kayb

I have actually been surprised at the flavors NOT being as strong as I'd anticipated. I'd absolutely go with the sage and butter in the bag.

In the only energy I expended yesterday, I put a pot roast in the oven and managed (barely) to make myself a plate of it. Ate dinner midafternoon, only meal of the day, between Naps 2 and 3. Ready to go in the oven: My much less than fancy plate (I couldn't even be troubled to fix a green side). Remains of the roast will go into a big pot of vegetable beef soup later this week. Pot roast is a great meal for when you're catching up with a lazy day after two non-stop weeks on the run.

Made me miss having hunters around. Looking forward to venison!

I love, and still make periodically, sugar toast. Much more fond of it than cinnamon toast.

Just freakin' brilliant. I always tend toward steak and eggs the morning after...this is a great change.

Do you have a link for Franci's milk bread? Is it, by chance, the same as this one from the NYT Cooking section:

In the immortal words of Jimmy Buffett, "It's 5 o'clock somewhere."

I try not to make changes in a recipe the first time I use it, the two exceptions being if it calls for an ingredient I just can't abide, but otherwise the recipe looks good, in which case I'll either leave it out or sub something, or if it calls for an ingredient that's just too difficult to find in my part of the world, in which case I'll go to my trusty Food Lover's Companion for an appropriate substitute. Wholesale changes have to wait until I've made the recipe a couple of times, at which point the recipe simply becomes a starting point off which to riff.

I did well.I started to buy one, and passed it up.

Let me tell you. That chicken dinner, sans drink, was $5.99. I defy you to find a better meal anywhere at that price. And the chicken is, consistently (I stop there at least once every couple of months, and this is generally my choice) excellent. News from the doc was good, too. Kid's ears don't require (another) surgery! ETA: BTW, Pie was extra. Still a bargain.

Enabler.

Curious -- has anyone tried anything in the IP that they just like better if it's cooked the "old fashioned way," either braised in the oven or simmered on the stove for hours? I have found only one thing -- carbonnades a la flamande, one of my favorites for cold weather. I find that, made in the IP, it tastes too "beery," while when braised in the oven or simmered atop the stove, the alcohol taste dissipates and leaves behind that marvelous residual flavor. I guess it's because the IP is so tightly sealed. But that smells so good when cooking, it's no real hardship to make it the old way.

Damn, that looks good.

Had to make a quick, unexpected trip to Little Rock today with Child C to take the grandchild to the doctor for his ears. We celebrated good news by stopping at one of our favorite stops, a small-town diner that serves the best barbecued chicken I've ever had. Chicken is smoked, then pulled/chopped and served with a peppery, barely sweet sauce on the side. A decent, if unremarkable, mayo-based slaw and beans that would have been good were it not for the presence of bell peppers. And a piece of lemon icebox pie (not shown) for dessert. I may not eat for a week.

Dove breasts....yummmmmmm!

Welcome! We're glad you're here! What do you most enjoy cooking, and what are you especially hoping to learn?

That's a relief! I actually don't do celery either (don't care for it), but I'm all about some sauteed onion.

Pretty sure that's illegal in at least seven states, including the one in which I reside....

I guess it's just me, but I've never found purple hulls to be mealy. I freeze LOTS of purple hulls when they're in season to eat all winter; I love 'em topped with a spoonful of ripe tomato relish and a big wedge of hot cornbread with butter. Don't much care if I eat anything else. But if I had to name one bean I'd take with me to that proverbial desert island, it'd be the navy bean, which I would soak and then braise with a ham hock or some other permutation of smoked pork. I could come real close to living on that. With cornbread.

Baking anything you don't have room for in your oven because it's already full with other stuff!

Never thought of grilling hearts of palm. Now on my list. Been jonesing for some meat loaf, too. But per @rotuts, no bell pepper for me! Lord have mercy, but that looks wonderful. Wish I'd been on your guest list. Isn't it great when the evil kitchen spirits depart? Lord knows, they've been at my house before...

Love it when you blog. Anxious to see what the hunters come home with, and how you prepare it. I have no friends who are important enough for me to deep-clean when they're coming. I deep clean when I'm moving, and that's about it.

@rarerollingobject, I really want to come live with you. Will wash dishes and bake bread.

OK, bread mavens, I have a question. I made my first seed culture for sourdough. From there, went to my first starter, both per Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice. Seed culture did what it was supposed to do. Made up the barm and promptly refrigerated it, as I was leaving town for a four-day business trip. Got back, fed the barm (3:1, per Reinhart recommendation), and refrigerated it overnight. Next a.m., took it out of the fridge and made starters/sponges for two batches of bread, still working from Reinhart: his New York Deli Rye and his Pain Poilane. Rye did as it ought to do. Only issue I had it with it was that I let it proof in the loaf pans too long and it fell. Still tastes VERY good, though. Decidedly sour. Poilaine, however, is another story. Starter took forever to rise. Finally did. Then dough took a solid 24 hours to double in size, on my countertop. (Granted, I keep my house cool.) Made loaves this morning (roughly 12 hours ago). So far, rising has been miniscule. Dough was pretty stiff, but has softened with initial rise. I am thinking I will go to bed and see if these babies are of any sort of proper size to bake in the morning; if not, I'm thinking I'll not waste the energy and will just chunk the dough. What's happening here? Any ideas? This is my maiden voyage with sourdough. Should these wheat loaves rise, will they be too sour to eat? UPDATE -- After 24 hours, still no rise. I gave up and binned it. Still no clue what happened.

Kraut! In total, 10 pints and two quarts of kraut, which had been fermenting for five weeks (as I was not able to get to it at the standard four-week mark). Interesting note. This was grocery store cabbage. In comparison to the farmers' market cabbage made into kraut back in the early summer, this did not shrink nearly as much, and did not give off nearly as much liquid. I guess that speaks to how long it had been picked and how far it had been shipped. Still tasted good, though.