kayb

Dear God. For a moment I had a vision of @JoNorvelleWalker plunging across Northern France in a Panzer Mark IV tank (reading right straight over the II designation). It was an image to raise fear in the heart of the French countryside. My next thought was, "Where in the hell is she going to put THAT in her apartment?"

Which would have been about the time the specialty cheese section in Kroger started carrying the Murray's brand.

My suggestions would be, given the Eggs Benedict: A fruit salad with a nice, tangy dressing Asparagus, either grilled or roasted; I like roasting it with some spears wrapped in proscuitto, others not A potato dish -- for a while, everyone on here was making Hot Crash Potatoes, where you boil or bake small potatoes, smash them flat with the bottom of a glass or with a potato masher, drizzle with butter, salt and pepper, top with some of that leftover cheese from the night before, and run under the broiler to heat and melt the cheese. You could bring the potatoes, pre-baked/boiled, and simply smash, top and broil when you're there. Muffins -- either bran or with a fruit inclusion. I've got go-to recipes for both, should you want a tried-and-true. Easily enough baked in advance, sealed in an airtight container when cool, and brought along. I also recall having, and later making, a salad that combined some of the above that was awfully good. Roasted asparagus, arranged on a plate, with cubed up cantaloupe (may be too early for decent cantaloupe) and diced fresh mozzarella scattered over the top, strewn with chopped herbs and topped with a really tart lemon viniagrette.

Kroger gives away daily its deli, bakery and meat items that are about to expire. A different charity picks up daily, measures the donation by weight, and reports to the Food Bank, which keeps up with it and gives Kroger the donation credit for its taxes on a regular basis. Whatever the agency was that used to pick up on Fridays recently dropped out of the rotation, and the Food Bank, where we'd been buying our stuff, contacted us to see if we wanted to pick up. We did! Two weeks ago (I was traveling and someone else picked up last week), we had the largest donation I've ever gotten -- more than 400 pounds of food. Fortunately, as I was dialing for assistance (usually its a little more than 200 pounds, and I can handle it by myself), some friends came in and I drafted them for help. They're going to help on a regular basis. They don't have a lot of money, and a BIG family, so I make sure plenty goes home with them. I'd guess today was in the neighborhood of 300 pounds. Would have been about normal sized if not for the mega-load of chicken. Arkansas does have a good system of distributing donated food. There are five regional food banks spread over the state, coordinated by the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance. They receive donations of bulk food from processors, etc., and coordinate delivery of them to the banks where they're needed. Those banks also take donations from groceries and processors in their area. Several different churches have food pantries, which can buy food (for like 10 cents a pound) from the Food Bank, as can charitable programs that provide food (senior centers, day cares, summer kid feeding programs, nursing homes run on a non-profit basis, etc.) Works pretty well.

I was going to say, given the puppy's predeliction for shoelaces (and entire shoes), I don't want any of these in MY house.

Picked up the Kroger donation for the soup kitchen today. I believe I may be seeing the beginning of a sea change in Southern eating habits, or a major miscalculation on the part of the Kroger deli manager on the demand for chicken. Usually the donation has from 4-8 whole cooked chickens, usually rotissiere. (and will SOMEONE please give me a correct spelling) for that? Today, there were more than 30. Usually probably a dozen plastic boxes of fried or baked chicken; today, there were 40-plus. Could Arkansas, the home of Tyson Foods, be losing its appetite for chicken??? Donation also included a dozen or more decorated cakes and boxes of cupcakes; probably eight to 10 pound cakes/bundt cakes, and 20 or more boxes of cookies (all bakery items), along with the bread and rolls and a half-dozen pies. And a good 50 pounds of pre-sliced deli lunch meat and cheese. I did not go to the meat market section, as the church freezers were still full from last week. Our clientele will eat well tomorrow and this weekend. Kroger is making a difference in the community.

Look for "push pan" on Amazon.

@DiggingDogFarm, where are you? Your assistance is needed!

I'm not sure why Hostess, and Oreo, for that matter, feels the need to mess with its standards. (Although I'll confess to being tempted by the Candy Corn Cupcakes, and I do like the lemon oreos.) They do chocolate cupcakes and vanilla sponge cake, and both of them are horrible, and from time to time, I just HAVE to have one.

FYI: Anyone who's up for an Easter ham, Aldi's house brand, the spiral cut one, has been consistently good. I've bought them for the past several years around Christmas and Easter. Appleton Farms. Couldn't think of the name.

