kayb

Dirt is delivered and in the beds. Forecast is for rain today and tomorrow, probably a good thing, as I am staring at a Friday work deadline. Fingers crossed for before the weekend is out.

@ddelima Many congratulations on the upcoming arrival. May he/she grow in grace, surrounded by love. And much good food.

Welcome! Tell us a bit about yourself and what you like to cook, please.

'What brand are the kitchen shears? I'm not pleased with mine.

That's a gorgeous pan. What's the material?

The dirt has finally arrived. Now to get it shoveled into its appropriate places before it rains tonight. Hopefully I will get to plant everything by the end of this week.

If it's radiant, be careful how you use it and clean it, because it'll scratch. If you're using cast iron on it, be very easy with how you move it around, etc. Also, if its' radiant, it'll take longer to cool down than a conventional electric stove will.

I would, at that.

@shain, thanks. Duly copied and saved, and will give it a try.

@BKEats, I believe that bass was glaring at you.

Oh, Lord, yes. Grape jelly and barbecue sauce. Hot dogs cut into small chunks. If you were REALLY fancy, you used the little cocktail sausages, or, as noted above, frozen meatballs. Those, and RoTel dip, were the mainstays of many a party. Confession. I had half a pack of cocktail sausages left after making pigs in blankets the other morning for breakfast. I bought grape jelly with the intention of doing exactly this with the remainder of the package. But I made more pigs in blankets instead. Grape jelly, however, is my preferred jelly for PB&J.

It was what passed for "fancy food" amongst the lower middle class community in which I grew up. And it's the food of that period that I'm gravitating back to these days. Not of a great deal of culinary interest, granted, but it's familiar and ... comforting, in a time when I want/need comforting.

Sometimes, when the world's been upside down just a little too long, when the tires for your cat didn't come in and you're without a car til Monday, never mind there's nowhere to go... You have to revert to trailer park comfort food. Disclaimer: I never lived in a trailer park, likely because my grandmother was so deathly afraid of storms she insisted on a stick-built house instead of "one of them tin cans," but I had a gracious plenty of kinfolk and friends who did and spent a lot of time in them. I give you... Hawaiian meatballs! This is about as poor white folks as it gets. And I dearly love them. Basic meatballs (I add a quarter teaspoon or so of ginger). Pineapple chunks. Sauce is pineapple juice, water, vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce. Cornstarch to thicken.

Thanks!

There are two things in this world for which Velveeta is essential: mac and cheese, and pimiento cheese (again a 2:1 combo with cheddar). Fortunately, it lasts forever in the fridge, so you can keep it around until you're ready to make one of those again.

Your eldest is quite creative. Loved the iced shortbreads.

Always on the lookout for gluten free recipes. I looked online and most recipes seem to be in, well, Romanian, and reading Romanian is not in my skill set. Did said wedge of cake come with a recipe?

I never thought of it as particularly a cheese sauce, but it is. When I make mac and cheese, I boil and drain the pasta then add butter, grated cheddar (about 4 ounces), cubed Velveeta (about 2 ounces), and either whole milk or half-and-half until it's the consistency I want it. Could you make cheese sauce the same way? Velveeta works better than standard American cheese from the deli. I guess it's all the added-in chemicals, one of which may well be sodium citrate. Never use a flour in mine. Just let the heat of the pasta melt all the cheese, with an assist over low heat if needed.

There is no better French toast than that made with challah. Using eggs and heavy cream, and nothing else. See "Bell-less, Whistle-less, Damn Good French Toast" on Food 52.

I've never contemplated a freeze dryer. But one of the cheapest and handiest little gadets I ever purchased was my $19.99 Ambiano dehydrator at Aldi. I have no doubt the bigger, pricier ones are better, but mine works just fine. It gets a workout in the summer.

Sure sounds like an admirable effort! Love the sound of the outdoor kitchen. Wish I had something to offer on the pizza oven; sadly, I don't. What I really envy you is the fresh mozzarella di bufala.

When one goes to Sam's and there is no toilet paper and there are no Clorox wipes, one gets... Probably less than half the shoppers wearing masks. All the staff was. Shoppers were not great at social distancing; I got snippy with a non-masked shopper who was crowding me. They had beef, but not a lot. I got some since my farmers are presently out, until they can take some animals to slaughter. TBH, I DID see some tp in the ginormous commercial size rolls. Contemplated getting that, but passed it up.

I'm not good at eating breakfast, as it's a habit I just never acquired. I much prefer to wait until mid-morning to eat, and that meant, when work was a "regular thing," usually resorting to high-carb or high-sugar type things. I've tried making egg cups, etc., to take to work, and they just don't do a lot for me. I've worked at home for several years now, and I've gotten a bit better at breakfast. I still want somethign quick; the only time I'm want to put much bother into breakfast is on the weekend. Greek yogurt and granola and a little fruit usually do it for me.

Me three.

I caved and went and got my nails done today, first day salons were open. This was not just as exercise in cosmetics; my natural nails are thin and flimsy, tear when I scratch my head, and are too sharp to scratch an itching nose. They look better, but feel 1000 times better than that. Went by my favorite Mexican place to pay homage to Cinco de Mayo a day late. Cheese enchiladas topped with shredded beef in a ranchero sauce. Excellent. Nail salons, btw, are limited to 10 patrons at a time, and everyone is masked. Plexiglass shields between techs and patrons. I did not feel unsafe, and was pleased to be able to support my nail techs.