Verjuice

Yeah- maple syrup and Verjuice. A match made in heaven .

Some sources say that Grade C is Grade B; that they are both marketed under the Grade B label. A google search led me to believe the same thing. Then, I read that Grade C (Commercial Grade) is actually illegal to retail in VT, but I am having a hard time finding reliable information on this. Anyone know whether or not it's true?

Cream-top yogurt. Ten cups of it (that's two and a half cartons). With blackberries, raspberries, peaches, granola... and a gallon of Grade B maple syrup. Scooped up with giant, floppy Kashmiri sweet naan stuffed with dried cherries and pistachios. My tummy hurts all over .

What does one do with carbonated maple sap? Oooh, maple pop. I don't do soft drinks, but... I love it on pancakes, as well. Jeni, that ice cream sounds amazing. Care to share the recipe? I have always wanted to tap a maple tree, but haven't had the chance yet. Have you ever tried maple extract? I have never been tempted, but I wonder if it would be good for boosting the maple flavor.

All this talk about honey has gotten me feeling a little defensive about my maple syrup. I love it-- on my buttered toast (I adore the way it saturates; honey is regrettably more well-behaved and merely pussyfoots), in my tea, baked into desserts, whipped with butter and slathered onto muffins or biscuits, stirred into yogurt, used in marinades (great with salmon), chugged from the bottle, warmed with cider and spices and sipped from a thick white mug, and let's not forget Stanley Burrough's Master Cleanse... Only Grade B for me, though. I love it's slightly more bitter, more pronounced maple flavor. How I love maple syrup! Who's with me? What do you do with yours?

The taste of honey is one of very, very few I cannot stand. It just tastes like the smell of grimy kindergarten fingers to me- I have a hard time explaining it. Maple syrup, please, for my tea, or whipped with butter and spread on toast (I love how it soaks the toast whereas honey rests, well-behaved and amber-eyed, in tepid puddles), stirred into yogurt, added to marinades. No. No honey. Well, unless it's white truffle honey. And I like chestnut honey in baked goods. Anyone tried the white Hawaiian honey?

I have been on the road a lot this summer and have found that my old staples of Nature Valley granola bar (peanut butter or banana nut), some salty roasted sunflower seeds, Doublemint gum and a bottle of unsweetened iced tea keep me pretty happy on those long, dreary stretches of highway while I while away the hours dreaming of my next real meal. What do you grab at gas stations? When the going gets rough and you are 400 miles away from fresh food?

Wow, great timing. I'm having a party catered by an Indian restaurant on Saturday and I've been frantically searching for recipes for a green bean dish to go along with the food- something that will be good cold or at room temp. Monica, gingerly, your recipes sound delicious. Might you be willing to share them? Thanks.

Garlicky. Also: yummy. Got any goodies in the house? And delish. Okay, I use that one on occasion.

Well, the first trip of the season went well and I wanted to share a couple of things: -Wasa or Ryvita crackers pack light and are surprisingly hearty. -Dehydrated hummus sounds disgusting (I'm Lebanese!) but is surprisingly delicious. Especially if you don't think of it as hummus, but rather a hearty bean dip. -Some kind of pepperoni and some sort of hard cheese for the first couple of days make for great high fat/protein/falutin snacking the first day or two out. And the pepperoni, if you have (a) dog(s), makes great dog treats, too. Yeah, he's spoiled. -Almond butter, almond butter. Maybe marzipan, too. -Homemade fruit leather rocks. -A Nalgene bottle filled with sake or red wine. for when it hails mothballs. -Drop cookies made with raw oats, egg whites, brown sugar and dried cherries and ginger or dried apricots and almonds instead of trail mix. Feels like a cookie, but isn't. -Whatever you do, don't skip out on the sardines and the ventresca tuna! Yum.

I've never tasted a good apricot . And I so want to. The tree in my front yard is brimming with them, but they're horrid and grainy; tasteless. I have always found fresh apricots to be so and I know it's not always the case. Are good apricots particularly difficult to find? I think I'm missing out on the Secret of Apricots!

