Jaymes

Is there any chance you have access to a library, even by mail, that offers DVDs? I know some do. Perhaps you could check out some of these series. I particularly loved the Susanna Trilling one. In fact, I wound up taking some classes from her.

Oops. That was the other thing I changed. I used a wing and a prayer and a crock-pot. Sorry. Well, I'm sure the Indians in the Yucatan would have, too, if they'd had one available, instead of all that digging!

Bruichladdich. At least, can't find an affordable bottle.

Okay, Central Perk. But my favorite was the coffee shop in "Frasier." Boy, did I ever want to be there.

Yes, those little Nature Sweet tomatoes are very, very good. We eat a lot of salads at our house, and that's what we put into them in the wintertime. Also slice them (although it can get a little tedious) for BLTs, insalata caprese, bruschetta, fresh salsas and fresh pasta sauces and other applications wherein one absolutely requires a fresh tomato. Just don't want to wait 8 months for a BLT. Those little Nature Sweet bursts of flavor fill the bill just fine.

Yes, one should make the traditional pickled onions to go with it. There are lots of good recipes around. And Darienne, your dish sounds amazing. Were you able to find the frozen banana leaves in one of the markets up there? If not, what did you use?

When I can't get the sour oranges, I use calamondon oranges, since I always have a bush of that. But they're small. So if I don't have enough of them, or don't have any ripe ones, or have no other choice, I use a mixture of orange and grapefruit juices for Cochinita Pibil.

Well, I do think that the bitter marmalade is an acquired taste. I first was introduced to it in the late 60's when, at the age of 23 and eager for adventure, I moved to Hong Kong by myself. I moved into the YWCA, which was just about half-way up the Victoria Peak tram. It was pretty basic quarters, with a dining hall in the basement. The majority of the residents were Chinese and, for the most part, the dining hall served Chinese food. In the mornings, they served fresh fruit such as mangoes, mangosteens, papaya, pineapple, etc., and, as Hong Kong was a British Royal Crown Colony, a small selection of western-style breads. To go with the bread, there was butter and bitter orange marmalade. The marmalade was the only "sweet" option. At first, I didn't like it at all. In fact, I'm sure that had there been a more-typically American-style sweet jelly or jam available, I wouldn't have eaten the marmalade. But as it was the only thing on the table to go with the bread, I did. It wasn't too long, though, before I learned to absolutely love it. When I came back to the US, I remember trying some American brands, and they were all too sweet for me. But I don't think that becoming accustomed to the bitterness and the peels is the only reason why it tastes different to us today. Although I'm sure you're right to some degree, there's no question that they've changed the recipe. It doesn't taste sweeter to us now just because we're grown up and used to it. In the case of the Keiller Dundee, anyway, it tastes a lot sweeter because it is.

Yesterday in the market I, too, saw the white jars, and went over to look. They were Keiller marmalades - the grapefruit and the combination - but not the bitter orange. Don't know if those other jars are doomed as well. It defies explanation to think that Keiller would keep bottling their other products in those iconic white jars, but cease to bottle the one that made them famous. Also, the other makers offer a range of sweetness. I just can't imagine why Keiller couldn't. All very odd.

The owner of that British import shop with whom I commiserated regarding the Keiller Dundee told me that many folks have switched to Tiptree and/or Thursday Cottage. He says that each company makes several varieties, including the traditional bitter. I haven't sought them out and tried them yet, but I'm hopeful.

Telephoned the owner of a local UK import store to inquire about this. He said that consumption of bitter orange marmalade has fallen off considerably among Britains in recent years. Said that modern Brits seem to like things sweeter these days, so Keiller & Sons, the makers of that bitter Dundee orange marmalade decided to change the recipe. It is now sweeter, and runnier, with far fewer orange peels. And they no longer pack it in those iconic white jars. And that's for everybody, not just the US market. I don't understand this. I'm sure they must have their reasons, but it seems to me like the thing to do would have been to continue to produce the variety that has kept them in business for generations, keep it in the white jar, slap "Original" on the label, and then put out the sweeter variety in the clear glass jar. I'm sure that they must have considered that option, but decided against it for some reason. Whatever the reason, I'm sad about it. However, the fact that nobody else has posted in this thread tells me that I well may be the only one.

