Thanks for the Crepes

The husband wanted to go check out Sea Depot, our local fish market, less than a mile from the house for dinner tonight. He got his usual NC catfish, sourced a few miles from our house in Cary's Bond Lake. They fry while you wait, but it's takeout only. I got a half pound of large, headless NC shrimp and a half peck NC oysters. I've been eyeing Shelby's oysters for a while now, and I just had to have some of my own. I boiled the shrimp in the shell very briefly. They were sweet and cooked just right. I opened a few oysters raw, which is becoming very challenging for my hand strength. So then I switched to steaming them in my stainless expandable basket in the same pot I cooked the shrimp in. Since I was just cooking them for myself, I only added three at a time. It only takes a bit over a minute to get them hot enough to open easily, and I think I'll start doing this even when I'm cooking for more people. I might use a larger diameter pot, but still only add them in a single layer. When you pile up cold oysters into a covered steamer pot, I think the lower ones overcook by the time the top ones are ready. They release more easily and the abductor muscles practically separate themselves from the shells instead of clinging for dear life like they do when raw. Cooked just briefly, the shells are scalding, but the interior oyster is only warm, and there's actually more oyster liquor than when raw. You just have to avoid overcooking because the liquor can leak out and the oyster shrink and harden. I really like this new method, and I'll be using it again. Just, don't try to microwave them as my brother suggested. It doesn't work at all except to ruin your oysters. Grilling oysters outdoors can be fun, especially for a large group, but I don't like the way they turn out as well as steaming in a single layer. Still miles better than trying to nuke them. I have 5 already cooked shrimp left for tomorrow and about a dozen and a half or so live oysters left for tomorrow. I ate the shrimp and oysters with only fresh squeezed lemon juice, no salt even needed. They had good slicing tomatoes at the seafood shop, and I had over half a large one of those too for a very satisfying dinner. I also snitched a few (okay 10) of the husband's tater tots (with permission). The day before, we had split pea soup that turned out really well along with olive oil/rosemary cornbread. I stuck with practically vegetarian on the soup, and really enjoyed the clean flavor. The only meat component was 3 Knorr Caldo de Res bouillon cubes. I added onion, and celery added along with the peas, and then carrot and jalapeno added about an hour or so into the cooking. My "secret" ingredient for split pea soup is a pinch of ground cloves, not enough to identify, and added toward the end. This was insanely good for such a cheap meal.

I would be overjoyed with irregulars of any of your beautiful creations, but especially the cherry-raspberry/marzipan ones. *swoon*

Welcome, tchefunkte! Your restaurant seems not to have a website, per se, but I ran across a photo on yelp of "country benedict" that looks right up my alley for breakfast. It seems to be a split good-looking biscuit, topped with tomato slices, sausage patties, poached eggs, and topped with maybe sausage white gravy? Is that what's going on with that dish? Is that even your resto at 340 N. Causeway Blvd.? Looks really good with nicely crispy, browned home fries. I'm looking forward to your participation here on eG most avidly. My paternal grandparents were from Springhill, LA, on Bodcau Bayou. Springhill proper is in Webster Parish, but I believe my grandparents' farm was in Bossier Parish. We were between Springhill and Plain Dealing, out in the sticks, which is where I'd love to be right now.

My favorite and I think only addition to the kitchen equipment this year was very humble compared to everyone else's. It was a Faberware Pro slotted nylon turner in red, most likely discontinued. It's sort of similar to the one in the following link, but differs in that mine has a smaller chrome/stainless nameplate in the center of the handle and also includes a chrome/stainless cap on the end of the handle that completely covers the hanging hole too. I couldn't find one exactly like it pictured online, but this one is close, except I can't tell from the picture on Amazon if it's offset. Mine definitely is. I found it for $2.99 at Ollie's outlet, which is a discount outlet like Big Lot's. It was replacing a 99 cent one I got at a dollar store that was branded Betty Crocker, but Betty would roll in her grave over that one because every time I would use it in a non-stick pan at low temp like for eggs, the material would melt. I also have two good Kitchen Aid spatula/turners, but they live in a cabinet in the dining room part of the kitchen because the handles are too fat to play nice with the other essential untensils kept by the stove in a copper saucier. They're also pretty inflexible, but because of this they get pulled out for lifting big twice-baked potatoes to plates after the final bake, because the handier ones bend under the weight. So nothing expensive or earthshaking to most people, but I love my new Faberware turner .

