Annie_H

We don't have much for breakfast or lunch. Lots of small snack choices like ramen eggs, yogurt/granola/fruits. Cheeses/crackers. Nuts. Salads. Made a pot of mixed grain last night and an enormous pot of garbanzos for roasting and some humus I'll make tonight. This sounded good with some cheese in the micro---a microwave I use maybe once a month. Nice cheese pull😀 Took a minute to figure out the cheese I used as most of the label was missing. A young cheddar, tangy and melty. Would make a nice grilled cheese. Cheese can be so mysterious. Totally bland as a snacking cheese but bloomed in flavor melted.

Cod Cakes

Lamb and Mash

Balthazar Bakery counter has a magnetic draw. Anywhere near it I have to stop. Work orders from them once a week in rotation with other bakeries.

The merguez is pan seared first, set aside, deglaze pan with miropoix or in this case leek and garlic. Vodka, tomato, gorgonzola instead of cream. Puree smooth with stick blender. Cut sausage into small rounds and return to sauce to keep warm while boiling pasta. Remove sausage with slotted spoon and plate. So yes, the merguez is under the pasta. One is visible in the heaped plated pic. Easier to toss the pasta in the vodka sauce without the sausage. Easier to distribute the sausage evenly or in most cases DH gets a bit more. I take process shots for a co-worker group that are just learning to cook so it is clear in the pics I sent them. Or I could just simply write Vodka Sauce over Merguez, : ) Shrimp miso soup over seared tofu

Last night a leek, garlic, fresh tomato gorgonzola vodka sauce. Merguez. Artichoke. Crisper drawer slaw...fennel, golden beet, watermelon radish, etc. Thanks to Misfits. Always ends up in a heap on our plates. Starts off civilized as a starter and a main....

So many typos in recipes. It is one cup flour to 1/2 cup corn flour in that recipe as it reads. Still a bit more corn starch than I usually see in recipes here. Those that bake often is it common to stock a pound or more of corn starch in your pantry? My container lasts forever. In two of Melisa Clark's shortbread recipes she says that as long as you follow the basic one cup flour to one cup butter you're good to go. Then her listed ingredients in two recipes call for 2 cups flour, one cup butter. No corn starch. But corn starch is so neutral it might let the butter shine I suppose. I do stand corrected with a bow to the queen if I'm way off mark. I have a home in Canada that did confuse me at first. In my small village market they only have course cornmeal that needed soaking overnight. (used my spice grinder then brought up a flour mill in my luggage eventually). I used Bird's custard for my sweet tooth visiting FIL and at the time had no idea 'corn four' listed on the label is actually corn starch. Makes sense. My baking leans heavily to the savory side. Crackers, flatbreads, sweet potato/kale chips, dark chocolate, etc. Why this interests me. Shortbread falls in the middle. Caloric but not sick sweet.

I'm guessing your recipe uses a cup or two of AP flour and a tBsp or less of cornflour, (aka cornstarch)---in the US. Do you have a link to the recipe? US cornstarch and US cornflour are very different things. US cornstarch is found in the baking isle with the baking soda and baking powder. Most common is ARGO brand. White and flavorless used to thicken sauces and the amount in your recipe will be a tBsp or less. US cornflour is 'floured' corn meal. Finely ground. Same flavor as cornmeal used in corn breads. I use US cornflour almost exclusively in waffles, pancakes, corn cakes, fritters, etc. And making cheddar/romano sesame cheese coin crackers today using a new cornflour just delivered. It says medium grind on the package, 'GreatRiver' brand new to me. The few rotten amazon reviews said it was too much like an AP flour grind. But that is what I wanted so ordered. Coarse, medium, fine, and floured are the usual US cornmeal varieties. I use Edna Lewis corn muffin recipe for a savory 8inch cast iron pancake topped with fresh garden fruit like rhubarb, blueberries. A bit of sweet using a crumble of butter/coconut palm sugar/cornflour. Both cornstarch and cornflour are gluten-free. Bird's custard is cornstarch even though the label says cornflour. It is an English product. I've been using Bob's cornflour for years. Not yet recommending the 'GreatRiver' brand as the case of four is yet to be used. Lots of great reviews so looking forward to using it. I use the rice trick in my spice grinder. As well as adding AC vinegar, more lemon/lime/spice/toasted sesame oil to my blender after making humus to clean it out and get a free salad dressing. BTW, I love shortbread so let us know how it comes out, 😍 .

No words to describe my hometown RapaScrapple. I just ordered my holiday obsession.

I have loved 'my sweet baby' Cuisinart little Pro Plus. Wedding gift from 1989. A monster. Discontinued early 1990's. Fast forward 25 yrs a chunk of ginger held onto the blade and washed me and the kitchen with wet ingredients all over. Before I could solve the problem, after a scream from the kitchen, DH found a new-in-the-box on E-Bay. Mine was found to be fine but the new one was on the way. The old one went to the beach house. I'm using the NIB now. I have two back-ups, realizing I can't ever live without. (not feeling nuts as I see others here have back-ups of favorite appliances) E-bay has pretty much all the time 6-7 pages of parts. My point is, ---not necessarily recommending my cuisinart choice at all, but if you move to another brand, consider the blades and parts for others that might need them. Either thrift store donate for e-bay sellers to re-sale or offer to sell yourself. I've noticed some retired elders rely on extra income selling vintage parts. *I have a stellar kitchen fridge that has cracked freezer drawers. The replacements are so expensive. So many of those drawers are in landfills no doubt. This is mine. The 1989 on the left, a bit yellow, and the NIB freshie clean white DH purchased. Small footprint, monster motor. With the side shooter I can make 4-5 salads for a bbq crowd in minutes. Just keep switching out the bowls. Blade switch is easy for a celeriac/fennel sliced slaw/salad. I have two NIBox back ups. Always a few on E-Bay. Every few months a NIB is under 75$ free shipping. Buy-it-now. Just a heads-up, if you see one at a yard sale or thrift store---it has value. Possibly the model had way too many parts. I gifted my sister just the circled motor, blade, bowl. She does not cook but I included salsa, and a few BBQ recipes.....humus, pico, dips, etc, she took it to her thrift I found out. (I asked here to bring it to my parents last visit and got 'crickets'. I only have one friend with the new Breville. Some issues with the bowl quality and replacements back-ordered. Some other issues I can't recall. I can't say enough love for a small footprint 'monster motor' early 80's Cuisinart LittlePro model.

