kayb

I believe I could live at that market. What a gorgeous array! And roasted quail, too? Be still, my heart.

I always look forward to the first weekend breakfast following St. Patrick's Day: Corned beef hash! Today, with poached farm eggs and homemade biscuits with homemade pear preserves. I may not eat for a week.

Bookmarked and saved!

Greatly looking forward to this coming week!

A sort of improv pasta primavera, with sugar snap peas, roasted cherry tomatoes, shelled spring peas, and asparagus in an egg/cream/grated Parm sauce, with a foccacine whose recipe I got from someone on here ( @ElsieD, was it you?). Very good. I had intended to add a part of a bag of frozen popcorn shrimp, but forgot them and didn't miss them until I was halfway through dinner.

What beautiful meals! What are the leaves with the spaghetti with clams (love that composition!), and what is the green sauce with the corned beef? Looks like pesto; I'd never thought of pesto with corned beef.

I would go with Scotch eggs, and I'd also try some pickled eggs with them. Being so small, they should pickle quickly. And just boiling, peeling and halving, they ought to be great in salads or as garnishes. I do a spring pea salad for Easter every year, and have used hardboiled quail eggs, halved, as a garnish for it. Looks pretty, tastes great. K.

Interesting choice of a planting date, given the way it moves around the calendar. Daddy was a major proponent of doing things "by the signs," i.e., the phases of the moon and different astrological signs, as detailed in the Farmers Almanac, which ranked right up there with the Bible in our house. Since Easter is a moon-driven date, I guess it makes sense. He also used "the signs" to determine when to go fishing, when to graft fruit trees, when to make kraut, and assorted other things. Oh, and when to kill hogs. The hams and bacon would not cure properly if the signs were wrong. I'd say there's nothing to that, but he always cured good ham and bacon and made good kraut, and I don't remember the garden ever getting frozen out.

Daddy used to always contend one should plant on Good Friday, so that's what I'm hoping to do.

One of the nice things about living in a small city in the South, surrounded by farms -- I've just connected with a lady who will bring to my door a dozen farm-fresh eggs every week, and extra when I ask (like next week, as we will be deviling eggs!) -- for the stunningly low price of $2.50 a dozen. I felt almost guilty paying for them this morning. $2.50 -- delivered! -- almost beyond belief. For farm-fresh eggs, I'll take my chances with bird flu.

I'm calling success, which is pretty sweet, after several years of failures. All I can point to that's different is my use of Prague powder, as opposed to Morton Tenderquick, and something I bought one one year that purported to be "pink salt," and while it was pink and salty, certainly was NOT curing salt. Brined five days, per Ruhlman, a 24-hour soak in several changes of water, and SV 24 hours at 140. Tender, but still some chew; could have gone longer without hurting it. Not too salty. Good flavor. All I noticed was a couple of places in the very thickest part of the point to which the brine didn't penetrate -- no red coloration. I might go 7 days next time. Used the liquid remaining in the SV bag to cook the potatoes and carrots. Cut thick slabs of cabbage, brushed with olive oil, and salted and peppered generously, popped those in the oven as well. It was a quite excellent dinner. Although I'm a Scot, I'm happy to celebrate with my Celtic brothers and sisters across the Irish Sea.

From a 3 1/2 pound or so fryer (organic, from the farm, whole), I'll get a minimum of two. Sometimes two will be it, if the first one is for four people as opposed to the usual two at my house. If it's two all the way, I may get four or so; one of sliced roast chicken, and the rest "chicken something." I have two leg quarters from one we had for Sunday dinner, and that's going in a chicken and mushroom risotto tomorrow or Saturday. Will probably produce enough risotto for us for a meal, and significant leftovers that might recycle as arancini, or just reheated risotto.

I'm not sure I've recovered from the notion of people eating guinea pigs, or whatever pet-like creature it was! But I am most looking forward to your blog, and will be anxious to learn about rambutan and salted fish!

Being healthy tonight, in preparation for overindulging tomorrow night on corned beef and trimmings. Miso-glazed cod with scallions and sesame seeds; rice cooked with furikake; steamed buttered snow peas.

