Annie_H

I had an amazon open cart going for a few weeks. At one point I had 60-ish items. Then 45. Constantly looking for similar replacements. That is fine as I can usually find a different brand replacement. I ordered three different soy sauces and 3 different brand of eggs just in case they were out of my choice. When I finally ordered, a dozen things were out of stock and too late to find a replacement. (delivery was already on its way) Direct from the farm like Palouse or a local warehouse supply do not need multiple travels and self stocking like a grocery. A company like RanchoGordo with one warehouse location will be more reliable. And local farm shares. Misfits is probably the best deal I've found. And reliable. Produce direct from farms. 95% is loose packed organic. Their inventory does not need much travel. They have eggs, cheese, meats and seafood now. Lots of bread choices like naan, and sourdough. I'm ordering twice a month. Next delivery is Monday but still have lots of produce from a week and a half ago...even the cilantro is still fresh. I have collards, spaghetti squash, leeks, scallions, celery, fennel, lemons, limes, celeriac, radish, red and Napa cabbage, carrots, red onions, and shallots. Russets and sweet potatoes. Lots of choices for the weekend. Oh, and boston and a bit of arugula. End of the romaine. I have until 8pm tonight to add or delete. Excellent customer service if something is off or missing but that rarely happens now. Recent EATER article on supply chain issues.

Our weekly miso dumpling ez-meal. Extra credit is a ripe avocado. And a marinated ramen egg. Win-win this week.

😂. Similar issue with OldBay. Grew up on the Chesapeake. So salty and on everything. Last Spring before a visit to family I made my own. Took a few tweaks and ended up with a boat load. No salt in mine. I can add salt later. Amchur was the best addition. (dehydrated green mango). Added the right zip/zing. I like MountainRoseHerb for spices. They have some spice blends now but I like to make my own. I just stocked up with free shipping at the moment. I don't usually care about shipping charges with them but took advantage. We use so much spice. My OldBay is perfect without the 'one note' it is so famous for.

Cod Cakes. A family favorite. Spicy horseradish cream. Last night's wings.

This was surprisingly good. I did an early am quart zip-lock spicy marinade. A few hours. Then a dry brine and into the fridge uncovered. 4-5 hours. Then into a low oven for an hour, turned up the heat to finish at 425º. Turned once. End of a Colman's jar, added miso and rice wine vinegar. Darn if I forgot to use the fresh hot peppers again to garnish with thin slices. (right in front of my face). Nice feta salad side. (-checked ButcherBox and wings were not on my order. Must have used the wing pack to meet promised weight totals?) Have not had Coleman's in years. A favorite Irish pub closed ten years ago. They always put a fresh unopened jar on every table. Amazon has an 8 jar bundle for 23$.

😬I've lived in fear of wings for years. So expensive in NY. Even pre-covid when we stopped at a local farm for eggs, thighs, and whole chickens, the farmer always gave me an extra couple pounds of thighs. NewYorkers want wings, breasts and legs for their BBQs. Wings are a year round favorite. Just don't see them that often or at all. I was dragged into a Hooters in Memphis once and a tittie bar in Austin with wings on the free buffet table. 😂 In NY pubs for events like sports, they more often put out Italian American foil trays of baked ziti for drunk food. Maybe I'll French/lolipop them and challenge myself. The baked glaze on the Frenched legs above was so good. I made for the first time some fried crispy shallots last week so no fear of a shallow fry. (small high sided dutch oven)

This falls in the 'new-to-me' category. I had a ButcherBox goof. My second box I switched the selection and let them decide. "Surprise me". I received legs and wings. Not parts I ever buy. We are a thigh and whole roaster family. With three packs of legs, I thawed one pack to go into a stock on the back burner. But seeing there were 5 legs I decided to make a meal out of them. (Original plan was a simple veg/red miso soup with dumplings). Decided to try frenching. Went through the cuss word dictionary a few times. It was worth it. I'll do better next time knowing what to expect. Into the fridge to dry brine a few hours. Then a glaze of chili crisp, red miso, tamari, and yellowbird.

Last nights Ham, Beans, and Greens Soup

Hard to believe it is the third week of January. Like previous years in recent memory, we make chowders and brothy soups, some easy familiar comforts, and try new things. Lots of seafood purchased during the holidays in the freezer. paying attention not to overcook. And last weeks hump day frittata.

^Gorgeous Ann. I'm thrilled you are up to cooking with some supervised help. Letting the dough hook on the mixer handling the heavy work and on-line ordering is getting more satisfying. Nice that options exist even if shopping in person was your passion as mine used to be. I'm getting better produce straight from the warehouses. Or I suppose they call them transfer stations.

They are iced teaspoons. But no need for 'iced tea' here. My iced tea is green---ginger/lemon, lots of ice, after morning black Chemex coffee. No sugar or cream. The 'tea' spoons are narrow that fit my spice mix containers. And double duty as tasting spoons. Simple as that.

