LNorman

Does Mitsuwa have spirotake? I read about this Japanese noodle in one of those weekly women's magazine at the checkout counter that always have new diets to lose weight. Since I need to change my diet because my blood work is not where it should be, I wanted to try spirotake. Supposedly it can take the place of pasta but it doesn't have as many carbohydrates as pasta but it does have more nutrients. Do I even have the name of the noodle correct?

Pat Mount at Terhune Orchards (Cold Soil Road, Princeton, NJ) told me they would have Stayman Winesaps until Thanksgiving. (I need them for a pie). Gary Mount, the owner of Terhune, was awarded Grower of the Year in 2005. Their newsletter had an article about apple storage and how he learned the techniques from older farmers. They are nice people and will let you try any apple before buying it. Terhune Orchards Website

I shouldn't have been surprised that Jose Tejas won for best Mexican/Tex-Mex Central. It's very popular but I find the food incredibly salty. There is a small place on Main Street, Woodbridge- Girabaldi's- that has good food. I was wondering if anybody else thought the critics' picks might be biased. Why is Ryland Inn always the critics' best pick? I haven't had the chance or the funds to dine at the Ryland and I'm sure it's very good but I thought Restaurant Nicholas was one of the best dining experiences I've ever had.

Thanks for the info on this place. I love Afghan food and hope to visit it soon. I also wish I could learn how to cook it. I have two Afghan cookbooks plus a photocopy of one I got from the Library of Congress. But like every other country, the dishes are often different in the cookbooks than how they are are in the restaurants. Spellings and pronunication differ. Nice to know that many countries, despite their obvious differences, still have many things in common.

I make one kind of smoothie at home. Mango. I've eaten so many bananas in my life that I can't eat them anymore, especially in a smoothie drink. I merged a mango smoothie recipe from a vegetarian magazine and one from a Smoothie book. The book recommended ALWAYS freezing the fruit. So I buy mangoes on sale, cut them up and freeze the pieces in foil. My recipes is as follows: 1 frozen mango, cut into 1/2 pieces 1/2 cup Stonyfield French Vanilla Yogurt 1/2 cup milk (usually 1%) 1/2 lime. Blend and taste to adjust texture and lime/mango balance.

I appreciate the answers I've gotten. The book definitely shows that that the Japanese food culture is holistic and encompasses many more things than just the breakfast I asked about. There's a whole ethos toward food that Americans simply can't find the time for or don't know about. I find it difficult to cook for myself when my husband only likes meat, potatoes, and doesn't like fish, nuts, fruits, vegetables, or any products made from these things. I don't mind cooking for myself and I don't think it's my duty to cook for him since we are on different schedules. But it is hard to cook new dishes for just one person. I going to try the gym at work since it's very cheap. I'm trying to change my diet also.

I recently saw this book in the bookstore. It is somewhat in the vein of "French women don't get Fat". However, as someone who only thinks of Japanese food as sushi, the meals and guidelines for eating sounded intriguing. The book describes is written by what I would call "an upper-class" woman from Japan who lives in NY. I was intrigued because her American-born husband started eating her diet and lost weight. My doctor recently told me the lose some weight; this doctor didn't give me the chance to explain that I can exercise all I want, I only lose weight when I don't eat. However, I'm going to start exercising at the company gym which is just $20/ month. The author writes there are 7 pillars for Japanese cooking. Among them is lots of fish, lots of rice (it fills one up so there isn't any room for junk food), portion control, little or no dessert, lots of fruits and vegetables (especially Japanese fruits and vegetables) , making food look presentable and chewing to enjoy every mouthful, and lots of green tea. She presented a typical country breakfast of nori, tofu, "first" daishi soup, 1 hard boiled egg, rice, a piece of fruit, green tea plus a few other things that I forgot. My local grocery store has a lot of international food but I couldn't find dashi flakes. I would like to try this breakfast so that I'm eating more during the day and trying to break my very, very bad habit of eating a full meal after midnight (left over when I worked an evening shift at a newswire service). Could anyone comment on these type of diet and would a large Asian grocery story (which I have access to) have dashi flakes? Plus is the reason the Japanese people can eat an egg a day because there is no little meat in their diet? I appreciate any comments, negative or positive, because I've been interested in the idea of food cultures that contribute to longevity of age (see recent National Geographic article on "the secrets of aging").

Martha Stewart Living (March or April 2005 issue) had an article about tomatoes that grow in lots of different climates in eighty days. You have to start with seeds but most of the seeds came from Siberia where the summer is very short and the seeds have been breed to withstand many climates and grow quickly. These seeds work in cold climates and hot climates like Louisiana. I'm sure your local library would have a copy of the magazine and you can get the addresses of the companies listed that sell this special seeds. Also here are some links to some of those sellers: http://www.bountifulgardens.org/shop/cooltomato.html http://www.seedstrust.com/ Good luck.

Most cities have grocery stores that have more expensive produce (because it's harder to truck in) and less choices (less room for a large store). Plus, public transportation usually doesn't allow hand carts so buying lots of groceries is difficult. Larger cities like Baltimore (where I lived for 9 years and read about these issues in the alternative paper) have transportation systems designed to bring people INTO the city, not out to the suburbs where the stores that sell in bulk are located. The bigger irony is that healthy, organic food in the US is expensive and it is cheap in Europe. Junk food is cheaper than healthy food. Food stamps and WIC money can only be used for certain foods; I noticed signs in one grocery store that WIC couldn't be used for certain fresh produce, only canned. Plus food stamps don't cover a whole month so if one is poor you buy the cheapest food you can get or go to a food pantry which usually has only canned goods. I didn't mean to get off-subject but I feel lucky that I have the choice to go to another store when I don't like the produce. I like a 1/4 mile away from the Woodbridge Wegmans but sometimes their produce isn't that great and it's more expensive for some items than Shop-Rite; Shop-Rite also participates more fully in the "Jersey Fresh" program than Wegmans and I really believe in doing businss with local farmers rather than agribusiness. I'm disappointed that I can't find strawberries from NJ in any store. Guess I gotta go pick them this weekend. And I miss the ugly tomatoes that my father and grandfather used to grow. I just can't find that in the store and I have to find a good farmer's market.

