blue_dolphin

So, a combination of at least 4 but less than 19 vegetables? 🙃 I love roasted vegetables but I’m not a guru so it is not common practice for me to combine that many for roasting together. I’m just not as gifted as some in determining the optimal cut size for each veg to allow them all to reach doneness simultaneously. I may put a few different veg (always less than 4😉) on a tray but I keep them separated so it’s easy to remove one and return the rest to the oven to continue roasting.

It is a pity that grocery store butchers aren't easy to find in these parts. I really like going to a local international market because pretty much all their meat is behind the counter with a full staff (usually 4-6 people) on hand to cut and wrap to order. You have to take a number and wait your turn but very much worth the time. Whole Foods and Sprouts both have people doing some cutting and wrapping but they're not particularly helpful with special requests.

Awww, thanks! If only I had your marvelous bread, my sandwiches would be so much better! And yes, I do like my toast TOASTED! Grilled gruyere with prosciutto and fig jam on sourdough. Crappy photo. Decent sandwich🙃

I have 2 bottles. This first one made me laugh when I read the label as it's from Taiwan - clearly not the real deal but I've been cooking with it. The second one is actually from Zhejiang province. It's made by the same company as the one that @FauxPas purchased at her provincial liquor store and also carries the Pagoda brand. It has characters that @liuzhou mentions: and they appear both on the paper label and also on the in the ceramic design on the other side of the bottle. The cork was secured with red ribbons like some of the earlier photos. It was a gift. I'll have to look around more carefully on my next visits to the Chinese grocery. Here in CA, wine and liquor are sold in grocery stores so I'd think it should be possible to get something without salt added, possibly at a higher price to cover the taxes.

Did you see this post from @paulraphael? He summarizes a bunch of work he's done and includes a link to an article on his site with more information: Vegan Ice Cream: It Can Actually Be Good! I do like that goat cheese ice cream and should make it again. I was thinking it would pair well with fall flavors like persimmon, pear, pumpkin, pomegranate.

I'd say @Porthos would be the man and if he can fix it, he should keep it away from @Smithy 🙃

Google shows me a number of articles that say limas can taste bitter if cooked too long but I couldn’t find any specifics.

Interesting. I like Christmas limas and haven’t gotten a bitter batch yet. I don’t soak many RG beans but always soak the big guys (limas, garbanzos and Royal Coronas) for more even cooking, not for problems with bitterness. I’ve cooked Christmas limas that that I’ve had for quite a while without issues. That said, I don’t have a sunny shelf in my kitchen. Excess bean inventory is stored in the garage which has no windows and is pretty dark except when I’m out there doing laundry.

Oxo bowls do seem rather cheap for 15 years. The company I used to work for had a catalog from Tiffany for my first few milestone anniversaries. I got a Waterford vase that I still have, a Tiffany glass pitcher that I broke and a nice pair of gold earrings. In response to complaints that most of the items were geared towards women, they switched to a more generic fulfillment company that offered things like fishing poles, tents and sleeping bags. I picked a solar charging array for my 20 year award. I can’t say I’ve ever figured out how to make it work.

I can be easily amused sometimes. In this case, I was entertained by an apparent lobster roll purist. The lobster roll in your photo looks delicious, if a bit vegetal for a purist. The best thing about home cooking over restaurant fare is that you prepared it to suit your own taste to a T and surely enjoyed it greatly!

That makes sense. I cook in small quantities, too. I rely on pot-in-pot for that but I can see why you'd want a smaller one.

I'm curious why you need the 3-qt size. And why it has to be an Ultra. Maybe I need one, too 🤣. Is the Ultra really that much easier to use and in what ways? Do you need the second IP so you can run two IPs at the same time?

It's easily spreadable right from the fridge and softens further when warmed to room temp - spoonable but not quite runny. You could stuff celery but I suspect it would look rather sorry if you left the platter out in the sun on a very warm day.

This Unexpected Cheddar Spread is pretty tasty. I thought it might be a bit gritty but it's very smooth and creamy. They mentioned an upcoming Toscano cheese spread, which I'll keep my eye out for as I like that cheese, too.

Bacon, avocado, tomato, arugula on toasted sourdough: Yes, the avocado did squish out when I mashed this down to eat it but I was ready with my fork!

