Annie_H

Good noodles. Made by A-Sha. Not fried and dried like instant noodles. Slow air dried. You will pay extra for the Momofuku brand. They also colab with HelloKitty, haha. I purchase from the A-Sha website. The 'pantry' pack. 20 cakes for 24.99$. Without the seasoning packets. Clean ingredients but I always stock soy and toasted sesame, fresh scallions, homemade chili crisp. One noodle 'cake' is two servings in our home because of lots of other included fresh ingredients. Ramen eggs, avocado, greens....lots of vegetables, dashi/miso, fresh ginger. We like the 'knife cut' wide noodles

Stock up and enjoy your favorite bean. They freeze fine. Some coffee geeks suggest to package for the freezer in amounts for 4-5 days. Espresso geeks will often use containers for one pull. But they often have multiple varieties. Most important is to bring your package/canister/bag from the freezer to room temperature before opening. Otherwise you will get immediate condensation in the bag. Why the in-and-out is not recommended. We roast 2-3 pounds at a time and freeze in 1/2 pound food saver packages. Re-usable bags if given a long cut. But I'm not sure a food saver is necessary. No coffee geek or nerd here. Just follow those that are. Similar advice in the link, HERE

I order Misfits every 4-5 weeks in rotation with our local FreshDirect. When I logged onto Misfits a few days ago, they had a header banner saying they had stock issues due to weather. Mostly vegetables. I logged on and checked before starting a cart....sure enough, most what I usually order and rely on were out of stock. So I went with my other market this go-around. Still the best prices if careful. I never rely on them to be 100%. I had some issues last spring before taking a summer break from Misfits. During the holidays I had an unprecedented perfect order. As if a supervisor packed my order maybe during a training 'new employee' event. We wait for the Misfits delivery before any other shopping. Can't rely on them for meal planning. My orders are usually 100-120$, so now free shipping.

I'm always annoyed by bad amazon reviews. I've had this one from LeeValley or maybe BroadwayPanhandler (back in the day) for at least 20+ years. Still sharp and my go-to. Two others are dull purchased just a few years ago and one in a plastic housing cracked in just a few months. Personal choice, I avoid handles as they tend to break and harbor bacteria and rust. I still use a paddle style that lost its handle but it is a bit dull. Used it for ginger for a while but a bit of a grind to get much out of it. This one is effortless...

Yes, local makes sense. Most groceries do that. Maybe overstock HFog from the holidays. !/2 pound of HumboltFog was 9$ and change. Amazon prime for diNapoli is 35$ for six 28ounce cans here. 28ounces is about one.75 pounds. So 5.75$ per can. (3.33 per pound, not per can) Anywho, nice to be stocked up for the year.

I've not shopped WholeFoods in about a year. Maybe this time last year. I've had an open cart all this time. Down to my last tin of tomatoes. Just opened my back-up tin of tomato paste. (I prefer the tube but my markets have been out) Good price on diNapoli. I missed the 12 days of holiday cheeses this year. HumboltFog is 18$ right now. 10$ off per pound. I bought a case of diNapoli during lock-down and paid close to 6$ each.

The cute Italian gal with her US husband on their U-tube channel rubs all around the tomato with the back of a knife and peels. I suppose another method would be to cut a small x on the stem end and blanch 10 seconds, then into ice water.

The Sunset website has a 'find a store' search. They list 60+ varieties. Sunset link Kumato and wild wonders are my winter go-to tomatoes. I make Dad a favorite feta bake using wild wonders. Olives, artichoke hearts, lots of lemon and olive oil on a bed of shaved fennel. Served with a big fresh baked boule.

