Jensen

I like arugula as a "stuffing". Steam it, mix it with some ricotta or quark, some flavour (garlic, thyme, S & P) and you've got a fabulous ravioli stuffing. I've also used the same filling to stuff cousa squash which was then topped with grated Parmesan and baked until hot.

I'm loving the blog, LMF. There is an article in today's NYT that mentions Salumi and how one can now order from them online. Of course, I thought of you when I read that. Salumi

I'll add Vancouver to the list (and make all those "North American" suggestions truly North American and not just American). I've never been there as an adult but I am surprised no one has suggested Montreal.

I will recommend Marion Cunningham's "Cooking with Children". Amazon clickie link thingie The subtitle is "15 Lessons for Children, age 7 and up, who really want to learn to cook". I know you've said your neice and nephew are younger than that but the reading age for the book itself is 4-8 years. The recipes are very simple but they do a fabulous job at teaching basic cooking techniques.

Very cool site indeed! One of the things that makes it even cooler is that, if you go poking around a little bit, you discover that they also have a section entitled In the Victorian Kitchen -- And (as if that wasn't enough), there is another section on the teapot (tetsubin) used in Japanese tea ceremonies (click here for tetsubin). How cool is that?

Definitely the pan-roasted Brussels sprouts. There is a very nice recipe on Epicurious' site here.

Freshly sliced cucumber. No adornment needed.

My favourite condiment to go with chips is actually two...mayonnaise and HP. Not mixed! They must be in separate blobs next to each other on the plate then applied with a knife. Yum! PS I fully understand your husband's sandwich methodolgy and adhere to it myself. I'm not an architect but I would like to be one when I grow up.

I'll just toss in that I used to pay $10.00 or so for a bottle of Columbia Crest Merlot here in Sacramento a few years back. At the time, that same bottle cost over $30.00 in Vancouver. Would I use a BC-purchased bottle of good wine for cooking? It would depend on how much the recipe called for, whether I had a bottle open or not, and how flush I was feeling. Would I use the same wine purchased in CA for cooking? Sure.

And he eats oysters. What more could a girl want?

The photo looked like a Haas avocado to me. They are different from other avocados and, in fact, we had a state funeral here in California when the mother tree passed on a couple of years ago. (Okay, I lied about the state funeral but the rest of it is true...)

I have what seems to me to be a very silly question about broiling your peppers. Do you leave the oven door open a crack when you broil? I never broil anything but I seem to remember my mum leaving the door on the oven open a crack when she broiled. Or maybe it was something completely different and I'm full of it! Last week, my farmer's market had some great Anaheim peppers which I used to make some New Mexico green chile. They were roasted on the Weber. I'd like to roast and chop some peppers for the freezer this weekend but using the broiler is much nicer (especially if it rains like it did today!). Hence my silly question...

Oh, this just reminded me of the time I made seared tuna steaks...rare, of course. He got up and microwaved his. (How come there is no smilie like the heart one but shows tears bursting forth?)

I'm not sure I eat the same as I did growing up but I also am thinking that my family's eating habits changed as I grew up. I grew up on an island and, although it was a big one, it did still have an impact on how we ate. Fresh vegetables in the winter were pretty pathetic so my mum would freeze a lot of our garden harvest during the summer. As I got older (but was still in my growth phase), transportation improved and so we were able to buy better produce during the winter. As that happened, we bought more and put up less. I did eat a lot more seafood as a kid than I eat now. Of course, I live in Sacramento and one can't just wander down to Fisherman's Wharf to pick up stuff for dinner. My sister lives one block from Fisherman's Wharf in Victoria and, when we visit, one of our favourite meals is a "seafood" dinner. We walk down to the wharf, buy some of everything that's available, and then spend the entire evening (up to 6 hours!) eating and drinking. We also usually had freshly caught salmon in the freezer, either that we had got ourselves or that friends had. That held true until we moved off the island (as adults) in the early 90s. I don't eat Chinese food like I did when I lived in BC, simply because there isn't any in Sacramento. Even the local Asian market doesn't carry a lot of the foods that I used to buy (Chinese fresh noodles, for instance). Most of their foods are Vietnamese, as there is a good Vietnamese population here. And, of course, we still go for pho. Now that we're in California, we do eat more Mexican food. <HOMER SIMPSON>Mmmmmm...carnitas!</HOMER> It's easier to find Hispanic groceries, even in mainstream grocery stores, than it is to find Chinese ingredients.

When meat is cooked, especially chicken or pork. The Spouse will sit there and pick at the meat on his plate, searching for any tiny morsel he thinks is undercooked. When the news came out about the blood in chickens being due to the age of the bird, not "doneness", I tried to tell him. Did that stop him from checking for blood? Nooooooo. I made a pork loin roast last night and even used a thermometer to make sure it was done but did that stop him from checking for anything that might even remotely considered to be pink? Noooooo. That one I blame on his mother. Apparently, she had a childhood friend die of trichinosis so I imagine it was a concern for her when he was growing up. When we first met, he used to order his steak well done. <shudder> For someone who ordered hers blue, it was a horrible experience for me. At least he's moved up to medium in the restaurants and actually eating (and cooking!) medium-rare beef at home. And it only took 17 years!

Let me add my voice to the "Fans of Susan on the Dinner thread" crowd. I'm really looking forward to this week's blogging!

Rant on, girlfriend!

Somebody needs to make this and get back to us, you know, for investigative purposes. (Oh, and it can't be me because I don't do dessert these days). I wonder if a tin of fruit cocktail could in any way improve that recipe?

Where are you all located? I'm wondering if the tortillas are in every Costco or just in certain regions. I'd love it if they were available here in Sacratomatoes...

How about a kitchen designer??? Or a race dog trainer? (she asked hopefully)

Dry mustard. And another vote for capers (but maybe not in the same batch...)

The Spouse usually makes plain potato gnocchi and I've made squash/potato gnocchi. His gnocchi was much better than mine. I'd go for the plain gnocchi for starters.

Thank you for a link to an incredible thread! The pictures! The food! Thankyouthankyouthankyou

Tandoori-style chicken skewers, bhindi masala, and basmati rice:

dessert: Pavlova cocktail: Bellini