Jensen

Oh, I love Red River cereal! We never got it very often as kids; maybe it was more expensive than oats. My favourite memory about Red River cereal is of eating it while I was at summer camp. We'd gone on an overnight hike and, for dinner, we ate weiners that had been skewered onto sticks, covered in a dough made from Red River cereal, and then cooked over the campfire.

The SF Chronicle had an article in today's issue as well... Morning Comfort I liked this article much better than the NY Times one (which seemed to be mostly bashing instant oatmeal instead of singing the praises of porridge!). Anyone get Saveur? There was a brief piece in the December issue (No. 80) on the Benevolent Knights of the Fraternal Brotherhood of Anglo-Afro-Italo-American Society of Porridge Aficionados (AKA Bonnie Raitt's band).

They have. It causes anal leakage.

Why not make sausage patties to start out?

Maggie, thank you for the info on micro-nuking the stock and I'm glad to see you're feeling better. Soup's on at the Jensen household as well. We'll be dining on an Asian-flavoured chicken noodle soup. I sweated some onions and garlic, adding cubes of skinless, boneless chicken thighs, a bunch of chicken broth, a bit of vegetable water (saved from steaming bok choy last week), some green beans, peas, corn, a generous bit of miso paste, and some tamari sauce. I've got a five pound bag of Vietnamese rice noodles (like the noodle in phô) that I will cook separately, dole out into bowls, and ladle the soup over.

Is malaria a big problem in California or other food basket states? I don't think so but I could be wrong.[...] ← No, you're surely not wrong. There probably is no big down side to DDT being prohibited in the US in these times and certainly an up side. ← There was a very interesting article in the NY Times in April that talked about the use of DDT in developing countries. It made a pretty good case for the limited use of it to control the vectors for various diseases. I did look for the article and found the abstract, if anyone is interested in paying for the archived copy.

We had porridge (oatmeal), which I tolerated, and Cream of Wheat, which I detested. Then, the only toppings were brown sugar and milk. These days, I eat a bowl of porridge for breakfast almost every morning. We're a three-porridge household with me eating Irish steel-cut oats, the Spouse eating rolled oats, and the Spawn eating the little flavoured packets. I no longer eat it with brown sugar and milk though as I've found I prefer the steel-cut oats lightly salted and without any milk. If I do want milk with it, I'll have a glass on the side.

I don't think I could add anything more than what Marie-Louise wrote and I know I couldn't have said it quite so well.

Picked up a book I had about detoxing that says that shellfish is forbidden on some detoxes. I don't think I can bear that. I understand why I'm avoiding all the things I'm avoiding, any ideas why you wouldn't eat shellfish on a detox? ← Maybe because of pollution and possible heavy metals and whatnot present in shellfish? As for your headache, try and drink more water. I find that helped me when I went off sugar and caffeine last summer.

Uh, if there's no scum then what happens to the impurities? ← Maybe using the micro-nuker doesn't have the same effect on the proteins as boiling does. And isn't that what the impurities really are? Proteins that have been changed by being boiled?

I had my soup today but I ate out to get it... Bún Cari Vit (curried duck vermicelli soup) from TK Noodle Restaurant I'm thinking back to the comment about making stock in the microwave. How is that done? I bought some pork neck bones to make stock for some Asian-style soups later this week or next week and the prospect of no scum appeals to me.

I'd heard somewhere that fresh pasta made with eggs did not dry very well at all. I'm pretty sure my sister told me this and, while y'all might question Marcella Hazan's bona fides when it comes to pasta, you'd better not diss my sister... ( ) I like the idea that it can be frozen though.

Another idea! New Mexico Green Chile The way I made it, it has a thin broth so I think it can safely be thought of as soup...

What a super idea, MaggietheCat! You're an inspiration... I'll toss in my Curried Cauliflower and Cheese soup recipe. I'm currently pursuing inner (and outer!) thinness so feel free to substitute whatever grade of milk is your preference. Curried Cauliflower and Cheese Soup 1 large head of cauliflower 2-3 cups salt-free, de-fatted chicken broth 1 cup fat-free milk 1 S&B Golden Curry Sauce Mix cube * 2 oz. grated cheddar cheese (real cheese, fat-free cheese is not allowed in my house!) 2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast (optional) 1. Cut the cauliflower into florets and put them in a pot along with the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat. Cook until the cauliflower is very soft. 2. Using a potato masher, mash the cauliflower and broth together to make a thick but chunky mixture. 3. Add milk. (Note: don’t let the soup boil after this point so keep the heat on low.) 4. Add curry spice mix cube. (* If you have some other curry seasoning, that can be substituted. I’ve also used Lee Kum Kee’s curry paste and also the dry spices themselves. If you use the dry spices (turmeric, coriander, cumin, cayenne, garam masala, etc., etc.,), add them to 1/2 a tablespoon or so of oil, cook them for a little bit, and then stir the mixture into the soup.) My favourite way to make this is using the Lee Kum Kee paste. 5. Add cheese and nutritional yeast, if using. Stir until cheese is melted. Why nutritional yeast? It adds a richness to the soup that would normally come from using gobs and gobs of cheese. So, you get the rich flavour of lots of cheese but without the fat. I also added some roasted cauliflower to this batch of soup. It added a different texture and also some depth of flavour. Very yummy.

