petite tête de chou

A couple more ideas... Lima bean and winter squash (or sweet potato) soup with a Carribean flavor. Simmer peeled cubes of winter squash in chicken broth, water and white wine with a bit of chopped onion, leeks, celery, a couple cloves of garlic, a bouquet garni (bay, thyme, parsley, marjoram), a bit of honey and dash of cinnamon. When the squash or sweet potatoes are nearly done add your pre-cooked limas and s/p. Simmer until squash is fork tender. A cup or so of cream could be added along with the limas if a richer soup is preferred but I like it without. That way, I can eat more. Also, most mashed beans make good fritters. I like them with a spicy dipping sauce and yogurt. And a beer.

This weekends temperatures are supposed to tumble into the hell of over 100 degrees (F). I live in a single level house, without air-conditioning, that is shaded from all sides by old Oregon White Oaks, Austrian White Pines and Norway Red Maples. My husband and I are, genetically, Northern European and shirk at weather over 85. And yet, when the temperatures go over 95 I kinda dig the freaky-ass heat. I mean, what the heck are you gonna do?! Be hot. So, I usually grill a few varieties of kebabs, keep the 'fridge stocked with unsweetened iced green tea (sugar in green tea tastes funky-in-not-a-good-way to me), lightly sweetened iced black tea, various sodas, juices and beers. I eat a lot of wonderfully ripe cantelope, halved and chilled for a few hours. Actually, chilled fruit and tea are my definite go-to's when it's hot-enough-to-kill. But fruit and tea aren't a proper supper for my husband who wants (demands? ) more. Hence the kebabs, rice made before 9:00 a.m (warmed in the microwave under a damp paper towel with butter, onion chives, s + p), olives, various sliced vegetables, red grapes, cukes in rice vinegar, chilled pasta salads, etc. In the past I've thrown reasoning to the wind and made pizza dough the night before, did all the prep for toppings and baked the pizzas very early in the morning. So the gent comes home to cold pizza and a few beers. Never had a complaint.

Wild foods are one of my favorite topics. Thanks for bringing it up again. Wild mushrooms, find 'em on your lawn! Foraging for wild food, Greens gone wild! Hark! The Wilderness Beckons...., What is there to eat in your back yard?

I actually had a glass that matched the beer! The Ropewalk Amber is new for us. I like it alot. It's less hoppy or bitter than I expected from Bridgeport. Not a bad thing. Usually amber beers turn me off with their indecisiveness- hoppy or not, rounded finish or bitter, sweet or sour. Again, I'm just *awful* with describing beer flavors. Sorry for the blurry..those beers are really good!

Here's a few ideas to get you started. POM Wonderful, pomegranate juice Pomegranate Cocktails

Perhaps you could make a bagna cauda and add red pepper flakes to spice it up?

Toliver, I think that the small tomatoes are currant tomatoes. Very cute! Y'know, for a fruit that is.

So..boycott Whole Foods *in addition* to Tyson and the like, right? Where do you folks intend to get your meats?

I completely agree.

I read labels if I'm buying a product I'm not familiar with. I'll usually choose the item that has the lower sodium content and don't really concern myself with much else. Well, that's not completely accurate. I'll also choose the item that doesn't include high fructose corn syrup, like bread and butter pickle chips. Who needs the syrup when a less refined sugar is just fine. Waaay too much salt and syrup are added to things.

I agree about the description. I had been thinking of ways to describe the smell and came up with nada. Also, "Not like body odor, or sweat, just this damp smell, like the breath of someone who is sick with a cold. A cold, bacterial smell, but not quite to the point of smelling like decay." Perfect. Not rotten, but not well.

Hi emilyr. I was the one who mentioned the bbq sauce. Either in a steamer or in a pan with a bit of water in the bottom, steam three cups of hulled blackberries until soft. Mash and strain seeds from berries. To this puree add 1-2 cups of sugar (depends on how sweet your berries are and how sweet you like your bbq sauce), 1/4 cup cider vinegar, 1 tsp. mustard seeds (I often leave these out since I don't always have them), 1 T. yellow mustard, 1/2 tsp. dry mustard, 1-2 T. worchestershire sauce, 1/2 T. salt (more or less), 1 cup of uncooked, hulled blackberries, 1/2 minced onion, a couple cloves of minced garlic and a large pinch of brown sugar. Simmer on low, stirring often for about an hour or more until it's nice and thick. It will become even thicker once it cools so don't over-reduce it. Thin with a bit of water if it gets too thick. Optionals- 1-2 minced jalapenos or other fresh chili, 1/2 tsp. liquid smoke, splash of ketchup or a few pats of butter. This sauce can be used to glaze chicken, pork or meatballs.

