huiray

• Leftover Kielbasa & Sauerkraut. Onions & potatoes augmented w/ young zucchini and more (quartered) young candy onions. • Vella Dry Jack cheese & crackers.

Regarding those curry puffs: I presume you mean they were sweeter than you might have expected, still in the "savory" class but not that they were "sweet-sweet" like a dessert? The Thais do have a sweet tooth, although they also skew their seasonings for the NA market in the (perhaps overly broad) expectation that folks here like sweet things. (The better explanation is that they not infrequently dial back the fieriness without dialing back the sweetness so the whole thing often becomes unbalanced) A typical recipe for these curry puffs (in Thailand, at least) would often include sweet potato or yams, which are both inherently sweet, PLUS sugar added in. It might be of interest too that many "native" Thai restaurants in Thailand would actually have a bowl of sugar on every table for patrons/diners to sprinkle onto their food to their heart's content. Quite often dishes (including street food dishes) would have a small spoonful of sugar crystals tossed onto a dish as a "finishing touch".

Groceries 2014-0628 BRFM: Young red carrots, Chioggia beets, red chard, a head of young curly kale, wild-collected oyster mushrooms, baby garlic, mizuna, baby zucchini w/ blossoms on, farm eggs, a head of broccoli, romaine lettuce, Western chives. CFM: Ripe tomatoes (for more soup & for sauce), a head of Tuscan kale. Goose the Market: Patagonian prawns (Pleoticus muelleri), Vella Dry Jack cheese, duck livers (not foie gras). The shallow white dish the prawns (in its cardboard punnet) is sitting in is 8 inches in diameter. Eight prawns = 1.1 lbs. Patagonian prawns: Carrots & beets:

The law was unanimously repealed by the California Senate and now awaits Gov. Brown's signature. http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-glove-law-20140627-story.html

• Romaine lettuce w/ oyster sauce. Romaine leaves hand-torn into pyrex bowl, drizzled w/ corn oil. Just-boiled water poured over leaves+oil. Steeped for 40-45 seconds or so while swishing w/ a pair of chopsticks. Drained, transferred, dressed w/ oyster sauce [Lee Kum Kee] and ground white pepper. • Smoked kielbasa [Claus'] w/ sauerkraut. Kielbasa pan-fried/lightly browned in pan w/ EV olive oil [California Ranch] on both sides. Jarred sauerkraut [Hengstenberg] added to pan, distributed, covered for a minute. Water added. Some sea salt, rice vinegar [Maruchan], whole white peppercorns & fresh bay leaves went in. Covered, simmered for a while. • Onions & potatoes. Young candy onions cut into thick rounds pan-fried w/ EV olive oil. Halved Peruvian Purple & Red Thumb potatoes added in, tossed/stirred around a bit. Salted. Dried thyme added. Water added, the pan/pot covered and the stuff cooked till done.

Beef with zucchini & fennel. White rice (Basmati). The beef slices were marinated w/ Shao xing wine [Lam Sheng Kee], light soy sauce [Pearl River], ryori-shu [Morita], hon-mirin [Takara], ground black pepper, black sesame oil. Hot pan, hot oil, plenty of chopped smashed garlic, beef slices, sliced trimmed fennel bulb; young zucchini, quartered, stir/toss around; rest of the marinade, cook till done. Seasoning adjusted.

The article linked to shows a picture of these pig "rectums". They look like one form of 豬大腸 and in particular to this one. Commonly eaten cooked in various ways in E/SE Asian cuisine. I wonder...perhaps these folks also use the term "rectum" to refer generically to the pig colon? Or not. Certainly if one has eaten "natural casing" sausages one has eaten intestines, and folks have done so for centuries. Ditto salami. A thread on another forum. One might also avoid hot dogs if one is squeamish about these things (let alone what else goes into the stuffing).

