kellycolorado

Ah, one of the farms from my CSA (until I moved a few months ago). The produce is truly amazing and I learned a lot from those veggie photos and the wonderful newsletters that give ideas on how to cook the weekly items. The Bay Area has such a bounty year round. Ooh, I can't wait to see the Ferry Bldg. photos. -Kelly

I bought the holiday pack a few weeks ago at Target. I'd been wanting to try it, but last year they sold out. This year they were on sale- That should have been my heads up! I have been too scared to try them and now there's no way. Thanks Marcia for sacrificing so others may not have to suffer. I figure if I keep it around long enough, one of my husband's old college friends will come stay with us and get drunk enough to agree to try them. -Kelly

I gave up (am obstaining from) the same as Therese right now, plus soft cheeses and cole slaw, unless they are from a small producer. I think the risk of listeria from mass produced factory sources is not insignificant and pregnant women and their unborn babies are much more suseptible to listeria. I ate some nice wild smoked salmon when I was a few months pregnant- I didn't even know I was supposed to avoid it until someone mentioned it! And I forgot and ordered some cole slaw I was craving a few times (made in house). All is well though. I had never heard about sage, garlic, bamboo shoots etc. Hopefully they are OK at culinary doses because I ate them throughout both pregnancies. -Kelly, who is dying for a glass of wine... and some camembert... sigh...

Lucy, I am really enjoying your blog. You are quite a raconteur and your father was definitely not the only artist in the family. Reading this makes me want to travel back to France ASAP and shop the wonderful market stalls so badly. sigh... Happy Thanksgiving!

One of the articles I read included the fact that they used arabica beans for the regular coffee and robusta for the decaf, so how can this be a valid study? They said robusta has more fatty acids that may raise cholesterol, so this tells me that perhaps if anything, I should give up robusta beans... -Kelly

I too bought the book a year or two ago, along with Wild Fermentation, a great recipe book on fermented foods. I enjoy reading the side notes and the "know your ingredients" like some people have mentioned. Reading the nonfoods in these packaged items drives me to make them from scratch (or buy them from the health food store when I don't have time.) I haven't tried a lot of "recipes" per se, but have been eating steel cut oats soaked overnight with a bit of yogurt or miso, drinking unhomogenized milk, more yogurt and miso, less processed foods, etc. Being busy I haven't tried my own lacto fermented olives, but bought some wonderful ones at the farmer's market last summer, as well as some wonderful unpasteurized pickles. My daughter was highly intolerant of dairy and I'm trying to help her digestion, as well as the whole family's. She seems to digest goat cheese and organic plain yogurt without problems now. One big change was buying my own chest freezer last year and buying a 1/4 of grassfed beef. Next month I'm buying a naturally raised lamb. I made a wonderful root vegetable kimchi from Wild Fermentation last spring and plan to make my own beer and honey wine this winter. (Nourishing Traditions focuses on non alcoholic fermented drinks, but I am going the Wild Fermentation way and have decided they are OK in moderation). I have big plans for next spring and summer and trying some more recipes. Hopefully my motivation will stay high. :-) -Kelly

They are supposed to be airing Arrested Development and then the "French Chef" episode of KC tonight but our FOX affiliate is just showing another episode of Prison Break instead. I'm confused. It looks like all the episodes will be shown on the FX channel on Sunday Nov. 27th though... Time to set the DVR.

On my countertops: (too much) K/A stand mixer (not used enough but too heavy to life in and out of cupboards) K/A food processor " toaster oven microwave drip coffeemaker moka pot coffee grinder breadmaker in cupboards and shelves: spice grinder rice cooker Crock Pot 2 ice cream makers (1 is a gift) 3 blenders (can you say "wedding gifts") mini food processor Foreman grill (aka my panini maker) 4 cup drip coffee maker Krups Moka brew immersion blender waffle maker (somewhere!) pizzelle maker (another gift) I think that's everything. -Kelly edited to add the breadmaker...

Speaking personally, my pomme frites preferably don't come from ConAgra potatoes and have partially hydrogenated oils and sodium acid pyrophosphate. I prefer simply organic potatoes in peanut oil or a similar oil with some salt. -Kelly

I love lamb, especially Indian, greek and all types of middle eastern preparations. Especially leg of lamb and lamb shank. Oh and lamb tagine and lamb chops are good too. I just made some (cooked) lamb kibbeh the other day for the first time and enjoyed the leftovers tonight. Sooo good. I am about to buy a whole grassfed lamb for the chest freezer next week from a local farmer that I found through my CSA. Can't wait! It is so much more economical that way too and I'm cheap.