Hakone. Thank you. I would have not ever remembered that. So you snagged your extra seven years, too?

I once ordered a paella pan from Aldi. They sent me a bag of chicken marbella instead.

Well, in the grip of insufferable laziness, I let two perfect days get past me without clearing out the raised beds and putting down new compost. Fortunately, after today's rain, the next several days are supposed to be good, so I'll be moving on that. Think I'll go ahead and plant cabbages, sprouts, cauliflower and such like, along with lettuce and carrots and stuff. I'll wait just a bit on tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers. May go in with okra after the early stuff. I also need to get back on building my herb stand and get new herbs potted. May wait until mid-April to put them out, or at least wait on the basil. I'm pretty astounded at the cilantro, which survived the arctic blast and 18 inches of snow. The parsley did not.

Many thanks!

Anyone ever assayed migas? Yes, they look like the cat threw up. But they're really good. And a fine use for old tortillas.

Kitchen is looking good! Anxious to see it with the laminate installed.

Easter dinner, like Thanksgiving, is strong on tradition in this house. Baked ham. Potato salad, asparagus, green peas, corn casserole (the one with the Jiffy mix and the sour cream). Deviled eggs. Guess I'll go back to conventional deviled eggs, since the fam likes neither the bacon-and-cheese ones, the smoked salmon ones, nor the ones with the LGD. Or maybe I'll mix them. I do love that leftover deviled eggs lend themselves well to egg salad. Maybe coconut cake for dessert.

I ordered a packet of carnitas sauce with my last Misfits order. I still have a bunch of cubed pork from that massive butt, in a bag in the freezer. Was thinking about it when I ordered the carnitas sauce. I'm seeing tacos in the future.

For years when I lived in Hot Springs, I spent St. Pat's at the racetrack, watching the Rebel Stakes and eating corned beef sandwiches. Oaklawn gets their corned beef from somewhere in Chicago and cooks up about a million of 'em, and sells corned beef sandwiches for $10 with at least half a pound of meat on them. They're wonderful. Best brisket I ever corned was in fact not beef, but buffalo. Fine sandwiches. And let us not forget corned beef hash in our recitation of after-benefits of St. Pat's.

So the corn aversion extends to cornmeal? How sad.

Re: the century eggs, the closest I have come to that is eggs boiled in the hot sulfur springs in Japan (I forget the name of the place, but it's a day-trip from Tokyo). The water is so filled with minerals that runoff areas look like someone washed out a concrete mixer and dumped the water. Anyway, the springs are hot enough the eggs are boiled in them. The shells are black and pitted; the eggs themselves are not discolored, but have a salty taste that permeates them. Pretty dang good. Legend has it eating such an egg will extend your life by 7 years. I asked if I could eat two and get 14, but apparently it doesn't work like that.

Good to throw some sliced apples into it when you're doing that, as well. I've been on a salad kick. Picked up one on the way home Saturday, and had to throw most of it out because not only had they put a host of the dreaded GBPs on it, they were chopped in tiny pieces and difficult to pick out. A shame, because it was a damn fine salad. So, having lettuce in the house from my Misfits box, I betook myself to Kroger after church and bought cheese, proscuitto and salami to chop up in one, along with some chicken breasts to roast and add to another one later in the week, along with some mandarin orange segments. The polluted salad had a good raspberry viniagrette, so I picked up a bottle of Newman's Own in that flavor, along with one of poppy seed to make cole slaw with the half-head of cabbage I had left over from St. Pats. Also contemplating a Reuben salad, with corned beef and Swiss. I have a bottle of Thousand Island on hand...

Hard to get past how good it is sliced, dusted in cornmeal and fried, though. And it makes a marvelous salad when cooked like that and cooled, then combined with sliced dead-ripe tomatoes, cooked, drained crowder peas and barely cooked whole kernel corn and a bit of garlic aioli...

Dammit, that photo reminds me I needed to get lamb at the grocery today. I'm on a salad kick (Thanks to Misfits and microgreens, romaine and some other lettuce), and I think a big Greek salad would hit the spot. Today's salad involved said Misfit greens, salami, proscuitto, grated Wensleydale cheddar, and Paul Newman's Raspberry Walnut dressing, which is pretty dang good.

Back from a week on the road, catching up on this thread. Absolutely gorgeous meals, y'all. @Objective Foodie, I too would like that recipe/technique for pickled fennel, should you wish to share it.