Gotten any fun stuff lately?

[Shel_B]

Finally got around to replacing the old behemoth which was also a Panasonic and which gave us more than twenty-three years of good service. It would have cost more to fix than many contemporary new ovens, and while it was hard to let go, the time had come to replace it. I've been without a microwave for about eight months, and surprisingly I didn't miss it very much.  The only thing I really missed was not being able to heat up my favorite TJ's frozen entrées. The new oven cost less than half of what a repair to the old one would have. It's not quite as powerful (900 watts vs 1200 watts), and while it's just about as big inside the outer dimensions are quite a bit smaller. Bought it directly from Panasonic and, OTD, saved about 12% compared to Amazon.

 

Edited May 22 by Shel_B
Clarity of intent (log)

[weinoo]

 

Giving a couple of "modestly priced" Balsamic vinegars a try...these are IGP, not DOP, so while not top, top quality, supposedly quite good.

 

The 3 gold medals - on the left: (tried this one last night on some Vanilla ice cream - it was quite good).

 

Made from sweet, sundried grapes and aged in oak barrels. The aromas and flavors of plum jam and red fruits blend with hints of honey and vanilla, creating a dense and sweet product. Ideal as a fresh dressing for both savory and sweet dishes.

 

The one on the right:

 

Aged for a long time in acacia barrels, it offers a deeply aromatic flavor with scents of ripe fruits, accompanied by notes of tobacco, roasted coffee, and hints of wood and honey.

 

Giusti

Edited May 23 by weinoo (log)

[weinoo]

 

Ice cream mentioned in above post...still some of our favorite, and available from a bodega around the corner.

[rotuts]

@weinoo

 

thank you for the tip on the balsamic.

 

I decided to get the smaller bottles , of the 1 , 2 , and 3 stars version.

 

once I work w these , as I bet they are very interesting 

 

I can imagine going back to a small 4 star.

 

thanks.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

5 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

Ice cream mentioned in above post...still some of our favorite, and available from a bodega around the corner.

 

Used to be my favorite commercial brand.  Was superseded by Van Leeuwen.

 

[weinoo]

10 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Used to be my favorite commercial brand.  Was superseded by Van Leeuwen.

 

 

I'm sure it's (V L) good (though I've never tried it), and I can walk around the corner to one of their shops, but if I were to walk to their shop on Ludlow Street, I'd just walk another 1/2 block and have Il Laboratorio's gelato.

 

 My problem with Van L might be encompassed by this:

 

Quote

 

The American private equity firm Nextworld invested $18.7 million in the company in 2020. Van Leeuwen opened their 30th store in 2022 and has over 70 stores as of December 2024.^[3][4]

In November 2022, Van Leeuwen entered a settlement agreement with the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. The chain agreed to comply with a New York City law that banned retail stores from refusing to accept cash as payment and to pay $33,000 in outstanding civil penalties. Van Leeuwen had been violating the law since it went into effect in November 2020 and did not appear for any administrative hearings.

 

 

Both McConnell's and Il Lab are still basically small company held.

[Shel_B]

Arrived this morning direct from Four Elephants, new crop

Thai Hom Mali jasmine rice.

 

 

Edited May 24 by Shel_B
Adjust image (log)

[paulraphael]

On 5/23/2025 at 7:56 AM, weinoo said:

 

I'm sure it's (V L) good (though I've never tried it), and I can walk around the corner to one of their shops, but if I were to walk to their shop on Ludlow Street, I'd just walk another 1/2 block and have Il Laboratorio's gelato.

 

 My problem with Van L might be encompassed by this:

 

 

Both McConnell's and Il Lab are still basically small company held.

 

Although Jo likes ice cream that aims for 110% milk fat, so VL might be more her style.

 

I'm with you on Il Lab. But also Morgenstern's a few blocks away. Seriously good stuff.

[weinoo]

2 hours ago, paulraphael said:

But also Morgenstern's a few blocks away. Seriously good stuff.

 

That location is now called Morgenstern's Bananas, and it looks to be a soft-serve concept...

Quote

 

 the softer side of Morgenstern’s - reimagining soft serve for the 21st century.  Just like Morgenstern's Finest Ice Cream, Morgenstern’s BANANAS is built on our obsession with making the best soft serve, calling on all of Morgenstern’s ice cream expertise. 

 

We don’t rely on just one soft-serve base for all of our flavors.  We write every recipe and create each flavor individually and in small batches.  Everything is made in-house, from our bases, to our boba, to our toppings.  We never use preservatives or stabilizers and only choose the best ingredients for taste and texture first, which keeps our flavors clean and clear.  

Inspired by the tradition of American soft serve, Morgenstern’s BANANAS takes a fun, silly and deliciously sweet approach to America’s favorite dessert.

 

 

[paulraphael]

18 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

That location is now called Morgenstern's Bananas, and it looks to be a soft-serve concept...

 

Oh, man, I didn't realize they replaced the Rivington location with that. Too bad. I'm in that neighborhood more often than the w. village.

[liuzhou]

I was idly flicking through my food delivery app, looking for inspiration. This momentarily baffled me. At first I thought it was a black trash bag but then noticed the whitish semi-transparent top.

 

 

Then the penny dropped. The  contents are an ingredient for dinner. It is a mixture of duck blood and rice vinegar.  The vinegar prevents the blood from congealing and adds tartness. Used in a Yao minority dish called 醋血鸭 (cù xuè yā), literally ‘vinegar blood duck’.

 

A young duck is chopped on the bone and stir fried with garlic, ginger, chilli, bitter melon, sesame and peanuts and finished in a rich sauce made from the bird’s blood and vinegar. Served with green vegetables of choice and rice, it makes for a delicious lunch or instead can be served as part of a larger family style meal. The vinegar cuts the richness of the blood, whereas the blood limits the astringency of the vinegar, leaving the duck tender and juicy, but not at all greasy.

