Annie_H

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.

I plan on trying the preserved Meyer Lemon next. After years of using an orange we now find out we like the Meyer Lemon much better.

That is a good idea. Dehydrating lemons or Meyer lemons. I don't have a big load but my tree produced 18 this year. Some still green. I've only picked a few so far. Froze two and one went in my cranberry sauce. Last year only three but I studied and found out I needed to hand pollinate.

Chicken and Chickpea Masala bourbon soaked dried berries, wild rice/wheat berries, avocado because it was ripe

This speaks volumes...from a response to Alex French Guy after making a passionate Cacio e Pepe.. Eckbert. 2 years ago I love traditional italian recipes and like to cook them. But my uncle once said to me:"Devi cuccinare così come ti piace, altrimenti non hai capito il senso del mangiare." Meaning:”You have to cook the way you like it. Otherwise you haven't understood the meaning of eating."

I quoted from your qouting of Weinoo's rösti. Wild Mushroom and Leek Risotto based on a Marcella recipe

Our local HudsonValley farm share is a bit more expensive but the quality is above most others. Cryovac'd in small portions for the freezer. All their sausages are tender lean without so much fatty fillers and less salt. Pastured eggs, etc. Lobster and plenty of oysters on our 'holiday week' menu plans for the same reason. We just eat less of it. 2 thick NY strip steaks make three steak meals. I trim and cube it. The trimmings go into my burger grind with brisket, short rib, chuck. I'm making 5 burger from a pound now instead of four. More salads/greens and less meats. Dry rub 6-12 hours.

That is how my last latke is made after an hour of plate after plate taken by family passing sneaky through the kitchen. They never make it to a table. Never a tray kept warm in the oven. Gone immediately and that is fine. So good fresh from the cast iron. Like bacon. I turn my back for a second and it is gone from the p-towel resting plate. One biggie latke makes them nervous and hard to steal, 😜...so we get some Looks so good! Same with mini meatballs I often make for holidays. Porcinni/za'taar I made last week. A good rest in the fridge to meld, I said frig-it and put the blend into two mini loaf pans. I've not made meatloaf in years but it was a treat. easier and topped it with sumac and a big squirt of sriracha. Toasted garbanzo, cilantro stem zesty humus. Burnt the crap out of the naan even though I stood with my hand on the oven door. A wall oven at eye level but even after a timer for 3 minutes I still often burn breads. Brain fog.

Last day for THERMOWORKS stocking stuffers. Love the mini spatchula/spoonula set. Perfect size at 8 inches. Loving my spoon rests but not on sale at this time.

This is adorable as always and very odd pasta shapes...

This is a favorite from HMart. 'Dough sliced dried noodles'. Wheat flour. Like a delicate cascatelli. Similar shape even. Especially once cooked.

I found the brand, Maestri, last week. Seems to be available but in the higher price category. Though it is close to 18 ounces. Last pasta meal, 8 ounces was way too much. Quite a bit left over but made a nice lunch snack. Next time we make fresh fettuccini I'll try twisting it.

Turkey and Rice Soup with some fridge hunting add-ons.

Deja vu. I've been through this before. Up at 3 am and went through the past few years of holiday photos. (incredible sunrise this morning in NY---pinks, oranges, and purples) 2019 was way off script. Travel plans were aborted for some reason. Maybe a storm? My memory is shot. We were packing for a big road trip Feb-March 2020. Bummer. Canadian border closed. Sure, disappointments in 2019 being way too late to get some oysters and crab, etc. We did great with rack of lamb x-mas and brisket for NewYears. Excellent pastrami on rye with horseradish cream next day. No memory but the pics show delights. 😜 2018 I did an impressive 7 fishes for a small crowd. Mostly apps standing and moving around inside/outside. Only sat down together for the 'main' fisherman's chowder. Thanks for that. The FreshDirect. I remember last year to the day googling 'salt cod online'. FreshDirect came up in the header. They have fish carcass for stock, and shucked oysters, and crab for cakes...but no lobster meat. No supplier has all three. As far as I can find. I'm fine without a traditional Italian/Greek Mediterranean seafood salad. I can recipe/no recipe with what I have. Home hot smoked salmon, shrimp, salt cod. Menu needs are down to fresh shucked oysters and lobster. Nothing else maters. If FreshDirect had lobster that would solve it. Two deliveries is no big deal. Thankfully I have no need to run around town for anything. (I like photos. Unfortunately we cannot post here) *FreshDirect is a bad memory when I could not get a delivery date for months. Almost a year. But they have fish heads and bone spine for fish stock....

