Maison Rustique

I have a much earlier version of this Braun immersion blender with food processor attachments. I'm not sure I've dragged out my Cuisinart in the 25 or so years that I've had this. I also have a heavy duty blender and hand mixer. I find these serves most of my needs. I also have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer that almost never gets used. Many of you cook a lot more and have different needs than I do, so might not work for you, but I find appliances that combine tasks are space-saving in my small kitchen with limited storage.

Good choices! My favorite cookies. 🙂 I got one of the frozen ducks last year and it was very good. Last time I was at my Aldi, they also had roasted frozen duck halves at a pretty good price. If I had room in my freezer, I'd have gotten a couple of them to keep on hand for making salads or "instant" cassoulet.

I had some Fromage Pave from Trader Joe's with LGD for lunch today. Great combination!

Yes, I am a huge fan of the Fromage Pave, too! I bought some when I went recently. Might just need to have some for lunch today.

It was been a different sort of week for eating since I was cooking for Thanksgiving, so I haven't used LGD as I might have under normal circumstances. For lunch the other day, I pulled out a Goat Cheddar (Aldi) and the LGD and crackers and dove in. It was delicious! We did not have a family dinner yesterday but I cooked some things and so did one of my sisters. We both portioned everything out. She brought all her stuff and I had mine. We exchanged foods and took dinner to our other sister and nephews. While she was here, I had her taste the LGD and showed her the book. She loved the LGD, as I knew she would. I told her she could borrow the book at some point, after I've made a few more things. She looked at me and said, "Well, I think that book would be a great Christmas gift!" So, I will order and can knock off part of my Christmas shopping.

Those crackers look so good. I'm a sucker for carbs.

It must have been one of those weekends because I also made my first batch of LGD. With the arthritis and tendon issues I've got in my hands and wrists, I was more than happy to use a food processor. I did not break out my Cuisinart, but used the bowl/blade attachment for my Braun stick blender. It worked perfectly. I did take a photo, but don't have it on this device (Chromebook) so will try to remember to add it later when I'm on my PC. I love the olives, but think I now must have 6 open jars of various types of olives in the fridge. ☺️ I tasted it right after I made it, but not since. At that time, I felt like there could have been more anchovy in it, but maybe it will come through today.

I'd be happy to trade places with those of you where it is too warm for your kraut. It was 31 degrees here this morning. While we have the furnace running, the basement is cool and the garage even cooler. 😉 Or, you could just send your kraut for safe storage. Ha, ha yeah. Like it would ever make its way back to you!

Trader Joe's sells a kraut that has Persian cucumbers in it--it is one of my favorite krauts!

I picked up the olives at Costco. Ordering the other ingredients at the local supermarket for curbside pick up tomorrow.

Well, I hope you're all happy. My order of both "Cooking with This..." and "Deep Run Roots" has arrived. Now I have to figure out where I can find room for them. Deep Run Roots is big!

I'm so sorry to hear this. Many condolences to all his family and friends. Thanks for letting us know, Jason.

That looks delicious!!

I'd say to take a look at some of the herbal jelly recipes out there. I bought a rosemary jelly that was mostly savory, but it had an apple base for the sugar. It was not terribly sweet and was amazing on a ham sandwich. My goal is to duplicate that some day. So, maybe use a fruit juice for the sweetness?

When I heard pickle juice jelly, I was thinking dill pickles. The link that Anna provided is for watermelon rind pickle juice. I've never had watermelon rind pickles--are they sweet or ???

I hate you all. I really do not need more cookbooks, but now I think I need 2. One of you owes me a new bookcase. 😁

Mom always made milk toast for us when we were sick. We loved it because she made it with cinnamon toast. 🙂 I want to hear about the cottage cheese sandwiches on brown bread. That sounds pretty tasty! I have a lot of these booklets, too. My sister probably has them in the hundreds.

I do the same.

I am in the same place. It is mainly the pandemic. I am so sick of trying to think of what to cook, where and how to get what I need to cook it and then cooking it, that I don't want to sit down and eat. I've lost weight. I seldom even drink wine. I had my annual doctor visit last week. He said that they've coined a new term COW Syndrome--COVID-something-Weariness. I do have to say that my worsening hand and arm pain (OA and tendinitis) have made cooking much less pleasurable, too.

Apparently I joined in 2003. I have absolutely no idea how I found it!

You choose utensils based on comfort in your arthritic hands and buy every new electric gadget out there that will mean you don't have to peel, cut, slice, dice manually.

Someone mentioned verjus/verjuice previously--I second that! I bought some because a recipe called for it and now can't find the recipe, which I'm pretty sure was a bread recipe.

Thank you all for the lovage uses/info. I will try to get out and harvest some before this week's round of storms hit. Maybe a little potato salad or in a tomato salad, since my tomatoes have finally begun ripening. Maybe I can come up with a bloody mary salad of sorts.

I have lovage growing in my herb cradle, but the insects seem to enjoy it more than I do. I have not used it once. I guess I'm just not sure how it is best enjoyed.

A little search shows that I posted the parsley salad recipe that I love in this thread.