Annie_H

The monthly special list is long. If I was ordering today I would add the bacon ends and smoked ham chunks at 4$ a pound. I like the chunky bacon ends to start a chowder, then a mirepoix, then add back later to the table. The ham chunks I like to pack heavily with a homage cajun spice blend. fridge dry 4-6 hours, then into the smoker for an hour or oven low and slow. A bit like a mock tasso. And of course add-on some sausages and offal and soup bones. Eggs. I'm surprised the links will not work but here it is....Walden offal and bones Might want to give it a try. If they have openings now. A few friends joined up early and have held on. We have all postponed to about every three to four months. We all just get the beef package. You can always delay delivery or cancel after the first delivery.

BC, before covid, a weekly stop at Fairway, (bankrupt and closed now), covered everything with a rotation of a monthly rotation of a few specialty shops. Costco 2-3 times a year. In the NYMetropolitan area FreshDirect might be the best overall for price and variety. And dependable. First lockdown I ordered and thought we were set but could not get a delivery time-slot for months so they went out of sight and mind. Just checked and I could get delivery Thursday this week. But no 'one' delivery service covers all our needs or desires. Insta-cart has some annoyances and AmazonWH is hits top of the annoyance list. BC, fall 2019, we tried Walden Local Hudson Valley Farms. And Misfits. Walden has excellent quality and add-ons like farm eggs, locally made cheeses, honey, etc. And some of the best sausages we have ever had. Not salty and fatty. We were on the fence for a while with unfamiliar cuts like Babette, Denver, shaved beef. But eventually embraced trying something new rather than comfort/familiar. And lots of offal and chicken backs and necks, one buck a pound, feets, pork necks, marrow bones. Much more than any delivery for master stocks. They have their own vans for delivery and in various areas only once a month so very dependable. Small one pound thick cryovac'd packages with easy to remove labels for SV. Dry ice packed. At one point we almost canceled when Baldor started delivery to home residence, but they stopped us and suggested just to keep postponing as their waiting list for new members hit a thousand. So we order about every 3-4 months. Just hits timing for a big batch of stock. I freeze in half pints. Walden may be a bit more expensive but what they have done to support local farms is impressive. Getting my stock bones cheap sealed the deal. A small freezer could easily handle their load. Pantry, eggs and cheese, go into the fridge. Thaw and roast bones for stock within a couple days. Thaw a couple meals right away and what goes into the freezer is minimal-ish. I ordered ButcherBox only twice and recently. Happy so far and the same dealio. Just postpone delivery as I do with Walden. I set it up for February as I did with Walden. Will push to March no doubt. January-March in this home is about post holiday 'try new recipes' based on fresh veg and broth. Warm winter fare. Misfits is the best deal on the internet delivery system. Twice a month and so fresh. Pick what you want. Like Fresh Direct, they are set up in low income areas and hire employees needing work....distribution centers where my veg box is on my door step way ahead of the BigGrocery method..they farm to packaging to distribution, to grocery back dock, to stocking the shelves...Misfits is packed without plastic 90% and 90% organic. Straight from the farm bulk palates. They pack open box raw and always toss in something extra. They had a rough start but so improved now. I don't order, they don't send. No mysteries. Straight forward, no BS. Vermont creamery butter and goat cheese, US cheeses and Diestel Ranch meats. Mary's boneless skinless chicken thighs.....

Nice that RG sends every year. RG peas and caviar lentils. Wild rice. Blend of greens and pea sprouts.

You could try dropping it on a jagged or pointy rock set on a firm surface like a sidewalk/driveway. Surprised how easy my block of cod fillets broke apart. But this was a block the size of a shoebox. The plastic bin-type they were frozen in. Not sure if yours is similarly frozen. Worth a try. My block popped out of the bin easily. Then I placed it in a thick bag.

HappyNewYear lobster rolls

I just was about to post that. My pantry is so friggin' full right now. I only ordered a couple times the past two years from SMI but excellent variety and easy to hit 70bucks with all the selections of olives, capers, etc. Pantry staples. When RG bean club posted the next delivery recently I hit the gyp-rock, but it was soon corrected to February. Fweew....

