Steve Irby

I tried the RG beans a few years ago and thought they were a little too firm for my taste. I'm certainly willing to re-visit the "world of beans" and Purcell look's like a good place to start. Camellia has been a long time favorite based on availability and freshness. They always cook fairly quickly after soaking overnight and I'm not shy on the seasoning so there's always plenty of flavor.

I was just about out of Steen's Cane Vinegar so I placed an order with Creolefood.com for six bottles. I loaded up on a few other items including some Camellia brand beans. Both Steen's and Camellia are really tasty products worth seeking out. Dinner was cannellini beans cooked with a meaty home bone. Served with rice, shrimp and a homemade smoked hotlink. Part of the grocery order

@gfweb That apple walnut cake looks phenomenal! Very nice dinner but those caramelized apples and what appears to be a walnut crust with a half pound of butter has my heart aflutter. Extra metoprolol tonight.

BJ's had one package of beef shanks that were too nice to pass up. They were browned then pressure cooked with onion, lemon, satsuma, tomatoes and a spice blend which included Indian Coriander, Fennel, Cumin, Guajillo, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Turmeric, and Cloves. Served with mashed potatoes, wilted spinach and sautéed mushrooms.

Thanks for the info. The stems do indeed pull just like string cheese! I'll walk our dog Ajax first thing in the morning and see if I can add to the 1.25 lbs haul from today.

I was taking my dog for a walk this morning and spotted a nice scattering of mushrooms beneath a live oak tree. They have the characteristics of chanterelles with false gills, yellow color, somewhat vase shape on the smaller ones and the growing from the ground and not from a root or stump. I'm 99% sure they are chanterelles but all the guidance recommends to confirm with an expert. What do ya'll think?

A southern style dinner served at noon. As a kid supper would be leftovers and Dad would limit his meal to cornbread and sweet milk. The corn, pink eyes and potatoes are fresh and the greens came from the freezer. I added a nice chunk of brisket to the greens. Served with Mexican cornbread.

White remoulade sauce with shrimp and fried oysters for my 68th B'Day.

A quick, tasty breakfast. Leftover focaccia from Craft Bakery, scrambled eggs, Wright's bacon and a South Carolina peach. My wife likes her eggs plain but I like mine punched up a little so I sautéed a handful of mushrooms, onion, tomatoes and artichoke hearts to anoint mine. Topped with torn mint and sheep's milk feta. The coffee is a flat white using Sweet Maria's Espresso Monkey Blend.

Grill time since we had a brief reprieve from the rain. I think we've had about 25 out of 30 soggy days. Pacific NW weather without the cool temps! The pork steaks were served with potatoes roasted with rosemary and garlic and served with a avocado salad with lime vinaigrette. We've also enjoyed a fresh vegetable soup (for lunch and dinner over several days) of local vegetables with andouille sausage and shrimp. And a little multi-tasking tonight with grilling and roasting.

Major drool on this end. That is a beautifully plated dish. Five minutes well spent with all ingredient's being able to shine.

@pastameshugana Thanks, the seasonal salad was very refreshing. And you did guess right about the jalapeños. It commanded respect on the fork!

Cukes and Nukes served with fresh garlic sausage stuffed chicken thighs. The salad was dressed with Lidl's Blush Vinaigrette. The chicken was drizzled with a quick sauce from the roasted chicken pan drippin's, heavy creme and guajillo peppers. After a trip to the Dr 😲 this morning I'm switching to smaller plates!

I was straightening up our freezer the other day and realized I only had one bag of creamer peas left! My mother would be so disappointed that her son was remiss in tending to the essentials. I drove up to the north end of the county today to Steve's Farm (no relation) and picked up a bushel of speckled butterbeans, a bushel of lima beans and a half bushel of pink eye purple hull peas. I had then shell them and I was very happy with the quality. Lots of smaller tender beans and they were very clean. Not a single hull in the batch! The yield was eight pints of peas, fifteen pints of limas and 16 pints of speckled beans. Now I don't have to worry about anyone looking in my freezer.

Shrimp and homemade toulouse sausage over pasta with North African seasoning (or so I imagine!) The proteins were pan fried then sauced up with diced tomatoes, artichoke hearts, oil cured olives, salt cured capers, preserved lemons and harissa paste. A little drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle of Aleppo chili flakes to finish.

Careful! That quiche is hot! One for us and one for our 94 year old neighbor who's had a rough week.

