Cephalopunk

Uggh, why do I feel I can't win sometimes?

Last night, I had a nice piece of broiled mackerel (saba, ne?) with a cold hijiki salad; it reminded me of how much I enjoy hijiki. This particular salad was sprinkled with sesame seeds and had another taste similar to tahini - possibly black sesame paste? I found organic bulk, dried hijiki with other seaweeds (Kombu, Dulse) for $25 per pound. Admittedly, the store was in Manhattan, but this price discourages me from just fooling around. Any information that you have on preparing hijiki would be extremely helpful. Sidenote: My girlfriend is a vegan; hijiki may be a good way to work in B12 and Iron.

It is really comforting to see all of these wonderful avacado reciepes. I adore their vegetal fatty taste, which lends it's rich texture to sweet, salty,and acidic dishes. I think that is the avacados real strength: being a nuetral base for these pure flavors. Also the contrast of richness and a crunchy foil is quite nice - think mille-feuille, puff pastry, sesame and poppy seeds; One word of advice: Avoid cooking them at a high heat. It was a slow night on the line, a couple of years ago. I decided to make avacado fries. A few batches of tests revealed that avacados gain a very harsh plasticky (?) taste when fried. Maybe I need to refine my technique- at least one person has triumphed with an avacado pie.

I just got a couple new Global knives, (8 inch Chef's, 5.5 Vegetable, 4 inch paring). I saw this sharpener at JB Prince, but I'm wary of hand-held sharpeners. However, Globals are asymetrical, and I'm afraid that I would have trouble achieving the proper edge with a waterstone, like this one. Any advice?

Jason, I remember seeing King's Hawaiian somewhere in North Carolina. You could probably substitute Portugese muffins - they are like a denser, sweeter version of an English muffin.

Friday: A forgettable ceviche with forgettable accompanyment. Corn-bread muffin from local bakery. Saturday: Battered Cod with Siracha-ginger mayo. Pesto mashed potatoes. Sauteed spinach. More ginger ice cream. Sunday: Pumpkin gnocci with Parmesan. Roasted shallot experiment(!) Asparagus. Possibly more ginger ice cream.

Thursday: -Spinach Linguine with a white wine shallot sauce. Turned out fine, the sauce was a bit of hack, I added a bit of tomato broth to balance it out. -Steamed brocolli with Chevre, sea salt. I've never been a fan of brocolli with cheese, but this nice. Maybe a little something extra next time. -Roasted tomato stuffed with Creminis, tarragon, and thyme. -The remains of a pint of ginger ice cream.

I have decided to dabble in ceviche, but it's a bit daunting. I have Tilapia fillets just for the purpose, along with the requisite citrus fruit (lemons, limes, oranges); cumin, red onions, shallots, balsamic, sea salt. I'm wondering if there is a rule of thumb for marinating time, thickness of the cut or strength of the citrus. I'd like to avoid undercooking without denaturing the protein. Does anyone have any ceviche tips or advice? Also, on a purely academic level, is there a certain PH to shoot for in the acid?

I'd like to preface this with saying that I am not a professional pastry cook, or anything even close. I've been looking at ice cream machines lately, mainly the Cusinart 1.5 Quart unit that's been running about $50. I certainly don't have the bread for a serious DeLonghi machine or the like, so this sounds like a bargain to me. However, I stumbled across this $20 dollar machine, which sounds too good to be true. It has a smaller capacity than the Cuisinart, which is a brand I've always been happy with. At the same time, that's ridiculously cheap, and when you're a perpetually-broke line cook in NYC, $30 counts. Any thoughts?

I tried Cricket a couple of months ago. I normally dislike mixing green tea with anything, since it has such a subtle flavor that is easily lost, but I wanted a cola, and Coke doesn't cut it for me. If you look at the Cricket Cola bottle, you'll notice that it says something like "Drink Cold." They're not joking. Cricket Cola at room temperature is awful, vile stuff - sufficently chilled it's a decent soda.

I used to like Snapple more when I was younger, but I find it's too sweet, now. Favorites: Mint Iced Tea, Orangeade, Grapeade, and Mango Madness. The diet ones are have too much of an aspartamine flavor to be quaffable.

Being from the hometown of Cheerwine, Salisbury, NC, I have noticed that people are pretty polarized about it. I'm not too keen on sodas, but I like it. A common complaint is that it tastes like cough medicine. It's a bit syrupy, but not in league with cough medicine.

After reading the blurb on the NY Magazine website, I'm intrigued. Has anyone eaten there; know what the better dishes are?

I regularly make Sheila Lukins' Biscotti from Silver Palate. While not overwhelmingly traditional, it is very simple and has a dense eggy taste, possibly what you're shooting for. Black pepper is a wonderful idea, tsquare. Maybe almonds, black pepper, orange or lemon zest?