Jinmyo

Strip loins seared crusty but blue, sliced thinly with fleur de sel and perhaps a few sauces to swirl the slices through; gaspacho with grape tomatoes and paneer cubes; frisee salad with halves of cooled hard cooked eggs with still soft yolks; crostini. Soba-zushi with shoyu and chile dipping sauce; seaweed salad with blanched asparagus; hiyayako-tofu with a thin borscht; sauteed scallops with wilted spinach. Those kinds of things.

Perhaps slice some bologna the size and shape of a steak, fry until black, douse with ketchup? My sincere condolences. But I might mention that rather than preparing something you can all eat together with your friends though it defiles your own sensibilities, one could just eat the friends. Just a suggestion. edit: Just in case:

Ayup. Though not sliced so small and blanched first for fluffiness. Because, you know, fluffiness is next to godliness if there's also a crunch.

We called them "soda biscuits." My primary impression of saltines was formed as a child when I had some sharp cheddar crumbled between two of them and was perplexed by how strongly the flavour reminded me of corn.

Bottled salad dressings make as much sense to me as "Salad In A Jar".

If you didn't spatchcock it, you did it wrong.

No! Really?

1) Some bizarre stew with arteries and other tubes shproinging up on the spoon. 2) No special healing properties. Quite good for fainting though and getting some rest. 3) Never. 4) Congee. 5) She was Welsh/Italian.

Thanks. Is there meat in the sauce?

Sure. And there is a vast range of fermented or pickled or cured foods that one would not "fresh".

Are the corn tortilla shells really already folded in those things? If so, does one eat them unheated? Just wondering.

Holy schmoley.

Whew. That's a relief.

Sarma, I must have misunderstood. You mean that you sprout the wild rice so that it basically becomes a salad, right?

It's very gnarly indeed.

I began the experiment on the evening of the 12th. So far: Water became manky with cloudy stuff so I've changed it this morning. About a quarter of the grains have exploded. About a quarter are still hard as, well, uncooked grain. The rest is in various stages of decomposition.

He sure does! All those -ie's. I like 'A bit of the old foo', though. I use that one occasionally. Our lad's from Essex but uses a fake Cockney accent and manner known as "Mockney". Deeply offensive because it's just so bizarre and stagey. It's like a someone from Boston or Houston, with that accent, trying to speak like a movie NY Italian mobster. Imagine "push da button on dat guy" and "pasta fazool" said like that. Manky. Still, Oliver's sincerity and the risks he took in his 15 project redeemed him in my eyes. If not my ears. edit: "Houston", not "Huston".

DutchMuse, that's really quite shockingly bad service.

The difficulty is in not offending and yet not lying. Best to say as little as possible about food as such. Just keep your head down and wait it out.

Yes, my loss. Sorry, Sam. Perhaps I should have used a smiley.

This is called hiyayaku-tofu.

That's called "frico" when it's done on purpose. Eggs. When serving poached eggs for example I am very particular that the whites be soft and the yolk molten. But I'll eat eggs however they're served to me. Greasy, blackened, and all smushed up when I ordered "over very easy" at a diner? Still tastes great. I love eggs.

Heap your plate with her stuff. Take a huge forkfull and put it in your mouth. Turn your head and spit it out screaming in rage and horror and throw your plate at them with deadly aim while shouting, "What did you do to this poor food you incompetant hag!!!" edit: Oh. I misread. You wanted "polite". I have this thing where I randomly see "im" or "un" before words. I think it's these new bifocals. Raynickben's answer is a bit more appropriate.

"A yummy veggie sammitch with shrooms would be uber-delish." Gah.

That's interesting, trsyka. I had been thinking of letting some of it get to the point of sprouting. So far, what I have just looks like wild rice in water. (Filtered water, by the way. Perhaps I should put a pyramid over it with a crystal dangling in the centre.)