I first learned from this classic elder site/recipe, HERE Then a good friend who grew up in MexicoCity vegetarian with a Persian father shared her veg version I make for the veg friends. (no need this year)

It is that time of year. I'm so off my game. For 20 years we had a big gathering the Sunday before x-mas and again NewYears day. Last was 2018. The dates are perfect this year being the Sunday is the 19th and NewYears day is a Saturday. Bummer. We canceled before even planning. More tamales for me. Last year I just made a couple dozen. So easy. Years past the cussing starts at around the fifth dozen. I screwed up a couple weeks ago and took the bigger packet of BoSaam out of the freezer. I should have written 'for tamales!'. I would usually make them this week and freeze and arepas and empanadas and spring rolls made day of. We are having BoSaam x-mas so I'll make a shy batch again this year maybe the next day and freeze a couple packets. Four per packet for a 5th of May treat. I have red and black twine for vegetarian and pork. The collard greens were a veg addition but we all love that bite. So I add them to all the tamales now traditionally and a bit of Queso cheese. I made a big batch of molé beans last night. Froze a couple pints. (labeled properly) A heap tBsp of molè black beans at the top just under the collards---so good. I like hidden bites unexpected. Like some dark chocolate just a bit at the crust edge of a pecan pie. The last bites are a delight and surprise.

I'm keeping three trivets. Game changer in multi-tasking. One one the left of the stove for ladles, spoons, sauce/spice rubs...one on the far left front of the cooktop. One in the dishwasher in rotation. Shocking how much water they hold right out of the dishwasher but a shake in the sink, then a few hours on a hook above to dry---back in rotation. We are both happy to retire the stack of three spoon rests used the past 10 yrs. Annoying counter hogs. Into the donation box they go..."see ya". I would not hesitate for that frame lift. One of the few sweets we love. I so agree. Nice purchase treat ---temp without guessing.

Google image search 'long fusili'---found this one. Nice rough surface to soak up and hold onto the more minimal thin sauces. No clue where to purchase but worth picking up if you come across it. Or similar.

Next day Thanksgiving biscuit sliders.

Here it is in my history...

Sorry,... I was bouncing around. I'll find it.

One of the seafood vendors...WildFork or SeafoodAlaska has a free bundle this weekend for new members. I'm not at all in need at the moment but seems like a good deal. Thermopen is also having what seems like a good sale for those wanting to gift or try the new model. I usually pick up a treat or two from Zwilling, etc. but no real desires this year. I do want another Staub baby grain pot but I blinked and they were immediately out of stock. Costco shoppers. Until the 29th, prosciutto is under 10 bucks a pound for the double 8 ounce packs. ButcherBox has some good add-ons today. I just postponed my delivery another couple weeks. I need nothing...still many freezer choices at the moment.

BlackFriday month. Some fresh e-mails this morning. Palouse--link HERE. Washington State grown. I've been out of my favorite soft white and red winter wheat berries for a while. Best garbanzos. Works out to under 3 bucks a pound. Each bag has field tracking and the name of the person packing. Free shipping. I'm gifting black beans with a dry spice mix I've been working on so this was right on time. My gift bags are 12 oz---like what coffee beans might come in. Kraft paper with a clear window. Spice blend is based on a Mexican molé. Low on garbanzos as well. We have been making humus and roasting a spiced sheet pan for snacking once a week recently. Mixed grains with wheat berries I make once a week in rotation with other mixed grains. Nutty and a bit chewy.

Long fusili I could see by zooming in and spinning the photo. A few years ago when I took this pic it was for the grocery list---"get more of this one!". (with photo for DH) The brand is something like Moesco/Moreno/Moresco? I looked at Etaly and SuperMarketItaly. It was in the 7-8$ range but with the BOGO it was in the 5-buck range. All the talk about odd shapes and new ones, I've been loving the basic spaghetti and fettuccini. Spin it on a fork. Misfits has a good brand bronze dye. An easy week-night meal with greens and a basic blonde sauce of young gorgonzola. Side salad.

Some soups, shrimp/dumpling in rotation with ham/veg/bean. Easy back burner fare while prepping for the holidays. So thankful I was sent an extra 2pound bag of wild gulf shrimp. Just opened the second bag.

A horrid storm on top of surgery recovery. Sounds like the worst in Canadian recorded history with a long infrastructure recovery. Chili Verde looks amazing. We have been having brothy soups and salads for over a week now. Last night I made beef/porcini meatballs with feta, cherry tomatoes and olives with a mushroom 'gravy' in roasted spaghetti squash.

This was a favorite for years but I can't find it. Our market went bankrupt and closed. May have imported the brand exclusive like they tended to do. They had it on sale often---buy two get one free dealio. The pic I just ran across does not have the name clearly visible. Has the nice rough texture of the bronze dye. It was nice for summer salads and more robust winter sauces. Without the annoying air pockets in bucatini.

link