Jaymes

Actually, I remember Red Velvet Cake as being pretty tasty. Although I do recall that once at a party a particularly enthusiastic and imaginative hostess made a big loaf-like Red Velvet Cake that she decorated to be an armadillo. She thought it was pretty funny. The occasion, you see, was a going-away party for some people who were moving to Texas (we were living in Alaska at the time). Well, cutting into the armadillo, with the red insides was, I'm sure, almost as disgusting as the "stuffing from the mouth of the chicken" deal. It really looked awful - the sharp knife slicing through that dark red body. And as for how it tasted....well, I don't know. Most of the party-goers declined. As did I.

There is certainly a world of difference between the mooshu served in "Americanized" Chinese restaurants and that served in authentic Chinese ones. Kind of like "golf" vs. "miniature golf." But sometimes, those windmills and dragon's mouths can be fun.

And when would you have had an opportunity to eat this?? Kotzebue, Alaska, 1961. Relatively small Eskimo village. I worked in a trading post there. Kotz? You were in Kotz? How'd that happen? How long were you there? Did you go down to Nome for a good time? (Because there ain't no such thing at Kotz, right? Or was there, then?) Ever go to Nome for New Year's Eve? I hear that if you haven't spent New Year's Eve at Nome, you haven't lived! So, tell all!!

I don't have any of her books. I've looked them over at various times and thought that it might be good to have one although, from my quick perusal, they do appear to be something of a one-note song. So although I don't want them all, or even more than one, I do believe I'd find one useful. I live alone and sling together stuff for dinner much more often than I did when I was cooking for a large family. And so, "New Food Fast" has been recommended to me as being a good source for, well, new food fast -- easy and quick ideas and suggestions that I might make for just me. But. I cannot find it for sale here in the States anywhere. I've looked on eBay, Amazon, etc. I've been told that it is "on back order from the publisher." I've gone to the used book stores and can't find it there either. So, if any of you former Donna Hay fans who are now tired of her would like to sell me New Food Fast, I'd be quite pleased. Thank you for your support.

Rather than eating it, you might try steeping it in a pot of hot water and drinking it. Much more palatable, I believe. And it reduces the chance for all those annoying leaves to lodge between one's teeth. But then again, who knows..... you may well not care for it that way either.

Cooking Light has the largest subsciber base of any food/culinary mag in America. I keep thinking that I should subscribe to Cooking Light -- proving that indeed, hope does rise above experience to 'spring eternal.' In this case it's the hope that by repeatedly looking at beautiful photos of 'lite' food preparations, I might eventually be actually interested in them....

Yes...'meat smuggling' and 'pulled pig.' I don't know about this 'Stephen' guy. Probably an alias. And, Steve (we 'colonials' are so informal), as Mark points out, what you are talking about is 'pulled pork' (not that that's any better than 'pulled pig' but somehow the 'pig' thing seems funnier). And personally, I find nothing unusual in your desire to take home a genuine U.S. country ham. After all, when we head your way, we haul back all the European ham we can manage.

I'd tell you, but frankly, I'm far more interested in what you've 'heard'....

Love that visual... Granny down in the 'hood. Livin' large. Life on the edge. Eschewing the Early Birders. Eatin' late. Rude bumper stickers on the golf cart. What must the neighbors think. You go Granny.

I love it. I've never made it. Now I want to try. Any tips, hints? Good recipes to share?

Yes, I do like it. Had some great Moo Shu in Hong Kong and Taipei but don't remember names of restaurants. Also in San Francisco at R&G Lounge.

Or standing out in front of the restaurant handing out flyers and hollering at folks to "Come on in!".

To get back to your original question: 1. I don't mind upselling at all. In fact, I like and welcome it. It is merely expanding upon the original agreement (i.e., I'll take the salmon and a house white). It is offering me additional information and options. 2. "Good upselling" is, just as I said, more information from an informative, helpful source; i.e., a "special" or promotional price on something, an addition to my meal (or other purchase) that might be enjoyable, and so forth. It gives me other opportunities to expand upon my initial agreement to purchase -- opportunities that might well enhance my enjoyment of the original product. Or, opportunities to change my mind and purchase a different product that I perhaps had not originally considered ("You say the lobster is on special today? That is a good price. I think I'll have that instead."). In any retail environment. "Bad upselling" offers me no new information that is helpful or pertinent or relevant to my situation. It is pushy and unpleasant and insistant. The salesperson is neither interested in me nor my needs/wants/desires. It forces me to say "no" several times, and to rethink my initial agreement to purchase.

