RWood

Baby blooming onions. Cute, but a lot of prep. I needed to use up cippolini onions, along with some homemade ranch.

I tend to stick to my Kindle for the majority of books. I'm not into having to find a place to put books anymore, especially after that move. My newest are these:

I’ve always wanted to go, but never could make it happen. Biggest problem is finding someone to feed the cats. When more plans are put together, I’m gonna see if I can do it.

I made this for a gathering, and everyone loved it. Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

Exactly! I can't stand trying to measure something gooey in a cup 😤

What I’ve always done is if I have a recipe that I want to try and it’s in cups, I measure by the recipe. But, I weigh it in grams as I go. Rewrite the recipe, and if it’s a keeper, it’s ready to go. When I was baking a lot of wedding cakes and working on my recipes, it was the easiest way. And they’ve all worked perfectly well using this method. I’m trying to get everything changed over to weight, because I hate measuring cups! So much less to wash and much faster.

Was a little chilly but it was sunny so got the Ooni out. Calabrese salami, castelvetrano olives and red onion Fresh mozzarella, artichoke hearts, Sun dried tomatoes, red onion and pesto from the freezer

I was really surprised when I saw the weekly ad for Ingles (all over the South). They have cage free eggs for $2.58/dz. I think I need to head to one. Kroger near me is always low on eggs, and minimum $4.99. We don't shop at Wally World anymore, their prices are more than Kroger and Food City, which are overpriced to begin with.

It’s actually a white cake with almond extract. If you want an almond layer cake, the golden almond in The Cake Bible is pretty good.

Quick birthday cake for my Aunt's 81st. They all love just white almond cake, so that's what they got. It was supposed to be multicolored, but I think some of my coloring has gone bad. So, just fuschia (what the bottle said) 🤷‍♀️

Stopped at Ellis Bros. Pecans in South Georgia on the way back from Orlando. Made some pralines, but the nuts are so big they were hard to scoop. Taste really good though.

Christmas dinner a day later. Sous vide ribeye, bernaise sauce, sautéed onions and mushrooms, Hasselback potatoes. I had to cook part of the steak well for my mother. Seared it on the grill with the sear burner. A little past my preference but 🤷‍♀️. Wasn’t bad.

Well, since it was just two of us, ended up just doing a meze for dinner instead of the ribeye I bought (tomorrow). Halloumi, hummus, olives and bar nuts. With Champagne 🍾.

Orange French toast, bacon and mimosa’s for Christmas breakfast.

Your cake looks nice, don’t be embarrassed. Actually, I found there is a yule log pan by Nordic Ware. And then the silicone pan I have is similar to the other photo.

I think a lot of them are made more like an entremet these days, not the traditional log. I have a silicone mold that is like a rectangle, but a rounded on the top. And I have an insert that looks like a bark imprint. It’s for the entremet style, with a mousse or cremeux insert, a cake layer, whatever. So, I was thinking of trying it instead of a jelly roll style. Haven’t used it yet, so we’ll see.

I’m gonna try. I haven’t made one for a few years. I usually make a hazelnut orange sponge and fill with chocolate mousse. But I have made a couple of big batches of buttercream ahead of time, so may just go with what’s already done. I have a modern mold for it, so I’m not sure if I’ll use that or go more traditional.

Yep ☺️ Robyn Lyvonne Cakes

Thank you!

I really like this one Italian Cream Cake

I’m always stuck with cooking, but I sent out a list of what others could do. I will be making: Turkey breast on the grill cornbread dressing, my aunt’s potato casserole, my mom’s sweet potatoes, my grandmother’s cranberry relish. And dessert will be a chocolate, walnut and caramel tart and an apple galette with thyme in the crust and Asiago in the crumble topping. We’ll provide rolls, gravy, beverages, etc. My mom’s sister is bringing ham and green beans, the other sister is making her fried okra/squash and some others are bringing random things they want.

As far as what you use it for, it was always for me, an accompaniment to pinto beans. I’m not one that cares for a bowl of beans like the rest of my Southern family does. But, my grandmothers were pretty good, and she always had green tomato pickles that she gave me. You can use them for anything you like something pickled with, sandwiches, cheese plate, etc. This recipe isn’t that specific, like most old recipes. I wrote it out years ago, and it was probably how my grandmother just knew how to make them. Mix up equal parts water, sugar and white vinegar. Combine with the sliced green tomatoes (or halved like I did for the cherry tomatoes), sweet onion, a little salt and either a sliced hot pepper or chili flakes to taste. Bring to a boil, and simmer about 20 mins. You can taste and adjust the sweetness and/or heat before they finish cooking. Then put the tomatoes in hot jars and fill with the liquid and seal. I looked at some recipes online, and most were like refrigerator pickles.

So, in late August we had seven cherry tomato plants come up. A raccoon partook off some of the ones we had planted earlier and crunched them up on the patio (didn’t like them apparently 🙄). We sweep them off, and got plants that did better than anything we planted. It got below freezing this past week, so before I picked all the green ones (6lbs). I made my grandmothers pickled green tomatoes. I haven’t had them in years.

It’s a big touristy bakery chain now. When I first moved out there, it was smaller and we just loved the sourdough. It still tastes the same though. It ships really well. Family has sent it to us and we just freeze it then bake as needed. The taste of it brings back so many memories.

My mom requested Soutzoukakia tonight. Greek yellow rice and steamed broccolini. And some of our last Boudin sourdough from SF. Got get another order in.