I purchased a JVR Vac100 prior to Christmas to replace a Vacmaster VP-112 that I had for about ten years. I had very good service out of the VP-112 until the last two years when I ordered some replacement parts on two separate occasions that were somewhat incompatible. It really pissed me off to spend $200 on mismatched replacement parts from Ary when I could have applied the money to a new unit. I decided to scrap the VP-112 and replace it with an oil sealed rotary unit with a similar form factor. My criteria were rotary pump, fit on a countertop with overhead cabinets, seal bar length to accommodate two 6” x 12” pouches, good interior volume and knowledgeable sales/support. My maximum out of pocket budget was $1,000. First off I discovered my spec’s aren’t what the market is geared toward. There are a lot of units with small chambers, weak pumps and glossy, super amped up promotions (Anova in particular). There are also a bunch of very competent VP-215 & clones with 10-inch seal bars but very few (or none) that had a 12.5” inch seal bar and were countertop friendly. Lack of after sales support seemed to be a common theme across a lot of brands requiring the unit to be returned instead of a small part being replaced. I had never heard of JVR until @liliumdavidii posted a link to the unit on November 8 on this thread. I followed the link to the website and was impressed by the Vac100 specs but also that it was being marketed by a company that had been in business for 40 years selling and servicing commercial packing equipment. At the end of 2021 the units were just being rolled out and reviews were pretty hard to find. I called JVR and spoke with Andrew regarding the technical specs. I believe Andrew is the son of the founders of JVR and is responsible for developing the JVR Vac product line. He was quite knowledgeable and addressed all my concerns. They also have all the spare parts in stock and displayed on the web page plus a full line of accessories including retort canning supplies. I know other companies say there units can seal retort pouches but I think only JVR sells a heavier seal bar tape and heat wire that is up to the task. Here's link to JVR with specs and video's https://jvrinc.com/shop-all-products/vacseries/jvr-vac100/vac100-chamber-vacuum-sealer The unit was delivered by UPS a week or two before Christmas. Upon delivery I noticed that the overpack was banged up and had probably been dropped pretty hard on the freight dock. Dam there goes my Xmas package! After unpacking I discovered that the unit had some cosmetic damage but was functional. I contacted Andrew and he said they would ship out a replacement ASAP and to use the unit in the interim. The replacement unit was delivered within 10 days with double overpack and a RA for UPS pick-up. At work! Very handy bag clips! Usable chamber depth. The bag under the clips is 12" x 12". I've used as large as 12" x 14" for roast. Right out of the box the unit has been a work horse. Fast, quiet and easy to maintain. I was pleasantly surprised that the brushed stainless steel is non-magnetic alloy and of heavier gauge than I expected. The curved glass top is really attractive and makes it easy to monitor the transition to the “boiling” point of different foods. I’m also getting consistent seals at lower vacuums which was always a problem with the VP-112. They ship the pump dry so the first task is to fill the pump. The task is made quite easy since the equipment bay is accessed by removing three screws across the rear of the unit and pivoting the hinged chamber up. The unit is going to be easy to service as the equipment layout is very neat, modularized and easy to access. They have provided a knockout plug in the base of the unit so oil changes will be no muss no fuss. The Vac100 shipped with a very nice canister set, wine bottle seal, bag assortment, spare seal wire, refill of oil, heat strip and operation manual. They also included a quart oil with the second unit. I'm a happy camper six months in with hundreds of bags sealed.

Achari Chicken Curry. I'm not very well versed in Indian food but this recipe is a keeper. I'll fume the mustard oil a little longer next time though as it was a little too prominent.

It was finally cool enough, and dry enough, to fry some fish tonight on my Weber grills side burner. IQF flounder fillets with twice fried red potatoes. The potatoes had enough starch to blister up nicely. Served with sliced tomatoes to add a little acidity.

I only use it for cutting hard material such as bone, drywall, lumber, pvc pipe, etc. In the kitchen the bone is cut after the meat is trimmed back. In the case of the beef ribs you just plunge cut through the silver skin side and finish the meat portion with your knife. There is little chance of cutting yourself as you can press the blade (20 TPI bimetal) against your skin without injury.

If it's going to get messy I use plastic film over the blade holder. If it's going to get real messy I use my meat saw! If I'm sectioning a bone for soup (or dog treat) I don't fool with the film.

Thanks, I stand corrected!

It's not a culinary implement but it certainly lives up to it's multi-tool billing at our house. The tool operates by oscillating the blade through a small arc at up to 20,000 OPM. The material being cut needs to be hard and you use a light pressure to advance the tool. Too much pressure and the oscillating motion is transferred into the work piece or tool. It works beautifully on small meat cuts as the meat doesn't slide on the table and the bone meal is greatly reduced. I have a meat saw and sawzall that I use on larger primas but this has worked well on ham bones, chicken, and pork shoulders

The last of the grilled ribs. Last nights dinner was a beef rib sandwich served southern style. Actually southern style is two or three pork ribs sandwiched between two slices of white bread. I could never figure that one out as as kid but it's the equivalent of a Scotch egg or pastie. Meal in-hand. My meal in-hand included lots of sauce and a Sweetwater 420. And tonight's rib sendoff is serendipity soup prepared with the aid of my oscillating multi-tool. I sectioned the rib with no drama (or splinters) and combined with chicken stock for a Pho'ish type soup. I had some really nice mushrooms that I sweated down and added prior to serving.

Nice summer bbq with grilled chicken, pork ribs, beef ribs and homemade sausage. The beef ribs were removed prior to cooking a standing rib roast at Easter, vacuum bagged and frozen. Dinner was served with cajun potato salad, cucumber salad and a fresh peach crisp with Tillamook ice cream. Everybody had seconds so I guess dinner was a success. The dogs got leftover bones so they too were happy!