Kouign Aman

heidih, it all sounds so wonderful. This year, again, the weeds won. I need to borrow a goat. If anyone local likes stinging nettles, we have a handsome crop of young nettles you are welcome to harvest.

What did you think of the tamarillo?

Variation on cheesecake? Small tarts, or crustless? Cheese goes well w wine, yes? Salted pecan brittle?

For this reason, we grow purple carrots, green/yellow/striped/brown tomatoes, multicolored corn purple potatoes, and buy red, white, black/purple rices. I've got too many friends who are locked into single flavor/color combos and cant eat variations on the theme. Pale lilac mashed potatoes are fun. Really fun is purple-potato salad. But no one eats it! Cant STAND blue food. Makes me laugh. Will scrape the blue off the cake frosting. No logic to it at all.

Mostly-carb breakfasts knock me out about an hour later. High protein breakfasts do good work til dinner. Dont want food til at least an hour after achieving consciousness. That means I usually break the fast at work. Food intake does increase one's metabolism over fasting levels; I think coffee, milk and sugar do a nice job of pretending to be food for that purpose.

Coffee table - could do. Sides - thanks for the suggestion. Fried potatoes in any shape go over well. Maybe I will live dangerously and bring the food to room temp before we start. Aprons! Oh my! Art smocks it is.

I've seen recipes in top-notch cookbooks by authors everyone here would respect if not adore, calling for "2 octopuses" Octopuses is perfectly correct and is the widely used and accepted plural form of the word octopus, even in scientific circles. While octopode is certainly the technically correct plural, it's considered pedantic and isn't really used. Octopi stems from the mistaken assumptiom that octopus is a latin noun in which -us takes the plural form -i. Octopus is actually ancient greek. Hence octopuses. If it were latin, it would be octopedes. There endeth the annoying grammer lesson I think I love you.

Give it a quick dry saute first to dry it out a bit perhaps? Or layer it w potatoes and reduce the cream?

spaghettios. Tried 'em once. Couldnt swallow the first bite.

Separating things that are going into the freezer. Ironing crayon shavings between two layers of wax paper.

But, did he rub his eyes after? That would be the crowning touch.

I asked the lovely young Taiwanese lady who is staying with us what we should have and she was emphatically in favor of hotpot. I have no idea if its traditional, but I do know she's been missing it, so its all good. My husband says I may not cut a hole in the table to lower the crockpot, so perhaps we will all sit on cushions for the extra height.

We've done some work with displacement as a measuring tool, leveling flour, etc. The child works a mean whisk for scrambled eggs, omelettes and dutch babys. The thing that blows me away is her ability to smell when baked goods are done. She's not just close - she's dead-right-on. "Mom, its nearly ready.... Mom, its done". I hope she holds on to that awareness.

Not all table salt is iodized. Most stores carry both iodized and plain salt. Mostly the difference is texture, as explained above.

nakji, can you get a narrow short ikea cupboard and put it on the counter where all the bottles are now, then store the bottles in that? At least it hides them from view. With a small saw of any kind, ikea stuff can be quite easily customized to height. Or use baskets? (yeah, not awesome w heavy things like bottles, but if he's going mad...) The cupboards cant be bleached and dried and lined w bins? Oh bummer! Its possible to buy room dessicants - usually used in closets to keep clothes from molding, but if no children to get confused and drink the stuff, they would work ok in kitchen too. We dont have a tiny kitchen but still we find it necessary to store the roasting pan, filled with other awkward items, in the oven. Shelves in dish cupboard are set to minimum heights needed for clearance to get things in and out. This took a bit of time and a small drillbit, but doubled the capacity of the mugs/glasses storage space.

Isnt there an entire thread on cooking with children?

October 2010, our house. A visiting lass from Taiwan prepared a dish she was homesick for: 3-cup chicken. What made it especially memorable was the look on her face when she ate the first bite. She closed her eyes and went home for a moment. It showed as pure bliss. We also enjoyed it and understood why she misses it.

I too wont order til after. If I've been driven into your place by need, I dont have the capacity to read the menu and place an order first. I probably wont make eye contact on the way in, because your staff look busy and I dont want to interrupt them. If there were a grocery or hardware store, pay toilet or other option, I wouldnt be darkening the doors of a small coffee shop. But I would remember if I had need and were treated abruptly, in the absence of these other options. But mostly, its a numbers thing. 2 an hour = a possible problem. 2 a day? how do you even notice? How about black light as in Scotland?

Spike. Especially on popcorn.

Good call on the sweetened condensed milk. Its a unique ingredient, and I think is only available canned. I'm sure as shootin' not going to spend the time to make it! Costco has decent canned chicken - works well in chicken salad, and the juice makes a nice stock for cooking rice etc. But I've been without it too. Smoked baby oysters. No special brand. Always there for an instant snack should guests arrive hungry.

I havent done any research - what is traditional? I should go buy some small tangerines or kumquats I guess (gold, round = money). What else?

I finally got around to pickling some brussels sprouts. Thanks for the recipe ideas! We were pressed for time, which meant no shopping for ingredients. First try = cooked, add to white vinegar and tobasco. Not bad, but a bit 'flat' - needs some warmth/roundedness in the flavor. With time to shop, will use apple cider vinegar, perhaps fresh chilis instead of tobasco, and split them into with and without garlic. And for grins, may actually try Kerry's recipe as written.

Cherimoya make a terrific milkshake or smoothie. The newest strangers in the cupboard are fish sauce and black vinegar. Cant think of a single thing to do w the latter. It reminds me strongly of worcestershire sauce, tho its also distinctly different.

He do pack it away. Makes a parent's heart glad. Is the main protein intake at dinner time? Gonna have to try those wicked fussy sandwiches sometime. A big hit for us in school lunch is long noodles stirred in advance w soy sauce and a little sesame oil, and eaten cold/room temp. Also little (gack, individually packaged) packs of seasoned seaweed. Environmental ostracism isnt an issue - over half the kids get the free breakfast each day - served on styrofoam.

But that's what I'm saying...it wasn't perceived. We were in Barcelona for a week, and then in Paris. The difference in how often vegetables were served in Paris (in the restaurants where we ate) vs. how often they were served in Barca (in the restaurants where we ate) was striking. If there werent differences, why go to both? The variations and differences are what make travel appealing.