kayb

Oh, good Lord, that looks marvelous!

I gave in to a craving and went through the Krystal drivethrough. For the uninitiated, Krystal is the S.E. US answer to White Castle: small, square pre-fab parties, grilled chopped onion, a single dill pickle slice, copious quantities of yellow mustard, steamed bun. God help me, I love 'em...About once every two years. Child C and I stopped by after a school clothes shopping expedition. Ii nadvertently shared with her one of my basic Krystals, and in return wound up eating one of her Krystals with bacon, which is an abomination, because on a regular Krystal, there is little that resembles meat. We ate en route home, as they are presently drive-through only, not that Krystal dining rooms were much to brag about. And they were out of Diet Coke and Coke Zero. My digestive tract was in rebellion no more than two hours later. Which I expected, given gluten, let alone the rest. But, damn, they were good!

@ElsieD -- I have a guest room! Come on!

My very favorite summer salad is asparagus, cut in inch-long lengths and blanched; mushrooms, dry-fried and then poached in white wine; green peas, blanched just briefly and shocked; and hearts of palm. Dressing of good olive oil and red wine vinegar. Parmesan grated over the top. Served on sliced tomatoes. Also good without the hearts of palm.

@RWood -- born and bred in the south, and I feel the same way about greens.

I don't drink Bloody Marys too often, but when I do, it's Tito's vodka (my go-to for everything except a vodka martini, for which I use Chopin or Grey Goose), home-canned tomato juice (far and away above commercial, and the big reason I can tomato juice), lots of Worcestershire, some Lawry's seasoned salt (which has celery salt at a tasteable level in it) and Pickapeppa hot sauce. Or I get them at the racetrack in Hot Springs, and ask them to go light on the Tabasco. They go VERY well with the colossal boiled shrimp there.

Canned two pints of tomatoes, one pint of tomato juice, and six half-pints of roasted garlic-basil-tomato sauce, and that catches me up with my glut of tomatoes. Also added a couple pints of green beans to take care of an overload I picked up at the farmers' market. I think the rest of the Romas, which continue produce much more prolifically than any of my other tomatoes, will go into attempts at paste. I've never tried it, but looking at recipes, it seems simple enough. All in one canner together. I've learned when I have a small batch of something that would normally be pressure canned, like green beans, I can add a tsp of lemon juice to each jar. Rinse them off when you open them, and you never know it was there.

I wish I could bring all y'all down here. It's high peach season. I get eight softball sized ones in a bag at the Farmers Market for $5, and they're marvelous. Grown 25 miles from me.

I had wondered after reading your post if a whirl in the blender would take care of the graininess. Will try that. Creme fraiche also a good idea; never thought about that, and never made it with anything other than heavy cream. I'll try that too.

Picked up an order from Kroger today. Ordered two quarts of half and half. Got four. Can one freeze half and half? I'm attempting to...

A heritage Berkshire chop, cooked sous vide and then broiled in the CSO, with mashed potatoes and peas.

I have no idea what either of those desserts are, but man, they look wonderful.

He wanted to pick every tomato that had a tinge of pink to it. I had to point out the ones I wanted. He says he will be back tomorrow to help me pick "the rest."

The grandson helped me pick a "whole bunch lot" of tomatoes yesterday. And about five lonely green beans. Vines are luxuriant; just no beans to speak of yet.

I'll see your pound of sausage and raise you a frozen chicken.

Re: recipes and directions. My mother made awesome potato doughnuts. The list of ingredients is clear enough. The instructions, in their entirety, say: "Fry in 2 lbs. Crisco. Glaze with 1 box conf. sugar."

Dunno, but it's easy enough to make. Ruhlman's Charcuterie has a good recipe, likely found online. And, re: canned hash. I make good corned beef hash. The canned is a sight easier. I prefer it with an over easy egg on top.

Re: "Regular" toast. As we did not have a toaster, "regular" toast for me will always be made on a cookie sheet in the oven, under the broiler, with four pale squares where the thin pats of butter sat. Toast the buttered side first, then flip. I did not, in those days, appreciate my Mama as I should have. I still love toast made in the broiler (or in the CSO, toast setting), but with the butter smeared from crust-to-crust as opposed to the four pats.

I like Better than Bouillon as well, although I'm a fan of making one's stock in the IP, then, with the lid off, running it through two or three saute cycles to concentrate it, and then freezing in ice cube trays or other small portions for future use. Water is simple enough to add back in. Of course, your house smells like stock for two or three days after you do the lid-off concentrating. The best move I ever made with making stock was to make hambone stock. That stuff with Rancho Gordo beans is the stuff of magic.

I hope this link is workable. It was on a facebook page and I couldn't figure out how to download and then upload the video. Clickety It might better be entitled "food aftereffects funnies." Or perhaps I should have posted it in Food in the Pandemic.

That's pretty neat!

@TdeV -- That looks quite marvelous!

Flowers are gorgeous. Pasta ain't half bad!

I guess we were poor enough when I was a kid we didn't have a trinity, we had a duo -- onions and bacon grease. We grew peppers, both the hated green bells and bananas and jalapenos and some tiny little green ones that were hotter'n hell, but generally ate them either raw or pickled. Mama only rarely cooked with celery, and I don't remember there ever being garlic bulbs in the house, though there was a shaker of garlic salt or powder.

I would kill for those right now. And the ability to eat them without the accompanying gastric distress from celiac.