kayb

I think it's time to can tomatoes. This is the yield from nine plants, picked Friday morning and again this morning. There'll be about half that many again in another couple of days.

@JeanneCake, you are a better person than I.

My recollection is it was the flowers, just lightly vinegar'ed.

Why does it always scare me when I see @JoNorvelleWalker post in this topic?

I love steak tartare, the iteration I had at the Catbird's Seat in Nashville being at the top of the list for best I've had. I have a couple of beef filets in the freezer I'm saving for that very purpose. ChefSteps has a good recipe I've used. Catbird Seat added pickled nasturtiums, which provided a wonderful tart counterpoint.

Samsung built-in in this house when we moved in. Smart mwo; much smarter than me. I finally figured out how to turn it on. MWO critical in this household for the following tasks: 1. Melting butter. 2. Cooking the grandson's chicken nuggets, and defrosting/warming his frozen pancakes. 3. Heating up Child A's chicken and dumplings. They are the one thing I CANNOT make, and she likes Sweet Sue in the can, anyway. 4. Thawing frozen chicken broth when I forgot to set it out in time 5. Making nut brittles for Christmas gift boxes

Ripe figs split open, topped with blue cheese, and on the grill for a few minutes. A drizzle of honey to finish, or as somebody suggested upthread, balsamic. On an onion tart, with blue cheese or goat cheese. Chopped up finely along with olives, then dressed with a little balsamic and olive oil. A topper over goat cheese or fromage blanc on toasts. In a salad with grapes, bananas and pecans.

I would happily take all the figs anyone would give me. I'll pay off in fig jam.

She gave herself a healthy shake, transferring most of the droplet pattern to the couch. Then rolled on the rug. Ruins the whole Jackson Pollock effect.

I will never again slap the mosquito dining on my forearm when said forearm is attached to a hand that is holding a fresh glass of red wine. Mosquito is, at least, dead. Lucy is bearing an interesting pattern of red spots on her back.

I've got to put in a bid for bacon barbecue meat loaf. Two pounds of ground beef, panade made from two slices of bread soaked with half-and-half, spices of your choice (I use garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt), Worcestershire sauce, a couple of eggs. Moosh it up together and pat it into a 9 x 12 rectangle on waxed paper, foil or parchment that has been topped with a half-pound of bacon, laid edge-to-edge. Brown remaining one-half pound of bacon and crumble. Top rectangle with a decent spritz of your favorite barbecue sauce, and spread it into a thin coating. Sprinkle with chopped bacon. You can add some grated cheese, but I generally don't. Using the paper or foil, roll up from a short side, jelly roll fashion; ease it into a loaf pan, if you're cooking in the oven. Bake 45 minutes at 325 degrees; remove and tip pan over a container and drain as much fat as you can without losing the meat loaf. Top with more barbecue sauce and return to oven, increasing heat to 400, for 30 more minutes. This is really better if you cook it in the smoker; in that case, you can dispense with the pan altogether, and just gently roll the loaf off the paper and onto the smoker rack. Smoke at 300F for about two hours. Works best with thick-cut country-style bacon. I like using Wright's. This thing is GOOD.

Fourth of July dinner was an almost embarrassing excess, cooked for just the two of us. Saturday morning's farmers' market offered the first fresh corn of the season, which in turn calls for okra and purple hulled peas. And I had some yellow squash that needed to be used. The slab of chicken breast looks naked because I had already eaten the skin, which was wonderfully crisp and tasty from a hour and a half in the smoker. Dessert was watermelon. Followed by "A Capitol Fourth" on PBS, followed by my annual listening to John Philip Sousa, followed by the Hamilton soundtrack, which I never get all the way through because I fall asleep.

Lots of dinners will look like this in the next six or eight weeks: From 12 o'clock, Tomatoes, squash and onions, purple hulled peas with tomato relish, fried okra, zucchini fritter.

Yes. I can and preserve a lot of fruit and vegetables over the summer; it's almost as good as having fresh in the winter. In about two weeks, I'll start canning tomatoes and tomato juice (nothing like a Bloody Mary made with home-canned tomato juice). As for the freezer -- I freeze peaches, some berries, peas, corn, and I buy a quarter of a steer every winter. If I get really ambitious I'll freeze okra -- if you cut it up, dust it in cornmeal, freeze it on a cookie sheet and bag it up when it's frozen, it's almost as good as fresh.

What's the deal with the red strings suspending the melons? Helping support the weight?

OK. I'm chunking them. Dammit, this is twice I've done this.

It's summertime. I'm gearing up to can and freeze everything in sight. Made Vivian Howard's Blue Q blueberry barbecue sauce yesterday -- six half-pints of it.

Now, I'm bad to keep stuff for way too long in my fridge. But I can't touch this.

Jordan almonds. Makes me think of going to see Dr. Zhivago at the theater in maybe 1968. Or so.

Yes. Two of those, please. Because whatever is worth doing is worth doing to excess.

On the rare occasions Daddy was in charge of dinner, we went out. He was, however, well in charge of the main dish if it involved fried fish or anything on the grill.

Two standards: 1. Cucumbers and onion (and cauliflower and par-boiled carrots, if I get ambitious) in cider vinegar with sugar, white papper and coriander. 2. Just cucumbers in rice vinegar, mirin, a dab of hone, grated ginger (lots) and soy sauce. A dash or two of Sriracha to perk it up. (Edamame is also good like this.)

OK...I have one similar. Bought four pork chops at the meat market, back around Memorial Day. Not frozen. Local slaughterhouse/processor. Local hogs. Brought home, separated, SV'd 8 hours at 145F. One package I immediately put in freezer. Other has been in the fridge since, so 3-ish weeks. Still in SV bag. Fridge temp is 38F. Safe?

Haven't bought a thing. Just paid to have the a/c fixed, so disposable cash is in shorter supply, and there was nothing I really needed. Noticed there seem to be several makers of steam/convection ovens now, just in browsing.

Question: could you use this thing like a tandoor?