andiesenji

I simply season with salt and pepper and brown the pork chops on both sides in a little fat. Then I add about a cup of apple cider to the pan, reduce the heat and cover tightly and braise for about 20 minutes, remove the cover and let the liquid reduce then add a cup of chopped apples (or a cup of chunky applesauce) for each pork chop and cook till the apples are tender. If using the applesauce I just make sure it is warmed through. To me there is nothing tastier than pan fried or braised pork chops and applesauce or cooked apples. Along with a green vegetable and rice, this is a fine dinner. If you want to go the whole route, add some baked sweet potatoes or yams.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This can happen to anybody, with any kind of freezer. I have a huge upright freezer and sometimes have to move things out when I am redistributing things, putting new stuff toward the back, bringing the older stuff to the front. I have a big U-shaped red plastic thing that I found in Staples or Office Depot which is supposed to hold folders or whatever. It lives on top of the freezer and when I open the door and take anything out that has to be replaced, I hang that red thing over the top of the door. Now the door won't close until I remove it and it reminds me to turn around and take whatever is now setting on the storage shelf behind me and put it back in the freezer. You can get something similar and hang it over the side of the freezer. If you can't close the top you will remember that something needs to go back inside. Andie

Sloppy Joes. Homemade, I make the stuff with beef, turkey and pork sausage, make it fairly spicy. It is true. People do ask me how can I eat that "crap". The fact is that a very small amount satisfies me, certainly well within my caloric limits. There are times when I feel the need to indulge my cravings or start climbing the walls. I have been very good lately, my weight loss is better than my doc suggested at this point so I feel it is okay that I have something that is not "approved" and that indulgence will carry me through until my next episode of insatiable longing for the forbidden.

PECAN PIE With No Corn Syrup This method simply thickens the egg mixture with the sugar to make a custard, loaded with pecans. If you toast the pecans first, they will have more flavor…and the result is not quite so aggressively sweet as the one’s made with corn syrup. I also add just a pinch of white pepper to the filling for a piquant top-note! SERVES ABOUT 8 (ONE PIE, 8”, 9” OR 10”) 1 baked pie crust - either 8, 9 or 10 inches in diameter 2 cups, shelled pecans – toasted (see below) 5 eggs 1 cup, white sugar 1/2 cup, brown sugar pinch of salt (about 1/8 tespoon) 6 tablespoons, (3/4stick), butter – melted 1 tablespoon, vanilla extract To toast the pecans: bake them on a cookie sheet for about 5 minutes in the oven as it preheats (or at an oven temperature of about 250 degrees). Shake and stir the nuts frequently, and bake them until they are hot and fragrant. Cool the pecans; finely chop about half of them – and coarsely chop the remainder. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Break the eggs into a small saucepan (off the heat) and beat the eggs well, until they are thick and foamy. Add the sugars, salt and melted butter to the eggs and beat until the mixture is smooth. Place the saucepan over medium-low heat and warm the egg mixture gently, stirring constantly, until it is hot to the touch – but do not allow it to boil, or the eggs will scramble. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract and the chopped pecans. Place the pie crust on a baking sheet. Pour the filling into the crust [Cook’s Note: The crust may be still hot from pre-baking, or warm it in the oven before adding the filling. This will prevent moisture condensation on the bottom of the pan and a soggy crust.] Bake 30-40 minutes or until the filling shakes like Jello, but the surface still appears wet. Cool on a rack (it will complete cooking) and serve warm or at room temperature. A larger in diameter pie will be shallower and the filling will cook more rapidly than a deeper one. Variations: For CHOCOLATE PECAN PIE: Melt 2 ounces of semisweet chocolate with 3 tablespoons superfine sugar. Allow to cool slightly, then blend this mixture into the beaten-egg and sugars mixture as you warm that mixture, before adding the vanilla and pecans. Then continued as directed above. For pumpkin/pecan pie add 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin puree into which you have beaten 3 egg yolks and 1/4 cup brown sugar, to the egg mixture prior to adding the vanilla and the pecans. If it seems too thick and dry, add the 3 egg whites also, however the yolks are usually enough liquid unless the pumpkin puree is very dry. This will make 2 regular pies or bake in a 9 x 13 rectangular pan in which you have blind-baked a crust. This will require the equivalent of a double crust batch of pie dough.

