, For something that's both sweet and acidic like most fruit preserves, jams and jellies, the risk is mostly spoilage due to mold growth on the surface. That's often evident and not going to kill anyone quickly but mycotoxins have been identified in molds growing in such conditions, hence the cautious recommendations as they can be cancer-causing. I believe the only risk is seal failures and breakage. From the National Center for Home Canning:

In the US, it's a southern thing. Perhaps they didn't have enough root vegetables to go around down there? Edited to add that I have never seen it served at Thanksgiving.

For those interested in the NYT article mentioned in the original post, you can read it and see some of the AI generated photos side by side with the dishes as prepared in their test kitchen here: Can A.I. Write Recipes Better Than Humans? We Put It to the Ultimate Test. The AI recipes themselves appear in this story: A.I. Wrote These Thanksgiving Recipes. Would You Make Them?

I totally agree on getting the bread saturated. It requires bread with some substance so it doesn't fall apart (I can only dream of French toast made with your bread!) Barely dipped French toast is so disappointing!

Butternut Squash and Saffron Soup with Caramelised Pistachios and Herb Salsa from Falastin I used kabocha squash instead of butternut and pepitas instead of pistachios. The soup itself isn't my #1 squash soup but the toppings really make it shine. The pepitas are tossed with Urfa chile flakes, orange blossom water, maple syrup, olive oil and salt and toasted in the oven. The herb salsa is fresh parsley and oregano leaves, shallot, chili flakes, olive oil and apple cider vinegar.

Creamy Goat Cheese Pasta with Burst Cherry Tomatoes and Olives from Dinner in One

Spicy Tomato White Beans with Sage, Pecorino and Garlicky Crostini from Dinner in One: Do I need a recipe for beans on toast? No. Am I glad I tried it? Yes. Three good things I'll remember... maybe 🙃 The anchovy filet that gets hidden once the beans are spooned over top, only to surprise your tongue when you bite into that part of the crostini. The optional scoop of ricotta adds a nice counterpoint to the spicy beans. Sage isn't my go-to herb with a spicy tomato sauce but it's very good here.

Russ Parsons shared a link to this old LA Times piece that he wrote around the time the movie came out. It probably says more about Julia than Julie but it's a good read. Apologies if there's a paywall. Julie, Julia and me: Now it can be told I very much enjoyed reading Julie's blog in real time, as she was cooking. As Russ says in the article, it was excellent in those short bursts. I didn't really want to re-hash the saga in a full length book. I had a gimlet in her honor last night and plan to make another someday soon and rewatch the movie.

I’ve never embarked on a quest like that. Sounds scary. I've come close to cooking through some books but there are always a few recipes that don’t appeal to me.

Julie Powell, RIP. Julie Powell, Food Writer Known for ‘Julie & Julia,’ Dies at 49

Well, at least it was only a sourcing error and not a cooking error. The broccoli looks lovely and I always feel rather smug when I've managed to get a serving or two of vegetables into my breakfast - well done! I tried the Creamy Corn and Polenta Bake with Blue Cheese from Melissa Clark's Dinner in One. There's corn, cherry tomatoes, scallions, parsley, Parmesan, and gorgonzola are in the mix. Chicken stock and a little milk are the liquids. This was good. I'm glad I tried it. I learned that I prefer polenta cooked simply and topped with something flavorful rather than having a bunch of stuff mixed in. I'd take a bowl topped with a crumble of gorgonzola or a ladle of roasted cherry tomatoes over this casserole style dish. That said, cheesy polenta with a crispy crust isn't all bad. I ate it and enjoyed it but won't repeat.

Took one of the Jerusalem breads that I froze unbaked and baked it in the CSO on a stone: Worked well, though so did re-heating the baked ones in the CSO and that was much quicker so I'll go with that in the future. You may note that by this time, I was running out of both white sesame seeds AND black sesame seeds so these also got pepitas and Everything but the Bagel seasoning. And if that wasn't enough to confuse the poor bread, I topped it with a smear of French mustard and slices of fried Leberkaese.

I don’t know the logistics/costs of shipping to Canada but the Thermopop from Thermoworks is a great little thermometer at $21. I also have their slightly quicker and much more expensive Thermapen but I reach for the pop more often. Edited to add that I see they offer shipping via FedEx Canada starting @ $9.99

How fun! It all looks very tasty, too!

If I had to try one, I’d go with chocolate over haggis 🤣

That’s a good idea. I tend to use these pizza screens (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) for that purpose. They’re aluminum, not non-stick like the baskets that come with air fryers so I wipe on a bit of oil. They come in many sizes.

Well, if Jewish penicillin is chicken soup, this looks kinda like the Indonesian version. Though, I could be quite wrong, being neither Indonesian nor Jewish 🙃 Inspired by: I enjoyed spaghetti with tinned mussels en escabeche My favorite quick pasta that's also a bit of a treat!

Tins of those are a must in my pantry for my favorite quick pasta! Made the Green Shakshuka from Falastin and since the eggs cook on the stovetop, I tried this trick. I also soft boiled an egg because I didn't want to be deprived of a runny yolk... but it worked so I got 2 runny yolks!

I haven’t done it but I’ve made apple popsicles where the first step was basically to make applesauce and that worked fine. Apple cranberry, spiced apple, and apple with salted caramel were more interesting than plain apple. Definitely add a bit more lemon than a straight applesauce. Edited to add: Same goes for pears. Pear and ginger is amazing! Pears with a little almond extract or pears with cognac are also very nice combos.