huiray

Those look like medium-sized zucchinis, really. Consider harvesting them when they are truly small, with or without the blossoms still attached. They should not be more than 2-3 inches (or maybe 4 at most) in length (excluding the blossom). I've shown baby zucchini I've picked up from my local farmerrs' market, where the grower picked these babies while they were the lengths I mentioned. I realize that some may think it wasteful not to let every zucchini develop to a large size, but that is a different story from "harvesting small zucchini" for their own sake as well as having enough plants to provide a steady stream of 2 to 3 inch length baby zucchinis.

When my brother and I were growing up our mother would urge us to eat more Lady's Fingers because it was thought to improve men's, um, quality and volume of certain, uh, fluids.

French filet beans sautéed w/ garlic. More of the beef short ribs & bamboo shoots braise from here. Soup. EV olive oil, thinly-sliced shallots & garlic, chopped scallions, sliced young portobello mushrooms, chicken stock + water, zucchini blossoms (stigmas removed), quartered baby zucchini, roasted vermicelli (this one). Dressed w/ more chopped scallions & a couple of baby zucchini.

Very late night/early morning meal. Peanut oil, garlic, beef short ribs, shiro miso, water, simmer, bamboo shoots, ginger. Bare simmer for ~6-7 hrs. Seasoning adjusted. Allowed to stand 6-8 hrs to meld further, excess oil skimmed off, reheated. White rice.

I forgot to list zucchini blossoms (anthers removed, trimmed a bit, washed) as one of the ingredients.

EV olive oil, sliced garlic (Music), chanterelles, Cipriani tagliarelle, fresh peas (pre-cooked), fresh parsley, salt.

Caroled, I've treated shishito peppers in various ways including pan-seared with salt, although I don't think I've dressed them additionally with lime zest or juice or bonito flakes. See here (scroll down to the 5th sub-entry) or here (scroll down also to the 5th sub-entry; as an accompaniment to blue marlin "steak") as examples. Seared shishitos (sometimes stuffed) are common in places like izakayas. They make nice additions to soups and soupy noodles too (like here as an example) or in various stir-fries (see here as one example, with red shishitos), and so on. I have not done it yet (non-confluence of availability and desire) but they should be excellent stuffed w/ surimi as an item in yong tau foo (see here for my latest prep where I mixed in ground pork as well; I've done others without pork in the past).

Today's haul - produce. Details here.

Today at Broad Ripple Farmers' Market (BRFM) & Carmel Farmers' Market (CFM): BRFM: Zucchini blossoms, baby zucchini w/ blossoms on, 2 bunches sweet basil, small/new Yukon Gold potatoes, Shishito peppers, Roma beans, French filet beans, frisee & curly green lettuce, big head of broccoli, farm-fresh eggs, vine-ripe tomatoes (Mountain Stream & Big Dena) CFM: Chinese long beans (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis), small Portobello mushrooms, Chanterelle mushrooms, English (shelling) peas, a loaf of "epi" "wheat-stalk" bread. ...and, from a local grocery: Hot & Spicy Big Reds (a locally produced/famed franks - see here).

Yesterday's meals. Variations on a tomato theme. Spaghetti [Garofalo] w/ Hazan tomato sauce (w/ Campari tomatoes), Parmigiano Reggiano. Plus stir-fried big-leaf mustard greens (芥菜), mainly hearts. 番茄炒蛋 (Tomatoes fried with eggs). Hot oil & hot pan, chopped scallions, egg (beaten w/ Shaohsing wine, salt, white pepper), stirred/folded and removed/reserved when still very wet and not yet set (about 30-40 secs). Hot oil & hot pan, garlic, chopped heirloom tomatoes, stir, a pour of hon-mirin [Takara], couple dashes of Bulldog (Tonkatsu) sauce, a wee bit fish sauce [Red Boat]; the reserved eggs folded back in briefly and immediately served dressed w/ more fresh chopped scallions. Yu Choy Sum blanched in oiled hot water, dressed w/ oyster sauce [LKK] & black pepper. White rice.