• Tomato soup. Ripe tomatoes - blanched, de-skinned, halved; de-seeded & de-"jellied" into a fine-mesh large sieve, pressing through juices; broken-up meat & sieved juices simmered w/ a finely chopped large shallot sautéed in EV olive oil, with added water & julienned basil leaves. Some sea salt, a dash of aged balsamic vinegar & a quick pour of hon-mirin [Takara]. Simmered for about 40-45 minutes. Pulsed roughly w/ a stick blender. Eaten w/ a drizzle of black truffle oil & basil florets & small leaves. • Green salad. Red-streaked lettuce, young romaine, spinach. Dressed w/ balsamic vinegar (Modena 10-year), EV olive oil [Alziari], sea salt & ground black pepper. Later: • Fedelini with garlic, mushrooms & parsley. About a head's worth of garlic, smashed, de-skinned, chopped - sautéed in EV olive oil [California Ranch]. Sliced marinated button mushrooms & halved straw mushrooms added & sautéed; chopped parsley went in plus some Old Bay spice. Al dente fedelini [De Cecco] then tossed in the pan, some water splashed in & stuff stirred/tossed; covered for a few minutes. On the way there: The wine was Borsao 2013 Rosé (100% Garnacha). No, it didn't go into the soup but went straight into me.

Thanks, Patrick and all. Tonight: Chicken livers & snow peas. Eaten w/ Fuzhou-type skinny wheat noodles (min6 sin3), cooked the usual way. Trimmed & cleaned chicken livers were marinated w/ Shaohsing wine, "aged soy sauce", corn starch, a bit of sugar. Trimmed snow peas were blanched in salted water, chilled, reserved. Thinly sliced ginger & scallions trimmed into 2-inch pieces were sautéed in hot oil, the livers added, allowed to sit for a short bit then cooked/seared/tossed till the "leaking bloodiness" was almost gone. Chopped de-seeded hot long green chillies added, followed shortly by the remainder of the marinade plus a bit of water, stirring the mixture. The reserved snow peas went in, plus some ground white pepper, and everything stirred/tossed for a minute or less. Served. A riff off this recipe; proportions also altered.

• Ground pork stir-fried w/ baby garlic (sliced crosswise), cincalok, baby onions/large spring onions. • Wild rice [bineshi].

Fresh calf's liver.

Liver & onions. Liver was simply floured w/ a mixture of AP flour, ground black pepper, Redmond salt. (No soaking in milk, nope) Pan-fried in the same pan in which the browned sliced shallots were done (with a bit more oil added). Asparagus & baby garlic (sliced across the developing bulb into "coins") done in the pan after the liver. Edited to correct syntax

Two fat chicken drumsticks, a plump young garlic bulb w/ just the outermost skins & root pad (and trailing roots) removed & cut into thirds crosswise, water, oil, Redmond salt, simmer; farmers'-market Tuscan kale & broccoli rabe, both julienned, flower tufts intact; Sapporo Ichiban chicken flavor instant ramen, with the flavor packet added in; simmer sufficiently, eat. Yum. :-)

Baby zucchini w/ blossoms stuffed w/ a mixture of ricotta, Pecorino Romano, a bit of EV olive oil & finely chopped parsley. Battered & deep-fried. Eaten w/ fritters from the leftover batter.

Pressed tongue, coarse Braunschweiger, Westphalian ham [all from Claus']; rosemary mini-croccantini {La Panzanella], scallions, croissant [Fresh Market].

Groceries 2014-0621 BRFM (Broad Ripple Farmers’ Market): Parsley, Red-green leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce (slightly pointy leaves), young garlic bulbs, baby zucchini w/ blossoms attached (plus two male flowers), snow peas, quart of strawberries. CFM (Carmel Farmers’ Market): Tomatoes (meant for soup), baby onions w/ greenery attached, yellow patty pan squash. Claus’ German Sausage & Meats: Smoked Kielbasa, Weisswurst, coarse Braunschweiger, pressed tongue, Westphalian ham, fresh calves’ liver, jarred Hengstenberg Sauerkraut. Goose the Market: Tarentaise cheese, duck leg quarters. The Fresh Market: Ricotta (whole milk), Pecorino Romano (shaved), croissants, fedelini & angel hair pastas [De Cecco].

