emilyr

Hmm, in Seattle? Surprising. Here in Sydney, rocket is pretty ubiquitous in every supermarket. Though the quality does range from the stuff that has the taste and texture of dry grass clippings, right up to my favourite, the tender large leaf rocket more commonly sold in bunches with their roots and found in the herb section than the salad section. In the US, rocket is more commonly known by its Italian name, arugula.

I think those together sound really great. Like a South-of-the-Border Cosmo. Maybe top with some pineapple or pink grapefruit juice. Or Champagne/Cava?

My aunt and uncle live in Beaumont, and when we went down to visit them in the mid- to late-90s, we went to Galveston for the day to hang out on the beach. Around lunch time there was a brief shower, so we went to a seafood place for lunch. I can't for the life of me remember what it was called, but that pic of Benno's looks really familiar. I've been a seafood lover from a long age, and just remember the waitress saying that the shrimp was really fresh then seeing a dolly get rolled by, still dripping, full of shrimp. So that's what I ordered.

I've seen cake yeast at Schnuck's in the organics cooler, but I've really only looked at the holidays. I don't know if they have it year round. I like Broadway Brewery for food (especially the glazed carrots - I could eat a whole meal of them!), but I've been pretty disappointed with their beers. They're very inconsistent. I don't feel like they taste they same from keg to keg. I took a friend in from Chicago there during T/F weekend, and she seemed to enjoy it. I've heard good things about 44 Stone, too, but haven't tried it.

I usually do a curry with lots of toppings. I make a garbanzo/veggie or chicken base with just a few ingredients that can slow cook during the day and then set out lots of toppings (fried onions, bananas, coconut, etc.).

Now I have to dig out my set. I hope mom didn't give them to the church rummage sale! These books had so much to do with some of my earliest cooking projects. I know for sure that I made my first loaf of bread because of them. I asked my mom why it would take all day to do the baking, so she showed me. One thing I hope some of you have made are Ma's Vanity Cakes in OTBOPC. I got the set for Christmas when I was 7 and had them all read by my 8th birthday in March. I really wanted the vanity cakes; they sounded so good, crispy and sweet. Mom wasn't sure exactly what they'd be, but we did two trials. One of a classic beignet recipe, but they were too dense, and the one we ended up going with from a church cookbook called Resurrection Cakes. You wrap biscuit (from a can) dough around a marshmallow and bake. The biscuit absorbs the marshmallow as it expands, making a hollow cookie. They weren't quite right either, but were good. Anyone tried them?

*slaps palm to forehead*....what a great idea ! Just too lazy to try to figure out autolyzing and I only have 1 dough hook. . . so. Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say.

Oh my, robirstx, I hope those quail were for Valentine's Day. The plating looks positively. . . romantic.

There's a restaurant that I stake out waiting for them to bring back the beet and scallion soup every few weeks. Beets, scallions, lots of ginger and black pepper. It's very smooth, and I asked if they finished with cream. The cook said it's actually a vegan soup and they throw in a few potatoes and puree the whole thing really well. He wouldn't give me the recipe, but did say it had apple cider vinegar for a bite and there are enough scallions and ginger to make it kind of spicy.

Thank you, rarerollingobject, and may I say that your salmon looks divine. I cured some salmon for my dad for his birthday a few years ago, and he's been begging me to do it again. I may have to try that this week. . .

I just spray the top 1/3 or so of the dough hook with cooking spray or coat it with oil. Then, as the dough climbs up the hook, it slides down and falls off, allowing the hook to hit it in new places.

And here's what that's supposed to look like:

Super Bowl Commercial watching dinner. Meatloaf and spinach salad with scallions, almonds, bacon and butternut squash and cranberries cooked together with balsamic and tarragon. http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs061.snc6/167111_685510813874_20305918_38242303_3356941_n.jpg

That Hershey's cocoa cake was the first thing I ever baked! I love it, but it's not my fave chocolate cake any more, really. My mom's tuna casserole never used canned soup, we only eat GBC at holidays, and I can't really remember any really canned dinners except for Dinty Moor Beef Stew and Pillsbury Biscuits, but we sure did go for dessert recipes on the backs of pudding boxes or Cool Whip containers.

I didn't cook this breakfast; I had it at the restaurant (The Brick) we go to every Sunday with my dad's dad and family. French Toast, eggs over easy, sausage and hashed browns. I don't ever put syrup on my FT, but I do dip them in the eggs. I like the egg mixing with the powdered sugar. The rest of my family looks on aghast.

Here's my first attempt at no-knead bread. It's part rye and part white. I'm not sure if I'm convinced about the recipe yet. I'm not a huge fan of the texture, and the crust doesn't stay crispy for very long. I did try it a few days later plain and as a cinnamon swirl. I added a tablespoon of sugar to the dough of the cinnamon bread, and I think I liked it better. It seemed to make the bread softer.

