JoNorvelleWalker

1. I have a Microplane nutmeg grater. If I dull the blade I'd be more worried about nutmeg intoxication. 2. Milk.

In my freezer I found a steak -- I think it was a steak -- dated 03/09/2017. (It was next to another steak, though that steak didn't have a date.) Baked potato and Philips grilled asparagus. Accompanied by Pinot Noir. Followed with a whiff of WistlePig.

I've been happy with my Penzeys' Whole Special Extra Bold Indian Black Peppercorns. Which is a good thing because I have a lot. However after a long absence The Spice House has their Cambodian red and black peppercorns back in stock. I decided to pass this time on black but restocked with a bag of Cambodian red. I also purchased long peppers and pink peppercorns, neither of which I've tried before. (Yes, I know these are not true pepper.)

This weekend The Spice House is having a 10% off promotion. Unfortunately not only was the the spice cabinet (shown above) overflowing, the bedroom and living room spice storage locations were getting crowded. What to do? I went through my cabinet and found 24 empty or near-empty or ought-to-be-empty bags and jars. Plus a container of arborio rice -- not sure how that happened. What's more I found duplicates and triplicates. This fall I ran out of Aleppo pepper, and ordered a jar from Penzeys. Tonight in the back of the cabinet I found a much larger jar of Aleppo pepper from The Spice House. I moved the empty bottles to the living room and relocated the living room spice collection to the kitchen. I felt virtuous. Of course in the meantime I spent ninety some dollars at The Spice House. And there's still the matter of the bedroom.

Why is the burger sticking out its tongue at me? Fries were on the menu here tonight, till I ran out of energy. How were the ones in Amsterdam? P.S. This week Shoprite has a coupon for 20 rolls of toilet paper.

It's been what, close to seven years? I figured I should replace the gasket on my Fissler. But to get free shipping I added a baby four quart vitavit to the shopping cart... http://www.fissler.international/en/products/pressure_cookers/lines/vitavit_edition_design/vitavit_edition_design_details/product/p_vitavit_edition_design_pressure_cooker.html?no_cache=1 When I bought my first Fisslers the vitavit edition was not available in the US. I have to say this little one is cute. So far I've used it for a couple dinners. Last night was a bowl of Ranch Gordo Silvia Flor de Junio. The vitavit makes a great combination with Paragon induction cooker. Set the temperature on the Paragon and the Fissler needs no attention. On the stovetop (at least on my stovetop) it was impossible to achieve a constant temperature. If I can find my Thermax temperature test strips I'll measure the maximum temperature the vitavit can reach.

I'll second this! I have three EXO Super Peels. Thing is once I acquired my pizza aluminum I could not get close enough to the oven to load the pie with the standard Super Peel. The solution was the EXO Long Handled Super Peel: http://amzn.com/B00H1JKHWO In addition I have a prototype EXO peel for loading boules onto the small (10x10x0.5 inch) steel I use when baking in the CSO. I'm worried though because when I go to the EXO website I get a message "Account Suspended". EXO is a great company and the owner has been very helpful. I hope they are not in trouble.

Silvia Flor de Junio made fantastic broth which burned my hand and tongue. (Treating the affected members with ice cream at the moment.) Some bean varieties are OK, and some are really not. Then there are those that make the whole experience worthwhile.

I shall never again ladle hot bean broth over my hand. Even if it is Rancho Gordo.

At the moment I have a pot of Silvia Flor de Junio on the stove for dinner. On the Paragon, actually. I explained my problems to another coworker and instead of sympathy he placed an order with Rancho Gordo.

Not pear, but I have bottles of Peach Street Distillery Peach brandy on hand, which I keep for Fish House Punch... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_House_Punch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuylkill_Fishing_Company Served in Baccarat of course. Befitting as Gilbert du Motier was a Fish House member. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_du_Motier,_Marquis_de_Lafayette

I can't think of two less photogenic foods than artichoke and pesto.* This dinner was a one pot meal. I wanted to test out my new baby Fissler pressure cooker. Pasta for the pesto was simply boiled about a minute in the pot, and then as I enjoyed the pesto the artichoke steamed for 15 minutes on high, followed by natural release. No need to watch the pressure cooker on the Paragon. Paragon was set to 248F. Pasta, Serious Eats recipe as usual. Pesto from Jerry Traunfeld, The Herbfarm Cookbook. What's unique (or at least different) about the Traunfeld recipe is the order in which the ingredients are mixed. Pasta was perfect. Possibly the best pesto I have had. Artichoke wasn't half bad either. *well, OK, kale and cauliflower. Edit: oh, and the basil was from my dining room.

One can only hope.

Philips grilled Berkshire chop. Philips grilled asparagus. I am getting rather attached to Philips grilled asparagus. Baked potato.

I'm not sure how I missed this the first time around: that measuring cup looks suspicious. In the US and most of the civilized world, one cup equals 236.588 ml. If the markings on the right hand side are milliliters, Canadian cups must be very small indeed. On the other hand if the units on the right hand side are sai I might believe it. That would make the full capacity about one go. Same as any respectable rice cooker measuring vessel.

I browsed the sale and easily reached $59, which gives free shipping any day. Better with nuts.com to wait until they offer either a discount or a free something that you like. Did I mention nuts.com is almost as bad as Rancho Gordo? Thankfully I go through a lot more nuts than beans.

Yes but then the item you really want will be in the shipment you did not receive.

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/136349-do-brita-type-filters-work/?do=findComment&comment=2162319 For the soak and initial cook I used my double filtered deionized tap water.

Unfortunately, Steve can correct me, I think it comes down to shipping costs.

Over two more nights I boiled the Moro beans into submission. They were eventually quite good. As would have been pebbles cooked that long. A colleague at work mentioned she had quit the bean club. She was inundated by more beans than she could eat.

The last couple nights I've been using my Demeyere on the Paragon to prepare my Rancho Gordo Moro beans. In my hands all the Rancho Gordo bean varieties from Mexico I've tried require inordinate amounts of cooking time. But with the Paragon and a good induction pan one can just set the temperature and walk away.

Thank you for reminding me I have* some avocadoes somewhere in the bedroom. *or had.

Crumb was more open than last week. Still dense. The Ankarsrum dough hook is more pleasant to use than the roller but the roller gave better crumb. I can't say I understand this.

My one Demeyere was a disappointment. Not that it is a horrible pan by any means. Now that a have a Paragon (OK, three Paragons) I am thankful the Demeyere works with induction. But the Demeyere is seldom the pan I grab for anything except a can of soup. By coincidence I've been wanting an induction capable larger sauce pan that would go in the dishwasher. Last night I ordered a small Fissler pressure cooker with a separate lid that should fill the bill. So far Fissler is the brand of cookware that's worked best for me. Except for Falk, of course.