JSD

My version of pork and beans is dried black beans and and a pork shoulder, along with an onion, garlic, and water in my pressure cooker. After about 45 minutes, I add epazote and salt, and then serve with hot pico de gallo (sp?). It's pretty good, easy and fast.

I'm sort of new to this gardening thing, but I know this much: MAGGIE, DON'T EAT THOSE, THEY MIGHT CAUSE HALUCCINATIONS! This guy probably wished he had just had hallucinations, instead of a new liver. I guess he thought he could tell mushrooms apart. click here

Well, now, this is very interesting - nutmeg is NOT listed as an ingredient, but right before baking, it says to sprinkle cookies with nutmeg. My copy is the 6th printing. I usually make these at Christmas time, and make half with green sugar, and half with red sugar. The other cookie recipe I love is the Molasses Crinkles. We always used this recipe, but this year my son wanted to use the Molasses cookie recipe with black pepper in them, and I finally found it in Cooks Illustrated. He loves asking people if they can figure out the secret ingredient (they can't).

My recipe is from Betty Crocker's Cookbook for Boys and Girls which I've had since the Kennedy administration. You roll the dough into little balls between your palms, then flatten them with a drinking glass that has been greased and dipped in the colored sugar. After flattening, I usually sprinkle extra sugar on them. They're not really spectacular looking, but they are delicious with the lemon zest and nutmeg.

Our public library has Yankee magazine on microfilm. Jaymes, you might try check out your library unless you specifically want a copy of the magazine.

Where did you get the iron one? Is it cast iron? It seems like it would be too heavy to lift! The Joyce Chen woks available now have flat bottoms.

OK, I just tried turning the grille upside down, and it is sitting directly on the burner. Then I removed the grille, and put the ring directly around the burner (small side down), but it's not quite centered, and the wok sits on the burner instead of the ring. Then I flipped the ring, but it's too wide for the space around the burner, and sits on the ledge on 3 sides, and isn't very stable. If I put the grille back, and put the wok directly on it, it's kind of stable, but I like the stability of the ring better. The problem is that the heat comes out the holes and burns up my potholders. I've been looking for a wok with a long handle, but have had a hard time finding with a round bottom.

I have a round bottomed wok, but I'm unsure how to use the wok ring. I have gas, and the ring can go either direction, with the big side up or down, which puts the wok closer to or further from the flame. I would think that having the wok closer to the flame would be better, but then the heat from the flames want to come out through the holes on the wok ring (not the flames themselves, just the heat). What should I do?

I had babka which had been imported from Jersey City by a distant Polish relative. It was bread-like, not cake-like, and was rich as though it contained cream cheese. In my 3 Polish cookbooks, the recipes for babka vary drastically. Some contain yeast, and others contain baking soda or baking powder.

I make split pea soup about twice a month in the winter. I put the dried peas along with an onion, some garlic, a bay leaf and water and cook until the peas are soft. When I want to make this, I allow several hours, sometimes all afternoon, because I live at a medium high elevation, so everything boils at a lower temperature. Later, I add carrots, celery, and a potato, and kielbasa, and seasonings, including salt and pepper. My son has loved this soup since day one (because of the kielbasa). The peas always get soft, but I have to keep adding hot water so it doesn't dry out or get too thick. I have a simmer plate for my cooktop, and that's good once the peas disintegrate. I never use a pressure cooker for this soup, and I don't use any stock.

Be careful using manure. If it is fresh, not composted, it can be full of weed seeds ready to sprout. In addition, it can be quite salty if it also has urine in it (for instance if you get horse manure from a stable). Manure also doesn't have a lot of nutrients to add. It is good in that it breaks up the soil particles which is good for drainage. If you do get some manure, it would be better to compost it first, rather than adding it directly to your garden. It is important to know what kind of soil you actually have, such as the texture and the pH. Your local cooperative extension can either test your soil, or tell you where to have it tested.

It doesn't matter if YOU don't take your kids to McDonalds. One of their friends undoubtedly will. They want the toys anyway. If you don't want them to want to go to McDonalds, you'd be better off not letting them watch TV.

Jaymes, Very nice ideas, thank you. For the others, I probably should clarify: these are people I like, the meeting is NOT work related, they are not coworkers, and it's just for fun.

If you were going to have a meeting at your house in the evening, after dinner, with a small group of people, and the purpose of the meeting was not about food, what would you serve for refreshments?

Well, it was pretty messy peeling the shrimp at the table, but it was delicious.

The shrimp turned out great. It was fingerlickin good. We put the peppers, pineapple and onions on skewers too, and grilled them. I had reserved some of the marinade and poured some of it on the veggies and the shrimp after grilling. The corn was good. We had Sam Adams Summer Ale with it. It was a delicious meal. I would never have thought of boiling the marinade and then straining it.

Ok, I went to the store and bought cilantro, pasilla peppers (couldn't find poblanos, and MarkStevens' scotch bonnets and habaneros scare me), jalapenos, lots of limes, garlic, and pineapple. Caped Chef, I'm going to try your idea, leaving the shells on, and also have corn on the cob with lime and cayenne butter. SusanneF, good to know about charring.

I just bought some large shrimp and want to grill them on skewers. So far, I have the skewers soaking, but no other fixed plans. What sounds good? I was thinking of something with lime juice. They are not peeled, but don't have their heads. Should I peel them before or after grilling?

Do you mean the Cajun guy? I don't remember his name, but he wore jeans andsuspenders. Oh wait, he was Justin Wilson. I couldn't watch him much. He used so much salt it made me sick.

I really loved those articles in Natural History. What happened? Is he writing somewhere else?

I'd forgotten about her. I remember gagging as I watched her stuff a bird of some kind, with rings on, and gloppy stuff sticking in and around the stones on her rings. Yuck.. Julia Child is the absolute best. I remember watching her in black and white as a child. I made my first souffle from her Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Dan Ackroyd on Saturday Night Live nailed her when in a sketch he cut off a finger and the blood was squirting everywhere. And she's so classy, she thought he was great too.

I grew up in a family where, when we went out to eat, we were NOT ALLOWED TO ORDER THE SAME DISH. That way, we could share our different dishes. One member of my family was pretty militaristic in enforcing this. But the up side was we got to taste a lot of different things. The down side was you didn't get a lot of what you ordered.

Oh, please, please, please say that you are joking. i thought it was a brilliant show as well. i especially loved when the freakishly tall gordon would occasionally smack his head against a light fixture or low door frame. NO! I am not joking. On another good show the chef is forced to cook with margarine called "I can't believe it's not butter" and he says, "I can't believe I'm cooking with this." Gordon always has the homeowners give a tour of their house, usually a mini-mansion on Long Island. On one show, when they opened the fridge at the beginning, they found it was completely filled with diet soda. On the other hand, I don't care for Iron Chef. It's just too weird, although the episode where they had to catch the featured ingredient, eel, was pretty good. The eels were swirling around in the tub and it took them awhile to catch enough for all the dishes they were going to make.

Although I am a life long member of the Clean Plate Club, I feel a need to state the obvious: You do not have to finish everything served to you, good, bad or indifferent.

I know this thread was dead and buried, but I have to say I really loved Door Knock Dinners with Gordon Elliot. It was hilarious. I especially liked the episode with the Iron Chefs doing the cooking. They were in a palatial home in Long Island, I think, that had very little in the way of actual food to work with. The chefs, who arrived looking like 1930's Hollywood movie stars with their cashmere coats, were forced to use hamburger and frozen veggies. It was the funniest thing I've seen on Food Channel.