kayb

Aaaaahhhhhhhhh....... Yes, I badly need some Vitamin Beach!

I am canning tomatoes. I have been canning tomatoes for approximately eight hours. I expect to be canning tomatoes for the next two to three hours. Oh, and I'm drinking more wine-from-the-box. These may be some interesting tomatoes. Completely outdone by the fact my tomatoes, all 40 plants, have up and quit, I bought two 30-pound boxes of "canning tomatoes" for 10 bucks apiece at the produce market yesterday. The first box produced 16 pints of tomatoes, and three quarts of tomato juice. I'm now out of pint jars, so the second box, which is currently on the stove cooking, will go all in quarts. I also canned six pints of roasted cherry tomato garlic sauce, which caused my daughter, when she got home from work, to announce she was certain the entire neighborhood was safe from vampires this evening. Don't even SAY tomato to me for a week or so after tonight.

I wish I had your problem. I should have figs tomorrow or Thursday. I plan on fig jam. I ran out of pint jars today doing tomatoes. Must make a WalMart run and get more, as I have kraut to can tomorrow.

Timely to read this. Having given up hope on my tomatoes, and having happened across two boxes of "canning tomatoes" at a produce market today, I bought them. So tomorrow I can a bushel of tomatoes and tomato juice, along with some roasted cherry tomato-garlic sauce from the gallon or so of cherry tomatoes I bought at the farmers' market on Friday. Then Wednesday I should have figs, so it'll be fig jam time. Am still on the hunt for Kentucky Wonder green beans. Have a line on some, actually IN Kentucky. As I will be "up home," which is just 40 miles south of the Kentucky line, in 10 days, I may be making a pilgrimage. Called one market and two farms up that way today, and wound up talking to one nice old gentleman for 20 minutes about who "my people" were. He decided he knew my great-uncle. Gotta love the rural South.

Do you have deer? Deer will munch on all your apples they can reach, and ALL the windfalls. If you need an apple butter recipe, I've got a fine one.

I had Quaker Oats Squares. By the handful, from the box. With red wine. Also from a box (though I did use a wineglass). This was all of which I was capable after a FULL work day plus grocery shopping after work.

I'm pretty much down to enameled cast iron, regular cast iron, carbon steel and stainless steel. Have just moved to stainless mixing bowls since one of my plastic ones sprang a leak. I do have a couple of glass Pyrex bowls I use mostly to proof bread in, and some Pyrex baking dishes. And one noteworthy Le Creuset ceramic lidded baker that I would have never purchased, but won in a recipe contest; it's a casserole dish for holidays, or anytime I want to serve something that really needs to stay pretty hot. I can fill it with boiling water for a few minutes, dump that, put the food in (if I don't bake it in it) and set the lid on, and it stays piping hot for close to an hour.

I think I want to come work at your office.

FWIW, you can order Broadbent's Country Ham here. I like the breakfast steaks, as the dinner steaks are massive. This is one of the best country hams I've found. How'd you like the cocktail tomatoes? Mine were ... OK. I didn't love them, and I expected to.

Well, that's just the flight. On the other hand, the food courts at the train stations are the most amazing thing in the world. I have to get to the station an hour early to decide what to take on the train with me! So much good stuff!

Take your time mastering the photo uploads, but be sure to upload and share with us everything you have! This is fascinating. Perhaps one of the things I love most about eGullet is the vicarious samplings of the world's cuisines offered by those to whom they are "home cooking." And I'm so full I'm about to die, but I would KILL for those giant prawns! They look marvelous!

No, it's an 11 x 13 baking pan. To clarify a bit on the reicpe and process: In the bowl of your stand mixer, put 2 cups of the flour, the salt, the yeast, the sugar and the butter. Pour in the water. Turn on mixer and mix until it's a batter of sorts, adding the beaten egg along the way. Add the other two cups of flour; you may need a little less, a little more, or to add a little more water. You want a soft dough that is not sticky. Knead with the dough hook for 3-4 minutes. I shape it into a ball by hand, spray the interior of the same bowl with oil, and then spritz the top of the dough, cover with a dish towel and let it rise. Because of the large amount of yeast, it'll rise relatively quickly, and is easy to overproof. I punch it down, shape the rolls, and put three across on a baking pan on parchment. Another spray with oil, cover with the towel again, another hour or so rise, then bake at 325 for 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown. You could certainly add an egg wash and seeds, etc., if you wanted seeded buns. I've also done these rolls with cheese and herbs added (add with the second batch of flour). They make very good savory sandwich-style roll-ups, cinnamon roll fashion; I've done ham and cheese that are very satisfactory.