liuzhou, For next time you get hold of fresh quail, Joy of Cooking has a recipe for whole ones that are first marinated in soy, garlic, vinegar, five spice, chili paste, salt, pepper, and maple syrup, but you could substitute another more easily available sweetener. You marinate 4-8 hours, then preheat oven to 475 F. Drain quail, reserving marinade. Place quail on rack in roaster. Roast 10 min. then reduce oven to 375 F. Roast about 10 min. more, basting twice with marinade until juices from thigh run slightly pink and flesh is still moist. Remove from oven, tent with foil for five minutes and serve. I've not made the recipe, but have had good results with every Joy recipe for meat and poultry, and everything else I have tried, which is a lot. I wish I could get some. Here, they are not very available unless you know someone who hunts them.

Hi gulfporter, One of my aunts raised rabbits, and we all helped butcher them and shared them among the extended family when I lived with my grandma and grandpa. There were always some in the deep freeze, and they most frequently made an appearance at breakfast fried like chicken. We were feeding a dozen or more people, and usually only cooked one large skillet of rabbit, probably 1-1/2 of the small one like yours. There were also eggs from the resident chickens, ducks or geese, fried potatoes, or grits, or my grandpa's flapjacks with Steen's cane syrup, grandma's biscuits and other meats, along with fruit or sliced tomatoes from the garden. To feed three people for a holiday meal, I also think some more sides are called for. Chris Taylor's grilled veggie idea is low carb, and I can testify that it's very delicious as a side to grilled meat. I cook with charcoal now, which goes to waste just searing a steak on it unless you cook more courses on it, so I almost always include grilled veggies too. All or some of these would be good, depending on what's available and what you like: onion, zucchini, eggplant, tomato, peppers and mushrooms. I coat with a little olive oil before grilling and then just season with kosher salt. A nice bakery bread, for your guest gets you out of making a carby side, and you can just send the leftovers home with your guest as a gift if you want it out of temptation's way. Whatever you make, I'm sure your neighbor will be very grateful for your kindness, and I hope you have very happy holidays.

The donor in the above video looks like the one our local Turkish restaurant does every Sunday on their vertical rotisserie. It is not just ground meat.

I was just going to cook up the bulgur with some broth and serve it hot as a side dish like our local excellent Turkish restaurant does. I like the coarse texture. Yes, our little store carries quite a range of spices by Sadaf. I need to carry a notepad with me next time so I can research some of the stuff next time and go back and buy it later with some idea of how to use it. I was intrigued by an herbal dried mix of parsley, cilantro and something else I'd never heard of. I love tart flavor, so I'm certain I can find good uses for my citric acid. Salad dressing? At any rate it's a new ingredient to play with, and I delight in that. Old Tuscon sounds like a fun place to spend the day, and the BBQ looks mouthwatering. Thanks for taking the time to share the experience with us.

I, too would love to hear ideas about the dried limes. I was in the local Mediterranean (such a bear to spell for me) grocery yesterday and ran across many of the same items depicted in Smithy's post, including those little dried citrus, only I thought the ones I saw were lemons. I picked up extra course bulgur. They offer at least five different grinds from extra fine to the extra course I got. I also got Sadaf brand "unpelted" wheat for sprouting, and am looking forward to that experiment, as well as soaking it for inclusion in breads because it looks like wheat berries to me. They also have home-baked lovely breads. Last time I got a great version of pide that was pointed on both ends. It's leavened with yeast, as is the "Family Bread" I picked up yesterday which printed out on the receipt as "lavash". I looked up "lavash" on Google, and it seems to be usually unleavened, but the version I have is round, a weench over 12" in diameter and contains flour, water, salt, yeast and calcium proprionate. Not real crazy about the last ingredient, but the bread is fantastic. There are four pieces in the 17 oz. package, so it's pretty thin. Like really, really good flour tortillas on steroids. I also got some Sadaf citric acid just because I could. Now I have to figure out what to do with that.

@Shelby Don't you frequently get fresh quail brought in by your hunter husband? Maybe you could give liuzhou some pointers? I love the little birdies, but have only had them in a few restaurants and once, wild harvested by a hunter, cooked very well by someone else, and all of that was years ago. @liuzhou Your photo looks different than the fresh quail I have experience with. Are they smoked; otherwise preserved in some way?

