kayb

Dear Sweet Baby Jesus. I have no words. I can only cringe for the poor souls in that hospital who are not fortunate enough to have friends and family who will feed them.

I had to go back and hunt this one down (a WSJ digital subscription is one of my luxuries, and also a valid work expense). I can only conclude that (a) these people are more detail-oriented than I am, or (b) they don't have a life. When we moved into the new house, my one resolution regarding the fridge was to be ruthless about throwing stuff away before it got old enough to vote. So far, I've done moderately well at that. I have neither the time nor the patience to color-code what's left. Of course, Marie Kondo lost me when she contended my socks screamed in agony when I rolled them together and turned one top down over the pair, making a ball, too. I obviously have very inhibited socks. No shrieks emanate from my dresser drawer.

Sigh.Tests this morning. Celiac disease confirmed. Guess it's time to get serious about the GF bread book.

You can indeed use lime juice. I have, in fact, juiced Key limes and made Key lime pie by this recipe (and was astounded at how many Key limes it took to generate 3/4 cup of juice. I have even used (thawed) frozen orange juice concentrate, mixed 1-1 with water instead of the conventional 3:1 to make the orange flavor more intense. I suspect one could use any sort of fruit juice or puree, though I've never tried. H'mmm. Bet it'd be good with fresh peach puree. And I have peaches on the counter.

Yes, and I generally do just that.

Sunday dinner, while very good, was not noteworthy but for the fact that I went out and picked the apples off the tree in the back yard, brought them in, washed, sliced and cooked them in butter with a little brown sugar. Otherwise, peas with tomato relish, potato salad, pork loin. No complaints were noted.

Well...that'll teach 'em.

Oh, holy hell. A grits waffle. Freaking brilliant. I am so there. Now. Contemplating doing away with the a/p flour, to make this gluten free. More grits, and a gf flour mix. We will report.

Hell's bells, let 'em take it to the nurses' station. Surely the nurses will bring it in for you. Stinko might be a fine alternative. Add that to the wish list for visitors. Thank God for @Kerry Beal! I hope she brings a stockpile that can hold you until her next visit. I could have eaten the cereal, but that's about it. I would have been bribing the cleaning staff to make a Timmy's run for me. At this point, I'd be grateful for crackers and peanut butter. I am pretty horrified at hospitals feeding people like this. It's been several years since I've been in one, and I'm blessed with a fair amount of family and friends to stand between me and starvation, but I've generally found at least ONE thing on my meal tray that wasn't abhorrent. Hoping desperately that you improve VERY soon and can go home!

Kalebanzo? I just about lost it. I would likely be ordering pizza or Chinese delivery. Do they have Uber Eats in your part of the world? Seriously, I know hospitals have budget problems, but it seems to me that if you're trying to get people well, it's counterproductive to starve them. Many good wishes for your speedy recovery. I'll say a prayer.

The "special this week" aisle has struck again. Now, I don't NEED a quesadilla maker. But it was $12.99. And I figure I can use corn tortillas and some interesting fillings and come up with some good gluten free sandwiches. Bought figs at the Farmers Market today. Fig and blue cheese quesadillas?

Well. I'm back, and trying to recover. There were no tremendously exciting meals, but a few decent ones. En route from Western Kentucky to East Tennessee, I stopped off in Glasgow, KY, at Yancey's Gastropub on the town square. I could have done with a salad, but there were none on the menu, which was heavy on specialty burgers and other sandwiches. I settled on the "shareable board" or cheese and charcuterie, which was on the small plates menu. If what I got was small, I'd hate to see large. The meat and cheese were grocery store versions, but there was a huge amount of them. This was enough to make three decent sized sandwiches. The spread on the left is pimiento cheese (not bad, but mine is better), and on the right was alleged to be pepper jelly, but it tasted like no pepper jelly I ever tried. It was a blend of roasted red peppers and sundried tomatoes, with some spices, spreadable but left somewhat chunky. I wasn't certain if i liked it or not. The next day we went to Poblano's, a cut above your average Mexican place. Highlight of the meal was a superb black bean dip, pureed smooth, that I will be trying to recreate. Entrees were fresh and flavorful, well seasoned but not fiery. No photos because I forgot. No photos of meals in Lexington, either, as they were work meals and not conducive to photography. Monday night, as there were few options open, we went to Sheridan's Livery, where I had a seafood salad with salmon, shrimp and scallops. Healthy portions of each, and they were all excellent. We were going to go to Staunton to go to The Shack, as @donk79 suggested, but it's not open on Monday OR Tuesday. We wound up at the Southern Inn, which was quite good. Igate from the appetizer menu, and had pimiento cheese sandwiches between fried green tomato slices and fish tacos. Fish was skimpy in the tacos, but good flavor. Long slog home Wednesday and Thursday (800 miles), so nothing exceptional.

