weinoo

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.

Dried lily flowers? Some weird variation on eggplant? Yes, make-dos is exactly what I'd call them.

Good question, @Anna N. I imagine if you can find Israeli couscous made from semolina flour, and cook it in the style of pasta vs. the absorption method used for couscous, it would come close. Additionally, fregola is toasted, so there's that step too! I bought a few of these in Rome on our recent trip, as I have trouble finding it here in NYC. It's available on Amazon, but it's a fortune. And somewhere, sometime I remember seeing one of Lidia's TV shows, where she made fregola - and it looked fairly simple.

What?!

Sardinian fregola with Long Island littlenecks and NY State cherry tomatoes.

I pretty much loved all of the week-long blogs by members. Thanks, @Lisa Shock!

Instead of totally raw vegetables, I'll cut up carrots, celery, radishes and salt them for a few hours, then drain. Keep 'em in the fridge, and they're good for a snack. Not raw, not cooked, but slightly pickled.

Correct. I've oiled skins when baking in my conventional oven.

Last night I baked 4 medium sized potatoes in the Steam Girl. Dry skin, pricked all over. They took just under an hour, at 425°F with steam, for crispy skin and beautifully fluffy interiors. Their picture is over on the dinner thread.

Last night I did some baked potatoes in the Cuisi Steam Girl, after jumping back into that thread. Served with butter, sour cream and smoked sable on top (with thanks to Mekelburg's). Side of cole slaw. Served with cacik - cold soup of yogurt, cucumber, garlic, lemon, olive oil, dill and mint.