Tuaca. Learn something new every day. Can't get it in Ontario, at least not in Peterpatch or Toronto. But I see we can get it in Moab. Next fall, with luck. Tuaca is an Italian apple liqueur. Pretty nifty stuff, I think. Tuaca Apple Liqueur

I didn't notice this when I posted that spaghetti with one meat and one non-meat sauce might work. Although I don't really get it. I used to live at high altitude. Had a big family with lots of kiddos. Not sure how I could have gotten through that with no non-baked pastas. I didn't have an issue with it being gummy. Can't imagine what all those Italians in the Italian Alps would do without pasta. But on the other hand, you're not moving there, so probably an easy thing to just choose something else for your short stay. I'd second the "easy Mexican" idea. Get a chuck roast or pork shoulder. Cut it into chunks. Put it into the crockpot. Dump one or two jars of Herdez Salsa Casera (go with 'mild' or 'medium' or 'hot' or a combination, depending upon the heat tolerance of your companions). Cook until the meat falls apart. Serve with tortillas and fixin's such as guacamole, onions, cheese, lettuce, sour cream, etc. I also opened a couple of cans of charro beans to serve alongside. (If you want to go more exotic, then do the same thing with a beef tongue for 'tacos la lengua.') Two beef stews I've made in that situation went over very well: Greek Stifado, and Flemish Carbonnades. Familiar, in that they're beef stew, but with enough of a twist to make them interesting. And lasagna is always well-received. As I said on that other "vacation" thread, bake it in a disposable pan for easy cleanup. We actually just did a week at a vacation ski cabin in Tahoe. I baked a big ham the first day. We ate on it for most of the week - first night, ham for dinner along with mac & cheese, corn, canned baked beans (that the kids love), sliced fresh pears as a salad; then for breakfasts, sandwiches, snacks, whathaveyou. It's just so versatile. We finally finished it off on the last day and one family member that lives in California and had driven to Tahoe froze the ham bone, and then took it home with her to make split pea soup. Other things that were a big hit: I also made chili that first day. Used it as dinner one night with a salad and cornbread (that I made from a boxed mix bought there following high altitude directions), then over hot dogs with wieners roasted on sticks in the fireplace, then with one of our family's favorite evening meals, chili and eggs. We made a big shopping run the first day. Some things we got that we were glad to have were a lot of eggs (we went through six dozen that week), and bags of frozen Pilsbury biscuits, sliced good cheeses that we used with the ham for sandwiches and snacks, peanut butter & jelly (there were five kids in our group). Other huge hits: S'mores in the fireplace Microwave popcorn (that we'd make right when the skiers came in tired and wet and hungry, but before dinner was ready) Chili con queso and chips (that we'd make right when the skiers....etc.) Hot drinks made in the crockpot: Gluwein Hot Apple Pies - first you mull apple cider. (Don't add the booze to the cider then, so it's good for children or non-drinkers.) Then you pour it into a mug, add a nice shot of Tuaca, then top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg. Such a big hit that I had to make two batches of a gallon each, and buy more Tuaca. And one friend that had never had it before emailed me later to say that he had taken Hot Apple Pies to several parties after he got home and now he's something of a "hot drink celeb" in his crowd.

How about spaghetti and meatballs or (even easier) chunks of store-bought Italian sausage? You could make a vegetarian tomato sauce. You could either take some of it out and set it aside for the non-meat eaters, then drop your meatballs and/or sausage in to simmer a while. Or just serve the pasta and tomato sauce, and pass the meat separately.