I think I'm going to try making Pad Thai from scratch. I tried years ago and it was such as mess I started buying the boxed kits from "A Taste of Thai" (better than the box kit from "Thai Kitchen"). I don't like the scrambled egg in a noodle dish so I never put one in. And since I always manage to never use up fresh cilantro and waste a lot of money, I buy cilantro from the freezer section of the grocery store that is flash frozen. It doesn't have the brightest taste but it does make a difference in the dish. Some grocery stores that carry the box kits of pad thai also carry boxes of rice noodles. I think if you are starting to make the dish by yourself you could use these rice noodles if an Asian market is not available nearby.

Are you also posting on pizzamaking.com? there is a thread on that message board about someone trying to reproduce Patsy's pizza. Apparently the person bought the dough and has been feeding it for 2 1/2 years. Look here for thread: Getting closer to Patsy's Pizza Good luck. EDITED: Oops, I see you already have posted to the pizzamaking message board.

I like the Food Network in its infancy when it concentrated on food preparation and not entertainment. So I liked Sissy Biggers and the whole concept of bringing different types of food and having a chef create a meal out of them. (since I'm not the greatest cook without explicit directions. I also like "cooking live" with Sara Moulton. She had some good guests on. I like Rachel Ray sometimes. I like the 30 minute show concept more than her. I also like: Alton Brown Ina Garten Martha I try to get past the personalities and focus on the food.

Looking for some recommendations for food blogs. Can be general or specific. What's your favorite?

I found Boylans Sugar Cane Cola in an Italian deli in Denville, NJ (Main Street). I was really excited to try it. I was disappointed with the taste. I guess my tongue has been tainted by too much (high frutose corn syrup) Pepsi (NO DIET!). *Still amazes me how servers assume that I want diet soda because I'm female.

I'm interested in this group's favorite tea rooms. My favorite was the Old Waverly Tea Room and Exchange in Baltimore, MD. (it's been a while so I might have the name wrong). It closed awhile ago. It was the first tea room I visited and it's still the standard for me. Tea at The Plaza in NYC was great but unfortunately, the smoked salmon didn't agree with my stomach. I have moved from Baltimore but recently found it that the Old Waverly has re-opened under the name "Thir-Tea-First Street Cafe and Tea Room". It has gotten some good reviews. The main webpage I use for finding tea rooms when I travel is: The Guide to Tea Rooms and Tea Shops in the USA, Canada, and beyond™ is now ... TeaGuide™ at The Cat-Tea Corner™ : TeaGuide™ (this covers over 2000 tea rooms and shops in the US all over the world) I just found another one: Teamap. (This covers only the U.S.) Looking forward to hearing about your favorites, both locally and when you travel.

What are some of the savory fillings that members use for pate a choux?

Could anyone name some of their favorite tearooms that serve afternoon tea. Thank you.

Anyone have a good recipe for cardamon bread. I bought some cardamon powder and want to use it before it starts losing its potency.

Nicholas, Red Bank- incredible Silk Road-Warren (needs a little work but definitely worth the drive) *Thanks for these lists- I've been trying to find new places to try.

There is a Baja Fresh in East Brunswick, Route 18 South. It definitely is fresh and we had enough left over to make another meal.

My husband and I went to Silk Road and had a great dinner. I've been to Pamir and I don't think it's as good as other Afghan food I've had before. Silk Road is a bit closer but still different. My standard is The Helmand in Baltimore, MD. It's too bad Mazur's closed. I tried to find it over the summer and it was closed. There was a very good Afghan place on Oak Tree Road but 9/11 made it impossible for the business to keep going.

I made a spinach lasagne from Cook's Illustrated. It called for cottage cheese pureed with 1 egg--it tasted better than ricotta and didn't get dried up in the cooking. It's the only lasagne I've ever made and it was great but way too much work.

Just to add: The recipe that coffeeroaster's husband uses (that he got from splendidtable.com) can be found at: http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/recip...sc_polenta.html

Thanks for the hints. I'll try some of them. The recipe I followed was by Marion Cunningham who got advice from an Italian cook that after the lumps are whisked out, to not stir the polenta for 40 minutes allowing it to bubble. This forms a crust on the bottom of the pan that is not used. She wrote that she knew it was heresy to say this but that is worked for her and the Italian cook in Italy.

I had wonderful polenta made by my sister-in-law. I tried making it using a very reputable recipe and it didn't turn out the way I thought it would. It was very creamy but seemed more like porridge I know cooking takes practice so can someone give me some hints on the following issues: 1. I used white stone-ground cornmeal from a mill in North Carolina. Should I have used a supermarket yellow cornmeal? 2. The recipe says salt to taste. How much salt is really needed? 3. I halved the recipe and used 4 cups of water and 1 cup of cornmeal. I tried to make the cornmeal pour as slowly as possible and whisk at the same time to prevent lumps and I think that worked well. I also used 1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese and 2 tablespoons of butter to give it flavor. Any hints would be appreciated.