Unexpected Food Gifts

[Anna N]

4 hours ago, KennethT said:

I'm excited to try this olive oil, but i have no idea what to do with the salt/herb de provence grinder.  Many years ago I used herbs de provence a lot, but I've been out of the habit.

Well I would take some grape or cherry tomatoes (even the ones out of season which most tomatoes are in this hemisphere) and slow roast them. I would drizzle them with the olive oil, add a little grated garlic and a good sprinkling of the salt/herb mixture. I would toss them around in this in a baking tray where they would lie in a single layer and then bake them at two hundred degrees Fahrenheit for at least two hours and up to four hours. When they are beautifully collapsed, fragrant and tasty I would either use them or freeze them. 

[KennethT]

5 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Well I would take some grape or cherry tomatoes (even the ones out of season which most tomatoes are in this hemisphere) and slow roast them. I would drizzle them with the olive oil, add a little grated garlic and a good sprinkling of the salt/herb mixture. I would toss them around in this in a baking tray where they would lie in a single layer and then bake them at two hundred degrees Fahrenheit for at least two hours and up to four hours. When they are beautifully collapsed, fragrant and tasty I would either use them or freeze them. 

That sounds really good. Thank you!

[liuzhou]

Once more, I'm sitting at home. It's 9:30 pm and I get a phone call saying my delivery has arrived. Once again, I'm not expecting a delivery. I go out and find a guy with a box. It's heavy - 5 kg. 5 kg of oranges.

 

Once again, I've no idea who sent them.

 

 

There is a second layer underneath the first.

 

[Anna N]

45 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

There is a second layer underneath the first.

No doubt it is a lovely gift but 5 kg of oranges for one person can pose quite a challenge! Some food gifts leave me with an incredibly guilty conscience. If I can share them I’m good with that but to waste them just seems even more problematic when they are a gift. But I don’t always feel up to processing them into something that will keep. What will you do with all those oranges?

[liuzhou]

59 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Once again, I've no idea who sent them.

 

Mystery solved.

I knew  it was someone with the family name 王 (wáng) which means 'King' and that they were in Guangxi. Unfortunately, I know about 20 people called 王 in Guangxi. 90% of Chinese people share just 100 family names.  王 is the most common with around 100 million people holding that name!

 

So I asked on WeChat, China's main social media and the culprit confessed.

 

Edited January 19, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

3 minutes ago, Anna N said:

No doubt it is a lovely gift but 5 kg of oranges for one person can pose quite a challenge!

 

Indeed. I will share them with my dear friend J - who is also a 王 from Guangxi!

[Katie Meadow]

My daughter sent us a box of southern goodies from Atlanta, all of which were surprisingly excellent. Often she picks out some weird stuff, but this time she hit the jackpot. First opened was a small pack of artisan peanut brittle. It was thin and crispy and delicate, far more interesting than most of the thick brittle that usually gets sticky in a hurry. That lasted all of an afternoon. Next opened was a jar of pickled okra which I served with cocktails to a friend I never thought would like it but she did. It was crunchy with just the right amount of heat--really good. Then something which I thought wouldn't be to my taste but which I actually find to be great: some artisan local brand of "Peach Bourbon Cardamom Fruit Preserves," which as it turns out is excellent with sharp salty hard cheese and oat crackers and surprising yummy as jam on rye toast. Lastly, if I'm not forgetting anything, there is one package of cheese straws which I plan to open tomorrow for a small party we are having. This will be the first time six masked, or in this case unmasked, people will be in my house at the same time opening and closing their mouths and breathing. It's sort of terrifying and I'm pretty sure I have forgotten everything I ever knew about being a host plus a last minute non-dairy request came in today! The birthday cake is going to be changed and needs to be shopped for again!

[kayb]

I will wager next month’s house note that those cheese straws will have cayenne in them. It’s pretty much canonical.

[Katie Meadow]

On 1/21/2022 at 3:23 PM, kayb said:

I will wager next month’s house note that those cheese straws will have cayenne in them. It’s pretty much canonical.

Nope, no cayenne. In fact the box says "Mild." Unfortunately they were worse than mild. They tasted like cardboard married sawdust.  In fact although the box says "cheese straws" they were not straws, but rather crackers. But three for four ain't bad. I still have half a jar of that peach-bourbon jam, and I could eat that plus Beemster on Effie's Oatcakes as a main meal any day of the week. 

