kayb

TFTC, I ate lunch at that very Pancho's -- the only one left, to my knowledge! -- on Labor Day. First time I've been to Pancho's in a year or more. I had the El Quatro, with a taco, Shrimp Veracruz, and a cheese tostada (the Veracruz, you may recall, counts as two choices!) I purely love a cheese tostada with some salad scattered atop it, slathered heavily with Pancho's dressing. They now charge you an extra $0.89 for refills on your cheese dip and "hot dip." The Sangria is still excellent. My daughter loves their Mexican cheeseburger. The food, as always, is only vaguely Mexican. Jimmy Hoffa is still thought to be buried somewhere about the premises. It's a piece of Arkansas history! And, damn, that dressing is amazingly good. Elsewhere in the culinary world, I have not cooked in a week or more. It's been bats*** crazy in the work world, and meals have been catch-as-catch-can, carryout, and what's-in-the-fridge. Tonight I warmed up a tray of frozen chicken alfredo linguine, which was quite good, if not at all photogenic. Tomorrow, when I think I may actually have time to get in the kitchen, I'm planning ratatouille, to use up some late summer veggies, and Thursday, when I have a house guest, it's coq au vin. I am also jonesing for a good old-fashioned pot roast; unfortunately, my quarter-steer was a bit roast-short (if steak-heavy; I can't complain!) this year, so there are no roasts in the freezer.Will either have to buy a roast on the side my next market trip, or wait until early November.

Learned the next week that, sadly, egg man and his wife, having gamely tried to make a go of it farming, gave it up and moved back to town to return to teaching school. Hate that. However, I did find a new egg man, who had bought the former egg man's chicken flock. Wondering who bought his grapevines, berry bushes, pigs and fruit trees. I hate that people have so much trouble making a lliving farming. Many of the vendors at our market are retirees who have gardened all their lives in addition to holding a job, and are just stepping it up a bit in retirement. I worry about the fact so few of the vendors are under 50.

Thanks. I was quite pleased, for a first attempt. They won't win any beauty contests, but the one I had toasted with cream cheese this morning for breakfast was pretty doggoned good.

Can send corks. Send address.

Update: Well, rather than chunk a batch of dough, I went ahead and made them. I can't tell that there are any adverse impacts. They're a bit soft, but that could also be due to the kind of flour I used -- I noticed the same in my sandwich bread, and it's a different brand (Pillsbury Gold Medal, vs. the generic Kroger all/purpose that is my usual). Anyway, bagels aren't nearly as hard as I thought they might be. Boiling: Ready to bake: Done!

Help! I may have just screwed up beyond repair, but I wanted to ask. I'm making my maiden voyage on bagels, following this recipe. Immediately upon putting that dough in to rise, I'm making the dough for the Overnight English Muffins. I had both recipes pulled up on my laptop in separate tabs, and inadvertently put the two tbsp of melted butter in the bagel dough. Will this completely eff up my bagels? Also made a nice loaf of sandwich bread today, possibly the best loaf yet I've done by the Cook's Illustrated New Best Recipes recipe. I may have put a little less flour, as the dough was softer, and the finished product is nice and soft, as well. It's carb overload day, as the grandchild is coming to visit and I figure she'll want lots of sandwiches and such.

Gorgeous meals, all. rotuts, I am particularly enamoured of the wine-corks stuck under the handle of the saucepan lid. I have a similar set of cookware and those little lifter handles get HOT. Great idea with the wine corks, as I (ahem) seem to have accumulated a profusion of them. Dinner last night was onion rings at Sonic. Good onion rings, but I want real food tonight. I'm thinking Vietnamese caramel fish.

I hate to see him go, and certainly wish him well. I have his collection of The Minimalist columns bookmarked on the NYT site, and may eventually download them all; I refer to them often. And his "How To Cook Everything" is one of the half-a-dozen cookbooks I Would Not Be Without.

We had a lovely cool snap over the weekend -- down in the 50s overnight, high in the low 70s Saturday, a touch warmer Sunday. Gorgeous weather, and made me want "fall food." Which wound up being a smoked sausage and lentil ragout, with oven fries.

I have learned a New Thing. I did not know there was such a creature as an egg poacher cup. Ordering a set today. Thanks!

