Jaymes

We do glazed ham, and then put a choice of sauces on the table: Raisin, Jezebel, etc. Always, creamed onions (there's an excellent thread about creamed onions here on eG if you do a search). And a green vegetable: brussel sprouts, green beans or broccoli. We also like baked sweet potatoes with ham, although sometimes we'll do a baked winter squash instead. For salad, a fruit-based salad, like cranberry & apple salad, or Waldorf. Or this coleslaw: Red & Green Coleslaw 1/2 head red cabbage 1/2 head green cabbage 1/2 large red onion 1 Cup dried cranberries - Crazins Dressing: 1/3 C cider vinegar 1/3 C flavorless vegetable oil (not olive oil) 1/3 C sugar 1 tsp celery seed In a small jar, combine the dressing ingredients and shake until sugar is dissolved. Slice the vegetables very thinly and put into a large bowl. Add cranberries. Add dressing and toss well. Cover and place into fridge. Let sit for about 3 hours for flavors to combine, stirring occasionally. Drain and serve.

Hard for me to believe it was nine years ago that I originally posted it. Wow. Time is just zooming by. As far as your inedible popcorn - I can only tell you that we've been using a hot air popper for quite some time. I helped to take care of my mother during the last two years it took for Alzheimer's to finally destroy her. She loved popcorn, but she wasn't supposed to have grease, so instead of popping the corn in oil and then drizzling it with butter, we used a hot air popper and then sprinkled it with "butter flavor beads." We never had any problems with the texture of the corn from that popper. So maybe your corn was old? Don't know what the problem was but I'd hazard a guess that hot air poppers are now far more popular than the old-fashioned methods. That wouldn't be the case if the corn turned out bad. My advice to you is that you must have had a unique experience and, although I can't tell you why, you shouldn't give up just yet.

I suspect she likely would have gone on the last episode, but that would have meant Bev going home, too. Not sure that would have set well with the viewers.

At last, something I think I could dig into. Reminds me of bibimbap for some reason. I would have made a miserable dining companion in Tucson I suspect. Much as I want to love this Southwestern/Mexican cuisine I would have been begging for Japanese/Thai/Vietnamese or maybe even, horror of horrors, a Big Mac. Sorry, but I can't help thinking that the only reason you "want to love this Southwestern/Mexican cuisine," but have not yet been able to is because you haven't had an opportunity to give it a good sampling. It's so varied that it's impossible for me to believe that there exists a person on this earth that couldn't find something in it to love, given exposure to the width and depth and best of it. In fact, I read somewhere years ago that Mexico has more different, distinguishable, named dishes/recipes, etc., than anyone else on the planet, save for China. Unfortunately, so many people think of "Southwestern/Mexican cuisine" to be nothing much other than heavy, yellow-cheese enchiladas. Which, by the way, people in Mexico don't eat.

Speaking just for myself, I'm a big fan of RG beans, and never soak. Not that I have anything against it, but it does require advance planning, doesn't it? As opposed to looking out of the window around noon and seeing gray skies and a cold blustery rain and thinking to oneself, "My what a good day for a pot of beans" and then putting some on the fire. Much more my speed.

As you point out, one may "also hear" hal-a-PEEN-no, but that's so wrong that it's irritating to the ear and grating on the nerves. We have an enormous Spanish-speaking population in the US and the popularity of Mexican food and its ingredients can't possibly be overstated. It's not like jalapeño is some exotic ingredient from some foreign land like Outer Slobovia and it's asking waaaaaay too much for Americans to be able to correctly pronounce the names of even the most obscure Outer Slobovian ingredients. And nobody takes Slobovian in our high schools. But there's not a single American that hasn't heard 'Jalapeño' pronounced correctly a million times. All they'd have to do is to care enough to listen once or twice and make just the tiniest effort to get it right. I've never seen "yeeros" on a menu here, either. But you do see "heros" quite a lot. So often, in fact, that I doubt most Americans even make the connection to gyros.

I'd also strongly suggest you go with the Chef's Choice at Cafe Poca Cosa. But for another singularly Tucsonion experience, take the short drive out to Tanque Verde Guest Ranch and have a meal in their dining room. That's also a good place for celeb spotting as they often entertain the rich and famous that are trying to get away from it all. Once, years ago, I saw Paul McCartney there.

We lived in Tucson for a number of years and found it a delightful place. One "must do" that I'd recommend to you is the Arizona Inn. It's a historic old hotel in a lovely area. I realize you don't need a place to stay, but I definitely recommend you take an afternoon and go eat in its restaurant and wander the grounds a bit.

I very much prefer calamansi in my gin & tonics. I wouldn't call it a "fancy garnish" though as I put in enough to completely change the flavor profile of the drink. And my son uses them to enliven mojitos. He also puts them in mimosas.

Well, as I said above, even though the Runner Cannellinis are not the same Cannellinis as those often called for in Pasta e Fagioli, they're what we use, and they're just wonderful. I make it with prosciutto or pancetta, and it's so good on these cold winter days. I'd say it's hard to go wrong.

I get the feeling they might be moving the bus into position. They keep showing Heather complaining about, well, everybody, but particularly Beverly. And in the previews for next week, didn't they show Beverly teamed with her?

