Kouign Aman

Great answer, thank you! One reason I asked is because many people appear unaware that Mexican cooking shows strong regional differences. Clearly you are aware of that.

Not only is rice a core, but the different countries prefer different styles of plain white rice. Indian rice is long grain, each grain separate. Chinese rice tends to stick together more (makes it easier to eat out of the bowl with chopsticks) etc. I know there's more to know than this! Authentic. Oy.

Early Girls are usually pretty mid-sized, about half the size of a tennis ball. But this year there is one, hiding behind the normally sized others, that will rival the beefsteaks when its ripe. And dadnabit, its going to ripen for the housesitter. Lucky gal! The tomatoes are turning orangey red, the basil is finally growing. July 4th might be allowed to happen after all!

You nailed it. Cream cheese plus soft flour tortilla turns into wallpaper paste. Blech.

I second the motion to include rice in one of those side discussions. Also eating utensils/methods (hand w flat bread, chopssticks, spoon, whathave you)

Thank you !

Hi Kalypso. What makes you say its "clearly not authentic"? I'm fascinated by how much that phrase gets used in describing so cal mexican food.

I've had many a thing sold as a wrap, but never the mess described as the only thing that can be called a wrap. I enjoy wraps with lots of sticky rice and strong flavored fillings on top of the rice. I have not noticed any particularly chemical flavor to the wrapping matrix - which looks like an oversized flour tortilla to me. My definition of wrap is anything wrapped up for eating in the style of a burrito, that doesnt already have a traditional name encompassing it (because its using different ingredients). Now those pinwheel "sandwiches" that get sold for teas and luncheons and buffets - those are horrible indeed. The nastiness inveighed against by Stephen and others, sliced into slimy gummy little circles. Gack. The husband loves them. Pity him.

Oh goodie! We went camping up thataways a bit when I was a tweenie. My sister and I picked wild huckleberries and the folks made huckleberry pancakes. It was our first experience of foraging in the US (I'd been berrying in England as a small child), and we remember it fondly. We also liked salmon berries.

Michael, Im very sorry to hear about your friend. Chufi described my experience well - its deciding what I want to do not based on what I want NOW, but what I want tomorrow. Tomorrow, what decision will I wish I had made today? Living in tension is also a good way to put it. (Yes Chufi, the do-you-want-to-lose-weight thread was deleted). My mom is so terrified of a stroke that her diagnosis of Type II diabetes resulted in her completely overhauling her diet, much to the improvement of her energy levels and general appearance (skin tone etc). I'm more grateful than before, given what I've read here. It is funny tho - because it hasnt triggered a concommitent expansion in recipe base. Cooking remains un-involved. And she is so afraid of 'imposing' on others that she wont spell out what she needs, so we're always guessing at the balances based on our own research and personal knowledge of her tastes. Win a few, lose a few. I had no idea milk is considered a carb source, tho now I think about it, it makes sense (lactose). Re doctors just ordering pills for fat patients - I wish! My husband is "a big boy". He's been fat most of his life. In the time I've known him not one doctor has mentioned his weight to him - not that it might give cardio problems, not that it might cripple his joints, not that it might result in diabetes, increased risk of cancer, nothing. Not one word about his being overweight. At least offering a prescription would involve mentioning the problem to the patient! I'm all for that increased metabolism - good luck to ya!

Oh what fun! Please report back how it all goes! I'm gonna be trying this at home if it goes well for you (but with 1 almost 3-yr old, not with a horde of 6 yr olds, you brave person, you.) BTW, if you do decide on pizza sometime, Rebecca263 put a fast pizza dough recipe on recipegullet. It is fast indeed. And it likes aggressive handling. The only thing it doesnt like is sitting around after its stretched. It gets bready fast, so the toppings etc need to go quickly and thence to the oven. The whole process - from measuring to eating - is fast enough to keep the afore-mentioned 2-yr old engaged and not melting down from hunger.

Is there someone (?named Ann?)on the dinner thread who lives on an island up in the PNW? Or perhaps its Abra?

