Jensen

Is that meat stuffed into the bitter melon? That just looks awesome and I know that there was still bitter melon available at my farmer's market last weekend. What type have you used? I can get the shorter, bumpier, darker-green one and the smoother, lighter-green, longer one. I wonder how that would taste with some loofa squash added to it!??!

Jmahl, where did you get that wonderful little anteater salt thingie? I think I need one of those!

I used a short grain rice as the only long grain I had was fragrant (basmati and jasmine) and I didn't have enough medium grain for the recipe. I thought it turned out wonderfully however the recipe used called for the rice to be toasted so that may have had some impact.

My guess is Shelby.

Ouch, Peter! And I wasted all this time waiting for the butter to warm up so I can pack it and level it 16 times into my handy tablespoon-on-a-ring! (Actually, I'm surprised Saveur didn't just go ahead and say 2 sticks of unsalted butter.) ← Coincidentally, I just had an email from my mum, asking for a translation of "stick of butter". It seems she's been watching some Food Network shows, wanted to try some recipes, but had no clue as to how much butter was in a stick.

I would think brown paper bags would like to be wrapped around books. They'd get to go out a lot (although probably to the same destination). Sure, it's not as glamourous as being a kite but it's better than being put in the recycle bin, isn't it? I covet your brown paper bag. (but I wouldn't make it into a kite...guilt trips don't work on me)

Gee, Pam, I can't imagine why you'd want that dog food and dog beds! (God it's weird when your worlds collide...) My local Costco is a great source for cheese: real Parmesan and even Rouge et Noir cheeses from the Marin French Cheese Co.

I will sometimes plan my meals after shopping, but it's based on what is available at the farmer's market. For instance, today a discussion with the Spawn about whether or not to buy Roma tomatoes led to the decision to make macaroni and cheese for dinner (yes, I put tomatoes in my mac and cheese). I also picked up some shelling beans, which will make a side dish at some point during the week. The rest of that meal will be planned around those beans. For some reason, I find I do my best cooking when I plan around the vegetables I've got at the market, rather than planning around an animal protein. Who knows why?...

Tonight's dinner was my entry in a "hash off" between the Jensen house and the Jensens' Neighbours' house: I've no idea when the next installment of the hash off will happen but I'm already looking forward to it.

Katie Meadow...you are a brilliant woman. Brilliant! On the dining front, I generally will make whatever I want when having guests in. I've found that, whatever my guests' issues are, they rarely affect every course so who cares if there is one dish that so-and-so can't eat or a different dish that another person can't eat? This past summer, a friend and his daughter came for dinner; she was a raw vegan. In that case, every course except the grilled ball tip roast was "raw vegan". It was a great meal and the vegan guest just didn't eat the meat!

Everyone's meals look so good! Dinner here started out with these little snacks to nibble on while cooking: Prosciutto, manchego, and membrillo on bagel toasts. And the meal: Roasted creamy Kuri squash soup.

I wouldn't worry about the thin broth; the "authentic" chiles I've had have all had thin broths. Just serve it with something to sop it all up!

With the Spouse home from his business trip, cabbage rolls were on the menu tonight. The flash on my camera is a little over-enthusiastic so, believe me when I tell you, the plate looked better than the photo: I used the recipe from my Gundel's cookbook (click here for Gundel's website). The filling is a 3:2 mixture of pork and beef and the rice is toasted before going into the mix. Seasoning for the filling is primarily paprika, with a sprinkle of marjoram. The sauce is sauerkraut thickened with a sour cream roux and seasoned with more paprika and dill. This was a great meal and I thank whoever decided on this cook off!

I've made two types of green chile in my life (one of them last night! what a coincidence!) and both times I browned the aromatics first. Not only that, I sauteed the herbs a wee bit too! Here are my versions of green chile: New Mexico-style Green Chile Braised Pork Shanks with Chiles (Chile Verde)