Something that happened last week comes to mind: I introduced him to white truffles. In my kitchen. He looked up, misty-eyed, and said, "I had never imagined meeting someone as turned on by food as you are. And now I think I get it" . The previous week, he was spun into orbit by his first taste of foie gras: "How does it know? How does it know I'm going to bite down on it?" <shudder> He eats ice-cream at the temperature at which it melts. My favorite, though, are the incomprehensible murmurs of appreciation and those gooey, incredulous glances of awe and bewilderment that he throws between bites. Sweetbreads, I have found, will do that. Also, morels. And fresh sourdough bread. I'm pulling tricks out of my hat, I know. And good pastries have been known to bring this one to tears-- a keeper, to be sure. It's nice to leave the last bite for someone else. It's even nicer when they like the food so much that they forget to leave you any. In secret, of course.

Backpacking. Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Here is a list of some of the things I typically bring, excluding anything that's already been mentioned: -Greenfoods, usually Living Fuel or Berry Green. For meal replacement or a pick me up. -I hate premade trail mixes, but find that if I make my own it can be great. For stuffing in my jacket pocket. - Small bags of candied orange peel, Marcona almonds, dried strawberries, Monnuka raisins, tender candied ginger, dried cherries, raw oats, pepitas, sunflower seeds. Either for making the aforementioned trail mix, or for adding to oats, or for snacking on plain. -Emer'gen-C Vitamin C and mineral supplements for adding to water. Raspberry. Really helps my energy levels. -Some kind of dried meat, usually elk or buffalo jerky. And Colman's dry mustard for dabbing atop. -Tiny loaf of Muesli bread for the first couple of days. -Gorp cookies. I like peanut butter and banana in mine. -Gomasio. -Almond butter. -Ghee. -Sheet crackers made from dehydrated vegetables, sprouted almonds, flax seeds etc. Can be rehydrated, eaten as a snack, spread with beans or dipped in soup. -A few energy bars. I like Lara bars made with only dried fruit and buts, and Whaguru Chews made with nuts, brown rice syrup, maple syrup etc. The ones that are basically chocolate candy bars make me crash. -Tortillas for breakfast the first morning out. -Mung beans. -Yerba mate.

It's camping season, and I'll certainly be doing lots of it. This year will be my first for bringing along a stove. I'm used to shorter trips with a fairly bland diet and lots of perishables since I typically only stay out for a couple of days. This year, however, I'm doing things a little differently. I won't be alone, for one; I'll have a travel companion for most of my trips. Also, we'll be out for days at a time, maybe up to two weeks in colder places in August. The weather in New Mexico is pretty warm these days but nights can be chilly. I know the usual staples and I have Recipes for a Small Planet around here somewhere. What are your favorite camping meals? What are some things you bring along that might not occur to the less imaginative packer? Share, share.

Ah, Wesleyan-- my brother just graduated from there. A few weeks ago, actually. I'm a former Yalie myself. Any others out there?

Has anyone tried this stuff?

I love the Shrimp and Lemongrass soup at Mu Du Noodles, but have been disappointed by almost everything else. It's a nice space, too, and I like Mu (the owner), but I have also felt rushed there in the past. It can get seriously crowded and they make it clear that they don't like diners to linger, which is fine, but not usually what I go for when I eat out. The best restaurants in town are Ristra and Tulips, in my opinion. They do the whole French interpretation of the Southwest gig much better than Geronimo. Julian's and Trattoria Nostrani are nice for Italian, as well.

I haven't been back since I left three years ago, but back then I had my favorites. O'Rourke's Diner in Middletown- especially their mind-boggling selection of omelettes on weekends. In New Haven, the Yankee Doodle for breakfast or for snacks of fried doughnuts and delightfully buttery cheeseburgers. Louis' Lunch for burgers, Booktrader Cafe for killer sandwiches and coffee, Atticus for black bean soup, Lulu's European Cafe for quiet morning pastries and coffee (try her Bitch's Brew), Cafe Bravo for just about anything plus the best cappuccino in town. Oh, and lots of brick oven pizza by the slice when Wooster Sq. wasn't an option. Almost everyone I knew there loved Mamoun's which is a crummy, inexpensive little falafel joint that's open late, but it didn't do much for me- I liked Alexandria Cafe much more- I wonder if it's still around. I also liked Seoul for Korean food, The Pantry for breakfast, and Japanese Noodle House on State Street. I also ate at the natural foods store (Edge of the Woods) all the time- good salads, good deli. Istanbul Cafe is inexpensive if you order the vegetarian appetizer plate. It's huge- enough for at least two people- and cheap. The Anchor Cafe for bar food. I always disliked Claire's overrated vegetarian cafe, but the Rainbow Cafe is nice. Indochine Pavilion for lunch. Whimsel's for crepes. 21 Broadway for their awesome selection of grilled cheese sandwiches. Ivy Noodle for excellent dumplings. That's New Haven off the top of my head. Phew. In Milford, Chip's Pancake House for breakfast. And I always loved Darbar in Branford for Indian food and the nearby Common Grounds for coffee and dessert. Yes. Then there was Peaches Soul Food, and I cannot remember where it was located.

