kayb

I will be curious to see if mine actually arrives on my doorstep next week. So far, no email saying "Sorry, but..." Don't know that I actually NEED another IP, but who could turn that down?

I don't do them nearly often enough, mostly because I think of them in terms of my omelet pan, which is an 8-incher, and if I make one in it, it takes too doggone long to eat it unless I have a crowd at the house. I should get a small non-stick skillet, one that would hold about two eggs, to do one-serving ones. I love 'em with anything green that's leftover. I always have roasted cherry tomatoes in the freezer, and those go nicely as well. I do a "southwest" one with chorizo, fried diced potatoes, black beans, and cheese, and top it with avocado and more cheese, serve with salsa and sour cream, that's pretty wonderful.

After trying my hand at curing my own Canadian Bacon, I'd suggest that. I had my first meal off mine last night. It's a very mild taste, but one that grows on you; I sliced mine about 1/4 inch thick and seared, just to get a little color on it, and had it with biscuits and eggs and sorghum molasses for breakfast-for-dinner. Not sure how long it'll keep in the fridge, so I will probably slice it all in the coming days, vac-pack in smaller portions and freeze.

Yep, and I got a confirmation. We shall see.

This has got to be an error, and surely it'll be changed soon, but right now, Amazon has the IP Lux for $8.99 with free shipping! Here. I'd suggest ordering one quickly. I just did.

Read the article -- while the brown butter viniagrette tweaks me, and the grits-and-greens dish could almost make me think about trying turnip greens One More Time, it was the Red Pea and Onion Gravy that has catapulted near the top of my "I have to try this" list. I mean -- damn! And I guess I'm going to have to break down and get the book.

Breakfast for dinner, inspired by a Facebook friend who mentioned cracklings and got me thinking about crackling cornbread with sorghum molasses. I had no cracklings and so had to make do with biscuits, but I did have the aforementioned sorghum molasses, as well as farm eggs, and I made some biscuits. I appear to have shaken off the bad biscuit juju; these rose decently and were pretty tasty! And I made them with butter, as I am out of shortening. The Canadian bacon is from my second attempt at making my own, per the Ruhlman recipe. (My first attempt, I forgot the loin while it was curing in the storage room fridge...for about two weeks. It was a hockey puck when I discovered it.) Brined 72 hours, smoked to 145F, then chilled. I cut slices about 1/4 inch thick, seared them in a hot pan. Pretty good. When I get ambitious, I'll slice up the entire chunk, vac-seal it in smaller portions, and freeze it. I think it'd be wonderful in a carbonara-ish pasta sauce, or a brown butter sage sauce, or in a lot of soup applications. I'm thinking I may have some tomorrow morning on a leftover biscuit for breakfast, too! Yes, there was wine for dinner. With bacon and eggs. Sue me.

I'm liking this solar oven. Think I'll have to make use of one for defrosting things, particularly; what a great idea! Try the collards in a frittata. Although I'm with your DH; no fan of cooked greens, either.

Ohhhh. Jealous. I MUST go back soon. If you are a fan of the massage chair, take a couple of days, get on the bullet train, go to Hanamaki (about three hours, as I recall, north into the mountains) and stay at the hot springs resorts. Wonderful baths outdoors in the hot springs, and then a massage to relax every cell in your body. There was good food. I don't remember what it was. I was too relaxed.

Taco Bell. My dirty little fast-food secret vice.

One of my favorite, not-too-sweet, pretty healthy snacky things is bran muffins. I use this recipe, cut the sugar to about a third of a cup, and add diced figs or dates (raisins are canonical, but I don't like raisins) and walnuts or pecans. Of course, I negate all health benefits by grabbing a couple fresh out of the oven and slathering it with an unhealthy amount of butter....

Sounds like a fine boyfriend. I believe I'd keep him.

Maybe sear from frozen, to keep from overcooking the inside? Not a problem for me, as, like @robirdstx, I like my pork with no pink showing.

Ohhhhhh...I want to go back to Japan SO BADLY! It's been six years. I'm due. Sushi at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo at 6 a.m., just after the boats come in, is the most memorable food experience I've ever had.

Absolutely!

@FrogPrincesse, that sounds absolutely marvelous. I've bookmarked that recipe; I have cooked a good deal of pork loin recently, so it'll be a while before I go back to it, but will certainly try this. I recall we often used milk and/or buttermilk to marinate wild game when I was a child; it toned down the "gamy" taste and added a level of tenderness not see otherwise.

It is Just Not Fair for me to have to look at scallops and sand dabs. I had popcorn. And wine.

Also makes good stir-fry, cut crossways and then into strips or diced. If I have a big pork loin like that, I generally cut part of it into boneless chops, as mentioned above; they lend themselves to any number of cooking methods. I'll leave one chunk whole as a roast. You can also brine and then smoke, for Canadian bacon.

Have always planted it directly in the ground before. Experimenting with an eye toward using these trays year-round for microgreens.

Hopefully, by July! Maybe late June.

Well, THAT'S no fun.

Thoroughly enjoyed this.

Ok. I have played in the dirt today. In these trays: I have lettuce, carrots, radishes, cabbage, and sweet peas. I topped each with about a teaspoon of potting mix, as it seemed to me the seeds should be covered. I have never worked with rock wool before. It was damp when I opened the trays. How often should I water? How much? Below are five kinds of tomatoes, and two kinds of peppers. They will come indoors at night and outside in the daytime, or take a turn under the grow light. Tomorrow, particularly if I don't get my computer back from the shop, there will be herbs, squash, fennel, asparagus, and maybe green beans. Guy is coming Friday to till up my plots. I have 16 40-pound bags of compost for him to till in. And today I built a compost bin from pallets. One can get a lot done outside when ones computer is on the fritz.

M'mmm. I made slaw today. Got a little corned beef left. That may be on my agenda later in the week. Today, pork loin that went for a SV bath earlier in the week, with baked beans, potato salad and slaw. Simple, but good. Loin was cooked SV for about 8 hours at 145, then chilled. Sliced about an inch thick, glazed with some barbecue sauce, and broiled in the CSO.

Sweet potato latkes, if you can figure out how to make them without the egg, are a great source of fiber. I have homemade granola, homemade yogurt, and fresh fruit most mornings. Fruit/veggie smoothies with protein powder are healthy, tasty, low-cal and quick. Hash with leftover beef. Bran muffins. I'd hate to know I had to do without pork, but I could do it. Don't know that I could do without eggs.