Greens Water

The most difficult thing about this recipe is spelling Giardiniera. Healthied it up.  Makes about 2 cups Ingredients 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature - Substitute tofu or plant-based cream cheese 1 oz. Parmesan, finely grated (about ½ cup) – good quality ½ cup Sour Cream – Substitute 2% or 0% Greek yogurt, Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper 1 cup drained coarsely chopped oil-based giardiniera , plus more for serving and oil from the jar for drizzling – Substitute vinegar-based giardiniera!   The subject of much discussion in the Comments section.   Jeff’s Garden is a great brand, it ain’t oil based, and I buy it when it’s on sale at Whole Foods, in order to build lower-fat Muffuletta sandwiches. Olive Oil – you can add a little if you feel guilty about not following the directions about using the oil-based giardiniera. You should because the oil balances out the vinegar.   Preparation Follow the same directions with the substitute ingredients:...

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0Zg32vOTnzemUXHjA3hCWo?si=95ead479a5474e38 Somewhat inspired by Lady Gaga’s darkly funny, frenzied Mayhem Ball tour.  She remains a genre-busting, not-on-the-nose, glorious weirdo.  Other women artists join her in the madness on this playlist. 

Incredibly detailed neighborhood pet shrine, Día de los Muertos.  

More Newport on Twitter.  

The chef instructor told me how to make homemade hummus by combining the chickpeas in the can with its aquafaba water.  But it’s too plain!  Needs olives, olive oil, garlic, etc. to give it some taste and heft. Use it as a base.  Chicken Meatballs in Tomato Sauce – I would tone down the Middle Eastern spices. This is not an Italian meatball recipe. It’s a different taste profile, and served with Toasted Israeli Couscous (or a gluten-free variant), is chef’s kiss. The Fried Cauliflower with Tahini Sauce is an easy weeknight if you make it a light fry with small florets in a wok at home. Similar recipes to these are available on the internet. The corporate group who attended this class together:   whip smart, cool, interested and interesting. A bigger adventure @iceculinary possibly soon.    

Trendy NYC sourdough bagel shop, Apollo Bagels, is now in our town. We purchased a half-dozen and gave them a try.  These are not Grandma’s Jewish deli-style bagels. They are light, fluffy with just the right amount of density and chew, the Everything bagel, a bit salty.   Sourdough done wrong is overly dense, unpleasant. These hit the right notes, not overly dense at all. At $14.93 with NJ tax for a half-dozen, they are $2.49 a pop.   Old people might find this to be a crime.   Young people don’t, given the crowd that was there when I purchased.   Sourdough’s popularity is linked to the gluten-free or low gluten movement because sourdough seems to be more digestible than regular wheat-baked.   I think this is true.   Apollo’s minimal but impactful visual marketing and spare menu should serve them well. My take: don’t bother with the whitefish or smoked salmon sandwiches. Buy your own accoutrements. But get the bagels from Apollo for your Sunday fi...

you’ll fall for anything.  #nokings My boots went to a smaller protest at the next-door neighbor city.   Honestly, it’s genetics or family modeling.  You have the gene or you don’t. The helping gene. If you thought this post was a Ted Talk. From a family that pursued the American Dream through retail, let’s keep the dream going.     

 More on Twitter.  

Brown is having a season.  They were gone the next time I went to the store. Back into the system they go.  #resell #preloved

with Empire State building in the background on a sparkling Fall day.  #hoboken

 

Guess I’m not having a Le Creuset or even a Staub lifestyle. So we make do. This Edging Casting Dutch Oven, made in China, is already cheapie. I got it gently used for a few reasons, limited use for Fall and Winter stews mostly, am looking to accumulate less new stuff. The pretty blue color matched the backsplash of the kitchen.      I tried this at home:   Re-seasoning makes the bottom of the Dutch Oven smooth so the food doesn’t stick.     First, I cleaned the Dutch Oven and lid with salt, baking soda and dishwashing liquid. Once dry, you take a small amount of vegetable oil to create a thin film on the interior of the oven and handles.   Same for the lid. Bake in the oven, lid off and separate, at 375F degrees for an hour, then let cool in the oven.   Once the oven is cool, remove Dutch Oven and lid and wash off any residue. The bottom of the Dutch Oven should be smoother.   Once again, coat the interior of the Dutch Oven wit...

Yeah so, the Q on my keyboard isn’t working or only working sporadically when I turn the keyboard around and give it a good smack. From the picture, you can see the worn out S but it’s working fine. I type the word quarterly into search engines to copy paste a Q when I need one, or try to use synonyms, quickly becomes fast.  I could drag the laptop back again to Best Buy but that would be a pain. (I have a back- up computer, a total of two Dell computers. If you want to know what that’s like, see the famous YouTube video, Buying a PC With Dell: My Journey Into Hell.) If I just explain the Q problem to Best Buy, they will tell me to bring in the laptop.   The laptop is some years old. Its crapping out is inevitable.   This situation is pretty much the distillation of my experiences with the computer industry.   From the beginning, the computer industry provided a grandiose vision, still does, (beam me up!) leaving consumers like me stuck with non-working Qs. ...

Whichever way you go!  It’s a misdirection!  #selfhelp