Darienne

We just steam our asparagus and eat it with butter. We do eat quite a lot of it. Mostly we like the rather thin ones, but last week Ed bought just about the fattest asparagus I've ever seen. Oh, I thought, these are going to have lots of tough ends. And I was so surprised, that fat as they were, the entire stalk was soft and completely edible when steamed. Looked back at the first page of this topic and found my entry all about our asparagus patch which supplied us for years...until the year of the massive renovations when the many large trucks completely destroyed it.

Well, these were sold as "red" potatoes and noted as for potato salad. And that makes two of us who found them objectionable.

I knew that. We won't make a special trip to town to return them, but Ed does all the shopping and they came from the local city's Superstore so it won't be a problem. And while you noted that colour of flesh and skin are not necessarily what we think they are, these potatoes are still meant for potato salad. It says so right on the package. And definitely they are not.

Right. Except that I wasn't making mashed potatoes. Actually, I'm not crazy about mashed potatoes although Ed loves them. I wasn't raised on them. I'll keep your information in mind next time. Ed is still returning the unopened bag and buying a different brand next time.

I have been thinking it over and have decided that there is something wrong with these potatoes. Red potatoes do not have yellow flesh. We'll take the unopened bag back and leave it at that. I've been making potato salad for years and this bag of 'red' potatoes is the first I've ever had trouble with. But thanks for all the replies.

I am very annoyed. Ed bought Red Potatoes "Farmer's Market", No. 1, product of Canada and today I made...or tried to make...potato salad from them. And yes, they had red skins, but I must say they were a somewhat strange color inside for red potatoes...quite yellow. So I boiled them. I started the timer when the water was not even back to 'boiling' yet for 8 minutes. Not taking any chances after the last mushy lot which I admit I was not paying really close attention to. So I was careful this time. Tested them after 8 minutes. Thought...hmmm....maybe one more minute. Thought wrong, wrong, wrong. Plunged them into cold water. Still too late. Mushy, mushy, mushy. Ed is a potato salad aficionado but he will force himself to eat this. What is going on here? "I laugh in your general direction" when I think of Mark Bittman's recipe in "How to Cook Everything" calling for 15 minutes of boiling.

Well, I guess I have to go and test the butter now...

Welcome to eGullet and I hope your new business thrives and soon.

I love lamb, liver and cooked beets. Ed will not touch them. He likes head cheese. Yuck. I won't eat anything jellied. We both like sauerkraut. No one with any sense at all likes gefilte fish. We both can't stand Nutella. And we don't eat shellfish of any kind. Partly heritage; partly I don't like meat that crunches. I've never had corned beef and cabbage but I'd like to try.

Our last move was to the farm almost 26 years ago. And it was following a house fire (the less said about that, the better). So everything which was left unburnt, was taken into storage and fumigated, including the contents of our waste paper baskets. However, I had no work to do either packing up or moving. Unpacking yes. But so much was lost. It was a terrible time and the move was traumatic. There's a little log house below the actual farm house called the Dog House, because that's the name on the front of it above the door. Once upon a time, I've been told, long ago, the raw milk was picked up there. There's stuff in there which has not even been looked at in the almost 26 years. Ed wants to die on the farm. (His Grandfather on his Mother's side died in the field behind a horse-pulled plough. Yes, he could easily have had a tractor...he didn't want one.) Perhaps he'll get his wish. If he does die here and I am still alive, it goes on the market the next day and our real estate agent, who was here last weekend for a visit, knows that. Interesting. Much as I love it here, I could not do it without Ed. Our son keeps hounding me about our selling the farm yesterday and moving into the city. I think he is terrified at the prospect of having to deal with the place and contents upon our deaths. I haven't yet mentioned the Drive Shed, called that because you could put two 18-wheelers into it. It's Ed's domain and I never go into it unless forced. The interior defies description.

That is beautiful. Simply beautiful. Oh, how I wish....

Fresh basil recalled: https://www.consumerreports.org/food-recalls/fresh-organic-basil-recalled-over-cyclospora-contamination-concerns/?EXTKEY=NF12NCP2&utm_source=acxiom&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210213_nsltr_food

Frybread. Oh my oh my oh my. My very favorite. We've eaten it all over the Southwest. Best place in Shiprock New Mexico. Also Funnel Cakes at American fairs. We have a place near the farm where they now sell it. A teensy piece for $8. I don't think so. So I came home and made it in the kitchen. Great fun. But only once. You really don't want to start making that kind of stuff at home....

And I have three in a salad and I have no idea where they come from. No point in asking Ed what the placard sitting above the cucumbers said. It's more than enough that he does the grocery shopping.

This recipe doesn't call for salt. And we, living in the Far Frozen North, and shopping in a small provincial city, get cucumbers, English or not.

Sorry...white.

English cucumber salad: I have the go-to recipe for thinly sliced English cucumbers. It's very simple and the dressing is simply equal parts sugar, vinegar and water. As I began to repeat making it last spring into summer, I noticed that the cucumbers were getting wetter and wetter and soon I was adding only sugar and vinegar. Today I made it for the first time in many months and sure enough, I was back to adding sugar, vinegar and water in equal amounts. I shall watch the cucumbers again to see if they are wetter and wetter like last year.

This doesn't really belong in a 'Daily Sweets' topic, but it follows two posts on freezer inventory. We have finally come up with a system for the freezer which is working very well. The foods, cooked or raw, are kept in separate bags Inexpensive bags are available at all the grocery stores now and we have no duplicates in color and pattern. They are also easy to pick out of the freezer to get at something else. Then I have a printed legend tacked to the wall above the freezer. Yes, it was a bit of work setting it up but it has worked so well. Each line of the legend is printed in aa different color. Then the foods are written in as they come and go. I never said it was beautiful...I said it worked. Ditto to the last sentence. And I admit that not all the stuff in the freezer is in bags. And the kitchen fridge freezer, the garage fridge freezer (Ed's domain) are not organized, but they are much smaller. And the dog freezer is well organized but the dogs have a less varied diet thank heavens.

I'm not likely to make it soon, but I do love a recipe with a story and with explanations.

I simply typed in "Basque Burnt Cheesecake" into the Google subject headline. I didn't examine any of the recipes carefully. It's not something I intend to make at this point.

Fish and chips for me. The closing of the restaurants meant little to me in that I was laid up all fall anyway and couldn't get out. And Ed did all the cooking for at least two and a half months. And he's still doing most of it. My contributions are often frozen ahead of time. Now I am back making the important part of eating, the desserts. The last meal out was fish and chips for our youngest's birthday in September, sitting on a picnic bench between the humble diner and the gas pumps with nothing else open in our area. Ed and Ken, son, were in the shade...I was in the sun and roasting. And we had the two dogs out of the car during the meal. Wot larks! (See Language et etcetera) We live too far from any restaurants to have the take out edible by the time it gets home. So fish and chips. And inside a downtown restaurant. Cod, if available.

Thank you Kerry Beal. Looked it up, its history and recipe. Interesting.

OK. So you mentioned Goldbelly, so I went to see what was what and found a photo of this incredible cake(?). Please, someone tell me what it is. It looks incredible.

She was incredibly generous as others have already mentioned. This fall she sent our local library a box of cookbooks when I mentioned online how poor our cookbook collection was.

Now this I could love. Reminds me of a wonderful vermicelli dessert we had decades ago at an Indian restaurant. I've tried to make it, but it just isn't the same. Thanks, Shai. Perhaps if I could have the recipe, plus the kind of vermicelli you used for it. Thanks. I could try it again....