There was a lot of sorghum cane grown on the farm. A fair amount was crushed and the juice cooked into molasses. It does have a distinctive taste, not at all like the syrup from true sugar cane. Most of the sorghum was chopped and mixed with other things for silage, winter feed for the animals. I believe that the only silos in that area were on my grandfather's farm, I don't recall ever seeing any others. My cousins loved to climb the outside of the silo, open one of the vents and stick their heads inside as the fumes (from the fermentation of the stuff) were strong enough to nearly make one drunk. The best pecan pie I ever tasted was made by our cook. I wish I had the recipe but so far have had no luck in getting my aunt to part with it. I know it does not include any Karo syrup, it was made with brown sugar and a lot of eggs or egg yolks. It also included ground or chopped pecans because I can remember one of the young women who worked in the kitchen sitting with a large wood bowl and a hand chopper working it back and forth in a bowl full of pecans. I sometimes got to help with cracking the pecans. They would sit me down on a low stool with a towel across my lap and a small sad iron upside down in my lap with the handle between my knees, and a little ballpeen hammer. I was supposed to stand the pecan on end and give it a tap or two till the nut cracked, drop it into a pan and go on to the next one. Someone else would remove the shell and so on. If one "happened" to fall apart I could eat the nut. Funny how many fell apart........... Next I will post my recipe for pecan pie that has been touted as "fair" by various tasters.

Whenever I go to visit my Dad in Deming when they are harvesting, I love to go watch the machines that grab the trees and shake them. Of course these are small trees. The pecan grove on the farm where I was born and grew up, were very large old trees, home to countless squirrels which were hunted by me and my cousins. The upper branches could be shaken to make the nuts fall, but the trunks on these trees were big and solid. Several were harvested for the timber after being struck by lightning and I can remember my grandpa showing me the growth rings that showed one of the trees was more than 100 years old. They were fairly large pecans, and very sweet.

--------------------------------------------------------- Well you won't have a problem with the Bron, there is a lever that you move one way or the other to get to whatever thickness you want, it is infinitely adjustable. I have been using mine for many, many years. I have had the blades replaced once, about 8 or 9 years ago. When I am doing a big batch of something like cucumber slices for pickles, 20 pounds or so, I just set the Bron in one of the bus tubs (a rectangular tub available at Smart & Final or other restaurant supply places) and start in. I work sitting down, as this is usually a prolonged job, with the tub on a stool which I also use for holding very deep pots and etc., and onto the top of which I have tacked some of the non-slip shelf/drawer liner to hold it in place. I have tried all of the knock-off slicers of every type and have never found one that works as well as the Bron. I paid 69.00 for the one I have, it still has the price on the end of the original box.

--------------------------------------------------------- Many of my ancestors were enthusiastic about foods, collected "receipts" and grew odd things. This one came from one of my paternal ancestors, Patience, wife of Antony Nesbitt, Capt., which is how she named herself in her journals. Apparently she sometimes sailed with him on his ship during trading trips. My grandmother had two or three of her journals and copied recipes (and interesting stories) from them long before I was born. One of my aunts passed the recipe on to me and also sent me a photocopy of the pages in the journal where it was written. Very difficult to read - every "s" is written like an "f" and there are breaks in words that do not belong because of writing with a quill pen. These do not need to be refrigerated. When I say cool, I mean not near a heat source. Don't put them on top of the refrigerator which produces heat. It is usually cooler near the floor so if you have a kettle or stockpot that is big enough to hold the cake, wrap them well put them into the kettle and cover it and place it in a low cupboard or on the floor in a closet. (That is as long as you don't have radiant heating in your floor.) Now here is my suggestion for making cakes like these that include a lot of ingredients. Do not try to do it all at once, it seems like a really big job. Instead start out with measuring out the fruit, set it to soak. On another day measure out the dry ingredients, place in ziploc bags and place in a large bowl or one of the jumbo ziploc bags along with a copy of the recipe. Chop the nuts and store them in a ziploc bag. Then when you are ready to assemble the recipe all you have to do is get out the perishable ingredients and mix then bake. I do this with the many cookie recipes I do each year. I have a bunch of bus trays and totes. Each one is for a particular recipe. I line them up and measure out all the dry ingredients, and store in ziploc bags, along with any special utensils needed for a particular recipe, put the tray or tote in a large plastic bag and stack them in the pantry. This way I do not get into the middle of a recipe and find I am missing an ingredient and it just generally makes things go so much faster.

