Smithy

This has been on my list to try for a while. I just made a small batch, using the recipe linked above. I have no Persian limes - the type we usually think of as limes in this country - but I have a number of Mexican limes, so that's what I used. It'll be interesting to see what we think in a few days. @sartoric, @blue_dolphin, and anyone else with experience: when you experiment with the pickle recipes, what adjustments do you make to compensate for varying sweetness of the fruit? These Mexican limes aren't as sweet as Persian limes.

I like the persimmon curd idea. I've been thinking that persimmon puree would be a nice cheesecake topping if I could make it stiff enough (persimmon and sour cream, perhaps?) Persimmon curd would have a better texture.

I want to thank everyone for the suggestions. I ended up using cardamamom, coriander, ginger (including crystallized ginger in place of raisins), a touch of saffron and a pinch of Berbere seasoning. My persimmon bread went over very well - but, in fairness to dcarch, I must admit that one person thought it was ginger bread and another knew it had fruit but wasn't sure what type! Maybe I could have worked out a way to intensify the persimmon flavor. I still liked it better than our family's classic persimmon bread, which is seasoned with cinnamon and nutmeg (but not, as I'd previously thought, cloves). I think it's the nutmeg that put me off. I have more puree, frozen, with which to experiment.

The Harvey House Cookbook, by George H. Foster & Peter C. Weiglin. It has a lot of recipes from that restaurant chain, and from the later employee cookbooks. I don't know when I'll get around to cooking from it, but it's interesting to read about the chain of restaurants built and run along the Sante Fe Railroad, and Harvey's influence on the westward expansion in this country. It also has some nice turns of phrase. For instance, when the Fred Harvey organization took over the newsstands in the train stations and the on-board concessions: "...the standards improved immediately. Candy and tobacco were fresh, and the vendors were trained not to be."

OK, I'm in. Maybe. By which I mean I've signed up (your menus look so good!) but haven't figured out yet which meals to plan and which to change out. It's surprising to me to see how generous the breakfast and lunch allowances are. We usually have very light breakfasts (the same, as a rule - which is boring to write about but easy to plan). Back in the days when we were eating lightly and losing weight we had the habit of salads for lunch. Sandwiches were a splurge. The plan as presented to me uses fairly generous sandwiches for several days this week. It'll be interesting to see where this leads. I like that they allow an easy opt-out from automatic renewals by offering a button that simply says "Stop automatic renewal".

Thank you for this, @ElsieD. I almost 'bit' on an advert for this diet a couple of days ago but have hesitated. On the one hand, I need to do *something* to get my weight under control. On the other hand, I have ideas about cuisines to explore when I have time and energy, and I'm hesitant to invest money in a plan that may make me choose between my hard-earned money and cooking what I wish. How much flexibility is there in the plan offerings?

If you should decide to splurge down in Visalia - and these would be splurges - I can recommend The Vintage Press, The Depot (which became The Southern Pacific Depot when I wasn't looking!), and Jack & Charlie's. Cafe India Authentic Indian Cuisine gave me much pleasure at a lower price point, and I remember Tazzaria as being quite nice for lunch. No cocktails there that I recall, but their food was fresh and good, and I always regretted not being able to extract their pita recipe from them. :-)

This place isn't in Fresno proper, but John's Bear Club in Reedley isn't far. My cousin took me there as a treat one time. Some of the best steak and wine I've ever had. Their salad and vegetables were also excellently prepared. The Cattlemens Restaurant in Selma is close, and a great place for pay-by-the-pound gluttony, even if they don't understand apostrophes. Another favorite place of mine is Bravo Farms, although you have to head south on 99 to Traver to get to it. There's indoor and outdoor seating, plenty of kitsch, cheese and condiments to buy and take home if you wish, and a good variety of food. (There's another Bravo Farms in Kettleman City, that makes a good stop on the way to/from the coast; there's also a Bravo Farms Smokehouse in Visalia, and what looks like a huge new place in Tulare, but I haven't visited either of them.) I'll check with my cousins to see what other recommendations they might have. They've moved from Fresno to the coast now and know Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo quite well. Are you looking for any particular types of food, or just trying to get a handle on what's available?

Today only, Thermoworks has a "Blue Moon Smoke Sale": $10 off for its yellow, blue and green smoker thermometer setups, from $99 to $89. https://www.thermoworks.com/Smoke

It's a bit like setting up your own curated selection, isn't it? Isn't that how Williams-Sonoma got its start?

It's a bit like setting up your own curated selection, isn't it? Isn't that how Williams-Sonoma got its start?

