So I took some of the leftover roast chicken from last Sunday's dinner, and made a chicken pot pie last night. Mmmm, pie. I used Pillsbury crusts, which were on sale, and used a cast-iron pan as a pie plate, because the other pie plates I had were too small. The pan worked perfectly, and did an excellent job of browning the bottom crust as well as ( Read more... )

Am very hungry, but have to wait until a chicken finishes roasting. It is roasting in my shiny new roasting pan, bought for cheap at the Linens and Things going out of business sale, along with some kitchen gadgets and a lightweight blanket. By happy coincidence, Dave's had oven-stuffers on sale this week. It smells great, making me even more ( Read more... )

The little girl who lives next door delivered my Girl Scout cookies today. Was seriously considering eating all three boxes for dinner, but I refrained ( Read more... )

Have been spending the weekend getting back to my culinary roots. I have the upcoming week off, so yesterday at the market I picked up a bunch of cold cuts for lunchs. The first thing I did with them when I got home was make a Sloppy Joe. Now, if you're from anywhere other than northern New Jersey, a Sloppy Joe is ground beef in barbeque sauce on a ( Read more... )

There's a strip mall a few miles down Rt. 2 from me in Exeter. It was only built three or four years ago, one of the newish sort where there are clusters of buildings surrounding convoluted parking lots, all masquerading as some sort of town center. Exeter has no town center of its own, so perhaps the developers are hoping that this will step into ( Read more... )

Damn, it was hot today ( Read more... )

It's rained like crazy all day, although it's been more a fine, constant spray of small drops rather than a heavy downpour. It hasn't been especially windy, either, although now I can see the trees starting to sway a bit. Regardless, it's been relentlessly wet outside since morning with much more yet to come ( Read more... )

Am safely in New Jersey, piggybacking on someone's wireless. It might be Al's, but then again, it might not be, because Slick is picking up at least three wireless networks, and I just selected the most likely one. He and D are still asleep, so I can't confirm ( Read more... )

Lordy, do I suck at dipping candies, even worse than I suck at wrapping presents. I've been making truffles based on a recipe someone (Beathen, I think) posted at b.org a couple of years ago. I made the exact recipe (for mocha truffles) last year, and they were well received, so I decided to experiment with different flavors this year. I have mocha ( Read more... )

The meat loaf was based on the Cooks Illustrated recipe, except that I substituted some crushed ginger snaps (leftover from last weekend's sauerbraten) for some of the breadcrumbs. It turned out reasonably tasty. The sauce was way too sweet, though ( Read more... )