Kouign Aman

Now there's an emancipation statement if ever I heard one!

That recipe sounds really good. Instant hunger attack! It looks like cocoyam could possibly be substituted with either taro root or malanga, one or both of which are easily obtained in Miami, and can be obtained here also. Perhaps not with the convenience of frozen pregrated, tho. Does the bag give any info on genus? (Yeah, right. ) What does plain cocoyam taste like? (cooked, raw, whatever).

Here's today's haul. Mr Stripey is quite large (~4 1/2" diameter). They didnt look all that stripey in isolation on the shrub, but next to the other two varieties, the name appears justified. I think they are very pretty. I can't wait to taste them!

MortgageLifter was probably an advertisement of expected high yields. Hasnt been my experience with the poor thing, but the fruit was tasty.

Sushi is always fun when near a different body of water. Its easier for me to list what's there, and perhaps you can figure what they are missing? I've eaten all of these in the La Jolla village and nearby areas. Persian Indian Moroccan Greek Italian Spanish French - maybe not recently, I cant remember Mexican Chinese Thai Vietnamese Japanese bad-English-pub food (very nostalgic for some) 'california' steakhouses There is very little middle-European food in the area. The only Polish place I knew of closed, as did the two German places. There was a place specializing in ristafel (sp?) but it didnt last long. Im not sure if it was going from the Indonesian or the Dutch side of things. I've never seen a Hungarian or Russian place (doesnt mean it isnt there). I dont think we have a chophouse. (see above disclaimer). I hope you'll follow up with where you do go! ETA: Are you in the Bay Area? S.F. Chinese restaurants are thought to be better than ours. Also possibly considered more authentic. Certainly, Chinatown is fun.

Fruit salad?

As a 2x observer, I'd say Jamie has it pegged. Best of luck to you, Malawry.

If a tablespoon of MW gets him to eat cabbage, I'm not seeing the harm, and the flavor of the others is enough to be really offputting to someone used to MW. One good nutritious meal a day will keep most folks on their feet, so its great he can count on dinner. I wish you luck, and a long span before you burn out. What a culinary adventure for you - leaving the tropics and landing in New England!

Not letting me know there are extra people to be accounted for until after I've finished prepping, and am about to apply heat. This weekend it was me: "who gets cupcakes on a bday?" he:"it can be just the class, or the whole school (40)". me: "ok, I'm not doing 40, so how many in the class?" he: "6". I downsize a recipe and make batter for ~12 cupcakes (I got 11). That should easily cover 1 teacher, 1 aide, 6 students and the principal. As I'm putting it in the oven.... he: "But what about the teachers?" me (steamed and stunned both): "How many f*ing teachers are there in this class?" he: "Well, all the teachers in the school get a cupcake." It was all I could do to put the pan in the oven and not throw it across the room.

I made two batches - same recipe (not from this thread due to other complications) Thanks anyway, because I have all three recipes to try later. Batch 1: hand whisked Batch 2: electric mixer. Distinct difference in final height of muffins. My whisking arm needs a personal trainer.

I'll take one for the team and start the guessing (wildly and randomly): It looks kinda like ground dried shrimp and peanuts. I have no idea if such a mix exists in reality. G-B: yikes! Im glad to hear Mara is recovered. I like baked flambeed bananas, from some carribean cookbook years ago. Bake 'naners in their skins. peel, serve with sauce of brown sugar, lime juice, butter and all-spice, with rum.

Thanks for blogging. I'm enjoying this. I can almost smell the spices.

GMP manufacturing nerd reporting in: BTW - not just ideal weights, times and temps, but the acceptable ranges for each. Does it matter if the carrots are a little bitter? Because if you are currently adjusting recipes 'to taste', it would require a standard batch to taste against. Sounds like a challenging, informative and BIG project. Good luck, have fun, get rich!

Thanks, Nina C. I seem to have all those ingredients at home.

I need to bake some dairy-free chocolate cupcakes with purple frosting, or conversely, some purple cupcakes with chocolate frosting. I'm leaning toward the first as being easier. (The color/flavor is non-negotiable, as its a special 3rd birthday request by the birthday child. "I want purple chocolate cupcakes" is the exact phrasing of the oft-repeated request.) I've never made cupcakes before & wont have time for a retry (then again, the intended audience wont be deducting points for appearance). Im wondering which would serve better, of these two recipes, for the chocolate cupcake? - Kim Shooks Chocolate Bar Cupcakes (upthread this page) or Ina Garten's Chocolate Ganache cupcakes (upthread several pages) I'm leaning toward the Chocolate Bar recipe, so I dont have to figure out a butter substitute. The only frosting I know is powdered sugar+butter+vanilla. I see Rachellindsay used water and color to get a reasonably thick coat. Does anyone have any other non-dairy realllllllllllllly simple frosting ideas? It would be nice to achieve the color with berry juice rather than food coloring, but certainly not imperative. thanks for any and all suggestions, comments and help. <et correct username spelling>

?cooking scrambled eggs?

How will you know when that Black Sea Man is ripe? Touch? Smell? That's one wild looking beast!