What was your family food culture when you were growing up? Canadian...Anglo-colonial, I guess. Until recent decades, Canada had closer ties with Britain than with the US and, between that and growing up on an island with all the attendant isolation issues that came with that in a pre-mass communication era, I think we were pretty "British" in our food culture. Was meal time important? We always had dinner together (every night) but mealtime wasn't used as a "social" period. Was cooking important? If we wanted to eat... What were the penalties for putting elbows on the table? None. We were just told to remove them. However, as I have mentioned elsewhere, my dad was a martinet about the use of cutlery. He came from a poor, low class family and I think it was something that he associated with moving up in the world. Who cooked in the family? My mum (even though she worked full-time during my entire childhood). Were restaurant meals common, or for special occasions? At one point in my childhood, we used to go out to dinner and then to the theatre, not once a month but maybe once every two months. We'd go to a different restaurant every time and that introduced us to eating out in a more "refined" atmosphere. My dad pointed out to me that I always ordered the chicken (or game hen or what-have-you). I just like poultry better than other foods, I guess. We would also have fish and chips every payday. We'd all go grocery shopping and then we'd pick up the fish and chips to take home and eat for dinner. Did children have a "kiddy table" when guests were over? No. When did you get that first sip of wine? Don't recall. Was there a pre-meal prayer? No. Was there a rotating menu (e.g., meatloaf every Thursday)? No. How much of your family culture is being replicated in your present-day family life? We eat out more but, otherwise, we do eat together every night. I think that's important and, from what I gather, it might be a bit of a rarity these days.

I've reconsidered making my cassoulet. I had to choose between yummy duck fatty food (i.e., the cassoulet) and maintaining my weight loss. Weight loss won out. So, I'm going to have to wait until the next cook-off. (Of course, I'm assuming that we'd all like this to be a regular thing.) Chrisamirault...what's on the books for February?

I was trying to be a little funny with that...my edit says my real point of view on "manners" and "etiquette". I very much like what bottomlesspit had to say: "General consideration for others over etiquette always." As for which camp I'm in ... neither! I'm (North) American but my family is from the UK (which is definitely not "continental"!!!). What that article refers to as "continental-style" is how I eat though.

← Hmmmm. Is this a trick question? Why would one need to put the knife down? Fork in left hand. Knife in right hand. They stay there for the entire meal (unless one needs to drink something). Seriously, if people would just hold their cutlery properly, this question wouldn't be necessary! Edited to add this... When I was growing up, my dad was a freaking martinet about which hand held which utensil and other table manners. Because of that, as long as the Spawn can conduct herself at the dinner table with some semblance of proper behaviour, I'm happy. I guess my method worked because she's got great manners...

This looks soooooo good. Can you describe it a bit more? Were there noodles involved? What sorts of seasonings? Spicy? I want me some of that soup!!!

I was inspired by chufi and so tonight's dinner was: Braised lamb with fresh onions, rice with cheese (it turns out very much like risotto but it's not cooked like risotto so I don't call it risotto), and steamed broccoli I think when eGCI gets going again, someone should offer a course on plating food. God knows I need such a course!

Is this a re-release of "The Old World Kitchen" or a totally different book? (I suppose I can find that out for myself...) I quite like The Old World Kitchen, although I have read that some of her historical facts aren't quite on the up and up. Santa brought me a marble mortar and pestle (the only thing on my Christmas wish list...I've figured out that if you only ask for one thing, odds are that you will get it ), a new remote thermometer thingie, a silicone pastry brush, and a marble rolling pin. Life is good.

It's an antibiotic taken to prevent malaria. It also treat typhus and other infections. ← It's the drug of choice for those (at least the canine "thoses") with tick-borne diseases too...

Individual meat pies always make a nice meal. Also, have a cruise through Abra's food blog. I seem to recall that she took photos of some of the meals she made for clients. The same sort of meals would work for you, I would think. Oh, and congratulations...

Wouldn't it be the same as making lard or schmaltz? Abra gave instructions on rendering lard in her food blog.

What are you thinking of as "fairly small"? We caught a **-lber once. Edited because the Spouse reminds me that the 40-lber was a spring and the biggest coho we ever got was 17 lbs.