Ovenfrenzy

I love this thread! It's really got everyone's memories working. I was fed saltines and 7-UP when I was sick as a child, so I never accepted them as anything other than "sick food," with the exception of using them in recipes. I make salmon patties with them- mix up the canned salmon, saltines, an egg, soy sauce, wasabi mayo, a bit of grated fresh ginger. I fry them in a small amount of roasted peanut oil/seseme oil, and spritz on the hot sauce when they are done. I wouldn't use anything but a saltine for that!

One aspect I believe no one has mentioned is the difficulty in finding dependable workers willing to start their day at 3AM on a regular basis. The owner of the beloved Virginia Bakery in Cincinnati Ohio cited this as one of his main reasons for closing.

Oh I love honey- I love the tastes, the varieties, the many intersting ways of packaging it. Tupelo honey from Mississippi, sourwood honey from Tennessee, orange blossom from Florida- I usually have some of each around in the pantry. The best I've had was some Italian "million wild flower" variety I got in Berkeley on vacation- it was $12 for a pint but so perfect on my English muffins for breakfast. Clover honey is good for cooking and I use it to make Mollie Katzen's chocolate honeycake. We also use clover honey in our cyser(cidar/mead blend).

Peanut butter and orange juice. Lamb and soy sauce. Cranberries and chile peppers.

I was fed Saltines and 7-UP. To this day the smell of 7-UP makes me feel a little ill. Sometimes, if I just had a cold, I'd get Campbell's cream of tomato soup and a grilled cheese, and this is still my healing food when I'm sick.

wow, that totally beats any of my self inflicted injuries. I tip my hat to you sir (or madame). It's madame. I just had to share that story because it was so gross-out. I have a silvery scar on my thumb now, and the cat is still with me, still begging when I' at my cutting board for a taste of whatever I'm (slowly, carefully now) cutting!

I was in my twenties. Just watched some Chinese cooking show on PBS involving lots of furiously fast paced chopping that just said to me"Go thou and do likewise." I'm not capable of sustaining such a pace and my knife slipped and cut off the fatty tip from the fleshy part of my thumb, which fell to the floor...and was promptly eaten by my cat.

I have heard it called "sweet oil" in a medicinal/health/beauty context. Some women I was working with told me to use it on my scalp to moisturize- I found a bottle of said oil in drugstore and said "Ahh, olive oil."

I just love a good hash. I make one using half new red potatoes and half sweet potaoes, onions and diced country ham. Garnish with some Tabasco sauce and a spoonful of sour cream. Red flannel hash is tasty too- half beets, half potatoes, onions and lots of diced thick cut bacon fried all crispy...When I was a child my mother made roast beef hash that was so unloved by my sisters and I that when we sat down to eat and saw it we would just exchange pained expressions. She never got it even remotely crispy- instead it was slick with limp onions, heavy chunks of barely cooked potatoes and a few wads of unseasoned roast. But she and my father just loved it, and we three girls would suffer often!

Ah yes, school cafeteria pizza was a treat indeed!! Mine was a flabby rectangle, with almost no sauce, "sausage pellets" and a decent amount of "cheese". I loved them, and I would probably eat one again if anyone offered.

This weekend a friend (who had just been to Chicago's Chinatown ) gave me a couple of durian caramels. Beneath the warm buttery creamy mango-esq taste and texture lurked that evil durian scent, which reminds me quite simply of death. A year ago this same friend insisted we try the fruit itself, and my reaction was the same- enjoyment and repulsion!

American cheese, sliced Bermuda onion(usually raw but sauteed if I have time), mayo, a dab of whatever mustard I grab first from the fridge. That's my standard for regular ground chuck burgers- but if I'm having veggie burgers they get dressed up more. Whole wheat buns, alfalfa sprouts, sliced tomato, red onion, avocado slivers, Montery Jack cheese. Sometimes, when I really want to indulge, I have a burger with bacon, cheddar, and loads of sauteed onions, mustard and mayo. My favorite buns are onion or poppy seed. I believe it is your civic duty to dress up the ground beef with some spices and worchestershire sauce...when I see someone forming plain patties with no seasoning I get a sinking feeling.

