This was good. Gulf shrimp, lamb sausage, white miso, leek, ginger, fresh turmeric, mushroom, yada-yada..

I guess it's all a matter of perspective. I think Julia and Bridget try too hard now, they seem very forced. I always smiled when Christopher Kimball dressed as asparagus and he very much reminded me of my very geeky brother when he pushed those glasses up. That's probably why I like him, he seemed almost familiar to me. I do have one of their cookbooks and make a couple of favorite recipes from it, but as has been said, many are unnecessarily tedious and involved.

Tea_Bow, you know that halibut is my favorite fish and that parmesan crusted version just looks amazing, yum. I'm glad your DH is recovering and getting back to his old self, even if it's slowly. Good luck with all those staples, poor guy.

Artemis, somehow whenever I cook a ham it serves more than I think it will, I don't know how that happens. Good thing we like the leftovers! We don't have television via cable or satellite, nor do I intend to ever have it again. We do have a Roku box and an antenna and Netflix, so we can get local channels, our local PBS which is Create and has cooking shows, and Netflix movies. That's enough. I don't watch any YouTube videos either. Elery did get his Kimchi instructions from Maangchi, though, and still will offer me a bite (not ever happening, I can't get past the smell!) saying "soooo delicious". Ahem.

Neely, I have oxtail in the freezer too, several packages. I keep saying I'll make soup, but I haven't. I really should, yours looks really good. I'd like the carrot and mashed potato mixture too.

Sleevendog, your soup looks fresh and good, and the corn shoots add a nice bit of color to the arancini too. I also need to buy MORE mustard seeds, I used the last of my current batch in this rouladen. Elery's youngest son and wife came for a day with their two girls, and he specifically requested the rouladen. The daughter in law unrolled it and removed the dill pickle, the oldest child wouldn't touch it at all but the little one liked it, and she greatly enjoyed the corn on the cob too, even if it wasn't local.

Lots of rouladen left:

Homemade dinner rolls:

A "rainbow" cake made for Daddy's birthday by the oldest daughter and I. She's 5, and we used the King Arthur Classic Birthday Cake recipe, she informed me that she saw it on Facebook and it was "the recipe of the year". So, we made that, but portioned out the batter and dyed it different colors of her choosing. She didn't want to write "Happy Birthday" on it, but she did sprinkle candy stars on top and chose two candles that said "D" and "A". She looked for another "D" but there was none to be found, so she settled for just two, LOL.

They were here in the morning too, so I made breakfast. Waffles of Insane Greatness, with sliced strawberries:

Taking an idea from Linda/Doucanoe, I made a quiche with a hash brown crust. This one contained fontina cheese, fresh spinach and had a little feta crumbled on top:

We also had bacon and fruit and coffee. Lots and lots of coffee, the girls kept us hopping pretty much the whole time..

Annie

Annie what a delightful grandmother you continue to be to all your relatives. Love the look on Elery’s granddaughter’s face, she looks so proud of that cake.

Lovely to see your food again Tea Bow and good to hear your DH is on the mend although still has a way to go with getting those nasty staples removed. Halibut continues to be on my list of food to try one day. When we visited my FIL on Vancouver Island years ago, I didn’t know about Halibut.

Sleevendog your food once again looks so good.

My hubs made a beef curry pretty much from scratch and it was really good... Spicey hot.

Oh, papad. That looks good. I'll use that tonight for shrimp/scallop bowls.

Adorable girls Annie. : ) You handle all the company very well. You are clearly the magnet of your families.

That is a lot of stitches. Seems so soon after the last operation. Beautiful broths. He is in great healing hands.

Still freezer/fridge/spice cabinet/pantry shopping. Had idea what to toss together last night. I made a pearl couscous salad for lunch but made too much as I tend to do. So meatless Thursday. (I've never made 'monday' or taco Tuesday. Can't follow Ikea arrows, and that always backfires. I'm a rebel)

Slow roasted a couple big mushrooms and artichoke hearts. Couscous stuffing as a test, topped with mozzarella. Avocado/couscous. Lots of lemon. Looks like we cruised through a vegetarian buffet line.