Oh god, I have a friend like that. He wants to think aloud while the server is standing there. I have laerned to leap in and say 'can we please have a few more minutes?', to abort that process. And of course, asking for the extra time throws a tiny spiral into the otherwise smooth flow of service, which can occasionally result in our waiting rather long to have our order taken. I just cant stand watching the waitperson stand there twitching while my friend ums and ahs. I also have to remind this person to close his menu once his mind is made up. Otherwise the server is never going to know when to come take the order.

I like the pic with the bike hooks, and the series of discovery holes where you went stud hunting. Have you ever estimated how much total weight those two yellow guys are holding up?

Nope. In some places, you can take your own plastic jug to be filled with 'table wine' at the vintners. Is this so different? (If they pick the plastic carefully. Some do impart taste. Ziplock bags come to mind).

My understanding is that legumes bring atmospheric nitrogen into the soil, via symbiotic bacteria that hang about on their root nodules. So they dont need special soil. What they are good for is refreshing soil tired out by other crops. You should be ok with any well-draining potting soil. Someone did mention that they check the soil is intended for vegetable gardening and not for houseplants etc. I dont know if it matters, but it cant hurt. I have a packet of long-bean seeds that I havent started 'cause I cant figure out where to put the trellis. You brought them back into mind with your post re peas, and I think I just figured out (as I typed) where they can go.... hmmmmmmmm. Maybe.... Meantime, here's the producing part of the veg garden. I trimmed the deadstuff off the plants shortly after the picture was taken. The lemongrass is out of the shot to the left, as are the pots of purple potato plants. We get a kick out of lavender-colored mashed potatoes and dark-purple new potatoes. Here's yesterday's harvest. There will be as many today. Then it will slow down a bit. We ate 7 of the harvest for dinner yesterday as many of them are not large.

Cant help ya there, MizDucky, but I have a rooted lemongrass plant you can have, and put into dirt/container, if you like. The ones I planted are growing tall and with big drapey strappy leaves. Quite pretty. Why fix nitrogen into potted plant soil? Are you rotating the crop? Curious. Andiesenji is a world of info on gardening.

Tamarind Passionfruit Barbecue ala hummingbirdkiss This is not exact ...taste while you are cooking to get all balance right for you and yours ..I like mine blistering hot so I add more Habaneros than I say here......this recipe is "medium hot". Fruity, smoky, hot & spicy, sweet & sticky barbecue 3 bottles chile sauce (Heinz or whatever or Ketchup) 1 c frozen Goya brand tamarind puree or tamarind paste diluted so you can pour it easily 1 c frozen Goya brand Passion fruit puree (or juice concentrate probably) 6 Key limes, juice of or regular limes maybe 3 2 c dark brown sugar 1/4 c corn syrup 2 shots dark rum 2 X 1 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger, minced 6 cloves garlic, minced 1 big sprig thyme 1 large sweet onion cut into four pieces 3 fresh tomatoes 3 habenero peppers 3 tble New Mexican red chile powder 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp coriander 1 tsp allspice 1 small can of chipotle peppers in adobo salt and pepper to taste 1 c of vegetable oil in a food processor with a chopping blade mince up together the following until a smooth puree : the ginger garlic thyme onions tomatoes habaneros (hbk's recipe doesnt say whether to include seeds. Remove or include according to your fondness for heat) chile powder cumin coriander allspice (toasted) can of chipotle peppers in adobo. While the food processor is going add the 1 cup of vegetable oil. Take that paste out of the processor and put into a pot on the stove ..while stirring everything together bring to a hard boil for five minutes Turn to med high and stir every few min for about another 10-15 to make a fairly thick sauce. Taste to see if you want salt in there ..I put a couple of tsp of Kosher but not sure if it needed it I ran mine through a strainer but I dont think you have to there was nothing left in the strainer! I came out with three full pints of sauce when I was done I smoked the chicken and ribs after brining them for about 20-30 min ..drying them off really well then bringing them to room temp...lots of smoke on about a 300 degree grill (there was a large range chicken quartered and enough St Louis ribs for four people) just be patient check every 15 min add more chips and smoke away for at least 2 hours or so when they seem nicely smoked/cooked through... start dipping them in sauce every 15 min until you have what my pictures looked like ..I thin it was one more hour. If you like chuncks in your sauce add a diced sweet bell pepper and a dice onion just before you bring it to a boil. [Pix are at this address http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=105225&view=findpost&p=1443612] Keywords: Main Dish, Hot and Spicy, Sauce, Barbeque ( RG2002 )

Good point, Jamie Lee, restrictions during chemo pretty well match those recommended for pregnant women. Malawry, it might help you decide if you think back to what you missed most during pregnancy. Fatigue is a big part of chemo, so also consider gorging on any challenging-to-make dishes now. Its cumulative, so you may have the energy after the first round, but perhaps not later in the series Some stuff is just unpredictable. My mom loves a certain meatball recipe, so we stocked up her freezer before she started chemo - just nuke and serve. During chemo, the smell of them was unbearable to her.

All of these burn stories make me wonder even more what genius came up with 'microhoods' to hold microwave ovens at face level and higher.