mizducky

Cool! I've seen brown basmati, but never brown jasmine--at least, so far. Does the brown jasmine rice have the same fragrance as white jasmine? Or is its smell stronger/nuttier/different in some other way?

Heh. I had stumbled upon that tasty morsel on the chicken on my own, years before I discovered that other people knew about it, let alone cared about it enough to give it a name. Before that, I thought of it as my little secret--and I wasn't about to give it away!

Thanks, that's very helpful--especially the difference between Bourguignonne vs. daube.

Hi, I'm feeling a little ignorant here. Could someone explain a little more about daube? I see so many variations when I search for recipes (for instance, some sear the meat first, some don't, some marinate the meat first, some don't, etc.). Are there a set of characteristics that make a dish an authentic daube as opposed to some other style of braised meat dish (or a modernized less-authentic adaptation)? Or is it one of those terms used in so many ways that it's just hard to pin down? (signed, day late/dollar short duckling)

Only time to lurk and read this week, but I wanted to up periscope just long enough to say how much I'm enjoying reading along. What a yummy lifestyle!

I have a confession. I have yet to brine a turkey. And the main reason is my love of stuffing and gravy from drippings--I'm worried they would turn out too salty. Yes yes yes, I know I could bake the stuffing separately, and make gravy without drippings. Yes, I know there's a whole contingent of folks who actively prefer their stuffing/dressing baked separately from their turkey. I respect that, but I am respectfully not one of that number. As I have enthused in other holiday-oriented topics recently, I am a huge fan of stuffing that has been cooked inside the bird. Even though I always bake any excess stuffing in a casserole, I always prefer the stuffing from inside the bird by several orders of magnitude. And I am also a huge fan of gravy from drippings. It just wouldn't be Thanksgiving for me without those two features. So, having felt I had to choose between brining a bird, and giving up the in-the-bird stuffing and the use of the drippings, I have chosen the stuffing and drippings every time. (In case anyone is concerned, my mom trained me to be scrupulous about stuffing "hygiene"--in all the years I, and my mom before me, have stuffed Thanksgiving turkeys, we have never had anyone get ill. In fact, we've had people fight over the stuffing. ) Now I've searched on the net, and found a huge divergence of opinion on stuffing and drippings from a brined bird. Some recipes do say in-the-bird stuffing and pan drippings will get too salty to be palatable. But then there are other folks that say, sure, no problem with stuffing a brined turkey, or even using the drippings; some advise rinsing and drying the brined turkey well after brining and before stuffing, others say just don't go overboard with the amount of salt or the length of brining time (though they're a bit vague about what's the line beyond which you're overboard), and suggest tasting the drippings to make sure they're okay. I tried searching eGullet, but couldn't locate any info on this question (maybe I wasn't sufficiently clever with my search string). So--what say you, eGullet folks? What's your experience, pro or con, with stuffing inside a brined bird, and drippings from a brined bird? Edible or inedible?

Okay, I confess I skimmed the originally-cited article fairly fast as opposed to reading it line-by-line ... but the daily calorie-counts I saw thrown around--correct me if I'm wrong--were on the order of around 1800 daily for some of the guys, and 1300 daily for some of the women, right? Well, guess what? I've been eating an average 1400 calorie-a-day regimen non-stop since late January. Only in my case, it's called a medically-sanctioned weight reduction regimen, not all this trendy life-extension calorie-restriction biz. Now that I've done it for approximately 9 months, I honestly don't see what all the big hairy deal is about sticking to 1400 calories a day. Well, okay, on a certain level I do--because, on a certain level, it is indeed damn difficult. Further, I have had to totally retrain all of my food behaviors, cut way down on my meat and fat consumption and way upped my veg and fruit consumption. On the other hand, I have felt healthier and healthier, seen a marked improvement in my joint pain, sailed through major (and non-weight-related) surgery with flying colors, and have at this point lost about 97 pounds, all positive reinforcement for continuing. Mind you, when I started that regimen I weighed 334 pounds on a 5'3" frame, so I obviously had a loooooong way to go before anyone started worrying for me about anorexia. So, it might be argued that there's a big difference between what I'm doing now, and what these calorie-restriction/life-extension fanatics are doing, in that I do have a demonstrable amount of weight to lose. However--to judge from previous (long and tedious) experience with weight loss diets, and from how my metabolism is behaving under my current rates of calorie intake and expenditure, I am pretty certain that once I hit my goal weight and switch to maintenance mode, I will probably need to keep my calorie intake at no more than 1800/day to stay at my desired weight. AND I will probably need and want, for my continued health, to continue eating according to my very USDA food-pyramid-like food plan (with occasional allowed splurges, mind, but I do have to balance those in), which requires a certain amount of planning, and yeah, even measuring to reinforce portion control. So I ask you all: intentions, life-extension mumbo-jumbo, obsessive-compulsive behavior, and arugula-leaf-counting aside, what is so very different between what these people are doing, and this weight maintenance program my HMO has put me on? As far as I can see, the only differences are that I don't eat crappy bland disgusting food; I don't subscribe to any aspirations to immortality; and I do plan to stop at a goal weight that most people would still consider chunky and which will still make my doc cluck her tongue over my BMI. (I have had a round of excessively low BMI in my 20s--sanctioned by a nutritionist, as a matter of fact--and it screwed up my health for literally years afterward.) Long story short: I don't get what-all the big hairy deal is with this "calorie restriction" stuff.

