patti

Looking forward to your blog, Diana!

Um, this is embarrassing, but could you subtract these six from the total? I had a $100 gift card to B&N and went nuts and spent a little under $200 on the listed cookbooks. Got home and had buyer's remorse, especially when I checked Amazon and realized I could have bought the same books for $120 (with super saving free shipping). I returned them all to B&N and although the books are now in my Amazon shopping cart, I'm resisting pulling the trigger for now. I'll save my gift card for when Chef John Folse's Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine comes in.

I prefer their Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit. Oh. Oh. Oh. Chick-Fil-A's Chicken Biscuit. So good you have to have two. (Now let me hang my head in greedy shame.)

I haven't fed this particular nasty little habit in years, but Luther's Barbecue Beef sandwich with coleslaw on top PLUS and MOST IMPORTANT, the onion ring loaf. Lots of battered (not breaded) skinny, crispy, greasy, tasty, onion rings. With ketchup. Oh, when I was pregnant for #2 son, this was my dream meal.

Popeye's fried chicken liver dinner. Mmm.

Yesterday - Tom Kha Gai Today - Larb

Sushi from Target. It's certainly not my first choice for sushi, but sometimes the craving is there and so am I.

I used my Barnes & Nobles Christmas gift card today and am thrilled with my six new books: Jeffery Alford & Naomi Duguid: Hot Sour Salty Sweet Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook Alton Brown: I'm Just Here for the Food John Folse: The Evolution of Cajun and Creole Cuisine Madhur Jaffrey: Indian Cooking Alice Waters: Chez Panisse Vegetables

I'm in Lafayette, which isn't as south as you can get in Louisiana, but it's south of I-10! (Anything above that is practically the far North) I love your logic. I aim to please, ma'am. I can't wait to hear what you finally decide to do and how it all comes out. Keep us posted!

Potato salad. In my locale, potato salad is served as an accompaniment to gumbo and etouffee. Yes, it seems unneccessary, but that's the tradition!

I'm not very experienced in cooking Thai food, nor am I experienced in eating much of it. I've had shrimp pad thai a few times, lemongrass soup with coconut, and spring rolls. But a few months ago I became determined to learn more about curry dishes, having only tasted it a few times and being overwhelmed by the strong taste (in hindsight, I really think I tasted poor examples). A thread here at eGullet got me interested in giving it a try. I started out VERY timidly by getting some of Penzey's sweet curry powder (they describe it as a good starter curry) and using it to season chicken pieces before roasting in the oven. I was surprised by how much I liked it. It wasn't overpowering, just nice and tasty. A friend recommended Maesri curry paste and now I've tried their yellow, red, and green. Red is by far my favorite. I followed her general instructions for making a simple, easy curry, using one can of curry paste, one can of coconut milk, assorted veggies (diced red, yellow, and green peppers, and sliced mushrooms) and my meat of choice. I've used chicken most often, but my very favorite was with leftover pork tenderloin; leftover roast beef wasn't as good. I've become so enamored of this dish (and the heat) that I can't seem to move on to the next step of trying something more complicated or varied. (However, it's still a nice move away from starting every single dish I cook with the trinity and Tony Chachere's.) I've never seen curry paste in tubs, but will look for it after I use up the six or so cans currently in my pantry. I also look forward to more information on this thread. Here's a nice little eGullet article about Thai Curry, written by mamster: Thai Curry

I don't really know the proper protocol, but there is a Food Media and News forum. I think you'd have to be cautioned against posting something that might be considered spam, but I'm not the person to ask about this. Maybe you could ask one of the forum hosts or site managers.

Edited to remove stupid question.

I really enjoyed your blog, thanks so much. You've made me consider following the Weight Watchers diet. The meals and the pictures were excellent.

Ooh, thanks, Nullo, can't wait to give this a try.

I bought a 7 qt. round oven at eBay for $105 plus $20 shipping. It's my first piece and I love it! Reading this thread is a bad bad bad bad influence on me because I'm already itching for more. To further tempt me, the eBay seller just sent me an email offering some sale prices for returning customers. There's an 8.75 quart for $125 and a 6.5 for $107. Perhaps I need to look for an oval oven (but I have two oval Magnalite roasters, so I really shouldn't). <mantra> Fight the temptation! Fight the temptation! Fight the temptation!

I like Stonyfield Farms, plain, full fat. I've never seen Total and am pretty sure it's not locally available. Actually, I've never heard of several of the brands y'all love. I'm deprived!

I've never been one for sponges, although the suggestion of putting them in the dishwasher is a good one, and if I used them, I'd do that. We use plastic scrubbers and dish rags/cloths. I hadn't thought of throwing the scrubbers in the dishwasher, but will give that a try. Sometimes I spray the scrubber with Clorox cleaner and then rinse it in very hot water. It looks clean, so I'm fooled enough by that.On the question of whether or not the washing machine gets hot enough to sterilize, what about the dryer? Does it get hot enough to kill any remaining bacteria? I'm with those of you who object to the everyday use of antibacterial soap. I used it when my handicapped son was alive because I was handling dirty diapers on a daily basis (for 16 years), but now that I'm not, I don't. The problem is that antibacterial soap outnumbers regular liquid soap, and it's hard to find!

I keep all the usual suspects previously mentioned by others, and andiesenji's mention of coconut milk reminded me that I also like to have cans of red curry paste on hand. This is a relatively new addition to our pantry. Others have mentioned canned mushrooms and I'll add canned straw mushrooms to the list.

Thanks for the travelogues; I look forward to the next installment with great anticipation!

Strangely enough, water chestnuts played a role in one of my worst dishes. I was in college and not an accomplished cook at all. I borrowed a cookbook from one of my roommates and found a recipe called Cantonese Casserole. I have no idea what attracted me to it, or what makes it Cantonese. It called for frozen green beens, cubed ham, water chestnuts, and God knows what else. I seemed to miss the part where it said, "water chestnuts, thinly sliced." I added them whole. Ack. Not a tasty dish. However, I'm pretty sure I've made worse, just can't think of one right now.

Edit: I resolve to be quiet.

I appreciate y'all taking the time to share your fascinating trip. You seem to be having a wide variety of eating experiences. For some reason, I'm really taken by that picture of the asparagus and sesame seeds. Looks wonderful. Thanks, great blog!

I'm delaying any dietary changes until Monday, Jan. 3rd. Yeah, that's the ticket. Monday.

I'm having a hard time figuring out which charity is the right choice. I don't know which will have the most impact. I've found plenty of links to the available lists, I'm just feeling indecisive. I'm also overwhelmed by how bad it is and will continue to be. While I want to watch news reports to stay up to date on what's happening, I find myself having to turn away from the television screen for some of it. I don't have a personal connection, except the human one, and the maternal one, when I hear or see people mentioning that they've lost one, some, or all of their children, or a child who can't find their parents.