kayb

Glad to have you! Would love to see some of your photography. Some great chocoltiers in here. Me, I'm an expert at eating them.

I don't have a photo, but it occurs to me this would be a good recipe to share. I have become something of the default snack-provider for my Sunday school class, due to my tendency to get up on Sunday morning and bake muffins. Yesterday, I did a cherry-almond-coconut one, and only thought to post it when I saw the sliced almonds in @Anna N's post, above. The recipe is my go-to muffin recipe, with the specific additions: 2 cups flour 1 cup sugar 1 1/2 tsp soda 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 1 egg, lightly beaten 1 cup milk 1 1/2 tsp almond flavoring 1/2 stick butter, melted 1 cup unsweetened coconut 1 cup sliced almonds 1 small bag dehydrated cherries Whisk together first five ingredients. Beat together next four ingredients. Stir wet into dry, just until moistened. Fold in cherries, almonds and coconut. Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake 20-25 minutes at 350F. Serve warm with an obscene amount of butter. The base muffin recipe, with vanilla instead of almond flavoring, is the Peabody Hotel in Memphis' vanilla muffin recipe. It lends itself to most any add-ins you can think to throw in it (it's killer with fresh blueberries), takes well to a streusel topping, and will convert quickly to a savory muffin by reducing or eliminating the sugar (good smoky bacon and cheese are wonderful in it, with soup or stew). It's one of those recipes I couldn't live without. I generally use whole milk because that's what I have on hand, and I have used half-and-half in a pinch. I think it'd work just fine with two percent.

FWIW, I can strongly recommend Arsaga at the Depot in Fayetteville (the restaurant, not the coffee-and-pastry shop just off the square) for breakfast. Good coffee, too.

Canned salmon was a mainstay in our house, in the form of salmon patties. Salmon, beaten egg, salt, pepper, flour, pan fried over medium heat. We had them at least twice a month.

Rouladen. Pound it thin, salt and pepper, wrap it around a bratwurst and a dill pickle spear, wrap that in bacon. Brown. Simmer in red wine with caraway and juniper berries for an hour or so. Guaranteed tender and tasty. Tastier, the better bratwurst and pickle you use. Greatly assisted by some red cabbage and German potato salad.

Laissez led bon temps roulez!

I'll take your word for it. It was introduced to me as NYC style. Where has Papa's absconded to? To tell you the truth, I don't know that I ever had pizza in NY. (Though I can testify to the pastrami sandwich at Stage Deli.}

The very best NY style pizza I ever had in my life was in Trenton, NJ, at Papa's Tomato Pies. 20 years ago, but my mouth still waters for it. Have never before or since had such a fine pizza.

Check fare into Memphis. If it's cheaper, I could pick you up there and we could ride up. I'd be glad of the company.

I checked Amazon and found a couple of books, neither of which impressed me. I recommend going to southernfoodways.org and searching for "country ham." That yields interviews with several long-time makers. You can also go to the websites of most of the major producers (Benton's, Father's, Broadbent, etc.) and most will have an intro that will give their history and a few insights into the curing of ham. What I remember about curing ham, something we didn't do after I was maybe 10 or 11, was butchering the hogs and breaking out the back legs; my best recollection is the skin would be left on. The legs would go into the "salt box, a three foot square box with about six inches of salt inside it. They'd be arranged, skin side up, on the salt, and then covered with salt. If we were curing enough hams, another layer would go on top of that, topped off with more salt. I don't recall how long they'd stay in the cure, but a couple or three weeks, at least. Then they'd come out of the cure and be encased in a "sock," a loosely knit sleeve of material, with a knot tied in each end, loosely wrapped in butcher paper, and hung in the smokehouse. They'd be smoked for a few days, and then left to hang in the smokehouse all winter, until it started getting warm. Then they'd move to the cellar or springhouse to continue to hang until we were ready to cut one. We never cured a city ham, but my understanding is it's a wet brine for a much shorter time (24-48 hours), then allowed to dry overnight and then smoked or baked.

Nor would I likely have my CSO, my Instant Pot, nor about a gazillion cookbooks. On the whole, I'm saying I'm ahead.

Wow! A pair of home runs, I'd say!