Then the RanchoGordo bean club came last night.

Just when a pantry space empties, I fill it up again. Soaked some corona beans last night. Swelled to the size of wine corks by this morning. I try keep a quantity to 5 ounces. yikes.

Sleevendog, good to know on the Coronas. I got 1 lb. in my last order.

Tea_Bow... those look awesome! (drooling.)

Annie, yes those two on ATK look too forced now. But they also seemed somewhat forced when Kimball was there, too. Maybe not so much as now...

The bean club, I just noticed, is. open for membership today...maybe just a couple days. Shipping is included. They give a heads up a couple days before shipping so you can cancel. Always a free surprise treat like the wild mountain cumin. News letter with recipes. Info about each bean. And a free shipping code if I need to order a favorite like the incredible tiny lime green Flageolet I can't live without.

I save a half dozen seed from each bag to plant in the garden.

Doing The Rounds

Top round cuts of beef are very tough, but it's always reasonably priced.

It was on sale at $1.99 a lb.

Sous Vide top round. Delicious tender protein, Should have gotten more.

dcarch

Tea Bow- You and Ann T should have lots to talk about -- halibut and a DH who is recovering from his second surgery on his leg! Your fish and soups look outstanding!

Annie,- More adorable little girls, I'm so envious! My boys were here to visit and left early this morning to fly back to their new home in Georgia. But no one wants to cook with me any more. Besides, their tastes are so fast food type boring, it's not worth it to try and make something exciting. Teens now!

Sleevendog- that soup with the white miso base- do you have any kind of recipe for me to cobble together? DH would definitely enjoy it!

Neely, Artemis, etc-- I'm not paging back, but the mashed carrots/potatoes and the ham look beautiful! THanks to all for the suggestions. DH would also love those oxtails, can anyone provide a good recipe for me to try? The salad sounds yummy and I'm drooling at the omelet. DH might enjoy the beef curry too. What are the shell like things that are on the plate?

Annie, that looks like a great meal! Does not look like diet food at all. Eat meat. Just cut the portions down if it is not on the diet.

Always enjoy your farm pics. Cow cutie. Nice extensive bean collection. I have so many but always expand and try more varieties every year.

Made a nice lentil salad for lunch. With the leftover Corona beans. I'm writing down with pics so I can record what I did and showing the chosen pot. Printed hard copy for my file book.

(I picked out the lemon seed before serving)

They come thin hard flat, shelf stable. We don't buy chip snacks of any kind, so it is an easy go-to for hummus, bean salads, anytime a chip would be nice. Need to find a good Indian market. Stupid expensive on Amazon. Zero/minimal carb, salts, gluten free, etc. 30 second puff in a microwave. Or heat/flame. I prefer the 4inch that has some rice flour, but what I have now is just lentil.

Friday night was all about the Corona beans, tossed in minced garlic, pea shoots and micro celery. Gulf shrimp, Atlantic scallops, in hijiki.

Last night I needed a good rare steak cube. Porcini risotto stuffed mushrooms and a winter succotash. (sun dried tomato, olives, lots of lemon) Micro basil.

Sleeveendog your micrograms always look so nice, will you show us your growing setup?

My gosh, those corona beans are enormous! All your photos always look so good with all the macrogreens, sleevendog.

I tried another new chicken recipe and it's a keeper. Mustard and lemon sauce. I used brown rice instead of my usual white basmati and it's a bit mushy, but tastes good nevertheless. Pan sauteed asparagus as well.

Check out this photo of the chicken!

Congratulations to Neely on the new 2-feet addition (if I could 'like' this more, I'd sprain my thumb)!

Sol

Lemon/mustard top of the list for flavor!

Crispy crusted salmon. My new batch of sesame chili oil is less spicy so I can really pack in on during the couple hour marinading. Wild rice/couscous salad. Enough for Monday lunches.

Made some RG beans for Monday night chicken soup. 20 min meal.

@compumom. Many of my 'January' soups use a white miso base. More a method than recipe but I'm making it tonight so I'll be thinking of you and take a couple pics.

