kayb

I don't use that much heavy cream. Half and half is another story. A quart at Aldi is $1.98. The only time I see it that low is at Kroger when it's marked down because it's so close ot its sell-by date. And butter is $2.99 a pound; can't beat that anywhere else in town. I buy it five pounds at the time and put it in the freezer.

I put water in the pan, boil it on the stove, then scrub out with a brush. Usually loosens everything right up. If I have to repeat, I add a healthy dose of Kosher salt. For non-stick, and i like them for pancakes, eggs, and fried potatoes (I cannot make fried potatoes not stick in my cast iron or carbon steel pans), I have a set of two Calphalons, a 10-inch and a 12-inch, that I got at Bed Bath and Beyond 10 years or so ago. The smaller one, which sees more use, is about to need replacing. I'll look at Calphalon and Tramontina and go with the cheaper alternative.

But then I'd have to go to Walmart. Worth the extra 40 cents a pint not to have to do that.

Key lime pound cake. And baby pound cakes made with the excess batter.

Pastrami and swiss on pumpernickel, mustard, half-sours.

With a surfeit of fresh veggies in the fridge, and dinner plans that don't include them, along with air-lock fermenting lids and glass weights I haven't used, I decided to make some assorted ferments. From left, kimchi brussels sprouts, Russian sauerkraut made with red cabbage and cranberries, and Indian spiced cauliflower. They'll bask and bubble for a while, and then go into the fridge. And the color combo is pretty!

I love a coconut macaroon, and make them often for my celiac daughter. I use a bag of sweetened, flaked coconut; a half-cup of sugar, two eggs and a quarter cup of almond meal, with a little almond extract beaten into the eggs. This seems to give them enough cohesiveness to shape and bake. They do not last long around my house -- or hers! I am contemplating shaping some like nests for Easter, and putting jelly beans in them.

Got up this Monday morning to find it raining as though it intended to do so all day. Plus, it was that miserable chilly that 50 degrees can be after you've had a couple of days of spring 70-degree sunshine. There is only one thing to do: Make soup. At this moment, I am leaning toward posole, as I have a chunk of pork shoulder in the freezer, and a can of hominy, and I always have chicken broth and tomatoes. Any other thoughts? Posole would also call for arepas. With whole kernel corn and cotija in them. And I have a notion to bake something sweet and citrusy. Looks like a kitchen day to me.

I took @FeChef's advice. Worked like a charm for me. Smoked 3 hours, in the fridge overnight, then IP'd on steam for 45 minutes. Perfect.

Corned beef hash with an over easy egg. Obligatory egg porn.

I bought an electric tiller last week. Going to see if it will serve to till up the garden; not sure it's heavy-duty enough to do so. I've delayed longer than I should about getting someone in to do it with a bigger machine; I may do that, and then go over it again when I get ready to plant. I have all my seeds. Normally, I'd try to plant on Good Friday, but I may give it a little more time this year, in the event we have a long, chilly spring like we did last year. I will buy herb and tomato plants locally, and possibly some seed potatoes as well, though I have some Yukon Golds that seem to be sprouting away in my pantry as we speak...

@HungryChris -- Try the oysters at Drago's, in the Hilton down on the river. Love their char-grilled. My other two major recommendations would be shrimp and grits at Mr. B's Bistro in the Quarter, and breakfast at Brennan's. If there is a breakfast more sublime than their egg yolk tartare followed by Eggs Hussarde, all washed down with mimosas and good Louisiana coffee, I'm not sure I want to know about it. It is the only place in the world I will happily shell out 50 bucks for breakfast. Should you get tired of seafood (I never do, but...), you can get a fine steak at La Boca Argentine, off Tchopitoulas kind of on the boundary between the Central Biz District and the Warehouse District.

As Viscount Halifax said in the closing lines of Darkest Hour, "He mobilized the English language, and sent it into battle." A truly excellent piece of writing.

@dcarch -- I ought to be used to your astonishing presentations by now, but sometimes, you do something that makes me sit up and say, "Wow." That plate did. Just gorgeous. I'm saying you certainly win the "loveliest corned beef" award. Again. Oh, and what's the pesto-looking stuff?

Thanks for the link. Bookmarked, and i'll be trying them for the middle child soon.

It was a most excellent dinner. The brisket was only four pounds, not the five I'd guessed. I cut it in two pieces and plunked it in the IP. Ninety minutes pressure cook, 10 minutes NPR, dipped out a few ladlefulls of broth to cook the cabbage because there was no room, added the potatoes and carrots. Put it back on for another 10 minutes, another 10 NPR. Veggies probably could have done with seven or eight minutes, but they weren't harmed. Meanwhile, I cooked the cabbage in the stock on top of the stove just until it still had some body to it, but was perfectly tender. Corned beef was a tad salty, which surprised me, as it was the Ruhlman brine, which last year was perfect. May have been the fact I left it 10 days, rather than the week he recommends? I thought when one reached equilibrium there was no corresponding increase in saltiness for length of time brining. Am I wrong? Nevertheless, it'll make fine sandwiches and hash. Looking forward to both.

I could eat my weight in Cracker Barrel hash brown casserole.

Oh, honey. Go get you a jar of those big whole kosher dill pickles. Pour off the brine. Make up a pitcher of cherry KoolAid, using only 3/4 of the water called for. Pour it over the pickles. Set them in the fridge for a week. Trust me on this. A staple of the Little League ballpark in the South.

Have you ever had a Koolickle?

I tend to think it had more to do with the area of the South in which I grew up. Pre-CW, it was only sparsely settled, and slavery never really took hold there, so the aftermath, up to and through Civil Rights, was not nearly as bad as in many areas. It was in the 70s when I moved to Memphis, which is a much, much different culture than where I grew up.

I'm with you on steak fries' dimensions. I consider "shoestrings," in the French fry world, to be the size of McDonald's fries; maybe a quarter-inch square.

Interestingly, I grew up in the south during the Civil Rights years and have lived here all my life, and I never heard watermelon used as a derogatory or racist slur until the 80s or later. Actually, they'd be used as a derogatory slur toward young men of any race. Melons, both watermelon and cantaloupe, were a sizeable cash crop when I was growing up, and a young man who could not or would not hold a job was referred to as a "worthless watermelon-theiving" type. As my birthday was at the end of June, about the time we'd harvest the first melons providing we hadn't had to replant due to a washout or late freeze. I generally asked for a birthday watermelon instead of a birthday cake.

A Bosc pear, blue cheese and Castelvetrano olives, perhaps my favorite olive on the planet.

Thanks. I'm assuming I'll have to cut it at least in two, possibly in three, for it to fit. I'll plan accordingly.

Going to be putting my 5-pound brisket in the IP before too long. I've forgotten how long I cooked it last year. I'm thinking 60 minutes (this is a grass-fed, range-finished steer, so he's a bit more toothsome than grain-finished beef), because I want it really tender. Advice?