This is my cocoa fruit cake. I have recreated this from a recipe written in difficult-to-read, spidery handwriting in the journal of an ancestor with the entry dated 1690. It is important to use Dutch process cocoa. I use King Arthur Flour's Double Dutch Cocoa and Black Cocoa Half and Half. When glazed with the glaze at the end of the recipe, this cake will keep for several days at room temp and will stay incredibly moist with just a loose cover. I have in the past made this cake ahead of time and wrapped it well in Aluminum foil and kept it in a cool place for 6 or more weeks. However I now live alone. When my family was still all together, I could not keep it more than a couple of days......to give you an idea of the way things used to be, the original "receipt" called for 6 pounds of twice-boulted flour and 3 full pound loaves of sugar well beaten..... 2 pounds of butter and 3 dozen eggs. I have cut it down to a manageable size. FRUITED COCA CAKE original recipe ca. 1690 1 cup BUTTER unsalted 1-1/2 tsp SALT kosher 1 tsp CINNAMON ground 1 tsp CLOVES, ground 1 tsp NUTMEG, ground 1 tsp ALLSPICE, ground 6 Tbsp COCOA, Dutch process 3 cups superfine SUGAR 4 large EGGS 3 Tsp BAKING SODA 4 cups, sifted FLOUR 1-1/2 cup CURRANTS 1-1/2 DRIED CHERRIES 1-1/2 cups WALNUTS, chopped or pecans or macadamia nuts, etc. 3 cups APPLESAUCE, unsweetened chunky style if you can find it. Preheat oven to 350 F Grease and flour a deep 11" x 15" pan or 2 10-inch square pans or 2 holiday mold pans. In a large mixing bowl cream together butter, salt, spices, cocoa and sugar. beat until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after adding each one. Mix baking soda with flour. reserve 2 heaping tablespoons of the flour. Instead of sifting the flour you can simply put it in a large bowl and run a wire whisk through it which does the same as sifting, i.e. fluffing it up a bit. Add flour to batter alternately with applesauce. Sprinkle the fruit and nuts with the reserved flour and fold into cake batter. Pour batter into pan and bake for about 1 hour or until cake tests done. (deeper pans will require longer baking. ORANGE GLAZE GRATED PEEL OF 2 ORANGES 1/3 CUP SUGAR 1/4 CUP WATER 1 CUP ORANGE JUICE 3 TABLESPOONS GRAND MARNIER LIQUOR OR BRANDY Combine ingredients in saucepan, bring to simmer, stirring constantly, continue cooking until liquid is reduced by 1/2. Drizzle over cake ( I use a turkey baster and a perforated spoon as the glaze is too hot to dip my fingers into which is usually the way I drizzle icing . After the glaze has set, decorate edges of the cake and the plate edges with powdered sugar sifted thru a fine strainer.

I make a white fruitcake but it is too late for this year as it has to "age" or mature for at least 6 months to reach the proper flavor and texture. White Fruit Cake This one is a lot of work but the results are extraordinary. Preparation a minimum of 2 weeks prior to baking. 1-1/2 pounds finely cut candied citron or use candied citrus peel 1-1/2 pounds sultana (golden) raisins 1-1/2 pounds finely cut candied pineapple Place in large glass jar and add: 2 cups sweet white wine - Carmel Cream White or similar. 2 cups white rum Allow to macerate in a cool place for a minimum of 2 weeks, longer will be o.k. When ready to make the batter, weigh and measure out: 1-1/2 pounds blanched almonds, ground till resembling fine bread crumbs. 1 small coconut - meat freshly grated, medium shred. Or soak 1 cup of shredded coconut in coconut milk and drain prior to adding to recipe. Use the coconut milk for something else. 1 pound unsalted butter 1 pound sugar 6 extra large eggs 1 pound flour 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons nutmeg 1-1/2 teaspoons almond extract 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1/2 pint of liquor in which fruit has been macerated, see next directions. The night before you are ready to bake, drain the fruit in a colander placed over a deep vessel, allow to drain overnight then spread fruit on paper towels and pat dry. Set aside in a very large bowl and toss fruit with HALF the flour. Directions for batter: Cream butter and sugar till fluffy Add eggs one at a time beating till each is completely incorporated. Mix remaining flour with ground almonds, grated coconut and nutmeg. Beat into the butter/sugar/egg mixture. Add almond and vanilla extracts. Add liquor drained from fruit. Pour mixture from mixer bowl over the fruit and flour mixture in very large bowl and mix until fruit is well distributed in batter. If too thick or dry, add additional liquor - 1/4 cup at a time. Batter should be thick enough to cling to a spoon and drop off in large globs. (technical term - glob - clump at least the size of a small egg) Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a large round cake pan (10 inch - at least 2 inches deep) with greased brown paper (or baking parchment) Or use 2 large loaf pans, line them also. Spoon batter into pans, pushing into corners and up against sides so batter is slightly lower in the center. (This is to make sure the top is flat.) Set pan or pans in a larger pan, pour in hot water to within 3/4 inch to top of cake pans. Cover everything with 2 layers of aluminum foil and crimp tightly around water pan (this is to work like a steamer - If you have a very large covered roasting pan that will hold the pans you can use that.) Place in preheated oven and steam for 3-1/2 hours. Remove from oven - remove cake pan/pans from steamer - return to oven and bake for 1/2 hour at 325 F. Remove from oven - punch holes in top of cake with skewer and spoon 1/3 cup almond liquor - Amaretto etc. over cake. Allow to cool completely, remove from pan, wrap tightly in foil and then with plastic wrap. Place in cool place and allow to mellow for 4 to 6 months. Repeat the application of liquor every two to three weeks.

