Alex

Side salad

Are you familiar with the Coffee Taster's Flavor Wheel? There also are other resources on that Counter Culture Coffee website.

Steamed Tofu, Eggplant, And Kale

Wonderbag Amazon

Next time, remove the seeds before toasting. Then, after toasting the chilis, soak them for a while in very hot water, then discard the water. That should help with the bitterness.

Or to at least minimize the effects of the greed, etc. by eating vegan as much as possible, or at least drastically reducing the amount of animal products you consume, which might allow you to eat more ethically raised local animals and animal products.

Funny you should mention that. I haven't made a Bloody Mary in at least a year (I was going to save nine keystrokes and write BM, but I quickly realized what that would look like), but the topic came up just last week when someone told me about a mix they liked. (I never use one.) So no, I haven't tried it, but yes, it's on the agenda.

Or "Triangle man, Triangle man/Triangle man hates particle man/They have a fight, Triangle wins/Triangle man" Or "Can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding" Here's what they look (and sound) like: NPR Tiny Desk Concert At the Kennedy Center

+1 -- although I usually use this for such a task (olives).

You're On Fire -- They Might Be Giants' more-than-worthy successor to Peter Gabriel's classic dancing chickens. (Anyone else here a TMBG fan?)

A cat (for non-culinary purposes only).

lindag, how long to you want to keep them? blue_dolphin's idea is a good one. I've also simply stored them in a covered glass container in the fridge for at least a month, quite possibly longer. (It's been a while.)

The chipotles in adobo would add some smoke flavor; I don't think I'd want any more. The anchos could add a chocolate undertone, so no need for extra chocolate, imo. A bit of Worcestershire might be nice, though. I've fallen in love with the Col. Pabst brand. (We're eloping to Vegas next week. Don't tell anyone.)

Peeling tough-skinned vegetables

Too much decision-making pressure. You don't need the stress. Just forget about it and bake a potato.

I'm not aware of people widely criticizing him because of his appearance. Maybe they do, but as far as I can tell, the "hating" started when he opened his travesty of a restaurant, and when his shtick started getting old. I mean, even Emeril had a shelf life. And sorry, in a foxhole I'd pick Bourdain over Fieri in a heartbeat. Just my two cents.

A week and a half ago I bought a package of five Grade A 5"-6" beans from them, via Amazon, for $22.95; today it's a dollar more. The quality seems fine. I'll be using one of them this weekend and will report on anything out of the ordinary.

Count me in. I know I paid much less than that from one of my go-to places, My Spice Sage, earlier this year. It's currently $84 there. Where did you buy yours? Vanilla beans have gotten much more expensive, too, from what I can recall of my previous purchases.

My answer assumes you cooled your stock promptly and stored it in a sufficiently cold fridge -- 36°F or thereabouts. My package of Costco/Kirkland Organic Chicken Stock says that once opened, a max of seven days is OK. That's also my guideline for homemade stock. It's never caused a problem, except for that one time I ran around in circles for an hour or so, flapping my arms and singing Surfin' Bird at the top of my lungs..

Is it safe? (Not for the faint of heart.)

The Hyde Park/U of C area has really taken off since then, food-wise (as has the rest of the city -- and burbs, to some extent). In fact, we'll probably be going to A10 later this year. Ms. Alex will soon be flying to Europe via O'Hare, and will have some time to kill before catching her return connecting flight back to GR, so I suspect she'll be dining at Tortas Frontera. She's been to all of Rick Bayless's places in Chicago except this one. And thanks for the sit-down information, Chris; I forgot about that.

Yeah, O'Hare certainly is sprawling and can be a pain to navigate, but all in all, I don't mind it -- and it's a 45-minute, $5 ride to the Loop on the Blue Line ($1.10 with senior discount; $2.25/$1.10 to return). And the food options have markedly improved of late. And speaking of the South Side, sad to say that Midway recently contracted with a new concessions operator, who got rid of the best places: Manny's Deli, Harry Caray's, Potbelly Sandwich Works, Lalo's, and even Ben & Jerry's.

Trivia: 1) Her post was in 2010, prior to confirmation of the Reaper (and its predecessor, Trinidad Scorpion) as the hottest pepper; 2) There's a pending new champion, Dragon's Breath. I can't even begin to imagine...

rotuts, they don't make burritos and aren't a sit-down restaurant, but if you should again find yourself at O'Hare, I suspect you'd appreciate Tortas Frontera.

My test of whether a doctor has a sense of humor is to give him a copy of this pain scale, courtesy of Hyperbole and a Half. Be sure to read her explanation of the numbers.