I’m not a great planner — not in life generally, and definitely not in grocery shopping and meals. I’ve had to become better about it since we moved way out in the boonies a couple of years back; a trip into town now requires a 15 minute drive on a horrendous, cratered, often partially flooded dirt road, and then a further 15 or so on a hardtop before civilization looms into view, such as it is here in the hinterlands.
The lockdown put even more of a kibosh on my trips into town. But I did recently discover a quiche shortcut that I will share here — it makes a great last-minute, no-plan dinner. It’s based on a recipe I found in The Post that uses frozen puff pastry rather than a traditional piecrust.
This method makes a smaller quiche and uses fewer eggs, which is perfect for us right now (until the economic collapse brings the fledglings back to the nest, le sigh). You just need 4 eggs, 1/3 cup of cream or half-and-half, a thawed sheet of puff pastry and whatever kind of goodies you want in the quiche.
More below the fold…
I originally followed the recipe as published in The Post, with one exception: it featured Gorgonzola cheese, and we didn’t have that, so I used feta. To be honest, it wasn’t very good. The lemon zest overpowered everything else. It would have probably worked with a stronger cheese like Gorgonzola, but the zest just rudely elbowed that feta out of the way and dominated the dish. But while that particular quiche sucked, it was a good proof of concept nonetheless, and I’ve made a few pastry puff quiches since then. So simple!
First, you line an 8 x 8 baking dish with parchment paper and plonk the thawed square of puff pastry on it, forming a well to hold the rest of the ingredients:
Then, you add whatever you want in the quiche — I sauteed some mild peppers the mister grew in the garden plus half an onion and threw that in the crust:
Then I added a couple of handfuls of shredded jack and cheddar that we had in the fridge to the veggie mixture, whisked up four eggs and the cream along with some salt and pepper and poured that over the top of everything else.
Then I popped it in a 400-degree oven for half an hour, and voila — quiche!
Sharp-eyed readers may note that I overcooked this quiche. Damn it! In previous attempts, I’ve started checking it at around 20 minutes, and as soon as it was mostly set but the center was still the teensiest bit wobbly, I removed it from the oven. Last night, I got distracted by something and didn’t check until it had been cooking the full 30 minutes, so it was overdone. But still tasty!
The mister occasionally notes that I’m a good cook but sometimes don’t know when to stop cooking. It’s my belief that people who are eating something that another person has cooked for them should keep such observations to themselves, but I admit it is true. I blame my British Isles heritage. But anyway, quiche.
Have you learned any quarantine cooking tips? Meal planning strategies? Please feel free to share that or anything else — open thread!
raven
The only meal my bride has made in this lockdown was a quiche and it was yummy. I’m doing sautéed sweet potatoes, brussell sprouts and grilled chicken tonight.
Wapiti
I’m normally a shop-everyday person; the supermarket is 4 blocks away and it’s good to get out. But now, I’d rather not put the cashiers at risk. So I plan out 3-4 or maybe even 5 dinner meals at a time and post it on the refrigerator door.
We had quiche for two meals last week; broccoli + Beecher’s smoked cheddar.
Lapassionara
We have not, until the shut down, been great meal planners at our house. A trip to the grocery three times a week was not unusual. Now I go one time, at the 6 am senior time slot, and I buy enough for about ten days.
Tonight we have grilled pork chops, black-eyed peas, and a sort of corn bread pudding.
I think having a box of puff pastry in the freezer is a great idea, and thanks for the demonstration photos. I have that 8 by 8 glass pan and I can see any number of interesting toppings I can use for it.
so thanks, Betty
SiubhanDuinne
My trick with quiche (and Welsh rarebit) — anything kind of custardy and melted-cheesy — is to add some freshly grated nutmeg to the egg/cream mixture. Wish I could be more specific about quantity, but it’s very much a “stop grating when it feels right to do so” thing. You’re unlikely to taste the actual nutmeg, but it adds a lovely mysterious “Hmmmm…” factor.
Lapassionara
@raven: I’m trying to imagine sautéed sweet potatoes. Do you dice them? Sounds yummy.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
Damn. I read that as “grilled chicken tongue.”
Tenar Arha
I found online a way to get a little char on my hot dogs wo a grill.
