Catherine Iino

Hey, thanks for that lead! I live just outside New Haven but have never tried the place.

Thanks for the lead, Diana M., on Nigella's breakfast bars. I'm assuming that "condensed milk" here means sweetened condensed milk, not evaporated milk. Is that right?

Hi, Clark! Are the "garlic sprouts" the long curly pigtail-like scapes? If so, and if you still have some left, they are delicious stir-fried, with a little bit of soy sauce tossed in at the end. They become sweet and not very garlicky. Also, Dorie Greenspan makes a simple pesto out of them that is very garlicky and delicious. Lucky you for that bounty-- Cathy

Hazelnut, even better

While we're in Hungary, there's Taxidermia. I will not describe the appropriate scenes; I'm only mentioning it for those of you who have seen it already.

As Vice said above, Ocean View is indeed idiosyncratic. Did you read all the rules posted around the doorway? When we used to take my young daughters, we would all bring books, because no matter how empty the place was, the wait would be interminable. And scolding by the wife was quite common. She's much less of a dragon lady these days. The food is worth it, though. Try one of the noodle dishes with the chef's special green sauce, or the beef and shrimp dish that comes with scallion pancakes. I've never thought their dumplings or their soups were anything special, but there are some really good duck dishes. Good luck! We've been going to Crazy Burger for a long time, too, and my daughters, now in their twenties, still like it a lot. Have fun; the weather's pretty good this week.

Used to love a place called "Duck Chang's" in Virginia, outside Washington. It's still there; I don't know whether it's any good nowadays. It sounds similar to Peking Duck House in that everything not Peking Duck-related looked godawful. But we would always get the Peking Duck, then a stir-fried duck and bean sprouts, then a really good duck soup. Does Peking Duck House do either of those dishes well?

I second both Matunuck Oyster Bar and Ocean View. Matunuck Oyster Bar is in a building that has housed several restaurants since we began coming to Rhode Island, all of them lousy and all of them failed. The Oyster Bar has been packed for two or three years running; it amazes me. The best thing is the raw oysters, which are fantastic, and reasonable.

Absolutely, yes, I wash everything I buy before I use it in the kitchen. (Well, not the cling wrap.) It's quite possible that there are fabric preservatives in the diapers when you buy them. I would ask whether they are also in the cheesecloth you buy; it wouldn't surprise me. The diapers are a lot easier to put through the wash--multiple times--than cheesecloth. You know, I couldn't find them for a long time here (Connecticut), either. It was finally locating them at Target that triggered my excited post.

These are great: all cotton; hemmed squares; thin enough to drain yogurt or squeeze out, say, grated potatoes; sturdy enough to wash. You can line a dough basket with one or strain liquid through them. They come in packs of 12 for about a buck a piece. I love them.

Okay, I have to show off this one. My daughter and some friends caught about a dozen blue crabs the other day near our summer house in Rhode Island. The cupboard is pretty bare, but I did have a couple of peppers; lettuce, red shiso, and johnny jump-ups in the garden; and some garlic and olive oil. The shiso was a nice flavor with the crab. If I had had mayonnaise or the makings thereof, I probably would have used it, but this tasted so light and fresh without it that I'm glad I didn't.

The parsley plants that wintered over in my garden are now going to seed, and I'm pulling them out. They have fat roots--not as fat as "official" parsley root, but about finger thickness. Can I use them for anything? Flavoring soup, maybe?

I believe this came a book called "Uncommon Fruits and Vegetables: A Commonsense Guide," by Elizabeth Schneider, published in 1986--which goes to show you how things have changed. Lime-Mint Cream Dip for Sugar Snap Peas Finely chop 2-4 tablespoons of mint. Mash it around in a small bowl with !/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp sugar. Stir in a couple of tablespoons of lime juice. Let sit at least half an hour. Strain the juice out, pressing the mint to extract all the juice. Stir 2/3 cup of cream into the lime juice. Add salt to taste. Cover and chill several hours, until the cream thickens. Stir in another tablespoon of chopped mint leaves. String and blanch the sugar snap peas. Cool. Serve with the dip. Delicious.

Cardboard boxes with cellophane windows that you have to remove when you recycle the box. Someone should start a movement.

In the otherwise completely forgettable Bye Bye Love, the hilarious restaurant scene with Janeane Garafalo, the date from hell, going through the menu and deciding what to order.

Tables designed so that you cannot extricate yourself from your seat without moving the entire table, or even worse, waiting for the waiter to move the entire table.

I think I recall that Julia Childs's kitchen had metro style shelving with butcher block tops. The whole kitchen looked anything but industrial.

Thanks for all the quick responses. The turkey fat definitely did not "gel" over several days. The kitty litter idea makes me think that maybe I could dump wood ashes into the fat and then toss the whole thing in the trash. I have wood ashes, of course, from the fire. No ravines, but I guess I could dump the fat in the woods; would that be harmful to the environment? Might attract varmints, too.

I love cooking turkey in my Weber Kettle: I brine the bird, then roast/smoke it over a tin pan with a little water in it; the fire's on the other side. When it's done, though, I'm left with about a few cups of nasty greasy water in the pan. Any ideas on how to dispose of it? Can't throw it down the drain. I can put it in a bottle and into the trash, but then I can't recycle the bottle. Is there a better way?

Try Fol Epi, excellent bakery in Victoria, BC, and Caffe Fantastico; they share a space. Solves the dilemma of "competition" beautifully--deliciously.

I made a couple of great pizzas tonight, using leftover spiral cut easter ham, fresh mozzarella from Fairway, and some parmesan. One was white pizza and had some broccoli on it. The other had a bit of tomato sauce and no broccoli. Both were outstanding.

I never owned the first Vegetarian Epicure, but I still have the original Vegetarian Epicure, Book Two, and I think you would be pleasantly surprised by it. The recipes are quite international and are respectable precursors to a lot of foods that came into style a little later, from baba ghanoush to bread salad. Some of the recipes from the book that I still like and use: Cranberry Bread Orange Date Bread mushroom and barley stuffed cabbage rolls Apple pudding (really a clafoutis of sorts)

Thank you, Pam, for the response about the kugel. I'm curious about the rolls: they are really okay for Passover? They look so . . . leavened! They also look delicious.

When I have used goose eggs in baking, I have to shorten the baking time quite a bit, or cakes come out overdone and dry. I don't know whether this is because goose eggs have a higher protein content, as hathor said, or because they set at a lower temperature than chicken eggs, or some other reason, but I've consistently experienced that difference.

The cauliflower kugel looks and sounds terrific. Could you please give me an idea about how much matzoh meal you use (say, per egg). Do you use more than you would in a potato kugel, since the vegetables are more moist? Thanks for your help.