Sandra Levine

To me the chestnuts looked like broken pieces of marrons glacee, soaked in the rum, with perhaps some additional sugar. There is an anomaly: this superior food is served in aluminum take-out containers and eaten with plastic utensils from paper plates, in the most modest surroundings imaginable.

Confirming that DiFara's lives up to its reputation. First rate toppings on the pizza, including freshly cooked artichokes on light, dry, but pliable crust. The only thing I missed was the fine, carcinogenic char that only a coal oven imparts.

I remember both Lindy's and Nedick's. URL=http://www.shol.com/mtviewbb/Recipes/Lindy1.htm]Here is a link to the Lindy's cheesecake recipe (this version has about half the amount of filling as my hard copy of the recipe, but the proportions are the same as in the original. Believe me, half the amount of filling is enough. This is the densest, richest cheesecake you will ever eat. If you like cream cheese cake as opposed to ricotta cheese cake, you will like this cheesecake. It was not crap. (On the cheesecake thread I posted a link to a Lindy's cheesecake recipe with the full amount of filling, if anyone is interested.) Nedick's, on the other hand, with the exception of the buttered New England style roll, was crap, and everyone knew it, but no one cared. Quality was beside the point.

Sandra Levine -- prosciutto bread, maybe an almond coffeecake Ranitidine -- butter

This dish has changed over the years. At one point, egg was dominant. Sometimes the dish was even called something like "North China Egg Dish." I remember reading somewhere that it was originally coinceived to be cheap and filling. (I'll try to trackdown the reference.) At my local Chinese take-out, it remains is one of the few reliable dishes, with a good balance of textures and flavors. I like both with and without the pancakes and hoisin sauce.

I have never used pectin, even when making jam from supposedly low-pectin fruits. The recipes I've seen that call for it use far more sugar than the non-pectin methods. The reason I like to make my own jam is that I can achieve an intensity of fruit flavor not usually found in commercial products. I like jam that tastes strongly of the fruit with which it is made, not of the sugar. Pectin jams are sweeter and blander than I prefer. If you really want to use up the pectin you have, follow a recipe that calls for it and don't worry about the theory. Maybe someone else can help you with a real answer, but I can't.

SG, have you tried it, yet?

Nedick's was one of the sponsors of Jean Shepherd's readio program in the late-50s into the early 60s: "Nedick's, schmedicks, Double bedicks Pipkins all agree Orans, frankens Goodens eatens Wholesome as can be."

never mind

By the way, what about the scene in 2002's best film, "Spirited Away," where the little girl's parents scarf down the free food until they turn into pigs?

I resent my name being used in conjunction with this vicious ad hominen attack.

We tomato lovers know that, but recognize also that tomatoes are usually used as a vegetable, although I have been known to pick them up and eat them like an apple.

Kim, I find your reaction to beets interesting. Do you feel this way about all root vegetables? What about carrots, for instance? By the way, this is ranitidine asking.

This is almost as hard as choosing a favorite fruit. I wasn't able to do that at all. I love: roasted cauliflower, parsnip puree, sauteed mushrooms of all kinds, asparagus in the spring and sweet potatoes. In August, tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes.

I was lucky enough to receive some of F-G's beans the other day and let me tell you, they made the best cup of coffee I've ever had. It made me understand what all the fuss was about in the 18th century. And I understand that these were the cheap beans! If I had room on my kitchen counter, I would seriously consider buying a roaster.

but also very salty and sweet

There's no comparison between a fast-food chicken sandwich and one made at home. One is an abomination, the other a delight. A chicken sandwich made from a high-quality, home-roasted chicken is one of the best sandwiches you can ever hope to eat. I like mine on rye or sourdough bread.

I remember a Mexican restaurant in the late 50s - early 60s (something like, Xochitl) that had as part of its kitchen staff Mexican women who hand-patted corn tortillas.

My kitchen is never without it, for all the reasons above.

I do this all the time. I didn't know it had a name. I feel like Moliere's Bourgeois Gentilhomme, who was surprised to learn that he had been speaking prose his whole life.

It is a cocktail snack that was served at a party the Pacific Northwest people threw. It's HeyJude's recipe: The Bacon Candy is a combination of recipes from several sources. They range from dredging the bacon in brown sugar on both sides and baking until crisp(with time ranges of 3 minutes to 35 minutes) to cooking the bacon first on one side and then pressing the brown sugar mixed with chopped walnuts and a teaspoon of flour on the uncooked side and cooking until bubbling and caramelized. I did a version of the latter, but(at least in this oven)will cook the bacon crisp, turning once, before topping with the brown sugar/nut mix in the future. And this recipe does have a future.

Could you elaborate, Suzanne? What is Critical Path Method?

Lard bread, lard bread, please. I think what I'm thinking about is really prosciutto bread, although the taste I have in mind is...lardy. Maybe I'll make prosciutto bread, using lard instead of olive oil. There's time to experiment.

It's a texture thing. If you like wide rice noodles, the kind used in chow fun, you would probably like mochi.

Thanks, Bond Girl. That's right near my office. I'll try it soon.