As always, thanks for taking us along. I always enjoy going to Manitoulin with you two.

Buns, rolls, or whatever you want to call them. These are my standard dinner/sandwich roll; I make them big so they serve nicely for sandwiches later on. When they're completely cool, I'll freeze them in packages of two or three and enjoy them for two or three weeks. Hard to beat for a breakfast or lunch sandwich of most any description. Recipe made 11 3.8-oz buns; couldn't remember if I used 3.5 or 3.8 for a dozen out of each batch of dough. Proofed in a warmed oven for 1.5 hours, made into rolls, oven rewarmed, proofed for another hour. I use a full tablespoon of yeast, to 4 cups flour, 2 tbsp butter, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 1/2 tsp. salt, an egg and 1 1/4 cups 105F to 110F water.

I had four gorgeous pork steaks from my farm beef/pork/chicken purveryor, and had been casting about for a way to prepare them. Contemplated grilling, but today's forecast was for rain, so I decided to go the sous vide/broiler route. Put them in yesterday with a dollop of Deep Run Roots' Blue Q sauce in each bag, and let them go 18 hours at 140F. Chilled them in the fridge for a couple of hours, then fished out of the bag, put them on a wire rack and brushed with some more Blue Q, and ran under the broiler. These were about a pound apiece. One never made it to the oven. It's frozen in its SV bag. Forgot about them and just slightly overcooked one side; I was content with the espresso-colored coat, but it was a bit much for the kids. Shown with one steak turned dark-side up, for contrast. Had them with potato salad, purple hulled peas, sauteed crookneck squash and onions, and yeast rolls. Had a bit too light a hand with the salt on everything. Many leftovers, as my daughter and husband didn't make it for dinner.

Pork steaks cooked sous vide in Deep Run Roots Blue Q sauce and finished off in the broiler, with potato salad, purple hulled peas with tomato relish, and yellow summer squash sauteed with onions. And a BIG homemade roll, made that way on purpose for sandwich buns later in the week. More details on the pork steak on the sous vide thread when I get around to putting them there.

Envious. Grouper is perhaps my favorite fish. And it doesn't travel well.

Just marvelous. Thanks!

Lovely. Especially the tuna. And the sunset.

I will say that on my half-dozen or so trips to Japan, JAL had consistently better food than (the former) Northwest, Delta or American. Not that it was exceptional. I generally stocked up on trail mix at the Hudson News in the terminal. Hudson carries good trail mix. JAL had good green tea, though.

You need the book. It's wonderful.

Breakfast for lunch on the road home in Eureka Springs, Arkansas (no photos; didn't even think to do so) at a roadside cafe dubbed "The Filling Station," mostly on the strength of its tagline, "Many have eaten. Few have died." A fair recommendation. Acceptable French toast (would have been better without the cinnamon) with bacon. Good coffee. Real half-and-half. My travel companion, an eighth-grader, had her first-ever eggs Benedict, and pronounced it "the best breakfast I've ever had." Been on a short vacay. Good time, unremarkable food, as I was accompanied by a friend who is somewhat unadventurous in that realm, and two teens. But we had a good time. Thai takeout, and really good bar burgers (yes, we take minors to bars, at least to eat, down here), and fine fried chicken, and mostly, a good, relaxing week.

Well, if she walked in, at least THAT's a good sign, no? Have surely enjoyed this Manatoulin trip, as I do all of 'em.

@HungryChris-- should you have such a creature as a leftover FGT, they crisp up fairly well in the CSO. Slip one or two in a BLT. They're a revelation.

My youngest child was the flatware thief. She worked at a call center and had only 30 minutes for lunch, so she generally took something rather than try to go out and get back. And she took a fork. Which she rarely brought home. The spoons were mostly found in the foster son's room from where he'd sneaked into the ice cream. So were a number of ice cream dishes, and an empty carton or two. Kid had a weight problem we were trying to work on. Neither live at home any more. I'm thinking this flatware is safe.