kayb

That's gorgeous. I never thought of mini-Hasselbacks. Great idea! I'm doing cod cakes sometime this week, and will give that a whirl. The classic ones are a ham and cheese on, generally, white bread, then batter-dipped and deep fried. I don't like powdered sugar sprinkled on them, although that's traditional, but I'll take the raspberry jam for dipping.

Tried to add this to the previous post and it didn't wish me to do so, so here's the first time I've been in the kitchen since last Wednesday. Sunday dinner for the kids: roast chicken, corn casserole ( @Kim Shook, it's the Jiffy one!), green peas, baked beans. Simple, easy, good.

Thanks! This is Silver Queen corn I froze last summer. I dumped a pint carton of mostly-thawed corn in a skillet with 1/4 stick of melted butter, let it saute/steam over medium heat until the water from the corn is all cooked away (there is quite a bit of water put off by the thawed corn) and all the kernels are well coated in butter. Added about 1/3 cup milk, and let that cook mostly away as well, on medium low heat with the lid on. Let it go just a bit too long, and actually got some browned bits, but that didn't bother me. There is NO corn any better than Silver Queen. Right, @Shelby?

Looked at the link. I like those. I have one Rubbermaid one that's a plastic/resin of some sort, and I do like that I can put it in the dishwasher. I have two bamboo boards which live on my countertop, along with a granite slab that doubles as a rest for hot pans. The plastic one comes out to cover the sink when I'm canning or working up vegetables, and I have a bigger one of the same material that serves as a bread board. And a little one in the shape of a pig that I treasure because my father made it for me.

I swear, I believe these people dip their sandwiches in funnel cake batter. I don't want to know the calories and fat content. I ordered a Monte Cristo at a restaurant in Memphis a couple of years ago, and got a ham and cheese sandwich between two pieces of French toast. It was grim.

Thanks, folks. This is a flat cut, so I think it's sirloin tip. Why aren't butchers consistent? Anyway, I'll leave it longer, next time, and cut the temp back just a bit.

It's rainy and miserable outside. I am jonesing for some good bread. But as I'm leaving town tomorrow, I'll wait until I get back and bake on Saturday or Sunday. OK, maybe Monday. No, not Monday, I have work obligations. Doggone it. Must bake Saturday or Sunday.

@huiray, the eggs with Chinese chives look wonderful, in particular. And what is taucheo kamkeong, which I am trying to type from memory and think I just screwed up? Are those peanuts on top?

There are few places in the world you can still get a traditional Monte Cristo, which apparently is a very 80s sandwich, but one I dearly love. One such place is a tiny little sandwich shop in a nearby small town, which boasts some of the best sandwiches you can get anywhere. My lunch companion had a Reuben that looked scrumptious, though it likely would not hold much of a candle to a New York one, but we take what we can get down here. Anyway, they make a Monte Cristo like God intended Monte Cristos to be made. I always have them leave off the powdered sugar. But the strawberry preserves, I'll take that. Rings were excellent, but for the fact they were too heavy with the black pepper in the batter.

I cooked a top sirloin steak SV at 140F for four hours yesterday, and then seared it in an iron skillet. Damn steak (local, farm-raised beef, bought in a quarter-steer increment from the farmer) was still tough. I was astounded. I really feared I had left it in the SV too long (my schedule interfered; I really should learn how to use the wifi function on my Anova), but still tough? Seriously? Suggestions?

Yeah, kinda sad. But even chicken mcnuggets might be improved with a poached egg on top of them....

I'd probably run an ad on Craigslist. Also, if there's enough it's worth your while to do it, check out the cost of a classified in Southern Living. That's probably read by a high percentage of people who'd be in the market to fill out flatware sets. Replacements is an option, but as MSRadell says, they'll take a sizeable cut.

Well, it'll stand between you and starvation. I feel that way sometimes about Taco Bell. "It's not common food here in Oz..." I'm so sorry.

I stood on my head to get the brisket from my beef share out of the chest freezer today, to let it thaw for a day in the fridge before plunking it in the cure. I get one sizeable piece every year with my quarter-steer, and save it for St. Patrick's day, when I have traditionally ruined it with an unsuccessful cure/cook. This year, it's a beauty of a 7.2-pound flat. Part of it is getting cured and frozen, to become pastrami later this year. The rest -- well, it will be yet again my attempt at homemade corned beef, this year with the Ruhlman recipe from Charcuterie, which I will follow slavishly. Meanwhile, simple dinner last night. Top sirloin, SV for four hours at 140, then seared in an iron skillet. Damn steak was still tough. Lima beans and corn were excellent, though.

