Jacksoup

@chefmd hope your travels are without problems and your father regains health

@liuzhou hope you're better soon and back to eating your normal fare. Thanks for posting this story, it's interesting to see some aspects of health care in another part of the world.

It's just my adult son and myself but I find my Costco membership worthwhile. I get gasoline, paper towels, toilet paper, chicken, salmon(both get frozen into smaller portions), wine and other booze. Their Kirkland vodka is $16.99 for the large bottle and since I'm not overly picky, it's fine. Also, bacon and Greek yogurt. Lately they've had a 2.25 lb bag of asparagus for $6.99.

This morning's pickage. Had to get out there before the high of 107F today. Some of the squash got very large but they're really growing fast in this warm weather. Also a lot of things don't get picked until I get here for the weekend.

@Shelby @ElainaA and @Okanagancook I absolutely agree about the sauce. I made it with yellow cherry tomatoes, froze some, served it to the boyfriend farmer in March. He loved it so much he planted 25 yellow cherry tomatoes this year. We'll probably never run out of it now!

A row of squash, zucchini, yellow crookneck and butternut. Then more basil. Various tomatos, mostly Roma and beefsteak. The yellow cherry tomatos have had a lot of growth. It's finally getting warm here.

Some basil about two weeks ago. I thought these looked weak, seemed like bugs were eating them, so the Italian boyfriend farmer graciously planted about 10 more. All are thriving now and we'll have plenty. Just some of the tomatoes too. The IB farmer planted 25 yellow cherry tomato plants because of a love for a roasted tomato sauce we had last summer. Perhaps he'll tire of it this year...

I enjoy walking into a clean kitchen in the morning and clean up as I go when cooking - as much as I can. But I'm easily distracted by the cooking process, so sometimes I'm just messy. I'm lucky in that the people I cook for are appreciative enough to do all the after meal cleanup.

@mm84321tell me how you cooked those abalone. I have six abs in my freezer and have only cooked them by pounding, breading in Ritz frackers and frying/sauteeing

I actually lived in Tucumcari when my dad worked for the old Southern Pacific railroad. At that time the town of approx 3000 had one stoplight on Route 66 which cut through the middle of town. As teenagers we 'dragged the strip', which means we had nothing to do so we drove back and forth on Route 66 every Friday and Saturday night. Now I believe the freeway bypasses the town. There's a railroad siding named after my dad somewhere south of Tucumcari.

I remember the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum from way too many years ago as a teen. I was very impressed with the outdoor animal displays and I believe some kind of otter display. My fading memory may not be accurate.

@Thanks for the CrepesThat's really interesting. In the middle of California, I can find pretty much any kind of lettuce. Haven't paid much attention to the price, but I did buy a big plastic tub of spring mix for $5.00 a couple of weeks ago. Actually couldn't eat it all before it wilted.

@suzilightning I have never heard of butter bean honey, Will you tell us about it?

@dcarch @Anna N Anna is correct, I don't watch entire shows on this TV. It's not a bad angle because I'm looking at it while standing up. Also it has a Pandora app, a lot of the use is for music

One addition to the kitchen. Finally found a utility cart at IKEA to house the CSO and Instant Pot. Now they're off the countertop and everything looks cleaner. I collect aprons as souvenirs and decided to hang them up behind the CSO. I know fire hazard. Will roll the cart out to use the CSO. Just got a new apron from Silver Oak winery in Napa this weekend. Some others are from Paris, London, Cinque Terre, Culinary Institute in Napa, Florence, Telluride and Salty's Restaurant in Seattle.

Biba has a restaurant in my city. She's had it for 31 years. http://biba-restaurant.com/about-biba She's usually in there every day. She had breast cancer a while go and I believe her public persona did lessen after that. I did see her in the restaurant a few months ago.

@andiesenji thank you! Then this must be my grandmother's skillet. My son ruined one of the two I had and I was never sure which was which. I also have two small 6.5 inch cast iron skillets but they are 'Wagner Ware'. Now I'm ambitious to clean up the aged beauty. Thanks again!

This photo may be better

@andiesenji this is not a thrift store find but am curious about this pan. I believe it was my mothers. Any info on the age of this would be appreciated. Hard to read but it says Wagner Sidney at the top and 8 on the lower part

pulled out a hunk of pork shoulder and made carnitas in the IP. My new freezer part of the new counter depth fridge is so small compared to the old freezer space, I'm considering getting a stand alone freezer as soon as I make space in the garage.

Used frozen Pesto with Pasta. Chicken breasts with Citrus. Started eating in front of the TV before I remembered to take a lousy picture

@Thanks for the Crepes I feel unbelievably lucky to be able to drive to Trader Joe's, Safeway, Whole Foods and Asian, Indian, Mexican and so many ethnic groceries. I need to go more often just to enjoy my luck. Trader Joe's is the only one I go to regularly because they have my favorite wine.

I was amazed at the big difference in wine prices between Toronto and my hometown. Of course I'm in Northern California where wine is plentiful, but the price was pretty much double. My lack of math skills did not allow me to truly calculate the actual difference. And I was in Toronto two years ago so it may be different now.

Pork tenderloin with pomegranate glaze, Pasta with Pesto. Broccoli with anchovies, garlic and chilies. The alliterative items, pork and pesto were from the freezer. My son's plate before and after. He and his gf did all the clean up and were pretty funny cuz they're tipsy.

Enabled once again. Bought The Glorious Pasta of Italy and the Jacques Pepin books.