You can make Jamaican black cake and have nearly the same end result. This is a very good recipe for it Jamaican black cake

I always have it on hand. I add it to stews and some soups. Many years ago a group of my husband's friends mixed it with stout to make what they called a "Larry Findlay" cocktail, in honor of a friend who had passed away in an auto racing accident.

There are several interesting things about free range chickens. First, the meat has more color, they are more active and develop increased circulation and capillary formation and even when fully cooked the meat will retain a rosy quality that may make one think it is underdone. This is the way farm raised chickens always looked but if you have never seen one it doesn't look quite right. There is also more flavor in the meat because of a more diversified diet which includes greens and other foods not fed to battery-raised chickens. The meat mass on the wings, thighs and legs is larger because of greater muscle mass developed from being allowed to roam free. Conversely the breast mass is slightly smaller. The heart and gizzard are also larger but the liver is slightly smaller. However, not all "free-range" chickens are actually free range. You have to know the supplier. True free-range chickens are not confined during the day but are allowed to roam free in an area planted with greens for them to feed on along with whole grains and commercial feeds specifically developed for birds for meat production or for egg-laying production. They are confined at night where they are safe from predators. Some so called free-range chickens are confined most of the time and allowed to "range" in a small area where only commercial feed is available. Tricky semantics. The breeds differ also. Some breeds thrive better as free ranging and some just have better flavor. I buy from a local farmer his "old" hens that have been egg producers for stewing hens. These are very large birds, Wyandotte and Buff Orpingtons, and, as is desirable in a stewing hen, have a much larger amount of fat than any battery raised bird. They are also good for slow roasting. The meat may be a little tougher than in a grocery store chicken but the flavor is far superior. The birds that are bred for rapid growth and meat production do not have the best flavor. If you can find a local supplier of real free range chickens call them and ask what breed they raise and where you can find their product for sale.

------------------------------------------------- More and more animal "assistants" are being added to the list of helpers. A very dear friend who has Parkinson's and has the typical hesitation gait, where his left foot seems to become stuck to the ground while he is walking and he simply cannot proceed. He now has an assist dog that puts his paw on Dean's foot when it gets "stuck" and that pressure interrupts the effect and he can resume walking. He also alerts if Dean has an episode of "freezing" while eating or just sitting and puts his paws on Dean's chest and pushes against him and again, this enables him to resume his activities. One of our patient's, who is an epileptic, now has her second "warning" dog who senses when she is going to have a seizure so she can get into a safe position with her mouthpiece in place. She got her first one when she was twelve and she is now 21 and her old dog is living with her mom. I recently saw a segment on one of the cable shows that showed a monkey helping a wheelchair-bound girl as she attended school, did her homework and fixed a snack in the kitchen. Just amazing.

The funny thing is all this does is make me want to eat foie gras more! ←

I don't blind bake the top crust, only the bottom. The bottom crust, pre-baked, is insulated by the fruit in the pie itself. The top crust bakes very rapidly so that when the filling is done, so is the top crust. If you bake it long enough to cook a non-pre-baked bottom, the top will be charred. When I bake an egg custard pie, it does not have a top crust. However I do want a fancy edge around the circumference. I cut little rounds, leaves or rosettes from dough, pull the pie (which is on a sheet pan) from the oven when it is about half done and the edges have thickened enough to support the dough, then add the "trim" overlapping the pieces around the entire outside edge, but not actually resting on the rim of the pie pan or plate. Again, this takes a little practice but it looks nice and gives a "finished" look to the pie. You can brush it with egg wash or a little simple syrup then sprinkle it with non-melting sugar to make it sparkle. The remaining baking time should be just enought to finish setting the custard and browing the added dough trim without causing it to scorch. You can practice by making a batch of dough, rolling it to different thicknesses and baking it on a sheet pan to see just how long it takes to bake to just showing color, to light brown, with and without an egg wash or whatever. If you have the times recorded on a little card it can help the next time you want to make a pie with a terrific presentation appearance. And you can always eat the practic pieces as a snack.

