kayb

I'd be delighted to wake up to that breakfast on my birthday, or any other day. Hope the birthday boy had a great day. And he is a cute little guy!

Frog legs, to me, taste sort of like chicken, but the texture is more like a firm-fleshed fish. We ate them often when I was a kid, after late-night frog-gigging expeditions. I don't recall us ever eating anything but legs, and I never had them any way but fried. They're really good pan-fried with a light crust and a lemon-butter sauce.

Always liked the unfrosted Pop Tarts, specifically brown sugar cinnamon. Butter them, and run them in the toaster oven. Yum!

One of my favorite lunches alone wound up not being alone. I was on the road, headed to my daughter's, and stopped for lunch at a very popular spot that had a short wait. When they were ready to seat me, I told the guy behind me, who was also alone, that I'd be happy to share my table. He took me up on it, and we had a delightful lunch conversation. Turned out he had worked until retirement with a guy I'd gone to high school with. I love small-world stories, and I'm convinced there's one every time two strangers meet in the South. A lot of people, I guess particularly women, don't like to dine out alone. It's never bothered me. I generally have my Kindle with me, if the people-watching proves insufficient.

I don't know that I've ever seen a cast iron pie pan. Will be interested to hear if there's any difference in the crust.

I'll take your word for it. Or maybe I'll just road-trip out there and try it!

I used to go out and harvest a bunch of tarragon when I was about to cook breakfast. It's wonderful in scrambled eggs, as well as in/on any green vegetable. That's the only reason I regret leaving my old house. I had finally established a good herb garden; all I had to plant new each year were basil, parsley, cilantro and tarragon. Everything else reseeded. Of course, the mint was taking over....

I have eaten wild Canada goose, as well as snow goose. While I love wild duck, wild goose ... is pretty awful. N.B. I have never eaten farmed goose. Don't plan to. Don't even like the critters. Have been flogged by one, and it was not an experience I will repeat.

I have just discovered the joys of buying duck at the Asian market. Mucho cheaper. Now, if I could find a good local source for Toulouse sausages...

The frosted mini-wheats for shingles are pure genius.

I cannot tell you what I'd give to have a grandchild whose acceptable menu is more than a range of six things, all but two of which are carbs. Plus most fruit, but not strawberries. Fortunately, the other two will eat most anything, although they are at the stage they regard casseroles suspiciously. The first one is on the autism spectrum, and apparently taste limitations are not uncommon with that. And your grandchild is absolutely adorable. Isn't it great to have them around?

Welcome to the family. I am one of the black sheep members who has not yet ordered a spare. Nuts do. I can't testify to spices.

Congrats! @Shelby, do you have a recipe for white chili or do you just "throw and go"? I have the better part of a roast chicken I need to do something with, and that's been on my mind.

I don't have and have never used a BSO, but I am here to tell you, I love my CSO and would buy another one tomorrow if mine quit. Things I'd keep in mind: 1. How often to you NEED to put something bigger than 12 x 12 in your oven? I can bake two loaves of bread, or a chicken, or a small beef roast, etc., in mine. It fits most of the frozen dishes I've wanted to cook in their freezer trays. It's in its element roasting a half-dozen chicken thighs, or three or four chicken breasts. 2. How many leftovers do you eat? The CSO has No Match for reheating leftovers. If your baking consists primarily of cookies, layer cakes, sheet cakes, the CSO is too small. But that's why I have a conventional oven as well. I find the convection function does well enough at crisping things I want to bake and crisp (i.e., tater tots, frozen snacky things, etc.) to make me not long for an air fryer. I, too, have a separate dehydrator, so that's not a issue for me.

My first thought was to add some mild Italian or breakfast sausage, but given this is a pretty mild mixture, the spices might change the flavor profile more than you wish. Can you get just plain pork fat and grind and mix in? Non-meat-fat methods...I might try a panade with soft white bread and half-and-half (for that extra dib of fat) or heavy cream (for more fat).

I wondered when I read that on another thread what in the name of God you were going to do with that large a bowl. Except, it would be excellent for mixing up large quantities of Chex mix.

If that's the case, I'd recommend filling the reservoir with a solution of hydrogen peroxide and water, and cycling it through the steam cycle until you've pretty much cleared everything out. Can you take the (internal) tank out to wash/scrub it out? I've never tried.

Agreed. Can't be having runaway carbs. Being that I used my last frozen carton of chicken stock this past week, I guess it's time to roast a chicken this weekend. Stand by for some variety of chicken soup.

Two absolute works of art. I am in awe of each of them.

Reclaiming my Southerner credentials I lost by admitting to not caring for fried chicken. Lunch was a Frito chili pie from Sonic. (They just aren't, somehow, the same as when A&W Root Beer used to make them in the bag, slit open along one side and the chili dumped in.) Followed by chocolate covered cherries, the kind with the liquid centers.

My dislike of Chick Fil A food may be because (take away my Southerner credentials, I guess) I'm really not that fond of fried chicken. I don't hate it, but give me a choice of that and something else, and I'm going to get something else, 99.5 percent of the time.

I don't see shanks available much, separate from the ham. The Benton's hocks I ordered had a fair amount of the shank portion, enough to be very meaty. When I've used a ham bone with shank meat still attached, I see little if any difference in taste to the hocks. I've taken to making ham stock whenever I cook a ham, just like I make chicken stock when I cook a chicken. I'll reduce and freeze it in pint containers, and generally add the meat to one or two of them and leave a couple without, so I have a choice of which to use.

I'm more concerned with the CSO. Did you determine it was dead?

Lovely -- dinner, and setting! A very happy anniversary to y'all!

Way cool!