The hot dogs really came out great. I had Night Shift Brewing’s Awake Coffee Porter, the hot dogs with Gulden’s mustard on toasted & buttered buns, & a red leaf, red grape, walnut & raspberry vinaigrette salad for dinner the other night
ETA Note: I usually saved hot dogs for dinner via takeout from Five Guys, Costco, or Shake Shack.
laura
We are trying desperately to not waste any edible food if possible. I’m a good scratch cook and usually have something left over from last night’s dinner for today’s lunch or dinner. Tacos became taco salad. Scraps become egg foo yung, etc., but all this sitting around is becoming pounds all around. I’m in a constant rage. I hate everything/everyone who bears responsibility for exploding this pandemic. I’m getting fat, my hair looks mangy, I feel like a wretch and there is no light at the end of the tunnel were in.
The freezer is tetris’d to the nth degree and were provisioned so good I’ve got cans of enchilada sauce olives and hatch chilies on the counter because the cupboard cant takes no more. Fresh local beer and cider are chilling and calling out but I’m resisting the siren song of day drinking. I’m doing my best to keep hours of eating between 10 am and 6 PM but that emergency shelter in place chocolate reserve cries out every night.
And today’s outrage de jour – those gun fucks allowed to threaten the Michigan Legislature and staff. What even the FK! and up next – both sides. PRIMAL SCREAM.
TaMara (HFG)
I’ve been emptying out the freezer, making room for the local farm-fresh bulk meat friends and I are going to split. Deciding it’s time to move away from the big commercially packaged meats – long overdue really. So today I made Instant Pot beef, peppers and onions. This is my second attempt and I’ve gotten the timing down so it’s not an overcooked mush, but instead a very quick, tender and flavorful mix to serve on toasted french rolls or over buttered rice.
I used up the last of the round steak I had purchased for a large meal I had planned for a dinner party, but instead have been using to perfect this recipe. I’ll have photos and recipes later this week.
laura
@laura: also, Subaru Diane is right – a wee scrape of nutmeg in any egg or potato dish is magic. Not quite discernible, but absolutely magic.
karen marie
It’s been a long time since I made this ham, mushroom and Swiss cheese puff pastry quiche. I think about it every once in a while but somehow never manage to remember when I’m at the grocery store! Today I have in my possession the requisite puff pastry and Swiss but no ham. Damn! Oh, wait – I do have mushrooms and frozen chopped spinach – we may be on to something here! Thanks, Betty!
I’ve also used puff pastry to make a “normal” quiche in a “normal” pie plate which worked out pretty well, but I am not a big fan of thick quiches.
Immanentize
I have been on a cooking tear because it calms me —
Last night was clams Casino w/wheat capellini with oil and garlic. Green beans.
Recent:
Grilled lamb chops w/salt potatoes, pita and stuff (feta, fresh oregano, tomato, onion and hummus)
Japanese chicken wings (Tebasaki) w/home made miso soup
Rotatini w/asparagus, shallots and veal
Home made saag paneer w/rice and chicken masala.
The Immp had been making home made pizza dough and pizza, rye bread and has some future saurkraut fermenting.
And on and on. I am so bored. Yes I have gained a couple, why do I you ask? Y’all are invited over when this ends.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’m a lousy planner, too, and in normal times I’d always forget something, or get a sudden craving and run out again. I’m getting better at planning, but when if I’d known what was coming down the pike when I bought a new fridge a couple years back, i would’ve bought one with a bigger freezer
Fair Economist
@SiubhanDuinne: I notice that a touch of nutmeg adds a distinct interest to many things, including bolognese sauce and white sauce, even when I can’t taste it per se.
Sab
@SiubhanDuinne: Lol. Not very filling.
We walked the dogs past the neighborhood park. It has one of those tiny library boxes that the Cubscouts put out. Somebody had taken all the books out and filled it with boxes and cans of free food, with a “free food” sign. In this neighborhood there will be people who need it.
Fair Economist
@Immanentize: Wow, that sounds delicious. I cook for my family and I don’t think I do that well. I was going to ask if you had a spare bedroom… Unfortunately I’m on the other side of the country.
Immanentize
@SiubhanDuinne: lengua. A Texas/Mexican delicacy I miss.
UncleEbeneezer
I have a Google spreadsheet that shows (more or less) what’s in my fridge, freezer and cabinets. I have a “schedule” tab where I can plan dinners for the week and figure out what I can make with what I have. I don’t update or use it enough, but it does help.