I try recipes often and if it is a specialty or ethnic dish I do follow the recipe at least the first time around. I have hundreds of cookbooks and often go on a search for something "different" or old, or famous or otherwise not the usual application and I do follow the recipe exactly as written. Otherwise I seldom use recipes. I have an idea of the result I want to achieve and I have been cooking for so many years that I know to reach that point I can do any number of things to get that particular flavor and will do one or the other. I like the adventure of adding a bit of this and a bit of that and tasting as I go. Baking is an entirely different matter. Baking is chemistry. One must follow a formula that has been developed over a period of thousands of years. There has to be the perfect balance of ingredients to get the expected results. I follow recipes to the letter. There are rules for alterations and substitutions and one must adhere to these or suffer a disappointing result. Learn the basics and commit them to memory and you can recognize an error in a recipe before you use it and have a poor result. Not every recipe is 100% correct. There are typos and drop outs but once you know the basics you can spot these prior to wasting your time.

I haven't read through all the posts so someone else may have mentioned this. A chewy cookie depends on moisture being retained in the dry ingredients and sugar definitely retains moisture in the product. However if you are cutting back on sugar you can use some other "tricks" to help retain moisture and tenderness but still have a chewy texture in quick breads, scones, cookies and similar baked goods. In your recipe, substitute 1 cup of oat flour for one of the cups of regular flour. If you can't find oat flour, it is easy to make your own by simply putting some rolled oats in a blender and pulsing the blender until the oatmeal is fairly well ground to a coarse to fine meal. You can try it in a food processor but I have found that does not work as well as a blender but you have to do a little bit at a time because it does not circulate the way a liquid does. (Unless you have a Vita-Mix blender which is designed for dry grinding wheat, oats, etc.) You know from experience that oats take up a lot of moisture and expand when moistened. The cells also hold onto this moisture for a long time, releasing it slowly into the surrounding material, which is why oatmeal bread stays fresh and moist much longer than pure wheat bread. Scones made with oat flour will stay fresh for two or three days(sometimes longer) while a regular scone is stale and hard in one day(or less). I have been doing a lot of baking with Splenda and now the makers have come out with a Splenda/sugar mixture especially for baking. You might give it a try also, but do experiment with the oatmeal or oat flour. I think you will be pleased with the outcome.

I have a fairly extensive garden so many meals can come from that but for wild foraging in the area it would take some work as this is a true desert except in the areas where water is available. When the Yucca blooms the blooms themselves are edible and are okay but I wouldn't want to have to depend on them a great deal. This is not the plant that has edible roots. The roots of this yucca can be harvested and used like soap. The mesquite beans are fairly well developed and they are good to eat. In another month or so the piñon pines up in the hills will be dropping their cones and the people who gather them will be out with their rakes and snake sticks. (The Mojave green, a rattlesnake with venom more powerful than the other varieties of rattler, just love to snuggle down under the piñon trees where the branches lay on the ground.) I used to do this when I was still able to get around and it was a lot of fun, trekking around with a big group of people. If you want to try eating rattlesnake you have to treat it just as you would calamari. Either cook it quick or for a long, long time, otherwise it is like rubber. The wild sage is very flavorful and just brushing against a bush will release the scent. You have to clean it carefully before you take it home, take only the leaves, no stems, because it is susceptible to scale insect infestation and you don't want to introduce these critters to your garden. You can't even tell an insect is there, it just looks like a flattish bump (scale) on the stem. There are many more. Years ago I went on a nature hike in the San Gabriel canyon, led by an Indian who collected enough for a decent lunch for the ten of us in an area that looked like there was nothing edible. You have to know for sure though, there are many similar looking plants that can make one very, very sick. We don't have it out here, but where I grew up in western Kentucky all of us kids were warned about picking a plant my grandma called "false parsley". It looked like curly parsley but could be deadly. Now I know that it was "lesser hemlock". I know a fair amount about edible wild plants but unless I am absolutely sure of one, I will not eat it. Sometimes even the experts can be fooled. Same with wild mushrooms.

