What are braises?
DAYAM. That looks SO good!
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@PHREDDY - it’s the verb “braises”. The recipe uses lamb neck fillets and braises in the oven for 90 minutes.
I agree LW…but if you note the comma after the word “braises,” it actually changes the sentence…Not being picky, but thought it was something I was not familiar with.
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I always have the same issue as you…I was thinking about putting the cukes in a big plastic bag and then smashing for a big dinner this weekend. Because I do love what smashing the cukes does for aesthetics (ie, more dramatic-looking dish) and holding onto the sauce.
I save (some might say hoard), wash, and re-use plastic bags so instead of going into the ocean, they pile up in my kitchen, which I am VERY ok with. My hubby not so much, but he is supportive. I have big gallon-sized freezer ziplocs that I have squirreled away from events/family gatherings that I pull out of the trash. Don’t give a hoot if anyone’s looking. I think they might do the trick for smashing cukes?
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I laughed out loud at your comment @PHREDDY. It conjures up the old Oxford comma debate - lawsuits have been lost with the improper use of commas, for crying out loud! 
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That’s a GREAT idea!!! I think it would totally work!
And too funny- I literally have reused ziplock bags that are full of, well reused ziplock bags! 
seriously can’t remember last time I bought any…
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That’s a relief. Heaven forfend that the location of my comma should have led to pickiness.
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Me three! I wash and reuse until they can no longer do the job. They hang and dry in my kitchen on this:
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Where does this hang in your kitchen? (I have a similar one in the bathroom for small laundry).
Trying to picture it… I dry the bags over tall wooden spoons…
Honestly I thought it was a different cut of mutton or such. It has been said that the English language spoken in the UK and the USA will change so much in the next 200 years, you will need a translator to understand each other… I am therefore thankful that Google Translator will be around! 
Catching up with a few of the weeks meals.
Got a small bag of purple brussels sprouts in this weeks produce box and poking around a bit I found the Serious Eats recipe for brussels sprouts grilled cheese sandwiches. Caramelized onions and sprouts are added to the bread and topped with sharp cheddar chesse. These were better than expected.
Monday was a quick stir fry to use up a small chicken boob and some bok choy. Chicken was quickly marinated in soy, lime juice, ginger, garlic, sambal oelek, and corn starch. Served over rice, with a few cashews and green onion.
And last night was quick reheat of a baked pasta from the freezer. Pasta, butternut squash, spicy sausage, chard, tomato, mozzarella, and some parmesan. A green salad and wine rounded out the meal.
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My current kitchen has a chandlier-ish style light fixture over the dining nook. The octopus hangs nicely over one of the arms. The wet bag dries most of the way in the dish drain before being hung up. Hanging really allows the bag to dry thoroughly.
In a past kitchen I had one of those arm hooks that extend from a wall to hang plants which I installed over the sink. The octopus dangled from that!
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LOVE all these colors!
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My mom has been doing this for years. She has recently switched to vacuum packing her stuff from the garden but before she would blanch and seal away all those veggies in plastic ziplock. I would get a kick out of getting leftovers from her marked ‘Broccoli - June 2014’.
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holy crap, that grilled cheese!
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Nice to see the cashews in your stir fry. Salted? Or, unsalted?
we are a very wasteful nation.
1973, I met the CEO of Monsanto whose son made him realized that if we continue on wasting everything here in this earth we will be depleted of trees, etc. so he and his wife started recycling even before it was mandatory. He said Pepsi Coke bottles are sent to grocery store for 2 cents each. Here is a very well to do guy recycling his bottles for a couple penny. My husband and I walked away from Carmel’s conference, starting a new leaf. We wiped our countertop with paper towels. but do not throw them away. Rather we use them to wipe our floors. Plastic bags from grocery stores were not used as they are being thrown away in the river and bay , so we started using our own hand made bags in the 70’s when all those store bags were not the norm.
I do use zip bags but I reuse them esp for croissant ( I buy 36 at at time, slice them, then freeze them in sheet pan for 30 min before freezing them in my zip bags. they come out without getting stuck together. What a waste it would be to throw those zip bags t away so, they are labeled CROISSANT and reused again and again. My Pomeranians eat raw meat for breakfast, packaged individually 28gms and 24 gms with stretch tight, then in their own zip bags. I label the zip bags sothey never touch the raw meat anyway. They are being reused perhaps for the last 3-4 years as I use different zip bags for diff meat. For other zip bags that may have meat in them, but will be reused again, I label them and them place them back in freezer so there will be no contamination when they are not defrosted. Sometimes, when they are slightly dirty, I rinse them off, and then, place them on a bottle to dry.
In China, I heard that there is a crackdown on disposable bamboo chopsticks as it has come to an annual production of 80 billion as of 2013.
I am one chinese who does not know how to use chopsticks , ( grandma used to tell me no decent chinese would marry me ) but when I go to restaurant or carry out, I take them home to reuse them for cleaning here and there and still wash them , so I have a drawer full of them.
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I agree with you completely about the waste. It is staggering. I will read that article later. Thanks for posting.
I stopped buying ziplocks and received these stasher bags from my mom for Christmas. I have used them for raw meat too and scrub them out and/or run them through the dishwasher. You may be interested in them as well:
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that crust on the grilled cheese looks fantastic
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