kayb

Hijacking this thread because I have a question: Can one freeze and later use egg whites, with no degradation in quality? Is there a specific technique for doing so? Have just made a triple batch of eggnog, using 18 egg yolks, which, nature being what it is, yielded a commensurate number of whites. I have made 16 dozen meringue cookies, in Christmas-y colors with sanding sugar, yet, and I am damned if I see myself using another egg white in the near future. I do plan to make more eggnog (it figures in gift baskets this year). However, I don't know that my dear late sainted mother's spirit would let me rest if I let the next 18 egg whites go to waste. HELP! Please!

I guess least favorite would be hard-boiled. Favorite, over easy. Then ranking downward, poached, scrambled (yes, hard and dry, please!), soft-boiled. Baked ranks up high, as well.

Killing me, too. I will happily deliver zucchini to you in exchange for oysters.

As noted on the Dinner thread, I made the Buttermilk Quick Bread mentioned upthread by, I believe, @Anna N. I tried my own savory version with chopped bacon bits and cheddar cheese. Very good, but for the next time I'm doing a savory version, I'll decrease the sugar to 1/4 cup. Likewise, making it in my 9 x 5 pan yielded a pretty flat loaf; I might do it in my 8 x 4 next time. Awfully good texture, and it's quite excellent toasted with butter. I'm going to make some ricotta to go with it tomorrow morning.

Looks like a fun, fun day -- the pictures make my feet hurt!

It was a busy Saturday -- finally got the Christmas tree and wreaths up! -- so what I managed for dinner was this: A couple of slices of the Buttermilk Quick Bread, with an addition of cheese and bacon, posted by @Anna N recently, with a couple of leftover deviled egg halves. The bread was good, but I wish I'd cut back on the sugar for the savory version.

The pear over yogurt looks like a brilliant idea. Was the pear warm?

Love the wreath! Missed a trip to NOLA this week,with this damned crud that's laid me low. I'm down there in February, though. There will be oysters!

Lines like that are why some people write for the NYT and people like me work for 20 years in small-town dailies. Damn, I do admire someone who wields words like that!

Sounds marvelous!

Nice! Perhaps one day I'll get to sample.

I worked in an office that had lots of child-bearing mommies at one point, and we'd organize to take a dinner a week for six weeks. Mine was generally pot roast, as it serves for several meals, can be cooked and then refrigerated and reheated with no loss of quality. I'd cook potatoes and carrots with the roast, and add a side of some green thing -- Brussels sprouts, broccoli, green beans or a salad.

I did too. Sounds like fun. Thanks for the tip; I had no idea such courses existed.

@Smithy, did I miss it back upthread, or have you posted pictures of your camper kitchen? If not, would you mind doing so? The "tiny house" shows on HGTV have shown some pretty nifty ideas for space-saving kitchens.

Kimcheese. I love it. Also love the look of that sandwich.

That's saved me a fair amount of money over the years.... I bought the Hazan Family Recipes ($1.99 on Kindle) today.

Brussels sprouts on the stalk remind me of a caterpillar. They're something I never ate until I was an adult, because we didn't grow them. Are they a cooler-weather vegetable? I enjoy them roasted, or raw and shredded in a slaw/salad.

I have a number of friends who "horse camp" frequently. There are, apparently, a nationwide network of campgrounds that cater to that demographic, with facilities for horses as well as trail-riding facilities. Many state and national parks also have stable and paddock facilities. I suspect it would depend on how much riding one wanted to do, as to whether that would be practical. Obviously, for my friends, the riding is primary. If other forms of tourism are your priority, a straight RV or trailer would likely be better. I know there are devotees of both the RV and the trailer styles. As for the tiny kitchens, I agree it's an issue of changing your style of cooking. My friends tend to cook more outdoors, as in grilling entrees, etc., while preparing sides and desserts indoors.

This forum will certainly aid in getting fat, as well as buying all sorts of other cool kitchen thingies. Welcome back!

When I'm sick, I want comfort food. For me, comfort food is potato salad; specifically MY potato salad. So last night I had potato salad. Two bowls of it. Still warm from the potatoes being cooked. Actually, the first bowl was quite HOT from the potatoes being cooked. I have a photo but it's horrible, so I won't post it.

I thawed a pound of ground beef last week to make tacos. It's still in the refrigerator, in its package. I've got to use it. That's the impetus for a lot of my meal planning today for what we're having tonight.

Get a horse trailer wiith living quarters.

I was a late convert to both of these. Would not go back, not for a second. I use the CSO probably more than the IP, but they have both made major inroads into stove use. Particularly love the CSO in the summer, as it does not heat up the kitchen so much!

Enjoy the snow as much as I enjoyed your blog -- which was a great deal!

It having finally gotten winter here (it isn't that cold, but as it's been summer-ish for the past month, and it was overcast and rainy as well as much cooler, it FELT like winter), I decided it was pot roast time. A rummage in the freezer turned up two packages of beef shank, cut crosswise about two inches thick, and rather fancifully labeled "osso buco" by the butcher. Those, I determined, would do. I salted, peppered and browned them, poured in a cup of red wine and let that simmer a bit, then added a quartered onion, several small redskin potatoes, and some chunked-up carrots, clapped a top on it, and transferred it to the oven at 300F for four hours. Perfection. It hit the spot, both in terms of suiting the day and being just what I needed to aid my recovery along. I may have had another plate just like this one. Many leftovers, some of which will be repurposed into shredded beef with gravy to go over mashed potatoes, some which will be shredded for roast beef and Swiss sandwiches, and some of which will go into beef and vegetable soup. I usually add the marrow to the soup for extra richness, but am thinking about what I might want to do separately with that for a special treat. Suggestions?