Katherine

I said nothing of the sort. But if we do not have clear evidence that that downer cow would have been infective, had it been butchered at 30 months, this is in no way clear evidence that a serving of fried brains made from it would have been safe to consume, even if it had passed the currently available tests at that point. BSE is a complex problem, and there is no one simple solution for it.

Not entirely sure how the diagnosis of BSE has nothing to do with the diagnosis of the prion, since the two are THE SAME THING. How many times do people have to hear that animals less than 30 months are incredibly unlikely to contract BSE before they believe it? Let me repeat: It takes anywhere from 3-6 years for BSE to develop in cattle. Cattle who don't show signs of the BSE prion have not been proven to be infective. The majority of cattle slaughtered in the North America are less than 30 months of age, which they haven't had time to develop the disease--even if they've contracted it--which means even if you test them, you're not going to get a positive result for BSE. Tests have also shown that cattle that don't have the prion CANNOT SPREAD THE DISEASE. Prions are not diagnosed; it is the condition of the brain tissue that determines the diagnosis. Animals with BSE have brain tissue which is significantly different than that of uninfected animals. It is in fact generally understood that the incubation period for BSE is quite long. The animals contract it while they are young. Only when they become older (and dairy cattle live the longest lives: they are the animals in which we see symptoms) do symptoms appear. There is no evidence whatever that animals that die of BSE have just contracted it, or contracted it after 30 months of age. Nor is there evidence that animals that do not yet show symptoms, yet are infected (and were they to live long enough, would die of the disease) are not infective. Lack of evidence that something is infective is not the same as proof that it is not. In real world populations, it is impossible to trace the exact animal that transmitted the disease. If you prefer to believe that eating possibly BSE-infected animals is safe until after people have been proven to have died from this, that is your choice. But BSE is not innocent until proven guilty. The scientifically prudent thing to do is not feed suspect cattle to humans. So go ahead. Eat suspect cattle. Experiment on yourself. Maybe you'll get a Darwin Award.

Boxes of rice flour/sweet rice flour often have recipes for white sauce on them (just sub rice flour for wheat flour). The texture is a little different. Try it, it's a cheap experiment.

Actually, I think it's not only a crutch, but a shield that prevents them from ever being introduced to the idea that it's not hard to cook simple food. People are in awe of complicated food they see in expensive restaurants and *Chef books. They don't want to hear that you need to cook a piece of chicken and make a sauce before you can put the two together. They want shortcuts. This paradigm shows them the way to make fancy, complicated stuff without having to learn to cook. I can take all this processed food, throw it together, and It's complicated! And my family won't be able to tell the difference.. Sadly true.

My mother went on a bus tour of Europe with a group from a local town where the custom was to drink coffee with the meal. The trouble you have in getting your coffee exactly when you want it pales in comparison to their difficulties. They were not happy campers.

Hope they aren't bitter pignut (noun) - 1. an American hickory tree having bitter nuts Synonyms: pignut hickory, brown hickory, black hickory, Carya glabra From the illustration on the package, you can see that they're peanuts. Seriously, I once saw a package of dumplings in my Asian grocer freezer case labeled "wheat paste starch lump". Bad marketing move. Didn't buy it.

It just sounds to me like you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, cosmically speaking, at the focus of a number of evil forces. The sandwich is a result of unsophisticated people discovering and being inspired by a "new" idea - "X" + hot sauce = "hot X"!! - and realizing that the unsophisticated public will be unaware of the cost-cutting measures involved. A rip-off, supported by their self-delusional misrepresentation of the product.

Fair enough. Desert wines with desert, and dessert wines with dessert. I eat cheese all the time, wherever I am.

Doesn't being expected to arrange this affair give you the right to feel them out just a wee bit?

I recommend not testing this part with single-malt scotch. Better yet, give me the scotch, and I will run the test and deliver you the results.

I have some glass "ice cubes" I bought for a prop a few years ago. They're very realistic looking, but they don't act like ice cubes. I thought they'd chill a beer without diluting it, but eh. They sink to the bottom, then they splash up when you try to drink. Probably the granite, being heavier might even chip a glass.

Actually, in British English, the translation would simply be "offal from the sea". "Offal" (in this case, of land animals) is a term routinely used by British restaurants, but I never see it in American restaurants. Too unappealing? "Variety meats" is a term used in America, but so infrequently that it, too, is misunderstood. A while back I visited a newly remodeled supermarket and saw, in the distance, a long glass-fronted case with the words "Variety Meats" high overhead. Most supermarkets have, maybe two feet (.5 m) of shelf space devoted to offal, at the most. I got closer and found it was their new name for the deli case.

Strange. Clicking on the link in my posting above takes me to the same page as yours. Perhaps it relates in some way to the fact that I'm a Times News Tracker subscriber. You have cookies on your computer that tell the website you are a subscriber. But both of the links take me to the Register Now page.

According to the Calphalon website, it's "Exclusively @ Williams-Sonoma Through January 2004." Just a deal W-S cut with Calphalon -- W-S gets the latestandgreatest thing first and Calphalon gets a halo effect from the exclusivity of their latest (wouldn't be quite the same if it were available "Exclusively @ Target")... If it's "Exclusively @ Williams-Sonoma Through January 2004", you should probably wait until February, when you can find it somewhere else for less.

