kayb

I love dim sum. There used to be an old Chinese restaurant in Memphis that, on Sunday afternoon, did dim sum with traditional service. I only learned about it from a friend whose husband is a second-generation HK immigrant. I was immediately converted (she who prefers a cocktail buffet to almost ANY seated dinner), and went back often, until it closed. At the risk of repeating myself, thanks so much for this glimpse of Hong Kong. Absolutely fascinating. And making me SO hungry.

No, the vines are starting to die off. Which is not uncommon in this part of the year, in this part of the world. My garden gets full sun from about 10 a.m until about 4 or 5 p.m., which is great early in the year, but gets tough in July and August. I think that string of 95+ degree days in July with no rain got it.

Fascinating. Red eye gravy with chili powder. I have to try this.

I cannot imagine not having bacon fat. I keep a pint jar in the fridge at all times. If it (rarely) gets full, I move it to the freezer and start a new one. Handy to have one to just dip out of when you need it. There are things one just cannot cook without bacon fat.

If you live in a house with teenagers/20-somethings, you know the phenomenon of disappearing flatware. I had, at one time, a 12-place setting of stainless flatware, but over time, the forks, salad forks and spoons disappeared. I bought another set. Over the years, another half or so of the forks, spoons, etc., took feet and walked away, leaving me with a mismatched set of stainless to use every day. It's irritated me for years, since the last teenager left. No more. This arrives today.

As noted in the Gardening thread, mine isn't doing well, so my preserving has tailed off. I've found a new source of figs, closer to home, and will work on replacing the lost ones for fig jam next week. I've also found a produce market with "canning tomatoes" (overripes, bad spots, split skins) for 10 bucks for a half-bushel box, so will be canning tomatoes next week after I get back from my upcoming road trip. Have put up plenty of corn, and a good many purple hulled peas; need to do more peas as the summer continues, and am on the annual search for Kentucky Wonder pole beans (had seed, never got those planted). Will be driving across the northern, very rural, part of the state tomorrow, and will keep a sharp eye out for produce markets to scope out and stop on the way back through on Friday. Latest road trip was a family-centric one, visiting kids in Nashville and other family/friends in West TN en route home. On that trip, I scored both a free pressure canner that had been my Mama's (stepmother no longer uses it), and the recipe for my "other mother's" fried peach pies. Now I am in the market for dried peaches....

My garden has just not performed well. I picked three ripe Roma tomatoes today; I don't even have any green tomatoes, to speak of, on my plants. Bush limas didn't come up well, nor did yellow squash; the zucchini isn't even bearing much. I do have, that I found today, two small watermelons and a cantaloupe. The two outliers are the alien cucumbers that are taking over the planet, and my Cubanelle peppers. I picked a dozen or so reasonably sized cucumbers today, and threw away probably twice that many as big as my arm, and picked very nearly a full gallon of Cubanelles, off three plants. Part of all this is my fault; a combo of a few days feeling poorly, a few unexpected days on the road, and a totally nuts work schedule in June and July has hurt my ability to get into the garden and work on it, thus it is a huge weed patch with plants here and there. Part of it is that, after an unusually cool, lengthy spring, it hotter than the proverbial "two rats" in July, and I think just scorched most everything. Ah, well. We, by George, have pickles aplenty. And will have more. Half sours are on the agenda after I get back from this next road trip, which will consume the rest of this week.

I love that stuff. Picked blueberries, made a double batch, and canned some. I simmered mine a bit too long and it actually jelled; but it thins back up nicely when warmed a bit in the microwave. Highly recommend it on baked thick pork chops.

I had never worked a lot with hot peppers until I decided to try my hand at mole' sauce. The peppers it called for -- ancho and I forget what all else, weren't really all that hot, allegedly. My hands, afterward, said otherwise. And I've NEVER had my eyes itch like they itched when I couldn't rub them.

