Jaymes

We lived in Panama for a number of years, and cilantro grew wild everywhere, most certainly including our yard. I figured I'd have no trouble growing it in Central Texas and I planted some when we lived in Austin. But Central Texas in the summer is much hotter than it ever gets in Panama, so none of my cilantro made it through. It all burned up in the heat. I gave up on growing it after that first year. For one thing, it's so easy to find. Obviously, Texas has a huge Mexican influence so our mainstream grocers carry it, but it's also very popular in several Asian cuisines. If you can't find it in Mexican markets up there, you might give Asian markets a try.

The Mexican oregano is a good idea. Mediterranean oregano, Mexican oregano, and marjoram Too bad you can't order from Rancho Gordo up there. He's got a Mexican oregano that's the best I've ever tasted: Rancho Gordo Oregano Indio That stuff is fantastic.

I'd suggest you grow the herbs (cilantro and epazote) in pots that you can bring in when the weather turns cold.

My mother's last few months were a pretty wretched experience. For us all, of course, but particularly for her. I'm sure there was some need in me to feed her as best I could for my own sake. But I know that those times when I was holding her close, and feeding her her favorite foods, albeit mashed beyond recognition, eased her pain. I would have done anything I could to make that difficult time better for her. Whether it helped me in some manner or not.

My, my, Miss Marlene! You do know that anytime at all you'd like to go to lunch with Jaymes, you can (as they say on the Price is Right) come on down! Don't you? You've got a place to stay, and a few thousand Mexican restaurants to try. Heck, we might even make a run for the border. There are a couple of towns that are still safe, and I just got back from one not too many weeks ago, so I'd love to show you around. As for our luncheon yesterday, it was really outstanding. Robirdstx is just about as delightful a dining companion as one could imagine - smart, friendly, knowledgeable and conversational. Her friend as well. And our BruceSW was also so very charming. I'm very hopeful that this was just the first meet-up of many. As for the restaurant and food... Not sure how many of y'all have heard of Robb Walsh, but he's pretty legendary in Texas. At one time, he was a restaurant critic up in Austin, but then moved to Houston where he continued his entertaining and insightful restaurant reviews. He's written several cookbooks, at least a couple of which are considered to be the "bible" of that genre; most notably, "Legends of Texas Barbecue" and "The Tex Mex Cookbook." He's recently gone into the restaurant biz, and that's where our little group met. Many of the dishes that he mentions in the Tex Mex Cookbook are on offer at his new restaurant, El Real Tex Mex Cafe, and they didn't disappoint. As Robirdstx says, she and I both ordered one of these, the Stacked Enchiladas Borunda, and they were wonderful, with tender pork chunks in a dark red guajillo chile sauce. I also thought the salsa and guac were exceptionally flavorful and good. All in all, this was a terrific outing, and I'm looking forward to the next one. And the next one. And the one after that.

My father uses the stems in much the same manner he uses water chestnuts - adds them whenever he wants a little extra crunch.

I've heard that all of the Rancho Gordo products are pretty good.

Although it's been a while since I lived there, I don't think the most-famous, national dishes have changed much: Adobo. Pancit. Lumpia. There is lots of good food there, but I think these three dishes are the best-known and should be on anyone's "must try" list.

Not everybody is as crazy about him as he is about himself: Carlos Petrini and Slow Food - Is this disdain I'm feeling? _________________

Carlos Petrini?

Folks in the know don't care for it. If you don't have a carniceria close by, you might ask a local butcher for some nice, white pork fat, and render your own.

I think that, unfortunately, it well may be just you. It's not. There are others out there who are pretty busy househusbands. My wife, for example, hasn't prepared a meal unless I'm out of town in years. It's been my experience that there are a great many more husbands that do some, or even all, of the cooking than there are that do "all the housework." I'm not saying it doesn't happen (it clearly does), but I do think that's still pretty rare.

Right. You start by forming the dough into small balls - about the size of a ping pong ball, I'd say, depending upon how big you want them. Then pat, pat, pat. I used wax paper and a rolling pin to sort of finish them off, before I got my press.

Gotcha. I'll move it up to the top of the very long list (which includes non-Mexican dishes also). And another reason is that regions of the world that do not have a large Mexican populace do not offer good commercially-produced tortillas. I know - I've lived in several. Like Alaska, Panama, the Philippines, just to name just a few. And it's practically impossible to have good, fresh tortillas shipped in. But you can lay your hands on the dry ingredients pretty easily. Most Mexican markets sell it, but if not, you can either have a friend or family member send you some, or tote some home from visits. As soon as you learn how to make your own tortillas, your whole Mexican food world changes.

I think that, unfortunately, it well may be just you. It certainly wasn't me. And trying to get a tasty dinner for a big family on the table every night when you're the only one putting in any effort toward running the household certainly does cut into your time, mental and physical energy, spirit, enthusiasm, creativity...well...everything.

I remember a couple of decades with no peanut butter. Thought about it a time or two, but it didn't sound all that good. Was smugly congratulating myself for my "adult tastes." Then I made a PB&J for one of my children. Just thought I'd have a quick taste. Big mistake. I'm definitely back on the PB train. As for milk, can't help you there. We all love it in our family. Always have.

