MokaPot

No, not a lot of fat in my soup. I thought about dropping the bay leaves at the very beginning, along with the oil & onions, but didn't want an overpowering bay leaf flavor. Next time, I'll drop the leaves in with the oil & onions. Thank you for the idea! Good point about California vs. Turkish. I wasn't expecting the Turkish bay leaves to be like the California ones. When I visited Muir Woods (northern California), there were tons of bay trees / leaves there. IIRC, smelled like eucalyptus. Supposedly, the Turkish are supposed to be better than the CA, so that's why I got them.

Yeah, I would have thought the spicy chili crisp would have really enhanced the dish. I've been on a spicy chili crisp (Laoganma) kick lately.

Hi Guys: recently got some dried Turkish bay leaves from Penzeys. The leaves did have a nice fragrance, not strong, though. Made some split pea soup (yield was approx. 2 quarts or 2 liters). After cooking the onions, added four bay leaves (2 huge and 2 small). Soup did simmer for a while. No harm done by the bay leaves, but no detectable bay leaf flavor. How many / much bay leaves are you supposed to add? Also, looking for advice on what other things to put bay leaves in. I mostly eat vegetarian food. Thank you!

@shain, that actually looks pretty darn good. I was at a sushi bar and the sushi chef made us sushi (nori & rice) with some ice cream in it. IIRC, it was gunkan style (like how uni is usually served). It was surprisingly good.

@TdeV, I don't really have that many recipes. I was interested in OCR for work as well as recipes, haha. All my recipes are in Word (which makes it easy for me to add notes & alter). The Word documents are in different folders that make sense to me, personally. E.g.: one-pot dishes (like chili) salads salad dressings breakfast No sub-folders. (Like I said, my recipes are very few.) For searching, I use the Finder app in Mac. (For Windows, the finder app is called "Windows Explorer" (different from "Internet Explorer").) I just did an experiment on my work files (more extensive than my recipes). I think that you could type in (on the search bar) "butternut squash goat cheese ground lamb pasta" and find recipes that way. I used to bookmark recipes on my browsers, which isn't great if they change the URL or take it down from the internet.

Thanks, @TdeV. What OCR software do you use? My paper scanner will create a "searchable PDF." But I'm looking for something that will convert a non-readable PDF document into a readable PDF. I.e., I don't want to have to print out something and scan it in order to create something readable. (Hope that made sense.)

Are you guys talking about recipes you've written yourself? I write down all my recipes in Microsoft Word (for Mac). Supposedly, one of the most stable / reliable formats is PDF (e.g., Adobe Acrobat). If you're wanting to save recipes from the internet, you could "print" the page and then "save as PDF." You'd then have a document that's stable and word-searchable. You could also do screen shots, but I don't think you can copy / search for words on screen shots. Organization would be a whole other topic.

Here's a 3-pack (eBay US), $14.45 + $18.00 shipping from Japan to U.S. https://www.ebay.com/itm/3-Pack-KOKUBO-84-Grids-Mini-Ice-Cube-Tray-Mold-with-Lid-made-in-Japan-Kitchen/253057849548?epid=1954325963&hash=item3aeb6c58cc:g:9hQAAOSwgDRZcvPT

@Tony Mak, not sure how long it takes now. You can email them, though. I had a couple of questions before I ordered & they were responsive.

I'm guessing Mazola was trying to compete with Crisco and remind people that you could fry chicken, etc., in Mazola. IMO, it's probably the same product.

That's what that loaf of French bread (in the recipe) is for.

@Tony Mak, I'm happy with the quality, considering the price. Here's the back of the plate (rectangular shape):

I had good experiences ordering from Miya Company: https://www.miyacompany.com/ IIRC, they shipped from New Jersey, US. The items (dishes) I bought were made in Japan (according to the stamp on the back).

I don't see any reason why you can't use something else (besides the oyster shells). Actually, the shells can be a PITA in that they can be irregularly-shaped, can tip over to one side, juices spill out, etc. IMO, no problem cooking them in the oven. The souffle cups would be good for "presentation."

Looks really good. Is that kabocha pumpkin squash?

Thanks, @scamhi. I use canned beans a lot, but for some reason the canned white beans are always mushy and busted-up. Even the Bush's brand, which is normally good, IMO.

@scamhi, your salad looks absolutely delicious. What kind of white beans are those? If they're canned, can you say what type of bean / brand. If you made them from dry, I'd be interested to know where you got them from (type of bean / brand). Thank you!

I'll have to try Dave's killer bread. I don't buy that much meat, either. So I can probably splurge on this.

Viennetta always looked classy to me. Let us know, @Kim Shook, if the "formula" is the same as it was in the '90s.

This (from Penzeys) is a huge amount of Turkish bay leaves for not that much money. I can't understand why they're (bay leaves are) so expensive at the grocery store. My smoked Spanish paprika smells so darn good. Can't wait to use it.

These chocolate-covered ("fudge") Oreos are pretty good. They don't give you very many in one box, only 12. I eat them frozen.

Thanks so much, @Dejah. Love handwritten recipes like this!

@Dejah, your food looks great. Have you ever posted your recipe for hot and sour soup? Thank you!

I think the point is to use as little ice as possible unless you've got some concentrated flavors in there that could use some watering down. In the past, I've used a frozen berry mix, no bananas. Yes on the yogurt. I think I added some whole milk as well. Really good. I think it was this berry mix that I used (has seeds, though):

I don't have a blast freezer, but my bananas do well in my regular kitchen freezer (don't become brown liquid). You can use frozen bananas in place of ice cubes when making smoothies. The only problem is that the banana flavor really overtakes all other flavors, IMO. But, the banana does give your smoothie a thick texture.