Sentence 1: Maybe. Sentence 2: Possibly. Sentence 3: Boy oh boy, have you got balls! Can I interest you in some bigger ones??? We're running a one-time special just for you, G.I.

Upselling is a retail/marketing term that is defined as (just exactly as Fat Guy says) the offering of a higher-priced product, either through quality or quantity. It has nothing to do with whether or not the salesperson "knows" how many CDs or any other product the purchaser "needs" or what the particular "value" is to the purchaser of that product. Motivation is a different matter. One can have the best or the worst motives to "upsell." By saying that a salesperson has some kind of psychic power to know whether or not I want, or need, an oceanview room for an additional $30, you are taking the right of decision away from me, and placing it with the salesperson. Let's put me back at that hotel. I've booked a regular room. I'm checking in. Do I NEED an oceanview room? Who's going to decide that? Should the desk clerk not offer me the more expensive room because HE OR SHE decided I didn't "need" it, or that it wasn't really "worth" the $30? Or that I couldn't afford it? Or not tell me that there was a special promotional rate where I could stay two additional nights for the price of one because they knew I shouldn't take it and should get right back to the office? Perhaps the clerk is (as you say) only offering me the $30 upgrade (upsell) because he is told to by his supervisors, and also he makes $15 bucks on the deal. Maybe the oceanview room is actually smaller than the regular room, and to the clerk, the difference would not be "worth it." But maybe I originally wanted the oceanview and was told it was an additional $75 per night and I am absolutely delighted to discover I can now get it for less than half that. So, I am now thrilled to be "upsold." It's not a negative for me at all. They offer. They explain the 'features and benefits.' It's more expensive. That's upselling. I decide. Period. Motivation on the part of the salesperson simply doesn't enter into the definition of the word.

Diana likes it as a "condiment" for roast pork or chicken, and likes it as a spread for sandwiches when mayo/mustard aren't what she's looking for. Yeah, like pico de gallo - it IS good that way, you're right.

My son has been in the hotel business for about ten years. For a portion of those years, he worked the front desk at a large, well-known luxury hotel. The front desk clerks had pretty-much carte blanche as far as upselling went. If the hotel was not full, they were strongly encouraged to say: "I can upgrade you to lakeview for an additional $30, if you'd like. We do have a very few lakeview accommodations left, and they would normally reserve for an additional $75. Would you prefer lakeview for only an additional $30?" Guest: "Regularly $75 more for only $30? Yes, a lakeview would be nice." Front desk guy: "Well, now I see that we had a last-minute cancellation for our deluxe lakeview suite. That would only be an additional $30 more than the regular lakeview." The kicker is that the front desk staff got 25% of any "upsell" charges. But also, my son said, people were usually pretty happy with the nicer room, and always seemed pleased to be offered it, even if they didn't accept. Upselling is just a part of retail life. I don't mind it. Unless it's done in a pushy, agressive, or sneaky manner. Like buying tires and then getting home and discovering you've bought "insurance" at an additional $6 per tire, which no one explained to you, but added on anyway.

My parents, and my grandparents before them, and in fact almost every elderly/retired couple I know, eventually settle into a "two meals a day" routine. They eat a rather large, nice breakfast around 10 or so. And then, a big dinner at about 4pm (hence the popularity of the "Early Bird Special"). Sometimes they have a very light snack around 8ish - maybe a glass of milk, or piece of fruit or pie or something before bedtime. I could be totally wrong about this, but I suspect that may be a more natural pattern. I believe the schedule of an early breakfast; lunch (or dinner) at midday; and then dinner (or supper) at night, was primarily to coordinate with work schedules - usually farm work, difficult manual labor. I'd be interested to know what eating patterns were the norm in earlier societies among the wealthy "gentlefolk" that never had to work, or otherwise lift a finger.