When we make or purchase Italian sausage I wrap individual links and put them all in a quart zip, then freeze. Then take out one am with six shrimp. Shrimp/sausage is a good combo...think gumbo. I snip the link with scissors and roll to make baby meatballs. Or take out a previously braise/roasted chicken thigh, small packages ham, pulled pork... I like to keep a variety of choices for quick soups or tacos.

Some 'January' soups using a 20 minute method with a Miso base. Never boring, : )

Went to Nashville on business last week so I didn't have to cook a thing.

Oh boy, cookebook, that ribeye does look sinfully delicious, as does the Rolls Royce!

Jasdip, you chicken looks good too, but that asparagus looks perfect. Another 6 weeks or so and hopefully I'll be picking my own, I'm so looking forward to that.

Sol, I'm happy to see you here, my friend!

Sleevendog, everything looks fresh and lovely as always, but the shrimp dish looks really good. We're supposed to get 6 inches of snow here Wednesday night, so it's good soup weather, or it's going to be.

Here? Mother was here to use the shower, so she had her favorite, KFC. (sigh) Elery and I had split pea soup, but it's ugly (although good) so I didn't take a picture.

Annie

I’ve stayed off the WFD thread as I’ve nothing to contribute – no enticing home-cooked meals as DH and I are still eating take-out, still without a kitchen. I’m thinking June. However, I have read every single post, drooled and stomach-growled over all your wonderful meals! I can’t possibly comment on every single dish, but…

Our fast-food diet transitioned into more and more grocery deli salads (I don’t think they wash that stuff) and lots of Subway sammies… and all we wanted were winter meals, like Annie’s chilis – loved the white chicken chili (your niçoise salad was a thing of beauty!) – Sleevendog said it best, you are the magnet of your family. Sleeven’s miso soup meals – those dumplings in miso.. {sigh}, and all the artichokes and avocado (ah!), Jasdip’s chicken dinners – oh, and that sausage and onion really made my mouth water! BTW, bravo Jasdip for all the meals you’re cooking! Neely, congrats on the grandbaby – that’s exciting! Hope you’re settling in now… I missed your chunky soups and loved that oxtail - looks delicious! Cookebook’s fried rice and shrimp, and that torturously amazing tomahawk ribeye, Atemis’s gorgeous ham (heaven help me, I wanted to eat my screen!) Tea_Bow, I’m sending healing thoughts your DH’s way. I’m a silly worrier and was getting concerned about your DH – so very relieved and happy to hear he’s on the mend, though sad to hear it’s far slower than the last surgery. Your matza ball soup made me hopeful…someday I need to try it again, and hope for a better outcome… but all that tender, perfectly cooked halibut? Made my eyes water with longing… Dcarch, I’m clearly starving for good food because I usually ‘study’ your food pics for their beauty first, taking my time. This time I read the words ‘sous vide’ and kinda lost it :-) Also, that char… that char…

Spending our weekends working hard, inside and outside, up well before sunrise. Always sore, filthy, but happy. Shower and sleep heals all! Hoping to put in a veg garden this year (!!!), but probably too late for much. Planted a fig, some blueberries (pulled the buds as it’s their first year). I’m as excited about the garden and its future offerings as I am about getting a kitchen back! DH and I now talk about the meals we miss most. Bad to do such reminiscing when the possibility is so far off! First I want a sous vide steak… with Tea’s peppercorn gravy. I’ve made it once (too thick) and cannot get it off my mind. I have white and red miso in the fridge, waiting for me to attempt a quasi-sleevendog bowl. Smoked chicken. Lots of steamed veggies… I’ll shut up now.

Sorry to get so long-winded. I’ll have to stay away for a bit again now. But I’m watching you all, so keep up those fantastic, inspiring dishes! I miss everyone!

Last night I made three recipes from Ina, Herb Roasted Fish, Celery and Parmesan Salad and Creamy Parmesan Polenta. They were a huge hit.