I blind-bake pie shells on the OUTSIDE of an inverted Pyrex pie plate, cutting the dough off at the point where the side meets the lip of the top. When the shell is placed into the pie plate in which the pie will be baked, there is a free space between the top of the shell and the lip of the pie plate and when I add the top, I fold the edges under and tuck into this space then flute the edge of the now doubled dough. I don't worry about sealing the edges because I line the pie plate in which the pie will be baked with parchment paper. I buy the pre-cut rounds and just cut into the edge all the way around so when it is pushed down into the place, the cuts will overlap. If juices leak out it doesn't mar the look of the pie and the paper keeps it from sticking to the plate. (I usually cut several at a time, I put a saucer over the center of the paper rounds and using a mat knife, make the cuts from the edge of the sauce out to the edge) I learned the trick of blind-baking pie shells on the outside of a pie pan about 40 years ago. I dock the dough with a rolling docker before I place it over the pie pan but you can also prick it with a fork after you have placed it on the pan. This technique means you do not need to use pie weights or liners to keep the sides from slumping. It takes a little practice to get it right but you can try it with smaller things. I blind-bake little shells over the outside bottoms of either the regular or the jumbo muffin pans. Much easier than dealing with a bunch of little individual pans.

I would also add a note of caution. The endocrinologist who is managing my type II diabetes has cautioned me about using fructose and glucose and has given me a list of fruits to use only in limited amounts. Sucrose and sucrolose, are allowed in small amounts, otherwise I must use Splenda. Aspartame causes cardiac arrythmia in me and nearly caused me to have a pacemaker implanted about 14 years ago until the problem was identified.

I have never been satisfied with any of the "Thai" specific salad dressings. What I use is a recipe for the Indonesian salad dressing for Gado gado vegetable salad, my all time favorite. This recipe was given to me by the owner of J.B's Little Bali, a little Indonesian restaurant once located in Inglewood, California. The restaurant is long gone, but the memory lingers on. Peanut Sauce or Dressing for Gado Gado vegetable salad 2 tablespoons light oil, canola, etc. 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter, fresh home made is better and doesn't take long to make. 3/4 cup coconut milk (thicker or thinner depending on your own preference) 1 teaspoon chili paste (I usually use sweet chile sauce, 3 tablespoons instead) 1 1/2 tablespoons palm sugar (substitute light brown sugar) 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ginger, finely minced 1 large clove garlic, finely minced 1/3 cup onion, fine dice 1 tablespoon fish sauce (or substitute light soy sauce if desired) Heat oil in a large skillet (use a wok if you wish), add ginger, garlic and onion and cook till garlic is just beginning to show color. Add the rest of the ingredients. Reduce heat to low and stir constantly for about two or three minutes until sauce is well blended. If it is too thick, add a little more coconut milk and stir to blend. Pour over the warm vegetables and toss well. Serve immediately. The sauce can be made ahead and kept warm over a tealight. Or if serving large parties keep warm in a small crockpot.

Well, I have eaten a fair number of odd things but to me the strangest was the dish of baby eels served to me at a potluck party. They are cooked quickly just prior to serving and tasted okay but I had to close my eyes. It was all the little eyes in the dish. Fortunately there were no a lot so my portion was only about 1/4 cup. Deanna mentioned the "rats" in Nigeria several posts back. Those are reed rats and they can get pretty big. Friends who went to Haute Zaire in 1987 and 1988 to bring back some native Basenji dogs, got to try it and said it was not at all bad. One said it tasted a lot like possum. Basenjis hunt reed rats which weigh as much as they do but basenjis are very quick. One of the interpreters who comes to my office is from Brazil and his family raises capybara for meat. He keeps promising to bring me some on his return after his next trip home. world's largest rodent They are bigger that reed rats by a considerable margin, can weigh up to 100 pounds while a reed rat tops out at about 20 pounds. Importation of the meat requires a permit but is obtainable with some jumping through hoops.

The best dolma I have tasted are the ones served at the Greek food festival here in Lancaster which is going on today at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds and which I plan on attending in a couple of hours. They make them with rice and spices, plus some vegetables, another variety with lamb and yet another with beef. They are all good. I have tried my hand at them and they are okay but not as good as those at the festival. Since I have sorrel growing all over my yard like a weed, in addition to the two large containers in which it grown on purpose, I often use sorrel leaves to wrap rice and meat mixtures, bulgur wheat and meat or vegetable mixtures, couscous and whatever mixtures, etc. The lemony flavor of the sorrel is a very nice compliment to the flavors of the filling and the spices.