kayb

Don't get me started on vision statements, particularly when a government agency does them. Much fluffing up and proclamation, and damn little meat on the bones. I'm very curious about the future of agriculture in CA, given the water availability situation. Not so much the almonds and avocadoes, but more the lettuces, grapes, fruits of the Central Valley. We have three major commercial growing areas for those crops in the US, and two of them are running short on water. I live in an area in nearly the same latitude, which is very economically depressed, and which has an abundance of water. It's a potential economic driver I'm looking at for the Lower Mississippi Valley, and I think it has the potential to turn this part of the nation around.

What @Anna N said. That's gorgeous.

I like it on graham crackers. But I tire of it quickly.

A poached or fried egg on a leftover baked potato with cheese and bacon is one of my favorite breakfasts. Sometimes I'll just bake a couple of small potatoes -- tennis ball sized -- and flatten them with a potato masher, brush the top with butter, sprinkle with salt, pepper, cheese and bacon, broil it, and then top with an egg. Tough to beat.

Do you shred and dress a big portion of cabbage all at once, or do it as you make your sandwich?

Well, yes...sorta. It heats only from the bottom, not from the sides, so the cooking is a bit different. Also, I've read where people experience a bit of difficulty in getting the cooking setting (low, normal, high) adjusted to suit them. But mostly, the reason I retired the crock pot is that the IP negates 85 percent or more of the reasons for using it. I might well try the onions in it, though. There are still things I don't want to make in the IP; I made carbonnades a la flamande the other day, and I started them in the Dutch oven on top of the stove before moving them to the oven for a low, slow four-hour braise. Some things are just better cooked that way.

I love cabbage shredded like that and dressed with oil and vinegar on a sandwich. Most any sandwich. And on a taco.

H'mm. I had wondered about the texture issue for onions in the pressure cooker, having noticed how diced onions almost disappear when cooked at pressure. Like @Anna N, I don't think I'd care for that texture. I've retired my crock pot since I got the IP, so I may have to try the oven method. I love the convenience of having frozen bags of caramelized onions close at hand. Going to caramelize some today. I'm thinking beef, barley and mushroom soup today.

I am so jealous. Memphis Farmers Market will open the first of March, I think, and I will make a weekly pilgrimage down there until ours opens up here. There's also a new one an hour away from me that's doing a lot of work in greenhouses, so I need to get over there as well.

Worked with a chicken grower/processor who wanted to put in a hatchery, growing houses, and a processing plant for the Asian chicken market. Different breed of chicken than domestic, he said, and they're grown for longer (16 or 19 weeks, I forget which) vs 10-12, fed a different diet, and butchered differently; just eviscerated, defeathered, and then hung with feet and head still attached. My farm chickens are semi-free range. They're fenced in, but it's a big fence and they roam pretty freely within it, accompanied by a few cows.

Publix Super Markets: 77% -- Don't have it in my area (don't think they operate west of the Mississippi Wegmans: 77% -- Ditto. Aren't they mostly Northeast? Trader Joe’s Market: 75% -- Closest one is in Nashville, though we are alleged to be getting one in Memphis H-E-B: 69% -- Not in the state ALDI: 68% Had one in town for a couple of years. Shop here a lot. Good option for dairy and cured meats, cheeses, most produce. Harris Teeter: 66% -- not in my region Hy-Vee Food Stores: 65% -- not in my region Costco: 65% -- none in Arkansas. There's one in Memphis, but I've never been WinCo Foods: 62% -- Not in my region Whole Foods Market: 61% -- Closest ones in Memphis and Little Rock, though we do have two good natural foods markets here. Fry’s: 58% -- Never heard of it Kroger: 57% -- Dominant grocery chain in my area Target: 56%-- One here is not a Super Target with groceries. Winn-Dixie Stores: 54% -- not in my region ShopRite: 53% -- not in my region Food Lion: 52% -- not in my region Albertsons: 49% -- had some in Memphis for a while, but no more. Meijer: 49% -- not in the region Sam’s Club: 49% -- Don't like their groceries, with the exception of some frozen convenience stuff. Have found produce to be poor quality, meat a little better. Cheese is in too large quantities for me to effectively use. Ginat Food Stores: 43% Never heard of them Safeway: 39% You don't see a lot of them around here. Stop & Shop: 38% not in this region Wal-Mart: 31% other dominant grocery chain in region. Horrible. Meat quality is awful. Produce quality is awful. I'll buy stuff that's packaged and shipped in, but that's about it. We have a couple of local/regional chains, Hays and Harps. Both are adequate, but significantly higher priced than Kroger and Aldi. Harps is the closest grocery to me, so it's often my default when I'm in the middle of something and need milk in a hurry, or a loaf of bread on the way home from church.

A po'd vulture or carrion eater that wanted beef instead of chicken?

Tried a new one the other night, when I made veggie fried rice and chicken meatballs. Froze helpings of rice, accompanied by meatballs, in foil pans. Reheated in CSO, from frozen, 45 minutes at 350F. Pretty doggoned good.

I get by a lot of evenings on cheese and fruit and maybe some salami or proscuitto or whatever I've got in the fridge. Or potato skins; I can easily make dinner off potato skins, stuffed with cheese and bacon. And liquid fruit, nightly.

Looks like a perfectly cooked burger.

Ah, Foxfire. In the 70s, my husband and I were going to drop off the grid, live in the Appalachians, and be self-sufficient. Never even got to the Appalachians, and couldn't bring myself to give up frozen pizza and beer in a bottle. But I did dearly love the Foxfire books, so I picked up the pickling and preserving one, as well as the small game and meat, traditional baking and planting by the signs. At 99 cents apiece, who could pass them up? My father always swore by planting by the signs. And he had one of the most gorgeous gardens in the county, so it must have worked.

Love the LeGuin quote. What a loss.

When my father was going through his final illness, and I'd make an every-weekend pilgrimage to his home, he announced one day, "You know, I wish I had a good Reuben sandwich." So the next Friday, I stopped off in Memphis at the Jewish deli, bought corned beef, sauerkraut, and rye bread, went on home, and made him a Reuben. And did so on the next (final) 12 weekends of his life. I never eat a Reuben now that I don't think of him. Funny. Country boy from West Tennessee, probably never got any closer to a real Reuben than Fort Bragg, NC (I do know he never was in NY, which I think of as ground zero for Reubens), but he loved 'em. And the man could make the best sauerkraut in the world. One had to, he explained with total seriousness, make it "by the signs," i.e., when the Farmers' Almanac told you the moon phases and other Zodiac indicators were right.

Not in the market to buy another, but I'm about due to cook something with mine. Undetermined as of yet just what that might be. I don't use it as often as a lot of people, but damn, I do love it.

Say that five times, fast....

I had the stuff to make that one (with vanilla wafers vs Chessmen), but decided at the last minute I wanted the old fashioned kind. Finished it off today. I may or may not have eaten it twice a day since Sunday.

That is a lovely thing. As one who can very nearly eat her weight in a pissaladiere, I suspect this would be a real pig-out for me. All the more reason to try it.

Got to make a stop by my favorite barbecue purveyor and pick up a bag of pork rinds. I do love me a good pork rind.

Veggie fried rice with Asian chicken meatballs and hoisin sauce. Wasn't half bad, thankfully, because there's a boatload of it left.

Carbonnades a la flamande over Gouda grits. A favorite. And I had onions that needed using. Am still cursing my liquor store for no longer carrying Green Flash Double Stout, my beer of choice for this dish. I made do with Guinness.