Thanks. That makes sense having more experience with ordering the past couple years. I think, like last year, and this past thanksgiving...having options in the freezer early is best for us anyway. I can scratch cook a 'no recipe, recipe'. A Fishermans stew or chowder. An oyster pan roast. Just feels sleezy to fridge shop seafood at home having had a relationship with a fishmonger for years. Getting a head and spine full of meat from a freshly filleted cod for stock. Not going to happen. They are back to one person at a time in the shop. Long lines. I'll pre-order and pay for oysters and they will bring them out to me. No waiting and I will be guaranteed they are in stock. Oysters I care most about. Oyster stew, oyster pan roast, oyster Po'Boy. We loosely planned a GrandCentralOysterBar meet up with a couple friends. They decided a wait-and-see. They would rather bring a few dozen to us to shuck and I'll make a pan roast with my shucked, and grill a dozen. I do have some lobster in the freezer. Not enough for lobster rolls but plenty for a cup of bisque for four. I can always get Lukes lobster from Whole Foods. Mid week after x-mas should be easy to get for NewYearsEve lobster rolls. I could delete WildFork but it does look tempting. I'll decide by Thursday-friday.

Recent abundant delivery gifted us with 2 pounds of red and two pounds of white miso. A pound of ginger. Dashi, bone broth, miso, mushrooms, dumplings, greens

I'm not sure what to do but leaning towards WildFork for the holidays. If so, it will be my first order. Thanksgiving worked out so well by ordering ahead between ButcherBox and Misfits I had no running around at all. No stress. The up-coming holidays are mapped out to have oyster stew x-mas eve, pork shoulder braised BoSaam x-mas day. Lobster rolls NewYears...ham, black-eyed peas, collards NewYears day. Seafood all the days between the two. We will see some friends here or there but have decided we want no set dates. Weather dependent and all daylight brunches. All agree. I have plenty of cod, salmon, gulf shrimp. I just need 4 pints of fresh shucked oysters and cannot get everything in one place so far. Has anyone ordered these various frozen seafood items from WildFork? It would be nice to put together a seafood salad quickly. With shrimp and hot smoked salmon, scallops...a cold salad, lots of lemon, celery, olives, capers. Fresh crab is priced through the roof so I'm scraping that one. Mini cod cakes or smoked salmon croquettes are always well received. Easy to put together. Wild Fork seafood mix

No complaints here. MR H thought I had lost my mind during the unpacking. I got a subtle 'happy dance' from the curmudgeon when he unpacked the merguez. The sausage maker of the brand used to work for DanielBouloud. Perfect and tender. Straight to the freezer and will be enjoyed. For months to come...😜 Case of 12 boxes of pappardelle in the same order. Mom and Pop will get a nice box of goodies next visit. Hijiki/nori pappardelle with salmon, shrimp, merguez in a miso tomato broth

Fortunately the cheeses freeze beautifully. Slow roasted a couple trays of tomatoes. Maybe a nice tomato/garlic/leek soup.

I was boned by Baldor, a NYC restaurant supplier. My last delivery was July 1st via invoices. Mid Sept I had an open cart of maybe 7 items but decided to just order local WholeFoods. Fast forward Thanksgiving I decided I missed some Baldor favorites. My cart was emptied from Sept as usually happens. Instead they placed that order in 'invoices' even though I gave no 'pay now' or 'proceed to cart'. Or 'proceed to payment'. I received double on these items. Bulk quantities. Two 5 lb bags of wild rice. 8 pounds of merguez. 😂. 20 pounds of cheese instead of 10. And a full tray of gorgeous tomatoes at twice the price of Sept. I almost went Bourdain Kitchen Confidential on them. One chapter he called and lost it on them for a bum order and slammed the phone. An employee, over-hearing the rant, said it was not Baldor but another supplier. So, I had a brief kitchen meditation and realized worse thing could happen. Embrace it. Gorgeous tomatoes at caviar prices. Fortunately they are slowly ripening unlike avocados. (all at once) Salmon BLT Avocado A summer season favorite in December...no complaints. Butcher Box bacon

Tuesday afternoon a delivery of RappaScrapple arrived. Dinner plans pushed aside. Hometown childhood egg scramble/crispy scrapple. Not something I would usually post but my Brother in Idaho is jealous. (might send him a few pounds for the holidays!)