purplewiz

I'm considered weird in my family because I just don't like orange juice very much. Sure, I'll drink it when mixed with vodka or champagne, but unless it's something special, like fresh squeezed in front of me blood orange juice, it's just not something I enjoy. I think it dates back to my growing up years when breakfast was after we brushed our teeth, and there's nothing like toothpaste to make orange juice taste awful. If I'm going to drink fruit, I'd rather make my own cantaloupe-strawberry smoothies. Marcia.

I'm not surprised with the way the judging went - Wylie's food was the closest to dishes on the Iron Chef Japan, fairly out there, and I'm not surprised it didn't play quite as well on the American palate. Still, I would have liked to have tried it, just because I couldn't imagine how some of the combinations would work. I agree with the consensus on the woman judge, but in general I enjoy seeing Ted Allen as a judge. On some episodes, he was literally the only one who mentioned anything about how the food actually tasted. I will agree that he was not at his best in this battle. But as long as we're ragging on judges, the Japanese woman judge annoys me no end. If there's even a little oil on the food, it's always judged "too greasy". It makes me want to show her what REAL greasy food is! Marcia.

The honeysuckle in my grandmother's backyard. I don't remember how old I was, but I remember one of my older cousins showed me that if you plucked off a bloom and pulled the center thingie out the bottom slowly, you'd get one drop of the most amazingly sweet nectar. Through experimentation, we discovered the darker yellow older flowers had the tastiest nectar, but if they got too dark, they wouldn't have any left. There may be an earliermemorly , but I remember the tastes of that afternoon vividly. Marcia.

Brownies. The recipe I use is so easy, takes approximately 2.18 minutes longer than a box mix, and tastes infinitely better. I've made exactly brownies from box mix exactly once since I found my recipe, and that's because I'd bought it previously. I've read over the rest of this thread, and most of the items are things I make from scratch sometimes - but I admit I like some of the commercial products enough to buy them sometimes, too. Or for things like soups - 95% of the time I'll make them from scratch, but I keep a couple of cans around for nights when we're both sick and need something fast and easy. So it's not I never buy them, it's just not all that often. Marcia.

I found the article interesting, because he echoes a lot of the things I learned quickly messing about with the idea of starting my own small (non-food) business. Most importantly, I learned that the fastest way to turn something you love into something you hate is to start doing it for a living. (I envy those who successfully make a living doing something they love.) Marcia.

I will never again fill the crockpot with all the vegetables and aromatics, add the liquid, and then put in the formerly frozen beef without checking the date on the beef FIRST. While I'm willing to play reasonably fast and loose with dates on frozen meat, there are limits. The package said 9/03/98. We're eating out tonight. Marcia. see also this thread edited to get the date right.

Tuna salad sandwiches and a small salad. I have a cold and can't taste anything, so I made stuff I didn't have to taste and adjust seasonings in. Marcia.

Chicken soup. My mother made soup once a year, after either Thanksgiving or Christmas (whichever was at our house that year), to get rid of the turkey leftovers. I loved it, but the rest of the year, soup was out of the red Campbell's can. I have since learned to make stocks and soups myself, and it is wonderful to have rich, hearty soups when I need that kind of comforting. Tom Kha Gai. When I am sick with a cold (like I am now, AGAIN), that's all I want. The flavors are bold enough to taste through the worst stuffed nose, and the chili will burn through that congestion. And thank goodness, this thread reminded me that there is apparently ONE Thai restaurant left around here. Time for a trip down there tomorrow. Marcia.

I generally know pretty much what's in the freezers. That isn't to say I don't have archaeological specimens in there, just that I know they're there. But I did recently find a box of Omaha Steaks bonus hamburgers that I'd forgotten about....they grilled up fine. Marcia.

I'm reviving this thread because I just received the first 2006 seed catalog, which makes me think maybe I ought to plan ahead a little bit this year. There are lot of temptations - new greens, delicata squash, cucumbers, multiple varieties of basil. As I was paging through the catalog, I kept thinking "would deer like that? how about rabbits?". It's a funny way to select things, but that's one of my primary criteria for deciding what to plant - will it attract pests or be a last resort if we have a rough summer? Anyone else starting to plan for warmer days? Marcia.

The miracle of the tomatoes.... I had no dinner planned for tonight, since we thought we were supposed to be meeting friends, but somewhere something didn't connect, and the plans weren't there. Fortunately, I had some hamburgers in the freezer, so I grilled them up and topped them with Swiss cheese and salsa. I had the lettuce for a salad, but no tomatoes. I don't care if they're out of season, I like tomatoes with my tossed salads, and they just aren't the same without them. The only tomatoes we had were some old homegrown ones, picked green last October, and which are somewhat overripe/dried out about now. (They'll be fine in the sauce I'm planning to make.) But what the heck, I decided to rummage around in the bag and see what was there. Miraculously, I found about half a dozen tomatoes that were just about perfect for eating raw. So we topped our salad with homegrown tomatoes on Christmas Eve - and they were very good indeed! Marcia.

I was just curious - what's in the Christmas pie in the case? It looks pretty good! Thanks - Marcia.

We had that lime jello stuff, too - no marshmallows, but with the pineapple and cottage cheese. But worst of all was Grandma's Red Jello Salad: Red jello (cherry, raspberry, often a mix), canned fruit cocktail, served on a lettuce leaf with a dollop of Hellmann's Mayonnaise on top. Disgusting doesn't even start to cover it. But we had to eat some so as not to hurt Grandma's feelings. Grandma is no longer with us, and thankfully, neither is her Jello salad. My mother makes a ribbon Jello salad that's really good - very thin layers of flavored Jello with a sweetened sour cream gelatin mixture between. It makes a lot, but it's pretty, and it's just Jello after all. Marcia.

