petite tête de chou

I will eat whatever I damn want because I shall be living an admirably active lifestyle. I will make love on my kitchen counter next to the pears and cutlery. I find seafood on my plate every other day. I will learn to accept that I can only drink so much water before drowning. I will teach my husband to appreciate the nuances of French cooking. I will read more about ancient peoples food. This year I will try to grow the best tomatoes, herbs, chilis and lettuce on the planet. I will taste the sweet elixir of success on my endeavor above. I will use my perfectly capable mind to hone my knife skills on food rather than myself. I will take more than I give. Hey, its the way of The Dark Side. I am sure that I can prepare food that will bring tears of joy and gratitude to my husbands eyes. We will visit Sauvies Island markets so often that they will know us by name. My kids...whoops! am i pregnant?!

Just a thought. I would be very cautious about gathering snails where pesticides are used.

Chilled squid rings should qualify as interesting... Clean squid as usual, keeping body intact. Rinse, drain and reserve tentacles. Wilt large lettuce leaves in boiling water. Wrap tentacles tightly (the long way) in lettuce leaves. Wrap lettuce rolls in sheets of nori, wetting the edges to seal them. Stuff (slide) the tentacle roll into the squid bodies and fasten body closed with toothpicks or a skewer. In a large saucepan, combine soy sauce, water, sugar and aromatics (if you desire them- star anise, ginger, peppercorns, green onion, etc). Heat until sugar is dissolved. Add squid rolls. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until squid is tender (approx. 20-30 minutes). Cool. Refrigerate. To serve, drain well and cut into slices.

After a hard day of hanging Christmas lights outside I had pork chili, a green salad (romaine, seeded/peeled cucumbers, snow peas, shredded carrots and unsalted sunflower seeds) with blue cheese dressing and jalapeno/cheddar corn muffins. Hm. This the very first time that my fingertips actually burn after dicing the jalapenos. Maybe my skin is getting thinner with age?

I wonder how the menu differs from an American McDonalds. I also wonder what will prove to be the most popular menu item.

I learned the hard way to never operate a range or use knives when honestly and seriously drunk. Soooo... Throw open the refrig and hang onto the door. Wait until the cold revives me. Open one eye, don't want to overload the senses with all that light and food. Hmm. Cold mashed potatoes. An open can of peas. One large, plastic (thank-god, no glass to break) bottle of ketchup. Hmm. I think you can figure this one out. Sit on the floor with the pot of cold taters, dump the can of peas in, squirt the ketchup over all and eat. A spoon is optional, truly. Fall asleep bathed in the warm glow of the open refrig. Please realize, these food choices were made by my dearly departed brain-cells of youthful singledom. I'm much more sophisticated now. I own a microwave.

First off, do away with the basket. I have a million of 'em. Put everything in an All-Clad roasting pan. A collection of paprikas- smoked, sweet, hot, bittersweet, etc. A huge variety of dried chilis. At least six different kinds, please. A large jar of Pim's Nam-prik Pao Packets of herb seeds- such as Shiso, Thai basils, Rau Ram, etc. Beautiful, enameled chopsticks (maybe with my initials in gold? ) A make-my-own-mustard kit A sourdough starter that has been alive for at least 50 years Top-of-the-line rice from Japan (no broken kernels, please) Cookbooks from England published during WWII- surely they exist, right? Hmm..I'm sure I can come up with lots more ideas but I should make dinner.

There's some wonderful ideas here.

Pork pot pie with lots of rich gravy, root vegetables, a chopped apple, sage and a couple pinches of allspice and dry mustard. Or perhaps you could try your hand at a pork martini?

Hi Megan, I love that long table splashed with colorful, sugary fun! Your house looks like it stepped off the board game of Candyland. A nostalgic favorite of mine.

Absolutely! Wonderful, delicious potato madeleines. The variations of potatoes, herbs, cheeses and crumbs are seemingly endless and adaptable to what you have on hand.

A bag of dry cat food. Cans of canned cat food. Dust, I assume. I'm a smaller lady and can't see the top of this black monster of a 'fridge. A beautiful golden pothos plant that has finally reached the kitchen floor.

How long do you intend to store your 'taters and oynuns? My mother has a very rustic looking bin that has that exact wording, pretty cute. I store both in the same kitchen drawer and have had no problems. But I only cook for two and use up my supply pretty quickly. Apples and other fruit are stored separately. An onion scented apple is not a good thing when all I want is an apple.

A tin of teriyaki oysters and a cup of green tea. Mmm.

Widmer Hefeweizen. Eh. Much better on tap. Wheat beer has such a creamy, wonderful head that is lost when drank (drunk?!) from a bottle. Mmm, wheaty!

Hi April, Great photo! What else is on that plate of tasty-looking goodness?

Yup. Looks like mizuna to me, too.

Feh. Drink-enough-of-'em-and-you-won't-care-about-the-calories. My holiday drinking motto.

Booze. But since that's a liquid I choose crispy, wonderful turkey skin as my solid food. I could strip a whole bird and leave the meat, no problemo.

I wonder if it's Field Garlic (allium vineale) that you're thinking of. I hear it's incredibly strong stuff that grazing cows are quite fond of. Garlic flavored milk with your cereal, perhaps?

I need only to glance at my garden to see many forgotten vegetables- if you could call them that. Daylilies. All parts are edible at their various stages of growth though the leaves don't do much for me in terms of flavor. Fry the buds or newly opened flowers like you would a squash blossom. Add them to salads or dry them for future use. The tubers can be harvested year round and steamed, served with butter. Cattails. The pollen adds a fantastic yellow color to baked goods. The dormant/young shoots can be steamed as you would asparagus or added to salads. And since the central core of the rootstock is quite starchy, treat it as you would a potato. And my lovely dahlias (well, they *were* before the temps dropped). The petals can be used like most edible flowers and the tubers can be steamed, boiled, mashed etc. I've heard of that one can make a syrup from them but haven't tried it. Hm. Dahlia syrup over ice-cream? Maybe use the syrup in an Italian soda? The "weeds" alone can be quite tasty. Um. Not that I have them. Such as poke, milkweed, pigweed, dandelions, japanese knotweed, chicory and purslane. A day of weeding in my garden can produce wonderful salads, stir-fries, teas, broths etc. Yet some of these "forgotten" vegetables require two baths (or more) in boiling water to remove their bitterness and careful, often tedious trimming and scraping. Perhaps this "work" was/is a turn-off to many, thereby allowing them to handily "forget" that they were ever edible to begin with.

A very funny link that has many pictures of dishes from the eras that are being discussed. It takes all kinds of food to make the world go 'round!

True, true, true. Please, take my raspberry/white wine mustard off my hands!

Yet I..but it...-sigh-...it seems...thank you for sharing your thoughts and life Lucy. Your words make me appreciate my literacy in a whole new way. I'm changed forever, I think.

whoops...no scones, eh?