Emily_R

I must say I'm really intrigued by the coke + ginger and coke + coffee combos. But in general, I love love love Coke Zero and think that almost anything added to it simply diminishes its pure deliciousness.

I've also done it for a few years, and also can't remember where I read about it! One question about your sauce -- a whole can of tomato paste sounds like a lot to me -- it doesn't wind up too... pasty? Looking forward to trying it though, as I find I rarely manage to make a pasta sauce from scratch that I prefer to (gasp, can't believe I'm admitting this) Classico Four Cheese...

For what its worth, in my experience all freezer jams set softer than ones that are canned. Are you using freezer jam pectin? I know the freezer jam pectin I have includes a peach freezer jam recipe on the box, which includes lemon juice -- I believe either the acid or the additional pectin in the lemon juice is necessary for the peach freezer jam to set well...

Love Arroz Verde -- in any of its herby incarnations! Last night I made cochinita pibil for the first time... And didn't love it. Kind of sad, as I was expecting to, but somehow the flavors just felt muddled to me. We used it as a soft taco filling, and I didn't think it held a candle to carnitas...

Coquus -- the place you're thinking of in Ithaca is called the Northstar Pub (or Northstar House?) -- http://www.northstarpub.com/web/Welcome_to_Northstar.html. It is quite good, but very casual. People rave about their mac and cheeses du jour, but I am a slave to their veggie burger. Which sounds ridiculous, because - how good can a veggie burger be? So good that I don't order anything else there.

How about oldest condiments on our counter? I can seriously top Mjx -- I've got a bottle of fish sauce that is at least 7 years old!

Hey -- Yes, there are key ingredients that help with Rye bread texture, and both an acid of some type and vital wheat gluten help. I use this wonderful recipe from a blog called A Year in Bread - it produces a wonderfully textured sandwich loaf that bears no resemblance to a brick! Sandwich Rye Recipe Give it a try and let me know what you think! Emily

Ok folks, surely someone's made a recipe that rocks recently? I've been traveling for two weeks and am dying to get back to cooking - give me something to look forward to making when I get home!

I love Lawrys! I always use it in burgers, and to me steak just isn't complete without being completely covered in Lawry's before grilling (but that's probably because my dad always put it on our London Broil growing up...)

I think its very very likely the all juice thing. Another strategy is to add a little bit of gelatine to the liquid base -- I've heard this helps reduce icyness... Same with some corn syrup (which is supposed to do that trick in ice cream base).

I pick and freeze at least 40 pounds of strawberries each year, and I'm with Heidi -- off with their heads! (with a paring knife)

If you don't move around because its too hot, you do burn fewer calories. However that may or may not relate to whether you still have an appetite / find food appealing (my original question), which itself may or may not relate to whether or not you go on to eat less! :-)

I'm finding that as it gets hotter, I crave tons and tons of salty foods (I guess from the sweating). So I've been on a popcorn kick all week... Tonight is cold sesame noodles...

I always hear people talking about how they lose their appetite when it gets super hot outside. I however, have never found that to be true in myself -- I might lose my desire to cook, but not to eat. No doubt what I want to eat is different in the heat, but I still find myself craving all kinds of foods, and frequently hungry. Am I just an oddball? Or is this whole too-hot-to-eat thing a myth?

Bruce -- that chard and chorizo dish looks amazing! Could you give us the outline of the cooking steps? Are the potatoes par-cooked?

I agree -- Soba, that meal is just magnificent -- so so fresh. I let out an sigh of longing as soon as I saw it...

SobaAddict -- those two dishes really capture the peak of freshness. I breathed a little sigh of pleasure just looking at them.

Dinner tonight was a good one... Roasted corn and basmati rice salad. Roast the corn on the grill, cut it off the cob and combine with cooked basmati rice. Add chunks of fried pancetta, green onions, a little feta (in the past I've also used cubed monterrey jack), some spicy baby greens, and then dressed it with the pancetta fat, lime juice, and rice vinegar. My husband goes crazy for this salad!

I'm curious why you're using raspberry puree, rather than simply infusing with whole raspberries. It seems like the puree would be harder to ultimately strain out, leaving you with a thicker end product?

Kim -- I'm so glad you liked them! And ET -- that white chocolate ice cream looks beyond divine.

No picture, but two days ago I made the fudgsicle recipe recently posted on Smittenkitchen. WOW. I was just blown away -- I never imagined fudgsicles could be so good. My husband just kept looking at each other while we ate them, saying over and over again -- these are incredible! Here's the link to the recipe -- http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/06/fudge-popsicles/. Next time I'm doubling it, since four of these isn't nearly enough...

Bruce -- those slipper burgers sound fantastic -- do you have a recipe / proportions for the spices? And Harry -- crispy skin or not, your snapper sounds wonderful. Red snapper is my favorite fish, but it is so expensive here that I haven't had it in a few years... My dinner tonight was simple but good: shrimp fried rice with sugar snap peas from our garden.

Tried a new veggie recipe that knocked my socks off -- and for zucchini no less, so that I may re-post this to the zucchini thread! In Lidia's Family Table, she has a recipe for Poached Whole Zucchini with Lemon and Olive Oil. It is so simple that it is really more of a method than a recipe -- poach whole small (6-7 inch long, max two inches wide) untrimmed zucchini in water for around 15 to 20 minutes, until very tender. Trim the ends off, slice into whatever size you want, and drizzle with kosher salt, olive oil, and lemon juice (and maybe some lemon zest) while still warm. One key is that this really needs to be done with small zukes or summer squash -- you want minimal seed development in them. Wow. So good. I ate almost a pound of zucchini myself for lunch. This method manages to bring out the vegetal-ness of the zucchini in a wonderful way. Delicious both room temp (my favorite) but also good straight out of the fridge. They would make a great picnic accompaniment to some good bread and cheese.

Had some ham left over from a previous meal, so last night I made open-faced Croque Monsieurs. Sourdough bread then ham, smothered with mornay sauce, topped with more gruyere and broiled. SO GOOD. Served with a lemon-dressed salad and sparkling white wine to cut through the richness. I've got an extra cup and a half of mornay sauce left over, so am thinking about smothering some broccoli with it tonight!

I was just in Narragansett this past week, and a friend took me to this place -- http://www.crazyburger.com/ -- which was a total treat and a real local gem. The menus is gigantic, and included so many things I wanted to try it killed me to only order one meal. Not to be missed are their cinnamon rolls (and apparently, their cinnamon roll french toast is to die for). My friends also said their milkshakes are legendary, but I was too stuffed to order one. Also be sure to try sitting out in their backyard garden, which is great on a beautiful day. Emily