I am far past being late to this party but I want to thank you for the great photos and writeup. My question regards the apparent labor and time required for this process. Do you think making these tamales is (or should be) always a group activity? Is it something you'd envision doing on your own? If so, under what circumstances?

Thanks for this. I own the book, but it's nice to have an electronic copy for travel.

I think it looks like an interesting concept. The name troubles me slightly because of the word "Nest". At first glance I thought it was somehow to interface wirelessly with the nest system of house monitoring and management. Is it possible that the name will confuse other potential buyers, or (worse yet) draw unwelcome attention from the Nest company? (So far I haven't thought of a better name. )

I have a series of old recipes for Hachiya persimmons. I'm getting ready to use a windfall of those persimmons in a few baking projects. The suite of spices called for in the cake and cookie recipes is cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice. I like cinnamon. I like nutmeg and allspice in small touches but they can be overdone for my taste. Cloves I detest, and I'm going to leave them out. That makes me wonder, however, whether I can take this recipe in another sweet direction altogether. What other spice combination might I use with persimmons to make a nice baked product - sweet but not jarringly so? Suggestions, anyone?

Is this what you mean? I bought this last year; it's made in China by tagRlivingTM. It has the weight and feel of decent ceramics: heavier than Corelle or fine china, lighter than stoneware. The back side doesn't have the luster look, and it looks like melamine then, but the front is visually convincing. (Audio purists like me will also object to the plastic 'clack', but many folks don't seem to notice sound.) I find it much better than most melamine in terms of heft and appearance. I've seen it in off-white and deep burnt orange as well as this aqua color. It's very sturdy. It's supposed to be dishwasher safe; I haven't tried it. It is not microwave safe.

Thanks for the reminder!

Miami, Florida.

I made a half-recipe of this in my Instant Pot Mini for our Christmas gathering. It was a hit. For the record, I used Neufchatel cheese instead of cream cheese, and it worked well. Also for the record, my 25-year-old nephew informed me that I need to make two cheesecakes next time. I think it's so he'll be able to take one home with him.

Why would an iPad be better as a recipe stand than an Android-based tablet? Wouldn't any tablet dedicated for kitchen use work as well as another?

Pickled herring is quite definitely something that "took" with me when I moved up north! Great stuff! Lutefisk...well, not so much. I have my limits.

I have indeed. Gjetost is easy to come by in the Duluth area, and a very dear friend who's quite proud of her Norwegian heritage made it a point to introduce me to it. I thought it was okay - the sort of thing that I enjoy in the proper context (as in, skiing and picnicking with her) - but haven't been drawn to it on my own. I did not know it was made from whey! Thanks for those links.

Breakfast, a couple of days ago: grilled cheese sandwiches on the last slices of herb bread. Because sometimes you just have to kick over the traces. This is comfort food, and I've been needing it. Thanks to this topic about preferred cookware, I decided that I needed to use one of my clay pots. I bought this in Egypt, thanks to Paula Wolfert's discussions in these forums about cooking in clay, and because I am crazy about Egyptian moussaka - which is made in pots like this. They make excellent braisers: they provide even heat and somehow provide a more moist product than many of my metal pots. (The background discussion is scattered around in the forums - Paula was one of the original eGullet enablers - but some of it can be seen here and here.) They can be used on stovetop, provided the heat changes aren't extreme, and they are oven safe. In Egypt I saw them sitting in coals as the moussaka cooked. Chicken, seasoned and browned.... then smothered in mild Hatch chiles and their juice... and cooked in the oven until done. Meanwhile, green beans were being cooked with bacon and a number of vegetables on the stove top. I tend to forget about this chicken treatment when we're camping, because we so often cook chicken over the campfire. But it's been windy, and it gets dark early, and I've had quite a few reasons to wimp out on campfire cookery the last few days. This is a stellar way to treat chicken. These thighs come out fork-tender and juicy, and the chiles add a nice seasoning. There were two thighs apiece, but we restrained ourselves and saved some for the next day's lunch.

I was intrigued by the suggestion of bathing in it for soft skin. In this desert climate it might do wonders for me. There are two problems, though: no bathtub, and no place to store that liquid until I have enough. (If we had that kind of storage capability, my darling would have a beer keg refrigerator.) And actually, I'm not sure I'd want to get into a vat of whey.

That's fascinating. I blush to admit it, but I'd never wondered where "whey protein" came from before now. It looks like I should be able to use all the whey I generate in the future. I used some of it as a marinade for chicken yesterday. The broth is simmering away now; too bad I didn't think to try the rest of the whey as a broth additive! One of our cocktail folks might like to try the martini idea under the "Booze It Up" section.