I made a couple small adjustments due to family preferences and allergies. For the fish, I omitted the olives and along with the remaining ingredients I added lemon zest and sprigs of fresh parsley in the packets. In the Celery Salad, I omitted the anchovies paste and the walnuts.

DS, DH and I loved the fish. I used haddock and it was to die for! The celery salad was DD's favorite and the other DS loved the polenta.

I used Parmesan cheese DD had bought, it was not my favorite so the one caveat I would have is use good Parmesan cheese. LOL

Wow lots of good cooking since I was last here. Thanks for the grand baby wishes Sol.

Yes the shell shaped things with the beef curry were Papadums and thanks Sleeve (hah recalling 2 many’s abbreviation) for another use for them.

I’m sorry Compumom11, I don’t have a recipe for DH’s Beef Curry... he said he used one from the Net but ‘adapted’ it to suit himself including adding 2 tablespoons of coconut cream for richness. However, the following is a recipe for the Oxtails which you mentioned.

Oxtails as taught to me by a Polish lady.

2 oxtail circles about 50 cms / 2 inches thick.

1 tablespoon flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 diced onion

1 can diced tomatoes

Salt

Pepper

Quarter teaspoon cinnamon

Quarter teaspoon caraway seeds

2 cloves garlic

Approx half litre beef stock

1 bulb fennel cut into quarters.

Dust oxtails with flour and brown in the olive oil. Add onion and garlic, move around on gentle heat so it doesn’t burn.

Add all other ingredients except fennel and simmer gently for at least 2 hours (2-3 hours)

40 mins before serving add the chopped fennel. Continue simmer.

You can add a squeeze of lemon before serving to freshen.

I made meatballs with pasta for a quick dinner last night.

Thank you!!

You people are amazing! I am hungry.

I only do very simple cooking these days.

Thai rolls:

Simple stir fry:

Asparagus is easily available in the stores, but they're quite thick at the bottom. I'm looking forward to fresh spring asparagus that are more the same size top to bottom, with not as much waste, like Annie will be enjoying in a few weeks :-)

Meatballs and pasta is always a good, quick meal, and yours looks so good, Neely.

2MD how good to see you again!!! We don't expect you to pop in and talk to us, as you need to be triplets for the amount of work you and your dh are doing, and it's nice to know you come when you can and eat 'with us'.

The other nite was a quick meal of sausage (Yum!) and pasta salad.

Hah!!! At least I know my baking powder is still fresh. This is what I get when I have too much batter for my 12-cup tin, and I'm too lazy to use just one more cup in a another tin.

A mess and who knows if they'll even turn out. I just might have wasted my pineapple and sour cream plus the usual ingredients.

Oh no, I so win the fail. Yours will be good!. They rose, lol. (except I so dislike pineapple. So not for us.)

I found some gorgeous cherries in the freezer and made a corn cake I've made a thousand times. 8 inch cast iron started on the stove top...batter in, sizzling, into hot oven, 10 minutes add savory items or fruit. Puffs up around the filling. Realized I used corn starch instead of baking soda. (haha) grrr.

Basically made a dense polenta pie. Fruit top. ( : 0)

A miso broth is a simple quick meal. A Tbsp in 2 cups warm/hot water with freshly grated ginger, green onion, minced cilantro with its stems and/or the tender core celery with its leaves. Shallot/garlic optional. Nice with seafood on its own with a noodle like buckwheat soba but I often pull out a half pint of freezer stock. Some of my stock has a bean or a mixed grain. I'm getting some brown/muddy soups but that is probably the fresh tumeric root combined with dark tomatoes from the garden that I froze. CherokeeChoc, KangarooPawBrown, TennSuited, etc.

I stock three Miso varieties but use the white the most. Kept refrigerated being fermented. (not shelf stable cans or jars)

Cod Cakes Friday. Looks like a Bollywood plate. So pink.

Fish shower/stew last night. Excellent but that brown broth again. Simple Rouille, red pepper, garlic, lots of lemon, pinch Korean red pepper flake, yogurt.

Shrimp, scallops, cod, king crab knuckle. Leek, fennel, shallot, potato...

