hillvalley

About 4 years ago Oreo came out with a cookie that turned your tngue blue when you ate them. The cream was still white, with some wonderful chemical added to cause the color change. The advertising campaign was about turning your milk blue, but one bite and your whole mouth changed colors! I loved those pudding pops. The vanilla chocolate swirled were my favorite.

I introduced my students to hot milk with Dulce de Leche today. They absolutely loved it! We could only give them a small amount because we didn't have enough milk, but the little they got was inhaled. Most didn't want to try it because of the funky color, but with one sip they were hooked

Just what I was hoping to hear! Otherwise my nondeserving coworkers would have benefitted. Glad I don't have to share

There is work with SSRI's and PMS being done, although I couldn't get specifics. There is also a new paper out reporting findings about using SSRI's for PMS. The study had two groups, one who took meds all month long and others who took meds only during PMS. The study found that both methods are equally effective, which is great news.

I'm suffering from this too. I think I need a vacation. Grouches 'R' Us Amen sistah!

How long will confit last? I just found out I have to go out of town for a few days and still have half my batch.

I made onion confit in mine this weekend

In college there was a guy who worked at one of the "Grills" on campus. He made a sandwhich that I spent the past decade dreaming of. Grilled chicken breast with melted cheddar. Carmelized onions on top of melted cheese. Served on a bun with a touch of dijon. yummmmmmm

Rub your wooden salad bowl with smashed garlic. Keep in bowl as you prepare the dressing, removing right before you add the lettuce.

Are there any Latino markets near 355?

Since the reopening? i had heard that it had gone downhill a little. I was there a couple days after it opened and then again once more since then. All I had was pork noodle soup and choi sum but they were damn tasty as always. Don't let the somewhat brighter and less dirty atmosphere scare you away! Please. It takes a lot more than a little light to scare me away My friend had the shrimp dumpling noodle soup (Hong Kong style?) and said it wasn't as good as it used to be. I haven't made it down there yet though.

Or better yet --- caviar! oooohhhhhhhh

Thanks for the link Ronnie! I got most of my information for the lesson off of it earlier today I had read about the caffine thing, which is why I kept the portions small. I was accused of being mean by my head teacher, until I explained to her the caffine effect. Then she wanted to know why I would give it to them. rrrrrgggggg. I asked about the pronunciation because on one site they said it was gwuada-na. I know very little about Spanish and even less about Portugese so I have no idea how to say it.

We started our Brazilian food lesson a few days early today. I started off with the bribe of soda. Brazilian soda made from Guarana. Anybody know how to pronounce it? I found pics on the Internet of the fruit and did a quick compare/contrast lesson with orange soda. Most of the kids really liked it. Tastes like cream soda. I only gave half a cup though because it is supposed to be full of caffeine and we had an assembly later in the day. Next were hearts of palm. I know, not necessarily the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Brazil. We probably will not get to any other South American countries so I threw it in here. The tofu a few months ago went over better. One kid liked it. But she likes everything. Oddly enough, the two teachers who are really picky eaters loved the hearts. Go figure? I ended with Dulce De leche. Straight. On a spoon. My Latino student didn't like it, but he doesn't like sweets a whole lot. My new kid only liked it after everyone else had declared their love. They were still hungry so I passed out pretzels and had everyone dip them into the ddl. Big Hit! I have promised that we will make Hot Dulce De Leche in Milk later this week. Thank goodness it cooled down outside. Friday will be the rest of the tasting. I am making the black bean dish, possible with them at school. Soaking bean overnight would be a great compare/contrast lesson too. We are going to have plantains a few ways. I got a bag of plantain chips at frozen friend plantains. I am so excited by these. Fried plantains would be too dangerous to make at school and I have never really fried before so this is a great solution. I also am going to get a fresh one and some baby bananas. To drink I have another kind of Brazilian soda and coconut water. I am going to try to get some kind of nectar as well. I wish there was some way to take them to a Brazilian bbq.

What's OCP? Until recently I was on the pill and my period was complete bliss. Almost no mood swings, cramps, cravings, etc. For other health reasons I had to stop but it was worth it. Found my libido!! For snack today my studentss had pretzles with dulce de leche 'cause their teacher was craving sweet and salty I know at least one doctor who has prescribed ssri's off label for PMS for a while now. His patients who were using them to treat depression mentioned how much better their PMS was. I'll find out tomorrow what's going on in Bethesda.

I feel cheated. My small apartment did not smell as good as everyone else's has. Infact, until I took off the lid 18 hours or after it went in to the oven, I could barely smell anything!

Since the reopening? i had heard that it had gone downhill a little.

Welcome chengb02. We're slowly teaching jenny how to cook and we haven't got to dumpling yet. (i'm going to need help too on that one!) In the mean time, Head out to Mark's Duck House in Arlington. Get the Peking Duck. The dumpling aren't too shabby either

The connection between overeating and depression is one that was made years ago. I'll try to find out what's going on at NIMH. There is also a strong comorbidity between anorexia, anxiety and depression. It is not ironic that all three illnesses are being treated with SSRI's. You crave carbs during PMS or when you are depressed for the same reason you crave chocolate. (Sorry if you mentionted that balm) I know it's not food related, but.... If you get cramps and use a heating pad to relieve them, go get the Therma care Heat pads. These things are amazing. They are use and toss heating pads with just enough stickiness to stay in place. I wore one all day and no one had any idea. Normally I would be against anything you use only once and then toss, but these things are worth it. Craving Dulce de Leche in warm milk. Drinking a mug now.

I wonder if using panchetta would make a difference?

Very impressive. Most people give up after the first bite. I have loved natto from the first bite, which I do not remember. I crave it constantly. I grew up watching my father love uni. I tried it a few times and thought it was gross. Sometime in my mid 20's, after dating a shmuck who hated uni (three of our four meals together were sushi and at each meal he went on and on and on), I started to develop a craving. Now I postively reinforce myself with a half a tray every few months. I am craving both right now Natto's in the freezer

Oh, no! I'm a MAN! Me too!

I spent the weekend making my first batch loosely following woodburner's method. I did half and half evoo & butter. I used two large and one medium onion. No bay leaf, thyme, shallots, etc. I also added about a dozen peppercorns at various times throughout the process. It ended up delicious, but dare I say it, too sweet. It's like eating candied onions. While that is not necessarily bad, it's not what I expected. I will definitely cut down on the sugar. What's the smallest amount I could get away with. The problem I encountered was that at some point in the night my oven shut itself off. That's what I get for sleeping. I guess the oven turning itself off is a good thing, but not when making confit. I ended up boiling it down for about 40 minutes. Having never seen onion confit in person, I stopped when I thought it was done. I took a ton of pics, but these are the highlights: The onions before cooking The onions 26 hours later Going into the oven 18 hours later 21 hours later The finished confit

I heard the same thing from my server a few weekends ago. I feel the need to discuss those infused vodkas. Holy shitake mushroom! The mango vodka was unbelievable. We also tried the watermelon vodka, which was good, but no mango. Which others are worth the pain the next morning?

24 hours after I put my very first batch of onion confit ala woodburner, the onions are a beautiful brown but sitting a pool of liquid. Right now they are simmering away on top of the stove. Hope this does the trick. pics to follow