kayb

Are their fruits you absolutely MUST have with salt?I have three: tomatoes, watermelon and canteloupe.

One of my favorite combos is pickled quail eggs with chunks of knockwurst (pickled as well). I canned 10 pints of those for Christmas gift baskets one year, and had calls for repeats.

To be truly canonical (as in Arkansas trailer park canonical), it should be served over a block of Philadelphia cream cheese. With Ritz crackers.

Not in my world.

Y'all are putting onions in Jezebel sauce? Sacrilege! True Jezebel sauce has two ingredients: Preserves and prepared horseradish. Lots of horseradish.

Mark me down in the butter-on-the-counter camp. I like to butter my bread before I toast it. I grew up in a margarine-in-the-fridge household with toast made in the oven under the broiler, buttered in advance. As the margarine was not spreadable, I have vivid recollections of slices of toasted bread with four little buttery squares, and nice golden brown all around them.

We specified the fridge would stay, since it matches the other appliances and I don't want to put my white one in that spot (It's garage-bound as extra fridge space). They were OK with it. So everything conveys. @dcarch, a rolling island with locking casters is in the plans. Afraid the floor outlet is not, as the house is built on a slab and a floor outlet would be a major undertaking. Hadn't thought about lighting over the sink; may need that. Ditto may need to move smoke alarm.

I may find it wider than I want, but I think an island where they have the two-seater table will be the answer. I found one on overstock.com that I like. White, same style as cabinets, but a butcher-block top as I would never be able to match the granite. The floor is a ceramic tile that is designed to look like wood. It has a sort of gray-ish, "pickled" finish. It goes throughout the foyer, kitchen, dining room, den, laundry area, etc. I love it because it's just about indestructible. Now, that's one I don't know. I will have to look. The stove (and fridge) are Samsung. Got to give these folks credit; when they redid the kitchen, they did NICE appliances. I believe the oven is dual-option; I honestly did not check. The fridge actually has an iPad built into the door. If you use the last of the milk, you scan the bar code with the iPad, and it puts milk on your grocery list. Add "fridge" to the list of appliances that are smarter than I am. Our offer's been countered, and the counter accepted. Closing targeted for May 30. Y'all come help pack, or unpack. There will be food and booze. I am determined all that will be on the countertop at all times are the coffee maker, CSO, stand mixer and canisters. Did not realize what I thought was a broom closet is actually a second pantry. Both pantries have slide-out shelves, which please me tremendously. Will post quantities of photos once we get moved and all is set up.

What really cool ideas! I'd like to hear more about some examples of the "stuffs."

Any dinner would be wonderful with that cute little guy.

No, not yet. We've made an offer, but are prepared to go their full asking price if we have to. It's priced in line with the market here. You just always have to see if they have any wiggle room in their pricing, and the house has been on the market for four months, so... But I'm saying it'll take a good 30 days from the time the offer's accepted before we can close, and move-in after that. I'll be well pleased if we can get in by mid-June.

No, the stove isn't induction. It's just a solid-surface electric. That's just a hot pad lying next to the stove. I have a dark granite block I'll likely sit there.

The KA is one thing I intend to leave on the counter, if possible. It's too danged heavy to move back and forth. But yes, those cabinets are large enough to store if it I decide I need to do that. I once had the KA on a sturdy rolling cart I kept in a closet. It's occurred to me to go back to that idea. Bottom shelf of cart serves well for baking supplies, etc.

I actually have my very own fainting couch! (They have two!) It IS lower. I had not thought of it as an advantage in kneading/rolling dough, but it certainly would be. I was more or less thinking of that area of cabinet as a baking center, anyway.... I expect that Jonesboro, Arkansas, is a bit outside your commute area. Housing values are da bomb, though. 2,500 SF, 1-acre lot, nice neighborhood, about 250K.

Well, it seems I am about to buy a new house and move across town. The kitchen is what sold me on our choice. Here are a few pictures: I expect the small table will go when the current occupants move, so I'll be looking to get a small island for the center. But a big goal will be for all the stuff that lives on top of my counters now to find a new home in a cabinet somewhere.

OK. I'm cowardly. Since I didn't cook it tonight....I'm tossing it.

OK. Got a question. I took a package of chicken breasts out of the freezer and put them in the fridge to thaw about 10 days ago, and forgot them. They're in a vacuum sealed package. Safe or not safe?

Huh. My Amazon US log-in does not work on Amazon Canada. Go figger. But then, I think I have Rob's book. I went after Sunday Brunches, only to find I bought it last year. If anybody ever runs across John Currence's book, "Big Bad Breakfast" cookbook on sale, btw, I recommend grabbing it.

I hope the opener was a massive success!

I have a Wilton bundt pan that I spray canola oil spray on and then flour; it has some sort of a non-stick surface to start with. Has always worked pretty well for me. But because it makes a Big Dang Cake, I tend toward dividing my batter between a couple of 7 1/2 x 3 1/2 loaf pans and baking in those, and just freezing one of the cakes.

When we used to make ice cream and use any kind of fruit -- watermelon, peaches, strawberries, cherries, what-have-you -- we'd always puree the fruit first. I am personally a major fan of fresh peach ice cream.

I find Shirley Corriher's Cookwise to be a good intro for people who know little about cooking. I've give that, as well as Bittman's HTCE, several times for wedding gifts when I knew people had an interest in cooking but little experience.

Glad to know someone else does this. I will sit down with a cookbook and read it like a novel, but when it comes to needing a specific recipe for something, unless I'm going to a tried-and-true in a specific cookbook, nine times out of 10 I'll look online.

I do asparagus in the CSO as described above, too. But I think my favorite is simmered in a skillet for a minute or two in a half-cup water and a copious quantity of butter, until the water evaporates, and then sizzled in the remaining butter until it develops a little browning.

Due to circumstances at least some of which were beyond my control, Easter dinner got pushed to the side. So I'm eating junk; will make a pilgrimage out to the crawfish place later this afternoon for three or four pounds of boiled crawfish, because that sounds good; and recycle the turkey breast (which never got brined) by brining tonight and smoking it tomorrow, and make the sugar snaps into a salad with viniagrette, and maybe cook one pound of the asparagus or just blanch it and throw it in with the sugar snaps in a salad. In a viniagrette dressing, I can eat on that and smoked turkey most of the week. I did make Good Friday service and the 11 a.m. today, although sunrise service went by the wayside.