It is pretty sweet. I seared a NY strip last night for a salad. It is in the freezer with little room but no problem being so small. (slightly frozen for easier slicing thin). Another goodie purchase a few years ago is 'iced tea spoons'. They fit in my spice jars and have prime real estate in one of my drawers just under my prep. Sitting the long way left-righ front. I just open the drawer a few inches and no need to even look. Tasting spoons and with RG scarlet runners at this moment on the back burner, I can check for tender and stir in salts and aromatics. I used demi-tas expresso spoons for years. What a pleasure to have long tasting spoons. Just another under 20$ purchase used daily all day long...

Only exciting if once received we say over-and-over, "how did we live without?". Two small mini stainless sheet pans with racks. Since delivery Jan 3rd they have been in rotation use since. One is always in the dishwasher. I have a couple aluminum ones that need to be hand washed. I use them for thawing and fridge dry brining. Tiny but perfect for finding fridge room. I'm salting some cod fillets for tomorrow and thawing some chicken in the other one right now. The only bad reviews were, "much smaller than the pic seemed". Well duh, you need to get out a ruler. 'baking sheet rack mat set' from amazon.

Having all the ingredients in my pantry, I made a big batch. So good.

A nice companion to that is Mark Weins visiting Oaxaca. He finds someone to make molé from start to finish. making molé

Miracle Grill had a good run. It was in our rotation to meet up with a couple friends. One knew Bobby well so we would get the table visit. He was always so chill. I make a master stock about every 6 weeks. Or when the gallon zip bag of bones in the freezer fills. Usually a carcass from a whole roasted chicken and various collected necks and meaty beef bones. I started one Thursday morning in my maslin. Toasted the aromatics, added the crushed roasted bones, a few cups of water to get it going. Two thawed raw turkey wings into the oven to roast a bit. Only then did I start the veg hunt. Celery, carrots, leek tops, garlic, onion, etc. Celery and carrots first filling the voids. Turkey wings barely covering with water, then the load of leek tops and onion. No more water. All the veg is full of water and quickly covers. No salt. A bit of natural salt in all the veg. But agree added salt would probably do a nice draw. We use a bit of miso often that is very salty. Pedestrian grandma stock but sitting on the back small burner at a simmer I can add veg and more protein as I find it. I had a pack of chicken legs I had planned to use in the stock and roast with the turkey legs. (came in the ButcherBox order). ---not a chicken part we like usually. Frenched them, (new to me). Unplanned dinner. Ladled off some back burner simmering stock for a broth. I don't have a PC. But could not process and add as I go, and remove stock if in a PC. When I pulled off the leg top meat 'balls' from the bones, they went into my stock. I ended up with a perfect 4 1/2 rich pints for the freezer, plenty for dinner, and some skimmed off fats for the pups food. Not much effort when cleaning out the veg drawer. I suppose my stocks are more about no waste, like the big root ends of the celery. If I roast a dozen heads of garlic, then squeeze out the 'cream', the remainders go into the freezer zip-lock with the roasted bones waiting for a stock making day. I do find making smaller batches saves freezer space, uses all scraps. I look for impurities but rarely see it. I'm assuming it is like the first 1/2 hour simmering soaked beans. Especially chickpeas. The foam I skim off. Maybe roasted bones have less? Or raw freshly butchered, especially marrow bones give off more?. Where do impurities go when using a PC? Maybe it is obvious when pressure is released and then skimmed.

Probably as the website is the same format as Baldor?. Baldor sells Pierless on their main site as well as other suppliers of seafood. I was not happy with the wild caught Carolina shrimp from Pierless through Baldor. This was 2020 and may have purchased 3 pounds during that time. I first blamed myself but even trying to peel before cooking the shell was fused to the flesh. Then tried a NewOrleans shell-on bbq style. Again fused. A pound gives us usually three meals. I had plenty of trials. On-line searches said "overcooked'. But before cooking I had trouble cleaning/peeling. 20$ a pound was a bit high. We just gave up on shrimp for a while until I tried the Wild Gulf. Wild Gulf shrimp from WF 365 has been excellent. I think it is 25$ for 2 pounds. I'm always hesitant to give disappointing reviews as things change all the time in the sea. How they are caught and how they are frozen/handled. Seems every delivery has at least one disappointment. My second ButcherBox had an excellent ham for NewYearsDay and awful burgers that are going into the pups food. (we grind our own) so I think best, like mentioned, to find a delivery service that lets you select just what you want rather than a 'suppliers choice'. Curious what they charged you. And I did not know FultonFish has a monthly dealio. I'm guessing the nasty ammonia scented old squid I was sent was an out-of-stock item so they tossed in a few extra pounds loose. And not what I ordered. DH said it was closer to 8-ten pounds. And straight to the garbage. Gagging. Bad business plan. I did a coin flip and did not try WildFork last holiday month. They were on the short list. Canceling get-togethers was a bummer. So we downsized the meal planning. Misfits tosses in free stuff but it is hot sauce, salsa, capers, or any number of pantry staples---not old perishable crap. Sharing with neighbors or family might be my plan. When I was delivered 6 dozen eggs instead of 3 I gave to my neighbor that then gifted treats in return. She bakes. When a Palouse order went missing, they said no problem and sent another right away. 25 pounds of beans. Not sure how 25lbs of beans goes missing but said I would donate to the neighbor firehouse if it showed up. Never did. No way would I enjoy seeking compensation for a wrong order not my fault.