Well, the adventure continues. Big ol' brisket (7.2 pounds, grassfed) came out of the brine yesterday (Ruhlman recipe, five days as specified). I soaked it about 24 hours, with two or three water changes during that. Cut it in half; bagged one half with pickling spice, rubbed down the other one with a pastrami rub that alleges to "be like Katz's," and, having not had the pleasure of eating at Katz's, I don't guess I'll know if it does or not. (Recipe here.) It went into the bath at 145 degrees (what most of the SV threads I've read agreed upon), and will stay there for 24 hours-ish. The pastrami will chill and then go in the freezer to be smoked at a later date. The corned beef will be checked for tenderness and taste tomorrow night, and hopefully will be duly ready for dinner on Thursday. With, of course, cabbage, potatoes and carrots. And beer. Much beer. Front, the pastrami, waiting to be bagged; rear, corned beef, bagged with pickling spice. Coming up to temp.

Bring it! Always have loved the food blogs. Happy to see another one!

Thanks. I'll make a note of that.

In a small southern town where I once lived, there was a garden club that did an annual "international day" celebrating the heritage of its members with a fundraising international food fair. In this town, there were three or four Syrian/Lebanese families. I remember their offerings at the food fair including spanikopita, grape leaves, and falafel. Bless you and your community for welcoming these folks. I agree with those who have said that attempts to offer something "homey" will be appreciated, but I think it will be a good opportunity to showcase what your local region has to offer. Wish I was there to help.

My totally grabbed-it-out-of-the-air attempt at steak and Guiness (well, actually, Green Flash Double Stout) pi. Reasonably decent, although Child A considered it "too beery." Didn't look too pretty -- I forgot to reset the oven temp, and it was too hot.

joiei, I'm absolutely including the Dixie Pig. Along with the Kream Kastle and the little trailer in the grocery store parking lot. And the Hog Pen in Osceola. I live in Jonesboro. Smokehouse is adequate, Wild Hog is ok, but there is really no GREAT 'cue here. Ditto Crittenden County, where I lived for 30 years, at least not since Bill's Grill closed. But Memphis, however -- the trouble would be limiting it to three places. You'd have to include Central, Payne's and, well, the third would be a tossup between Interstate and Cozy Corner (yet to reopen after their fire, last I heard, but you can get their Cornish hens at the soul food place across the street) and Germantown Commissary and Three Pigs and BarBQ Shop. Note I am including the Rendezvous nowhere on this list.

I know nothing of croquants, but this is certainly the place to learn about and share your sous vide adventures! Many very skilled folks on this forum. Welcome!

How wonderful it must be to have olive trees and be able to brine your own!

Would have loved to have been on that trip, if only to talk about how much better Memphis barbecue is (). However, if any of you would like to do a Memphis and/or East Arkansas crawl, I'll be happy to tour-guide either of those. There is some fine 'cue in Mississippi County, AR, just south of the Missouri line, and likewise in Memphis. Can also lead a respectable Mexican or Vietnamese crawl in Memphis, although one of my favorites, Saigon Le, burned the other day. Y'all let me know.

It may be the usual ham, but I'm also thinking about SV-ing a pork loin, and maybe finishing it on the grill if the weather's decent, indoors if it isn't. There will be asparagus, and fresh green peas, if I can find them, and whatever other green thing I can get at the farmers' market. I may do some potato salad, or a corn casserole. And of course, the requisite deviled eggs. Today would've been a fine day for grilling; I have the a/c on for the first time this year. Hope that holds for a while.

While the photo doesn't show breakfast, it does show the prelim for it (along with two of my three girls, and two of my three grandkids). We were visiting the mom, left, of the two kids in the pic, in Nashville, and went to our favorite breakfast spot, Pfunky Griddle. The aforementioned griddle is in the center of the table, and one cooks one's own pancakes with add-ins of one's choice. I can just tell you, banana slices and Reese's Pieces added to pancakes are a combo made in heaven. The kids went for M&Ms, and my eldest chose berries and walnuts. You can also fry up your own potato cakes or hash browns with add-ins -- mushrooms, peppers, cubed ham, cheese. Or make your own omelet. I think it's a great idea for a restaurant.