I used this recipe to make Korean dry-rub chicken wings last night and they were excellent. Just had the left-overs for lunch.
It’s so nice living in the internet age where you can look up a couple recipes for things you have a hankering for and see whether you have the ingredients (or combine a couple recipes for variations etc.)
Immanentize
@Fair Economist: I do not have one — but two spare bedrooms. People are always welcome to quarantine here if they must (ie kids heading to college). We are well fed and Covid free!
Immanentize
@raven: do you have fish in the freezer?
JPL
I am watching Nadiya’s time to eat on netflix. Since I just started watching all I can say is it takes your mind off of the assholeinchief, so five stars so far.
Fair Economist
I was planning a spring vegetable risotto for tonight to accompany leftover gumbo from yesterday and leftover pasta with bolognese sauce from the day before. Couldn’t find leeks in the store so I subbed with shallots, which should be OK, but I just realized I don’t have any real wine in the house (I’ve been cooking with dealcoholized wine because my son had drunk some of the real wine I had for cooking) so it’s not going to come out right. Will still taste OK, but won’t have that creamy texture.
TaMara (HFG)
Hey Massachusetts, your Gov just recommended this movie. It looks good. Available on HULU.
Immanentize
@Fair Economist: mmmmm.
TS (the original)
This is a truth rather than a belief. My father thanked my mother for every meal she made (& that was 3 times a day for so many years) – it took me about 25 years to get the other half to realise if he complained about my cooking the alternative was do-it-yourself. He now wisely waits for me to criticise myself.
FelonyGovt
I made a quiche from a recipe that friends recommended, using thinly sliced potatoes instead of pie crust. It was good.
I now have enough food in the refrigerator and freezer to last for weeks. Just need occasional forays our for fresh milk, bread and produce.
Immanentize
@TaMara (HFG): I will watch it.
ETA farming has always called to me — my mother’s family were all farmers. But it is such hard friggin work!
TS (the original)
@Immanentize:
I have heard – half of us are going to come out of this quarantine as amazing cooks. The other half will come out with a drinking problem.
You are obviously in the first category, I’m not too sure about myself.
Betty Cracker
@JPL: Is that Nadiya who won GBBO one year? I love her! Will look for that one!
Immanentize
@TS (the original): why not both, my friend?
Fair Economist
New highs in daily cases and total hospitalizations today, here in OC. Fuck.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@TaMara (HFG): Saw that documentary in our local art theater some months ago, back in the days when there were theaters that people went to.
It’s a great film and very inspiring. They build this amazing micro-ecosystem that, after many fits and starts, ends up working well.
Immanentize
@Betty Cracker: That simple quiche recipe has a breakfast cousin which is started the same way (you can use pop-n-fresh croissant sheets too!) But it is breakfast sausage, onion, and cheese. Yum. I am so hungry!
Immanentize
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I put compost on my garden plot yesterday. Today, my whole back yard smells like shit. But the good farm manure smell of shit.
Tenar Arha
@TaMara (HFG): I’m doing tonight a movie seminar through the Coolidge Corner Theater tonight, or I’d watch that. It’s been on my list for ages.
ETA NB Tomorrow night the Met Opera is streaming free Leontyne Price’s ‘85 Aida. ??
Immanentize
6-ish. Gotta feed the Immp.
Immanentize
@Tenar Arha: you live near Coolidge Corner?! I love that theatre. It got me through the bar exam.
raven
@Lapassionara: Cube is more like it I guess. I also make sweet potato salad.
raven
@SiubhanDuinne: Yikes!
Tenar Arha
@Immanentize: Not really, but I’ve got an “out-of-the-local-area” membership. I visit just often enough it’s worth it. Anyway I’m trying to support them with their online programming. Watching their first run movies, & this Ty Burr seminar.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
A friend many years ago put this very concisely as “To criticize is to volunteer”. That has become a family proverb. I could see it translating well into many languages (he was Korean) and stitched onto quilts and samplers.
Nothing to add to the food discussion. My wife is and has always been amazing at making a meal when I open the cabinets and don’t see anything to eat. On my own part, the fact that we can only get groceries every couple of weeks, and never know when the next slot will be or what items they will drop from our list, has made me very conscious of rationing and making things last. I don’t think any fruit or vegetable has spoiled in the fridge since this began. Before, there always used to be that bag of spinach or those couple of cucumbers that nobody remembered from the last shopping trip.