But it is on topic as I don't like grating or hand cranking. It is an excellent option for large batches especially popcorn. I would call it close to powered. It comes out fluffy. It starts to melt quickly and sticks to the hot kernels rather than falling to the bottom of the bowl. I use my blender for all sorts of things. Chopping nuts, coarse or finer for crusts, wheat berries for flour, etc. Love these little pebble bites. Will be good in winter soups. I would not use the powdered on most pasta dishes as I don't care for cheese to melt into the hot sauce on the way to the table. I do like vegetable peeler slices/slivers. I have a couple box graters but find them awkward. My favorites sit flat together in a drawer. A basic rasp, a couple microplanes. My most used is the big heavy duty one in the middle. Does a quick job on a big Costco parm set in a 1/4 sheet Pan. Nice small slivers just a tad heartier than the moulinex. Nice for adding at the table for pasta and soups. I see the blender used all the time so I'm not the only one or two. Ina uses her cuisinart. Ina's go-to shortcut

I've been using my Blendtec twister jar. Takes about 4-5 seconds for a sandy small pebble texture, remove some, then 4-5 more seconds I get light snow for popcorn. I make about a cup or so once a week. In a pinch I use one of the microplanes or a veg peeler for slivers. I did have one batch turn a bit creamy recently but it was going into a risotto anyway. Left a bit in the jar and made a nice salad dressing. It is possible I over blended or my cheese was room temp-ish. Dozens of times previous that never happened.

It depends. If freezer space is limited and subject to power outages or just like to have something quick and healthy on hand freeze dried veg and fruit are nice things to have. Veg and fruits are in the 65 to 85% water category. Freeze drying does the job more efficiently than dehydrating. Holding the nutrients and most like fresh when hydrated. Longer shelf life. I worked on a project in a remote village, with a tiny grocery the size of a standard living room. A few ripe bananas with individual priced stickers based on weight, etc. I ordered from https://www.northbaytrading.com/dried-vegetables/freeze-dried-vegetables I needed something similar to the cup soups. Not the junk ones but more like the ones from health food stores. With freeze dried miso and bone broth I made excellent hearty soups using an electric teapot plugged into a generator. I recall making a few varieties but the leek, potato, and various veg was stellar. They also have tomato flake and powder. The corn made a decent chowder. My husband visited and brought up a big duffle bag of treats as his checked baggage. It was easy to hit the 99$ free shipping. I must have made 100+ soups and with dried/freeze dried fruits, nuts, with a granola type snack gorp I was happy. Freeze dried seems expensive but my soups probably cost 50-75cents with much more veg than the dinky purchased cups. During the first lock-down with long lines and zero delivery times we finally nailed one but it was a local restaurant supply. They opened up to home delivery as restaurants were closing. But most offerings were bulk at first until they started breaking up cases. Fortunately downstairs at the time was cold storage. I made sofrito and all the basic miro poix basics. Celery, onion, shallot, garlic, yada-yada. Froze in quart flat packs. Zipped in the cuisinart. Hot pan stove top. Having prepped mirepoix big batch in flat-packed quart zip-locks....break off a frozen chunk.

I do the same when I move up to a bulk batch. Low and slow on a parchment lined sheet pan. I do give some bulkier whole spices a head start and add some later but probably not necessary. And yes, many seedy types do not benefit at all toasted. No 'blooming' of flavor happens. I've been making my own spice blends for a while. Having bulk spices on hand just about anything can be made without shopping. At a tenth of the cost and no salt added. Something new, a new spice blend, I start with small batches on the back low left burner in a white enameled cast iron used for just that. The white surface is 'telling' visually especially for oily seeds like sesame. When satisfied I turn off the heat and add the other ground spices. Let it cool. It takes some babysitting but if I'm tending other kitchen prep I find it no biggie. I cleaned out the lower freezer shelf just above the seafood drawer last Sunday for Monday garbage pick-up. (a chore avoided for a few years,😜). Yikes. Way back I found three 1/2 pints of curry from 2016. A curry experiment tri-fecta we did not care for. (and some gross apple butter). Last Week we scored a new curry recipe. Small batch but will make a big batch soon. Oven roast. Low and slow. Best curry ever.