My muffins literally didn't turn out. They all fell in the middle and weren't cooked all the way through. Note to self, don't be so cheap, and in such a hurry that you won't divvy up the batter proportionately.

I made pork tenderloin with a glaze made of garlic, red wine (I used chicken broth and red wine vinegar) soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and hot sauce. I cut it in half so it would fit easily in the skillet.

Alongside was quinoa and asparagus. I haven't had quinoa in ages, and we both always liked it.

jasdip

glad to see some of us still rely on the old cast iron pans ....

2many, I hope you get your kitchen back soon, I miss "seeing" you here.

moosemac, that celery salad sounds interesting, I'm going to go off to find that recipe when I'm done here!

petalique, your thai rolls look nice and fresh, like spring time!

Sleevendog, your soup looks good, "brown" broth and all. I like the looks of the "Bollywood" plate too, very nice and colorful. Too bad about the "polenta pie" though...

Jasdip, Your pork looks really good, that should make up a little bit for the failed muffins. I'm guilty of the same thing, sometimes I just don't want to make two muffins in another pan and so I fill them up and then they run all over the place and are ugly. I just did that with some small cake pans and had to trim edges and cut off domes. I know better, but I did it anyway.

There wasn't a lot of cooking going on here. Elery spent several days with his daughter, doing some home repair and updating, things like fixing her closet door. Her husband isn't very handy about such things, but she lives in Ohio, so when he goes there, he goes for a few days and she always has a list of things for him to do. I took that opportunity to just take a hiatus from cooking and mostly ate things like cold cereal and crackers with peanut butter. Heck, I didn't even make coffee a couple of those days, so no pictures, LOL. Yesterday I warmed up the last of the split pea soup and it wasn't pretty, so no pictures of that either, but today Elery decided to make some chicken shawarma, which is basically just chicken breast marinated in yogurt with some seasonings. He put it on a skewer but it kept falling over in the oven, in spite of the halved onion on top and bottom of the "pile", so he propped it up with some tinfoil supports. It took about an hour longer to cook through than he anticipated, which gave me time to husk some corn and thaw some mashed squash.

I did pick up some asparagus at a local store for 88 cents a pound, so I decided to can some pickled asparagus. I have those 200 asparagus crowns, but somehow we eat the fresh asparagus as fast as I can pick it, so I'll use someone else's to pickle. I was going to make soup from the trimmed ends but decided to use up the brine and just put them into jars too. I added some of the dehydrated Carolina Reaper to a couple of jars, just for Elery.

It just seemed like a good day to stand over a boiling canner, somehow winter just isn't quite finished with us. Yes, we had a snow storm, and got about 7 inches of snow in 6 hours. It'll probably melt tomorrow, though, it's supposed to be up in the 40s all day. This is the view out my kitchen window:

Annie

Wow Annie! I heard about that.

Salad greens trial is going well. We have had nice weather but dropped down to 38º last night. Started another full tray. Some of these will go on the kitchen deck garden in root pouches and the rest in the ground.

Kimchi Tuna salad lunch,

Red Miso/sesame Crusted Cod, fresh pickle,

First affordable artichokes of the season. 3 for 5$. (they have been 2 for 7$) I'm patient. We always get a further drop$ in a couple weeks.

Steak/ wildrice/ bean salad

As usually happens in April snowstorms, the snow is all gone today and it's raining, supposed to rain for the next couple of days, then a break, then more rain. The pasture is turning green, which will make my animals very happy, they can get something fresh and green instead of dry hay for dinner.

Elery would absolutely love your tuna and kim chi sandwich and we both like beans, but that wild rice salad you had with your steak is what really looks good to me.

Yesterday was Monday and by accident, we went meatless. Elery enjoyed the prior vegetable "nicoise" I made so well that I made another one, and he was happy. Tonight he had leftover venison and broccoli stir fry that I made over the weekend and I had leftover chicken shawarma.