As a Boomer, my parents were Depression kids and WW2-era adults. I feel like I’m beginning to understand, just a little, the Depression mentality of “use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”. We haven’t had any serious breakdowns in the supply chain (except we still have not scored any TP since early March) but it looks like the supply chain is increasingly fragile. We’ve had serious discussions about how we’ll handle it if we find ourselves living a life without TP or meat.
Taken4Granite
I also tended to visit the grocery store 3-4 times a week in the before times. Both the grocery store and my office are within walking distance of where I live, and the former is more or less on the way home from the latter. About once a month I go to the nearest Trader Joe’s, about a 20 minute drive, sometimes combined with a visit to the Asian grocery store just around the corner from TJ’s.
Since I live alone, I have always been somewhat limited in repertoire. I try to make up for that by expecting to get 3-4 meals out of every time I cook. I have found that pear and gorgonzola make pretty good toppings for a pizza, and I often make my own spaghetti sauce, if it’s tomato-based (the slow cooker works quite well for that) or a clam sauce.
Betty Cracker
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Totally going to steal as “To criticize is to volunteer” as a retort to Himself. ?
JMG
@TS (the original): Why not do both?
daryljfontaine
Bought a huge bag of cauliflower near the start of local lockdown, and made several separate batches of roasted cauliflower (with cumin, curry powder, paprika, garlic, olive oil). Tuesday night had french dip sandwiches with homemade Greek potatoes (so damn good). Today roasted two large bundles of fat asparagus with salt, pepper, olive oil to go with the leftover french dip, as the potatoes did not last.
Got a huge bag of spinach last weekend so I’m gonna have to dig in the freezer for my beef stew meat so I can make shoko.
D
Delk
My husband has been grocery shopping as needed. He says it’s not bad but there is always one asshole without a mask fucking up things. He got complimented on his mask today at the local butcher shop.
Betty Cracker
@laura: I hear you. Been avoiding the news mostly because it’s dangerously rage-inducing, but I saw a clip of those gun-toting thugs in Michigan. Everyone in jail for a nonviolent crime should be released to make room for those terrorists.
JPL
@TaMara (HFG): haha I sent that to my Boston friends with a comparison of your gov, my gov (Kemp)..
WaterGirl
@raven: For Christmas last year, the host roasted butternut squash and brussel sprouts. I’m sure I gave it the side eye when he was making it – what was he thinking, but they were awesome together.
Seems like your sweet potato brussels sprouts combo would be very similar. How do you sauté sweet potatoes?
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
I know, right? That was my reaction too.
JPL
@laura: Well as one legislator said the death toll is terrible, but others are being negatively impacted. wtf ..
Sure Lurkalot
Like many here, I used to go to several grocery stores every week purveying for one or two recipes and never packed in the pantries and freezer to overflow capacity like now.
It does feel like meals are like Chopped where one or two ingredients of a beloved recipe go missing and it’s improv time.
Last night was a riff on cioppino, but no clams or mussels which are sorely needed for the best broth. But the scallops, shrimp and halibut were poach perfect and it was a good dish.
Mapo tofu without Chinese bean paste…substituted Korean and some chili garlic sauce…was interesting!
i think a post featuring meals with few (say 7 or less) ingredients, like Betty’s dish above, would be helpful in these times!
MomSense
We’re going to try this contactless delivery Domino’s is offering. I’ve been cooking every meal for however many days/months/years this quarantine has been and I’m so tired. Two of my kids and I drove up to my dad’s place to open it for the summer. We are enjoying being in a happy place. Today my dad sent an email to the boys sort of saying how happy he was that they are here and that he hopes they can see themselves living here. They said he sounds like he doesn’t think he will ever see it again and it made us all sad.
Generations of us have been coming here in the summers or when someone is in a life crisis and needs a place to live for awhile. When my dad was a little boy he and my great great aunt used to walk across the street to “the shore” to pick up lobsters and bring them home to cook for supper. This will be the first summer in at least 75 that my dad won’t be here.
Kent
I made a killer instapot version of Mexican Chicken tortilla soup from Costco ingredients. Was a hit with all the kids so will be a repeat menu item.