Many thanks to those folks who have responded so far. One of the hunks o' meat has already met its demise--I wound up doing a sort of exotic London Broil treatment, using some leftover papaya salsa as the marinade/tenderizer. Could not taste any flavor of the salsa in the finished product, but it was nicely tender and well-flavored on its own. The other hunk o' meat is now patiently waiting in the freezer. So--more suggestions are always welcome! (I'm kind of leaning towards the idea of some kind of stew, myself--something in which the meat remains in sufficiently big chunks to enjoy its nice texture.)

Okay, it's been almost three months since my full hysterectomy, so it should be physically impossible for me to be experiencing PMS cravings, right? Right?!? Arrrg. (Is that the big hunk of leftover super-rare London broil in the fridge I hear calling my name?)

Heh. I am reminded of the story my friend told me of her consultation with a Chinese doctor. He gave her a mix of herbs for her condition, to be made into a tea. His instructions included filling one's mouth with raisins before drinking down the tea, to combat its vile taste. "It helps," he told her, "but not much."

I love Thanksgiving dinner. I adore a properly roasted and stuffed turkey--not dried out, the skin golden-crunchy, the stuffing all drenched with cholesterol goodness. My favorite stuffing recipe, unsurprisingly, is the one I learned from my mom. She *never* used prepackaged; instead, she'd save up ends of bread loaves for weeks beforehand, so we'd have a mix of all sorts of breads, heavy on the rye, pumpernickel, and wholegrain stuff. We'd dry it out the rest of the way in the oven, break it into pieces (not cut into cubes!), then add in parcooked sausage, mushrooms, onions, celery, some melted butter and/or an egg or two to pre-moisten, and herbs and seasonings. Any overflow would go in a casserole (with more moistening), but the *good* stuff was the portion that cooked in the bird. But in either case, it had to be doused with my mom's gravy, made from the pan drippings plus the simmered giblets and neck meat. Oh yeah, my mom and I fought over who would get the turkey tail. I hate canned cranberry sauce, and adore my mom's uncooked cranberry/orange relish--similar to what has been mentioned upstream, only minus the nuts, and instead of a food processor we'd put everything, orange peels and all, through one of those old-fashioned hand-cranked meat grinders. I usually don't care for overly-sweet sweet potato dishes either, but my mom had a lovely casserole in which slices of parcooked sweet potatoes were alternated with slices of apple, and then sprinkled with real maple syrup before baking. Somehow the distinctive maple-y flavor made the sweetness less cloying to my tastes. Like some secularized American Jews, my family did celebrate Christmas to the extent of putting up a tree and doing gifts, but we were understandably a little sketchy on the food traditions of that holiday. I did develop a huge fondness for fruitcake though--and have remained a bit bewildered by all the fear and loathing this sweet inspires in many people. Italian-American friends have introduced me to the tradition of the Christmas Eve Feast of Seven Fishes, which I fell in love with.

I've lived with a series of housemates who, while posessed of many excellent qualities, can't be trusted to not lose tableware down the trash or disposal, or absentmindedly run non-dishwasher-proof pieces through the dishwasher, or otherwise beat 'em to crap. In particular, such housemates have had a distressing knack for losing one half of any matched pair of chopsticks. I therefore took to buying cheap-but-reusable chopsticks by the package at restaurant supply stores, so that I could avoid the heartbreak. (And it also allows me to feel carefree about using one to poke around in clogged-up blenders and other hazardous kitchen situations.) I prefer the Chinese shape, and don't mind the slipperiness of the plastic jobbies. I still have a couple pairs of semi-nice laquered wood Japanese ones, which I guard carefully so that they stay pairs. Now that I think of it, I don't think I've ever used, let alone owned, Korean-style sticks; I'd be interested in trying them out sometime just to see what they were like.

