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Food in the time of a pandemic


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Well, Wegmans never charged me for the double order.  Weird.

 

Here is today's CSA share. Heirloom, beefsteak, roma, and cherry tomatoes, kale, yu choy, shishito peppers, hot wax peppers, Thai basil (I am very excited about this!) fairytale eggplant, some other kind of eggplant, summer squash, blush onions, green lettuce (only one head this week thankfully) and fresh garlic.  I guess I am making ratatouille again.

 

share.thumb.jpg.7e2e030930c7bce14339bc8613dfc0b4.jpg

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16 minutes ago, liamsaunt said:

Well, Wegmans never charged me for the double order.  Weird.

 

Here is today's CSA share. Heirloom, beefsteak, roma, and cherry tomatoes, kale, yu choy, shishito peppers, hot wax peppers, Thai basil (I am very excited about this!) fairytale eggplant, some other kind of eggplant, summer squash, blush onions, green lettuce (only one head this week thankfully) and fresh garlic.  I guess I am making ratatouille again.

 

 

 

Pretty eggplants. The round one screams "stuff me!". 

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8 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

I just had the strangest thing happen with my Wegman's delivery.  When you place an online order, you can go back and add items to the order until your shopper starts to work on it.  I have done this every time I have ordered with no issues.  Last night, I added bananas to my order.  This morning, I got the usual text that "Sara H" was working on the order.  About 20 minutes I got another text that "Peter B" was working on the order.  I figured it was a glitch (this has happened before) and did not give it another thought.  Nope.  "Sara H" dropped off my order with no bananas.  About five minutes later, "Peter B" dropped off my order.  All of the same food that "Sara H" dropped off, with the addition of bananas.  Luckily it was not a huge order, and I will use all of the doubled items eventually.  The extra chicken can go in the freezer.  That said, coming up with a use for four bunches of cilantro and four bottles of buttermilk might prove a bit challenging.  

 

It will be interesting to see if I am charged twice.  I would assume so, but who knows?

I have recently made sautéed lettuce and buttermilk soup.  And how about buttermilk beet soup?   Both are served cold 

ABA9D55A-BDF9-47CB-853A-CCC76C18EDFC.thumb.jpeg.b75fb871801de10dfc81a4cf886d127f.jpeg

 

44E1A9F9-A478-4972-ABED-14F5C71130F3.thumb.jpeg.5aec7d59db9cfecb1295db9c04d1360e.jpeg

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3 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

Well, Wegmans never charged me for the double order.  Weird.

 

Here is today's CSA share. Heirloom, beefsteak, roma, and cherry tomatoes, kale, yu choy, shishito peppers, hot wax peppers, Thai basil (I am very excited about this!) fairytale eggplant, some other kind of eggplant, summer squash, blush onions, green lettuce (only one head this week thankfully) and fresh garlic.  I guess I am making ratatouille again.

 

share.thumb.jpg.7e2e030930c7bce14339bc8613dfc0b4.jpg

Gorgeous haul.

 

Especially that Little Sunburst in the middle - save some of those seeds! ;)

 

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Uh oh...

 

1684446217_Beansprouts.jpeg.e142778787c4a1247c0d185a2d3ef4b4.jpeg

 

I'm becoming a 1970's era California hippie.

 

Seriously, when I lived in California in the 70s, I was growing sprouts - we'd put them (in that case, alfalfa sprouts) on avocado and cheese sandwiches (help me). Now, I want them around (and don't want to buy them) for Thai/Vietnamese/Chinese cooking. And, I guess, occasionally into a salad.

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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

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I can remember when every salad bar in the So. Cal. area had sprouts in their line-up.  I really love radish sprouts, they are pretty hot.  Come to think of it, I used to have a kit for sprouting seeds.  Had three lids that fit a mason jar.  Each one had a different size grid in it. You could rinse and drain the sprouts super easily.  For all know, it is still available...If I mentioned "sprouts" to my neighbors,  they would wonder why I'm  trying to grow Brussel 

sprouts in a jar!

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@IowaDee 

 

they still do.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Pack-Sprouting-Lids-Stainless-Steel/dp/B07QW6V2Q3/ref=sr_1_17?dchild=1&keywords=sprout+jars&qid=1597501970&sr=8-17

 

I remember doing this

 

wonder if seeds  are readily available at a reasonable cost these days

 

would have like radish sprouts , but never tried them

 

rats

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And those are so  much classier than the plastic ones I used.  I'm so tempted to order them but it can only lead me down that path to bongo drums, surf music and tie dyed everything!   I didn't hang out at Venice Beach for nothing ya know!

