JoNorvelleWalker

Tonight the power went out as I was bringing my pasta water to the boil and purchasing cookbooks on amazon. I deduced it would be a lovely evening for a lettuce and tomato salad. Eventually I'd enjoyed enough wine that it was pointless to be reading Bugialli by flashlight. To further entertain myself I went outside in the early morning dews and damps to watch the person from the power utility do his thing. I think I freaked the poor guy out when he realized someone was standing behind him in the dark. Now that the power has come back, it is probably too late for pasta. I'd be having a glass or two of absinth but I don't have any.

The CSO makes great roast potatoes! (I'm interested in the toast position also.)

Normally I bake my potatoes one to two hours at 450 deg F. in a preheated conventional oven, in a bed of salt. In my hands following the Cuisinart manual's cooking chart* for baked potato results in flaccid skin and unnatural texture. More like pressure cooked potato. Not that there is anything wrong with pressure cooked potatoes, I prepare pressure cooked potatoes about once a week. But they are not baked potatoes. *Bake-Steam, 400 deg F, 45 to 55 minutes, middle lower rack.

My digestive: glass of Appleton 21. Beautiful color. I could get to like this.

Ah, inspired by @liuzhou -- baked eggplant Sardinian style, Bugialli's Foods of Sicily & Sardinia and the Smaller Islands (p 211): One of the finest meals in quite some while. Highly unorthodox, a few blessed drops of aceto balsamico tradizionale di Modena from the last millennium.

Baked potatoes are one of the few things I do not enjoy from the CSO. Sorry, don't mean to rain on your parade.

I'd go with the pulley system.

Would the correct serving ware be fingers?

What does a bridge mean in context?

After giving up my recent bread from lack of flour -- King Arthur organic all purpose -- I made it the next day to the local Shoprite. They recently rearranged the store and finding anything is an adventure. I asked at the office where to find King Arthur flour. This Shoprite has been carrying King Arthur organic all purpose flour for years and years. The clerk directed me to the baking isle. Indeed in the baking isle I found King Arthur flour but no organic all purpose. It used to be right next to the King Arthur non-organic all purpose. I went back to the office and asked again. I had left out the magic word "organic". With the new store arrangement organic flour is not with flour. Organic spices are not with spices. Organic products are in their own section. She went with me to look for the King Arthur. We did not find it. There was King Arthur organic whole wheat flour, and King Arthur organic sprouted wheat flour. But no King Arthur organic all purpose flour. She summoned someone responsible for the organic section and asked for King Arthur organic all purpose. He smiled and handed me a bag. I thanked him but pointed out the bag said "Hodgson Mill". He thought perhaps the King Arthur had been recalled. He added maybe he should order some King Arthur as a lot of people had been asking for it. I left the store with Hodgson Mill (at $5.99 for two pounds). Highway robbery but what else could I do? Amazon had same day delivery on several King Arthur products but the organic all purpose was two day at best ($1.17 per pound with subscribe and save). Back to my kitchen...I made up some ciabatta (Jeffrey Hamelman) and baked in the CSO. It was flatter and denser than normal. Almost impossible to chew. Not sure if it was the flour or one of a hundred other variables. Baked a second batch the other night for a shorter time. More eatable, if underdone, but still not good. I am not a happy camper.

I have been known to boil mushrooms for sauce allemande. Not all of us have a microwave.

My version uses lots of mushroom and no tomato.

Tonight a rare treat, fiddleheads... Blanched, shocked, and sautéed with garlic. Served with perfectly grilled rib lamb chop and ciabatta. Thankfully the lighting in the high end grocery was dim and I couldn't read the price per pound till I got home.

How did it turn out?

Not a spirit exactly but I do return my iSi of M.R. to the freezer between pours.

Last night's dinner... Chicken Marsala. The chicken is half of a locally raised Griggstown Quail Farm poussin.

My DLC-7 blade (singular) arrived today. I had requested two replacements as I have an additional blade and bowl for the DLC-7. I called Cuisinart. I was told they process only one replacement blade per processor. After a bit of exasperation and hold time the representative took my order for the second blade. Unfortunately I had no energy left to mention the slicing attachment that flew to bits, nor the rusting CSO rack.

My blueberries don't seem to mind heat. But if you actually want to eat any, rent a trained falcon to keep the feathered friends away.

Two for $5.00 locally tonight. Ask me about limes. Last I looked amazon had good prices on avocadoes and amazon's avocado quality has been excellent.

Blame @FrogPrincesse -- she's the one who turned me on to La Favorite.

I don't care for vodka personally. I keep vodka in the freezer for measuring freezer temperature...at 191.2 proof not something even I drink neat.

I sampled a few strawberries tonight on my balcony.

Under $100 either of those would be my choice,

I use a Wusthof also but I prefer the pointed tip serrated blade that does not appear among their current offerings. Sadly it did not cost $12 either but you couldn't pry it from my cold dead hands. When I went to start my bread tonight I found water, salt, and yeast. Not that I didn't make three trips to two different grocery stores yesterday.

This afternoon a kind friend gave me a ride to the market I seldom get to where I like to buy my meat. Among the beef offerings of prime cuts, including uncut dry aged strip, I spied the largest rib cuts I have ever seen, about 18 inches (0.46 meter) long. Not thin either. Granted much of the length was Frenched and merely bone. I was reminded of a boomerang But must make for a remarkable presentation in someone's kitchen. For what it's worth I did not come home with any beef. I bought a Berkshire pork rib chop, calling to my largest Falk skillet. Lamb rib chops. And a tiny poussin, which my friend was mistakenly convinced must really be a quail. But I must say the prime ribeye certainly looked lovely. Much more than slightly abundant marbling.