Lasagna can be made within very minimum amount of dishes. You need a frying pan to brown you meat and the pan to cook the lasagne in. You can use the noodles that don't require cooking, pre-made sauce (some of it is pretty good), some fresh herbs and cheeses and away you go. You can put it together in about 20 minutes! Not quite how you'd probably make it at home but very good, filling and simple, all the things you want if you're cooking on vacation. I often take lasagna on vacations if we're driving. I make it in advance in a disposable pan, then freeze it, then wrap it up really well and put it in the bottom of the cooler. It helps to keep the cooler cold, it's easy to heat up after we're there, everybody likes it, and then we throw the pan away. Although this is obviously not an option if you're flying, once you arrive, you can still go buy a disposable roasting pan to prepare it it. That way, you don't have to worry if the vacation house has a large roasting pan, and even if they do, you don't have to stand there scrubbing it.

Gaddi's Restaurant at the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong. Back in those days, the Peninsula was generally considered to be the best hotel in Asia, and Gaddi's, the finest restaurant. It was the late 60's, I was 23. It was a grand time to be a young Western woman living in Hong Kong. I dated a man that lived at "The Pen" and we went to Gaddi's nearly every night. The Prawns au Sherry to start. Not on the menu because it was prepared tableside by legendary maitre d' Rolf Heiniger, and he was too busy to do it for everyone. And then his Steak Diane. Followed up with coffee and a big white basket of truffles for dessert. Sigh. I described it in this terrific old thread: Single Best Restaurant Meal You've Ever Had

Not that I am an 'expert' in Mexican cooking, but the regular Mexican restaurants are not what I like. The one restaurant, almost a hole in the wall, which caters to the Mexican and Latino laborers at lunch, has authentic food from a number of different Mexican states, no doubt reflecting the origins of the men who line up to take out lunch every day. (Maybe dinner too...I was never there at dinner time.) I fear that when the bridge is rebuilt and the widened highway finished, the restaurant will be gone with the laborers. It's been my experience, in Springfield as I stated, but also elsewhere, that just as you say, a food outlet that caters to laborers has to charge very low prices. As soon as you build a nice restaurant, with higher overhead, your prices go up. Hence the "holes in the wall" and the taquerias and taco trucks. It's not that the Mexicans and Latinos wouldn't go to a "regular Mexican restaurant" if they could. It's just that by and large, they can't afford it. Generally they're working in very low-paid, blue collar jobs. And even if their salary were high enough to be able to afford an occasional evening out in a nice restaurant, they're usually sending most of their money back to their home country, where they're supporting mama and papa and a whole host of other relatives. A $20-30 meal would seem like a huge, and very self-indulgent and wasteful, expenditure. The places that I have lived that support excellent "nice" Mexican restaurants (Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas) have a large Mexican-heritage middle and upper class, not to mention enough of a well-traveled and sophisticated populace in general to patronize such establishments.

For dinner tonight, I'm making another "homey" Mexican dish - cheese-stuffed potato patties. My "Mexican mommy" friends make this with leftover mashed potatoes. We've got some from last night, so we'll eat them up this way. I know of no exact "recipe" for this, and no right or wrong way. Everybody seems to do it differently, according to their family's preferences. Some folks add various seasonings - garlic, onion, chiles, cilantro, etc. You can either add them to the filling, or the potates. One friend says that when she has leftover corn, she likes to mix that in with the mashed potatoes. I'm not sure I've ever seen this in a cookbook, although admittedly, I've never looked. You take your leftover mashed potatoes (you can use sweet potatoes, if you'd rather), and form a ball. Depending upon how big you want them, you can make them anywhere from the size of a golf ball up to the size of a peach, or even larger. It sort of depends upon how you're going to be serving them - vegetarian main dish; side dish; appetizer. Take your finger and poke a deep hole into the ball. Now, stuff it with cheese. You can use any kind of cheese that you like. I usually use queso fresco or cotija, but if you don't have access to fresh Mexican cheeses, use a mild Cheddar or jack. My dad particularly likes this made with "jalapeno jack," but you can use anything - whatever you like or have on hand. Seal the hole and carefully, so as not to expose the cheese, flatten the ball into a patty. Dust the patty lightly with flour. You can season the flour, or you can sprinkle the patty with salt and pepper or paprika, or whatever else you like. Fry the patties in hot oil until crispy on the outside. Serve immediately with garnishes such as salsa, sour cream, guac, etc.

