MelissaH

I love community cookbooks. In particular, it's amusing to see which ones list women as Mrs. Husband's Name, whether the women get their own names, and if time and place have anything to do with it. We don't currently have a topic about them, do we?

Agreed that Cougar Gold is terrific. It travels well in its can.

This was exactly the thought I had: reduce the food waste. Lettuce soup, aren't there also recipes for stir-fried lettuce? How hard would it be to wash the lettuce (maybe with a little bleach added?) to make it safe to eat?

If the ink will print on the coating that most take-out boxes have, and if the same thing needs to get printed on all the boxes....

Was this egg intended to be eaten raw, or was the rest of the dish hot enough to cook the egg?

I just tried the WSJ article, and even though they usually have a paywall, I was able to get in without a problem. Happy Thanksgiving?

And I stumbled into them at Wegmans on Saturday. They're yummy! I think what I like most is the crunch in the creme.

I wondered that as well. Overall, I think I prefer the cookie on the Oreo to the Joe Joe cookie, but the Joe Joe creme flavors are usually marvelous.

I've been enjoying this travelogue immensely. Thank you.

Sometimes the BB&B coupons explicitly exclude Breville brand stuff.

You're teasing us now.

Are these generally available wherever Oreos are sold, or are they specific to one store?

I've been working on this. So today, I dug down to the bottom bin of our freezer to rescue the beets I'd cooked and frozen when we hadn't gotten to eating them in a reasonable amount of time, and am making them into a quick pickle. And the apples from the fridge that were teetering on the edge of usability have become applesauce, which is currently simmering to reduce and thicken a little bit. I'm hoping these will both go nicely with the Montreal smoked meat (also from the freezer) and half-sour pickles for dinner. The only things I had to buy fresh to make tonight's dinner were the rye bread and cherry soda. I'm hoping there will be enough of the bread and meat left over to make a bang-up omelette tomorrow morning with toast.

Aw, nuts! I was thinking about it (and a friend recently moved to St. Louis, to boot!) but I just got word that enough deposits are in to confirm that this year's edition of the fermentation science class will run. So the following Monday, I'll be on my way to Scotland. Post tons of pictures, please.

I'll think about your mint today. That alone might be enough!

The chocolate stuff is all fine and dandy, but I seriously covet that lemon tree. (You understand that I would never actually touch it myself, for fear of what would happen. I've killed mint. Multiple times.)

I'd even settle for a Chipotle to replace the Fajita Grill in my town. Or instead of the Taco Bell that's going to be opening up across town from me.

<cue soundtrack from the opening to The Music Man>

Given that I've never thought of doing anything other than drinking the beverage resulting from steeping the dried leaves, it's still kind of blown my mind.

I love that purple bowl.

Do the dishes using tea as a vegetable give you a caffeine kick, or is it somehow mitigated by a cooking (rather than steeping) process?

But I'd keep a close eye on it as it bakes. With a bigger pan, it might need longer in the oven to get the center done, which could result in the edges getting overbaked, which might imply that you need to reduce the oven temperature. If this is intended for an event, I'd probably try a test run ahead of time, so that if you have issues, you can make adjustments and try again.

The last few times we've eaten at Chipotle, we've been disappointed. It seems like as they've expanded, they may have lost some of their QC, leading to the uneven results we're experiencing of late. That said, I think they're still better than Qdoba or Moe's or Fajita Grill (the only one like it in our town and god forbid I get hauled there). I tend to stick with the menu items they've always had, rather than the new stuff that appears periodically. Last time we were in Rochester, we looked at the Chipotle, looked at each other, and instead headed across the street to a Chipotle-like Indian-ish restaurant called Naan-Tastic. Right now, I think it's a one-off rather than a chain, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it expand in the future. The general concept is about like Chipotle: you choose the general format for what you want (burrito, bowl, or naan taco), and then you choose each component (base, protein, sauce, extras, and finish). We enjoyed it, and should we find ourselves in the neighborhood again, we'd return rather than hitting up the Chipotle. The big difference between the two, apart from Mexican vs. Indian, is that there are a TON of choices. I always thought the genius of Chipotle was that the options are limited (although there are still a LOT of ways to mix and match them to get something you like), which in theory should make it easy to consistently turn out the product you expect to get. I wonder if not just the geographic expansion but the menu expansion is at the root of the issue we've tasted.

Why bother? My family has always used cornstarch to thicken our gravy, the whole batch.

You got that right, at least according to this former Pittsburgher. I canNOT abide anything but, and get really frustrated by the holier-than-thou restaurants that tout their "house-made" ketchup. I wish they'd put their energy elsewhere, into something worthwhile!