Another key word is coarse grater. I have a heavy duty set of three. Fine, medium and coarse. This is called a flat grater. The other is a paddle grater, (with a handle) This seems a bit pricy but judging by the positive reviews it is similar to my set of three. Mine were a gift from my Mother purchased in 1985. They will outlive me ten fold. Mine are similar 12 inches. The fine one I use for ginger. Brand is Kuthcenprof. No longer made as far as I could find. I was traveling with my parents through Italy, Germany, France. She is painfully shy and not comfortable with languages. Especially currency exchanges. Very frugal but likes to shop/just look. We started fibbing the exchange rates so she might buy herself a travel gift. I probably told her they were 5 bucks and a nice French soufflé ceramic. Thrilled she bought herself something finally but gifted all to me the following Christmas. She does not cook, bake, or grate, lol. We use them all-the-time. Nice memories. We would dine sit-down every few days. Mostly grazing markets and street food. She would never order in a restaurant saying not hungry but then pick off Dads plate. Until we started fibbing about the cost.

An FYI. Costco has Argentinian wild caught shrimp without any preservatives. I will re-new my membership before x-mas but I don't need shrimp.

I gave up all delivery services late last spring/early summer. Too many 3-5 day road trips planned and a couple 10 day trips. Gave up RanchGordo. Even let Costco membership go a couple years ago. No need if not using it. Misfits and WildFork do not send if no order is placed. No need to cancel those. Just ordered misfits after many months. Just before Thanksgiving. Good holiday treats. Especially the lump crab for 22$ a pound. Very good. Excellent would be a fresh caught bushel of live crabs from my hometown on the Chesapeake. Pick myself or buy it picked at 45$lb lump. Jumbo, 55$ I hesitated to oder thinking it might be from Thailand. Did some research and the company is out of Texas. Atlantic Mexico blue crab. They supply mostly to restaurants. The only same containers I could find are sold in CentralMarket, Austin. Where I shopped when I lived there. Seafood Watch lists Mexico blue swimmers as good. Last week I made two nice 5oz crab cakes and made crab and shrimp shumai with the rest of the container. Just ordered another two pounds for the holidays. Lump is fine as I'll be making mini crab cake appetizers. I should get 18-20 minis out of a pound. Harbison is a treat...ordered more. And a few more packets of tamales. Dad will get his tamales in case I don't get around to making my own.

6 per case. 10$ per bag.

We have been very happy with WildFork. Only two orders. The first I've mentioned before, was sent directly to my parents just before the last holidays. And two Misfit boxes. They live in a food dessert on the ChesapeakeBay area. No Whole Foods, Costco, Aldi, TJ's. A few shit-show groceries like the dollar store types. One good well known fisherman group wholesaler has a small re-tail store. Crabs, shrimp, oysters. Seems like a 'lost leader' give back to the community deal. They were in my older brother's HighSchool class, so we get lots of crab and oysters. I canceled all subscription services a few months ago. (pain in the ars to navigate some of them) WildFork is order when you want. They have kept my cart open for a few months now. It just sits there. I also like the thick cryo-vaced packaging. Small portions. I just made a seafood chowder using swordfish, salmon, cod and shrimp. Trial run for an up-coming visit of house guests. Dairy-free, gluten-free. (homemade croutons and prosciutto crisps on the table)...clams/mussels separate shallow baking dish at the table. With WildFork in the freezer I can put together a quick mixed seafood stew or chowder easily. With so many likes and dis-likes in our families, and Halal, the lasso chickens, (Halal), I made 5-6 days of meals without shopping.

Started harvesting bush beans about the same time. Just a handful every couple days. Now going gangbusters. Put in a row of RG flageolet about 8inches tall now.

My first flush of squash blossoms came over the 4th of July weekend. That seems early but I did start a tray indoors a month early as well as some bush beans. That 10-20 tray holds 18 tall pots. A dozen summer squash and half a dozen bush beans. --tall pots are 4 inches square and about 6-7 inches tall from GreenhouseMegastore. The holiday weekend we had house guests that were hesitant but absolutely loved them. Had them with and on pizza. More seeds went in when I planted and more again the holiday weekend. Summer and winter squashes. Batch last night, #5. About every 3-4 days.