Burger with Dijon wadjet

Potato discs shallow-fried by two-step method. Shrimp tossed into the oil briefly after the heat was cut.

Melon and grapes

Watermelon, honeydew and black olives.

Psyche! Those are grapes.

Shrimp and grits

Saw this on Bobby Flay Throwdown and it looked pretty good -- and ya know what? -- it is. My version uses quick grits prepared with homemade chicken broth, sharp aged cheddar cheese, with garlic. The sauce is a brown roux with kombu/bonito dashi (traditional Japanese seafood stock), and fresh garlic. Shrimp dry rubbed with paprika, habanero, onion, S/P with random bits of uncured ham, which I tend to keep on hand in lieu of bacon. Chipotle in adobo for enhanced BANG! Tablespoons of heavy cream in both grits and sauce for smoooooooothnesss.

So you can see for yourself what a dietary disaster this is; corn, chicken schmaltz, butter, cream, and tortilla, but hey, if you're going to go wandering off the plantation you might as well go for it.

I can't wait for my stomach to stop swelling so I can have MOAR!

Sourdough, NorthWest

Not much bigger than dinner rolls if those dinner rolls were baked for a linebacker just off of Lent.

I erred. Presently I have only two ceramic cloches so the three loaves took two baking sessions. Phone call and disconnects at the critical moment caused me to lose focus and turn off the oven along with the timer which signals persistently and irritatingly enough to demand immediate attention . The oven was on as high as it can go. Didn't notice the oven was off until the third loaf was ready for the lid to be removed. I thought in that moment, "Bollox! This one is ruined." The whole key to success is a wet dough directly into a rocket-hot cloche. The powerful heat inside the closed cloche allows for maximum oven-rise while keeping the dough moist long enough to stretch fully before setting. Then the lid is removed to crisp and finish the loaf. The oven had cooled to below 200. Turning it back to 500 meant a slow rise while the temperature came back. I was surprised thirty-five minutes later when I removed the lid for the finishing burn and saw the loaf did rise just fine. I expected it to be flattened. This taught me there appears to be a broad margin for error when using a ceramic cloche.

A pauper's salad. VVV Where the pauper is nobility.

Did you know in the days of yore, about the time Marco Polo was banging around, pepper was so dear it was kept locked? It was.

Heirloom tomatoes, green beans

If you see the odd heirloom tomatoes, don't hesitate to buy them. They're usually a little bit misshapen and possibly ugly but they make a fine salad all by themselves. No oil, no acid, nothing but sea salt.

You really must have fat in hamburgers or the patties fry up to tasteless chunks of something synthetic. If you buy that low fat stuff , or whatever over 85% that is presently so popular, you can add olive oil before forming patties. I suggest adding water as well.

That's right, water.

Green beans steamed for as long as it took me to mess with that other stuff -- slicing the tomato, shaving the Parmigiano, digging out the olives, scooping condiments.