"Cause she's the cheese and I'm the macaroni!" I do love that Richard Pryor mashed potato sample.

I enjoy both, but it took me much longer to embrace the charms of Japanese food. Indian is so spicy and distinctive- one or two bites of a couple of different dishes and you get a feel for it, you can see it's potential, you can see yourself in the kitchen grinding fresh spices while chicken marinates in yogurt...but Japanese is clean, delicate, all about superbly fresh ingredients. It's so subtle that it took several meals before I got to the point of craving it. It is also a cuisine I must leave in the restaurant because I live in Indiana and fresh fish when you find it is very pricey. Other ingredients like seaweed, bonito, daikon, miso, and so on are difficult to find. But I'm lucky enough to live near a great Indian grocery!

That sounds really good to me. Do you use the usual simple syrup water-sugar ratio? Thanks! I'm never exact about quantities while making this syrup, so it is difficult to say how I make it. But I believe these quantities are pretty close- 12oz ginger, 1 cup sugar, 1 quart water. The resulting syrup was around 3 cups.

This is the second summer I've ushered in with ginger syrup. I make it with peeled chopped fresh ginger, sugar and water, boiled down a bit until it's pretty sharp. It's not as sweet as a simple syrup. The ginger syrup will get combined with various things for cooling summer drinks, and the favorite one is this- 2 oz vodka, 1 oz Grand Marnier, 1 oz ginger syrup, 4 oz club soda and a wedge of lime. No name for it but it is so refreshing. It was inspired by a bar I went to in the Mission District in San Fransisco called Little Baobab where we had fantastic exotic drinks using ginger, tamerind, and hibiscus syrups.

I am not ashamed to say I eat Little Debbie swiss rolls, vienna sausages, onion & butter sandwiches on white bread. I love braunschwaeger. Liver in any form is yummy. Beets are good fresh, from a can, roasted with olive oil or pickled beyond recognition. My palate is an equal opportunity employer.

I have a couple of scratch brownie recipes that are wonderful BUT here's my quick fix. Duncan Hines brownie mix using bourbon instead of water. Frost liberally with unsweetened marscapone cheese. Eat them and weep.

Grapefruit is a pain. All that carefull cutting and seed picking, only to be rewarded by a couple of mouthfuls of fruit...just gimme a glass of juice.

Chocolate chip mint ice cream. It just doesn't taste right! If I'm going to be really honest I just have to admit that I don't like Thai food. I've had Thai in several cities in several states(dragged by Thai-loving friends and husband) and it just has no appeal. No cohesiveness- it always turns out to be some crunchy undercooked veggies doused with tongue-burning sauces thrown in with some rice or noodles. *Hangs head in shame over confession*

Oh Lord have mercy! Now I REALLY can't wait for the tomatoes to ripen! If only I could grow avocadoes as well.

I planted several tomato plants this spring, all of them growing with enthusiasm. Soon enough will come the wonderful moment of plucking the first one, heavy and warm and comes off the stem with the mere touch of a hand. I can barely wait- there's Brandywine, Better Boy, First Lady, and two kinds of currant tomatoes. The sandwich can be haute or low- I'll eat it. Squishy white bread, Miracle Whip, showers of salt and pepper do well to embrace a tomato. Crusty bagette, thick slices, aioli: I'll enjoy that as well. But when I'm really hankering to enjoy a just picked tomato I will just slice one thick, slap the slices on a plate, and eat them plain or with a bit of S&P.

I went through chemo for Hodgkin's a couple of years ago, and craved lots of carbs and fat. Comfort food. I couldn't get enough of dishes like cheddar mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, buttered bread. Once my mother-in-law made me a simple pot roast of beef and it was so wonderful and tasted of healing qualities. I would avoid any smoked foods. I grilled a steak over some hickory chips during treatment and was up all night with the most horrid acid indigestion. Best of luck to your friend.

Serve a whole fish-Jack Nicholson in "Chinatown" says "I refuse to eat anything staring back at me." as he dines with the corrupt Noah Cross(John Huston).

I like to raid the fridge for a few bites of whatever leftover meat might be lurking from recent dinners...nice rare cold lamb with some horseradish, or a slice of smoked pork tenderloin smeared with a bit of Nancy's Sweet Hot Mustard!