Various miscellaneous meals. More of the meat ball, tomatoes & Roma beans sauce from here, with rice and sautéed Napa cabbage. Fedelini w/ basil pesto. Salad (red romaine, green leaf lettuces, heirloom tomato, blanched beans) w/ balsamic, Alziari evoo, salt & pepper. Yong Tau Foo round 2 (see here). With Chee Cheong Fun [(rolled rice noodle crepes) [commercial] (made w/ har mai & scallion bits) plus deep-fried shallots and Teem Cheong ("sweet sauce") made w/ {hoisin, oyster, double fermented soy, dark soy sauces; sesame oil, water}. Peppermint Swiss chard in the poaching liquid from doing the YTF.

Yong Tau Foo. Okra, fresh shiitake mushroom caps, tau pok, Thai eggplants, soft tofu, firm tofu; stuffed w/ a mixture of fish paste (surimi) [commercial], ground pork, black sesame oil, normal sesame oil, ground white pepper, chopped scallions, chopped coriander leaf, finely sliced rehydrated wood-ear fungus, bit of double-fermented soy sauce, dash of fish sauce [Red Boat]. Poached in chicken stock/broth. Part of what was made plated for dinner, as shown. Eaten w/ wong nga pak (Napa cabbage) wilted into and briefly simmered in the poaching liquid/stock. Dipping sauce of diluted Lingham's Hot Sauce mixed w/ fresh lime juice.

I usually throw away the chicken pieces from my chicken stock preps. They have little taste left. I might save (or pick out) some selected pieces (usually dark meat pieces) or some skin from the meat mass after making the stock, but it is a "selective" practice. Beef bones, pork bones – I might pick out some of the cartilage, maybe selected pieces of the residual meat from around the joints – but, again, otherwise it goes into the trash. Making pho stock is not dissimilar, or any number of pork bone stock (with lts residual meat) preps. It simply is not that worthwhile. What is better is to put in an additional piece of meat and retrieving it after some relatively short period of simmering, to retain and cut into slices of meat that is still flavorful. The stock, in the meanwhile, gained from the simmering of the piece of meat in it.

Kangkong Belacan. Last night's version – hot pan, peanut oil, smashed garlic, pre-soaked dried shrimp (har mai) (a generous amount), sambal terasi (Indonesian sambal belacan), a couple of green Thai chillies, trimmed washed kangkong (water spinach, ong choy, water convolvulus, Ipomoea aquatica). Seasoning adjusted. Okra, Thai Eggplants & Chicken Wings in Spicy Broth. Hot pan, hot oil, thinly-sliced shallots, chopped smashed garlic, sliced fresh lemongrass (white parts), sliced fresh galangal, gia vị nấu canh chua ("tom yum" type paste) [Golden Boy], julienned fresh Kaffir lime leaves (from the plant on my deck), smashed/crushed whole green Thai chillies, slurry of tamarind pulp [Dragonfly] in a little water, sea salt, palm sugar, simmer; chicken wings (middle pieces only) chopped in half across the bone, simmer; water added, simmer; seasoning adjusted; Thai eggplants (halved or quartered) added, followed shortly after by whole small okra (Lady's Fingers); simmer briefly till done. Plus several bowls of white rice. Some eaten w/ the hot-sour-sweet-tangy broth from the okra dish ladled over it as well. Some with the sauce &etc from the kangkong dish ladled over it as well. P.s. The okra dish (in some permutation or other) might be more often seen with shrimps. However, I didn't have fresh shrimps on hand but had the chicken wings. It came out very good.

Yes, I was aware that what you made and showed was not hot water corn bread. It was more-or-less a variant of standard corn bread. I asked "if you do hot water corn bread" (i.e. have you made HWCB before, rather than what you show in your pic), not "if what you did was hot water corn bread". But thanks, I guess you don't make HWCB at other times either.

