kayb

Ok. Trying to get into the spirit of things here. Stopped by the best of the several liquor stores in the area, that has a better selection of whites, and picked up this: It had a 90 from Wine Spectator, so I thought, ok. Meh. It's nice. I can't make a lot of difference in it and Bota Box, at a third of the price. Got another bottle, too. I'll try it this weekend or early next week.

I've tried the saute in olive oil with garlic, with a dash of balsamic vinegar, with assorted other flavor disguisers. Nope, nope and nope. One forkful on New Years Day to appease the Good Luck Gods, and that's it.

Broccoli and cauliflower were two of the veggies we never ate much when I was a kid, because for whatever reason we didn't grow them. I don't like steamed or boiled broccoli, but tossed in olive oil, sprinkled with some lemon zest and some pecans, and salted and peppered and roasted, it's pretty good. I like most vegetables, except bell peppers (of any color, but red and yellow are marginally less obnoxious than green ones) and any kind of greens. I'll eat 'em raw, but don't try to make me eat them cooked. Ain't doing it.

Me and you. Here in the landlocked South, lobster is an expensive treat; I'll periodically splurge for frozen tails, and we used to have a fundraiser that involved live lobsters flown in from Maine and boiled while you waited (complete with potatoes and corn). I still think with deep pleasure of the lobsters we bought off the boat in Marblehead, Mass., took home and baked with buttered bread crumbs on top, and ate with gallons of drawn butter (ok, I exaggerate, but not a lot). I do love 'em. They laughed at me in Boston for eating all the lobster out of the roll and leaving the bread.

Get you some whole wheat bread, some Brie, and an avocado....

I will willingly admit I am a plebian in the world of wine. I enjoy "good" wine, but I also enjoy cheap stuff. And there are very expensive wines I don't enjoy, as well as cheap ones. Currently, I am drinking a Bota Box of pinot grigio, which is about my white wine of choice, and I'm not a huge white, as opposed to red, wine drinker. But I like pinot grigio, and I like Bota Box's version of same.

Southwest chicken salad with corn and avocado.

I'm entranced with the notion of curried chicken pie. But I'm about as horrified by the notion of pineapple and barbecued pork in a pie as @weinoo is by pineapple on pizza. Perhaps a curried chicken pie may be the destiny of those chicken breasts I did not order that Aldi sent me.

I recall a cheese shop in Memphis in the 70s that made a sandwich (on whole wheat bread) with a soft Brie-ish cheese, avocado, tomato, and sprouts. I loved it. Re: Instacart shopping. I placed an Aldi order the other day; got the predictable texts about something being refunded, something else being substituted. But when the order was dellivered, it did NOT have the half-and-half, the honey roasted peanuts, and some other stuff, but DID have two packages of chicken breasts. And they substututed a bag of frozen chicken Marsala (?) for the 14-inch Crofton paella pan. I have yet to figure that one out, but I guess I'll give the chicken stuff a try. That's the first Instacart order I've had well and truly screwed up.

I am still (mostly) ignoring the potential for a knee replacement my orthopedist said I needed three years ago. I'm OK until I have to go down stairs. Up is OK. Down can be accomplished only by bad knee first, then the good one, one at a time. Best thing I did was get some shoes with cushy soles, which forgive a lot of the stress imparted by my ceramic-tile-over-slab floor, which I love but which is a bitch to stand on for a long period. Bothers me more when I'm prepping stuff to can or freeze. I'm pretty good on meal prep, which involves more movement, unless I have to peel potatoes for a big crowd. Screw good, orderly cookery. Pour me a glass of wine.

When you sit down midway through prep because your arthritic hip hurts.

I'm in. Schedule looks good to me. I've been enjoying whites this summer, so I'm happy to start with that and hear everyone's picks. I don't know much about wine, but anxious to learn.

It's been my experience that dough with cheese kneaded into it doesn't rise as high as that without. But the pic looks like it needed a tighter roll.

The best treatment of dates I know: Stuff an almond in where that pit was. Wrap the date in 1/3 strip of bacon (the thin, supermarket kind). Sprinkle with a little brown sugar or drizzle a little maple syurp. Bake until bacon is done. I can hurt myself on these. I like them in oatmeal, and in bran muffins, too.

For @liuzhou

Well, it appears I am about to join the ranks of the statistics; had my COVID test yesterday, after I woke up with a fever of 102. Down around 100 today (thank you, Tylenol and Ibuprofen,) and I'm awaiting results later this week. Far from having lost a sense of taste and smell, though, I'm hungry as a horse. So far, I'm contemplating making about half a dozen things I've seen on here in the last 24 hours, though I think picadillo is standing at the head of the list, but curried chicken is not far behind. I woke up this morning craving bacon and eggs. It has been a year since I had bacon and eggs. I'm on an antibiotic in case it's a sinus infection, which the dull headache centered in my forehead indicates it might be.

I don't know chokecherries from personal experience (don't guess we've got 'em down here), but based on the description above, I'd be inclined toward Vivian Howard's Blue Q barbecue sauce (she uses blueberries).

My favorite savory pastry has to be the pig in a blanket -- cocktail sausage wrapped in some kind of dough and baked. Although I've made the hand pies with picadillo, too, and they're pretty stunning (I do love me some picadillo, with lots and lots of olives and raisins). And there is nothing, NOTHING better than a fresh sausage and biscuit secured from the gas station about 6:30 a.m. as one sets out on a road trip somewhere. Sigh. One of the casualties of celiac disease.

That's a good neighbor.

Image search was the first thing I did when I saw the pic. No joy.

I've had good luck with "pre-cooked" chicken skin by putting it on a parchment lined baking sheet, putting parchment on top, and topping with another baking sheet. 400 for 10 minutes.

Thanks I am sure to this topic, I dreamed about making ice cream last night. Peach, specifically.

Arborio. Didn't have any Bomba. I dunno. I think it was the flavor the sausages imparted. I used a tag end of chorizo and one of sopressata.

Paella. I have done better.