Susan G

I love a splash ( a small splash) of rosewater in a mango lassi. Didn't know rosewater lassis were even a possibility!

I agree with Ben Hong. I also know that having a plan one can deviate from can be a comfort. The Quan Ju De on the west side of Tiananmen Square is considered the "the place" for Peking Duck.

If they're slaughtered humanely, I don't have a problem with this. I've enjoyed horsemeat in Europe. Horses during their lifetimes live for our pleasure: It's the sole reason the species is perpetuated.......why shouldn't they serve that pleasure in death too?

I believe it's called Dim Sum.

Put me down as another B. Keep perfectly good cheese awwaaaayy from perfectly good donuts. Damnit.

I'm on the downside of a 48 hour shift....lunch was a packed 36 hours ago and frozen until this morning: Lamb and spinach curry with a raita and some eggplant pickle. (My co-workers, to a man, said, "What's *that*???)

Duoxie nimen! Anybody want to guess why the character for "boil" has a "ren" or "person" radical?? Oohhh...... All the other cooking forms have mostly "fire" radicals.........

Great, Ben! Can you post the characters?

About a year ago in Santa Fe County, a New Mexico State Police officer in his patrol car with lights and sirens running collided with another car coming in the opposite direction. The civilian driver made a complaint that he had seen a bucket of KFC in the front seat of the patrol car......the resulting investigation found the officer had been negligent: Grease on the steering wheel had caused the car to go out of control. Now I call that multi-tasking! Running red lights, speeding on a twisting road, *and* eating a greasy dinner! Woohoo! My personal favorite distraction while driving? Eating french fries *with ketchup*. Yup. (Hangs head in shame).

I like candles burning on the table as a sign that something special is anticipated when my friends gather. I have candelabras in all shapes and sizes......but glass votive holders work well too.........

I think everyone will have a different way to answer this, Brad, based upon how much they enjoy the process versus noticing the time spent at the project..... Me? I'll take a day spent braising a cheap cut of meat in a slow-cooker while I'm doing other projects (quilting, say) and call it a day well spent!!

Baskin Robbins carries a carrot cake flavor in the summers, I think, seasonally, but it's creamy, lacking the mouthfeel of a slice of cake!

Something along the line of almond maccaroons - almond flavored vanilla ice cream, small chunks of maccaroons, and preserved cherries. Carrot cake.........vanilla/carrot ice cream, raisins, pineapple, coconut, and walnuts? Lots of cinnamon and a little nutmeg.

Not another food taboo that implies women shouldn't eat the good stuff???

Mozart kugeln!

He's got a six-pack!

Ooh, Brad, that's an impressive technical detail! Bravo! Now for the challenge: *Why* do they have different names?

Sourcing: I believe this is a gerund: A noun functioning as a verb. Not that it makes it right, or pretty, but it's legal.....at least, in a grammatical sense. (This flexibility of English is one of the reasons it's a world language....the *new* lingua franca!) Latin scholars care to weigh in?

I'm trying to imagine the shame I would feel if, as a young child at school, I was lectured on how grossly unhealthy my beloved, family-cherished Yorkshire puddings and mincemeat pies were. This reminds me of a tactic used by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution in 1960's China: Use the children to change society. Wrong, wrong, wrong! I believe part of the problem in the cuisine of the South lies in the more-readily available food supply. What used to be foods or dishes for special occasions or seasonally available - pecan pies only in the winter after the nut harvest, say; fried chicken only after late July when the chicks from spring had grown large enough - have now become staples year 'round. It's thrown the naturally-limiting quality of these gorgeous, rich food out of whack.

In Westchester County, NY, this sandwich was also referred to as a "wedge" - which applied if it had melted cheese or not.

Radiant heat brick floor in my kitchen. Have. To. Scrub. Floor. By. Hand. Bricks too rough to mop. How 19th century! Still, on gross factor, *nothing* like cleaning gucked-up fan blades!

I agree with slkinsey.........it's possible to card without being a Nazi about it......it's even possible to card and be sweet about it. That waiter was abusing his (momentary) position of authority. I would have asked the waiter to bring me the manager, and immediately explained the problem with the "service".

I'm working in the southeast corner of New Mexico......most of my co-workers were raised in smalll towns nearby, never travelled, and have low expectations for meals. Italian food means frozen TV dinners. It's become a running joke at quarters to guess what kind of food I'm unpacking - and what cuisine does it come from? Sesame oil was a revelation! *Dried* mushrooms? Who would buy *those*??? It's hard to not get discouraged when no-one will share my food. The saving grace are the former military co-workers who've served all over the world - not only do they recognize purple basil and schwartzbrot, they can tell me stories about where they'd gotten particularly good samples back "in country".

Route 17 in western New York State had a billboard for years: Mrs. Murphy's Smorgasbord One wonders how it stayed in business so long!

How beautiful he is! Thanks for sharing!