We have the single tall dish drawer and love it!. Run it every evening. No bending over. Can open just a bit and add glassware quickly. Nothing collects in the sink ever. Can open just a few inches to let the silicone items dry overnight before we get around to emptying am while making coffee. We put in a heavy duty telescopic drawer where the lower washer would be for all our heavy cast iron and enameled cast iron. Don't care for grocery shopping at all. DH used to do the small list weekly Thursday or Friday night. (hated it but never complained). A rotation between a local Italian grocery, HMart, and Fairway(bankrupt and shut down). I always did the Costco twice or three times a year. Now I just order and have delivered everything. I've had an open cart with AmazonWF for weeks. Have used it just a couple times since May-June 2020. Local farm share and Baldor have their own delivery trucks so nothing gets lost. Very dependable. If I'm out and about wandering the streets, love popping in a NYC specialty store or spice house or many favorites in ChinaTown. A thirty dollar lunch with co-workers? Na. Not even hungry. I would rather take a walk and buy a treat from a restaurant supply store or a couple cheeses from Murray's. A roadside farm stand in the Catskills. ❤️...always a pleasure. Compost is a 1/2 gallon stainless pail I picked up at a farm feed store. Has hooks so it hangs on one of my magnetic knife blocks just over my main prep. I fold a NYTimes page and line it like a coffee filter to absorb veg juice. Surprised how much compost we produce as we use much extra veg and peelings, kale ribs, etc in pup food. And celery root ends and leek tops, etc, go in a gallon zip in the freezer for stocks. Empty every three-four days. DH is a great chopper/mincer as long as I set up a 'meis en place' 1/4 sheet pan of ingredients. Teamwork.

I can't think of anything specific that has not been mentioned already. But the hunt will be a hoot and a half. I think bottarga is forbidden even though many brands are available on-line in the US. No, I think I'm wrong. Nduja is forbidden in any form even in a jar as a paste I think. Because it is meat. The one available in the US may be made in the US. I've been happy with on-line or locally sourced Italian favorites. On my bucket list is a stay at an Italian olive/grape-wine farm with a barnyard full of meats and homemade charcuterie. Cheeses and such. The NYTimes had an article a few years ago about Italian farms with a few or a dozen rooms to stay and one had an open kitchen stocked with coffee, cheese, wine, and late night tid-bits included in the room cost. Gardens with fresh seasonal produce and a chef to cook with or teach and work along/with. You might be hitting the first of the fresh artichoke harvest depending on the spring weather. So jealous of that! A cute couple on Y-tube, 'pasta grammer', just returned from Italy with favorite treats in their luggage. I think it is 2012 recent. A bit different being an Italian living in the US for three years. Mostly hometown Italian treats and cheeses she misses and fills her extra suitcase. I think quality and price will be a factor. I'm happy with grade B dried porcini locally. Called often 'kibble'. 25$ for a pound. We go through about a pound a year so I just want the intoxicatingly fragrant flavor---not the whole grade A perfect slice. Having a few online suppliers in a bookmark to check and cross-post will help. A shame to bring back a tin and find it is cheaper US On-line. Many buy bulk and can offer cheaper prices than a boutique shop in Italy. Like SuperMarketItaly

Fisherman's chowder/stew. LongIsland stripped bass I call SeaBass. Gulf shrimp, Alaskan salmon. *for the food critics, the garnish is a dried red pepper slivered thin DH purchased from HMart. Happy to get rid of it in the pantry. Not much flavor but meh, cute. 🙄 Prosciutto bacon for a salty kick

Learn something new every day. Never heard of EndsMeat. So Jealous of the 7Fishes. Especially the part about 'friends hosting'. I'm usually the one hosting. We are in limbo about visits/visiting. 7 days, many fishes. Starting tonight. Oysters and lobster coming next Tuesday, so any given day if we have a few friends over, I can pull together a good casual 'fishes' meal. All vaxed and boostered and we all have rapid tests if needed. I have mini cod cake apps in the freezer, (made last week), and a pound of Luke's lobster meat in the freezer. Salmon smokes beauty from frozen with merguez lamb sausage....smoked oyster app. I ordered another 2 pounds of the beautiful wild gulf shrimp in the shell. We have all been off work the past week and agreed to order delivery and keep away from crowded groceries so I see no problem. We could use a few hugs. Mother is in the hospital and pop is miserable. 92 and 93. She collapsed yesterday. Hopefully just dehydrated. Phone fingers are numb from family sibling phone calls. Idaho, OrlandoFLA, Alaska, Portland, Delaware... Similar last night...meat needs. ButcherBox beef shanks. After post-Thanksgiving miso brothy seafood soups for days. Very light raw veg salads and noodle bowls... Hello beef. Braised Beef Shanks Marrow bones after 2.5 hours eaten over the sink with tiny spoons. Last half hour veg added to the pot. I bitched like a toddler during lock-down getting beef cuts un-familar from a local farm share---bavette, Denver, shaved, oy. Welcome it now with a bit of research.