You're not a pain! You're a delight. Many years ago, at my grandmother's arthritic knee, she told me a few things that were very important. And some of them involved cooking. One of which was that the stuff in the tomatoes is not "tomato juice." It's just water, and it'll water down anything you put it in. Which, if it's a watery dish anyway, like soup, is just fine. But if it's not, like a tossed salad or something, you don't want water in it. "So, My Dear," she said. "You must learn to 'shake hands' with the tomato." With a circular motion and a sharp knife, you core the top of the tomato. Then, you stick your fingers into it, as though it were a small, soft little bowling ball and, holding the tomato upside down over the sink, wiggle your fingers to expell the water. After that, halve the tomato, sprinkle it with a little salt, and set the halves on a paper towel, cut side down. Give it a few minutes, and you should have drawn out most of the liquid. Then, it's ready to be cut up for a salad, or whatever and it won't dilute your dressing. I don't mind a little of the tomato water in my guacamole, so I don't usually do the salt/drain/paper towel step, but I always do the "shake hands" step. Good luck, "2" (if I may call you by your first name).

When we lived in Panama, we had an American bachelor friend (Mike) who was invited to the home of a Panamian couple for dinner. The written invitation said (in Spanish) to come for "dinner at eight." Our friend knew better to arrive at eight of course, so at 8:30, he knocked at the door. The hostess, obviously expecting a delivery of some sort, opened the door wearing a bathrobe and slippers, no makeup and her hair in rollers. She let out a horrified gasp to see our amigo, Mike. "Oh my goodness," she said in Spanish. "What are you doing here?" and then realizing what he was doing there, quickly added, "Of course it's very nice to see you, won't you come on in?" She called for a maid and they sat Mike on the sofa. The hostess scurried off to finish getting ready. The maid fixed Mike a drink and then, with a half-apologetic/half-miffed air, set before him upon the coffee table one solitary forlorn bowl of mixed nuts. Mike said that it had about it a "quality of desperation" and he could imagine that the conversation in the kitchen had gone something like: "What can we give him?" "I don't know, nothing's ready yet." "Well, we have to offer him something." "Okay, take this bowl of nuts. It's not much but what does he expect after arriving so early." The doorbell rang about 15 minutes later - it was the fishmonger delivering the fish right off the boat. This time, one of the servants went to the door and took the fish into the kitchen and gave it to the cook. At around 9 pm, the host appeared and he and Mike had a nice chat by themselves until at 9:15 when the hostess, now dressed in full party regalia showed up. Elaborate platters of appetizers began appearing and music started playing. The doorbell began ringing again at 9:30 when the other dinner guests started arriving. By 10pm everyone was in place, and they ate at 10:30. Mike spoke enough Spanish to realize that a great deal of the lively conversation and laughter revolved around the retelling of the story about his early arrival and the hostess in her bathrobe/curlers. Several people pointed out to her that it was her own fault, because "everyone knows" that "'norteamericanos' have no manners and if you invite one, you should always add an hour and a half to the invitation because if you don't, they're there on the dot, 'like an inspector or something.'"

I've used a couple recipes through the years for meat-bird-aversioned friends. I've had good success with one that contains tofu (not really sure where it is, but could probably find it). And this one, with bulghar: Vegetarian Chili 2 1/2 C dried kidney beans water to cover (about 6 cups) 1 C V-8 Juice 1 C raw bulghar 3 T olive oil 4 cloves garlic, smashed, chopped 1 t ground cumin 1 t basil chile powder to taste - you'll have to experiment - I use 1 T or so dash ceyene (or hot sauce) to taste 1 C chopped celery 1 C chopped carrots 1 1/2 C chopped onion 1/2 C chopped bell peppers 1/2 C chopped mild green chiles (or mix of mild & hot) 2 C chopped tomatoes (fresh or good-quality canned) juice of small lemon, or 1/2 large one 3 T dry red wine 3 T tomato paste salt & pepper to taste Wash beans and pick through, removing any that float, and other debris like rocks, etc. Put into stockpot or Dutch oven. Cover to about 3" with cold water (about 6 cups). Add 1 t salt. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until beans are tender (about 1 hour). Heat V-8 to boiling. Pour over bulghar and set aside. Allow to stand at least 15-20 minutes. In olive oil saute garlic and spices until they begin to release their scent. Add celery, carrots and saute til veggies are almost tender. Add onions, chiles, tomatoes and cook until tender. Add vegetables, V-8/bulghar, lemon juice to beans. Cook to heat through and blend flavors (about 20-30 minutes). Remove from heat and add wine and tomato paste and stir well to thoroughly blend. Correct seasonings. Allow to set for a few minutes to allow flavors to come together. Ladle into bowls and pass condiments: grated mild cheddar cheese, chopped onions, pico de gallo, crackers, sour cream, etc. Really good served with cornbread alongside.

