MaryIsobel

Too bad - my sister is in Duncan for a few days - I could have sent some with her for you.

I'm surprised at your comment about corn. We had our first local corn a couple of days ago. How early is it ready in Ontario? Chilliwack corn is pretty famous around here and different varieties are ready at different times. Right now it's Jubilee, later will be the bi-colour.

A lot of impressive firsts! I was always interested in cooking and when received a children's cookbook from someone, I proceeded to work my way through it. I was about 6 and made lunch for the family - I think I was bread with process cheese and weiner coins, melted under the broiler.... I haven't been afraid to try new things and did my first "dinner party" for 8 when I was about 18. Lasagna and garlic bread and salad. I guess my big first was when never having made much more than basic layer cake, I decided that I was capable of doing a 3 tier, filled, frosted and decorated cake for my friend's wedding. It turned out surprisingly well but made me realize that I would never be able to bake cakes like that for money! I think all in all it took me the better part of 3 days!

That is my logic. I spend at least an hour and a couple of hundred dollars at Costco, so bringing home the already cooked chickie is a habit that I've adopted.

Plain digestives and sharp cheddar are a very good match in my world.

Now that's a picture worthy onion!!

I'll have to try pork tenderloin done that way.

Those are adorable! Hopefully the cheese, lettuce and tomato are not fondant, maybe white chocolate?

Definitely sounds like a winning combination!

I can find them infrequently. Last time I found the passionfruit, I stocked up.

I'll bet that apricot curd would be lovely. Apricots here are not quite ready yet but in a month they'll be at their best so I will give it a go and report back. I made passionfruit curd once and it was really scrumptious but the puree is hard to find here, the fruits themselves almost impossible. I would like to experiment with a litttle curd and see how it freezes. The recipe for strawberry curd looks good too. Making and bunch of fresh fruit curd and being able to freeze it would make dessert making pretty simple. ETA: my initital search indicates that curd can indeed be frozen.

Perhaps at one point but I'm sure they are moving toward wood/bamboo now. I haven't had one for decades.

Yes, that's brilliant.

This thread entertained me for quite some time yesterday. I don't hink I have much to offer other than I cannot eat a forkful of cooked peas all by themselves. It's the texture. I don't mind them in things and I can eat my weight in fresh, raw peas. My other thing isn't actually food but I cannot stand wood touching my teeth. Toothpicks, popsicle sticks, skewers or those little wooden spoons that one used to get with Dixie Cups. (In my part of the world dixie cups are small cups that hold maybe 1/2 a cup of ice cream and came with a wooden spoon/paddle attached to the top.)

Boston Baked Beans and Chicken Bones were my Dad's favourite candies. In his twilight years, my sisters and I went to great lengths to make sure he always had both. Chicken Bones: https://www.idahospud.com/products/oldfashbagchickenbones4oz#: When he once reminisced about toasted coconut covered marshmallows, I learned to make them from scratch and those were my go-to gift for him for every occasion. Funny story, just after my Mom died and Dad still lived independently in a gated seniors community, he was outnumbered by women and thus had a lot of female friends. He passed his marshmallows around and bragged that his daughter had made them. He called me and said "the ladies want to learn how to make marshmallows, will you teach them?" I said I would but as soon as they learned there was a thermometer involved they said they would rather just buy them from me. At the time I had a full time job, a one hour commute twice a day and two teenagers who were in several activities. I told Dad I would have to charge 100.00 a pound, so the idea was dropped. I continued to make them for Dad until his last days.

My kind of dinner! Or breakfast or lunch for that matter, it looks scrumptious.

My husband is an early riser (5-6 am) while I usually show my face between 7 and 8. He makes himself cereal and fruit or heated up leftovers or occasionally an egg/cheese sandwich. My break the fast meal is usually closer to 11 and by that time, I have whatever I feel like, often not a typical breakfast meal. He is kind enough to make sure that there is an espresso for me within 5 minutes of waking. Works for us.

Olive, your meals and your photography are both mouth-watering.

That may be the most perfectly roasted marshmallow that I have ever seen! My kids were always too impatient, their MO was burn it, eat the burnt part, burn it again and repeat.

That looks like a perfect summer dinner. I don't have access to NYT recipes but seems like something I could cobble together. Thank you.

We are fortunate enough to have a multi generational butcher/ sausage place nearby. They are so accomodating, We buy a couple of pounds of their fabulous bacon a few times a year. They always ask how many strips do you want (vacuum packed) in each package. One time my husband jokingly said "one" and had to convince the woman he wasn't serious. It's a great service and smart marketing because if you're there anyway, why not buy more since it is so well packaged?

Our long ago neighbours used to give us a couple of bottles of their homemade blackberry liquer every year around Christmas because my husband always shoveled their driveway for them. It was more like blackberry syrup - undrinkable to me. One year they brought it over a couple of days before Christmas so I put it at the back of the fridge, thinking maybe I could mix it with soda or something. Kind of forgot about it and with all the Christmas food being put in the fridge, it got shoved to the back and one of the bottle's lids came off. Everything in the fridge was crazy-glued to the shelves. I actually broke the bottom of a Mason jar trying to unstick it. It took me a good 4 hours to clean it; blow dryer, scraper, scrubbie, steel wool and a whole lot of bad words!

Amazing! I have very serious market envy and as usual, your photos are fabulous.

That type of fridge incident makes me want to "move out in the middle of the night!" Maybe coffee is not too bad but in my fridge, it is always the sticky stuff that spills...

I finish a lot of things with some type of briny solution or an acid. It's the finishing touch that a lot of things need in MHO. I just saw a recipe for "Dirty Martini Pasta" which uses olives and their brine.