Kouign Aman

Probably a cab ride rather than a walk, Chive gets good words here.

Overweight correlates with calories. Fluid calories do tend to be overlooked, especially if the calories are not from fat. Fat fills us up and keeps us feeling full. Sugar or alchohol calories dont do that. Soda and lemonade etc feel the same as water in the tummy, but not on the thighs. Does overweight correlate with increased risk of heart attack? From what I've read, yes. Perhaps because the heart has to work harder at every pump. However, I know someone started a topic here a while ago disputing that obesity correlated with health issues. So debate may still be possible. Americans are A) living longer than ever before B) fatter than ever before. Could be that #A) is inspite of #B) or it could be that #B) is irrelevant to #A). (Or possibly #B leads to #A but I dont think so, personally). My personal favorite was "the old wives tale" that athletes need more meat than the rest of us, for top performance. Before it was studied, scientists declared this millenia-old information to be 'an old wives tale' and purely false. Then someone did the study, in the 80's or 90's. Ooops! Turns out that athletes do perform better if they have more protein in their diet than the average person. And then a follow up study and Oh My! Turns out athletes utilize animal-source protein better than other sources of protein. And the old wives walked away chuckling and smiling and polishing their fingernails on their lapels.

The tomatoes are coming to a close. The plants are keeping only those branches alive which are still holding fruit. I'll be harvesting tomato and tobacco hornworms this week instead, if I can get them before they burrow to cocoon. Its funny - we shared a lot of the second round of tomatoes with slugs, birds, earwigs and caterpillars. We lost almost none of the first round to such predations. Next year will be interesting. The fruit's ok after a caterpillar's been at it, but it has to be picked and used fast, before the exposed part starts to mold. Is this the time of year to plant garlic? Move the lemongrass & strawberries to a protected area? What else? What do you plant, for spring harvesting? (Although, if I dont plant anything, I can concentrate on weed abatement etc instead.)

All pancakes are good when topped with a butter and a mix of syrup and grand marnier, served warm.

Do you have a recipe for that sauce? It looks so vibrant. I like the flavor of yogurt in sauces, but have never made one before. What kind of seasoning do you use? Coriander? Mint? ← The sauce was very much a delicious surprise. I wanted to go along with the Moroccan theme with the sauce as well as the meatballs. ← Oh my, yum. Nice work! I'd order that description off a menu. Would you mind putting the recipe (and the meatballs) in RecipeGullet so I can find it again in November? I doubt I'll get to it before then, and its high on my want-to-make this list now. I love those flavors, meatballs work well in our house, and tomato brings bright cheer to a grey day. Now to decide: couscous, rice, quinoa or ??? on the side. Decisions decisions! (hmmm... can I get ground lamb at Costco?)

I havent done much with pears in the past (other than eagerly consume Comices every winter - while waving a large sharp knife at anyone who looks like they might be asking to share). But in my on-going efforts to expose the offspring to as much variety on the table as I can, I think I shall be looking to the pear this winter. Ginger poached sounds really good. I've seen many a recipe for red-wine poached pears, but cant imagine it tasting good. Do they lend themselves to microwave 'baking' as nicely as apples do?

My last bash was a large (party sized) bag and a half of salt n pepper potato chips, 3 kahlua and milks, most of a pint of haagen dazs dulce de leche, a large plate of pasta with butter, parmesan and black pepper - and that was just after work. I refuse to describe what I ate during the day. I didnt stop til I got too sleepy to keep eating, an hour past my usual bedtime.

Peanut oil is popular in asian cooking. I've made popcorn with half olive oil, half corn oil. Tasted good and the burn/smoke rate was acceptable. (Why does corn seem to pop better in corn oil?).

After a full day at Disneyland (in Orange County), its a long long way to LA with a probably-exhausted 5 & nearly-as-tired 7 year old in tow. There is good food much closer to hand. "New, Cool, close to hand" being the criteria. It just that I dont know the area well enough to suggest some!

I wonder - wouldnt a chef choose a menu that he could produce to his preferences with the kitchen to hand, rather than take shortcuts and risk his reputation? I can certainly see why you'd want to check for yourself. That looks and sounds like a great evening.

I just tried a lotus bean paste and a red bean paste mooncake. (Each specified '1 yolk'). I enjoyed them both. They are quite filling and I think one would be sufficient for a substantial snack with a cup of tea.

If they taste actually unpleasant, I cant imagine rescuing them. Or is it that they are ok but just barely taste of shrimp? Because then perhaps something could be done with them - probably something that involves lots of garlic, and where the shrimp is present as a neutral flavored protein. Its hard to do much with bad ingredients.

If we get too deep into infusion, we'll have to switch topics, but... fresh dates infused in grappa? Would this work with dried dates? Do you drink the grappa or eat the dates? Should I take grappa with me when I trek to Indio?

Monterey Jack is a cheese very well suited to add-ins. I have to buy some now. Its been a while since I've had it. A local sausage shop makes a smoked gouda that I liked quite a bit. The horseradish cheese I tried was also good - a rich cheese with its own bite, that played well with the horseradish bite.

Here are some thoughts. this one is in LA I think: Bin 8945 This one in OC: Marche Moderne

I'm not sure what my british-descended child would choose in absence of parental input, but if I mentioned the fish, crabs and lobsters in the tanks, I know I could sway the vote to dim sum. I might be able to do it just by mentioning soup. So far, drive thru food is drive thru food. We havent made the association with happy meals or playgrounds yet. Which is good because 'chicken fry and french fries' wield a pretty strong appeal all on their own.

Do you have a recipe for that sauce? It looks so vibrant. I like the flavor of yogurt in sauces, but have never made one before. What kind of seasoning do you use? Coriander? Mint?

Thanks for the photo. I can tell I'm going to have to make a trek to Indio (Date Capital of the USA) in the appropriate season, and track me down some fresh dates. I've had relatively fresh barhi dates before but not so very fresh they were still yellow!

That delicious soup looks inspired by the Pot au Feu topic. Was the cauliflower in from the beginning or a late addition? I'm curious about cruciferous vegetables in a long slow cooking application.

These are suggestions from when I posted a similar request a few months ago. I've excerpted them.

Yup. Swish the clumps in a bowl of warm water, and gently break them apart. I have no idea how to prevent clumping.

We've frozen brie wheels for use later on in baked-brie dishes, and that works ok - the melting characteristics are a bit different but its not drastic. Make sure its well thawed first tho - and that always takes longer than we expect.

A Spanish tortilla is essentially a potato and onion fritatta. If non-dairy is the key, and eggs are ok, you might be able to make a tart by baking a vegetable custard into a partially prebaked shell. Think of pumpkin pie filling: pureed low water vegetable, eggs and liquid. You'd need some creativity in that part - soy or stock or .. (pumpkin pie uses condensed milk often).

Those look like jujubes ("Chinese dates") which are from a deciduous tree, vs the other kind of date which comes from a palm tree (medjool, barhi, etc). I don't believe I've ever seen a fresh palm date up close and personal. I like jujubes fresh. Tho they are not exciting, they are pleasant. I'll have to try the freezer trick. There's more here: fresh ju ju be topic

Since the Magic Kingdom is in Anaheim, which is squarely in Orange County, you might consider restaurants in that neck o' the woods as well.