Basically this recipe adapted for the instant-pot by pressure cooking the frozen chicken breasts first, shredding, then dumping everything together to finish for 1 more minute under pressure: https://www.spendwithpennies.com/chicken-tortilla-soup/
Also used the big bag of Costco tortilla strips instead of making them from scratch from tortillas.
RSA
@Ceci n est pas mon nym
Star Trek did not prepare me for the 21st century toilet paper riots.
JPL
@Sure Lurkalot: I made this earlier..
I didn’t have caraway seeds but it was still tasty chicken, cabbage, onions and condiments.
sheet pan Chicken thighs and cabbage ]
Yutsano
@SiubhanDuinne:
For the amount here, I wouldn’t go more than half a teaspoon. A small amount is heaven, overdone and it’s all you taste for the next several hours.
rikyrah
I am trying Crock-Pot banana bread.
Crossing my fingers ?
Elizabelle
@JPL: Oh that looks good. I don’t have the caraway seeds either, but next time I procure some red cabbage. Have everything else.
Yum.
Betty Cracker
@MomSense: Bittersweet. I hope your dad does get to return.
JPL
@Elizabelle: I just used green cabbage and it was good. I did have a red onion though.
Croaker
Random
The better part makes killer things
rikyrah
@MomSense:
Ok…this just broke my heart a little :(
rikyrah
ah..quiche..
looks good to me, BC. :)
TS (the original)
@Immanentize:
I admit to having been a terrible cook & a refined drinker. I also admit that having the time to think about cooking & having to plan meals because – cannot run down to the store – I seem to be improving (not before time). I can also take the refined out of drinking. Come 5 o’clock whatever is available.
WaterGirl
@Kent: I will try that, adapted for no pressure cooker.
Yutsano
@Sure Lurkalot:
Maangchi got that covered!
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: OK. So I have some hereditary nutmeg beans. We are talking, they are beyond old enough to vote and date from the middle of the Reagan administration, at earliest. (I know this because my much missed father used them primarily, for our doctored up eggnogs.)
Anyhoo: found them — in their orange and brown Safeway actual tin — and grated one. And — a bit of “ghost of nutmeg”, so the spice is still there. Personally, ghost is better than overpowering to me.
SO: I am now drinking a brandy Alexander while it is still daylight. Damn you all for being a bad influence. Kind of.
And: I learned that there is such a thing as a Gin Alexander, which predated its brandy cousin. May have been created at a fancy fish place in the 1910s to celebrate some woman who dressed in white because she was traveling on a clean coal train. (Yes. It was a thing then, too.) Anyway. White drink. Which was actually kind of popular, even with men. But then got supplanted by brandy.
And then — prohibition. But happily, they did not know any of that at the time it was created. And then … John Lennon getting soused on Brandy Alexanders and running around with a Kotex on his forehead. In Los Angeles, I think. But, all in the future.
Carry on.
From The Daily Beast: and I love that their recipe says to “shake viciously.” I don’t know if that is bad editing or inspired.
dnfree
This is a church in our old neck of the woods. The lawsuit compares Almighty God with the “lesser spirits” sold in liquor stores.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-coronavirus-pritzker-church-lawsuit-20200430-eekia47qvjbx7cuoqaby7hv4ti-story.html
Pete Mack
So many beans, so little time. Black eyed peas, split peas, black beans, lentils, soldier beans, navy beans, Great Northern beans, like beans, edamame, cannelini beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, garbanzos, dry or canned–you name it, we’ve had it lately.
Including some that had been in the pantry so many years that even with 2 days soaking and 2 hours simmering they did not soften. A little baking powder solved it by the third day.
Another Scott
You have a way with words!! :-)
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Miki
I’ve been making recipes from SkinnyTaste. Tonight was Spicy California Shrimp Stacks. I roasted the shrimp and substituted gochujang for siracha but otherwise followed the recipe. Really good. But I need to work on plating ….
Also made a batch of chocolate chip cookies today – I froze the raw batter in scoops so I can choose what I want to bake and still have that fresh-baked experience.
I sound a lot more disciplined than I am – the refilled glass of wine is a whole ‘nuther thang.