Jaymes, I've not cooked with butane, but the propane canisters for my Coleman stove and lantern don't last long at all. They are very expensive to cook and light with, but during a power outage, I'm so grateful to have them, and always keep them stocked. Once an emergency hits, fuel canisters, batteries, candles and almost everything pertinent disappears from the shelves in no time. Weirdly, most folks who probably do not cook at home often, which they are now forced into doing, don't go for the paper plates and plastic tableware which will be critical to comfort and survival without hot water, so usually you have a while to scarf these up, but I keep an emergency stock of those too. At one point during Hurricane Fran in 96 my brother, who lived three miles away and had had power for a week when we still didn't said to me, "At least you can look forward to a low power bill." I told him I'd just today spent over $200 on ice, propane, charcoal, batteries and candles, after a new supply began flowing in after a dearth and many folks had power already. I'm still hot for the Asian cook stove, but I suspect it will not be that cheap to operate. I could be wrong, and hope I am. Also it might be challenging to use the model you posted outside. Those wind shield wings that come around the sides and lock in on the Coleman propane stove are critical for operation in even a gentle wind.

I have seen inexpensive gas burning free-standing burners in my local Asian store, and now I have a good excuse to get one. We are frequently plagued by extended power outages here from hurricanes and ice storms, and that would be another option if the generator failed. So one is on my agenda. I have a glazed clay liner in crockpot from the 80's that I use to this day to cook dry beans, pot roasts, and such. It has been a workhorse and shows no signs of degradation. The heat on it is electric but very gentle and slow. I've never owned a clay comal or olla, but I've owned supposedly ovenproof stoneware dishes, and still have a few, but I don't use them in the oven because they are just not really oven proof. I had more than one meal spoiled by fired and glazed stoneware shattering in the oven. People used to cook in watertight baskets and animal skulls with hot stones from the fire added until the contents boiled. Then animal bladders or leather pouches suspended over a fire, and the liquid would keep the tissue from burning outright, but I can certainly imagine that the heat eventually took its toll. Then we moved on to unglazed, unfired clay vessels nestled in the coals. The idea of unglazed or glazed clay cookware is certainly romantic, and I can feel myself drawn into the appeal. I just don't want to go through the experience of putting real money in ingredients and real effort into meal prep to have the results explode and be ruined, and have nothing in return for my efforts but a huge mess to clean up. Call me crazy. I'm sticking with my trusty old crock and thick tri-ply stainless cookware.

@sartoric huiray has a great idea. The Dinner topic is great for ideas and lovely food porn, but it can be very difficult to find something you know is there later because it is so huge and varied in content. That is, of course, what makes it so great, but frustrating to search. Your pork belly treatment looks pretty epic, and for those of us with access to an Asian butcher that carries both whole and sliced pork belly, it would be great to go to the pork belly cook-off topic to find the recipe. I and others may well want to use it later.

Thanks for taking us back to the Babylon Market and on the rest of your adventures, Smithy. Could the mystery pink ingredient be pickled turnip colored with beet?

That looks really tasty, but it looks like about 20 bites to me. Maybe perspective and a teeny fingerling used? I dunno? Also my one attempt at hassleback was from raw, well-oiled, but turned out very dry. I followed a recipe, but in the future, I'd par-cook. Did you?

That's a very nice loaf, Anna, and I crave a slice (or half the loaf) untoasted with just some good butter.

This reminded me of a manually operated machine I saw to help you shuck oysters, but while the one liuzhou posted seems poorly designed, the one in this video seems a lot better, but probably a lot more expensive. Again it has the what I consider perfect design on the blade part. Short, not sharp, curved longitdudinally with hooked tip curving toward the concave side, and with plenty of torque. My $5 knives work fine for me, but for commercial applications or older folks whose hand strength is gone with the wind, it might be worth seeking out.

Smithy, Sorry about your pizza stone. May it rest in peace. That prime prime rib is a thing of beauty that I am guilty of coveting. I think you did it justice with your sides. That is the kind of meal where one is in jeopardy of hurting oneself from the deliciousness. "...Pretty good sandwiches..."? I would give a lot to have one on your homemade bread right now! Do you happen to know what those birds in your amazing stop-action photo are? Thanks for sharing your adventures with us, and I hope you are having a great time in spite of sometimes uncooperative weather.

