IowaDee

As a native of West Los Angeles (Mar Vista-Venice) I hear you loud and clean. My memories of Culver City are that it had a public swimming pool that I could ride the bus to and the place I got my very first job . We were there a few years back and it boggled my mind to see the transformation. As an old fogy, not sure I approve of it either. As for Eataly. to be honest, I would rather head for Grand Central Market. Had my chile rellano there and it was a life changer for sure.. I appreciate how unique the Vespertine building is but I still have too many memories of the Helms Bakery to be impressed. The field trips to the bakery were so special. Every kid got a tiny cardboard Helms truck filled with chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven. And the gooseberry pies from that place....don't get me started.

How about a "pluolive" That's a cross between a plum and an olive

I love the first shot showing the exterior of the building. The care that must have been taken to make the amazing patterns with the bricks just amazes me. Having done the brick work for our house, I appreciate how precise one has to be or the entire pattern can go to hell quickly.

I live in the heart of morel country. My in-laws owned 160 acres next to us and had some prime hunting ground there. One spring hubby and I hit the jack pot but had no way to haul our bounty home. It was still cold enough that he was wearing long underwear. He took them off and tied them shut at the ankles. We then filled them up with our haul and headed home. We have had many giggles over that. A few years later the in-laws sold the farm and moved into town. The new owners love morels and closed their place to hunting. Other than that they are wonderful neighbors but damn! My FIL an an expression for when he thought someone was BSing him. He said they treated him like a mushroom. Kept him in the dark and feed him bull shit.

Off topic but my all time favorite as a greedy little kid was the lady who held out a huge bowl of pennies. We were allowed one fist full and that was it. I just knew I would scoop up enough to buy all those things I had been wishing for. Probably was able to grap 25 cents tops. But next year, i would get enough to buy a bike I just knew it. Never happened. And call me another candy corn hater. And a raisin lover in any way, shape or form.

I won't say my handwriting is bad but when the bank suggested that I print my checks, I had to wonder if it might be. Maybe Shelby and I can open a medical practice together.

Okay, my trigger has been tripped by that meal. Looks wonderful.

Might be just me but your meals aren't jumping out and wowing me this trip. And, yes, that green ringed egg was a surprise for sure. Usually seeing what you eat has me greener than that egg!

I know those kids.....they always sit behind me when I fly. Recently had a waitress ask me if I was "done pickin at that?" Yup, and done with eating here in the future as well.

Hiding? Maybe their bald spots? It took me a long time, but I got used to the baseball/ seed corn caps. Now getting used to the idiots almost yelling into their phones is taking longer. And let's not even go into diners that let their kids run wild!

Very handy. Clip in on the edge of the pot and put the spoon into holder thingy. Keeps the spoon high and dry. And I will never, ever tell you how much I paid for a pair of these over five years ago.! Handy, but not that handy......

That's a great pie crust recipe. I would change the directions just a tad. Toss everything except the vodka. Increase the amount of that to at least one cup. Sip it while watching your Pillsbury crust bake to perfection.

Yes, that is THE way to cook an artichoke. None of the fancy smanchy cutting off of the thorny tips nor throwing away half the outer leaves to get to the heart. If the heart is your only goal, just buy a package of frozen ones but don't waste all those wonderful leaves that are the lead up to it.. And part of the fun is separating the choke from that well earned heart. Don't spoil it by doing it for me. How do I know you didn't take a nibble on it while you were "de-fuzzing it?" Just steam it with a bit of lemon juice and maybe a clove of garlic. Bring me a tasty sauce for dipping and a bowl for my scraped leaves and leave me to my 'choke please.

Your fishcake frustrations are like mine but only with crab. They are my downfall and the results look like crab scramble or crab crumbs. I've even resorted to mixes that only require the addition of liquid and crab. Still no luck. Crab is just too damn expensive to justify my messing it up so I am realistic that mastering the cakes i is not in my future. And I don't do pie crust either. Why bother when there are perfectly fine ready to bake or unfold ones out there?

That would be two Breville Smart Ovens! I love mine so much that I bought another for our daughter. Still within the two year time frame, we also gave her an I.P. She's smiled a lot in the last couple of years and that's what makes them the best things I purchased.

Well, unless it was a seal my guess is dog meat.....

Did it ever bark?

Well, damn all those trips to Mazatlan and we missed that chicken. Must have had shrimp blindness. I would like the recipe if possible.

Oh Shelby, you are going to be the death of me. I LOVE shopping at igourmet and my poor check book reflects it in spades. It is so cool that they even have a category called "stinky cheese". I like to think they did that just for me. Anything with the word "truffle" calls out to me loudly. Combine that with cheese and I'm a goner. My family seems to be born minus a hunting gene so I enjoy reading your blog so much.

There was a very interesting show on the History Channel some time ago called. "How the states got their shapes" It was based on a book of the same name by Mark Stein. It is full of little known and often quirky facts. The story behind the Missouri bootlheel is one......Last time I checked it was available from Netflix.. Okay, sorry to derail this

Used for pulling claws out of misbehaving sloths? Bet it involves seafood though

Iowa has come a long ways. When we moved here there were no Sunday sales plus the State ran all the booze stores. There was a list with prices posted on the wall and you had to fill out an order blank. A clerk went into the back the got you selection. The first time I went, there was a guy that owed the local furniture store. He really thought he was a big frog in a little pond. His order had several bottles of champagne on it. He made sure we all knew it was Christmas gifts for "All the little people who work for me". Guess where I never shopped!

Nah. hold out for over easy!

Looks delicious but just reading the rim of your plate makes me hungry! One order of each please.

We shop at a midwest chain called HyVee. It is employee owned and has wonderful service. They offer home delivery too. I always see at least one "shopper" when we are there. I notice how very, very carefully they examine each item before adding it to the cart. They are at least as picky about fruits and veggies as I am. Each apple, potato and onion get the picky housewife check. I suspect it is the same way with meat selection. We don't have a lot of different grocery store to pick from, HyVee, Aldies and Fareway, but they are all good. Only Hyvee offers home delivery. One day a week, they run a bus to pick up people who have no way to get to the store. At a set time, they take them home again and carry in their groceries. No charge for this service. I don't know the details other than that, but what a great service it is. I should add that these three stores are 25+miles from our house. The only really local store will shop for you and have it bagged and ready to pick up. But the quality leaves much to be desired and most of the meat looks downright scary. We have an amazing butcher's shop here that more than makes up for that.