It is painfully impossible to describe my experience with Fulton. I thought I posted here before. They may have lost my order. A rare snafu. in the system. Then blamed a wrong e-mail address. (I use finger recognition on my laptop). I blamed myself being dyslexic. But I got a 'welcome to the Fulton family' e-mail immediately. But no order# or tracking. I e-mailed but no response...then a delivery date for the 29th dec. It came on the 23rd without any heads up or 'delivered'. Alarm delivery pup barked at around 8pm. We could have been out of town visiting family. I ordered various 1/2 and one pound selections for the holidays. A squid small packet via the website photo i should have received a cryo-vac'd 8oz small squid rings with tentacles for a mixed Mediterranean seafood salad app. They sent a giant 5+ pound bag of giant squid rings, not tentacles, and not sealed so it leaked all over everything and soiled the bottom of the box. So nasty it reeked of ammonia. DH sick to his stomach from the smell could not bring it inside. (poor delivery person)😬 The ice pack was still frozen so we hosed off the crab and shucked oyster containers, etc. Clearly the squid was old before sent. It was a big thick bag that easily could have been tied to not leak. Disgusting. Surprised they get such high-on-the-list recommended places to order from on-line. Never again. I must have looked 20 times on their website....what did 'I' do wrong? 😂...I blame myself for everything. On the other hand, Misfits just sent an over-the-top apology letter for a one day delay due to covid employee issues. And possible delivery trucking for the same reason. And, 'let us know if anything is suffering from fresh' and we will promptly refund. The kettle chips and Tates cookies will be fine. 😜

Oh, 'balls'. So sorry for Susan and her staff. This is really stressing our restaurants just when we want to support them.

I've mentioned elsewhere that I ordered from iGourmet, SuperMarketItaly, and Eatily(gift certificate), the year of 2020. Now that this new faze of lock-down is imminent for a while and we need to be careful....a few treats at grocery store prices meeting the 'free shipping' cost is better than fast food take-out or some local deliveries that charge so much extra for tips and fees. One of them used a boat-load of bubble wrap but no memory. Not many times ordered at all because our palates went pretty pedestrian for a while. Soups and comfort over HumboltFog and GooseLiverPaté. Why master stocks and kombu became important. Any having miso on hand at all times. Quick Miso soup with a 1/2 pint of stock for lunch or dinner. I did use a silicone cube tray for a couple years but 1/2 pints work best for us. One less step. Into the freezer asap. The pups get the skimmed fat in small doses in their food. We go through stock quickly especially now being soup and noodle bowl month like every year. Found a shelf stable tofu in small boxes like kid juice boxes. Misfits has it again now but on amazon....tofu 12 boxes for 20 bucks. Handy pantry staple. Misfits is probably organic. I think I paid 1.29.

We don't have water issues in NY but the beach house is often drought low-level. We have to be very careful and no dishwasher. 😬 Fine for the two of us but American friends and family houseguests that try and help in the kitchen or shower are impossible to train. Flush-if-you-must dealio.

Not what you are looking for as I've never filled my sink. Only by accident. Or once or twice when I need to soak something overnight---I grab one of these... I use the Ikea rinsing tubs and strainers. I have two sets. Our kitchen sink is central to the home and having the sink bowl used for veg and fruit cleaning is out of the question. I can rinse, drain, and set aside to dry. If still in the sink I have access to the faucet for hand washing etc. No way am i going to sterilize the sink every time I get a veg delivery. We do a quick barKeep and rinse with the boiling kettle water every morning while making coffee. Deep clean once a week. The Ikea inserts go in the dishwasher.

I took out some gulf shrimp this morning and made a remoulade for this evening. Napoleon House has curbside pick-up if in a pinch. Good basic NewOrleans menu. Excellent muffuletta. Gumbo, Boudin, etc. No reservations for indoor. SusanSpicer's Bayona is excellent for higher end but mostly a favorite of locals. Local ingredients but not the 'classics'. Reservation might be impossible anyway. Nephews wedding a few years ago we just could not stay away from our seedier favorites. Po' Boys and oysters and crawfish. We met in NewOrleans and had a long list of the ol' stomping ground places. Susan is an old friend of my husbands and discussed it but ran out of time and not in the mood for fancy.

Thanks for the reminder. I just signed up for e-mail alerts. A few things listed I would not hesitate ordering for a special occasion. We ended up having an oyster festival for a few days. Canceled gatherings. With omicron and a nasty winter cold going around we kept it simple. Friends with teens are passing around the cold. My brother just tested positive. (both of our extended families are vax'd and boosted)

It seems to work, the link for offal and bones. Above is the monthly specials. Edited to add the offal and bones will not link.