Sounds like it may be time to file a formal complaint with his boss.

You won't go wrong with Hebrew National.

Re: Canada geese In my location squarely atop the Mississippi Flyway, we get ginormous flocks of Canada geese stopping off at lakes and flooded fields en route one direction or t'other. In the last 20 years, we're seeing increasing numbers of snow geese (which my former boss, who was also one of the region's big farmers, used to refer to as "sky carp"). And in the last couple of years, I'm seeing what appears to be a mixed goose -- varied gray on its back and wings like a Canada, but almost solid white on its underside like a snow. You also see the flocks mixed together roosting in a field -- literally thousands of both breeds (it's still a thrilling site to see a whole field of 'em lift off at almost the same time). Obviously the two breeds have become quite good friends.

A cheater's version involves breaded and frozen chicken tenders, marinara sauce, mozzarella and parmesan. Fry the tenders, assemble, run under the broiler to melt the cheese. It'll do when you're cooking dinner at the kids' house and working with what you've got on hand.

I do love a latke. I have, on occasion when I wanted to go all out for lunch, done a sort of eggs benedict construction using latkes, pastrami, an over-easy egg and hollandaise. Pretty wonderful.

A country ham is one that's dry-cured over a long period of time, producing a proscuitto-like product that's very dry to start with. It generally comes uncooked.Typical cooking method for American country ham may involve soaking it to remove some of the salt, then baking or roasting in a sauce, or frying. Some people will boil an entire country ham, and then fry slices to crisp them up a bit. A "city ham," or as my family used to call them, "packing house ham," is one that's not cured nearly as long and is often either hot-smoked or otherwise cooked before selling. That's the typical spiral-sliced hams or other packed-in-plastic hams you find in the grocery. Most, but not all, have water or some such solution injected into them, and in any case, they're a much more moist product. Country ham is a much stronger flavor, and it's quite tough if not cooked for a long time in a wet medium of some sort. There's a definite funk to it, as well as the strong saltiness. City hams are the ones that are most often glazed with a sweet glaze. Deli ham is a close cousin of city ham. I have to confess that, while hearing about Smithfield hams often, I have never had one and don't know where they fall on that spectrum. You didn't ask, but I will tell you the Appleton Farms spiral sliced half-ham from Aldi is one of the best city hams you can get, at least as far as I'm concerned. I order my country ham in pre-sliced packages, either breakfast steaks or biscuit pieces, from Broadbent's in Kentucky.

At my favorite diner, you order and pay at the counter, they write your name on your ticket, and call your name when your lunch is ready. I love it that they know my name and just write it down.

Pretty simple. Halved green and black grapes, coarsely chopped pecans. Dressing is cream cheese, lime juice and a little powdered sugar. A church pot-luck favorite round these parts.

I always glaze and roast cooked hams at 300, 20 minutes per pound. Tent with foil, but don't cover tightly. Doesn't dry out.

Quiche, and grape salad. Quiche was good but could have been a bit more done.

Grrrr. I bought a block of Gruyere last week with the express purpose in mind of making quiche. Today was the day for that quiche. I ransacked the cheese drawer, the veggie crisper, and all the shelves, and the Gruyere Is Not There. I guess the fridge has eaten it, because I haven't, and the children would just as soon have supermarket cheddar or American (Philistines!). I used Fontina instead, along with Parmigiano and chopped leftover ham from Saturday. Just popped it in the oven. Photos later.

I have, in my hot sauce basket in the cabinet: Tabasco Crystal Louisiana Cholula Pappadeaux Who Dat's Cajun Reserve (very regional, made by an area Cajun restaurant and sold only there, that I know of) Pickapeppa Chile garlic sauce Sriracha A couple of other Asian chile sauces "Pepper sauce," made as my Mama always made it, by packing tiny peppers into a bottle, pouring white vinegar over them, and letting it sit for a couple or three months. If I could only have one, it'd be Pickapeppa.

I have rarely, if ever, met a cheese I didn't like, albeit some took a lot longer to warm up to. But if I had to pick two I couldn't live without, I guess they'd be Parmigiano and a good extra sharp Cheddar. But damn, I hope I don't ever have to cut down to that.