a great recipe + poached egg tip

This past weekend, The Husband and I made this delicious chard and white bean stew. We followed the recipe to the T, minus using large lima beans we already had around, adding extra veggies, and using rainbow chard for extra color. We served it upon toasted french baguette rubbed with garlic and with a poached egg on top.

It was really, really hearty and soooo good. It's definitely been added to our recipe rotation. Poaching eggs is not easy, though! I am definitely going to purchase an egg poacher tray thing. If The Husband can't pull it off (he is beyond talented in the kitchen), there's no way I will be able to.

I was a little leery of eating a poached egg, since I contracted mild food poisoning a couple weeks ago for the first time. Not. Fun. A poached egg is not cooked thoroughly enough to eradicate any possible salmonella that may be present in the egg, which is of major concern to anyone who is in ill health, pregnant, etc. We turned to Harold McGee's On Food & Cooking book to see if he had any tips on cooking a safe poached egg, and he did!

McGee recommends that, after poaching the egg in a pan, transfer it to a pot of water heated to 150 degrees. While keeping the temperature steady, allow the egg to sit in the hot water for 15 minutes. This will safely eradicate any bacteria that may still be lurking in the runny yolk. We tried this, and it did not affect the integrity and tastiness of the poached egg at all. So, if you've been told by a doctor to avoid poached eggs because of food-borne illness concerns, fear no more!*

*not that I think I'm better than your doctor or anything, so don't be stupid about this.

how to open up peony buds asap

(wow.)

So, it's kind of hot right now, no? If you are like us and don't have air conditioning (and a house that heats up like a furnace), you're hanging out at the beach a lot. However, the bright side of our crazy hot house is that the tightly-closed peonies I bought yesterday opened fully in less than 24 hours, and boy are they beautiful.

However, without surprisingly warm weather, peonies can be a bit stubborn and take their time opening. If you're putting them out for a party or wedding, you need those blooms on your schedule. All you have to do is fill a bowl deep enough to immerse the buds with warm / lukewarm (not hot) water. Immerse for 30 seconds (for buds that need to open in a couple hours) to 4 minutes (for buds that need to open 30 minutes from now). Arrange as desired, and watch those beauties open up in record time.