[liuzhou]

There I was, about to sip on my first coffee, when my phone rang.

 

"I'm downstairs! Bring a plastic bag!"

 

My dearest friend J turned up with a car full of homemade 粽子 (zòng zi) zongzi (sticky rice dumplings)- two different types. She had 50 of each but I managed to limit her generosity to 5 of each.

 

Sanjiang* style

 

J style

 

However, I wasn't getting away with just that.

 

She also threw in some homemade 叉烧 (chā shāo) or char siu.

 

 

By the time I got back up to my place, the coffee was stone cold, so I went back to bed!

 

*Sanjiang is a county in Liuzhou prefecture, famous for its Dong minority inhabitants, architecture and food.

Edited January 28, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[Kerala]

From my lovely sister.

[Kerala]

An orange and nuts from a patient. Kung He Fat Choy! said the label. She wasn't Chinese, and neither am I. Chico Spania brand, she says they are delicious and she has only just managed to get her hands on them this year. I'll see tomorrow. I'm very grateful for the thought.

Edited January 30, 2022 by Kerala
Gratitude. (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

A friend presented me with a lime and a bottle of lime juice, "for backup".

 

[Kim Shook]

Mr. Kim's brother visited from Arizona and brought us, Mr. Kim's mom, and their sister lemons from his tree.  This is my share (18 lemons):

I'm making a couple of batches of @Tropicalsenior's microwave lemon curd and freezing the rest of the zest and juice.  I still have a bag of a few zested ones in the freezer from his Christmas visit!  

[lemniscate]

15 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Mr. Kim's brother visited from Arizona and brought us, Mr. Kim's mom, and their sister lemons from his tree.  This is my share (18 lemons):

I'm making a couple of batches of @Tropicalsenior's microwave lemon curd and freezing the rest of the zest and juice.  I still have a bag of a few zested ones in the freezer from his Christmas visit!  

 

Strangely enough, 2021 wasn't a banner citrus year for AZ.  We had no winter rains 2020-2021 and then in July the heavens opened and Monsooned like crazy into Sept.   The trees were set with not great fruit at that time and the a lot of scarring happened and the sizes are smaller.   The grapefruit are tiny and the a larger percentage than normal of my lemons on the tree are dry pulped.  

 

Edited March 9, 2022 by lemniscate (log)

[Kim Shook]

1 minute ago, lemniscate said:

 

Strangely enough, 2021 wasn't a banner citrus year for AZ.  We had no winter rains 2020-2021 and then in July the heavens opened and Monsooned like crazy into Sept.   The trees were set with not great fruit at that time and the a lot of scarring happened and the sizes are smaller.   The grapefruit are tiny and the a larger percentage than normal of my lemons on the tree are dry pulped.  

 

I've got my fingers crossed - they feel fairly heavy.  I'll be dealing with them later today.  

[lemniscate]

4 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

I've got my fingers crossed - they feel fairly heavy.  I'll be dealing with them later today.  

I'm sure the ones pictured are perfectly fine.  Those look about as good as they can be.

[KennethT]

My wife recently came home from a trip to Spain.....

 

 

[Kim Shook]

35 minutes ago, KennethT said:

My wife recently came home from a trip to Spain.....

 

 

I thought at first it was a chocolate bar.  

[TdeV]

44 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

I thought at first it was a chocolate bar.  

 

Better!

[CantCookStillTry]

Chokos and Cucumbers today from a customer! I will be unexpectedly gifting them on but they look beautiful! 

[Smithy]

20 hours ago, CantCookStillTry said:

Chokos and Cucumbers today from a customer! I will be unexpectedly gifting them on but they look beautiful! 

 

Please elaborate: "chokos"? What are they, what do they taste, smell, handle like?

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

 

Please elaborate: "chokos"? What are they, what do they taste, smell, handle like?

 

Obviously I'm not @CantCookStillTry but I'm sure "chokos" are what you may call "chayote".

[liuzhou]

Wow!

A surprise gift today.

 

Two bottles of good Georgian wine (Georgia the country).

The amber is from Shumi winery, one of Georgia's earliest organic and biodynamic growing wineries and the Saperavi is from Gurjaani winery, producing one of the highest quality wines in the Gurjaani town.

Sent by a friend who has just written a book about Georgian wine, the oldest known in the world.

 

 

[donk79]

@liuzhou I have very good friends,  but I still envy you for your friends!😉