Mary G
You all cook and eat so well. I can cook, but I don’t enjoy it, since my hands work so badly. Chopping an onion takes a day, and taking a heavy pan off the stove or out of the oven has resulted in bad burns, so I’ve mostly given it up. My housemates make dinner almost every night, so I get one good meal even though they have to make my portion much less spicier than theirs. I have my dad’s meat and potatoes taste buds and the cilantro-tastes-like-soap gene. The housemates roast chilis on the gas burners and I have to go into my room and shut the door while they do, or I cough up a storm. I eat cereal, sandwiches, or bread and cheese most of the time for breakfast and lunch. And junk food. I try not to, but it’s so good.
Juju
My quick go to meal is risotto with ham and green beans. It’s a one pot dish. Other things I’ve made are pasta with pesto, chicken, little sweet tomatoes and black olives, black bean soup with chicken, carbonara, nachos and lemon chicken with garlic green beans and risotto, not a one pot meal. I’ve also made sausage bread and spinach bread to serve with minestrone.
I’ve done some baking, especially since my new hand mixer finally arrived, anything Breville is excellent. I made crumb cake last night, and I have some really dark bananas, so probably banana bread tonight. The new mixer has dough hooks which I am eager to try, since all of my dough making has been by hand or in my food processor. I thought cinnamon rolls would be nice.
Kent
@WaterGirl: There are a lot of chicken tortilla soup recipes on the internet. Pioneer woman has one: https://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/chicken-tortilla-soup/
They are all similar. Basically chicken broth enhanced with lime juice and thickened with corn meal or corn masa rather than flour.
Add chicken and some combination of diced tomatoes, black beans, diced pepper, and corn. Season with chilies, cumin, and chili powder to your desired level of picante.
Garnish with cilantro, avodado, and tortilla strips or plain tortilla chips, and grated cheese and sour cream if you want.
Personally I like to add more Costco frozen corn and less beans and diced peppers than some of these recipes. Add the frozen corn towards the end so it doesn’t get too mushy.
debbie
@laura:
Also creamed spinach!
JPL
@Kent: One thing that I have done is to freeze peppers, either diced or sliced.
MomSense
@Betty Cracker:
I really hope he gets to come home, but it may be next summer. They’re afraid to travel from the southwest of Florida all the way to Maine.
@rikyrah: We’ve been taking pictures from different places in the house – like his view of the barn from his chair in the study. If it warms up we will try to get some photos of the rocking chairs in the porch.
JPL
@MomSense: that is so sweet.
debbie
Can’t be bothered to cook much for myself at this point. Sometimes I’ll rally to roast chicken, poach a piece of salmon, or sauté Swiss chard or spinach, but not often. Can o’ Progresso soup or pasta is far easier.
chopper
@Wapiti:
i usually shop every day since 1) i work at home and need to get out, 2) the store is down the block, and 3) i cook a lot of different stuff so often i’ll be out of one thing or another.
i’m having a really hard time with this suburban-style ‘buy food once every two weeks and plan out every goddamn meal’ shit.
raven
@WaterGirl: Just put them in the pan on low heat. They caramelize easily so you have to keep you eyes peeled. I did them with spouts and butternut Sunday.
raven
@Immanentize: Some, a big redfish filet from September that I need to eat soon but it’s huge for 2 people.
raven
@Immanentize: Our friends called and said they were opening the beach today and wanted to know if we were interested. It broke my heart but I said no.
Elizabelle
@JPL: Hmmm. I do have green cabbage. And everything else …
mrmoshpotato
I made beef enchiladas a couple nights ago. I had some beef I needed to use, had onions and had bought green enchilada sauce. Seasoned with some taco seasoning and topped with cheddar.
The sauce was way watery, so I found a sauce recipe that I’ll use for the chicken enchiladas that’re in my future.
Also, if you have chicken breast around, I suggest poaching, shredding and refrigerating. Works well for making enchiladas, or wraps (mmmmm buffalo) or BBQ pulled chicken.
NotMax
@Tenar Aha
Streamlined silhouette, terrible gas mileage.
:)
Origuy
Comedian Jim Gaffigan has a YouTube series about quarantine cooking; one of them is how to make toast.
Let’s Get Cookin’
NotMax
On very special occasions Mom used to bring out puff pastry cups filled with a mix of chopped sausage, mushrooms and onion, all in a brown gravy. Really tasty.