I've been having some of them my own self.

Most of the Chinese/Asian restaurants I've been to in the States have at least two constants: The big fish tank, mirror by the front door, etc., and other obvious symbols of various beliefs. And, there ain't no paying at the table. You take your check to the cash register, which is located up by the front door to keep you from running out, and which is also never manned by the staff, but always closely guarded by people who are clearly either the owner or wife or immediate family. Oh - And no checks, either.

Indeed, I did!! But this is the store-bought salsa and chips thread and my cooking experiments aren't going so well right now... I think it's mostly because I'm not getting the right ingredients. I'm going to try to make salsa again tomorrow though and I'm also going to attempt guacamole. Any suggestions/recipes for the latter? "Right ingredients" are absolutely KEY, as I believe it goes to some lengths to explain in your instructions. My guacamole: First, make a really nice hot picante sauce: Salsa de Jalapeño 12 whole pickled jalapeños (buy them in cans - Herdez sells them, among other brands - the label should say something like "Jalepeños en escabeche" or something similar) 1 cup tomatoes (I usually use canned for this) 1/2 t garlic salt Remove stems from peppers. Put them and the tomatoes and the garlic salt into your food processor or chopper and process until ingredients are thoroughly blended, but don't pulvarize seeds. This stuff is really hot, too hot for most folks to use for dips, etc., but it's great for flavoring foods. You won't use anywhere near all of it, so store the rest in a jar, tightly covered, in the fridge. Use it when preparing other foods like roasts, soups, eggs, etc. GUACAMOLE 1 large, ripe avocado 1 large, ripe tomato, water removed 1 small white or yellow onion, chopped 1/2 t salt 1 T salsa de jalapeño (or to taste) juice of half a small-to-med lime Cut avocado into half, whack pit with knife to remove. Peel halves and, on large plate, mash pulp with fork. Mix in remaining ingredients and combine well, but under no circumstances put in blender or food processor - it's supposed to be chunky. Taste for seasonings and add additional salt or salsa if necessary. If you like cilantro, obviously you can add it, but I don't. Although I really like the flavor of cilantro, I think it kind of overpowers the avocado. Also, I invariably serve my regular homemade salsa alongside the guacamole and it has cilantro in it, so people can mix the two if they want some cilantro flavor. And there you have it.

Jaymes: I haven't tried it, but I ran across it in my research. I'm going to give it a shot, maybe as a topping for some kind of cake. It might also be interesting in beverages -- coffe, tea, hot chocolate. Got any tips? How do you use it? Piloncillo (pe-loan-SEE-yo) is a Mexican brown sugar product. Any of you that have wandered through the Mexican section of your local stores have undoubtedly seen it and wondered what it was. It's brown - the color of brown sugar - usually about two inches long or so - in a conical shape with a flat bottom and top. It's wrapped in cellophane. As for an exact definition, I decided it's best to defer to the experts and so I am quoting here from Rick Bayless: "In the olden days of our country [i think he means the U.S. in this reference], sugar was sold in huge cones. That's still the case for the unrefined sugar called piloncillo (little pylon). In much of southern Mexico the same sugar is formed into a round loaf shape and called panela or, in some places, formed into an even rougher round or square for the very coarse (usually darker and more molassesy) panocha. Any of these can range in color from light brown to almost black (the later being the stronger flavored). "In sugar making, cane juice is boiled down and, without further refinement (to remove the molasses), poured into molds to cool and crystalize. What comes out is hard and strong-flavored, usually stronger tasting than dark brown sugar, but not as strong as molasses. "Piloncillo is sold in Mexican groceries in the States in small cones that weigh about an ounce or larger cones that weigh about seven ounces. I find it easiest to let them dissolve in whatever liquid I have in my recipe, though, with determination, they may be chopped with a large knife or cleaver (whole cones can break a food processor, so watch out)." In my own case, if a recipe does not call for a liquid to dissolve them in, I put them into a ziplock bag and break apart with a hammer. To give you a rough idea of the equivalency, I have a recipe for Bread Pudding with Pumpkin, and topped with a Rum Sauce. The rum sauce recipe calls for: 1/2 lb piloncillo or 1 1/2 C tightly-packed brown sugar