tony b

Thanks for the hook-up, but at $45 a 500ml bottle, that better be some DAMN good olive oil. Stonehouse is half that price including shipping. Despite the higher shipping charges, the Crete oils are cheaper and I'd be hard pressed to find better.

One of my Kickstarter campaigns (and YES, it was a year over schedule, like most Kickstarters - but it did come through in the end!) - a guy making Japanese style knives in Germany. Well, after the very long wait, my knives arrived today - HURRAY! I have to say that they lived up to expectations - gorgeous and are amazing to work with! These will become part of my standard tool set for food preps. The paring knife was amazing cutting razor thin slivers of garlic and onions. The chef's knife has an exaggerated curvature, but it worked really well chopping herbs and veggies. The only last thing will be how well they hold an edge (very sharp right out of the box) and how easy to sharpen once starting to dull.

Send me a link please. My "go to" for olive oil is Stonehouse in Napa Valley. I get most of what they do - nice single varietals, house blends, fresh harvest, herbed/spiced, oils with citrus. Really good stuff. While vacationing in Crete this fall, visited an olive oil factory and fell in love with their olive oils, too. Managed to find their sole US importer and scored some of their stuff, especially their "First run" - same as making wine, no external pressure, just the weight of the olive paste pressing our free run oil. Sublime!

@tekobo - mangia, mangia, baby!!

Yep. Very good EVOO with some herbs added. Sometimes throw in some grated parm. Been doing variations of this for decades. I like it better than butter on good crusty breads.

Another nice day, so I had to grill out something! Tonight it was a pork chop with Dizzy Pig's Peruvian rub. Plated with some gnocchi with vodka cream sauce, a side salad and some crusty bread! Oh, and a decent Pinot Noir from TJs.

@Aussie Ora - shrimp in a salad with blueberries and watermelon - boy, never even dreamed of that combo! You folks down under think "upside down," to us up here! LOL!!

I also put some Ras El Hanout (Moroccan spice blend) in the chicken broth to cook the rice. The raisins and pistachios went in after the rice was cooked, as part of fluffing up the rice. It was tasty with the spicy chicken.

Happy Holidays to you and the family, Dennis!

Having a "heat wave" here (in the low 50s!), so obviously going to grill out. Overnight marinade for tandoori chicken tonight. Penzey's Tandoori spice mix, Greek yogurt, lime juice and Frank's hot sauce to kick things up. Done. Plated with Basmati with golden raisins & pistachios and a nice side of steamed broccoli. Wine of the evening is a Vinho Verde.

The only time that I parbake a pizza crust is if I'm going to put a lot of wet toppings on it so the crust doesn't get soggy. I just put it on the stone for a few minutes until the bottom just starts to brown, then remove it, flip it over and add the sauce and other ingredients, cheese to the parbaked side and finish baking on the stone until the top crust gets brown and the cheese is all melty goodness.

Very tasty focaccia.

Yes, pics, pics, and more pics! What's for Christmas dinner on the KK? What better way to break her in?

Same here, except I don't listen to my tummy and eat the super hot stuff anyway, even if I'm going to regret it later! Still on my "bucket list" is the hot fried chicken at Hattie B's in Nashville - gonna go all in on the "Shut the Cluck Up" hot!

Thanks, all! I'm a big fan of TJ's pre-marinated meats. This one didn't disappoint. Will work it into the rotation with the Chicken Shawarma, Santa Maria Tri-Tip, and Carne Asada.