kayb

Obviously my invitation to dinner was lost in the mail. That looks absolutely scrumptious. I dearly love German food, and I'm about the only one in my house that does.

How in the world do you stand to bake when it's that hot inside? My bread-baking drops back to, if not nothing, very little during the summer. Although, of late, I haven't been eating much bread, so it hasn't been very much anyway. Love those shrimp. I still have some from last fall I brought home from Florida. I put them in a container and cover with water and freeze; they last wonderfully!

No photos because it wasn't at all photogenic, but a ramekin of leftover mashed potatoes served as a bed for two eggs, which were then topped with bacon bits, some grated cheese, and a tablespoon or two of heavy cream, then baked at 350 for 12 minutes in the CSO. Good stuff.

Dredge in seasoned flour. Dip in egg/milk wash. Dredge in panko breadcrumbs. Fry over medium-high/high heat just until golden brown. Serve with a lemon-garlic aioli or mayo flavored healthily with Worcestershire and hot sauce. Also quite excellent, if they're boneless, on a good bun with lettuce and tomato. Where I came from, they referred to those as "breakfast pork chops."

If I'm eating plain rice as a side, or a base for something, I'm good with brown. If I'm cooking a flavored rice (coconut, tamarind, saffron, etc.), I like white. I like brown in sweet applications, as well. Makes great calas (rice fritters). In fact, I have yet to find the rice I don't like.

Meat loaf, mashed potatoes, steamed-from-frozen peas and carrots, drained, buttered, and sprinkled with fines herbes. The meat loaf is my old stand-by recipe, but with a difference. It's about a half-inch thick. It's made from just a single pound of ground beef, with the usual add-ins (panade, etc.). I tried out my new baking pan I'd gotten for the CSO: When I first got it out, I thought, "Oh, this is too big for this little bit of meat loaf," and then I thought, "wait a minute!" I like a thin meat loaf because I like the larger ratio of outside-to-inside. Why not flatten it out even more (in the 11.5 x 11.5 inch pan), and it ought to be just about the right thickness for a meat loaf sandwich? I steam-baked it for 20 minutes at 325, drained off the grease and liquid, then gave it another 10 on 475 to crisp up the top and bottom. It was good, and even better, I have two sandwich-sized slabs and one half-sandwich sized one stashed in the fridge for lunches this week! The leftover mashed potatoes are in a ramekin, destined for breakfast tomorrow; I'm thinking they'll make a marvelous base for eggs en cocotte. Sometimes I'm so sustainable I scare myself.

The mouse is back! I do love the mouse. Meals look good, too.

This morning's granola and yogurt included strawberries. Think I'll make some shortcakes this afternoon.

But then you'd have to pack in dog food. Is it practical for you, on your route, to get one of those wire rolling carts? Pulling or pushing that would, for me, be eminently preferable to a pack. Heck, I'd contemplate a child's Little Tikes wagon.

Oh...my. That looks, and sounds, just stunning. How long did you cure? And how do you prepare cucumber tartare? The dill tempura just takes this one over the top. I want it.

Thanks in large part to this thread, I was craving fresh fruit when I went to Sam's today. I still have a little fresh pineapple left, along with an uncut Sugar Baby watermelon, but I picked up a two-pound carton of strawberries and a quart of blueberries. Both had labels saying they were "products of the U.S., so I'm guessing Florida, the Rio Grande valley, or southern California. The strawberries (giant things!) are quartered and macerating in sugar and balsamic vinegar in the fridge; the blueberries, at least some of them, are destined for blueberry muffins one morning soon. Grandson just requested watermelon, so I suppose I will have to cut it shortly; it won't last long when cut, I guarantee. Oh, and there's creme fraiche-to-be sitting out on the counter for the strawberries tomorrow. I passed on blackberries the size of my thumb from the knuckle out; what do they fertilize those things with? In other news, it's snowing like the dickens here, and the yard is completely covered. I was in shirtsleeves yesterday.

@Smithy, yes, "God love you" is interchangeable with "bless your heart." It was my grandmother's preferred usage, and I guess I picked it up along the way.

Thanks! Those ripe ones look like little eggplants.

God love you. Nothing more miserable than having no escape from the heat. It's going to snow here tomorrow, the weatherpeople say.

Following anxiously as well. I made mole -- once. It was good, not just excellent, but good, but I failed to wear gloves to handle the chiles and my hands burned for HOURS.... Where in E. TN are you? I have friends in the Johnson City area who are battening down the hatches for the weekend.

I was on @Anna N's breakfast wavelength, but for lunch; a ginormous Bosc pear and a wedge of Rogue River Creamery blue cheese. That's on a dinner plate, for scale purposes. I finished off the pear and about half the wedge of cheese.

After a couple of months off my yogurt-and-granola kick, I'm back to the old standby. Instant Pot yogurt (thanks again, whoever it was who suggested I use non-fat dry milk!) with local honey, homemade granola, fresh pineapple.

Good Lord, @rotuts, you'll have enough corned beef to feed the entire island!

@liuzhou, tell me about ginseng fruit, please. Is it from the same plant that yields ginseng root?

Nice -- and quite retro! Just think how good it'd be with an over easy egg perched on top...

I had takeout barbecue ("barbecue," in these parts, is always pulled pork), beans and slaw last night. Tonight, I had leftover barbecue and beans. We ate all the slaw last night. No complaints on either night.

Glad to have you here! Jump right in, the water's fine. What's your special area of interest, if you have one?

Crab legs cure many ills. Glad you treated yourself! Onion and pickle on a barbecue sandwich? That's...odd. At least in my Memphis-centric barbecue world. Great idea on the use of leftover crawfish boil potatoes, though. Bet that salad was excellent! Now, that just looks excellent. I have some spicy cured chorizo that would serve marvelously in that role... @scubadoo97, my sympathies on the mandoline mishap. I once took a divot of skin and flesh out of the underside of my ring finger, between my knuckle and palm; my ring stopped the blade from going further. It was difficult to tell whether the cursing or the bleeding was more prolific. The cut-proof glove is a now a must in my house.

I have a friend whose kids show livestock, mostly swine. I was talking with her on her way home from work one day during show season. She walked in her house and I heard an exclamation, then a shout: "Harper, get that damn pig out of the shower! Kids get serious about showing.

Well, once again I have that odd quote thingy at the top left over from a previous post, and can't get rid of it. Sorry. I'm following this, as well. I also bought a spag squash the other day, with an eye toward cooking it in the IP. A perusal of Google shows multitudes of recipes in the 5-8 minute category, but I found only 1 that addressed cooking it whole; they said 17 minutes, and then quick release and test it with a fork. Will report if/when I try mine.