JoNorvelleWalker

I doubt the basin provided enough steam. Also one only wants steam for the first few minutes till the crust has set. The baguettes should finish in a dry oven.

I haven't eaten all day, and they sure look pretty good to me! If I may make suggestions, slash the loaves lengthwise, with about a third of each slash overlapping but not touching the previous slash. Also try to find a way to introduce steam in the oven at the beginning of the bake. Easy if you have a steam oven. Less so otherwise. However a bit of steam will make a big difference to the crust.

I had plans of using them for food storage. So far one of the fourteen holds half a pound of Rancho Gordo beans.

For any of you who may still be married... I was browsing for a cutting board. I have twenty something cutting boards at count, but a girl can never be too rich or have too many cutting boards. I came upon this offer from amazon: (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) "Non-slip design on the cutting board surface to prevent the spouse from slipping during cutting."

I shall never again allow thirteen empty Planters Peanuts jars to accumulate on my kitchen counter. That could be unlucky. So I added another to make fourteen.

My ancient Zojirushi has a porridge setting but no setting for congee. The new rice cooker has both a congee setting and a porridge setting. Apparently at least to Zojirushi engineers Japanese rice porridge is a different dish from Chinese congee. The new Zojirushi also has a setting for steel cut oats that my Zojirushi does not. My only solace is my Zojirushi manual warns not to try to cook oats.

I notice Zojirushi has introduced a new rice cooker with a congee setting. So far I have resisted.

I am acquainted with garlic. What are commercial ground vegetables?

I suspect it was well before Melisa was a gleam in someone's eye I used to make Craig Claiborne's Turkish moussaka from the New York Times Cookbook. However Turkish moussaka is a quite different dish than Greek.

I needed something to use up excessive kimas meat sauce made from two pounds of ground beef. Many thanks to @Rachel Perlow for the suggestion to prepare white sauce in the blender. Plus I got an excuse to finally use my largest TeamFar pan in the anova. As a bonus I learned the TeamFar pan fits perfectly on the rails of my Vesta blast chiller. Some days everything goes right. For the eggplant I simply sliced and deep fried it. No fuss, no muss. Though a bit time consuming because of the amount required.

Moussaka — unctuous, gelatinous umami bomb. Perhaps I should have allowed it to rest a moment longer before cutting.

Admittedly I failed geometry.

How does one get triangular slices from a square pizza?

I did not notice any incorporation of air in my bechamel last night.

No, the Blendtec does not have a heater. However from friction a Vitamix or a Blendtec can boil cold milk in a couple minutes. I doubt a Bamix could do that.

Yes, but you still have to clean the whisk. And I wouldn't call bechamel an emulsified sauce. I make Hollandaise in a heavy Falk copper pan. With the blender you don't have to worry about a skin on the bechamel. Edit: plus I expect the blender would be great for desserts such as cornstarch pudding.

No one speaking up, I can report it possible to make excellent bechamel in a blender. Of course Rachel has a Vitamix and I had to make do with my Blendtec (joke).

I apologize again. Romans are known for dining to excess in a horizontal position. I'm not about to go searching at the moment, but I have read there exists a guide book in Greek and Latin for Greek tourists visiting Rome. It includes a section on Roman restaurant etiquette. Be sure to leave a tip for the slaves.

A massive horizontal brunch sounds more Roman than Greek. ...sorry, I couldn't help myself.

Pasta with kimas (Greek meat sauce). If it wasn’t for @Duvel I would have enjoyed it warm.

Or the wrong wife.

Sounds good to me.

No joy in Mudville today?

Like my blast chiller, you need to push the right buttons.

The saga continues...last night before I went to bed I put the pot with the sauce in the blast chiller. Somehow I neglected to turn it on.