Ahi tuna poke with pineapple over rice, cucumber salad, stir-fried brussels sprouts in a ginger/soy reduction.

I can get better frozen scallops at Sam's. But the king crab legs were excellent. Mini-dogs were as good as I remember. Haven't gotten into my cod yet. Having raw ahi tuna poke with pineapple and cucumber tonight. Have another box of crab legs coming next week.

It was binge-watching time for House of Cards Season 4 last night, which called for finger food. Potato skins, deviled eggs and pickles. Followed by the first strawberries of the season. Well, not local berries, but better imports than the imports we've been getting.

Short ribs rubbed down with gochujang and cooked sous vide for 72 hours at 135 F. Refrigerated for a couple of days, then seared in a hot oven with a galbi sauce. With rice and stir-fried broccoli. The gochujang, surprisingly, doesn't impart a great deal of its heat to the ribs. They have a tingle, but aren't fiery. The galbi (a commercial brand I picked up at the international market) was a nice counterpoint. Although they were good, I continue to fail to see the amazing properties many attribute to short ribs; I can't make a lot of difference between them and a good chuck roast.

The leftover crab meat from crab legs went into the fridge, and a couple of days later I combined it with some shrimp in a seafood au gratin dish, with some asparagus. Only dinner I've cooked all week.

Finally excavated the freezer down far enough to find a shoulder roast, which became a pot roast for family Sunday dinner. With potatoes, carrots and onions, and sides of salad and green beans cooked in bacon grease, soy sauce and brown sugar with crumbled bacon over the top. Normally it would have called for rolls, but the kids are low-carbing it so I left them off. While I was searching for the beef roast, I grabbed a couple of packages of short ribs. They came out of the sous vide last night after being slathered in gochujang and cooked for 72 hours. They're currently reposing in the refrigerator, and about Wednesday, they'll come out, get a coat of galbi sauce, and go in a hot oven for a final roast/sear. I'm thinking rice and kimchi to go with them.

The crab legs which got put off from Friday night made an appearance last night, along with sugar snap peas. I do love a meal that goes together in 20 minutes. The Schwan's crab legs, while pricy, were quite acceptable, though I don't do much of a job clarifying butter.

I had planned on crab legs tonight, but you know what happens to the best-laid plans.... So I had a cheese and charcuterie plate instead. Cheeses included Wisconsin white cheddar, aged gouda, aged havarti, and Oregon blue. Charcuterie came from a wonderful shop in Memphis where they cure their own -- my choices were duck proscuitto and loma embuchado. I loved the loma embuchado with the Oregon cheddar, while the duck was great with the aged gouda. Crackers spread with a bit of cream cheese (my creme fraiche, I discovered, was no longer "fraiche"), along with some buttered radishes with sea salt, some most excellent sweet pickles with horseradish (Boar's Head brand; I highly recommend 'em), and some Castelvetrano olives rounded out the plate. Crab legs tomorrow night.

@Shelby, glad you and your husband avoided injury. I "planned' all winter to prep raised beds. Haven't done it. Now they'll have to just be raised beds with topsoil and compost atop the yard that's there, after a week or so under black plastic to keep the grass from greening and the weeds from sprouting. Now just have to "borrow" a friend with a pickup truck to help me get all the stuff here from the nursery to build the beds. Two 6 x 12 beds, plus my front flower bed that's about 4 x 12. Front bed will get cucumbers and squash, so they'll serve as ground cover in the bed; two raised beds will be tomatoes, herbs and possibly onions and peppers. I have another space in front of the house, across the front stoop from the flower bed, that I think probably used to have boxwood or some such. Contemplating planting blueberry bushes.

About to put some short ribs, slathered with gochujang, in to go for 48 hours. Then I'll chill them, and finish them off one night next week with a sear in a hot oven. Or on the grill, if this gorgeous weather holds.

The slings and arrows of advancing age. I find that eating early in the morning tends to bring on nausea. Unless I drink a couple of glasses of water first. Likewise, I go to bed with a glass of water; will generally empty it through the night. When I don't, I invariably awaken with a headache, which I have learned can be due to dehydration. I've progressed to drinking water all day like a thirsty camel.