weinoo

They have a deal for 10 lbs. of your choosing (I got smoked boneless ribs, bacons, and some smoked cheeses) for $65, which I think is a steal. Shipping adds only $14 for overnight no matter how much you buy. Good stuff.

Open-faced BAT. The bacon is a smoked shoulder bacon from Sam's Butcher Shop, in Pennsylvania. It's excellent. I recently bought 10 lbs. of smoked product from Sam, and I have to say, it's all quite good.

I made a faux duck confit (a la David Liebowitz) for dinner last night. Started the previous night by "curing" the duck legs, and I also bought a pair of chicken legs to experiment with them. Then into a moderate oven for a few hours... Crank up the heat for the final 20-30 minutes. Roast some potatoes (and cauliflower, why not?) in duck fat. The chicken is very good too, but needs to cook for less time than the duck.

Dinner last night: Unconventional ramen. Homemade chicken stock, shitake and button mushrooms, green and yellow string beans, carrots, cherry tomatoes, Sun Noodle's ramen noodles, and a just slightly-overcooked hard boiled egg.

I like this brand of dried pasta... I picked up basil, potatoes, tomatoes, and string beans at the farmer's market. Pasta with Pesto alla Genovese, green beans and potatoes. Heriloom cherry tomato salad.

I've made a number of visits to the Bronx recently, from Katonah Avenue's Irish enclave to Riverdale's remaining Jewish delis, to Arthur Avenue and Pelham Bay, and to City Island as well. Sammy's on City Island is loads of fun...and loads of food. Liebman's is old-school deli that tastes just fine. Arthur Avenue can be fine, if you know how to avoid the touristy food and schlock. Casa Della Mozzarella's fresh cheese is super, and the remaining butchers do a fine job. Louie & Ernie's is great. Sit in their backyard and enjoy a sausage pie. And for Cuban food, I like Havana Cafe, with 2 locations, though I've only been to E. Tremont. Much more to explore in the coming months. Here's my blog on the above...Bronx Tales.

Get the cleaner too - the bottom oven looks a little dirty!!

They've (Mekelburg's) also added a late-night menu, with a fried chicken sandwich, served till 2 AM during the week (but only 20 or so a night).

Yes! It's a much shorter flight from San Diego than it is from NYC...

Not me. But then again, I'd only owned the smaller Breville.

Last night, for a side dish, I threw some whole mushrooms and baby artichokes (trimmed well) onto the pan, tossed with olive oil, salt, red pepper, and steam roasted them for 20 minutes at 400° F, and then on convection only (same temp) for another 15. They came out quite nicely. Like Franci, I find that certain things when they're steam roasted leave a lot of water in the pan, so I'll often switch to convection roast to dry it out and finish them up.

Dumbo and Cobble Hill are separated by Brooklyn Heights. Are you going to be walking? Any reasons not to go into Manhattan?

We were recently in San Francisco, where a bar focused on gin has opened - Whitechapel: It was slammed when we were there, so there wasn't much contemplating going on. But it sure was fun.

Ahem.

Since I already own the book, I don't feel the need to enter the contest. But, I do know Rob has moved to St. Louis, so my question is this: Are you going to become a Cardinals' fan, because that may cause a rift?!

Did you cook the potatoes on regular convection, or with steam? (I'll confess here that I don't know anything about Trader Joe's products.) But one of the nice things about the CSO is that it takes so little time to heat up, and my kitchen stays cool (er) than if I'd turned on my standard oven. Re: the cleaning cycle. Since I have version 1.0, I usually wipe down the inside after most every time I use the oven for steam cooking. Nothing cleans itself.

These all arrived at the same time...

Orecchiette w/zucchini, jamon serrano, parmigiana. Side of arugula w/cherry tomatoes. And Elvis Costello.

Great photos. Do you ever go to PJs? This do this great stuffed clam... Known as stuffies. And delicious... We were out in Ptown again at the beginning of June. Another good one, if you like old school "Continental" food, is Front Street Restaurant.

Continuing with the same theme... Open faced fried egg sandwich (broken yolk, of course) with melted cheese atop toasted organic sourdough peasant bread. Side of heirloom tomatoes.

It's early, so excuse my rather "interesting" plating... Local tomato. Toasted organic sourdough peasant bread. Duke's Mayo. Fleur de sel. Tomato trimmings.

Significant Eater and I just spent a week in California, beginning with 3 nights in Healdsburg followed by 4 nights in San Francisco. To say we had a good time might be an understatement; to begin with, there's NYC in August, which sucks, so getting away at that time is awesome. Then there's Sonoma wine country, about which enough can't be said. It's still enjoyable, like Napa was 25 years ago, in that it hasn't yet been over commercialized, but give it time. The vineyards are always beautiful this time of year... We ate some good food in Sonoma, including at SHED, the grocery/restaurant/fermentation bar/etc. extraordinaire. And I blogged about it too...at So, Sonoma.

For everything I toast (e.g. bagels, muffins, breads of various provenance), I first toast at 3, turn the product over, and then add increments, starting with 2, until I get the toast browned the way I like it. I should add most of what I toast starts out frozen, as I usually freeze breads very soon after I get them home. Every bread product, every thickness, requires an adjustment in my opinion.

Maryland style crab cakes over a sauté of corn, cherry tomatoes, and serrano pepper.