JoNorvelleWalker

The baker is like a matador.

Cornish game hen. I always try to dine after midnight so that if I choke I will still have made it to another year. Much method rotuts.

Indeed, I like Spice Trekkers. They have things that are difficult to source otherwise.

I am in the US, and I have never seen Durkees for sale. I suspect it is a hoax.

You need steam! For the baguettes I would suggest an Anova Precision Oven if you can find one where you live.

I too can seldom find green pepper anymore. It's somewhere in my spice cupboard. Originally I purchased green pepper to make steak au poivre. Still waiting. I would love shame or encouragement! Pink pepper, so far, I have employed only for making ice cream -- Rose Levy Beranbaum's recipe Fire and Ice. Don't ask, just do it. In cooking I almost never use pepper. However I season my food heavily at the table with black or red (eg. further ripened black peppercorns). White pepper when a recipe calls for it or for when I'm in the mood. I find the flavor of black or red much more complex and fragrant than white. I've read some people cannot fully taste the aromatics of black pepper. Anyhow, count me as a pepper lover.

Depending on the fit, I'd use the anova. These days I don't use the big oven for anything beyond baked potatoes and pizza. I've even switched to baking cookies in the APO.

For dinner: tuna salad sandwich. I blame @heidih.

I have two pepper mills: one for black and one for white. Neither lives at the computer. Bad enough having salt in the keyboard.

What are your non-everyday knives?

Tonight at Shoprite I saw "pink onions" for the first time.

I am currently reading Bonnie Stern's Don't Worry, Just Cook. She states: "When I was in chef training, it was a big deal to learn how to make the perfect French omelet. It had to be light and fluffy..." My eyes glazed over.

Thank you, @Ann_T. I only wish I could achieve such a good result every time the way you do with your loaves.

68.6 hydration.

As opposed to at least eight (not all of them full) boxes in the living room.

Cornish game hen. Liter of MR covers a multitude of sins, or at least makes a life of pain more bearable. Rum isn't so bad either.

I use blue plates.

Last night I found two neglected boxes of Rancho Gordo in the bedroom. They weren't really lost but almost all my Rancho Gordo beans are in the living room, besides, there was a shipment of nuts.com nuts on top. In the very bottom box I noticed a bag of Alubia Blanca beans. They looked interesting. I can't remember seeing them before. I cooked some up and they were excellent. I thought they deserved a mention.

I have it. Beautiful book. Recipes divided into home cooking and restaurant cuisine. However I confess I have not cooked from it.

Batch 25: 90g blanched Spanish almonds 90g apricot kernels 350g water 280g sugar 30ml Wray & Nephew Overproof 30ml orange flower water Same as batch 24. Batch 24 was probably my best batch yet. Orgeat foam is cook's treat.

I made a batch of Momofuku ranch to go with the fourth dinner from a lovely sous vide pork loin. Brussels' sprouts and sweet potato on the side. Milk and oatmeal-walnut cookies to finish.

...and a few non-food related details.

I have been reading Don't Worry, Just Cook. As almost promised there is a section "Things Not Worth Worrying About". These include 15 year old ketchup, the 5-second rule, and salted butter. However Stern adds there are still things about which she worries: "...worst of all, cooking naked." My feeling is a lovely apron can be ruined forever, whereas skin eventually grows back.

Yes, but when you get there do you remember what you went there for?

As some may know I rely on our county old person para-transport service to get to work most days. Today the driver related that a client he takes once a week to Shoprite to buy groceries and bottled water explained her tap water was contaminated with arsenic, so she does not use it. I know where the woman lives, and I know her water supply is the same as mine. Test results by law are published and arsenic is not a problem. The driver asked her about taking showers and she replied she does not. The driver told me he is requesting a dump truck from the county so that she can ride in back.