kayb

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.

The photo is from Portugal. Trying to remember who on here recently traveled to Portugal.

@liuzhou, I hope those lovely meals mean you're steadily gaining your strength back and moving toward being 100 percent!

Highly recommend you try the Vivian Howard Blue Q barbecue sauce. Amazing on chicken.

Oooohh. I can bacon jam regularly, and have some on the shelf now. I use it on grilled cheese, on soft cheese on crackers, on biscuits in the morning, and to jazz up grits and/or baked eggs en cocotte, but I never thought about "not-cinnamon" rolls. I occasionally do some with finely minced ham and shredded cheese, and those are pretty good, but MUST try the bacon jam ones. Oh, and it's marvelous to dollop a spoonful onto a burger about 30 seconds before you take said burger off the grill.

That would be much like Vivian Howard's baked eggs in stewed tomatoes, with the addition of the bottom layer of cheese, and VH's topping of crispy ham chips. I canned two pints of her stewed tomatoes, and envision this a few times over the winter. I suspect I shall add the cheese, because, well, cheese.

Oh, hell. And me with a quart and a half in the fridge.