It's very tempting when one lives in a certain locale to think to oneself, "There are no good, authentic (fill in the blank with whatever) restaurants here, so I'll open one." Sometimes, it's true, you're the first to fill a need and you're wildly successful. But oftentimes, there is no good, authentic (fill in the blank with whatever) restaurant there, because the people are not familiar with that cuisine, and have no interest in it. When I lived in Springfield MO, I had a devil of a time finding good Mexican cuisine. Oh, there were plenty of supposedly "good Mexican" restaurants that were recommended to me, but the food had been decidedly dumbed down for local tastes and preferences. After a while I found a really great little restaurant that had just opened, serving authentic Mexican food like rajas, moles, even chiles en nogada. I spoke with the owners, who told me that they thought an authentic Mexican restaurant would be a good idea, "because there isn't one." I knew they were doomed, so I went as often as I could. Sure enough, after a year, they closed. But by then, I had managed to find a few Mexican markets, and some taquerias, etc., that catered to the Mexican workers that have flooded southwestern Missouri to work in all the chicken processing plants. I know you're in a suburb of Toronto. Seems like a large enough city that there would be some pretty good Mexican markets, and perhaps even a taqueria or two. Or perhaps you could schedule an occasional shopping weekend a little farther south, in Buffalo NY, say, or even Detroit. I'm sure you could find sources there for Mexican products and perhaps a good meal or two. But whatever, I've enjoyed following your journey and admire your tenacity. Buen provecho.

Unfortunately their shipping rates to Canada are much higher than Amazon.com (or Amazon.ca) and their time line is much longer. They do have a Canadian arm, and I might try further again. Thanks for the suggestion. Might use them the next time we are in Utah for a while. Do you have a friend or relative that lives in the US? You could just start ordering from a place like Amazon, send them to the friend or relative, and have them hold the books until your next visit south. Sending things "book rate" within the US is the last true postal bargain. Frankly, I'd be willing to do that for you. I'll hold them here, and next time you come to the US, I'll ship them your way.

As Steve says, and as is no secret, homemade stock is always better. On the ingredient list for the Caldo de Pollo are the always inscrutable "natural flavorings" but also the more common and obvious salt and parsley. Other ingredients that I don't routinely put in my chicken broth, are a bit of sugar, a little beef fat, some citric acid, and annatto. Since you are a person that usually has plenty of homemade stock on hand, I'd suggest you go buy a small jar of the Caldo, make a cup, and compare it side by side with yours. Could be that a pinch of sugar, a tablespoon of beef tallow, a squeeze of lime, and a smidge of annatto would be all you'd need to add to get that South of the Border gusto!

Is it just me? Or has the recipe for Dundee Orange Marmalade - the one that was good enough for some 200+ years - changed? No longer packed in the familiar white jar, it seems to me that the recipe also, at least for the US market, is much different. It used to be dark and thick. Now, it's much sweeter, with fewer orange peels per bite. It looks, and tastes, like some US brand, Smucker's, for example. Although it still says "Product of the UK," I can't help but think they are making it sweeter specifically for Americans. So I'm wondering... Is it just me or have others also noticed the difference? Is it sweeter in the UK, too? Where can I go to get some of the old bitter recipe? Or, am I going to have to change brands? And if so, which one?

Find a good used-book source. At a couple bucks a copy, you can have them all!

I don't think that the authors often get the last word on the title of a book. I love a cookbook with stories in it. I'll look it up. Thanks, rg. I, too, love this book. But then I adore everything about Frida and Diego, and am crazy about the movie, so I may be a little prejudiced in its favor. I particularly love giving fabulous dinner parties wherein I screen the movie, and then I serve the very most magical dishes featured in it while wearing a beautiful outfit evocative of Frida and that era. Actually, I haven't really done that yet. But I think I would particularly love it. _____________

And of course, my sweet Ranchito, no one would ever argue that that's not the best. Because of course, it is.