kayb

French toast (from challah), and bacon yesterday: And bacon, fried egg, and bran muffin with walnuts today:

Make a pear upside down cake in a springform pan. My damn cake pans were too small for the amount of batter. My springform may never be the same; fortunately, I caught the error and stuck a cookie sheet under it before it incinerated the bottom of the oven. Cookie sheet may never be the same, either.

I have a syrup pitcher (or, as my grandmother and father called it, a sorghum pitcher) that dates from somewhere prior to the Civil War. It's clear glass, quite plain, and the glass has a few random bubbles in it, dating it, I've been told, to the 1820s or so. It lived in our refrigerator with sorghum in it as long as I can remember; I like to think of it sending many of my ancestors out to work with a bellyful of biscuits and sorghum in the mornings....

There is nothing in the world better than pork loin chops, sliced about a half-inch thick, salted, peppered, fried in a hot-hot-hot iron skillet for about two minutes on a side, and served with Jezebel sauce, scalloped potatos and green beans. It was my Very Favorite Sunday dinner as a kid. And I believe I will go to the grocery and get the ingredients and make some Right Now, as I had not thought about it for ages. Also, you can use the el cheapo apple jelly and pineapple preserves. They're merely vehicles for carrying the horseradish-and-mustard combo.....

Chef Boyardee pizza kit in a box. I begged for them, ate them like they were candy. Last time I tried one, when my kids were younger, it was revolting. I'm not even sure they still make them.

That would explain the pink foam on my latte. Seriously though, it sounds rather good. A big step up from the Depression Era ketchup-and-water soup. Bloody Mary mix with yogurt works, too.

Quite ashamed of my presentation skills, but at least the food was good. Chuck eye steak, garlic mashed redskin potatos, purple-hulled peas. Meat loaf. I make mine in my deep dish pie plate, because I like a larger portion of the crusty outside (though I overdid the ketchupy topping and this one didn't get so very crusty). A pound of ground beef, half a pound of ground pork, half a pound of ground veal, sauteed onion and garlic, oregano, basil, thyme, salt and pepper, cracker crumbs, an egg. Topping of ketchup thinned a bit with Coca Cola. Meatballs. Same 2:1:1 plus other stuff mixture as the meat loaf, with the addition of about 3/4 cup grated parmegiano. Roasted and bagged, to become meatball sandwiches for my 15-year-old, who loves meatball sandwiches more than life itself.

Oh. My. God. That is absolutely gorgeous.

Toss it in olive oil, spread on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt and pepper, roast at 425 for about 15 minutes, squirt with juice of a lemon, toss again with half a cup of grated parm. I also love the salad Darienne references; I leave out the onions, add a tad of lemon juice and a tablespoon of sugar to the mayo. (also works with slightly plain yogurt, sans the added lemon juice)

Creamy gazpacho with chicken quesadillas. Quick, easy, good. The last two nights were street-vendor food at the blues festival -- corn dogs, funnel cakes, et. al. And beer. Lots o' beer. Must have beer with the blues!

One -- Saute some onion, some garlic, some cubed butternut squash; add some chicken broth and simmer until squash is soft. Either mash it up with your potato masher or whiz it with the immersion blender; stir in a couple of ounces of goat cheese. Toss with hot pasta and sprinkle fresh basil and crumbled bacon over the top. Two -- Dice some raw shrimp and quickly sear them in olive oil; add a healthy shot of lime juice and as many shakes of cayenne pepper as it takes to get it to the seasoning level you like. Toss with hot pasta and orange sections. Add more olive oil if you want. top with minced cilantro. Three -- Make a quick curry sauce with one ripe, peeled, chunked tomato; garlic; onion; peppers of your choice; turmeric and a little cumin. Add a can of coconut milk. Throw in cooked shrimp or chicken if you have some in your fridge. Toss with hot pasta. Four -- saute diced squash and fresh rosemary in olive oil; just as it's softened, hit it with a splash or two of balsamic vinegar. Toss with pasta. (I like to throw a diced fresh tomato in when I'm tossing, too; looks pretty, especially if you've used both yellow and green squash.) Top with grated parm and fresh basil. Hard to beat just a plain ol' carbonara when you're tired and home from work late, though.