Yeah. No allergies there. I love cooked eggs and I'll even eat them raw in the right dish (though I'll start with a small nibble and inhale slowly as I do so). Milk- I'm not a huge fan of straight milk in a glass purely because I don't want it that close to my face, but I have it in hot bevvies and on oatmeal or whatever. Whole milk has the strongest smell and skim smells like spit. But I like both. Chicken, eh. Chicken is chicken. Not my favorite but I certainly don't dislike it. Chicken breasts always smell worse than thighs. And that's a fact. ← I'm fine with eating eggs (not raw. can't handle the slime) and chicken, too. Milk and ice-cream, however, give me a stomach-ache if I have more than, say, a half-cup in one sitting. And forget gobs of ooey-gooey nausea-inducing cheese on a pizza or grilled cheese sandwiches. I'm fine with hard cheeses and moldy cheeses, however. I agree about the breasts reeking more than the thighs. I wonder why that is? Oh, and raw turkey is even *worse* smelling.

Verjuice, are you able to eat these three foods comfortably?

I know what you're talking about, Verjuice. I'm pretty okay with the smell of raw eggs (cooked eggs are a bit icky) but raw chicken? Gah. I can smell it even after washing my hands in super hot water with tons of soap. And, often, milk will have a slightly spoiled, weird lactosy ( ) reek about it that turns me off. I prepare eggs occasionally, chicken frequently and only have milk in my coffee. Oddly enough I don't recoil from cheese like I do milk. Now that I'm thinking about it, the smell of raw eggs *isn't* "pretty okay." Ah well. My husband loves milk, adores scrambled eggs and could eat chicken breast almost every night so I've learned to deal with it.

Hi Sony. I've had Chum salmon and found it to be perfectly edible. It was wrapped in foil with a few lemon slices, pats of butter and cooked on/in a campfire. It remained relatively moist and made great salmon salad sandwiches the next day. I would absolutely eat it again. I'm not sure if it would hold up well against the dry heat of a grill (less oil-could dry out) unless it was wrapped in foil or baked in parchment but hey, since they're cheaper than Chinook you'd have enough to experiment. But please keep in mind that Chum is *not* high quality, fatty salmon. If you adjust your expectations accordingly you'll probably enjoy the fish more. Does that make sense?

And the Colonel's chicken skin.

Snow White and the poisoned apple. Little Jack Horner and his Christmas pie. Hot Stuff and pitchfork roasted apples.

All of my favorite foods are best eaten with my hands. Blackberries, crab n- butter, artichokes, red meat, chunks of blue cheese w/ walnut bread, drippy tacos, oysters. I will nearly *always* eat with my hands given the chance. I like the different textures and temperatures, stickiness earns bonus points. And since I do multiple grungy projects around the house, prepare all of our meals and avoid most societal functions I no longer wear rings or bracelets and keep my nails super short, making my digit-al chow-fests fairly sanitary.

If you have a blender peach daiquiris are refreshing.

Mount Angel Oktoberfest. Brats and sauerkraut. Boiled corn on the cob. Sno-cones. Huge pickles. Strawberry shortcake. Cinnamon-sugar dusted elephant ears. Beer. All eaten with a constant stream of yodeling in my ears. Love it dearly.

Marlene, I often make pasta salad a day ahead to allow the flavors to develop. I do not blanch the broccoli because 1) the florets aren't big and they soften up a bit overnight in the 'fridge and 2) I found that I didn't care for the cooked broccoli aroma that overpowered the salad.

Here's a few of the beers we had yesterday. I really, really like all of Bridgeport's stuff but their Supris is especially good- smooth as hell. I'd never had the Shiner bock. Reminded me a bit of wine- I think it would pair well with food. The porter wasn't as sweet as some which I liked. And Guinness was Guinness. Sorry, I'm not too savvy with beer descriptives.

Sounds like the Acropolis ← I think it does too- it's on McLoughlin Blvd.

True 'nuff. Please, no.more!