I'll give you all of those reasons except the second one. What's the longest you've had to travel between gas stations? In a pinch, that's also the same distance you have to travel between "grocery stores". Of course, that's no reason not to be prepared for those days when the sidewall separates or when you travelling buddy comes down with inner ear-induced vertigo or when the motel you'd planned on staying in is full because it's right next to an amusement park and it's Friday night. All of those situations (and more) have come up on road trips I've taken and, although these details probably won't fit Fat Guy's personal parameters, here's how we've dealt with them. At one stop in Illinois, we had leftovers from dinner at a really great steakhouse. We took a "to go" box, even though we had no refrigerator in the motel room. Once back at the Red Roof Inn for the night, the to-go box went into the Cooltron (ack! with the dog food!). The next day we were pushing on and, not wanting to make a lengthy stop for lunch, we made ourselves sandwiches from the leftovers while stopping to walk the dogs. This is not to say that we didn't have supplies of "road snacks". My travel buddy kept a storage drawer under the driver's seat which was filled with trail mix, Smarties/M & Ms, and our big favourite...Gardetto's mix. Additionally, the Cooltron was loaded up nightly with beverages. Travel Buddy preferred Diet Pepsi and my beverage of choice was water. I do NOT recommend relying on rest area water to refill your supplies though. Giardia is everywhere (especially along Hwy 40 in Arizona...). When coming in late to a destination, keeping an eye out on your surrounding area can be a boon when deciding where to eat. On one trip, we'd planned on stopping in Des Moines, IA but found no available rooms. Ultimately, we plodded on until we reached Newton, IA (home of Maytag Cheese!). It was dark and raining and we had no idea if we'd find a room or not. Additionally, Newton is NOT right on the interstate and so there are no fast food restaurants (nor at the exits!). But, keeping an eye out on the way into town showed us a Mexican restaurant that looked okay (for Newton, IA...LOL)...there were a lot of cars in the parking lot, at any rate. Once we got checked in, we double-backed to that restaurant and I had the best carnitas I've had outside of California. If you can pack healthy snacks and keep those snacks well-stocked, then it's unlikely that you'll need anything else to "survive in the wild".

As someone who has done a fair number of cross-country road trips (albeit with dogs, not children), I think the parameters for this hypothetical trip are somewhat unrealistic. If you have the car, why not a little gas burner? They're only as big as a briefcase. Also, I can't see going an entire day driving without coming across a grocery store. If you think you're going to be late into your destination for the night, you pretty much know it by mid-afternoon. What's to stop you from stopping at a grocery store and picking up something for dinner later? The portable refrigerators are a godsend if you need/want to transport food that needs to be kept cool. The one with which I'm familiar has an adapter that allows you to take it into the motel room and plug it into the wall. Those dogs mentioned up above (usually my friend and I have travelled with five or six of them) all eat raw diets which MUST be kept refrigerated. The Cooltron performed admirably in that regard.

The first thing that came to my mind was granola/trail mix/GORP type stuff. Edited to add: jerky/pemmican/dried meat. Edited again to add: nuts

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who was gobsmacked by that price for Smart chicken. A knife to my heart, it was... (Although I did find Mary's chicken frozen for $2.89/lb...I think that's the best I'll be able to do.)

Wow...that brings back memories! (Only it was fries and gravy at the cafeteria in KMart)

The cheapest I can get chicken is $1.99/lb...thighs or breasts on sale this week at my local Raley's. I imagine it is of the same quality as the 69 cent chicken...rubbery meat-like protein substance that was waved over a picture of a chicken. For 2.50/lb., I can get natural "free range" chicken whole at Trader Joe's; for an extra 50 cents per pound, it can be organic. For 3.50/lb., Corti Bros. will sell me organic, free range, air chilled chicken that tastes like <gasp> chicken and has nary a rubbery fiber in it. At any rate, as noted above, there is no difference in price between light and dark meat at the lowest level of the chicken echelon. I think if one steps up to Foster Farms, dark meat is cheaper. At the top of the chicken tastiness scale, buying whole chickens seems to be the only option available to me.

More on the sauerkraut & cabbage rolls... My mum doesn't have the recipe any longer but, as she was an adult at the time, she had a better memory of its contents. She tracked down this recipe from Simply Recipes as being similar: Pork Stuffed Cabbage Rolls Seeing the Hungarian moniker in the description on Elise's blog made me check my Gundel's cookbook to see if they had a recipe for cabbage rolls. Sure enough, they have it and it involves sauerkraut, sour cream, but no tomatoes. Hopefully, there will be cabbages at the market on Saturday. If so, I will try an adaptation of the Gundel's recipe. In the meantime, if anyone would like the Gundel's recipe, PM me. I'd be happy to type it up.

Cabbage rolls were never a favourite for me until, as a young child (6 years old, maybe?), I went to the home of my school chum, Sarah. Her mum made cabbage rolls with no sauce and with sauerkraut in there somewhere. I came home and made my mum ask her mum for the recipe. I should see if she still has it... The Spouse is in charge of cabbage rolls in the Jensen household; he doesn't use sauce either. (No wonder we're married!)

Except that doubled oven bags closed with twist ties does not constitute "sealed". Unfortunately, anyone who has taken even one Microbiology course at any point in their life remembers those names. Twenty-five years later and I still can't dry dishes with a cloth towel because of that class...

I made a quince and apple crisp for dessert on Monday (Thanksgiving for Canadians). The recipe is on my foodblog: Quince and Apple Crisp

Roasted pork shoulder (which was served with risotto and sauteed beet greens):