Oh, you are still free to say "Champagne" for sparklers in general. But you are no longer allowed to write it on a bottle. Of course you are allowed to say Parmigiano for every white stuff you throwing at your spaghettis. But you are no longer allowed to write Parmigian on pieces of white rubber. And it's effective. 20-30 years ago, here in Europe, most people outside of France used to say Champagne for sparklers as well. This has significantly changed. And it has a lot to do with producers no longer labelling their stuff in a misleading way. They simply have to promote Prosecco, Cava and so on now. Absolutely spot on. I note with interest, that the arguments put forward by Brad and Katherine have little to do with the rights of the champenoise, but more to do with the inconvenience of having to respect them. Shifting rights of foreigners in some faroff country have no effect on linguistic change. That's not how language works, regardless of how you might wish it to. I personally would not dream of asking for Champagne, if it were not what I intended to buy or drink. And if I ordered a glass of sparkling wine, and they said they were bringing me Champagne (as has happened), I would certainly correct them, just in case they understood what I was talking about. But they don't understand. And my correcting people on points of language, particularly when I am politically motivated to boot, is going to have zero effect on their actual usage. You can't legislate linguistic change, and if you try to you look like an idiot. Especially if you're a foreigner trying to change somebody else's language for what appears only to benefit market share. That said, you can legislate label changes, and eventually, people may stop using the forbidden terms. Just as they don't say Kleenex™ when they mean tissues, or Scotch Tape™ when they mean cellophane tape, or Thermos™ when they mean vaccuum bottles...

It's a losing battle. The French are better off putting their energy elsewhere. Sparkling wine purchases in this country are more seasonal than anything else. And 90% of the people buying it don't care where it comes from. They just wnat bubbles at midnight. Those who don't want to pay much for those bubbles won't look at the French stuff. Those who want to impress will only look at it. I'd rather the French spend effort extolling the virtues of Champagne as a food wine. It is incredibly underrated in this category IMO. Wrong. In fact, imho, I struggle to see how only one person can be SOOOO wrong. I remain shocked by this parochial myopia. You are, of course, free to man the barricades and fight noble losing battles. What you're fighting here is not only manufacturers, who could undoubtedly be regulated into submission, but the English language. "Champagne" has long been a common noun synonymous with "sparkling wine". Regulating linguistic changes is a thankless and unproductive task.

What kind of caviar did you use? Cheap supermarket ones have a black dye that would run into sour cream and discolor it. If you have good caviar, the real thing, eat it straight, without the other ingredients.

It's also not emphasized by Atkins that in ketosis, muscle as well as fat is consumed. But as I've already pointed out, Barry Groves' version of the low carb diet does *not* depend on ketosis. I find it an easy diet to follow because it emphasises the foods I most enjoy. Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables with reference to their glaecemic index avoids those which are most readily converted into starch, leading in turn to weight gain. It's been shown that the ketosis argument is irrelevant. In other words, the theory's wrong, but the diet still somehow works, even when you're not in ketosis. Needs a new explanation. Also, only starchy vegetables are forbidden on the Atkins regimen. I checked out Barry Groves. I'm really impressed with that one-day menu plan where he has his fat intake at 70%. Maybe I'll buy the book, but I'd have to get it from Amazon.co.uk, so it'll be a while. Fresser, read what he has to say about fat and the diet of an athlete. Keep in mind when you're comparing Atkins to other weight-loss diets, that clinically or in real live, all 'diets' are difficult to stick with in the long term, to keep weight off, regardless of how much you may wish to think of them as lifestyle changes. So it doesn't make any difference if a doctor or nutritionist tells someone that they should just cut down on portions, or cut out fat, or give up meat, or whatever. If they can't stick to a diet, it's useless advice.

Little bells rang in my mind as I read through this thread. I went up to my attic, to the stacks, and pulled out The Professional Chef: A Definitive Text Book Detailing the Artistry of the Chef, third revised edition, most recent copyright 1971. The illustrations look like something out of the Gallery of Regrettable Food. I suppose I might be able to use it for some obscure classic recipes, but only after I air it out. Whew! "International Cuisine This section, developed from material presented to advanced students at the Culinary Institute of America, is a response to the growing interest in foreign food. These unique menus adapt well for special occasion promotions. Menus for 11 International dinners feature dishes from some 20 countries and the recipes needed to prepare them..." Menu from "the orient" Won ton soup Japanese clam soup (does not use dashi) Chinese twice-cooked pork Fried rice basic, and egg garnish Won ton Chinese egg rolls Fried boneless chicken wings in sauce Clam sauce (for fried boneless chicken wings) Basic "white" sauce and basic "dark" sauce Batter for butterfly shrimp Chinese mustard Duk sauce Beef with pea pods (snow peas) Barbecued sparerib s Sa-nwin-ma-kin (semolina or farina pudding) Ginger-orange sauce That pretty much covers the "orient", I guess. Wouldn't be an "oriental" meal without two kinds of wonton, would it?

Cuisinart cordless rechargeable hand blender, halfway down the page.

Without cutting into your vegetable intake, either.

Excepting, of course, the Atkins butter pecan ice cream, which is to die for.

Click me. And scroll down a page to see the Eskimo food pyramid.

I read about a group of hunters who made and ate cougar jerky from an animal they shot, not wanting to waste the meat. Eleven of them went to the hospital with trichinosis. The doctor who wrote it up and published got an Ig-Nobel award (for research that cannot be reproduced, or should not).

I coat the separated wing parts with Louisiana hot sauce, freshly ground black pepper, Korean crushed red pepper, crushed garlic, and a little olive oil. Bake until the skin is crispy.