A modest ramen shop in Tokyo, Tsuta, recently earned a Michelin Star. http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2015/12/02/tokyos-tsuta-becomes-first-ramen-eatery-to-earn-a-michelin-star/ Tokyo got more stars than any other city and has done so for the past nine years. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/lifestyle/noodle-restaurant-wins/2309288.html

I can't contribute to the knowledge of Jewish kosher observation, but a starter of tempura fried or grilled fin fish and vegetables might be safe and delicious. You could use mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, firm tomatoes, asparagus, peppers, or onion with either treatment, and green beans are very good tempura style. If I didn't know these people well, and wasn't (I'm not) up on orthodox Jewish cooking practices, I would ask my guests, and maybe wind up taking them to a kosher deli or something. I do know that at they very least they keep separate pots, pans, utensils to separate dairy and meat. I don't think they would really appreciate eating anything from my pots, and dishes that have been used for everything from clam chowder with bacon to frying catfish. Hmmm.

Smithy, I tried the buerre manie technique for thickening a sauce years ago, and at this point, I can't recall the recipe or the source. Many respected sources recommend it, but like you, I found it lacking and never tried it again. There are probably folks on here who use buerre manie regularly and can tell you how to use it successfully, but I can tell you how to adapt a sauce that calls for it in a way that works better, at least for me. I really disliked the raw flour taste. I like the method where you melt the butter, soften your onion/shallot if using until most of the water is gone, then add flour and stir around until it's smooth and bubbly. Let it go a bit at this point until you get the brown you want on the butter and flour. I like it pretty pretty toasty because it brings the browned butter and nutty flour flavor to the sauce, but if you're shooting for a very white sauce, you cook it less. Then I take it off the heat and add the cold liquid. I've made it with just milk, just stock, and a combination of both, but I see no reason it wouldn't work with just wine. Then you stir constantly (I use medium high heat) until the mixture thickens and boils. Reduce heat and continue to simmer and stir for about a minute. I've never had lumps, but I do stir pretty constantly. If you have to leave it, you can get away with a few seconds, and it helps to set it off heat, but do not walk away. This is one of the places where I measure everything carefully. The standard proportions are for 1 cup liquid and the equal portions for flour and butter are: thin (cream soups) 1 T, medium 2 T, thick (souffles) 3 T. I've also used a slurry of cornstarch and cold water, or cornstarch and soy sauce, wine, and/or vinegar into a simmering sauce for thickening, and that works well. The cooking all in one pan also eliminates extra dishes to clean from working the flour into the butter. I've just never seen a reason to pursue buerre manie, but I'll look forward to learning more about it. Maybe I'm missing something.

I played the 1969 movie "Alice's Restaurant" on my computer while we ate Thanksgiving dinner. Later, my brother asked me to find the song on YouTube. PBS was airing a 50-year anniversay of "Alice's Restaurant" concert, but I chose not watch it. I didn't want to see Arlo again at his advanced age because I thought it would be a bummer, and just remind everyone how old we all were.

Everyone does it into boiling water, because that's what the instructions on the package and every recipe I've ever read say. I'm definitely trying your cold water method next time I cook up some of this 4 pound batch of grits I'm working through because it lumps worse than anything I've ever experienced. Thanks for this idea! Edit: It makes sense to me, because when you make a slurry of cold water with corn starch to stir in to thicken a sauce, it works great and never lumps.

It's interesting to see what architects and designers think is the ultimate kitchen, but it would make me miserable. It looks like a hospital or prison kitchen with amped up appliances. I guarantee that this panel of judges would equally despise my country kitch kitchen. It has real natural wood cabinets with antiqued brass pulls. There are four small framed prints of vegatables, a painted wooden apple clock, a wooden apple cheeseboard, and a painted wooden cutout basket of apples, complete with copper molds of fish (2 different designs), a lobster, a heart and a rooster hung on the walls. There are two ceiling fans on opposite ends of the room and plants on the window sill above the double sink. Also hung at that window is one of those crystal prisms suspended on fishing line from the curtain rod and it splashes multi-colored light all over when the sun hits it right. There's a baker's rack, large old-fashioned copper and stainless cookie cutters hung on the wall in the dining room end. It's where our largest TV is, an electric fireplace and both our computers. Also in the dining room is a very large original oil painting of a horse's head, a medium framed needlepoint of a horse's head my sister made and gave me one birthday years ago and a framed photo of her, my brother and me at her wedding. Heaven to me, and 180 degrees from the award winner, but we're all different, and I hope they enjoy their kitchen as much as I do mine. Just writing this description has really made me appreciate what I have more, and remind myself to quit carping about what I don't have.