I’m with you on the changes! When I was working, I was usually out of the house from ~ 7 AM - 8 PM with business travel every other week. I did almost all my cooking on weekends to stock my freezer with lunches plus occasional evening baking projects. If a recipe didn’t yield good leftovers, I didn’t make it. Now, I have the luxury of cooking what I want, when I want. I was inspired by @SobaAddict70/ @ProfessionalHobbit and others here to cut recipes down to a single serving so I can try new things often. Sure there are things like quiche that I’ll happily eat days in a row but I generally try to mix things up. Not sure. I love trying different deviled egg recipes but usually make 2 eggs rather than one. Yes, there is an environmental cost to living alone and cooking for one. It does concern me. I like to keep a log of World Peace cookies in the freezer so I can occasionally slice off 2 cookies and bake them in the CSO, which takes about 4 min to preheat, not quite the 20 min you’ve given for a big oven but I probably should reconsider being so wasteful. Edited to add that I generally use normal cookbooks and cut down the recipes, which generally works fine. For baking, however, I can see value in having recipes specifically tested with smaller pans, etc.

I appreciate your nudge to make this the proper way. This was probably messier than Vivian's Elbow Lick Tomato Sandwich but after reading the book's note, "Cutting Board Salad," that describes the stuff that falls out of their overstuffed sandwiches, I was ready!

Another repeat. Yesterday's lunch, The Tomato, from Turkey and the Wolf, this time on the called-for butter-fried sourdough

I found it quite an entertaining read and I'd be interested to hear your thoughts, should you decide to check it out. This Buffalo Waldorf Salad is an example of a recipe that has me scratching my head and licking my lips at the same time. Tart apple slices get battered and deep fried, then glazed with hot wing sauce and added to a salad with pickled celery, scallions, crumbled blue cheese and candied walnuts. Who does that??? I wanna try it!!!

After making a version of The Tomato, I read through the rest of the book this evening and I second your A+ rating on the humorous writing which carries right on from the introduction to the headnotes and right through the recipe text . Reading the recipes, I was alternately thinking, "who would do that???" or "I want to eat that!!!," often about the same recipe. Is elevated hangover food a thing? If so, this is it!

I’ve been tempted to try that cookie just to see, but given the time to mix, chill and bake, I’m not sure it’s suited for a true emergency 🙃 Recipe online here: Single-Serving Chocolate Chip Cookie

That’s too bad. I have the Kindle version of her first book, Ruffage. I don’t see page numbers in the text either but I have it set for continuous scrolling so I don’t even know exactly where pages begin and end half the time making that a non issue for me. Edited to add that the page numbers do show up in the sidebar navigator so it’s easy enough to tap and check. All the page number links (I tested multiples from the table of contents, index and within recipes) worked fine. Sad they broke that in a newer book!

Oh, I agree on the bread! I've got some seeded rye sourdough which is good but too heavy, I think. TJ's was out of sourdough. Ditto Sprouts. I bought a loaf at Aldi that turned out to be both dry and tasteless. Meanwhile, the tomato, dill and basil were all ticking away so I decided to let the olive oil-crisped focaccia stand in for the real thing. Hopefully I can address the sourdough situation soon!

Holy moly, so many good things together on that plate! A small-ish version of The Tomato from Turkey and the Wolf That combo of basil, dill, sunflower seeds and a squeeze of lemon juice with a perfect tomato and plenty of mayo was pretty great. The bread is supposed to be thickly sliced sourdough, fried in butter. The author endeared himself to me by specifying to put the toasts on a rack or lean them up against each other so the bottoms don't get soggy. Hate soggy toast! Toasted focaccia was my sub but I'll try the real thing if I can get some good sourdough. It's an excellent sandwich.

The Kindle version of Abra Berens' book, Grist: A Practical Guide to Cooking Grains, Beans, Seeds, and Legumes (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) is currently $3.99 on Amazon in the US. Sadly, not in Canada at this time. I have the dead tree version of this book and like it. She's put together a number of sections titled, "A Week's Worth of ______ Without Boredom," where the blank is black beans, lentils or barley. Other recipes offer multiple variations to mix things up.