- just about everything out of the garden: the first chive and thyme flowers (mixed into butter and melted over steaks), the first grilled zucchini, the fresh salads, the cherry tomatoes warmed in the sun, picked, wiped off on one's shirt, and eaten while still warm. - the stuffing on Thanksgiving. I only really get stuffing the way I grew up with it once a year, and oh, god, it was good. Yes, it's out of a package, just like Mom used to make. I don't care. I love it. - the turkey skin off the above mentioned turkey. Crisp and delicious right out of the oven. I know there were more, but I didn't write them down, and I have a memory like a steel sieve these days. I should probably resolve to keep better notes . Marcia.

Yes, Caucasian, and yes, we had it. But ONLY at holidays. Always at Thanksgiving, usually at Christmas, and probably once in a blue moon at Easter - and at no other time. It was always made with frozen French cut green beans - Mom didn't like the taste of canned. And yes, I make it for holidays when I'm hosting. I like the stuff. Always a tbsp of soy sauce in it - it really boosts what flavors there are. And I like the leftovers even more. Marcia.

I have no idea what the official answer is, but I've made some dandy stocks from packages of freezer burned chicken legs I forgot about in the deep freeze. I wouldn't serve them for dinner, but the stock was just fine. Marcia.

Add another vote for roasted caulilfower. Just made it again tonight. Jaymes' salsa. I haven't made it in awhile, but I saw that recipe and knew I had to try it. And carnitas. Oh, I thank the day I found eGullet every time I make them - made them again yesterday, and they were nearly perfect. What makes the recipes so attractive is first that they sound delicious. Second, they're a departure from what I've been doing without being too difficult or time consuming. (Not that time consuming is necessarily bad, but these days I simply don't have that kind of time to devote to something that's going to be devoured in 9 minutes or less.) And third, they fit in to our eating plan - I'm always looking for new dishes to incorporate! Marcia.

I grill year round, even though we do have winter here. The things that stop me: freezing rain, 50+ mph winds, more than a foot of snow to tromp through to the grill (comes over the tops of my boots). I grilled the steak we had with the truffled sherry sauce last Friday. We have a natural gas grill that is uglier than sin but which I know inside out and backwards. We'll have to get rid of it if we ever move, but until then, I'm sticking with it. Winter things to look out for: 1. The grill takes longer to preheat. Usually I can have the grill hot enough to cook on in the time it takes to defrost tonight's entree. Add 5 minutes when the temperatures are below 20F. 2. The control knobs get frozen and hard to turn. If you can turn one, you can light the grill and the problem takes care of itself. 3. I usually turn off the gas behind the grill for the reason above, just in case I can't get the gas turned off all the way via the control knobs. Remembering to turn it back on before attempting to light the grill becomes an issue. 4. In the summer, I grill with only half the burners lit (there's only two of us), but because of the temperatures, I often have to turn on the other side of the grill at least on low to help maintain temperature. 5. Tongs and plates left on the shelf at the side of the grill become VERY cold. Use gloves, or take them inside with you. Remember to take them back outside when you need to turn the food or remove it from the grill. 6. It gets dark early. I use visual cues a lot when I grill. I carry a flashlight and have asked for a grill light for Christmas (don't think I'm getting it, though). Marcia.

In 2006, I will eat at one new restaurant per month. Preferably non-chain, but that's hard to do around here. (Carry over from 2005 because it worked so well.) I will make one new recicpe a month, preferably from one of the cookbooks I own that I've never cooked out of. (Also carry over from 2005.) I will find a job. *sigh* I will read more. This is the year I will try several new vegetables that I don't know what to do with yet, assuming I can find them anywhere around here. I will taste everything I can. My kids will continue not to exist. Marcia.

Cereal boxes. A box of oatmeal. The one box of crackers we keep in the house so we can serve crackers and cheese to guests at the holidays. The box will hang around until the next holiday, at which time it will be thrown out and replaced. A box of powdered milk that is older than I care to admit. A box of protein shake mixes that my spousal unit used to drink for breakfast but has given up for some reason (probably because they have the consistency and taste of latex paint). A can of "Nevr Dull" brass polish. A can of WD-40. A can of day-glo orange spray paint used for marking things outside. A stainless steel thermos that falls off once in awhile. More dust than I care to admit. I have NO idea what's in the cabinets up there. I put stuff in there when we moved in 9 years ago and I don't think I've looked in there since. Obviously it's not important. Marcia.

Thai-style beef curry stew with cauliflower and peanuts. Since all I can taste right now is spicy and salt (it's a NASTY cold), it had plenty of both, and the interplay of the textures of the long simmered beef, the cauliflower, and the peanuts made it more interesting. Delicious can be a relative term. Marcia. who is now working on a cough drop for dessert, which is most definitely NOT the most delicious thing she's eaten today.

Roast beef on a wheat kaiser roll with cheddar, ingredients for which picked up at the grocery store in the middle of a snowstorm that got here several hours before they said it would. When I finally made it home and put the sandwich together, I don't think anything could have tasted as good. Marcia.

Um, not really . The only reason my kitchen doesn't look like that right now is that we had houseguests over Thanksgiving, so we spent a full day cleaning so they'd have somewhere to walk and sit down to eat breakfast! I've been enjoying the blog and all the marvelous fresh produce, since local produce will only be a dream until springtime around here (got at least a foot of snow yesterday!). Marcia.

The green beans with butter, dill, salt, and pepper. They came out just perfectly. Marcia.

We tasted between dinner and dessert, so we had coffee with egg nog and brandy and rum and mince pie and chocolate biscotti and vanilla tarts to, uh, cleanse the palate. Everclear. That should kill the aftertaste . Seriously, just about anything that tastes better should do fine - and I know that doesn't narrow it down much! Marcia.