JoNorvelleWalker

Very attractive. How large is it? I assume it is lighter than a cleaver?

Weird but many thanks.

Lovely!

What happened was I received an email that my knife was out for delivery. I waited (pretty much) patiently near the door with a note to UPS on said door to the effect that someone was home and to please make a lot of noise. Long about 4:30 pm I received an email that my knife had been delivered to my front door. I went downstairs and searched around outside to find my knife misdelivered to the wrong address. Mildly annoying. Much worse, the UPS driver did not pick up the USB microscope I was returning to amazon, as mentioned on another knife thread: https://forums.egullet.org/topic/97818-chefs-choice-vs-prof-knife-sharpening/?do=findComment&comment=2356001 I don't have a vehicle and the microscope is too bulky for me to carry to a UPS pickup location. Normally I am a cheerful and forgiving person but I lost it with the UPS digital assistant, who should be waterboarded, unplugged and shot.* Once I reached an actual UPS human I was of course not rude but I am left in a most unpleasant frame of mind by the incident. They put little street numbers on UPS shipping labels for a reason. Worse still, in these days of war and famine, pestilence and death, I am left feeling ashamed and petty. Which is what my new knife was. *In that order

I got a new knife today. UPS delivered it to the wrong address. I am very out of sorts. And amazon does not sell sorts.

Peanut butter and a spoon often make a quick meal for me, though for dinner I require something fancy. Last night was frozen battered fish on the same baking sheet as Alexia frozen French fries. Ordinarily I would slice some cabbage leaves for coleslaw -- but that would not make, for purposes of this discussion, a quick meal. Once I finish off my mai tai, tonight's dinner is expected to be a Black Bear* hotdog with further Alexia fries. And yes, with my battery of knives and cutting boards I prepared a proper coleslaw. So tonight's dinner does not fully qualify as a quick meal. *No black bear have been sighted in these parts for at least a couple days. Although I have no doubt black bear are most delicious. And I am sure they think the same of me.

Our manager looked into it and the Pinhais sardine factory is thirty minutes from her family home in Porto. I hope I can convince her to try a tin. I am already plotting my next order of Pinhais. Speaking of preserved protein from Porto, I read that Porto is lending Brazil the heart of Emperor Pedro I in formaldehyde for twenty days. In his will Pedro bequeathed his heart to the good people of Porto. It is their prized possession.

@PatrickT I agree with your description of over kneaded dough. Matches the photographs of weeping, stringy, over mixed dough in Modernist Bread. Over mixed is not to be confused with over proofed. But if I may ask, how did you achieve this in the Ankarsrum?

Thanks @cdh. I have the hardbound edition, but when it's buried under Modernist Bread it will be nice to have it on kindle.

I'm thinking I might cook it sous vide for a couple days to see what happens.

Worse, I have another whole steak left from the package. And the dentist's office is closed today.

I finished the horrid rib steak I'd cooked two night's ago. https://forums.egullet.org/topic/163549-dinner-2022/?do=findComment&comment=2355875 Trying to masticate it into submission I pulled out a crown. One of the more expensive steaks I've had in some years.

Our manager at the library where I work is Portuguese. I asked her how to pronounce Pinhais. She explained to my Bolivian Spanish speaking boss who overheard and wandered over that the "nh" sound was "like the little squiggle that you use". Pinhais evidently means a pine forest. Not the first thing that comes to mind when shopping for sardines. She said she remembered her father often saying he was going for a walk in the pinhais. She added -- for the benefit of anyone not from New Jersey -- it's like the pine barrens. Then she ran to check the sardine stash in her office. All she found was King Oscar from Morocco. "I guess I'm not a very good Portuguese."

The current issue of National Geographic History has an article on Dante Alighieri and unsalted bread. At least it touches on the topic of unsalted bread. I can't stand unsalted bread myself but I far prefer it to overly salted bread...there is special circle of hell.

You are brave or trashed. I've read the book. I'd worry most about making a mess out of my priceless Zojirushi. Speaking as someone who once managed to make a mess of her donabe.

There was still some sea salt left but I haven't found it for a couple years.

Thinking about it, I never add salt to rice or wild rice, except perhaps when making risotto or paella. Nor do I add salt when cooking green vegetables, as best I can recall. My bread is typically half as salty as called for by the recipe. Always I liberally salt meat before cooking, as I do Rancho Gordo beans, and I'm not ashamed to put salt on salted nuts. I've been known to eat salt out of the container as my granddaughter would sugar.

I had a big bag of sea salt until I spilled it.

No, just right. But then again, I used Pinhais sardines and Ortiz anchovies. No added salt except the pasta water.

Last night, spaghetti* con le sarde from Chris McDade's The Magic of Tinned Fish (pp 61-62). At first bite it was the most delicious pasta of my life. When finally I finished what was supposed to have served two people I felt I might be ill. It was 2:00 am. If you want a picture buy the book. *actually bucatini, because bucatini was what I had. Besides, from what I've googled, bucatini is more traditional for the dish.

Not to mention the Pinhais labels alone are worth the asking price.

As a precaution I moved all the open bags of pasta (that I could find) from the living room to the bedroom.

Bearnaise I can make. Not sure about the rest of it. Beautiful meal. These days I can't even cook a steak.

I should not disparage other people's culinary combinations.

I plan to try an atmosphere of CO2. Baring that, I could take a bite out of each loaf as they are baked.