Rebecca263

I've come here and tried to write something for you twice already, Jamie, but I'm at a loss as to what to say! I know, I know, 'the unexamined life', etc... but this isn't easy for me, being 1000 different people rolled into Rebecca. I love life, in all it's incarnations, and I love the process of shopping and cooking. I could spend thousands every week on food and drink, easily! I spend less than a hundred, though. My daughter is the focus of my every day existence right now, I'm raising her and I take that job very seriously. Yes, yes, I know, frivolous Rebecca, how can that be? Well, I'm so proud of my child, she is bright, yes, but along with her Mensan brains she has a HUGE heart, and I feel a thrill at her every breath in this world. Also, I'm ill, and I haven't got a career, so we're very, um, frugal. Kiddle is impossibly sweet and unassuming, and also impossibly spoiled. I can't help it, I spoil everyone, it makes me feel good! So, I shop accordingly. Kiddle likes artichokes? We have 'em as soon as they're in season, and for the duration, until they're awful again. Strawberries? Ditto, and we grow her favorite tomatoes. I make the foods that she loves, and she eats and her friends eat, and we're all happy. We plan for meals out, because of budget, but we eat only good food, whether it is honest barbeque, pho, Pacific Time, Muriel's or SamVera. Very few chains, and even less Sysco pass our lips. Now, when a guest is here for a visit, my shopping adjusts. We had a young learning disabled guest just after Christmas, and he loves the idea of what he thinks of as 'gourmet' foods, i.e. anything that he thinks is expensive, and I shopped accordingly, buying him a duck (his first cooked at home!) and genuine Prosciutto di Parma too. When one of my boys comes for a visit, I add their favorites to the mix. Of course, we are regaled with meals cooked by said boys, and paid for by said boys, as well. So, who do I aspire to be? I think that I want to be who I am, but in my own home, with more books, lipsticks, shoes and undies, and with a career for safety. Plus, I live in the cold to be near my family, and I'd like to settle in with someone who would live in the warm with me. What is your analysis of my aspirations?

Crab cakes, and you can make your own fresh mayonnaise, she will love that! Most of my Chinese friends ADORE mayonnaise, to distraction! Hmm, why is that?Just be sure not to let her it by the spoonful. My friend May got so ill once, she just didn't realize how rich mayonnaise is, even after watching me make it!

Horseradish and raw steak, yum! Liver, yum! Now, fish or lamb eyeballs, not so edible to me, I'm sorry. Jello, no thank you. I suppose it is texture that creeps me out, but I adore a decent aspic, if coating a fish thinly, or crushed at the base of the plate.

Everything, in huge amounts. I mean it, if I eat it, it isn't safe from my binging. I don't need to hide anything, though. KIDDLE has to hide the things that she doesn't want me to eat FIRST. Hmm, where IS that six pack of Mexican Coca Cola? Excuse me, Mommy has to go hunting.

What do you use the leftover centers of those brussels sprouts for? I do a pureed soup, with lots of butter.

a 1/2 glass of either grapefruit or orange juice, depending on what fruit is a good deal at the market the last time I went. I can miss my breakfast oats, I can miss my daily coffee, but I HAVE to have my juice. I follow it with 2 glasses of water. Then I feel awake. I wonder why I do that?

Holy Oats, are you kidding? My daughter would have gone hungry at school during the last half of third grade if it wasn't for baby corn! She wouldn't eat anything that we packed for lunch, if there was no baby corn accompaniment.

Yesterday: whole wheat thin spaghetti (I can't make spaghetti, no roller!) 13 ounces= US$1.00 'Balsamic' vinegar 6 ounces=US$7.99 Light cream cheese 8 ounces=US$1.00

I promise to wave the flag promptly. We will be thrilled to dine amongst fellow eGulleters. We've got enough for the meals, gasoline, a few bottles of kiddle's favorite water, and a decent bottle of *something* for the adults, so far. Next: funds for a hotel room... I'm sure that Shola will return by the end of summer, right?

I've put away a sum of money in an envelope that is labeled "straight A's go to Studio Kitchen this summer". My daughter, who is 16 and very much enamored of fine dining, has been waiting patiently for the time to arrive for us to visit the Studio Kitchen. Just this week she chose NOT to have our monthly 'big deal' restaurant meal, and instead we went to a pho house. She wanted to save the difference towards our visit to Philadelphia and SK. She just came over to me and tearfully told me that SK will be closed now, indefinitely. We have watched this thread for almost 6 months now, and I eagerly await my chance to share this thrilling experience with my daughter. Kiddle and I wish to be part of an eGullet party upon his return!

