Susan in FL

Same here. Please do! Those three are true for me, except that I always did utilize lots of fruits and vegetables. That is quite true for me! Besides those, differences for me since about 15 years ago are: then kids were home, and I was working one full time job and at least one part time job in addition (I have no idea how I managed to cook from scratch almost every night back then); we incorporate way more fruits into our dinners, such as fruits like mangoes in salsas, zest and juice of oranges and limes, grilled fruits, etc. -- much more tropical influences; I eat and cook many more "ethnic" foods and know more about them; I am more creative in combining flavors within one meal; AND, number one, of the top ten changes in my cooking since 1990 is..... eGullet is now in my life instead of the Prodigy Food and Wine Community!

Welcome to eG blogland. Your sure are off to a great start. Enjoy!

Seared Sea Scallops in a Lemongrass Broth Mixed Grill: Bratwurst, Strip Steak, Hoisin Marinated Duck Legs, and Portobella White Truffle Risotto (and there was a side dish of baby carrots with horseradish sauce which didn't make it to the photo) Store-bought Cream Puffs Last night the Bud Shootout was on TV, which is the beginning of a series of romantic eat-in-front-of-the-TV dinners. For those who aren't race fans: it is "Speed Weeks" here in the Daytona Beach area. They used to call it "Speed Week," but now it is three weeks or longer of race events, culminating in next Sunday's Daytona 500. Even though we are about five miles from the Speedway, we don't go because we love to watch races on TV. In Florida, for us the first day of spring is Daytona 500 Sunday. Even though the weather has been good enough to eat some meals outside on the porch, we hold out on that until next weekend, and we make it the annual start of our porch season. As they say unless there are any female drivers in a race... gentlemen, start your engines!

I haven't had time, or maybe I should say I haven't taken the time, to follow this thread as closely as I would have liked, but I am catching up. It's a great thread, so full of info and great illustrations. Our next will probably be goose gumbo. From the leftovers of our last goose, I saved out some meat and made a real good stock with the bones. Good work, everybody! Thanks to all who are contributing.

Another good thing about this thread is that there is natural light during the daytime for photos! I'm working on my close ups, so I tried a Percy Style Scrambled Egg Photo. I also tried for the first time adding some cream cheese to them. Very good! With them, the potatoes were fried in chicken fat again. All Florida-grown fruits And, my shot of edible flowers from our garden, which served as the centerpiece on this morning's table.

Looks good, as always! I look forward to the weekends for your breakfast and dinner posts.

That IS sweet. Thanks.

Yesterday, the fried "fish fingers" I had during happy hour after work at a martini bar. The bellini-tini came in second.

That looks so good! And "Dim-somewhat".... I love it!

I'm also eagerly awaiting a lesson on pronouncing "chai," but I can help with "prix fixe." It's "pree FEEKS" And if you want to get it absolutely right, the "r" is pronounced at the back of the palate as if you are about to expectorate -- but make that throat-scraping sound subtle and don't overdo it, or it'll be like high-school French class all over again! ← Thanks, and thanks for the laugh. Pronouncing the "r" as you described reminded me of my efforts for the past ten years to learn to use my tongue correctly to say beer in Danish. I thought I would check about Chai because Varmint mentioned it in the first post. Thanks, whoever answered that. Same here. I guess there are a few of us furthering our culinary education.

That's my favorite. I think there was a thread on that, or at least I seem to remember it was discussed in another thread. I have a friend who came back from a trip to Italy pronouncing it like that, Highchef. For Italian foods when I'm not sure, I often turn to John Mariani's book, The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink, and he says ree-SOH-toh. Did anyone ever clarify chai and prix fixe? Varmint, good topic! Suddenly I can't recall pronunciations I'm unsure of, but I'll know where to go the next time I'm stumped.

Thank you so much for a blog I enjoyed, and for what I learned from you. It was one of my favorites, too! P.S. I made "your" roasted green beans this week.

I don't know what I was more excited about tonight, how the ravioli turned out or the edible flowers we picked from our garden! This year they have been thriving better than any I've planted. They are as full of color as they look in the photo. I had never made ravioli with the wonton wrapper thingies before. I was surprised at how good they were. This was pork chops and vegetable filled ravioli, with cider-sage cream sauce underneath, and salad of mixed greens and salami on top of a crouton. Good dinner!

Yetty, that looks delicious! ...not to mention what a beautiful photo it is. Hope you get feeling better soon, Suzi. If I could, I would bring you homemade chicken soup from last night's leftovers.

I brined a chicken most of the day yesterday, and put it in the fridge last night to let it air dry until roasting tonight. It turned out juicy and tasty with almost perfect crispy skin. We had a potato salad with oil cured olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, capers, basil, etc. and Chufi's roasted green beans with it. We served dinner family style for a change, instead of the usual plating.

Patti, that looks wonderful! Thank you for illustrating a simple "classic etouffee."

Not wrong at all... It was just the Romanoff Whitefish, I think it was seven or eight dollars for two ounces. We noticed how nice looking those eggs were as soon as we opened the jar. I think it was better than usual this time.

All ya have to do is get yourself two hyper Australian Shepherds who think going outside at 6:30 am is their Dog-given right. Let them step on your bare toes a couple of times as you stumble to the door, and you will be wide awake. And a good glug of cold water or OJ helps, too. ← Oh. ... another advantage, or disadvantage -- whichever way you look at it, for being pet-free at the moment.

I had never bothered to check out the authenticity of my recipe or the official true story of Anchor Bar Buffalo Wings, because I wouldn't change anything anyway, but all this discussion prompted me. I knew the 1960's story behind them, and this link confirmed I had the general idea of the story correct. So far, I haven't found out about the recipe... probably because Anchor Bar Sauce is a product for sale. I am curious, though. I'll report back if I find out, and if some other eG sleuth beats me to some documented evidence, please do share!

Well you sure got the problems with picture uploading taken care of... Everything is so beautiful, and it all looks so good. I want you to cook for me!

Mmmm the cod and the green beans look so good, as does everything. This won't be the first time I have been inspired by your posts, and tried to create the meal. I like that combination for a curry powder... will try that, too. Already: Thanks for blogging. P.S. I share your taste for good beer, as well!

With my morning coffee, half a bagel left over from yesterday, toasted, with the pictured mango marmalade on it. The Floribbean line of tropical style condiments is really good.

Dinner for us last night during the game was subs. We haven't had good subs since we lived up north. So with the up north teams coming to Florida to play in the Superbowl, I made good ones myself.

Glad you brought up this subject. I've been thinking about quitting coffee except for an occasional cup. Morning coffee is my main source of caffeine. I enjoy good coffee and drink just high test or espresso, but have always imagined why drink coffee without caffeine... But how would I get awake in the morning? How are you quitters doing, waking up without it?

Butter is preferable to me because of the flavor. I agree with Andy... I don't use margarine for anything. If the butter is too hot, if it boiled as you asked, the butter would break down. That is what Andy meant by splitting. The oil from it would separate from the rest, just as you described, and you would not have the consistency I think you are looking for. As you can see, the recipe is very simple. It's the cooking technique that can make or break (pardon the pun) the recipe. Good luck!