[Italiancook]

Late lunch was carryout, leaving no room for dinner. Instead, I cooked 2 cube steaks to refrigerate. They'll be warmed up for lunch tomorrow with roasted brussel sprouts and mashed potatoes. I took a page from BakerAunt's book and saved the cube steak drippings to make gravy tomorrow.

[Italiancook]

I use the same olive oil my mother-in-law used: Felippo Berio. Food Network recently gave it a good rating. My mom-in-law never used EVOO, but that's what I buy. I also buy their light olive oil. Their EVOO has a fruity taste, so I use that in sweet muffins. For everything else, I use the light olive oil.

[Italiancook]

Congratulations, BakerAunt, on your great honor!

[Italiancook]

Don't you think that's a good sign for the mozzarella? As long as it's on their website, I think it means they anticipate having it back in stock sometime. The missing artichoke hearts may be a bad omen, though.

[Italiancook]

Today, I read that U.S. consumers haven't altered their buying habits in spite of inflation. I wonder whether the Ukraine situation will change that.

Mike, how is all this going to play out in the flour market? Do you think we'll only pay higher prices for our flour, or will the war in Ukraine cause flour shortages? My marginal utility for stockpiling flour has peaked and is quickly going downhill. I'm unsure I want to deal with shortages in flour and hope it doesn't come to that.

[Italiancook]

I also had a salad with mayonnaise. Unfortunately, I didn't have lettuce. Because of the pandemic, I've taken to buying veggies and fruit from Sam's, because it comes in closed containers. Fewer germs from customers and staff, I tell myself. Last time, I ordered Romaine, mini-cucumbers, and 3 lbs. grape tomatoes. I had no idea how many grape tomatoes would be in the 3 lbs. We'll be eating tomatoes in our sleep! The Romaine wasn't in the order, so I made cucumber and tomato salad with mayonnaise. I had planned on making ranch dressing, but without the Romaine, I didn't make it. Tomorrow, we'll have cucumber and tomato salad with olive oil and red wine vinegar.

[Italiancook]

I baked my grandmother's chocolate cake. I made it an oil cake. I substituted 3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon light olive oil for 3/4 cup butter. I decided to wait until I saw the final batter before deciding to add some water to make up for the water in the butter. I'm glad I did. The oil batter was much more liquidy than with butter, so I didn't add water. The batter was so runny that I was worried it'd need more baking time. It did not.

The rise was the same as an all-butter cake. I couldn't discern any difference in the texture. It tasted the same as the butter cake. I'll never again make this cake with butter -- not even for guests. I didn't frost it. I had planned on doing that in the morning. But after dinner, the cake called to me to cut it to check the texture. When I saw that everything is AOK, I sliced and froze the entire cake. I wonder how much butter I'm eating that can successfully be subbed out with light olive oil.

[Italiancook]

This morning, I spent an hour, maybe longer, slicing and separating onions for caramelized onions for dinner. After I walked away, it occurred to me: I have a slicing disc for my food processor. I should have let it do the work. Live and learn.

For dinner, I cooked a sirloin steak to my dissatisfaction. I still haven't the knack for which number to use on my new electric stovetop. So I ended up with a steak that was crispy brown on both sides. I didn't like it, but my husband did. I baked potatoes and had mine with sour cream topped with caramelized onions.

[Italiancook]

I made Chickpea Soup. Plenty leftover for future meals.

[Italiancook]

I learned something from you, Joan: I didn't realize I could access the recipe I use by Googling the book and the recipe name. Thanks for teaching me!

[Italiancook]

I just checked -- the Cuban Bread recipe I use is in "The Complete Tightwad Gazzette."

[Italiancook]

Joan, the Cuban bread I make is good. I use KABC bread flour instead of the AP flour it calls for. It's a dense bread with a somewhat crispy crust. I like it with pasta,, which we had last night, and with Italian soups, such as Chickpea Soup that hasn't been made yet. Hopefully, tomorrow, before the bread dies out too much I'll make the soup. It's only a 90-minute bread, so it's nothing fancy. I found the recipe in a book, as part of the book, not a cookbook.

I don't think it's authentic Cuban bread, as the online recipes call for lard, and I don't use any fat. The online recipes call for a long loaf, including the KABC recipe linked. My recipe calls for 2 boules. https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/cuban-sandwich-recipe

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, thanks for your suggestion on the mozzarella.

Mike, I checked, and my Sam's also no longer sells the 5 lb. shredded mozzarella. Maybe they discontinued it nationwide. Previously, I had though items were discontinued on a region-by-region basis.

[Italiancook]

Please tell me Sam's hasn't discontinued the jar of artichokes, Mike. My favorite pizza is artichoke and bacon. I don't like the artichokes in the grocery and have really enjoyed the ones from Sam's.

I'm glad you mentioned the discontinuation. They've been out of Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips for ages, even though I can find them at the grocery stores. It never occurred to me that Sam's has discontinued them or I would have sent a communique to the company.

I've read that Sam's offered an $8.00 membership during the Super Bowl. It's only for a few days. That has me disgruntled. I don't think it's fair to their full-price customers.

[Italiancook]

Before breakfast, I baked 2 boules of Cuban bread. One is for the freezer; the other for use today with Fettuccini Alfredo for lunch and maybe Chickpea Soup for dinner.

A couple of years before the pandemic, I bought a walnut lame from KAF. I had my husband put in the blade before I made the Portuguese bread a few weeks ago. I did a lousy job using it to slash the Portuguese bread. I think because the dough is so delicate I was afraid it'd collapse. . . at least that's my excuse. Today, with the sturdier dough, I felt safer slashing with strength, and both boules of Cuban bread look fantastic from the slashing.

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