Bookmarked that one. ^^^😍 Neighbors are pulling through as always. Really good, enjoyed, and gone. Sharpie came off with BarKeep. Filling it with crackers, (they love), and shortbread if I ever get around to making it. Might be a NewYears gift.

Here are the original recipes I worked from. LIFE CHANGING CRACKERS LIFE CHANGING BREAD They are both gluten-free dairy-free. I've changed the recipes over the years but mine are scaled to fit the smaller French steel baking pans so the measurements will not work in a US half sheet pan. I pulse most of the oats in my spice grinder and some of the seeds. Sometimes add almond or corn flour. The bread I like to add sprouted wheat berries, half cup, soaked 24 hours. Or cooked. We don't have gluten or dairy issues but I only gift the crackers. Lots of issues among family and friends and co-workers so hate to leave someone out during the holidays. My dads favorite bread so I make quite a bit when I visit... for their freezer.

I started the preserved last night. I miscounted. After this I still have 14 on the tree! Stated looking for recipes...preserved lemon recipes

More visuals. The crackers need to be rolled, then stacked and covered with a damp towel, rest overnight to hydrate.

So many ingredients with soaking grains and seed...making 'kits' just adding water and avocado oil...

I gifted them years ago, them gifted 'kits' that did not go over well. No co-workers wanted to make them. Non-bakers could not be bothered. But I make my own 'kits' and making a couple batches tonight for neighbors. I found a couple 'kits' in my freezer. I keep wanting to make a few recipes of rolled shortbreads but out of time most days.

Used to buy J. Macy cheese crackers years ago. Always a treat....link, HERE. Even as a poor student and first apartment with a futon on the floor, a treat. Fast forward twenty years they are neighbors. I know his wife better but he seems to have a good gig going. Not sure if I would want a factory running life. Good story behind the brand. He seems focused and content from the few times I've been in their home. Quiet but maybe exhausted. They have goats and bees for honey and chickens and gorgeous gardens she sells at market. Flatbreads are so expensive 'artisanal'. Easy with a pasta roller. Obviously a commercial baker needs to cover cost in packaging, etc. Why expense needs to be considered via commercial products. Restaurants and bakeries have rent and overhead. I do like RaincoatCrisps but found them inconsistent in various batches. Often rock hard. Work always has them freebie so I never buy them. Ok with a soft gorgonzola or goat cheese. Killer expensive. Had a cracker from Misfits horrible recently. Cardboard. No flavor but seedy. Good ingredients but probably not toasted. Baffled why they were so dismal and lack of taste. Crispy cardboard confusing. I've been making a cracker for years now. A bit of a cross between a triscuit, wheat thin, rainCoast. Tender crispy. Not flaky layered like a cheese nip. Or a saltine.

Some of the treats. We don't care for Panettone but MIL will love it. They all have the sweet tooth gene unlike us. Nice to select what I know they like. Picked 5 cheeses...all the VermonCreamery goat cheeses and a couple others. Red pepper soup was a penny. BIL will use it for a base soup. 'Tart it up' with other stuff.

This worked out well. BIL and his wife from Portland are visiting my SIL and MIL, (they live together), in Charleston, SC. I sent them a big veg box and big treat box. Last year I sent them a big WildAlaskanSalmon box. This was perfect. Boxes arrived just a few hour after landing. BIL is a great cook having worked in good restaurant kitchens. Career teaching autistic children and now consults with new young teachers. But took up summers in restaurants. Like underpaid teachers need to do. I sent double halibut and double shrimp. He is thrilled to not have to shop. SIL is not much of a cook. He made fish and shrimp en Papillote. Nice knife skills. More patience than I have.

The bread looks like what I need for Oyster Po'Boys. It needs to be blond with a crisp exterior and light airy interior. I usually have to tear out much of the interior. I've tried many things to get the crisp light crust. Have brushed with milk and tried yogurt, mayo... wet under the faucet and wrap in foil then into the oven. A couple bakeries in New Orleans supply the city. I've read it can't be done but we keep trying.

^ always impressive. I can barely pull off one dish with a grain and salad.