Earlier this week I was in curry mode, so I made a coconut curry with leftover grilled chicken, chckpeas and sweet potatoes. In an attempt not to make it so hot I coudn't eat it, I cut way back on my curry-powder-on-steroids, with the result that the sauce was a tad bland. About to ditch that curry powder and go to a milder blend. Another night, I got in the notion for comfort food and made chicken pot pie. No photo of that one. Glad Fall's getting here. I'm ready for some of my own "studies in browns" -- braises, soups, stews. Tonight is smoked sausage in a tomato-lentil ragout, I think. Maybe some roasted potatoes to go with it.

Thanks for the Crepes: I can make a moderately decent pie crust, but I don't do it often enough that I'm adept at it. I plunk down the $2.89 for the Pillsbury rolled-up version in a box in the dairy case. Mine is no better than theirs when I'm having a good day, and significantly worse when I'm not. The Doughboy is consistent.

I have the figs and cheese. Headed to the grocery to get proscuitto shortly.

Ah, scuppernongs. Brings back a fond memory. When I was a little kid, my mother used to take me swimming at the lake. One day, she was on the bank watching me swim, and discovered some wild scuppernong vines that were loaded down with ripe scuppernongs. She looked all through the car for a bucket or container of some sort in which to pick them. Finding nothing, but not to be denied, she tied knots in the legs of her capri pants she'd worn over her bathing suit, and picked them full! We enjoyed scuppernong jelly all winter.

No photo, but a nice little salad. Sliced tomatoes left over from last night, diced up; ripe figs, diced; fresh mozzarella, diced; some basil oil and some balsamic glaze. A caprese with figs. I have always thought figs went with anything; I can now testify they go with capreses. I might have preferred a more assertive cheese in that setting, though.

I generally don't have flare-up problems with chicken, as I use indirect heat, but chicken was the first thing I grilled after I got them. I got them chiefly for burgers, which tend to stick badly and tear up on my conventional grill, on which the ceramic coating was beginning to pit and wear. I think they'll be very beneficial for anything that cooks over direct heat, which is when I have my flare-up problems.

Sprayed them down with canola oil, per the instructions. I'll do that the next 2-3 times I use them. Anxious to use them with burgers, as that's what I've had the most trouble with sticking to the grill.

In honor of the Labor Day holiday, when I believe it is a legal requirement to make a burnt (or at least grilled) offering via the back yard, I quartered and grilled some local chickens. Quite excellent. It was also the inaugural run with my Grill Grates, which, on the basis of one effort, are well worth what I spent on them. Thought about the traditional baked beans and potato salad, but decided to go with seasonal veggies instead. Sweet corn roasted (a bit too long) on the grill; purple hulled peas with tomato relish; fried okra and sliced tomatoes. Three chicken quarters left. Chicken enchiladas tonight.

New at the market yesterday -- sweet potatoes, and figs. Late corn and late tomatoes coming in. Picked up some yellow zucchini, as well. My egg man wasn't there -- good thing I've been light on egg use this past week!

I found figs at the farmers' market yesterday, first figs I've had this year. In previous years, I'd make a pilgrimage to a friend's home to get figs from her neighbor's tree which hung over her fence and shed figs all over her driveway. Last year, I brought home about 25 pounds of figs and made multitudinous jars of fig jam, so I'm not in fig preserving mode this year. But I do love a fig and walnut upside down cake -- single layer, with a butter/brown sugar/nut layer on the bottom, topped with face-down halved figs in a nice pattern, and your favorite cake batter. I have a recipe for a ricotta cake that includes a grated apple that I love in this preparation -- it's tremendously moist to begin with, and marries beautifully to the figs. And of course, I have to save a few to grill with some blue cheese and honey. Because if there's anything better than that, I'm not certain what it is.

Bran muffins this morning. No photo. They looked the same as the last time I posted them here.

I have gotten excellent corn from Kroger this summer. Surprisingly good. Fresh. Don't know where it's from. Fried okra. (IMHO.)

OK. I'm going to side with safety. Out the chops go. Thanks, everyone, for your contributions to my future well-being.

No, I didn't. I cooled them on the counter until they were cool enough to handle easily, then stuck them in the fridge. They were probably on the counter for 30 minutes. A thermometer in the fridge for an extended period of time revealed readings between 34 and 36F.

I'm inclined that I will. Particularly after gfweb's point about pastuerization. As long as they pass the "smell" test.