This is a delicious preparation of tongue to be used as a base for tacos, or so many other possibilities. Thank you, Jaymes! Thank you Corinna, for letting me know. I've been making that for many years, but don't usually tell my guests that they're eating "tacos de lengua" until after they've polished off a few. Some folks find that a bit off-putting. But I'm so glad I passed the recipe along, and that you like it!

When I send stuff to American friends and relatives overseas, I think it makes a pretty big difference what part of the US they're from, and what they're accustomed to, and what they might be missing. I note you're in Oregon, but that much of what you sent is US Mex/Southwestern. As that's our heritage, what I usually send is a lot of cans of Herdez salsa, both the casera and the green (Herdez is a great product; to my mind the best by far of the jarred, bottled salsas, convenient for shipping as the cans are small and unbreakable), La Sierra Charro Beans (the best canned Mexican-style beans I've found; and you can either eat the beans whole, or mash them for the tastiest refried beans you'll ever get from a can), several cans of escabeche, and a packet of jalapeno seeds. My dear friend that lived in Germany for several years somehow managed to grow jalapenos in a pot on her back patio; bringing it inside when Germany's brutal winter got too cold. She had no trouble getting canned tomatoes there, so she used those jalapenos to, among other things, make my recipe for a quick cooked salsa (which I've posted elsewhere on eG). _______________

And now that you've got your mango cut and all ready to eat, why not try sprinkling it with a little of Mexico's famous mixture of dried chiles and salt and lime? As discussed in this thread.

And also in Central America. I've lived in SE Asia, and in Panama, and in both places we had mango trees in our yard, and we ate a lot of them. I thought that pitter looked great and bought one. Didn't work well for me. First of all, if it's the same one, it's not adjustable in any way, so the mango has to correspond pretty closely in size to the pitter or it doesn't work at all. Which resulted in my having to select the mangoes according to the proper size for the pitter, rather than the ones that looked to be the sweetest. And if the mango is really ripe, pushing down that pitter just mashes the bottom of the mango. Finally tossed the thing. And, the way I learned to cut mangos back some forty years ago when I lived in the Philippines has held me in pretty good stead all these years. It's also what I saw most folks do in Central America when I lived there. You just do what others here have described, in that you slice down along the length of the pit on both sides, until you have the two halves (cheeks). Then you score each half into the diamond pattern as described above. But next time, don't turn it inside out. After it's been scored, get a nice large serving spoon, hold it over whatever you want the mango cubes to wind up on/in (a plate, or bowl, or your fruit salad), and scoop the cubes out with the spoon. The cubes just fall out in a rain of sweet tropical goodness. Here's a video from those nice folks at mango.org describing the three most popular methods including the spoon approach that I learned so long ago - although for this video, he used the spoon technique to produce mango slices rather than cubes. And, regarding the slices, if you don't cut your slices all the way through at one end, after you scoop it out, you can spread out the slices, which will come out connected at one end, to make a "fan," so beautiful for a nice presentation on your plate. But trust me, scooping it out with a spoon is also the best (and by far the easiest) way to get the cubes out, too. Video: How to cut a mango ________________

Won't it be available at libraries? So that virtually anyone that wants to see it, and belongs to a library, can?

I'm a woman and Maggie, the title of your thread intrigued me much more than "The Modernist Cuisine," which is to say, not at all. I don't think that was because I'm a woman so much as because I'm old. At my age, I've seen a lot of fads come and go. "The Modernist Cuisine" sounded to me like another silly, transitory fad. So in my case, it wasn't because I don't like gadgets and toys. I actually do. It was (and I sorta hate to admit this) because I didn't have the slightest idea as to what it was, and it sounded too inane for me to even want to bother to find out. I figured by the time I got interested, the fad would be over, so why waste the time to learn about it. Sure enough, as I always feared, I've become my mother. In her waaaaaay later years. Not sure that helps you, Maggie, with your scholarly research.

That is so wonderful on so many levels. "Great job!" indeed.

With praise like that, I can't help but wonder which recipe it is. Is it one in the book you have, or is it online? It is this recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/old-fashioned-apple-crisp-recipe/index.html I haven't tried the filling but have used that topping on a apple rhubarb crumble. It's so good! Thanks for that link. I must say, that whole thing looks really good and really easy. Not only am I going to try it post haste, I also ordered the book that it comes from. Anna - Want to tell you that I did make that Apple Crisp. You're right - that topping is wonderful. I'll definitely be using it again and again. The entire recipe was really, really good. I didn't have the kind of apples she recommended - McIntosh or Macoun - so I used Granny Smith. I think it would have been better had I held out until I could get the right kind of apples. Granny Smith was too tart for this, and I don't think they cooked up quite right. But the recipe is a real winner, and I'll definitely make it again. And that topping is glorious. Thanks again.

I've been known to stick plates into the dishwasher and turn the dial to "dry" for a few minutes, if I have a lot of plates to warm. Otherwise, we use this gadget - Electric Griddle - for a lot of things. In addition to cooking stuff on it, it has a "warm" setting that we use for warming plates, serving, etc. The thing only cost us about $30 or so, and it has far too many uses to count. (ETA: I'm not sure the one we have is that exact brand, and it probably isn't. But whichever brand, it's a griddle/warming tray similar to that one.)