There are the ubiquitous seasoned oyster crackers. They're so good. You might do some sort of a riff on the traditional seasonings if you want to change up the flavors a bit. In the south, lots of folks like "Texas Caviar," which are hot pickled black-eyed peas, good for eating on New Year's Day. The Homesick Texan explains Texas Caviar Also Mexican-style pickled jalapenos, carrots, onions, cauliflower - escabeche. Cheeses and cheese spreads, pates, vanilla, liqueurs, herb/spice mixes, sauces, salsas, biscotti, chutneys. If you close your eyes and picture a friend arriving at your front door bearing a basketload of goodies, what are you hoping you'll see in it?

Very Texan trait. Damn straight. Bless his heart.

And I'm really looking forward to hearing back what you think.

How many more cakes does she plan to bake? I think maybe I need that recipe.

We really, really loved the large white limas. He had giant white limas for a while, but hasn't had them in a long time. So I'm talking about just the "large white limas," which he has fairly often. We also like the Christmas Limas. They're all just so good, and of course, we're in the camp that hated those green lima beans as kids, so I can assure you that Steve's taste nothing like that. We are particularly fond of cooking them with a hamhock. And maybe a little crushed red pepper. They don't need much. ETA - I've used various of RG's limas to make a Greek dish, wherein you bake the beans with roasted red peppers. Here's a good recipe: Baked Greek Beans & Roasted Red Peppers

Last night made a recipe that I received from a contingent of Iranian fighter pilots that we entertained in our home (obviously, this was several decades back, during the time of the Shah). It calls for 2 tsp of saffron: Rice and Lamb in Yogurt Sauce This is a dish I've prepared quite a number of times over the years, and we all love it. But I spent $20 on saffron alone. I see that several of you have ordered from saffron.com. I'm wondering if anyone else has found a less-expensive source. Has anyone had any luck at all growing it?

I know I'm not Andie, but assuming everybody can jump in, we always put the fat, usually bacon grease, into the cast-iron skillet before we put it into the oven to heat up.

A couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to get to spend about 6 weeks in Michoacan - Morelia, to be exact. I went to one of those immersion language schools where you stay with a local family. I had told them that I would like to stay with a family that was interested in cooking. They said that the woman that taught their cooking classes, Chila, actually worked in the home of a family that hosted students, and I could stay with them. So I did. Chila was a Purépecha Indian woman from a village not far from Patzcuaro. She and I hit it off immediately, and I spent many hours in the kitchen with her, watching her cook, and listening to her stories about her village. As is typical in Mexico, the family had their big meal (comida) around 2 in the afternoon. This meal always included a soup and Sopa Tarasca was the favorite of the patriarch, "El Señor," Don Pepe, so they had it at least once a week. I told her that I had had it at the restaurant in Patzcuaro where it was purportedly invented, and asked her if she knew whether or not her version was prepared anything like the original recipe. She responded that she had no idea, as she had never eaten at that restaurant and wasn't familiar with the "original recipe," but that hers was basically identical to the way everyone else in her village made it, for whatever that was worth. Here are the notes I made at the time (and posted on another cooking board): ETA: Since I originally posted this, back when I first got home, I've made the soup quite a number of times. I'm still kind of "guessing" as to the amounts of the ingredients used, but it's turned out great every time.

I'm frankly not sure I even understand what this means. And am pretty sure that whatever it means, it's not helpful to the discussion. I don't know which category - i.e. which level of "disgrace" - I was/am in, but I've learned a lot from this thread. And I appreciate it.

I've got the book and do read the blog. Most of the recipes are things I'm pretty familiar with, so don't know that I'd say I've formally "cooked from the book," if that means selecting a recipe and following it beginning to end. I refer to it a lot, though, when I'm making something I've made for years to see if she adds something I hadn't thought of, or uses a method that might be better in some way than mine. And I link to the blog quite often to illustrate this or that about Texas cooking. Just did so over in the "dried beans" thread when trying to explain Texas Ranch Style Beans.

I think that's great. I probably would have done the same if I thought it was feasible for me. But it isn't. So I ask the butcher to saw the two turkeys in half while I finish my shopping. I'm sure it's better for you to do it at home if that's an option. Sounds like it might even be kinda fun.

I just wrap the halves up separately, with foil. I don't do anything special. They do look kinda weird because that saw cuts right through the frozen giblets, but those halves sure are handy to have later in the year. As I said, we usually smoke them outside, but sometimes I make some dressing/stuffing, put it in a pile on a shallow baking pan, put my turkey half on top and roast it. I'm more willing to experiment with different sorts of stuffings when I know that my entire Thanksgiving dinner doesn't depend on it. Not only are turkeys usually cheap at Thanksgiving, they're often even given away at local markets if you spend a certain amount of money. So having a turkey half later in the year couldn't get any cheaper. And then I use the carcass to make soup. Thrifty to the max.

We always called it "fried cornbread". It was a faster way than waiting for a whole pan to bake. Haven't had it in years. Oh, but to have some Brunswick Stew though . Don't get that in California. And if they were flat, we called them hoecakes. Fat little ovals, deep-fried, hushpuppies. And then we get into corn mush. Fried mush was one of my father's favorite breakfasts. That's something you don't see very often anymore.

Every year around Thanksgiving, when turkeys are the loss-leader at the grocery stores, I buy at least two extra. Because they are frozen, I ask the butcher in the meat department to saw them in half with their big saws. Which they do. And then I bring the halves home and wrap them separately and store them in the freezer. Come summer, we'll smoke a half out on the BBQ grill. I've got a congealed apple/cranberry salad recipe that I serve with the smoked turkey. It's an absolutely wonderful, and extremely cheap meal.