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@Paul Bacino, that is a thing of beauty. I love braciole (and rouladen, too!). The only thing that is keeping me from crawling through the computer screen is the fact I am still miserably full from Easter lunch three hours ago -- well, and the slice of Key lime pie I just finished it off with. Ditto the above two comments on your ribeye, Shelby. It's finally getting warm enough to grill, so I'll be using steaks from my steer in the upcoming weekends. We had the planned-on (and mostly prepped/cooked yesterday) ham, spring pea salad, asparagus, corn pudding, mac and cheese (for the kids), deviled eggs and pickled quail eggs. I ate a shameful amount, not to mention topping it off with a wedge of Key lime pie. I'm about to take a nap!

What they all said.

Bacon and tomato sandwich on homemade white sandwich bread. Campari tomatoes from the grocery don't taste too bad.

Oooooh. Can you provide a recipe or a link? That looks stunning.

Brilliant. Simply brilliant. I, on the other hand, buy the big bag of peeled cloves from Sam's and confit them.

Just want to tell you, as Easter approaches and with it, sadly, the end of this week of blogging, that I have very much enjoyed your blog. I've learned so much, and the travelogues through Ambato and environs have been just fascinating. Maybe one day I'll be ambitious enough to undertake fanseca, my one adventure with salt cod having been, shall we say, less than successful.

Yum. Meatloaf sandwiches today?

RRO, that's gorgeous. I've never been quite brave enough to attempt my own sushi.

When I did Momofuku soy sauce eggs, which are similar to this, I left them undisturbed for three days; I think that ought to work for these. And yes, I'll deep fry the Scotch eggs -- one of the very FEW things I deep-fry -- after they get a good coat of panko.

One of the few failures I've had from NYT recipes: Cod cakes, with roasted Brussels sprouts and wild rice. I may have poached the cod too long, but the cakes were dry and tough. Oh, well. You wins a few, you loses a few, and some gets rained out.

Mine has finally firmed up. Honeybaked ham, already cooked, already sliced; will just have to warm in oven for a bit. Sugar snap peas, blanched and shocked, then tossed in butter. Possibly a green pea salad, possibly not, depending on whether I take a notion. Asparagus, roasted, with blender Hollandaise. Corn casserole. Mac and cheese (for the kids!). Deviled eggs and assorted relishes. For dessert, a Key lime pie and pound cake with sliced, macerated strawberries and whipped cream. All done in advance except for corn casserole, asparagus and sugar snaps, and the latter two will be prepped the day before.

Put a dozen hardboiled quail eggs in to pickle today. Brine of 1/2 cup rice vinegar, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup water, a sizeable dash of sesame oil, and a half-tablespoon or so of sriracha. Heated and poured over eggs, which are now in the fridge and can be sampled for Easter hors d'ouevres. Other six eggs are in the fridge awaiting the purchase of sausage to make mini-Scotch eggs. Forgot that while I was errand running today.

Like several others on this thread, I can't offer professional advice, having never cooked commercially beyond the occasional bake sale.But I do love to cook for others, and frequently volunteer to do so. I find that it helps me to have a good timetable of when different tasks need to be started and finished, and also, to always have in mind an alternative plan if, say, the entree is an abject failure -- the only thing to do at that point is shrug, own it, and adjourn to the local burger joint. It is, in the end, as much about the fun and fellowship as it is the food. My one piece of advice would be not to fear failure. There are two possible outcomes to everything -- success, or learning. Congratulations to you for your determination to return to the life you love. My very best wishes, and I shall send prayers and positive thoughts in your direction.

And as the Arkansan in the house, when I hear Benton mentioned in conjunction with food, I think about Benton's bacon and ham. Incidentally, I will buy NO meat or produce at WalMart. The quality is horrible. I try not to shop there when I can avoid it...the place annoys me.

@rotuts, I was grocery shopping today and saw they had it on sale for $1.99. So I picked up a couple more jars, just for good measure. In addition to my free jar, I had coupons for 75 cents off and $1 off. Kroger knows I love me some Hellman's! And I am supplied with mayo for a while.

