Food in the time of a pandemic

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

@Anna N  Is that a Kouign Aman I spy in the top right hand corner?

Hands off!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Not having much to do with the pandemic, my evening's amazon delivery was mostly right.  Of course the baby broccoli turned out to be broccoli.  I still have broccoli waiting to be eaten since my last order of baby broccoli.

 

But they had Rainier cherries!  Rainier cherries @7.99 a pound.  I should have known better.  I selected 1 and I thought that was 1 pound.  No.  Rainier cherries are sold not by the pound, but by the "item".  One item of Rainier cherries was $19.74.  I wondered why my total was so high.  The weight matches up with the cost but they will spoil before I eat up all those cherries.  I've been contemplating complaining.  They are beautiful cherries but why so many?

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Amazon is refunding half the cost of the two bags of cherries.

 

Now I need something to use up cherries.

 

 

[chefmd]

Corn beef hash from a CAN.  I bought it in case of needing to stay at home for couple of weeks ;).  

 

[chefmd]

3 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Amazon is refunding half the cost of the two bags of cherries.

 

Now I need something to use up cherries.

 

 

Freezing them?

[curls]

6 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Amazon is refunding half the cost of the two bags of cherries.

 

Now I need something to use up cherries.

 

 

Perhaps some experiments in cherry ice cream or make brandied cherries.

[Porthos]

I got up early enough to go to my supermarket's seniors hour, only to discover that they have discontinued the seniors hour. I rarely set my alarm, one of the perks of being retired.

 

Our county has eliminated face masks being mandatory, but almost everyone there was still wearing one. I definitely was. The store was mostly empty, more staff stocking things than customers. The ice cream novelties freezers had big holes this morning, including the 2 items on my list, so I chose something else to try. Although my Sweetie and I eat them for dessert, I'm more interested in making sure we have treats our grandchildren will eat when they spend their one evening a week with us. Mom and dad don't keep much in the way of desserts in their house so this is a treat for the grand kids. Mom and dad are fine with it. Oh, I was able to get everything else on my list. I should be able to not go grocery shopping for several days now.

 

A couple of days ago we were able to change our reservations for vacation this year, which means we can now go. Fishing at a mountain lake makes social distancing a no-brainer. Part of my shopping this morning became buying some of the dry goods we'll take up. We've invited our daughter and her husband and kids to join us. My daughter has been jonesing to go to the lake again for a couple of years. I hope they can make it. Menu planning will have to wait until we find out if she and the kids will go, and if my SIL will go. If just my daughter and the grandkids go then my Sweetie will ride/drive up with them to help with the grandkids. Before my FIL got to sick to make the trip to the lake my Sweetie road up with him so he wouldn't be alone on the drive, so I've been making the seven-hour drive myself for many years. No matter who all comes up, one night will be grilled steaks. I'm thinking we should do a make-you-own taco night if they come. Fortunately, the pandemic is not really making any impact on the availability of meat in my area to that's not a concern for menu planning.

 

I continue to be vigilant when shopping and either disinfect or quarantine all of the groceries when I get home. Since I keep chlorine test strips around it's easy to make sure the disinfecting solution is still up to snuff.

[Kim Shook]

4 hours ago, chefmd said:

Corn beef hash from a CAN.  I bought it in case of needing to stay at home for couple of weeks ;).  

 

Do you mean corned beef from a can?  It looks like canned corned beef with added fresh potatoes, rather than corned beef hash from a can.  And it looks really, really good!  I confess to rather liking canned corned beef.  My mom used to slice it up and fry it for breakfast.  

[JoNorvelleWalker]

6 hours ago, chefmd said:

Corn beef hash from a CAN.  I bought it in case of needing to stay at home for couple of weeks ;).  

 

 

And was that the last egg?

 

[chefmd]

3 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Do you mean corned beef from a can?  It looks like canned corned beef with added fresh potatoes, rather than corned beef hash from a can.  And it looks really, really good!  I confess to rather liking canned corned beef.  My mom used to slice it up and fry it for breakfast.  

You are correct.  Corned beef was from a can.  Potatoes are home made.  I have to confess too that I liked it.  Although I  do make great corned beef sous vide myself.

[chefmd]

24 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

And was that the last egg?

 

It was not the last egg.  I went grocery shopping and got more eggs.  They were not even expensive, 1.57 for a dozen of large Harris Teeter brand eggs.  My friend who usually brings me farm fresh eggs (from her colleague who has a small farm) has just let me know that she has two dozen for me!

[lemniscate]

I wanted pickles, we like McClure's.   Whole Foods had them online for delivery at $4.59 a jar, they're normally $6.99.   There's a $35 minimum order for free delivery.  I tried to load up my cart with just jars of pickles but their quantity was short of the target.  So, I resorted to online impulse buying, which turned out pretty good.   I finally tried the Ines Rosales olive oil tortas, two flavors, sweet and manchego.  A couple of mini watermelons got me to the free delivery point.  Plus tip.  I picked the next morning delivery slot 7-9am.  Showed up at 8am.

 

This was the first time I used an actual home grocery delivery, worked pretty fine.  I felt a bit spoiled by it.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, lemniscate said:

I wanted pickles, we like McClure's.   Whole Foods had them online for delivery at $4.59 a jar, they're normally $6.99.   There's a $35 minimum order for free delivery.  I tried to load up my cart with just jars of pickles but their quantity was short of the target.  So, I resorted to online impulse buying, which turned out pretty good.   I finally tried the Ines Rosales olive oil tortas, two flavors, sweet and manchego.  A couple of mini watermelons got me to the free delivery point.  Plus tip.  I picked the next morning delivery slot 7-9am.  Showed up at 8am.