 

I have made the dish but never seen the premixed blood and vinegar before. Very fresh blood is on sale in my local market so I grab it before it congeals.

Yao Blood and Vinegar Duck

 

 

Edited May 28 by liuzhou (log)

[Maison Rustique]

Today was my lucky day. I got all these cookbooks from a lovely local woman in the Buy Nothing group. And another friend gave me TONS of moving boxes in desirable expensive to buy sizes and big bags of packing materials. And another friend brought me 2 packages of fresh raviolis and a carton of ice cream. No pix of the food and boxes.

 

[Smithy]

@Maison Rustique - what a fun haul of books! I hope we'll see some explorations of (and maybe cookery from) them as your life settles. It's fun to see so much shellfish content...but I'm especially interested in "Liberace Cooks". Did he really? 🙂 Was he as flamboyant a cook as musician, I wonder?

[ElsieD]

@Maison Rustique  You'll have a blast going through those books.  I find old cookbooks to be fascinating reading.

[Maison Rustique]

I honestly can't believe I got them--and like I need anymore, but most of my collection is already packed up and I've been having cookbook browsing withdrawals. I'm sure I'll be giving some of these away at some point because I'm pretty sure I've already got a couple of them. 

 

@Smithy, I can't wait to take a look at the Liberace one--I started laughing when I saw it! I wish it had the dust cover, but am sure contents will be fun anyway.

[weinoo]

15 hours ago, Smithy said:

It's fun to see so much shellfish content.

 

Great selection of books, and where else would one expect to see so much about shellfish other than the heartland of this country!

[Shel_B]

Last night I picked up the most recent allocation of olive oil from a friend's grove. Mmmmm!

https://ranchomilagro.us/

 

Edited May 31 by Shel_B
Additional information (log)

[Dr. Teeth]

New funayuki.   Because it’s not like I already have more knives than I could use in 6 lifetimes 

[rotuts]

@Dr. Teeth

 

its always a pleasure to get a new knife , esp. a Japanese knife .

[Shel_B]

I've been looking for this locally, not wanting to pay the high prices from online retailers where one had to buy 6 or 12 packages, or had to pay high shipping costs or place large orders. Sometimes that's OK, but all I wanted was a couple of boxes of pasta. Today, the local Natural Grocery called and said they'd recently received some fusilli, and within a few minutes I was on my way to grab a couple of boxes. There's a dish I wanted to make with this for a while, and tonight or tomorrow I'll put it together. Happy boy, here ...

 

 

Edited June 5 by Shel_B (log)

[Shel_B]

A few bottles of some of my favorite hot sauces were delivered a while ago. Just in time, I might add. The last dregs of the garlic pepper sauce were used this morning.

 

Edited June 5 by Shel_B
Clarity of intent (log)

[liuzhou]

I’m beside myself! Scored this this morning.

 

 

Here is my translation of the description provided. 

 

Lean Cured Meat, A Speciality Of Hunan, Smoked Meat, Homemade Smoked Salted Meat From Local Farmers, Pork Tenderloin, And Dried Cured Meat From Hunan, Not From Sichuan  

 

Apart from liking a bit of Hunan charcuterie, I’ve never tried smoked meat made from farmers. I never fancied Sichuan farmer’s though. Those boys are obviously inferior meat.

 

 

Now re-vacuum-packed into more manageable portions.

 

 

[rotuts]

the WSJ frequently explains what Fun Stuff the Swells need to buy ,

 

for themselves or for others.

 

this time around its what Swell Dads need :

 

So , maybe someone got this gem :

 

 

the WSJ seems to emphasize cost first , much of the time.  Why not get two ?

 

exceptionally Ugly , this one.

Edited Saturday at 01:05 PM by rotuts (log)

[Shel_B]

 

Arriving tomorrow. These tomatoes are an Amazon subscription option and a few days ago Amazon told me that they were out of stock and it was unknown when they'd be available again. Not a big deal as there are always a few cans of tomatoes in the pantry, these or one of two brands of San Marzano dell’Agro Sarnese-Nocerino. But I don't like to get too low.

 

Well, Amazon came through and shipped them much sooner than expected. But what made them the most fun is that the price dropped by abut 20% from past orders, and in these days of rising prices that's real fun.

 

And from TJ's this morning came this item:

 

 

Thanks to @blue_dolphin for making me aware of it. I'm hoping I'll like it enough, and that it'll work well in some of my recipes, that I'll have no need to drive into Berkeley to get my feta.  There are a few recipes in which I'd like to try this cheese, and maybe I'll get to at least one of them in the next few days.

 

Edited Tuesday at 01:15 AM by Shel_B (log)

[rotuts]

We all have our favorite pepper mills , or , the ones we use every day .

 

Ive had several over the years .

 

this one

 

https://www.francecorner.com/2625-perfex-pepper-mill.html

 

I got from FR many many years ago , very affordable back then , and was impressive to have , but a pain to use.

 

the current work horse is very ordinary , but got the job done.  but sometimes the mechanism would fall out ,

 

and what a mess , So :

 

 

the old one , on the left  the new OXO

 

https://www.target.com/p/oxo-softworks-pepper-grinder/-/A-13557789#lnk=sametab

 

a buck cheaper @ Amazon , but I get a % 5 discount , and was buying cat litter anyway ...

 

OXO again came through w an item that is very easy to use , and had more features than I thought.

 

it came w pepper corns !  ttey are not bad. very easy to adjust .   

 

you do need to turn it over to use , but then there is less pepper dribble on your counter.

 

a delightful surprise it is !