The local branch of the Vons (Safeway) chain was having a sale on what they called "London Broil" but was in actuality the thick-cut top round steak often sold under that name. So I got two big chunks, each about 3 pounds in weight and 1-1/2 inches thick, at $1.87/lb (that's the Vons Club price on the Value-Pack size packages, for any other SoCal folks who want to take advantage of this sale before it ends in 6 days). Now if I just followed my usual practice, I'd put one steak in the freezer, do the standard "London Broil" thing with the other, and then have sandwiches for days, which is certainly quite yum. But then I got to wondering if there were other more creative things I could do with one or both of these guys, and decided to ask the eGullet Group Mind. Searching the forums turned up this topic, and this one, and this one, all of which together were quite informative, but still mainly focused on variants on the classic London broil preparation method (though there are a couple of intriguing thoughs about stews and other slow-cook methods in the second topic linked). So--anybody have some fresh thoughts about fun things to make with this cut of meat? I'll also be happy to hear more variations on London broil, especially re interesting marinades, but what I'm really hoping for are suggestions further afield.

This blog keeps getting more fun by the minute! Ah, to be young and in love (with food and farmboy) in a foreign country! Further thoughts re your adventures into Alice B. Toklas brownies: my understanding is that the active chemicals of interest in cannabis are oil-soluble, so a lot of methods recommend a two-step process of first extracting those chemicals into a fat such as butter (by cooking the herb in that fat over gentle heat, straining, and cooling); and then using the infused fat in baked goods and other recipes. The straining step guarantees that there will be no herbal solids adding odd textures to the end-product. Erm ... I hasten to add that this is all information readily available to any curious soul over the Internet. And the technique is related to those for other infused-fat products such as chile oil etc. Yep. That's how come I know this stuff.

Grocery shopping! One of my favorite activities! Do you go to several different grocery stores? Yes, I do. I usually only hit one or two at most in one shopping expedition, but I rotate through a list of favorites for these expeditions, including: --A couple different Food-4-Less stores (the only mainstream supermarket I hit on a regular basis, and the ones I frequent carry lots of ingredients catering to the local ethnic communities); --The local 99 Ranch store (Asian, specializing in Chinese ingredients) --Vien Dong/World Foods Market (Asian, specializing in Vietnamese ingredients) --North Park Produce (mainly Middle Eastern with some Mexican ingredients) --Vine Ripe Market (mainly Middle Eastern) --Pancho Villa Market (Mexican) --Windmill Farms (independent natural foods market with large produce section) --Trader Joe's (mostly the Hillcrest branch; occasionally others) --Ocean Beach People's Organic Co-op I will also drop into other ethnic/indie food shops or weekly farmer's markets just out of curiosity or for a change of pace. And once in a very blue moon, I will use Von's home delivery service--it's nice to have a strapping young man haul my groceries upstairs for me, but frustrating to turn over my food selections to a (too often incompetent) stranger. Do you clip coupons? Very seldom, as coupons tend to be for items I don't use What do you usually buy at the grocery store? Fresh meat/poultry/seafood; some frozen meat products (like IQF boneless/skinless chicken thighs, etc); lowfat luncheon meats and cheeses, lots of fresh produce; grains and dried legumes; wholegrain breads, especially pitas, flatbreads, and crispbreads; lots of Asian ingredients, especially bottled sauces, spices, dried mushrooms and sea vegetables, tofu, konnyaku, etc.; herbal teas and powdered no-sugar beverage mixes. Do you tend to buy more meat or more produce? Definitely lots more produce. Are you too ashamed to make purchases from the "reject bin?" Hell no! That's some of the funnest shopping! (Not to mention the best bargains.) Do you make a list? I usually have a mental list, which often fails--either through forgetfulness, or impulse purchases, or both. If I'm making a specific recipe or cooking for a special event, then I will type up and print out a list. How many refridgerators and pantries do you have for food storage? Just one fridge and one pantry, which I share with my roommate. Do you enjoy grocery shopping as much as I do? I totally adore grocery shopping, especially in ethnic markets, as can be attested by how long it takes me to work my way around a market and get the hell out again (I seldom take less than an hour). It's an opportunity for me to play amateur cross-culture field sociologist, learning about other cultures through their foods and shopping habits; it's also a goldmine for new cooking ideas, as I ponder new-to-me and fascinating ingredients, and what I might use them for.

That's similar to the first suggestion I thought of: a French-style potato salad. Or even a full-on salad nicoise (forgive me, I'm too lazy to dig up the right diacritical on the "c"). Another possible direction is a potato curry dish. There are several variants from different regions of India; I think Madhur Jaffrey's "World of the East Vegetarian Cooking" has at least a couple.cast-iron Or you could just show up with a big skillet and a bunch of pre-grated potatoes (plus other required ingredients), and set yourself up as a latke-frying station at the buffet.