I liked the last episode the best like some others. More foodies references and food shots. I don't need laugh out loud funny personally... I can't wait for the show with Michael Vartan- old Alias co-stars back together. I hope he speaks lots of french since he's fluent. They could make this episode pretty amusing with american/french chef rivalries.

Really high end dining? Beyond the Broadmoor you've got me. The Briarhurst Manor in nearby Manitou Springs *may* be a good choice if you like wild game, but it is very uneven, especially on weekends and holidays. Let's just say that there are some very drunk guests at times and they don't seem able to handle them nor handle large crowds very well. Wait, how could I forget The Clilff House also in Manitou Springs. Oh, maybe because I have a toddler and don't get out much lately. They have a good wine list and are in a quaint bed and breakfast type hotel. Still not very fine dining in the standards of a cosmopolitan city though. Good luck and let us know where you end up dining.

Thanks for the info on your find! I love a good Pho Ga and will definitely check it out next time we're home visiting. I hope everyone on eGullet in the mood for Vietnamese (or Chinese) checks it out so it stays in business.

Totally!

Not bad at all! Maybe I'll start with cherry tomatoes and herbs next year. I hear you- I struggle to make it to the farmer's market the last hour they're opened.

Marcia, How are your tomatoes doing? (I'm wondering if I should give it a try next summer in patio pots safely away from the, $#@ I mean deer.) Have you been to the farmer's markets and are there tasty tomatoes there yet? --Kelly

We had lotsa food in the cafeteria on the meal plan (it's hard to mess up the salad bar and yogurt and cereal LOL!) and little time to cook, but my roommate made me my first tuna melt freshman year, using her (not allowed) toaster oven and cheese slices in our (allowed) mini fridge, she often skipped the cafeteria and ate this for lunch.

Oh, I forgot to report back- I downloaded the pilot a few weeks ago and overall I really enjoyed it. It didn't make me think of Bourdain per se, but it was entertaining and there was some focus on the food and the cooking. Of course with Bradley Cooper in it, it would have to be totally abysmal for me not to like it. I hope the show is successful and gets better and better.

I was going to say Mon Jin Lau too but I've never seen the name on butcher paper anywhere but Macaroni Grill either. Hmm, I wonder where you went. Mon Jin Lau is one of my sister's favorite places and she'd probably like the food at this place too.

Yum, pentagram cake! Maybe a blue curacao and tequila cocktail to go with it, with blueberries floating on top. Done and done. Over 200 Fans Strong, baby. I missed the Star of David Cake... I'd be curious to know what kind of bitchin' cocktail she whipped up to wash that bad boy down. Woof. ←

I haven't had as much of an appetite the first trimester, maybe because it's the heat of summer this time... All these beautiful CSA vegetables coming in and no energy to prep and cook them into something interesting half the time... Maybe the appetite will come with the fall weather. Funny, sometimes I feel like I could just eat out every night, whatever sounds good at the time. The only thing keeping me from that other than the budget is that everything tastes so darn salty lately! -Kelly

I just have to say that I think this is the funniest (and scariest) post I've seen on eGullet.

You piqued my curiousity! from http://www.smartchicken.com/diet.html Looks like I will be heading to Super Target of all places to try one of these out next month when we're back in Colorado.

Yep. It's certainly not what it used to be unfortunately. I only go there for the fries and Marzen now, maybe a meal at the Palo Alto location. I was so excited when they opened the Broomfield, CO location, but the food just wasn't as good and extremely salty. I think it was an oriental salad and actually inedible and I'm somewhat of a salt fiend too. It also had a very "chainy" feel. The Hawaii (Honolulu I believe) one we ate at several years ago wasn't very busy and felt chainy too. Of course now I mostly just buy my garlic fries frozen at Costsco and my marzen bottled at the grocery store.

Angela, I closed a handful of times and once had to dump in the huge block- Back then it was half lard and half veg oil. I almost hurled from the smell. I can still remember it. Shortly after that they switched to all veg oil (late 80's). After that I was allowed help the few times the oil needed changing on my shift.