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I also had one of the jars (glass) but it only had one size of grid.  Last times I used it was for rye from the bulk bin at Whole Foods. Not to eat but to plant in a rectangular enamel pan and set on a vintage wooden chair on front porch - my "lawnchair". It is an easy and fun process to do sprouts.

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1 hour ago, IowaDee said:

And those are so  much classier than the plastic ones I used.  I'm so tempted to order them but it can only lead me down that path to bongo drums, surf music and tie dyed everything!   I didn't hang out at Venice Beach for nothing ya know!

Try Santa Barbara, '76 - '78!

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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

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1 hour ago, rotuts said:

@IowaDee 

 

they still do.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Pack-Sprouting-Lids-Stainless-Steel/dp/B07QW6V2Q3/ref=sr_1_17?dchild=1&keywords=sprout+jars&qid=1597501970&sr=8-17

 

I remember doing this

 

wonder if seeds  are readily available at a reasonable cost these days

 

Of course the seeds are available!  And here's the "equipment" I bought - though I will be supplying my own wide-mouth jars!

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XB4F9KM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

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3 hours ago, heidih said:

I also had one of the jars (glass) but it only had one size of grid.  Last times I used it was for rye from the bulk bin at Whole Foods. Not to eat but to plant in a rectangular enamel pan and set on a vintage wooden chair on front porch - my "lawnchair". It is an easy and fun process to do sprouts.

My picture of your lawnchair is a little different. It has the sprouts included. Does anyone remember Haitian cotton? We had a couch made of Haitian cotton. It sprouted when it got wet. Funny now, but disgusting then.

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Shoprite had no limes.

 

I wouldn't even have set out to Shoprite but amazon/WholeFoods had no blueberries.  How can a food store not have blueberries in the summer in New Jersey?  Now with $17.45 worth of local, organic blueberries I am ready to make ice cream.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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Finally, after 3 months wait, I got the delivery from Fly by Jing. Hopefully they will be in stock for a while. So far I only tried the mala spice and can see getting addicted to this stuff. 

 

 

C2E38233-393C-4ABC-AB11-04606E67FDBF.jpeg

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On 8/14/2020 at 12:20 PM, heidih said:

 

Instacart has never double charged me when they screw up. Hope same for Wegmans

 

I had a similar unexpected bounty from Costco recently -- one that is partially my fault, but I think I've done my best to try to fix it.

 

I placed an online order from them for a bunch of stuff, and the day it was (finally) due to arrive, I couldn't find it in the mail room. Checked the UPS tracking, and it was listed as delivered, signed for by "David" in "Shipping and Receiving." We don't have a shipping and receiving department, and no one in our building office has a name anything close to David, so I assumed it was lost and gone forever. Called Costco, waited on hold for half an hour, they looked it up, and re-shipped what they could and refunded the rest.

Well, wouldn't you know it, two days later the original box was delivered. I guess it wasn't misdelivered, but rather mis-scanned when something else was delivered. Oops.

 

Called Costco again, this time waited over an hour on hold, to try to get them to cancel the re-shipment. When I finally got through to someone she couldn't make heads or tails of what I was asking about, and kept insisting that the order couldn't be edited after it was shipped. At this point I was late for a meeting and just gave up.

 

So we have a lot of pecans, sea salt, and coffee now, among other things. I decided I'm just not going to ask them for the refund for the executive membership that I lost money on last year and call it even. Their mail order has been an utter disaster since before the pandemic, so I don't feel too bad.

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1 hour ago, Franci said:

Finally, after 3 months wait, I got the delivery from Fly by Jing. Hopefully they will be in stock for a while. So far I only tried the mala spice and can see getting addicted to this stuff. 

 

Yeah, the red box is the same stuff I got from Mala Grocery - good stuff!!  But shit, 3 months!

 

I was waiting with baited breath for these...

 

IMG_1899.jpeg.dcca447f228dd79fe5eb71284fa53574.jpeg

 

If I can't travel, at least I can have the nuts they serve on AA in First Class!  And this...

