Katherine

Frying eggs and bacon for breakfast does count. Bacon...mmm...

When I say "short", I mean the ones with butter in them. As in "shortbread". Soft and almost crumbly, like a cookie. These are the kind you see everywhere. All biscotti look the same, just the flavor and texture are different between the um, unshort, hard ones and the short ones. You've probably never had any other kind. My understanding is that originally, biscotti were made with either no fat or some olive oil, which made for an excellent keeping biscotto. Recently recipes have been modernized and enriched, turning them into fancy little chocolate-coated cakes, which taste very much like any other boutique cookie, with just a distinctive shape. They're still biscotti, just not the original type. I ran into some of the sort I'm talking about in Southeastern Connecticut, on a road trip. The little bakery had loads of flavors. Every one of them jawbreakers. (Insert into side of mouth-crunch down with maximum force to break off piece) Skip the dip at your own peril. I don't need that chocolate coating, I'm a purist. Too much stuff takes away from the essence of things. In the past, I've looked and not found the sort of recipe I was looking for. Everybody's into the buttery thing. But I admit that I stopped looking, since I don't bake many cookies, nor drink coffee to dunk them in anymore.

I'm with you nessa. too stupid for words. It's just a self-parody.

Chicken dark meat makes great sausage. Debone, grind the meat and fat (but not the skin) coarsely. Season with salt (about 1 teaspoon per pound of meat) and black pepper, crushed garlic, red pepper, rosemary, etc, to taste.

In your honor I will make a Galician empanada and feed it to my co-workers. Sigh.

I like the jawbreakers made with whole almonds. I guess they're not to the liking of most Americans, as they're hard to buy and even harder to find recipes for. The short ones are, in comparison, just another cookie.

Make real hot chocolate, and you'll never do hot cocoa again. Heat 1 cup of whole milk in the microwave until it is at least 180º. Add 2 oz bittersweet chocolate (or semisweet, or a blend, depending on how sweet you like it), chopped, and blend until smooth. A stick blender is ok, but a jar blender (preheated) gives you a huge volume of chocolatey foam. Top with freshly whipped cream. Very rich. Serves 2. Well worth washing the equipment over.

Sour patch kids

Why does the song "Ring of Fire" come to mind here?

According to his scale, Indian food would normally get one to five stars, depending on how a particular dish ought to be made. These patrons would request fifty stars.

I talked to a Pakistani running an Indian restaurant who said the same thing: certain wannabe sophisticated customers insist on the food being made uniformly blazingly inauthentically hot.

Laser surgery for red pepper intolerance? Just a joke, right? For me, the worst is a good strong kimchi, so it's the pepper powder, definitely no oil in there.

I'm curious. Have you been monitoring your blood sugar while you've tried these things, and if so, what impact did they have?

I recall they were forced to allow imports when they had a major crop failure one year.

I lost the leftover carcass of a 32 pound turkey one year, to a raccoon (or a raccoon-sized animal), I presume. We left it on top of the refrigerator, which overhung into the garage. The next morning, we found it on the floor about 8 feet below, seriously eaten. Some animal must have come in through the cat door, taken a flying leap to get at it, as it was a good 6-1/2 feet from the steps. It couldn't have been the cat, she was inside.

Spoon is good. Topped with salmon caviar.

That, of course, is an opinion. But my point is really that a) contamination-free food shouldn't necessarily be the primary goal, and b) the private sector seems to do a better job of enforcing safe food than the government when it "decides" to do so. Surely you jest. The reason salmonella contamination in poultry is universal, e. coli in beef is expected, and BSE is starting to be found is because we have allowed the industry to base standards on the easiest and cheapest way to raise and process these, safety be damned. In Europe they don't allow processers to chill poultry by soaking them in water contaminated with fecal material and blood. Here, the speed with which we process cattle assures that contamination is frequent, and contaminants are mixed with large lots of meat that is distributed widely. To expensive to recall all that meat? Aw, heck! Those consumers would rather save pennies than watch their children grow up.

I cook every meal. If I'm out working at lunchtime or supper, I pack an attractive meal of leftovers. On the rare occasions when I know I won't be able to reheat, I make sure to pack a cold meal.

Translation?

Why, Katherine, why did you have to post that?! Now I have one more "unbelievably cool thing" to add to my wish list. Don: I'm right there with you. I simply MUST have one of those in my backyard by next summer. Ohmigod - how cool is that??? Katherine - you're a bad influence... There's always a really good Father's Day sale at Kamado, so be patient, and you'll save lots of $$$. Wait! I just went to the website and followed a series of links to the Christmas sale, which is on its last day today! Huge savings! Here's the info:

Here's a British recipe from the BBC.

I found one! Gelato Luna

You too? I always jump when the doorman buzzes up. It tends to be so unexpected, and the noise is extremely harsh. More often than not, the delivery is not for us. But the deliverymen can't speak english, so the doormen think they're asking for our apartment. Before I married, I had a very unusual last name. It seemed like the postmaster would route all the illegibly addressed letters in town to me, just in case they were for me. After I ceased to be married, I picked a more user-friendly name, so I didn't have that problem again.

For regular beef, the highest risk is with hamburger, which we now know may contain downers and brain and spinal material. For steaks and roasts, the risk is vanishingly small. Each to their own comfort level. I'm sure you'll come back to beef when you are ready.

I want one of these babies. Or maybe one of each size. And a porch to put them on, too. Several years ago I saw a gelato machine on an espresso equipment website. The machine went through a "cook custard" cycle before freezing, then dispensed out the front into your containers. Wow.