Making my first beef stew of the season today; cubed round steak, floured and browned; onions and garlic, sauteed; carrots and potatos, chunked up; two cans of petite diced tomatos and 2 cups of beef broth, all dumped in the slowcooker. Leaving town this afternoon and that should keep the thundering herd fed until I get back Monday evening. Thinking while I've got the slow cooker out, I'm going to do a pork butt in barbecue rub later this week.

Baking yeast bread is my all-time favorite, followed closely by pot roast, bouef bourguignon, and Chinese roast pork.

dcarch, I don't know what you do for a living, but you need to set up shop with Prawncrackers as professional food stylists and photographers. I'm contemplating making a collections of y'all's photographs to post on my kitchen bulletin board to inspire me. Beautiful, beautiful meals! Everyone else's dinners had me drooling as well. Particularly since I've been on the road and in the midst of a hectic work schedule with no time to cook. However, at least one trip did take me to New Orleans, where I did my dead-level best to hit as many of my favorites as I could in 2 1/2 days: Mother's, fried shrimp po'boy washed down with Dixie beer Mr. B's Bistro, bacon-wrapped shrimp over the most impossible creamy cheese grits I've ever tasted. Cafe DuMonde, cafe au lait and beignets, of course. With nine gazillion other tourists. Acme Oyster House, chargrilled oysters, red beans and rice Palace Cafe, grilled redfish with crawfish etouffee Restaurant August, gnocchi with truffle cream sauce, poached figs with fresh ricotta, rabbit sausage with fennel I think I gained 10 pounds and it was worth every stretched seam of it. Lord, but I love New Orleans.

I did a recent brunch for friends. Got behind on my cooking, and so didn't take pics until we were already digging in. Above, from the top, chilled corn soup with shrimp seared in paprika; fruit salad with sweetened creme fraiche; caprese salads. Below, sweet rosemary corn bread, roasted asparagus with a canteloupe/mozzarella salsa (can it be a salsa if it has cheese in it?). And a quiche (zucchini and sausage, with monterey jack and goat cheese) We also had pound cake with peach/amaretto sauce, chicken breasts stuffed with ricotta cheese and chipotle peppers, and, of course, mimosas.

Put me down for the BLAT. Although the addition of shrimp does sound awfully tasty. And Hellman's, or homemade, mayo, please. I like a fried egg, bacon and cheese sandwich, too, but not with the tomato...though I love sliced tomato with bacon and eggs for breakfast. I think it's the cheese that squicks me.

Corned beef hash (from my first attempt at homemade corned beef!), double-yolked fried egg, cantaloupe.

Standard Southern dinner of okra, corn, tomato slice (ok, slab) and a chicken tender (at least I had breaded and baked it myself) And tonight, organic grass-fed beef burger, with dijon, bread-and-butter pickles, and potato salad. Chocolate chip pound cake for dessert.

Thin pork tenderloin chops, fried crispy on the outside over high heat in a cast iron skillet, and topped with a chili-plum cream sauce and fresh sliced plums. My new favorite sauce.

1. Fried okra. Most places, even in the South where they should know better, persist in serving the frozen, battered-and-fried, kind. Okra should be shaken in cornmeal before frying (or freezing on a cookie sheet, then transferred to a plastic bag. 2. An over easy egg. I've not found the restaurant yet that cooks its eggs in the drippings from the bacon or sausage that go with it. That, and timing, is the key to an excellent OE egg. 3. I agree with BadRabbit on barbecue. Depends entirely on where you are. I can find restaurants around here whose barbecue is as good as mine. But not better.

How about coming home from a week-long vacation to find that your fridge/freezer died at some point during the week, with spoiled shrimp and shells (for stock), duck breasts, duck fat, several quail, and pork chops? And that's only the freezer. Oh, dear God. That's horrible. I believe the only solution would be to move.

MaxH, glad it worked for you! The cider vinegar would have added another layer of flavor; any vinegar will work. We used white for some pickles (Old South lime pickles, and some others that escape me), but cider vinegar for most.

Hate the smell of calves liver or turnip greens cooking. Possibly one reason why I will eat neither one. We will not go into the awfulness of the smell of something left in the fridge until it's old enough to vote. Throw away container and all; it's worth it.

The recipe I sorta-kinda followed called for bacon, but I didn't do that. Any egg salad, minus the minced pickles and plus some grated cheese, should work well. First time I'd ever tried it, but it won't be the last.

I acquired a ulu (an ulu?) recently when a friend returned from a visit to Alaska. I find it very useful for chopping herbs. Hadn't thought about cutting pizza, but it'd work for that, too.