 

IMG_1903.jpeg.a996aa136638060e289069b7c0bd116f.jpeg

 

Ordered via Amazon - surprisingly, the Thai lime leaves are really nice and fresh. Since I don't know shit about galangal, I'll say this stuff is a bit, well, maybe past its prime. But I cleaned it up real pretty (like Bruce would), sliced it, and froze like 90% of it per Hot Thai Kitchen's instructions. I'll also freeze most of the lime leaves and consider myself to have a decent supply of both. The lemongrass I actually went to Essex Market for, where I picked up Thai basil as well.

 

 

 

 

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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

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Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

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1 hour ago, weinoo said:

 

I was waiting with baited breath for these...

 

IMG_1899.jpeg.dcca447f228dd79fe5eb71284fa53574.jpeg

 

If I can't travel, at least I can have the nuts they serve on AA in First Class! 

 

 

I saw your post and thought maybe I should go downstairs and look.  Sure enough, mine were sitting on the doorstep.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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16 hours ago, weinoo said:

If I can't travel, at least I can have the nuts they serve on AA in First Class! 

 

A couple of months ago I ended up with a JetBlue cheese tray in one of my produce boxes. Good for a laugh.

 

16 hours ago, weinoo said:

IOrdered via Amazon - surprisingly, the Thai lime leaves are really nice and fresh. Since I don't know shit about galangal, I'll say this stuff is a bit, well, maybe past its prime. But I cleaned it up real pretty (like Bruce would), sliced it, and froze like 90% of it per Hot Thai Kitchen's instructions. I'll also freeze most of the lime leaves and consider myself to have a decent supply of both. The lemongrass I actually went to Essex Market for, where I picked up Thai basil as well.

 

Those do look really lovely. Mind sharing the name of the Amazon seller?

 

Galangal is pretty hardy stuff, I find the stuff we get here often looks terrible but still tastes great.

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On 8/15/2020 at 8:21 AM, weinoo said:

Uh oh...

 

1684446217_Beansprouts.jpeg.e142778787c4a1247c0d185a2d3ef4b4.jpeg

 

I'm becoming a 1970's era California hippie.

 

Seriously, when I lived in California in the 70s, I was growing sprouts - we'd put them (in that case, alfalfa sprouts) on avocado and cheese sandwiches (help me). Now, I want them around (and don't want to buy them) for Thai/Vietnamese/Chinese cooking. And, I guess, occasionally into a salad.

 

I recall a cheese shop in Memphis in the 70s that made a sandwich (on whole wheat bread) with a soft Brie-ish cheese, avocado, tomato, and sprouts. I loved it.

 

Re: Instacart shopping. I placed an Aldi order the other day; got the predictable texts about something being refunded, something else being substituted. But when the order was dellivered, it did NOT have the half-and-half, the honey roasted peanuts, and some other stuff, but DID have two packages of chicken breasts. And they substututed a bag of frozen chicken Marsala (?) for the 14-inch Crofton paella pan. I have yet to figure that one out, but I guess I'll give the chicken stuff a try.

 

That's the first Instacart order I've had well and truly screwed up. 

 

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Don't ask. Eat it.

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8 minutes ago, kayb said:

 

That's the first Instacart order I've had well and truly screwed up. 

 

 

I think the company is undergoing changes so may have a lot of "newbies"

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1 hour ago, heidih said:

 

I think the company is undergoing changes so may have a lot of "newbies"

 

Yeah, I stumbled on some shopper discussion in the Instacart subreddits that suggested they took on a *ton* of new people in March and April without much training or vetting.

The consensus over there was (a) report the problem, and (b) in this particular case, give your shopper a lower rating, since they don't have any other mechanism to deal with problem shoppers.

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Behold, folks! I have discovered a cure for covid-19 :D:D

 

Dr. Fauci commented today that Asian countries have been able to successfully controlled covid-19 infections. He gave many explanations how they achieved their success. I have also seen a few other reports regarding Asian counties' dramatic  ability to limit covid-19 damages.

Many scientific  reasons have been given, cultural differences, political systems, genetics, ---etc. None can really satisfactorily explain why.

 

Of course , those scientists are too myopic. They have missed one glaring factor that is common to all those countries, they all eat Asian food!!

 

I have been have fun eating and cooking Asian inspired foods. 

 

Don't we all look for excuses to try different cooking? This can be interesting.

 

Stay safe.

 

dcarch

Edited by dcarch (log)
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