kayb

If it meant no more breakfasts like that, I'd be sad, too. This, however, makes me happy. I have had orange juice and coffee. I'm about to make a grocery run (because I am out of EVERYTHING, including laundry detergent, and I have no clean underwear!), and I will contemplate breakfast at that point.

I've read about these crusts. How'd it do with the toppings? I've contemplated trying one, as my daughter has celiac disease, and regular GF pizza dough leaves, well, something to be desired.

Yes, we grow lots of stone fruit, and no, no (or very little) citrus. I think we might could manage citrus in high-tunnel greenhouses. Re: use of space and "anyone can be a grower." I was amazed and impressed in Japan to see almostvall single family homes outside the cities using every square inch of yard space for fruit and vegetable production. I loved it.

Here's one that caught my eye as I was browsing through Local Palate. Looks lovely. I'm anxious for a visit myself, to try it.

You might think about shredded chicken instead of beef. I think that's more traditionally served with cocoa (mole) sauce.

Thanks! The kids enjoy mama's Sunday dinners. And I enjoy cooking them.

@pjm333 I believe I may have gained five pounds by just looking at those. The dulce de leche cookies look something like alfajores. I made those a few years back for Christmas cookies. A lot of work, but quite tasty. I'd love to know more about the pine nut tarts, as I have pine nuts in the freezer.

Huh. So I've been making chicken-fried steak all this time and didn't know it. Pfffth, Dear Old Google. It's Country Fried Steak.

Same thing, different terminology, I think. I'll have to drag out the big camera and document if I do it Sunday; camera on the new cell phone is NOT very good. , There's a photo of the results here, on my blog. I may repeat that exact meal Sunday. Wish I had some fresh tomatoes to slice.

Sigh. As I was stricken about 9 last night with an urge to bake cookies, which persists this morning, I got the SoNo book. Anybody got a good molasses cookie recipe? I think that's what I'm jonesing for.

I love a schnitzel (it's about the only way I care for veal). I love a pork tenderloin sandwich from a diner somewhere in downstate Illinois. I love a tonkatsu in Tokyo. But if you're in the South, particularly the Mid-South-to-Texas swatch of it, your "schnitzel" is country fried steak. Round steak, jacquarded and then pounded thin (back side of my heavy cleaver works marvelously). Salted, peppered, dipped in flour, egg wash, bread crumbs, fried in hot vegetable oil. ALWAYS sauced -- with white gravy. Served with mashed potatoes. Prepared properly, it's the food of the gods. Since round steak tends toward the tough, even with jacquarding and pounding, I've taken to sous viding my naked steaks at 125 or so for three or four hours, then cooling, going through the flour/eggwash/breadcrumb treatment and frying. Pretty nearly perfect. They make a good sandwich, on a hamburger bun with spicy mayo and lots of lettuce, and I've rolled them around a stuffing like braciole and then breaded and fried as well. Or sub a tomato and onion sauce for the white gravy and call it Swiss steak. I was thinking braciole for Sunday dinner. It may be country fried steak instead.

x 3.

Glad you're better. And, but for the peppers, the salad looks wonderful.

I would get some GOOD bacon (Benton, Nueske's, Petit Jean, etc.) and dice it up and render it until it was quite crispy, then take it out and set it aside. Then I'd add a couple of anchovy filets to the skillet, smush those up, and add red wine. Let it reduce by about half, add about as much half as much beef stock as you did red wine, and let it reduce some more. If you want it thicker, you can dip out some sauce, whisk in a little cornstarch, and add it back.

Here's the recipe I use. Can't testify as to how authentic it is. I've also added chopped, cooked shrimp to mine, very successfully. I have used regular or panko bread crumbs instead of tempura bits. I have diced up water chestnuts to add, just because I love 'em in anything. I tend to serve two sauces with it -- a sriracha mayo, and another one I sort of gin up out of soy sauce and sweet chili sauce.

If it's just me around the house/office, it's driven entirely by my work schedule. If I'm working at a client's site, chances are I'll eat lunch out, and that frequently means just a snack around 6:30 or 7 for dinner. I generally try, unless I have to hit the road early, to eat a "healthy" breakfast with a protein and some fruit and whatever else I find handy, around 7:30 or 8, after I've had my first cup of coffee and gotten used to the idea of being alive. I tend toward a later lunch -- 1 to 1:30 or so.

There are two issues at play. One, there's no infrastructure for it. No canneries, no freezer plants. And you can't entice anyone to build one if they don't see a ready supply of fruits and veggies to feed into it. That's why I'm trying to focus initially on getting fresh produce production started; less point-of-origin infrastructure needed, just refrigerated transport, and we have plenty of access to that. The second issue is somewhat more problematic. Traditional economic development incentives have been geared toward manufacturing and distribution, and more recently toward technology. Very little out there for agri producers unless there's a value-added segment (canning, freezing) in the production chain. Trying to get THAT locomotive to change direction is...not easy. But yeah, I'm working on it. I needed a new windmill at which to tilt, anyway.

Made an interesting soup t'other night. It started out somewhat like French onion soup....caramelized onions, added some wine. Had mushrooms I needed to use, so I threw those in while the onions were caramelizing. Decided I wanted it to be beefy, so I put some stew beef in the IP with water and a little bouillon base and cooked it. Transferred the onions and mushrooms to the IP. Added some farro toward the end because, well, it seemed like a good idea. Very hearty, stick-to-your-ribs style soup. Went a tad heavy on the herbs de Provence.

What are the specialties at your restaurant? Please tell us about them, and it!

I named the first calf we ever raised for slaughter (after I helped deliver him). Could NOT eat Frosty. Never named another one.

Extremely forgettable food at the political fundraiser/watch party. Good beer, though, from the local homebrew club. Had a pineapple cider that was quite excellent. Came home at halftime, but couldn't be bothered to fix anything else to eat.

That makes me cringe. Big-time.

It was sleeting here earlier tonight. Wonder how quickly I can book a flight down your way.... Have to be out of town on business the next 3 days. Need to pull my brisket out of the freezer and get it thawed and brining when I get back, I guess. Best I recall, it's a nice sized piece, so I'll split it into corned beef and pastrami, now that I have the smoker. (And the next place I'm contemplating going, on business, is Denver at the end of February. It snows and such in Denver, the end of February. A lot. I may have lost my mind.)

There'll be much corning of beef going on. Another recipe will be most well accepted.

Thanks. Saved it! Cooking pork shoulder tonight, but I'm jonesing for German, so it's going to be braised in cider with caraway, juniper berries and allspice. Served with egg noodles, red cabbage, and cucumber salad.