curls

You are correct - I should have said it's the blower on the enrober! I’m sure each enrober blower makes its own pattern. A world renowned enrober tracker like @Kerry Beal would recognize that the pattern in the poster’s photo was created by a Selmi. 😆

I think that non-Selmi enrobers can create that that pattern too. 😉

Which do you prefer for kneading bread, the roller & scraper or the dough hook?

Dinner from a few nights ago, duck breasts. This batch was sous vided and then put in cast iron to render fat and sear.

Trying a few new banana bread recipes... one from sourdough discard (texture way too moist & compact) and one from an old family friend (more of a sour cream banana bread). Still prefer my old tried and true recipe but it was fun to try some other recipes.

While the bread baking continues, the pace has slowed to about 1 loaf per month. Here are my loaves from January & February. Baked both of these loaves in the CSO. January 2021 sourdough bread February 2021 sourdough bread

The foods, plants, flowers are all great. Great that you both got your first vaccine dose!!! Thank you for sharing your adventures with us every year. But what really caught my eye this time is that sunrise, glorious!

I have seen pull down shelves used in designing homes for individuals in wheel chairs... those may also be helpful if installed in all cabinets that are not easily within reach. The euro design versions are quite nice. Here is a link to a company that sells the hardware https://rev-a-shelf.com/2552

After watching Vivian Howard make Chicken Toast on Instagram and be so enthusiastic about the dish, I decided to make it. You roast chicken quarters on slabs of bread, remove the chicken skin, remove the chicken meat from the bones, dress the chicken meat with little green dress, and then assemble a salad. The dish is schmaltz soaked toast, arugula, chicken salad, and chicken skin. Quite tasty but I was not as impressed with it as Vivian seems to be... I think that I am looking for different flavors in the chicken salad. I will probably make this again and tweak to my preferences.

I have also made Collards Break Character and served it over brown rice. Very tasty. I used Thai Kitchen green curry paste and did not find this to be overly salty. Sorry for the quality of the photo.

@mmlstarr I have various sizes of all three of the brands you mention and would recommend Magic Line and Fat Daddio pans.

@blue_dolphin I’m so glad you tried the But-a-Nut soup and liked it! Your citrus shrine looks good in quart jars too. Don’t know if you saw it but Vivian Howard demoed making citrus shrine on her Instagram feed. I think she is demoing items from her new book once a week.

Well I learned something new today, the toothpick method of deveining shrimp! Will definitely give that a try. Thank you @liuzhou.

Haven’t been in Costco for over a year and they offered me a $10 gift card to renew my membership. Went shopping at Costco yesterday and discovered all sorts of new products! Happily it was not too crowded and 99% of the people were properly masked and distant. I tried two of their sous vide refrigerated meals: Kevin’s natural foods paleo Korean bbq-style steak tips and Cuisine Solutions turkey sausage & cheese egg bites. The Korean steak was fine as a quick low-fuss meal but one could easily do much better with their own recipe and a bit of prep. I’ll get the egg bites again. They are better than the ones that I have made and now I won’t have to scrub glass jars to remove egg bite residue (and yes I greased those jars before pouring in the egg mixture). The Cuisine Solutions egg bites are so similar to the egg bites at Starbucks (I heated them in the CSO at 400 F for 11 minutes) that I suspect that Cuisine Solutions makes these for Starbucks. Update: Cuisine Solutions makes the egg bites for Starbucks and Costco — https://www.sousvideeggbite.com

Beautiful! Love the combination of citrus and the Weck jar.

When I have frozen spanakopita, I have frozen them pre-cook and that worked out very well. But I make mine with phyllo dough... not sure how well it would work to freeze puff pastry spanakopita pre-cook. They look yummy!

Good luck on the move. How does the kitchen in the old place compare to the new place?

Did both boxes ship from the same location? If so, definitely weird that they sent it as two boxes! Your haul looks good.

I'm guessing potatoes were easier than onions.

And to add to Anna's post, a list of links for all the workshops 2009 - 2020 Reports · 2020 workshop Buffalo, New York, USA – postponed due to COVID-19 · 2019 workshop St. Louis, Missouri, USA · 2018 workshop Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, Canada · 2017 workshop Las Vegas, Nevada, USA · 2016 workshop Toronto, Ontario, Canada · 2015 workshop Merrifield, Virginia, USA · 2014 workshop Las Vegas, Nevada, USA · 2013 workshop Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, Canada · 2012 workshop Woodbridge, Virginia, USA · 2011 workshop Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, Canada · 2010 workshop Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA · 2009 workshop Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, Canada Planning · 2020 workshop planning Buffalo, New York, USA – postponed due to COVID-19 · 2019 workshop planning St. Louis, Missouri, USA · 2018 workshop planning Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, Canada · 2017 workshop planning Las Vegas, Nevada, USA · 2016 workshop planning Toronto, Ontario, Canada · 2015 workshop planning Merrifield, Virginia, USA · 2014 workshop planning Las Vegas, Nevada, USA · 2013 workshop planning Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, Canada · 2012 workshop planning Woodbridge, Virginia, USA · 2011 workshop planning Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, Canada · 2010 workshop planning Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA · 2009 workshop planning Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, Canada Host's note: this index has been pinned near the top of the Pastry & Baking forum, for future reference and upkeep. You may find it here.

Quite a few of us met the owner of TCF; he joined us at one of our eGullet chocolate workshops in Vegas. I have also purchased guitar wire from TCF. Got exactly what I ordered and it was shipped quickly. I’ll second Kerry’s recommendation of getting the ends of your metal bars polished if you go the metal bar route.

I have their french press. I wanted something sturdy and insulated for camping trips. It works great.

sage or marjoram or oregano, chili powder, cumin, salt, black pepper other additions: poblano chiles, jalepeno or serrano chiles, onion, garlic, tomato, cilantro, scallion, lime

Yes that is $30 USD. I could probably get a better and/or cheaper selection of produce by shopping around myself but given these COVID times, this is a great solution. I’m going to the store for the larger / stock up shopping trips and using Misfits/Imperfect to keep fresh produce in the house. I’m also using this as a way to try new (or difficult to obtain) produce. I’m also enjoying the ordering and unboxing — kind of a mystery box with known parameters.

The butternut squash from my Misfits Market box became but-a-nut soup. Great recipe, I'll definitely make this one again. My husband preferred the soup without Vivian Howard's suggested garnish (which included spiced pecans, leeks, and apples). I loved the soup and loved it even more with the suggested garnish. The soup reheats well and we were able to make a few meals from it.