kayb

Well, you've found the right place. Welcome. What's your specific area of interest, or are you a generalist?

The cinnamon is older than dirt. Which is why it doesn't get used much. I had forgotten that container was still there. It isn't, now. The soup was passable. Not as good as usual, but passable.

I will never again fail to closely read the label on the spice box when making posole, only to discover when I put the spices away I used cinnamon instead of ancho chile powder. Same style box, same size, sit in the same part of the cabinet. After I cursed, I added the ancho chile and sent up a brief prayer to the Gods of Weird Spice Combos, and restarted the Instant Pot.

Feeling quasi-German. Also quasi-cold. Quite acceptable.

I like about half a large grated onion to two large potatoes. Grate them together, dump into a colander, strain the hell out of 'em, add an egg, salt and black pepper, maybe a tbsp. of potato flour, and go. Highly recommend with apple butter and sour cream.

Love the bowl, too.

...rather sheepishly admitting I LIKE cottage cheese.

Different kind of steel and different method of manufacture. Take a great edge, and hold it quite well.

I have a pair of Misono knives I brought back from Tokyo 10 years ago. They're wonderful.

Ow. I still carry a scar on my shin from a mishap with a skillet of grease in which chicken had been fried. Now they just sit on the stove until they're cooled. Hate that about the sauce, too.

I had a turkey breast I was going to smoke yesterday, but it was cold and windy and I didn't want to fool with it. So I threw together a sauce with the zest and juice of a Valencia orange, a little sesame oil, a healthy glug or two of tamari, and some gochujang. Meant to put garlic, but forgot it. The turkey breast, one from my local farmer, was boneless and skinless, and had dry-brined for two days. I plopped it in a baking dish, poured the sauce over and around, and baked. Kids said it was great, and they were glad I'd forgotten the garlic.

I really have been cooking lately....but nothing has been worthy of a photograph. Pasta in a meat sauce one night this week, ham and potatoes another, last night was stew beef just floured, browned and simmered in Guinness until tender, then served over mashed potatoes with green peas on the side. Been prepping for dinners for the weekend when Child B and crew come down for belated Christmas. Tomorrow night is snacky stuff, meatballs, a smoked turkey breast (brining now, will smoke tomorrow around noon), cheeses, pickles, olives, fruit bowl, etc. Saturday night is carne adovado, using the Serious Eats recipe, likely with rice and beans and guacamole. Sunday is ... something. Maybe roast beef; I have a nice rump roast in the freezer. Got to think about breakfasts, too. Breakfast casserole one day; waffles one day; will probably get by with muffins and a quiche. Lunch is fend for yourself; I will make ham salad, and probably tuna salad, and there'll be turkey in the fridge. Going to bake a loaf of KA harvest wheat bread and a loaf of GF sandwich bread tomorrow. Mostly, I'm just looking forward to seeing the kids.

Hellman's. Full fat, regular Hellman's. That is all.

I had curried goat in a Caribbean restaurant in Memphis once. It was excellent. Lots of bones, but excellent.

No. I use primarily hard plastic (but they have a little give to them, if you know what I mean) -- always for meat, occasionally for veggies. They go in the dishwasher after one use. I have some wooden ones that are used primarily for cheese and charcuterie; they look decent enough to serve off of. I have one plastic one I probably ought to discard -- it's getting a bit scarred and discolored. But it's my favorite, and the handiest to use -- has a "handle" on one end. Wonderful for dicing onion, etc., and then scraping into a skillet.

Looks pretty good. Vegetables look crisp when they ought to be crisp. Meat looks reasonable (I, too, had questions about the meat loaf). I have to think mining's come a long way. Daddy was never a miner, but carried his lunch to work for 40+ years. It was, infallibly, two sandwiches, a pickle, fresh tomato and peppers in season, and a thermos of coffee. Occasionally, when it was really cold and he knew he'd be working outside (he worked in maintenance for DuPont as a welder and pipefitter), she'd add a second thermos of soup and/or chili. Closest I can get is farm meals when we were working on an all-day job. Often beans and ham, fried potatoes, sliced tomatoes and onions, cornbread. But it was hot, and it was good.

In the wake of Christmas, if there was ham, there's generally always an excess of ham leftovers. We were no exception. A shank half ham, about 11 pounds. 5 adults. Christmas night, I cut it all off the bone and threw the bone, with a good bit of attached meat, into the IP. Next morning, ham stock, which went into the freezer, meat from the hambone divided amongst the containers. The remainder went into two plastic bags...one of slices usable for sandwiches and one of little bitty pieces and unsliced chunks. Being it was a shank ham, there were more of the latter. We went through all the sandwich slices, because we like a ham sandwich around here. So this morning, I got the bag of ham bits and bobs out of the freezer and let them thaw. Then I pulsed them to a medium grind in the food processor. Two batches yielded me six cups of ground ham. These, in turn, got stashed in a gallon freezer bag. I have vac-sealed in the past, but opted not to. This stuff is like an instant meal maker. -- Put it in an omelet or a quiche or breakfast muffins or egg bites -- use it to season beans or other veg -- make deviled ham on a whim -- use it in deviled eggs -- sprinkle a layer in scalloped potatoes -- throw some into meatballs for a change of pace -- make ham croquettes -- use it in all kinds of appetizers -- stuff a baked potato And on and on.

Good piece on Rob and Bulrush in Barron's. Here

I have learned a new thing today. It is a successful day.

A lot of fish right off the boat is frozen (before it got off the boat).

I have some herbs out off my back porch. We've had a handful of sub-freezing nights (20s; I don't think we've dropped into the teens, but it's been plenty cold to freeze the water in the birdbath. I am somewhat astounded that my parsley (in a pot) and cilantro (in the ground) are thriving, in fact, luxuriant would be a fair word. Ditto the sage. Of course, rosemary just grows and grows. Oregano and mint had died down, but are sprouting back, and the thyme is just creeping along. I've never had herbs thrive like this, this deep in the winter! They're planted on the north side of the house, to boot. Prolific parsley, with sage and thyme in the rear. Lots of cilantro And reborn mint.

Doesn't it seem like that was pretty quick? You've had it, what, less than two months?

Not available in the hinterlands. A different Mousie!

x 2.

That's fascinating. When I was at the "choose a career" stage in junior high school or early high school, I wanted above all else to be an archaeologist. Wound up getting that one shot down because, at that time, Arizona or Arizona State (I forget which)a was the premier school to go to for archaeology, and Mama and Daddy would not hear of me going that far from home.