gulfporter

Grilled blackened salmon. Pasta salad with cuke, green onion, tomato. Dressing was store-bought Cilantro-Avocado (in refrigerated section). Was a tad cloying, so I added juice of half of a robust lime and cracked black pepper.

Simple pasta with bacon, shallots, peas topped with parm.

@Nancy in Pátzcuaro I buy Presidente brie from Guadalajara Costco. It is soft, not a great rendition, but edible given no other brand available. I think yours may have dried out in store or in transport.

Duck breast with arugula salad with pearl couscous. I'm really in love with pearl couscous. Years ago I tried it (back then it was more commonly called Israeli couscous). I had mixed results as it was cooked like rice, measuring water so it would be absorbed. Now I boil in a lot of water (unmeasured), wait for it to get tender, then drain. Lots of chefs now doing the same with rice.

Splurged on wild-caught lump crab meat from Costco...highly recommend. It's $33 a tub, but we get 6 good sized servings out of one. I bought this tartar sauce at Safeway (grocery chain here in AZ) and must say it's quite good! The croissants are so buttery they charred quickly in the toaster, but tasted fine.

MXN camembert that I buy is quite nice. The ones I buy could not be grated. They are soft, maybe not as soft as the DOC camembert of France; though I can't fairly compare as I've only eaten the former for the past 15 years. To add another comparison, MXN manchego is soft, compared to the hard manchego of Spain. I eat and enjoy both of these regularly both in MX and in ESP.

It's made in MEX from goat milk. Not uncommon in Central Mexico.

I have had goat camembert in Mexico that was dry. Is yours from goat milk?

It's a cool and rainy day in Tucson (we went from 103 yesterday to 70 today). Good baking day! Blueberry sour cream pie.

Review of the GF puff pastry. AWFUL. No layers, no flake whatsoever! Can't say that was a surprise given the ingredients list. Oy!! On the plus side, I saved a lot of calories by not eating the crust. And my filling was good.

I pulled out from freezer some frozen grocery-store puff pastry sheets. To my surprise, they are Gluten-Free, an import from Italy. Mi esposo bought them months ago to replenish our freezer stock, unaware they weren't what I usually buy (Pepperidge Farm). My plan is to make them into turnovers (or square packets) filled with a mixture of cooked leftover chicken shreds, (well drained) spinach and cream cheese. The package shows 400 degrees baking temp; I find I have better luck with Pepperidge farm if I put (well-chilled) item into a 425 degree convection oven. Any advice on using this GF version of puff pastry versus the Pepperidge Farm brand?

Rack of lamb with pearl couscous salad.

Even though it's as hot as hades here in Tucson and I normally drink whites in warm weather, I am drinking red here almost exclusively. Reason: Ozempic makes white wine taste awful! It doesn't affect red, for me anyway.

Blackened salmon with mango salad.

My lazy sous chef (mi esposo) only microwaves corn on cob. It comes out perfect every time.