Here are a couple of dinners I remembered to take pictures of from the last month. Chicken Fajitas - I made lime-coconut rice to go on the side and ended up putting them in the fajitas. I'd already finished two before remembering to take a picture. Pork Tenderloin and cream cheese mashed potatoes with cream gravy - lots of pepper in the gravy, and for the first time, I tried a little ground ginger in it. It added a hint of brightness.

I was reading this articlethis week, and it really made sense to me. I'm naturally not a "breakfast before leaving work" kind of person (I'm generally just not hungry then), but when I was on various diets or eating plans (ESPECIALLY Weight Watchers) the importance of eating breakfast was pounded into my head. I always tried to make sure, when on those plans, to eat something for breakfast (usually leftovers). But I was still hungry enough to be distracted at 10:30 or 11, so I ate a snack. Then lunch at noon or 1 and dinner as usual. If I ignore the advice to eat breakfast before I leave, I generally have a small snack around 9:30 or 10 (3-4 hours after I wake) and then the rest of my day is as normal. I think (though without any real proof) that I was eating more when I was "making time" for a full breakfast. I don't feel any hungrier now. My general schedule is to make a packet of oatmeal when I'm making my morning tea at work. Our coffee maker has a boiling water spigot on it; both are too hot to consume right away, so they sit on my desk for 30-45 minutes. Usually right around the time I'm hungry enough to notice, they're ready. Or I'll eat a yogurt and a piece of fruit at 10. Kids are kind of a different story. I know there are all kinds of studies that show that kids do better at school when they're not hungry, and I think that's completely true. I have NEVER been a breakfast kind of person and used to fight quite loudly with my mom and dad about eating a whole bowl of cereal. By the time I hit 4th grade, they just let me do whatever I wanted. My elementary school had a REALLY early lunch (grades 1-4 started lining up at 10:45 and grades 5-8 at 11:20), so I was always more ready to be truly hungry at lunch than be forced a full breakfast, not eat a whole lunch, and be really hungry before the end of the day (when I'd run straight to the c-store and buy cupcakes or beg my grandmama for an after school cookie). Most of the time I'd eat half a peanut butter sandwich or some toast. My brother, on the other hand, needed to have at the least some cereal and some protein (peanut butter, egg, cheese) or he wouldn't be able to keep his mind on his work until lunch. It's really all about knowing what your kid needs.

I don't really mind either way, as long as they get my order right, but we go to the same restaurant every Sunday, and our waitress writes out EVERYTHING the 5-10 (depending on the week) of us want IN LONGHAND. It takes forever, and we're always having to stop and wait for her to finish writing something. It's so annoying to me. She's been a waitress forever, and the majority of our group gets the same thing every week. I know other waitresses at the same place use shorthand or don't write down at all, so there must be some way of the kitchen finding out what we want without filling in 3-4 tickets for each table (seriously).

I don't know that there's any particular tradition behind it, but my mom always gave sourdough starter and some homemade jam.

I was eating at a new Japanese restaurant Friday and had some soba soup with some really great tempura to go with it. I made a comment to the waitress that I wished the shrimp tails were more edible because I really wanted the last of that crispy batter. She looked at me funny and told me to put them in the soup and eat them. They turned out great. A little chitinous, but overall great. I've always avoided tails before, but maybe I won't on fried shrimp in the future. This does make me wonder about another dish at a Chinese restaurant in my hometown. They remove the legs from and devein the shrimp, but then leave the shells on and flour (cornstarch?) it. Then it's flash fried in peanut oil with lots of garlic, salt and pepper. I always thought it was weird that the seasonings all went on on top of the shells. Was I supposed to be eating them whole this whole time? The waitstaff never mentioned anything. I usually peeled the shells and ate the shrimp, licking my fingers to get all the great seasonings.

I would assume the probability of a potato exploding would be based on its water content, skin thickness and age like a corn kernel. Some are going to be more likely to pop than others.

My mom once made a thick, slightly creamy stew with sausage, raisins and cranberries that was baked in a pumpkin (a pretty large one; it wasn't a Halloween pumpkin, but a huge pie one, I think) for Thanksgiving. I don't remember exactly what else was in it, but I know it had sage. Mom doesn't remember either (she saw it in a magazine at the doctor's office and wrote it on the back of an envelope which she didn't keep), but she thinks it had Parmesan and torn up bread in it. Maybe there was kale or some other dark green? I mostly remember being enthralled with scooping out my portion of stew with the flesh of the pumpkin. I was 10 or so.

Arby's horsey sauce and bbq sauce. I always ask for extra packets to take home, and I put BOTH on my roast beef sandwiches. Neon green poppy seed dressing. The creamy white kind doesn't taste as good. Gravy-from-a-can on potatoes-from-a-box when I'm drunk.

I make a pretty basic red pepper soup with out cream that can easily be "upgraded." Sautee peppers, onions, and garlic with some thyme. Deglaze with white whine. Add chicken stock, and simmer til softened. Then puree. I found to add a bit of pop to the color, just add one small peeled beet. It helps intensify the color and tone down the orange.