BarbaraY

Do people put anything else on french fries? Growing up we had brown gravy and turkey gravey....can be used interchangeably French fries get whatever kind the diner has, and I may have discovered white gravy on a drive to Florida about 15 years ago. Chili's would be the major source of white gravy in NJ. where does the cream of mushroom pork chop bake stand in all this graviness? tracey ← Around here it goes with noodles.

Some years are good here and some not so good. A lot depends on the weather conditions. Warm days and cool nights like we're having right now but we don't get them until April/May. Yes, forest fires bring them out and we (fortunately) didn't have any last season.

You sound a lot like my eldest. She says gravy is a beverage.

I would think that some kind of mulch like straw would deter the weeds. Not speaking from experience because I've yet to grow asparagus but it works for other crops.

In my house brown gravy is made with roast beef, pork, or lamb drippings and pan juice. White gravy is made with the fat left in the pan after frying pork chops, fried chicken, or chicken fried steak. Both go on potatoes. I like brown gravy on my roast beef. White gravy on chops or chicken fried steak but not on fried chicken because fried chicken is finger food. Haven't made Red-eye Gravy in many many years because my first spouse didn't want any part of it and I just never tried making it again. He called it "grease gravy".

Fish? No fish? How can you have a Japanese meal with no fish? I agree that a clear soup with small garnishes like shrimp? scallions and sliver of a citrus would be more appropriate than a miso soup. Good luck on your dinner. And yes, where are you writing from?

Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking, which some of you mentioned having, has a recipe for them. It calls for baking soda. baking powder and alum. No ammonium phosphate.

Was this with just one pound of beans? I'm never clear how much a ham hock flavors. ← Yes one lb. beans. It wasn't actually a ham hock but a smoked shank. The ones I get are quite large so I have the meat cutter split them lenghthwise, probably about 1/2 lb. or a bit less. They are very meaty and have a better ham flavor then tha hocks sold in my local grocery store.

Today I had a yearning for "Good Ol' Pinto Beans with Ham" and decided I would try this method. I used a cast iron Dutch oven, put in a ham hock, 1/2 a chopped onion, a small bay leaf, and 1 clove chopped garlic along with beans and water to about 1 1/2-inch. No salt at this stage because of the ham hock. I brought it to a boil and put it into a 275ºF. oven. After 45 minutes the beans still looked mottled so I left them for the full 1 hour 15 minutes. They still weren't done enough but another 1/2 hour seems to have taken care of that. I did add a pinch more salt at the 75 minute time. 275ºF. because, although my oven tests to be correct, it always is a tad slow. As soon as they are cool enough to handle, I will remove them from the pot since I don't want them to start tasting rusty. Will take the meat off the bone and put it back in. Mmmmm! Corn bread and beans for dinner tonight.

I've enjoyed this tremendously. Thanks for showing off another part of our great state where I've never been. Always want to mention that you're looking great and doing very well with your food program. Congratulations!

I have encountered a number of recipes that call for Pea Shoots which are unavailable even in the Farmer's Markets here. I'm sure I would like them since I love peas, especially Sugar Snap Peas. I found that a Google search pulls up a lot of information on growing them in trays. I'm going to give this a shot since I think I would like them very much. Will keep posting as to progress.

My eldest daughter, who lives with me, has a meniscus tear in her knee, too. Her Dr. shot it full of a gel-like substance. Since the last treatment was Wednesday, we're waiting to see if it works. She shares the cooking with me. (Keeping it food related.) By the time she finished a very simple dish last evening, it was swollen and painful.

Oh dear. I have tried and tried to like eggplant. It isn't the flavor it's the texture. I can eat it in ratatouille (sp?) or caponata where it's mixed with plenty of other things but alone, I nearly gag. I'll keep trying, though. I dislike disliking foods.

Instead of what? They should have some of the lovely, light soup served in our favorite place. chicken broth with minced bits of gizzard and heart. It's lovely and not at all salty unless one pours in a big slug of soy sauce.

I, too, use a rather battered aluminum skillet to bake them. My favorite topping is apples caramelized with brown sugar and a good splash of brandy, then sprinkle powdered sugar. We used to make them mostly for Christmas breakfast hence the brandied apples.

Thanks for the excellent tips. I must read up on the Lizard Brain because I think mine may have started running the show here. Excellent blog.

OMG May I have a serving of that Duck pie with Pinot Noir!

I made Japanese curry for our dinner on Friday using S&B curry mixe. I added onion, carrot, red bell pepper, sugar snap peas, and leftover roast pork. It was delicious and we ate every bite. After seeing Chryz's with the black sesame, I decided to try it, too.

If you don't want powdery crumbs it would probably be better to put the dry, toasted bread cubes into a heavy duty plastic bag (sealable) and roll or pound them with a rolling pin or mallet, after all that's the way we used to do them before food processors.

The beautiful, ripe, juicy strawberries that can be bought from the stand next to the fields in the California's Central Valley. I can eat a whole basket while standing over the sink. No need for sugar, lemon, or liqeur. They just taste of strawberry.

I believe the hot cinnamon flavor is from cinnamon oil. I can't bear the taste of things like Red Hots, etc. I love regular (cassia) cinnamon and also true cinnamon. In this area true cinnamon is found in the Mexican spice rack and is absolutely delicious. I always use it in my Mexican dishes that call for cinnamon. Much more mellow.

I have never thought of rabbits as pets and have lived in the country most of my life so they are food. The first rabbits I ever had part of raising were "bunnies" that we were given at Easter with the full understanding that they would eventually become dinner.

A casino buffet in Las Vegas that was part of our package at a less than top quality place. Never expected anything more than passable food. The flan was so good I went back to get a second helping and I would have gone for a third had I been able to eat more.

Most of the bone-in chops sold here are paper thin and, IMHO, turn out dry and tasteless. When I find nice, thick bone-in chops I grab them. I bread and brown, then pop into a hot oven for a few minutes. They are so delicious and I think they taste so much better than boneless.

Wow! I hope it all tasted as good as it looks.