kayb

Haven't cooked bacon-wrapped scallops, but in cooking other stuff that the interior would tend to get done before the bacon would, I've had good luck "poaching" the bacon in water in a skillet. Just put it in a dry skillet and when fat starts to render, add a cup or so of water.

I almost hate to post mine after those gorgeous meals from huiray and RRO, but... In this part of the country, the sale of smoked Boston butt as a fundraiser, often for kids' sports teams and the like, is popular. I bought one such and it was delivered Thursday, while I was out of town. I wrapped it in foil yesterday, rewarmed it in the oven, and pulled it; my $30 butt yielded, in addition to dinner for two last night, 3 1/2 pounds of pulled pork, three pounds of which I've vac-packed and frozen. Had it with baked beans, potato salad, and "jail slaw."

Thing about cleaning/cooking frog legs, you have to be sure and cut the tendon, else it'll contract as it cooks and they'll "jump" out of the pan. I've had that happen. It's disconcerting. I love 'em cooked in lemon butter. Just back from an early Mardi Gras visit to New Orleans. Dinners at Desire Oyster Bar (Seafood Louie salad was excellent) and Antoine's (soft-shell crab made my eyes roll back in my head). Wanted to stop at Middendorf's in Manchac on the way back for the paper thin catfish, about which I've heard much, but we just hit the road and sped north. Conference I attended featured John Besh as one of the speakers. Very nice guy, good speaker -- talked more about supporting the local economy/local restaurants and farmers, and his charitable work -- he started a foundation that sends underprivileged NOLA kids to culinary school. High on my list of places to eat next trip is his newest restaurant, Luke. He says he plans to open eight more in the next two years.

Cabbage, RG ojo de cabra beans, brats poached in beer, and mashed potato cakes with scallions and bacon bits.

@Shelby, those look WONDERFUL!

I had two crunchy tacos from Taco Bell. Yes, I'm ashamed.

I love to just cut a wedge of it, sprinkle on a little salt, and munch. Will email you my "jail slaw" recipe. It's a vinegar-based slaw with turmeric, mustard and white pepper.

No photos, but I had a piece of homemade sandwich bread, toasted and cut into croutons and topped with a couple of poached egg yolks, along with a wedge of raw cabbage with salt and a glass of homemade vegetable juice cocktail.

I've been pondering this as well. I'll probably watch the game at home by myself, but I still want some good munchies. May have some crostini with cream cheese and caviar; a couple of deviled eggs; some raw veggies and hummus; still have some ham frozen from Christmas I can make a sandwich with. Or I may just stock up on some good cheese and olives; I still have some slices of pate de campagne in the freezer. That ought to do me nicely.

I made an Instant Pot discovery the other night. I discovered one can cook basmati rice on the "rice" cycle and it comes out fine even if you forget to put the gasket back in the IP. Flashes an error message, but it turned out ok. Go figure.

Grab a plastic baggie filled with what I thought were bread crumbs out of the freezer and dump them in herbed butter with sauteed onions and garlic, only to discover they are graham cracker crumbs. From now on, I will check first. Grrr.

Same model I have. Works nicely for cucumbers, for a salad.Have done zucchini and potatoes.

A sort of bastardized Thai-Indian curry, with chicken left over from tandoori style roast chicken (NYT recipe) I'd cooked earlier this week. Tossed some frozen pineapple in for good measure. Over basmati rice. Wasn't bad. Wasn't great.

There are a few things I will eat at a McDonald's. 1. Fries. Any time. Agree with whoever said ask for fresh. A fresh McDonalds fry is a marvelous thing (and will probably clog your arteries in nothing flat). 2. Hash browns. See fries. 3. Baked Apple pie. Good road food breakfast when you want to eat in the car, with a hash brown and coffee. 4. About once a year, a fish sandwich. With lots of napkins to wipe off some of the pint of tartar sauce they always seem to put on them. I suspect they, too, would benefit from nuking to melt the cheese. 5. Coffee. When you're in the hinterlands, on the road, you can generally count on Mickey D's to be an acceptable cup of coffee. Not great, but acceptable. I loathe their breakfast sandwiches. I'm picky about the quality of my sausage and bacon, and they use about the lowest quality of each that I think exists. Ditto chicken nuggets, although my grandson disagrees. Burger King has a much superior breakfast sandwich, but the best sausage and biscuit (with or without egg and/or cheese) is in the warmer case at a Southern convenience store/gas station or a supermarket deli in a small town. Trust me on this.

LOVE Castelvetrano olives.

I rinsed it, but I may not have rinsed it well enough. May have been a combo of the two. When I made basmati rice the other night, I used 1.5:1 liquid:rice, and it worked fine. Different rice, and the liquid was water, but I think a big part of it was the liquid volume.

Used the IP tonight to make Spanish rice (after I boiled the chicken for the chicken enchiladas, thus creating the chicken stock I needed to make the rice) My recipe calls for a 2:1 ratio of liquid (a combo of chicken stock and pureed tomato and onion) to rice. Despite the rinsing and sauteeing, the rice was still sticky, rather than separate and dry like it is when I cook it in the oven after the liquid is added. I think I'll try with a bit less liquid next time, and maybe use basmati instead of regular long-grain, and see if that makes a difference.

Not a white drinker, as a rule, but I do go to Bota Box for my budget wines. Their Pinot Grigio is quite acceptable. I generally keep their Old Vine Zinfandel on hand.

Those were poached in a saucepan, put in when the water boiled, covered, turned down to simmer, three minutes, and out. Seemed like too much trouble to get the IP out to cook two egg yolks and a tad of white.

I have no clue, but is this the precursor to sweetened bean paste, a popular ingredient in Japanese confections?

Couple of recent breakfasts: Taking a page from Anna N's book, poached egg yolks (I will forever be grateful to Anna for letting me know about silicone egg-poaching pods) on toast with bacon. Steel-cut oats with dates and maple syrup.

This one: "click."

My spiralizer has a blade that will do ribbons.

I picked up a pair of Calphalon loaf pans at TJ Maxx several years ago that are my workhorse pans when baking bread and loaf cakes (which is generally what I do with anything I'd normally put in a bundt pan, because I can royally screw up a Bundt cake. They aren't coated with non-stick, but appear to have some sort of finish on the metal. I've never had a loaf of bread stick, even when I forget to oil the pan.

...Order from Amazon at 4 a.m., after I've awaked and read a recommendation in eGullet, from my phone. I had forgotten I had put two potential candidates for cleaver purchase in my cart, waiting to hear what the recommendations were. So, I inadvertently ordered THREE cleavers, $160 worth, instead of one $25 one. Discovered mistake about two-three hours later and canceled the first two, which still show "attempting to cancel" on the order status. Thank God for Amazon's excellent customer service. I can at least return them if the cancellation doesn't go through. Three cleavers. Sheesh.