kayb

Any of you who haven't bought this and are contemplating, it's now down to $1.20 for the ebook (US Prime price). I've been reading it this afternoon and I highly commend it to you. It's worth it for the travelogue alone, and the recipes sound luscious. (Man'oushe' also arrived via the mail today, so I'm all up in the mood for Middle Eastern cuisine). Cabbage dolmas and Lebanese flatbread are on my list for this week. And the Georgian walnut sauce sounds absolutely marvelous. I'm thinking it would be fine over the still-refrigerated roasted chicken. Taste of Persia

That's just wrong.

I did when using regular milk, and when I mixed powdered milk at regular strength. I like thick, Greek-style yogurt (which it looks like what you're getting; kudos!). And it hit me one day....why add extra water and then strain it out as whey? So I went to the double strength. Yogurt strainer, however, does excellent duty for ricotta. Which is the highest and best use of about-to-go-south milk.

I have been using Fage as my starter (a single serve cup). Ran across a couple of packs of powdered starter in the freezer, and decided to use them on the last batch, in the name of clearing out the freezer. Much, much tarter than my Fage yogurt. I like Fage better. I use Nestle powdered milk (Nido Fortificado, with all its additives --- I know, I know -- you can also order the Frontier natural dry milk powder from Amazon, if you wish), and mix it twice the strength called for. Requires no straiing. I'm all about eliminating steps. Just emptied my container today. Need to make more yogurt tomorrow.

If your local market carries it, get some Rendezvous seasoning. I'm not a fan of Rendezvous 'cue nor their ribs (for which Memphis is famous, damned if I see why), but their rub is very good. If your market doesn't carry it, you can get it here. I do not recommend ordering their ribs shipped to you; they're highly overrated. Though I could eat my weight in their cole slaw. Not crazy about their sauce, either, but their dry rub is the best.

50 pieces of cast iron? Color me well and truly impressed. I have five -- three skillets, an oval gratin dish and a round baker I bought specifically because it fit the CSO. And I'm from Tennessee, the home of Lodge Cast Iron. Well, I AM from West Tennessee, and Lodge is on the other end of the state. And it's a long state.

A whole shoulder, to cook properly to the point of easy pulling, takes 18 hours if cooked "right," i.e., Memphis style. We did it with no dry rub but with a regular mop with a vinegar based barbecue sauce. A butt, of course, being, what, a third of the size of a shoulder? A quarter? Should take correspondingly less time. We used to start cooking at 150F, and increase it by 25-degree increments until we finished up at 250 for a couple of hours to set the bark. A good bark takes two hours at that heat to really mature. I need to cook a couple of shoulders this summer. Been a long time. My father could cook the best ones in the world.

My garden plots are now broken up, and I have the material for four raised beds, at least one of which will go inside the fenced plot away from the predatory bunnies. That's destined for asparagus; I don't guess I'm moving, so I'll go ahead and start an asparagus bed. Not sure what the rest will be. I'm thinking one at one end of the tomato garden for peppers, and one at the other end for onions and potatoes. The grandlittles demanded sunflower seeds, so I shall plant sunflowers for them. I've never grown sunflowers before. Also got zinnias and marigolds for a border, as one of those is good to ward off pests, but I forget which it is, so I bought both. Will till in some additional compost when we dry out after tomorrow's predicted rain, and then plant near mid-month. Supposed to be down in the upper 30s tonight. I think we're past last-frost danger, but who knows? I've seen snow in May, too.

My God. Pineapple sticky buns. The yeast dough I'd put in the freezer for kolaches may have just found a different use. Those are gorgeous.

After the grandson decided at 3 a.m. it was morning, I was not at my best for Easter lunch. Fortunately, I had mostly cooked yesterday, so today was a matter of warming up and cooking the green things. Which I managed to screw up. Forgot about the green peas (I love to cook a mixture of shelled and sugar snaps in the shell) and steamed them too long. The asparagus, just pan-sauteed with some asiago grated over it, was pretty much perfect, though. The Aldi Appleton Farms ham was predictably good (and on sale for 99 cents a pound! I bought two and stashed one in the freezer), as was the old standby corn casserole. Deviled eggs, in a trick I think I learned on here, were boiled and the filling prepped last night. Whites went in one plastic bag, filling in another. Set the whites out on the plate, snipped the corner off the filling bag, and piped them full. Easy peasy. First candied sweet potatoes I've made in eons. I found my mother's recipe, which is simplicity in and of itself. Boil six small potatoes (I steamed them in the IP); peel and cut in half. Heat in a saucepan 1 cup white Karo syrup, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 stick butter. Pour over potatoes in baking dish, and baste occasionally when baking. Bake 1 hour in 325-degree oven. Thought about adding cinnamon, nutmeg, etc., but declined.

I figure John Wesley was methodical enough for me and him both.

@Duvel -- good looking corned beef. I saw Peter Rabbit with the grands last week. Cute movie.

Me either. Probably use mine 1x or 2x a week.

This Methodist has never eaten a matzah ball. I should remedy that. I make a fine latke, though.

I picked up a pair of Calphalon non-sticks on sale at Bed, Bath and Beyond, oh, must have been 15 years ago. They're only now starting to break down, and they've seen a LOT Of use. I may chunk them and buy two more just like them.

My poor, misbegotten chicken. I got him out of the brine whenever I did it, and let him dry in the fridge for what wound up being two days. I spatchcocked him today and roasted him at 425 for 40 minutes and set him aside, while I was in the throes of cooking ahead for Easter dinner. Now I'm sick of the kitchen and don't want anything to eat. So I guess he'll go in a big plastic bag and decamp back to the fridge. He'll be good next week.

Mayonnaise. On white bread. I wanted to cry.

OK. I don't do a lot of sweet stuff. And I particularly don't do "cute." But doggone it, this is cute, if I did make it myownself. I've wanted for years to fold some traditional Passover dishes into the family's Easter celebration. This year, I made a start at it. The little coconut-covered critters are Haroseth Truffles, recipe on the NYT cooking site. They were quite easy to make, and seemed amenable to substitutions (Plums for the apricots I Could Not Find in the pantry, walnuts for pistachios, orange juice for pomegranate). And then in keeping with the Easter side of things, I shaped some coconut macaroons into bird nests, and filled them with tiny Whoppers robin egg malted milk balls and Starburst jellybeans. It's an ecumenical Easter/Passover dessert.

Does it count that I got out two packages of corn for the corn casserole for Easter dinner?

I used to keep a spare cylinder on hand for that very purpose. Aggravating-est thing there is.

$1.89 at Aldi, $2.49 at Kroger.

I brought home three pounds of crawfish from a boil once; sat and tediously picked out the tails, put them aside, netting, what, 2/3 of a pound of tail meat, max? I was going to make crawfish pies. Until my daughter came in late that night and used them to make herself a sandwich. I let her live. Barely. It was a struggle.

I like the local honey idea, or if there's anything else for which the local area is particularly known. If it were a larger group, I might bring a bottle of wine, particularly if that's the custom in your 'hood. But if they're new, and this is a one-on-one get-to-know-you, I'd bring something that doesn't have to have anything done with it at the moment.

Thought I'd already bought Taste of Persia, but turns out I hadn't, or Amazon doesn't recall that I have. So now I have.

That looks good. I had to save that recipe. It reminds me a bit of the crabmeat cheesecake from Palace Cafe, which was my first encounter with savory cheesecake (and I very nearly, as my grandmother would have said, "foundered myself." Recipe here.