Absolutely! I would love to see that. ← So would I, most definitely!

Oh dear. I hope that's a blue M&M decorating that cake and not some interesting pill... I am reminded of an acquaintance from my college days--the costume designer for an undergrad theater production I was in, she was deputized to make "special" brownies for the cast party. Said she: "There's not a lot of flour in this recipe." (And, yes, I "inhaled;" and no, I have no memory of what the darned things wound up tasting like; and yeah, I think the taste in that case was sort of besides the point.) I'm guessing there are no photos of the interior of the coffee house because its patrons and staff, even in that more tolerant environment, would not be too thrilled about being captured in images...

Y'know, Ah Leung, you may have done the "haute cuisine" plating for laughs, but it actually came out looking pretty danged good. But I'd still take the (much more generous) Chinese style plating any day. (signed, she who has never quite got into this whole fashion of wasting perfectly good sauce on plate-decoration squiggles--after all, it's not the plate itself you're going to be eating... unless you're going to be rude and lick the plate clean ... )

You're welcome! You're off to a great start. Aha! I tried to persuade previous Dutch bloggers to give us a tour of this kind of establishment, but without success.

We did a seven-song set: "Miss Twinkleton's School for Sensitive Boys" "It's A Good Thing He Can't Read My Mind"* "Java Jive" (performed by our small auditioned ensemble, Brotherly Love) "Rhythm of the Fire" (I'm not sure I have this title right; also sung by BroLo) "Love Don't Need a Reason" (popularized by the Flirtations, this song, which we sing in an arrangement created for the New York City Gay Men's Chorus, sounds to me like the theme from a TV dramatic series) "Something Inside So Strong" (a favorite of mine) "That Old Black Magic" (backed up by the band that backed up Joan, composed of local session musicians. We thought that the song would bomb based on the one rehearsal, but these guys and gals were pros -- everything jelled perfectly when it came time to perform for real) *paging mizducky -- I think your chorale performs numbers by the woman who wrote this song regularly... ← Actually, I think both GALA choruses I've sung with, the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Chorus, and recently the San Diego Women's Chorus, have done that particular Christine Lavin song. I think it must be making the rounds of the various musical directors. Happy birthday once again, and thank you for sharing another week of your city and your jam-packed life with us all. 'Twas fun!

The best rehearsal dinner I ever attended was held at a sort of updated Italian restaurant--food a few steps up from the old-school red-checked-tablecloth deal, atmosphere laidback dressy-casual. The delicious homey food and relaxed vibe really meshed well with the group personalities of the two families, and encouraged lots of sharing and bonding. After having seen lots and lots of weddings (I used to officiate weddings on a regular basis), I have to say the ones whose vibe felt best to me were those that, while suitably festive for the special occasion, found ways to not let the pomp get in the way of the just-folks-celebrating aspect of things (while also discreetly reining in any tendency for the celebrating to get excessively boozed up--that can get ugly). I feel that if one makes "the folks-celebrating part comes first" one's mantra during any wedding planning decisions, including regarding rehearsal dinners, one can't possibly go wrong.

Interesting webpage on fruit flies -- including methods of preventing infestations, and fighting them once they happen, including a home-made (and homely-looking) version of the trap andisenji linked to upstream.

Wow, that meat-fest is making me simultaneously drool, and experience phantom gout-twinges in my big toe. Meanwhile ... I dump it in raw, just as Jeff does. It has the texture of cardboard and the rather bland flavor of oats. Maybe I should try toasting it. ← Yeah, rolled-oat flakes aren't really at their best uncooked. You might also try stirring the yogurt into fully-cooked oatmeal (if pre-commute speed is of the essence, you can cook the oatmeal in the microwave, then dump the whole lot in one of those insulated covered coffee mugs for easy transport). Oh, and I couldn't resist an add-on to your trivia of the day: Legend has it that Simpson, at the time a resident of the beautiful community of Coronado near San Diego, first met King Edward VIII at the celebrated Hotel del Coronado, more famous to non-San Diegans as the backdrop for the "Florida" scenes in the movie "Some Like It Hot."

Does it encourage anything else? I've been having gas of late... ← The soluble fiber in oatmeal does tend to promote gas in some people--ironically, it's that same soluble fiber that is supposed to be responsible for its cholesterol-lowering qualities. If you've just recently added it to your routine, your system may just need a few weeks to adjust to the change.