Margaret Pilgrim

Celery soup, either from just stalk celery or by combining with celery root, is fabulous. With it's elegant and elusive flavor, it is always a hit at dinners. It can be served hot or cold, in bowls or cups.

FWIW, chuck eye is marketed as Denver steak where I live and is PRICEY. Note, over $25.lb here.

Am reminded of one of my first jobs. During my afternoon coffee break, I would go to a nearby butcher shop to buy meat for dinner. My boss found out and asked me to shop for her at the same time. "A filet mignon, ground fresh." For maybe 6 months my butcher complied. Then one day he said, "NO! I will not grind up a beautiful piece of beef. I will grind round and you can tell her or not." Well, I had to either tell her or keep the substantial change. She was chagrined at first but admitted that it was jut as good, maybe a little tastier!

Amen, Sister.

Vaguely on subject, we stopped at a rather fancy roadside stand this afternoon. $4.95 for a large eggplant! I always buy small eggplant which I think have a larger proportion of firm meat to yuck. Also, $2.75 for a fist sized green tomato. $1/lb watermelon. But this guy must understand his clientele but it ain't us. We drove on.

My previous dry milk experience has mirrored Paul's and Anna's. I remember mixing up some to give a visiting semi-feral cat who loved a bowl of warm milk. She sniffed it, arched her back and retreated. Fast forward 10 years, reading Paul's ice cream recs, I bought a bag at our village country store. The only thing they had was IGA's house brand. I found it's amazingly fresh tasting. The only drawback was that this store only had a large (and expensive) bag. I split it between town and country and keep it in the freezer to prevent degradation. Would buy Essential Everyday Dry Milk again.

Different strokes. I much prefer the dial to buttons. BTW, the MSP is $269. We paid less as a restaurant supply store. The $4000 quoted above is for an entirely different model.

No, something much less impressive. Will have to ask. But it was so simple, like this one, only a dial, few gismos to go off kilter. Confession: I hate smart appliances that I have to neuter in order to do simple things. As I wrote on another thread, when we wanted to replace a fancy but failing car radio, the salesman chatted up husband,then would turn to me, "the little woman", and ask my opinion, and I blew him away with, "Off, on and no static." It didn't compute in his world. This has become our mantra, and it is increasingly impossible to find. Simple, straightforward, few gimmicks or bells and whistles to go astray. I don't want to have to see if the food I'm trying to reheat is (even) listed on their menu. OFF, ON AND NO STATIC!

I want to move in. I'm relatively agile, a neatnik around the house, already love your kidnik, and am 1/4 Baden Baden German.

I can understand that, but this guy is such a hassle free helper. I have spent many hours in friends and relatives houses where they asked me to nuke something and i needed a 747 pilot's license to heat a cup of soup. This little machine is effortless and will be passed on to my descendants. We're easy on our stuff. Our last microwave was preemptively replaced after 40 years. It most probably had a few more huffs in it but when we found this new on, we gave him early retirement.

If you are willing to minimally think when you use your microwave, I repeat our satisfaction with Panosonic commercial microwave, designed to work for the lowest common denominator, break rooms, gas station quick stop hot food counters, anyplace where the unaware need to quickly heat up a snack. IT's super powerful, takes only a few minutes for frozen meals, less to reheat a leftover. Only a dial, no buttons. We've had it over a year and simply love it.

My problem is that I am the only "appreciater" in the house. Which means that I am the one who inhales the entire portion. Did I say Inhale?

Salad/starter concept: sliced beets, shards of smoked trout, creme fraiche with kiss of horseradish.

Bravo! More, please.

Same here. Nor do I use butter. Never dropped an ear of corn yet.

The middle is basically what we are using for grocery storage. Sorted by category: beans, pasta, rice, tomatoes, jarred sauces, fruit, etc. Easy pull out.

I love okra but only small pods. i cherry pick 2.5" maximum length pods. (Moosh in olive oil, salt and pepper and scorch in cast iron. Lovely!)

Leave a liter glass bottle of Perrier in the freezer overnight. Fortunately, the contents more or less maintained the shape of the bottle albeit larger. Not too much broken glass scattered in the bin, which was possibly due for a thorough cleaning anyway, DUMB!

I love this book.

Our similarly dedicated room is roughly 10 x 12, 10 foot ceilings. It was a breakfast room until recently when we moved the freezer up form the basement, as well as backstock groceries. Plus a cookbook wall. Small immediate wine storage. Small cupboard of surplus china. And my exercise bike. it cost us nothing. A three shelf rack was brought up from the basement for the groceries. It's not chic but it is totally functional. And we are the only ones to visit it except for a few envious guests.

Yes

Puerco, pollo, queso

Handmade tamales (bought in Home Depot parking lot). I made extra sauce of simmered chopped onion, tomato, chili powder, cumin, pureed with immersion blender. Salvadorean sour cream. $13/6 Son joined us for this excellent first night in the country dinner. Too eager to tuck in to these to take plated pic. Thanks to the mama who made these.

Do you. Do table d”hote? Or overnight shipping? Or looking to adopt a youthful senior?

"Ersatz" seems more nuanced than faux or pseudo.