LB Howes

There's a culinary textbook that covers the basics called The Book Of Yields by Francis T Lynch that you might find helpful.

When I lived in the SF Bay Area years ago there were ItsIts, a regional treat consisting of real vanilla ice cream sandwiched between 2 oatmeal cookies and dipped in chocolate. They were great! I don't know if these are still available.

Something I just learned from McGee's On Food and Cooking is that leaving cooked rice at room temperature for too long can be unsafe. Apparently raw rice often carries bacteria that can withstand high temperatures (and so survive the cooking process). The bacteria grow pretty rapidly at room temperature, so he recommends serving rice hot and refrigerating any leftovers. Or, you can add an acid (as in sushi rice or rice salads, which inhibits bacterial growth. Yup, this bacteria is what causes the "MSG syndrome" at cheap chinese places very often. MSG Syndrome or anything related to any adverse reactions to MSG are NOT the same thing. The Serve Safe coursebook identifies the cause of illness from room temperature rice as being the bacillus cereus gastroenteritis bacteria.

If you are traveling up to Seattle, Ivar's is the place to go. They also serve a nice chowder and have many locations scattered around the Puget Sound region.

here's what first came to mind: if you have hot smoked salmon you can make this quick dish and tailor it to suit your tastes - all measurements are approximations cause i never measure when making this one smoked salmon & pasta - for 2 people 1/4 sweet yellow onion - thinly sliced 1 tsp capers 1+ tbsp butter 4-6 oz smoked salmon crumbled in smallish pieces heavy cream freshly ground black pepper fresh linguine for two dash of alcohol - vodka or white wine - optional Saute onions in butter until translucent, add in alcohol (optional) & cook off the alcohol, throw in capers, salmon and heat. Finish up with a healthy dash of heavy cream to make it saucy, then heat through again. Pour over a shallow bowl of linguine and toss. serve immediately topped with a sprinkle of fresh ground black pepper. if it's lox, you can use it in other sandwich-y sort of things besides bagels & cream cheese. try it on dark rye in a pseudo-rueben sandwich with sauerkraut(hold the cheese), or try a LLT - lox, lettuce & tomato, or how about a cucumber & lox sandwich?

Maybe I missed it, but haven't seen it mentioned about cutting and serving equal sized portions of desserts. Most home cooks just wack away at the cake or pie with the serving spatula or a butter knife, resulting in un-even pieces with jagged edges. I can't count the number of times I've seen some really beautiful looking desserts mutilated. I always designate myself as the official dessert cutter so the pieces stay looking pretty and there's enough portions for everyone!

I don't care for most crackers, but there's a couple of boxes of Triscuits in my pantry right now! Don't like low fat version, and the flavored ones are overseasoned anf too salty for my taste. Trader Joe's makes their own triscuit type of cracker which I've actually come to prefer to Nabisco's original.

Both. Depending on the season, if we're having company, the occasion, and my mood. The only constant factor is cloth napkins.

okra, creme anglaise, and vegemite

Since eating way too much rich Thanksgiving food, I've been having a cup of mid-grade green tea every afternoon.

In Hawaii where I grew up folks have many more ways to eat spam than just spam musubi. What immediately comes to mind is spam & cabage, spam pancit(Filipino-style noodles), spam shu mai, spam sandwiches with mayonaise (Best Foods of course), spam saimin, and fried spam, eggs and rice. Spam is so popular that a while back the Spam company did a special run of Spam in a tin especially designed for Hawaii. I heard from my brother in Honolulu that sales were especially brisk at Costco stores where folks regularly buy Spam and other canned meats - vienna sausages, and canned corn beef - by the case. These canned meat foods first became popular because they were cheap sources of fresh beef and pork which was expensive and not always available especially during WWII. Also, these processed meats are very saltyand distinctive tasting, so a little went a long way when aded to any recipe. You can buy Spam cookbooks at Amazon which have Spam recipes from Hawaii. Ann Kondo Corum's two humorous Spam cookbooks, and Muriel Miura's Spam cookbook are available. Amazon also has a musubi mold for sale.

My favorite herbal tea is African rooibos tea, which is also known as redbush tea. It's delicious straight but because it has a richness and clarity of flavor like good black tea it also takes well to being served with milk and sugar. Sometimes you can find it blended with other herbs such as chamomile or blended with spices. It's has no caffeine, is high in anti-oxidants, and supposedly soothing to upset stomachs.

Is there anything people won't eat???

Yes, I really really do( it might be a texture thing). I love cooked tomato sauce though and I dont mind the odd piece of tomato in a stew. I also love tomato soup. ← I can't stand raw tomatoes either - it's the texture. My oldest son is the same way.

I don't know what kind of logic it has, but my cheapo rice cooker arrived yesterday. I'll take on the Brown Rice Project this week, and I hope to be converted from a Hater to a Lover. ← Well. . . did the new rice cooker convert you from a Hater to Lover?