Vegan desserts. Vegan chocolate desserts, vegan "cheesecake", leaden vegan cookies that turn to sawdust in the mouth, soy puddings, cream pies made with the same such, parched, offensive vegan cakes iced with silken tofu ganache or something equally ridiculous, and absolutely anything containing carob. Why oh why? Eat fruit instead.

Another night in Albuquerque coming up. Has anyone tried the new Jamaican place on Central? How about Barry's Oasis? I had dinner at Pars yesterday; really disappointing.

Lebanese food-- but only homemade will do. My grandmother was an amazing cook but my mother never learned her secrets, so I usually have to make it myself or visit one of my aunts. Honestly though, nearly every time I take a chance and sample hummus or kishk or labneh or kibbeh or baklava or nammoura that wasn't made by someone's grandmother or in my own kitchen my heart sinks and I want to start weeping. It's a very specific craving when it hits, a very familiar hunger that can't be satisfied by anything else. In a pinch, I'll take coffee with cardamom, sweet mint tea sipped from a glass, pistachios, a semolina and yogurt pudding that can be made in a flash and drizzled with rosewater and orange flower water, and anything flavored with anis.

Plain old olio extra vergine di oliva. With a few grains of Maldon sea salt. I love my salads to be simple when the greens are good, the oil is good, the salt is good. That's not to say I wouldn't have minded dumping a milkshake over the lot of it and calling it a day. Hehe.

Thank you for the advice. I'm halfway through Day 2. It's unfortunate that I'm not currently able to eat a small sweet something and have it suffice. My tendency is to inhale huge quantities of sugar once I get started- the appetitie for it has grown insatiable over the last few months. The worst is when I start the day off with something sweet; a little maple syrup and almond butter or granola or vanilla yogurt or jam on a piece of muesli toast or even a piece of fruit or a plain bowl of hot cereal, which is basically pure, unadulterated starch (turns sweet in my mouth, anyway)- this really screws me up for the rest of the day; I fiend for more sugar. Whereas if I wait and have something after dinner, I usually require less of it, but still more than everyone else I know. Meh. I had the same problem with cigarettes; if I could have been an occasional smoker, I wouldn't have had a problem with an occasional drag. However, it was all or nothing. Bummer. Of course, I have had a full panel done to make sure there isn't anything else going on. Good local eggs for breakfast. Miso soup, green beans and butter lettuce salad for lunch. We shall see! edited to add: An interesting development: my intense salt cravings subsided almost immediately. Anyone else notice how they balance each other out?

I've been hopelessly addicted to the stuff for about a year now, and it's beginning to drive me batty. I'm determined to stay off it for at least a few weeks while I train for a climbing trip next month. Problem is, fruit is a huge trigger for my cravings, along with bread, nuts and milk. These cravings are not a result of letting myself get too hungry; fortunately my regular diet never really seemed to suffer greatly as a result of my sugar addiction. I eat well, and often. Does anyone have advice on how to stave off cravings for sweets?

Trail mix. Honey. The smell makes me gag. Chestnut honey is great in baking but smells the worst. I could chug maple syrup by the gallon, though. Cookie dough. Fruity salad dressings, like raspberry vinaigrette. Cream pies. Meringue pies. Cake frosting. Oreos. Hot chile jams and preserves. Crunchy peanut butter. Altoids. Kahlua. Clif Bars. Overripe bananas. The combination of fruit and chocolate. Chex mix. Peanut m&ms. Taste like paint thinner to me. Vegan desserts. Citrus zest in anything except citrus desserts.