♦ CatChat – Misty’s preview ♦
Festive desserts for the 4th ♦ How many chocolate recipes??? ♦ Anybody “hangry”?
Perfect Crispy Bacon {M – mom ran this for me!} ♦ Cook like world’s best chefs
Boffo “Six Sisters” cookbook ♦ Great use for sticky wrap {M – balled up, a fun toy}
Barbara’s week: playing posset, chips redux, unexpected dad tales
NEW at CS Marketplace, even more stuff for cooks plus “Especially for Readers” & “Especially for Dog Lovers” {M – again with the dogs}
{M – but look what else mom posted for me!!! Sleeping kitties – by Reader’s Digest}
Misty’s History ♦ Misty’s Gallery
♦ Tidbits ♦
Newsy, schmoozy stuff for cooks
♦ Chocoholics rejoice! Because right here, waiting just on the other side of this link, is “51 Best Chocolate 
Recipes” as curated by the boffo food pub, “Real Simple.” Chocolate rules! Real Simple
♦ Oh, oh, better have a snack. Or get one fast to that “hangry” person. This recently coined term refers to the crabbiness some people experience when they’re hungry. Turns out there’s a reason for it and a way to cope with it {other than, say, a sandwich} Newsweek tells the tale. OK, OK, dinner’s ready!
♦ Crispy bacon lovers, gather ’round. From Extra Crispy {ummm, yeahhhh}, how to give what I heard one fellow describe as meat candy that perfect texture. Crispy bacon every time
♦ CS Marketplace Spotlight ♦
Steal from good
I don’t know about you but when I dine out what I enjoy almost, almost, as much as the food is seeing what ingredients, techniques, combinations, I can play with back in my own kitchen. Sometimes a bit of success, sometimes not, but always fun.
So if you happen to live in any of these cities, or visit at some point, you can steal from not only good but the best. Six U.S. restaurants earned ranking on this year’s “World’s 50 Best Restaurants”: #46 Saison in San Francisco, #34 Alinea in Chicago, #26 Le Bernardin in NYC, #25 Cosme in NYC, #12 Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Tarrytown NY, #4 Eleven Madison Park in NYC. {shown}.
Or, you could dive into their cookbooks, some dedicated to recipes from the actual winning restaurants, and all likely to incorporate professional tips and colorful photos. And you can do just that with five of the honorees, all on Amazon.
Cookbooks by Grant Achatz, Alinea
Cookbooks by Eric Ripert, Le Bernardin
Cookbooks by Enrique Olivera, Cosme
Cookbooks by Dan Barber, Blue Hill at Stone Barns
Cookbooks by Daniel Humm, Eleven Madison Park
Also at CS Marketplace, “Especially for Readers” & “Especially for Dog Lovers”
♦ Featured Recipe ♦
Happy Birthday America!
One of the things I just love about the “Six Sisters Stuff” cookbooks is that they are just so much fun. Something they’ve mentioned in one of their writings is that they “love parties,” and that comes to life in
recipe after festive recipe.
Like these preps – perfect sweets for 4th of July celebrations. And some, like the popcorn mix, couldn’t be easier. That one by the way is from their “Celebrate Every 
Season,” book and it sure does exactly that with such dishes as slow cooker chili cheese dip, mini red velvet cheesecakes, St Pat’s Day cupcakes {with gold-sprinkled caramels!}, bacon Parmesan green beans, Nutella stuffed French toast, and dinner in a pumpkin
The sisters have a whole series of fun cookbooks and all are rated 4+ stars on Amazon. With just a few exceptions, they’re available as Kindles, and also paperbacks that are Prime Eligible. As one of the reviewers said of their “Celebrate Every Season” cookbook, “If you love the holidays and cooking easy and good recipes. Then this is the book for you.”
Dessert page on the Six Sisters site including recipes for the dishes shown
“Celebrate Every Season” ♦ Other “Six Sisters Stuff” cookbooks
♦ Tip ♦
One of my go-to uses for sealing wrap – Press ‘n Seal or any store brand – has nothing to do with sealing. In this case its sticky surface is the perfect companion for baking. I press it firmly onto my counter and then place all the ingredients, measuring cups and spoons, and mixing bowl right on it.
Some of the flour didn’t make it into the cup – who cares! A drip or two of vanilla – ditto! And if for example you want to take your utensil out of the bowl to add something else you can just lay it, or any others, right down. And best of all, once the goodie is in the oven, you just wrap it all up and toss it away, clean up done.
♦ A Peek at My Week ♦
♦ So, is it possible you haven’t heard of posset??? OK, neither had I, but coming across a reference sure got me intrigued. It’s basically a pudding and a pretty easy one at that, using just three-ingredients – cream, sugar and lemon or lime – four if you count the fact that you use both juice and zest of the citrus, and five if as some preps suggest you also add a pinch of salt. I made a lime one and it was wonderful, super creamy, sweet and 
tart at the same time. One thing, allow plenty of setting time. Here’s a whole list or recipe sources from Google. Posset
♦ OK, clearly I’m failing in the chip arena, once again have potato chips on the brink of exp. This may not be your cup of “tay,” but here’s what I did. Poured a bunch of them into a bowl, broke them up a bit, and covered with a combo of milk and cream, let stand till softened.
Then heated a bit of chicken bouillon in a pan along with a chunk of butter, added some diced, peeled, baked potatoes, and then the chip mixture plus salt and pepper, heated, and hit with the immersion blender. Did add a little more liquid because the chips cause quite a lot of thickening. You know what – tasty mashies!
♦ One of the best things I read this week was a gem in the “Food & Wine” newsletter, in honor of Father’s Day a round-up of lessons and tips that today’s chefs learned from their dads. Among some highlights in this marketbasket of remembrances, How many eggs per person??? . . . Enhancing ramen with, what? and yay! another way to use up potato chips. Cooking with Dad
Cook with passion and a party spirit, whether for a crew, or for two, or just for you
claim this, but I’m linking us to the one on AllRecipes, which is one of my favorite go-to’s. In fact while you’re there might want to browse a bit.
balance within our waterways. In a story in the beautiful “Saveur” magazine, celeb chef Eric Ripert has some ideas about how to fully enjoy the bounty of the seas in a responsible way.
newsletter, am I forgetting anything, probably. But now there’s one more.
spectrum of produce and eventually herbs and spices too. And a chapter toward the end goes into extensive detail on the foods and libations that entered his homes during an 8-yr mission for the U.S. in France.
single-layer, moist, slightly dense, ultra-rich, and deeply chocolaty torte made with ground almonds (a.k.a. almond flour) and a few tablespoons of AP flour, tons of melted chocolate, butter and eggs and often a little brandy.”
pages on so much good stuff. Yesterday that was the result of renewing my search for a perfect Bolognese sauce, a venture that was begun some time ago after I had thrown together an impromptu one and have never been able to re-create it {has this happened to you too???} on my own or with cookbook preps.