Early dinner. • Red-streaked amaranth (苋菜) soup; w/ sautéed smashed garlic, dried shrimp (蝦米) (pre-soaked in water), chicken stock. • Beef stir-fried w/ chopped smashed garlic, yellow & purple & green cauliflower florets, light green broccoli florets; splashes of fish sauce [Red Boat], rice wine (ryori-shu used), & a bit of this-and-that. • White rice. ETA: Oh yes, "dessert" was Tarentaise cheese (munched to my heart's content!) w/ Lavash crackers.

Pork belly & lotus root soup. See here.

Lunch from a few days ago. • Pork belly & lotus root soup. Smashed garlic, corn oil, sliced pork belly, sea salt, water, simmer, "black" jujubes, honey jujubes, raw peanuts, dried Solomon's Seal rhizome slices ("yook chook"), dried small squid (rather than dried cuttlefish), simmer, sliced de-skinned lotus root, simmer, dried goji berries, simmer, seasoning adjusted. • Deep-fried firm tofu slices. Eaten w/ grated daikon, scallion "flowers", and Lingham's Thai Hot Sauce. • Soba, dressed w/ chopped green parts of scallions, katsuobushi, Izu oroshi-wasabi, hon-tsuyu.

Another recent lunch: • Shanghai choy sum stir-fried w/garlic. • Sautéed garlic, fennel bulb (sliced), Purple Cherokee tomatoes (chopped), chicken-of-the-woods mushrooms (sliced), snow peas (halved), fennel fronds; tossed w/ spaghetti [De Cecco] in the pan.

A recent lunch. Leftover fried rice augmented with lamb bacon, negi, sugar snap peans & deep-fried tofu puffs.

It's shorthard for free-range eggs. Most commercial eggs do not really come from farms, they come from battery-cage hens. Eh, I buy supermarket eggs too, but for the most part I make a distinction between what I usually get "during season" from the folks at farmers' markets and when I cannot. FWIW those eggs I referred to above (and most of my eggs during spring-summer-fall) come from Schacht Farms, on occasion from other free-range breeders. During mid-winter Schacht Farms would not have eggs available because it is too cold for their hens to lay eggs. I get my eggs from other places where their hens are kept in heated barns, or from the supermarket then.

I scramble them in the pan then add the rice in to the pan and mix it with the scrambled eggs and whatever else (and whatever else that follows). I also usually add the rice before the eggs are set. The rice often absorbs some (but definitely not all) of the yolk and is then colored yellow-ish. As for "in situ" - well, I'm a chemist by training...so I always mentally think of "in situ" in the sense with which the phrase is used in chemistry to describe how a reaction is carried out (or, in this case, of how the fried rice is formed in the reaction of the components as they are added together in the same vessel = pan). Other times I make a simple omelette (with beaten eggs) separately, chop it up, then add that in towards the end. A recent example from a few days ago here. p.s. The eggs were allowed to crisp up more than I like before scrambling them with the spatula in this last example above because I stopped to take a picture. Thirty seconds - but that was enough time for the whites to set a little more than I like at the edges of the pan before marbling/scrambling them.

Fried rice. Duck fat, chopped scallions, 3 farm eggs scrambled in situ, 3-day-old rice, Redmond salt, chiffonaded Tuscan kale, halved snow peas. The pan is covered for a couple of minutes at the end before serving w/ baechu kimchi. On the way there.....

I've recently started buying rendered duck fat. In small amounts (like a ~1lb small tub-let I got, for ~$10, from my local butcher) it's relatively more expensive but in bulk it can be much cheaper. Not the "imported from France" fancy stuff, that is. This place is one of the lowest-priced places I've found and there are of course other places too. (Shipping, of course, bumps up the effective cost) Is there a place in San Diego where you can buy it in semi-bulk?