Red-skinned carrots, yellow carrots, celery stems & leaves (at the end) in simmering chicken broth. (no pic) Meat balls & Roma beans in tomato sauce over fedelini. Minced beef chuck was mixed w/ lots of chopped parsley, a bit of salt, minced garlic, several dashes of Maggi Sauce, an egg (broken into the bowl), panko crumbs (a decent amount), ground black pepper, dried oregano, dried thyme; and set aside. Frenched Roma beans were sautéed w/ finely chopped garlic in EV olive oil, then reserved leaving the oil in the pan. More sliced garlic was added followed by chopped tomatoes, the mixture cooked with the tomatoes beginning to break down & release juices, with a good pour of hon-mirin [Takara] along the way. Light salting. Small meat balls were rolled by hand and added to the mixture, the pan covered and simmered, gently "turning over" (spatula) occasionally. The reserved beans (& garlic) were added back in towards the end and gently stirred in and the pan re-covered and simmering continued briefly till it was done.

Try this (scroll down to the last sub-entry) or something similar - if one wants something a little more non-Western. Lots of other ways to use okra, of course, in S/SE Asian cuisines. With the soup linked to, one puts in yound tender okra almost at the last and cooks it just enough so that the okra is not raw - and retains much of its crunchiness. Basically slime-less.

Early dinner 2015-0704. Fedelini w/ freshly-made basil pesto. (Basil, pine nuts, new crop Music garlic, Arbosana evoo, Pecorino Romano + Parmigiano Reggiano, sea salt) Salad – with curly green & red-tinged romaine lettuces, parsley florets, heirloom tomato, blanched Roma beans; dressed w/ EV olive oil, 10-year balsamic, sea salt, fresh ground black pepper.

BonVivant & ninagluck – just curious, do you have air conditioning in your homes?

I forgot to say that if you have had some version of "chow mei fun" or "chow hor fun" or "chow kway teow" (and equivalent transliterations) from a restaurant or take-out place in the USA, for example, you have had "fried rice noodles". (the preceding terms are Cantonese) Or, some dish such as "pan-fried mai fun/mei fun" (etc) or "pan-fried bee hoon [the Hokkien term: bee hoon = mai fun in Cantonese] and so on. Frequently the pan-fried stuff (where the noodles are browned and made sort-of crispy, at least in part) could also be termed "Hong Kong style" in many USAmerican "Chinese" restaurants or take-outs.

Today (2015-0704) at BRFM. (plus other stuff)

Friday – Saturday, 2015-0703/0704. Caplinger's Fresh Catch: Littleneck clams. The Fresh Market: Fedelini pasta [De Cecco], Italian parsley, fresh Bing cherries, bottled clam juice [bar Harbor]. Broad Ripple Farmers' Market: Chiaggia beets, red-skinned carrots, yellow carrots, curly green leaf & baby red-tinged Romaine lettuces, young Roma beans, heritage tomatoes, fresh shiitake mushrooms.

Linguine alle vongole. Arbosana EV olive oil, chopped smashed garlic, hot red chili flakes, a good pour of Pinot Grigio, some natural clam juice, (bring to a simmer), two-and-a-half dozen littleneck clams, chopped parsley; remove clams as they open; linguine [Rusticella d'Abruzzo] (cooked separately of course) added, tossed around. Plated w/ the clams and more parsley. Plus sautéed baby zucchini. edited for spelling.

The website you use is very nice – although they did not talk about soft necks not producing scapes, which is why I mentioned it to LindaK. There are other websites that also have lots of info, of course. As for supermarket garlic being mainly soft neck types, that seems to be true in many Western supermarkets, yes, although I have found hard neck types in some of my local ones. In Chinese groceries, I don't consciously recall soft neck garlic being offered/sold; only hard neck types register in my consciousness.

Shelby, do you do hot water corn bread? I myself like hot water corn bread. In contrast, standard corn bread is not something I hanker for although I will eat it.