I like gin on ice with a slice of lime. Maybe a bit of salt on a plate, for licking after, too, but it's not necessary. Does that count as a mixed drink? Gin has an intoxicating floral thing going on, that I can't get enough of!

OK, I only eat ground beef once in awhile, and then it usually doesn't make it to any cooking surfaces, but, here's my contribution. I'd try this IF it was a slightly different concotion. Ground beef burger, prepared black and blue, served in a warm, freshly fried cake doughnut, unglazed, a few grinds of black pepper added and then topped with a fresh chopped tomato, a drizzle of roasted carrot infused oil and some home made sweet pickle slices. Hmm. That sounds divine! Maybe even some fresh mayonnaise, in place of the carrot infused oil, if you're feeling like a glutton. But, the cheese? Even a decent cheddar elicits a NO from my taste buds. I just don't think that the combination of flavors would be great.

Rem Koolhas! Thank you, for eating all of this food for us, and for sharing with us your unique perspective of food and architecture! edited by me to add: KoolhAs, jejejeje!

Oh My Holy Strawberries! The strawberries in the Redlands of Miami and the Old West of Davie haunt my dreams! In Florida we would grow dozens of plants of tiny wild berries in our garden. A dear neighhbor gave us seeds once, from his stash, and after that we used our own. My daughter fondly remembers the farms in the Redlands, where the farmers will pinch your cheeks, if you're a curly haired moppet with a berry stained countenance, and a fit of the giggles. New Jersey berries are good in late spring, too, but they're a lot bigger and 'fluffier' in texture than the heavy little berries we would get in Florida. I thought it was the water! hahaha, it's just the variety, I suppose. edited by me because missing commas drive me nuttier than I already am!

Eating peanut butter makes me sick these days, I'm unfortunately 'sensitive' to so many foods, and peanut butter is a biggie. I can eat a teaspoonful but not a smidgen more without feeling terrible. I would adore to fall in love with the 'better' peanut butters, but their mouthfeel is awfully boring to me. I love- PETER PAN CREAMY, all the way!

It makes lovely slender ribbons out of the already thin paper ones. After, I curl the ribbon on the flat edge of a scissor or a pencil, or a key, if I'm in the car! I have a ribbon shredder, too, somewhere. Hmmm. I DO love little gadgets and toys!

Gee, I may need to join!

Yes! A stringer and slicer! It arrived in my home as the "bow" on a gift package once. How fun! I haven't used it for that, though, as we eat our string beans whole. I use it for cutting ribbons for decorations. Well, I AM a bit um, 'different'.

Well, you could use that to wring out something flat, couldn't you? I was thinking of it as a ricer of sorts, myself. Here's my offering to the subject of unusual kitchen gadgets:A strange machine.... Um, it's my first photo post, feel free to let me know the proper way to achieve this sort of thing!

We have the same size freezer in our house. I can't stand not being able to freeze EVERYTHING that I want to. How about you? Do you find yourself running out of freezer space for leftovers and such? I have a teenager, so I can just force her friends to eat stuff, what's your cure?

I make lettuce soup. A chicken stock based soup, with carrots, garlic, white beans, onions, any soft skinned squash, and lettuce. When the soup is served, I drizzle fruity olive oil on each bowlful, and serve it with hot sauce and lemons, or limes. When I make certain meat dishes I line the pan with iceburg lettuce, and the next day I make lettuce soup. It's the only time we eat that kind of lettuce in our house. Although, I DO adore shredded iceburg lettuce in a sandwich, we just don't make that kind of sandwich at home!

I have never encountered a bean that didn't elicit joy from my tastebuds and my tummy.

At the "Farmer's Market" today: decent looking Florida limes 6 for US$1.00. I bought them instead of the California lemons, 4 for US$1.00. The lemons looked weird and fake.

I'll never buy Foodtown brand chocolate chips, even if the ingredients are the 'same'. We ended up returning the bag! We switched to Hershey's Special Dark Giant bars, broken up, for our cheap applesauce-whole wheat cookies, and it's MUCH better. Kiddle just refuses to understand that the GOOD chocolate(right now it's just some average Mexican stuff, but oh-yum!) is OK to bake with, she insists on eating it and using what she calls "cookie chocolate" in the baking. I.MUST.EDUCATE.THIS.GIRL.FURTHER!

I use smopked turkey in my white bean soup, and sage. It is SO delicious, and the bones from the turkey add a beautiful thickness which I've noted is absent if I make the bean soup vegan. edited by me to add: smopked! hahaha! AND: I've used tofu skin in a vegan soup, it isn't terrible, but it needs soo much more seasoning!