I'm with @rotuts and @Shelby. One of the most enjoyable cookbooks I've purchased in a while. Worth the price of admission for the Blue Q sauce alone.

Sounds like brunch cocktail time to me.

Well, THAT sent me to Google. Truthfully, my first thought was that it was a mollusk of some sort.

What is in the lower left tank that looks like giant Yukon gold potatoes? I'm not sure whether I'm more fascinated by the dried goods market or by the seafood market. Obviously I should come spend a week or two and just shop, cook and eat -- or let someone who knows what they're doing with those marvelous local ingredients cook for me! Do mantis shrimp taste similar to the "normal" shrimp we're used to here? Thanks so much for this. Fascinating.

Leave my storage room without checking to be SURE the door to the refrigerator is closed. I just finished throwing out copious quantities of food, only a small portion of which I was planning to chunk anyway (it's where leftovers go to die) because I discovered someone -- most likely me -- had left the door slightly open. Everything inside was warm and ruined with the POSSIBLE exception of a half-bushel of peaches (which now MUST be worked up tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest) and the farm eggs, which I am HOPING are all right, and I will certainly know once I crack one and can throw the whole lot away then. Pissed at the world is an understatement. The tossed away food includes the several pounds of figs I drove 200 miles to get last week, which I'd gone outside to get and make fig jam. At least the grandchild had a good time while we were in Hot Springs. I will be in that general direction next week, and may go back and get more. I was so outdone I started drinking early.

That market. I could spend hours....and hours.... Lovely scenery as well. Not to mention the food.

FWIW, having worked in the heart of timber country in Southwest Arkansas, trees used for pulp, which is then turned into all sorts of paper, are shortleaf pine trees, which are cultivated like any other "crop." Their growing season is just 10-15 years, as opposed to two or three or six months. So "killing trees" through the use of paper productions is akin to "killing potatoes and carrots and onions," not to mention the steer, by eating pot roast. Shortleaf pine is grown in "plantations," which are planted and harvested on a rolling basis. They'll plant, thin, medicate as needed for pests, etc., thin at 10 years for "roundwood" used for pulp, and then clearcut at either 15, 20 or 25 years, depending on the projected use (more roundwood, lumber, or poles). Then they'll replant in pine seedlings. Which is probably more than you wanted to know, but..

Oh, my. Lovely. Just lovely.

I find the meatball (and meatloaf) texture is better with a white-bread-and-milk panade. On burgers, though, I go cracker crumbs. Not real sure why. Just do.

Aaahhhh. Makes me SO want to go back to Japan. I loved the food, the presentation, the ceremonious service in even the casual restaurants. I loved the country, as a whole. I have had the tiny mackerel, just didn't know they were mackarel. Very good. I loved the food courts in the train stations and the array of food vendors outside the baseball stadium (buy your dinner/snacks, AND beer, and take them inside! Not to mention draft beer in the stands, courtesy of vendors with pony kegs strapped to their backs!). I would go back tomorrow, given a choice.

Glad to have you. Some phenomenal bakers in this group (I am NOT one of them!). Would love to see photos of your work.

@Chris -- looks like it's a bit heavily breaded. To get what I consider the "proper" ratio of breading-to-okra, I cut it, let it "slime" in a bowl for 20 minutes, then shake in seasoned corn meal mix (I've found that works better than just corn meal). Looks like this (upper left): I pan-fry in about 1/4 inch of vegetable oil on medium hot, in a single layer in the skillet.

I swear every winter (because I do not deal well with cold weather) that I will not complain when it gets hot. This is about the time every year I break that resolution into small, small pieces. Only 91F right now, but that's about 8-10 degrees cooler than yesterday, when it was, as an old friend was wont to say, "hotter than two rats f***ing in a wool sock."

My mistake. Edge Pro is the name of a model made by Smith's, thus my confusion. clickety

Looking so forward to this!

That is exactly it. I used about a half-teaspoon red pepper flakes, because it seemed to me I could barely taste a quarter-teaspoon.