Must confess to never having had a dragon fruit. What do they taste like?

Call me a philistine, but I do love a crispy shell on a taco. Comes of growing up thinking Taco Bell was Mexican, I guess.

These would be a worthwhile purchase just for the cover art. Especially the one on the left. Now I have to look these up.

All set for seafood envy for two weeks. Please eat at least one scallop specfically for me. Lord, but I love 'em.

Shipping is rough, but if you don't find a local source, DiBruno Brothers in Philadelphia is always dependable. Clickety

Tyson's is huge. It produces more than half the prepared chicken products sold in US supermarkets. It'd be surprising if there weren't a sizeable number of recalls. That said, I once lived in Bentonville, near the Tyson headquarters in Springdale, amidst a covey of Tyson plants. I toured one once. It's one reason I don't buy grocery store chicken.

The eggnog is seriously good stuff. I am fascinated by the potential to brine olives and press olive oil. Would almost be enough to entice me to move to CA. Please report. I am preserving nothing, at least so far, since the move has occurred in the middle of gardening season. The good news is, I still have two (small) freezers and a pantry full of canned goods left from last year.

Did not know Mortgage Lifters (one of my favorite tomatoes) came in yellow. Must check this out. Thanks!

Oh, y'all are in my wheelhouse now. I grew up growing, picking, shucking, silking and eating sweet corn, and it may well be my favorite vegetable. Obviously the simplest and one of the best preps is corn on the cob (I prefer roasted to boiled, and you can get a fair approximation of that by shucking, slathering the ears in butter and your seasoning of choice, rewrapping in plastic, and microwaving for a couple of minutes for four ears if you don't have the grill going). But it's classic Southern "fried corn" that stands first in my heart. You cut just the outer portions of the corn kernel, then scrape the cobs to extract all the milk. For eight big ears, I use a half-stick of butter, melted in a big saute pan, and put the corn in over medium-high heat. Stir it frequently until it changes color, or more correctly, becomes somewhat translucent throughout. Turn the heat down to medium low, add about a half-cup of half-and-half (I did not say this was low cholesterol), stir well, and let simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes I don't even salt mine. Silver Queen is my corn of choice. It's not as sweet as G90 or peaches and cream or candy corn. I always make twice as much as I think we will eat, as the leftovers have multiple uses. I may make cornbread fritters, or just stir into a batch of baked cornbread, or use it in a corn pudding, or a corn chowder. It's tremendously versatile. And any leftovers I can always ship to @liuzhou.

Full blown peach season here in the Middle South. I've been buying them at the farmers' market for about a month, and we'll have another three weeks or so. I keep them on hand all the time; love them with yogurt or cottage cheese, to eat out of hand, in ice cream. And I have made an ancho peach sauce that is killer on pork tenderloin....if I could only remember where I stashed the recipe.

My never-fail recipe for lemon icebox pie: 2 cans condensed milk 5 eggs 3/4 cup lemon juice Beat well. Pour into graham cracker crumb crust and bake at 325 for 40 minutes. Cool and top with whipped cream, lightly sweetened. Makes 2 pies. Very little is any simpler, or any better. The egg yolks also do away with the coloring issue.

Heard this story on NPR while I was on the road this past week. Pretty fascinating.

Thanks for the recommendations, @donk79 and @Meanderer and @Kim Shook. Will take Staunton under advisement, and will definitely look up the Coffee Roasters place. Food today was average-to-below. I stopped in Trenton, Tn at the Cotton Cafe for lunch. Typical small town grill menu, ie, anything they can cook on a flat top. I had the hamburger steak platter. For what it was, it was good. HB steak was hand flattened on the grill, and had a nice crisp to the outside but was still juicy inside. Fries (I have a fondness for crinkle cut frozen fries) hit the sweet spot of crisp outside and creamy inside. I would have enjoyed some salad or slaw to round it out, but such was not available. I was offered bread and declined. Dinner, at the state park lodge where I'm staying, was served banquet style to about 50. It was pretty awful. A half-inch-thick slice of "prime" rib (it was far from prime) was cooked to a uniform dry grey throughout. An unrecognizable section of chicken (I think it was half a thigh and half a breast) had more juice than the beef, but had flabby skin and little flavor. A twice baked potato was badly overdone. A veggie medley of squash, broccoli and green pepper was about as boring as it could possibly be. Dinner was somewhat redeemed by a wedge of passably good chess pie, although for some reason it was garnished with a dollop of whipped topping and a tired strawberry half. We shall see what they do for breakfast.