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I forgot to mention that the casserole was pretty good, better the second night, but the bread cubes were still dry even with all the liquid - it was made like a bread pudding.

Last night, Will made red beans and rice - he's been trying to replicate a dish he had while traveling. The beans were not quite done, pretty close, but he realized he followed the minimum time and needed to allow for the maximum. It was a little heavy for me, but delicious nonetheless.

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Happy Birthday to your husband, Chocomouse. It's a beautiful pie - my Mom's favorite birthday cake was cherry pie

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Great piece, Mike - I always assumed the sandwich was created in NYC because of all the delis - I had no idea it had been around so long. But considering the meat-packing history of the state - Cudahy Packing had a plant in Omaha, it's not a surprise that it was created in Nebraska, which ever city it was. A good one is still one of my favorite sandwiches.

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Mike, I went to Goldbelly to see if any restaurants were offering Reuben kits. There was a restaurant from Omaha, Crescent Moon, that calls theirs the Original Blackstone Reuben kit and says it was created at the Blackstone Hotel, named after a card player - what else - named Reuben.

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Will's making sourdough and I'm hoping to make, probably tomorrow, a Crystallized Meyer Lemon Bundt Cake from Claire Saffitz's new book What's for Dessert? I got some of my neighbor's Meyer Lemons before the freeze. It's made with olive oil, so I will post results - I'm sure that BakerAunt would be interested if it is good - I'm expecting it to be.

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Happy New Year!

We ate leftovers from our tenderloin for most of the week, with one day of chicken wild rice soup from the freezer. My brother sent us a reuben kit from Zingerman's (in the past he's sent us just bread - sending coals to New Castle). We had gone out for lunch to Mom's favorite cafe before her service on December 15th (two years later) where Will and my brother had Reubens - really good ones. Will subtly made sure that my brother knew not to send us bread again. Sadly, Zingerman's is one of those companies that is living off it's reputation. Both this year and last, the bread was stale and we had put it in the freezer as soon as it arrived. The dill pickles are soft, not crisp and the dressing was so-so. The corned beef was OK, but then was tough in the sandwich. I had marked a Reuben casserole at some point, so Will used what was left to make it yesterday. It was pretty good, considering the ingredients, and we would probably make it again with better ones. So, we will have more of that tonight.

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I got an incredible deal on a tenderloin at Harris Teeter. I ordered Angus which is their middle tier of quality and they prepared and tied it for me. I paid $32 plus change for 4 pounds (7.99 per pound, usually 17.99). I slow roasted it a la Ina Garden and it was perfect! I made bérnaise sauce, mashed potatoes and green beans. We did not have dessert, but we really enjoyed our dinner and will continue to enjoy it. Tonight I will make a green salad to go with leftovers.

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I just used up the last of my sparkling sugar coating my third batch of Bourbon Balls - the cookie crumbs are also used up. The best by date on the sugar (from KAF) was 2015 - but it's sugar and no one has gotten sick from either of the last two batches - a little tipsy maybe.

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Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope everyone is staying warm and safe this Christmas!

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It's supposed to get down to the 20's here starting tonight. Since it's just Will and me, we're going to do charcuterie Christmas Eve and a small tenderloin with bernaise, mashed potatoes and green beans. We're picking up some stuff after work and I'm also going to get salad stuff for whenever. We're closed both Sunday and Monday.

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I made a batch of Cilantro Lime Chicken Taco filling in the slow cooker, so guess what we're having for the next few nights.

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I'm sorry for your loss, chocomouse. It's hard, especially around the holidays.
I wish your whole family peace.

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Mike, I think you need Mr. Peabody and Sherman for the Way Back Machine 😁

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Navlys, sounds familiar 🤣

Last night I made tortellini soup which I haven't made in several years. I'd forgotten how good it is and we have it for at least tonight and we may put one quart in the freezer.

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My apologies that I never wrote back about my remake of the Irish Chocolate Cake last Wednesday. It was a success. I used the melted butter/cocoa powder paste to grease the larger of my two bundt pans. I made sure my butter was soft and mixed everything through the eggs with the stand mixer. I then added the flour and liquid by hand and it was the right texture to go in the pan. I baked it for 50 minutes and it wasn't quite done so I baked for another 5. I didn't want to over bake again so I took it out. It un-molded beautifully. So after it cooled, I wrapped it and put it in the freezer. On Friday, I took both cakes (the rum cake and whiskey cake) out of the freezer and wrapped them for the bake sale - I borrowed large saran from work so you could see the cakes. One neighbor saw me taking them to the car for delivery to the sale with pretty ribbons and all and got excited about the sale. When I got to the gardens, everyone wanted to buy them then - we don't allow members to buy early. Turns out my neighbor asked a friend to get there at 9:00am on Saturday and she got my rum cake - I guess the members kept looking for it after that!

On Thursday, I made bourbon balls with crushed cookies (Chocolate Bourbon from a Bakery we buy from for the store - they had passed their best by date, so we had to damage them out - you can still eat them, you just can't sell them.), pecans, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, maple syrup and of course Bourbon for a neighborhood Christmas party. I rolled half in sparkling sugar and half in chocolate sprinkles. Everyone wanted the recipe and one neighbor asked if he could pay me to make them. I said I was sorry, no, but I'd happily give him the recipe!

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