Margaret Pilgrim

Tangentially, my m-i-l used to make a delicious sweet potato salad. Using firm yellow sweet potatoes, mayo, dill and sweet pickles, sweet/red onion.

Husband likes sweet pickle included but it isn't classic.

I frequently leave out a bowl of potato salad, macaroni salad, sliced fruit that disappears between or instead of meals.

I finally learned the key to potato salad: tossing the still warm potatoes with a spoon or so of white vinegar before adding the mayo. Our style includes chopped dill pickles, sweet onion, fresh (or dried) dill weed, chopped hard boiled eggs.

Some years ago I broke down a goat for a barbeque in the country. This was a medium sized animal A neighbor had raised the goat, killed it and hung it but had no idea how to butcher it. Somehow I was elected. I just considered it a large lamb, breaking it into limbs and cage, then into smaller cuts for grilling. The main thing I remember is that it took a lot longer than we anticipated, like maybe 4 or 5 hours, with sit-down wine-breaks.

As suggested above, goat is a delicious and very approachable meat. And since it is often the prime protein of Muslim cultures, it is frequently Halal butchered. I.e., you go to the farm/ranch choose, making eye contact with the animal of your choice, and it is dispatched for you. Else, goat is available in Halal meat shops. The frozen goat parts I have bought in random butcher shops have been disappointing. Best wait for culturally authentic,

Sliced beefsteak tomatoes...and "Philly" cheese-steak sandwiches. (Griddled thinly sliced sirloin left rare, onions, provolone; pickles and jalapeno for me)

A gorgeous bowl! But how do you eat the corn? Pick up? Lots of paper napkins? Not served at dinner parties?

What is confounding on this and many specialty food threads (eg pizza) is that we each have in mind's eye a model we consider perfect, a goal. And they are each idiosyncratic. Like the original shaggy dog story.

Is THAT what much of this is about/

Thumbing through my ice cream file I came across this superb chocolate sherbet. It is that wonderful paradox of lean and luxurious. A great dinner party finale.

I'm interested in what appears to be a pierced spoon in weinoo's linked Dana Cree's ice cream tutorial. Anyone know this tool?

Ingenua Stagista Fiduciosa Ospite Chef Stelle

Sounds ike home Husband gets the heart while I "suffer" with the bone and cap. And we each think we're winners!

Blessfully foggy Sunday -> pasta e fagioli Split Blenheims with splat of Mexican crema

Should be divine with ma cheese course.

Agreed on all points.

I save large size Lipton's Ice Tea mix with the same intentions. Husband goes through a matched set during the summer.

How do you use your collection of Planters Peanuts jars?

These still work well for us. The key, for me, was to leave them in the freezer so that they are always at maximum chill. I don't have any issues using them, and altho instructions warn against doing so, I store small, i.e., pint, containers inside each so there is minimum lost freezer space.

Exactly. That's why it lives in the country, plugged in on a counter in the summer kitchen. I stopped lugging it around a few years ago but enjoy using it during fruit seasons.

We keep one of these beasts in the country. Weighs a ton, but works a charm. I bought it at a garage sale from a bitter ex-partner. $35.

Staying with machines that require a pre-frozen inner container, we have a mini-collection of Donviers. I keep three one quart inserts in the freezer. (I have bought these at garage sales and flea markets anytime they are under $5, and have given away probably half a dozen. I am really an advocate of these simple machines.) The Donvier is idiot proof as long as you make sure the freezing unit has been solidly frozen; 48 hours is good. Ice cream, sorbets, sweet and savory, all 20 minutes away from the idea, itch. Firm soft serve product that improves with an hour ripening in the freezer.

A scallop need not be breaded, vis a vis veal or chicken piccata…

Kind of like a high school reunion. Encounters both delightful and not so.