You'd have to settle for apatosaurus anyway. the brontosaurus has been discontinued.

Later this summer. I wish me luck too!

You might also try this website. SanDiego.eats.it At the Fish Market, I prefer downstairs to the Top of the Market. Its a personal preference. Downstairs is cheaper. There's a food court in Horton Plaza, and Napa Valley Grille is at the top of the plaza and is pleasant.

Or maybe the whole chapter was an oversight... ← Amen!

I set myself a personal time limit for this activity. When the munchkin is 3, I stop playing get-up-&-fetch. In the meantime, there has been considerable training of the munchkin, and of me - in what might be needed, to be on the table when its set etc, so I can live up to my promise to myself. I'm thinking with more than one kid, the possibilities increase exponentially, and I dont think there's enough space on the table for all the maybes. So I dont hold anyone else to this concept (heck, I havent even had to hold myself to it yet!). This means serving "family style" as my husband is used to, instead of plating it in the kitchen which is what I grew up with. This has taken some getting used to for me. My husband is not reluctant to dirty extra pots and pans; I am, except for "special occasions". But I cant quite bring myself to put the skillet on the table, even for a family dinner. Re the family dinner - its our best chance to learn about munchkin's day, teach table manners, and keep an eye on vegetable/fruit intake. So we'll keep it a habit as long as we can. Its been a pain to adjust to, given that munchkin gets hungry much earlier than we used to. Do I feel guilty if we dont eat all together? If its less than 2x a week, I probably will feel at least annoyed. (and I'll wonder if my cooking is really that bad!)

I have Nigella Bites, which seems to be a british version of White Trash Cooking. I gave WTC to a friend a few years ago and regret not getting a second copy for keeps. Most embarrassing is probably the local organizations fundraising book which contains an entire chapter of recipes for jello salad, which are pretty much all the same recipe, but submitted by different people. There seems to have been no editorial oversight on this one.

Chocolate. Anything chocolate. Lots of chocolate. And crunchy. Ditto crunchy. Entirely non-specific. The training center has little bags of hershey's horrors (not their 'real' name) that consisted of tiny "cookies", cocoa puffs and chocolate chips. I suspect under normal conditions the contents of the little bag are entirely nasty. However at the moment they fill the bill perfectly. Crunchy, and chocolate. Must get another bag.

breeding for seedless / small seeded fruit? I must do more reading, because on the face of it, thats like saying childlessness is hereditary - worth a happy chuckle. But, being as plants are what they are, it might well be possible, since a similar effect is obtained by breeding for more fruit to the same size seed.

The Marine Room is lovely, and traditional in style. If they dont drink much, they should be able to stay on budget. The view is very So Cal: big windows at beach level.Marine Room webpage The home page takes a while to load; when it does, theres a video tour available. The menu bar comes up pretty fast, and can be used to check out the other kind of menu while the rest of the page is thinking about loading.

Grower gets a mutation, propagates mutation via cuttings & sometimes grafting. There really is a 'mother of all..' for some of these, as russ parsons describes. Same technology that creates a tree which produces multiple varieties of a fruit.

Octave, no need to apologize. It is funny. The munchkin was given the plant as a gift, I stuck it in a windowbox type planter, its sending out shoots and flowers and fruit in all directions, but there is only so much one plant can produce. On the other hand, the munchkin enjoys watching the flowers become berries and the berries become red. And I'm frankly stunned it produced anything at all. I thought for sure it would just sit there, and die slowly.

The local IGA supermarket, God love 'em, always has perfectly ripe Haas avocados. And sometimes in the summer they set up a barbecue out front, which does nice work on a piece of salmon.

We've gotten 3 delightful strawberries so far, and a 4th is soooo close to picking. We're in tight competition with a local raven. He's sampled 2 of the 3 so far, but not taken the whole berry. We continue to experiment with various scarecrows. He stole the first one (a foil flag), we think because it was shiny! Those pics are mouthwatering.