Annie

We have been meatless by accident as well. I've been testing a hearty salad for a third plating after the LambChops/artichoke for Easter. First plate is a seafood salad. Need something with the chops I think. Wild rice/pomegranite? oh, maybe a wild rice dressing with mushrooms/pecans/dried cranberries. A do-ahead.

Put daikon and yellow beet on the shopping list for more festive colors in the pickle.

Dinner...White Miso, pea shoots, dumplings. Split a Bollywood salad. : )

Crimson popcorn for dessert. Tiny nutty hulless kernels.

All wonderful cooking above. Those lastest sunny photos of yours Sleevendog are even more amazing and eat off the page.

We’ve given up on the unpacking and fitting in and gone travelling for awhile. Our city where we now live is Melbourne and we have headed west. Currently in an area known for oyster growing... so we’ve been having some where we could.

Fresh for me

Oysters Kilpatrick for DH

Then at another place I had Oysters Japanese with picked ginger, sesame seeds and soy sauce you add yourself

These were my favourite.

I had my brother and SIL over for dinner on Good Friday. I made a big one-pot meal to have more time for visiting and not fussing in the kitchen.

My 12" skillet was filled to the brim with chicken, sausage, potatoes, onions and clams. I'd love making this for hubby and I as well. As usual, I'm used to cooking for someone who loved food and loved to eat. Even though SIL had just 1 piece of chicken and 1 clam (no wonder she's a size 0) and brother ate a bit more....sigh....they loved it, and she wanted the recipe. Can anyone say 'leftovers'??

An oyster tour! Love them. I waited tables all through University. One small high-end-casual seafood restaurant, (for rich people in jeans), had an oyster bar. Perk was all the oysters/clams we wanted. Plus an employee meal. I always had a dozen raw and a dozen on the grill.

Put Melborne in my weather phone file. We are having near identical weather temps right now.

Nice comfort meal of chicken. Having similar tonight me thinks. Easy while we prep for tomorrow.

Wednesday was Taco night. Found a packet of smoked pork in the freezer.

Chilaquiles

Last night a quickie artichoke and porcini arancini

We had a shrimp and crab boil on Friday. We had the usual ham dinner on Easter but I forgot to take pictures.

Cookebook, looks delicious! We've been eating boiled crawfish (with potatoes & corn) every weekend the past month. Great time of year!

Cookebook that looks incredible! Shrimp and crab boils really intrigue me, after watching one of Ina Garten's episodes. Yours doesn't disappoint!

I made a pizza Sat night. I've been eating leftover chicken the past couple of nites since there was so much leftover.

Neely, your photos are lovely, and I think it was about time for a break from all that moving/packing/unpacking. Have fun!

Sleevendog, your taco night looks fresh and good.

Cookebook, now that's how I remember a seafood boil should be, yum!

Jasdip, I'll bet that cast iron pan made some nicely crunchy pizza crust. As for eating leftover chicken, well, we must be in sync somehow, because I had leftover chicken. Elery and I were cutting trees from along the pond bank today and so we had a crockpot full of beans cooking. I decided to make chicken enchiladas to go with the beans. Leftover chicken, a chopped zucchini and some seasonings, rolled up in a low carb tortilla and covered with AnnT's green sauce from her Stacked Enchilada recipe. That sauce can make anything better, even those oddly stretchy low carb tortillas! A spoonful of guacamole on the side:

Of course, nothing makes supper taste better than a good appetite and hauling wood all day kind of helps that along, LOL. 65F and sunny, it was perfect.

Annie

Bumping this to the top so that we don't accidentally post on the old WFD thread.

Annie, cast iron makes a great pizza crust!

And I completely agree with you that everything tastes better when you've been hauling wood and other strenuous physical activity. Heck I get that from doing my 4 cardio/workout classes per week!

bump

Home again, and I felt like something soupy. Luckily had some ham bone stock in the freezer so made pea and ham soup.

So miss the boil-ups when we lived in NOrleans. Have to wait for fresh corn up in the NEast.

Rainy, damp, and Spring chilly here. Soup looks good!

Easter lamb and salad. Too busy and social to pic the apps.

SousVide 135, 2-3 hours. It was perfect.