@rotuts, when you shop at Kroger all the time and use your loyalty card, they'll periodically send you coupons tailored to your buying habits. I got one the other day for a free jar of Hellman's! @KikiAnn, I've read somewhere that they will often offer appliances and other household goods -- sometimes seasonal -- at deep discounts. Overstocks, perhaps? A friend bought a gas grill for about $100 less than the local big-box was offering it.

@ElsieD and @Paul Bacino, I had thought that might be the answer. Overnight, huh?

A new adventure for me last night -- zucchini lasagna. Got out the mandoline and sliced two medium zucchini into about 1/4 inch slices, lengthways, and roasted those with a little olive oil, salt and pepper for 20 minutes at 400F. Drained water off the baking sheet. Used a pint of my tomato-garlic sauce plus a half-pint of plain tomato sauce to cut the garlic level (I went a bit overboard on the garlic when I canned that batch...). Layers of sauce, zucchini, grated mozzarella, grated parmigiano. Baked the whole works for another 30 minutes at 375F. It was watery, but very good; it'll go in the regular rotation. Will have to see if I can figure a way to get more water out of the zucchini next time. Served with oven sweet potato fries dusted with smoky paprika, and asparagus. Very healthy dinner.

The Aldi here is relatively new, which may be why I don't have the "dark and depressing" and odor issues some of you mention. A friend goes to Missouri, 25 miles away, to get wine at their Aldi, as grocery stores in MO can sell wine but those in AR cannot (what do you expect from a state that's still functioning under a constitution written in 1874?). She contends they have a most excellent Prosecco for $5 a bottle. I've contemplated making that run. We have a regional chain of supermarkets here, Hays, which is not my regular grocery (Kroger is) but where I'll periodically go because they have fine specials on meat. I scored Boston butts for 99 cents a pound, ditto pork steaks. Wright's bacon was 4.99 a pound; I bought 10 pounds for the freezer. I keep a close eye on their ads; as pork is the only meat I haven't yet found a local source for the farm version, I'll buy supermarket pork. Not so beef or chicken.

Thanks! Going to try this!

It was a small place in Fukushima, which specialized in beef tongue. We were asked where we wanted to eat, and just said, "a local favorite," and that's where our guides took us. I didn't object to the taste at all, but it was just very chewy -- put me in mind of poorly prepared calamari.

I haven't experienced any of the horror stories @DiggingDogFarmrecounts. But I'm pretty picky about what I buy there. I will buy butter because it's a buck a pound cheaper than Kroger. I will occasionally buy snack crackers or other snacky things. I have never bought fresh meat there, although I've heard good things about their ham (I'm a Honeybaked Ham or a Petit Jean Farms ham person, myself). Haven't bought any dairy other than butter. Like a lot of stores, they may be cheaper on one thing and higher on something else. I saw packaged cake mixes (base for some of my desserts, as I'm not much of a pastry chef) for $1.99, when I can buy them all day at Kroger for $1.29.

I have eggs; I have gochujang. How does one cure an egg yolk, please? @huiray, I have only ever eaten beef tongue in Japan. The taste was fine, but it was tremendously chewy. How is the texture of that shown in your photo?

Again,wonderful blog. I'm all amazed at the huge range of food choices, and your daily routine serves as a fine example of how much work it takes to succeed in one's small business, particularly if that business is food related. I often have friends for whom I cook ask me why I don't open a restaurant; my answer, consistently, is "I don't want to work that hard." My utmost admiration to you for making a success of your business through, obviously, a LOT of hard work!

What kind of rice did you use? I used my IP to make Boston Baked beans Sunday for family dinner that wound up not happening because Child C and hubby had car issues. So Child A and I had burgers, potato salad and beans, while the grandchild, who turns up his nose at any meat produce other than fish sticks and chicken nuggets, had a grilled cheese with oven fries. Beans, from a friend's recipe cited on the HIP pressure cooking website, were quite watery; a combination of saute and slow cook with the lid off for about 30 minutes took care of that, and concentrated the flavors in a nice thick sauce. Used RB Alubia blanco beans. I'll do it again.