 

This was the first time I used an actual home grocery delivery, worked pretty fine.  I felt a bit spoiled by it.

 

It can become addictive.

 

[kayb]

Picked up my Kroger order this morning. They were out of stock on chicken nuggets (go figger!) and they subbed sliced deli American cheese for sliced deli co-jack cheese, with which I was not overly pleased, but OK. 

 

I then took out on a search for herbs, as my initial planting of them is not doing well, so I'm going to replant in pots. Not a lot of luck on getting what I wanted (specifically, no thyme, marjoram, tarragon, cilantro). Then I went by the WalMart N'hood Market in search of what I didn't get from Kroger.

 

They had chicken nuggets. They had the Yukon golds I'd forgotten to order. They had paper towels, on which I was low, and toilet paper, so now I have a multipack for each bathroom. They had a pretty decent selection of produce (I already had produce from Kroger, so I contented myself with strawberries and a plastic clamshell of watermelon chunks.

 

I know it's well past the time most people plant herbs. I may well attempt a Memphis run to see if any of the more comprehensive nurseries there have potted herbs; else, we'll be thyme-less and cilantro-less this summer, and that is not a pleasant thought.

 

I was encouraged to see more mask-wearing. It was also notable that I went in a coffee shop, sat down (for a business meeting) and had a cup of coffee that I had not brewed, for the first time in two months.

 

Now, if my green beans would sprout, I'd call it a good day.

 

[chromedome]

8 hours ago, kayb said:

I know it's well past the time most people plant herbs. I may well attempt a Memphis run to see if any of the more comprehensive nurseries there have potted herbs; else, we'll be thyme-less and cilantro-less this summer, and that is not a pleasant thought.

 

Cilantro grows quickly and freely from seed - quickly enough, in fact, that I usually stagger my planting times even here in my relatively short-season climate. Grab the bottle of coriander seed from your cupboard and plant a dozen or so in a suitable location, and you should have a few germinate even if the seeds are somewhat past their prime. Thin them if necessary, and then you're off to the races. If you want to do a second planting, you'll now know roughly what germination rate to expect and can plant accordingly.

[robirdstx]

20 minutes ago, chromedome said:

Cilantro grows quickly and freely from seed - quickly enough, in fact, that I usually stagger my planting times even here in my relatively short-season climate. Grab the bottle of coriander seed from your cupboard and plant a dozen or so in a suitable location, and you should have a few germinate even if the seeds are somewhat past their prime. Thin them if necessary, and then you're off to the races. If you want to do a second planting, you'll now know roughly what germination rate to expect and can plant accordingly.

Cool! Do you think that would work with Dill and Fennel Seeds, too?

Edited May 19, 2020 by robirdstx (log)

[chromedome]

9 minutes ago, robirdstx said:

Cool! Do you think that would work with Dill and Fennel Seeds, too?

 

I have grown them all successfully, and fenugreek as well. A lot rides on how often you cycle through your spices, of course, but if you plant enough you'll get *some* germination even with older seeds. Once you've got the first few growing, of course, you can let a plant or two bolt and produce mature seeds. Refrigerate those, and next year is looked after.

In the present company I'm guessing most of us have fresher spices than our less food-centric neighbours, so the odds are better. Push come to shove, you could always buy some fresh at your local bulk-foods store or whatever. Dill is just about as fast-growing as cilantro, so it's a good candidate for growing from seed. Fennel and fenugreek take longer to go to seed, but don't take too terribly long to reach the usable-as-herb stage.

 

One quick note: Keep some space between your fennel and dill; apparently they're closely enough related that they can cross-pollinate and your next-year seeds will be unreliable.

[kayb]

That'll handle the cilantro. Now, to find thyme...

 

Thanks!

 

[heidih]

Vespertine as a building visually annoys me but this article about Chef Kahn's take-out approach appealed to me.  The title is "Who knew Vepertine's Jordan Kahn  could make such comforting take-out food? (He  did)"

https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2020-05-19/vespertine-jordan-kahn-culver-city-takeout-creativity-coronavirus

[chefmd]

I am the first customer in a local store in North Beach, MD since the beginning of stay at home.  A bottle of Moscadet to pair with our shrimp dinner.  Photo is taken on Sunday.

[chefmd]

DH is working from home.  He made tacos with leftover chicken for lunch.  Complete with sour cream, cheese of unknown (to me) provenance, bottled green salsa.  Refried beans are made by me.  Duck fat was involved.

[Kim Shook]

4 hours ago, heidih said:

Vespertine as a building visually annoys me

Good lord.  I can see why!

 

[chefmd]

Today was my random Wednesday off.  Which means things are stabilizing in the office.  I was ecstatic to see that Nick’s of Calvert in Prince Fredrick, MD now has a beef aging refrigerator.  They used to have unreliable supply of dry aged beef  from Sysco but now it will be available all the time.  Some good things happen during pandemic.

 

 

[chefmd]

And my Chesapeake Bounty treasures.  Tomatoes are probably not great but I wanted them.  Strawberries perfumed my whole car.  

[heidih]

Just received a Ralphs (Kroger) Instacart delivery.  No white whole wheat which I like for bread - tried to sub regular whole wheat but that did not "take" on the app. I ended up with a half gallon of organic whole milk which nobody here will use. No charge. I'd try yogurt but no yogurt to use for starter here. Any thoughts before I pour it down the drain? Oh and then the shopper tried to sell me masks out of her trunk. People are very very stressed generally and esp financially.

Edited May 20, 2020 by heidih (log)