kayb

Whoo hoo! Welcome to the Dark Side! Just remember to shield with foil anything that's too close to the top baking element. I use my CSO more than any appliance in my kitchen except for my coffee maker.

@Kim Shook -- Happy birthday! Your dinner looked spectacular! @Shelby== = You may have my share of all the pig ears in the world.

Ham (vacuum packed and frozen since Easter. Potato salad. Cucumber and onion salad.

Huh. The one I had originally used had the grits, referenced in the recipe. They involve milk, heavy cream, and mascarpone, and by my calculations, had about 1,200 calories and God knows how much fat per serving. I just make grits according to the package recipe (quick grits are fine, instant are not, and old-fashioned are fine but not necessary, if it' with half whole milk and half water, and four ounces of cream cheese for every four servings. I do recommend par-cooking the bacon, particularly if it's thick, in order for it to get crispy as the shrimp cooks.

You have to use the very cheapest, thin bacon, or par-cook it and then wrap the shrimp. I also generally just fry in the bacon fat. And I do a significantly lighter treatment of grits than the heart-attack-inducing Mr. B's recipe with all the heavy cream and mascarpone cheese and such. Light cream cheese and whole milk serves just fine.

Aldi's generally has them. And at a good price.

George needs to die. He will eat your tomato plants.

Fun! Another place I'd love to go, but likely never will. Thanks for taking us along!

Put a freshly baked pineapple upside down cake (or any other baked good) on a stove burner to cool. Then I will, as a result, never again turn on the wrong burner, beneath it. An explosion and small stovetop fire ensued. As did much profanity. I also threw out the saucepan full of diced potatoes that were boiling for potato salad, for fear the glass shards had gotten in there, too. Judging from the sound effects as they went down the disposal, one had. I have retreated to the couch with wine.

What can I say? I like balance. If the beans and slaw are good.

This one right here. Hands down. I've eaten shrimp and grits all over the South, and these are The Best I've Ever Had. Clickety That said, they call the sauce "red-eye gravy." It is not. No matter. It's so good you'll want to drink it. I do use a little less sugar.

Push comes to shove, get in touch. The barbecue place here sells a huge bag of 'em for $2.99, best ones I ever ate. I can pick up a bag ad ship to you

Have mercy! Those are gorgeous.

I order sandwiches like that right regularly, particularly when ordering barbecue. A barbecue plate (meat, sides, Texas toast or roll) is usually too much meat, but not really enough to save for another meal. If I get a sandwich plate with no bun, it's just right on the meat portion.

Two experiments and an old standby, dehydrated tomatoes. Wound up with a cup of Romas and red grape tomatoes, and a cup of Sungolds. Experiment No. 1. Dried sage and basil. Certainly smells stro.ger and fresher than the commercial variety. Think I will store it in the freezer. Any advice? Experiment No. 2. Sauercorn. Had six ears in the fridge that needed to be used. Regular 3 per cent brine. We'll see in a week.

The CSO is assuredly magical. Max's looks like the kind of place I do not need to go in. "I'll have" one of each, please!

No recent cooking as I've been out of town for several days due to a death in the family. Did eat dinner with friends a couple of evenings; @rotuts will sympathize with me that I ate stuffed bell peppers -- except I ate the stuffing (which was venison-based and very good) and left the peppers. Another night was ribs, cooked in a smoker and then finished on a hot grill -- very, very good, with perhaps a tad more kick from cayenne than I would prefer. And a slab of absolutely marvelous, moist, strawberry cake with strawberry cream cheese ice cream. I did notice the pear tree up home, which has not borne any pears for the last couple of years, is loaded down. There will be much pear preserve making this fall! I guess the old tree (it's near 50 years old) has to rest a couple of years in between big crops. It will be pear harvest time in mid-September.

If that had a few slices of ripe tomato with it. it would be as close to as breakfast could get. Have been out of town for an unplanned four-day trip (death in the family). Made some bacon, eggs, home fries one morning for breakfast, along with some biscuits.Was quite excellent. Can't get my phone to transfer the pic, sadly.

Cooler weather has lessened the incidence of blossom end rot on the tomatoes. Cucumbers have slowed down somewhat. I have a good crop of lima beans on the vines, but they aren't filling out yet. Green beans are slow to come along.

The promised shrimp and beer. I got through almost the whole pound.

Not that you need any suggestions on what to do with either that cheese or that steak...but the best steak I ever had was seared on the grill, and once it was flipped, topped with some caramelized onions and crumbles of blue cheese. I love burgers that way, too.

That tuna roll is a thing of beauty. As is the sunset.

Ooohh. That sounds wonderful. I've done pork with ancho peach sauce that was to die for. My favorite stuffing is rehydrated dried apples, sauteed onions, some caraway, and soaked and pulverized rye berries. I've braised that in apple juice, which I then reduced down to a syrupy glaze.

Ah. I shall do that.

As I'd been making pickles all day, I didn't want to cook, so we tried a new Asian takeout place. Chinese-American standards, as well as some Thai and Korean. I had "chicken bulgogi." Very good, tiny strips of chicken sauteed in bulgogi sauce that was appropriately sweet with more than a touch of heat to it. Steamed rice. Child A had sweet and sour chicken and pronounced it very light and fresh. We may have found a keeper. No delivery, but it's convenient to pick up.