Haven’t thought of those in at least 40 years. Must remember to ask if she remembers how she prepared it.
mrmoshpotato
@dnfree: Oh these people and not reading their Bible.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Call your mother. ?
Shana
@Immanentize: Hubby bought me a composter as a birthday gift this year. Completely unexpected but appreciated. Our back yard is mostly wooded ravine and we’d been dumping compostable stuff onto a spot in the ravine for a couple of years but decided to get something useful out of it even if we can’t grow much because of all the critters that live in the ravine.
The composter is on a stand and revolves. You fill one side of it about 1/2 to 2/3 full and then move over to the other side. We’re about to move to the 2nd side so are interested to see how well it actually makes compost.
catclub
This is where I always say:” Everything is better with sausage”
Especially if the dish is vegetarian.
Emma
On a whim, I made corned beef using those ready-to-boil packages, and I must say, the technology has improved in the last decade, because now there’s no chemical-y taste. It tasted pretty similar to beef that I salted myself. So now, I’m on an Irish kick, because I bought 1. too much cabbage and 2. a 10-lb bag of russet potatoes at an amazing price. I’m going to make champ, colcannon, and bubble and squeak soon. The soup from the corned beef is also really good for making rice and porridge.
mrmoshpotato
@catclub: LOL!
zeecube
Geez, after reading this thread, I’m starving…
J R in WV
Open Thread?
OK !!
Some may recall that yesterday afternoon a large tree fell on our house, landed right over the front door, about 12 feet from me, 20 feet from wife in the kitchen, which is the big room the entryway opens onto.
Today the Davey Tree guys came and removed the tree from the roof/area leading to the house. The tree was a black oak which was invisibly hollow. It failed the strength test when a gust of wind blew North up the hollow, the tree fell kinda uphill onto the house.
I spent all day calling roofers who advertise their willingness to deal with emergencies. Not one called me back.
The Davey tree guys did a great job, and after removing all the tree debris from the roof reported that they saw about 12 major puncture wounds in the EPDM rubber membrane roof. Plus lots of gutters bent and crushed. I will confess that the gutters were full of leaf debris as I’m not a big fan of climbing up onto the roof to clean gutters and downspouts. I’m hoping it doesn’t rain more tonight.
Insurance adjuster is coming Saturday.
I intend to go into town and “shop” at the wholesale dealer for primer, glue, uncured butyl seam tape, etc, etc to fix my goddamm roof myself. It will crush my lower back, but it will also stop the rain from pouring inside the Fuqin house.
I will need to have someone dismantle roof over the front porch, which is 8 or 10 inches lower than as built. It did come up a little bit as the tree was removed, but still, I’m sure there are broken 2x12s inside that need to be replaced. I have no idea what the insurance adjuster will think all this will cost.
He asked if shingles were missing, and when I told him it was a rubber membrane, he asked if it was a commercial building. No, just a house with a mostly flat roof. He will be taken aback when he gets here. It is not a common, everyday, sloped roof. Part is flat but for the slope to help the water run off, and the other half is a cylinder running parallel to the earth’s surface, or 90 degrees to a line plumb to the center of the earth.
Because 5 calls to different “roofing contractors” have produced not one call back, I’m going to have to do it myself. I may impose on a neighbor who was a roofer, retired to a life of hard work running a farm, beef cattle, veggies, sawmill with which he cuts lumber for other folks as well as his own use. Helped build the house back in 1991-1994…
Can you tell I’m a little pissed? No one will come out to do work for us. We’re old, disabled, can’t get anyone to work with us at all… sad. Some folks blame it on the hillbilly heroin plague. I think it’s perhaps Trumpism at work, but really I don’t know. For many years I had no problem hiring guys to help work around the place, cut brush, clean up around the house… No More.
I can get the roof weather tight I think. I don’t know what to do about the broken roof joists over the front porch… That’s a big job, past my ability at 70 y o and broke down as I am.
Whine, whine. I sound like a Republican, almost.
Another Scott
@J R in WV: When we had our siding and gutters done, the gutter people put screens (painted aluminum with a diamond pattern) over the top. They have worked well, even with all the maple helicopters, and we’ve never had clogs even without cleaning them in ~ 15 years. Dunno how well they would work with pine needles, if those are an issue in your part of the hills.
Best of luck with the patching! Please be careful and take it slow. I hope you’re able to get some help soon.
Cheers,
Scott.