heidih

I was shocked when I spied a bright green patch under some old orange trees. Our current lanscape is parched and barren. My dad must have watered the trees heavily before he left town for the winter. It is young but a bit too tough for raw eating so I'll probably use in a soup or sauteed/steamed.

I agrree with Kayb. I don't car for ham but did them when I entertained alot and quite a few of my guests enjoyed ham. We have tasted them "un-baked" and in our family we didn't bake. To me it had a kind of flaccid bologna texture

Can you elaborate on "magical"? I don't see it.

I only did a form of the black cake once for my Panamanian. It was less dense. You could slice it. Heavenly thinly sliced. Honestly after wallowing in booze for months the generic stuff is pretty tasty. I did hike over to Grand Central Market to get citron separately. It has been 40 years and I still think about it!

The Burmese do a fermentd tea leaf salad - lahpet thoke. Jitlada, a Los Angeles restaurant specializing in southern Thai food, often written up by the late, great Jonathan Gold, uses tea leaves in a number of dishes. Perhaps in tea producing countries the use of tea leaves, as with other bounty in a region, is used in many ways.

Or if you do a fresh cranberry relish hold out some berries so they can see and explain that they grow in bogs in cooler climates. When I have people over for holidays who are newly from other cultures they are gernerally fascinated to be eposed to different things.

Also I would keep in mind that they are probably interested in American traditions so trying to tailor the meal to their cuisine defeats the point. A classic is the green bean casserole which can be made ahead and reheated in MW adding the crispy onions at the end. I agree on the cranberry sauce though it might amuse them to do the canned one where you leave the can ridges - show them the can. Classic dinner rolls - even the Pillsbury type would be another amusement. Show them how it works. I see it as an educational fun experience. Love the truck guy!

OK so this from wiki makes sense "They are typically seen served by street vendors in a plastic bag and topped with salsa and chili, lime, salt, mixed in soda water or with hot sauce and lemon juice that is sprayed into the bag, then finished with chili powder.[4]"

Yes, street vendors sell them here in large plastic bags. I don't get them either but maybe eaten alongside those great fruit (including cucumber) cups they also sell along with the chili-lime salt they provide a textural contrast? Plus that wagon wheel shape is kinda fun

Now that is a br sprout comfort dish! The crunch contrast makes it extra interesting. Years ago someone suggested a imple decadent one on eG that was basically the sprouts baked in cream. I indulged frequently for awhile.

I too had an immediate black lab thought when I stared scrolling down!

bout the green cilis - we have a pretty big chili culture hee and I have never seen them dried.

So do they have a flavor or more textura impact? In the US we know wild rice as the seed of an aquatic grass traditionally harvested by the Native Americans. Perhas same plant used diferently. http://www.mooselakewildrice.com/store/aboutwildrice.phpLik

Yup Walmart and casino parking lots are a thing here.

perilla - the new basil love it

My fave Margaret Roach who writes an award winning garden blog did a great podcast talking about soup recently. I think the best "take-away" I would encourage is that water v. broth is fine or even better. https://awaytogarden.com/creative-vegetable-and-mushroom-soup-ideas-with-alexandra-stafford/

It reminds me of Kenji's chili crisp recreation which I would probably eat with rice as a meal https://www.seriouseats.com/2018/04/chili-crisp-spicy-salty-crunchy-tingly-and-good-on-everything.html

From what I have seen and read the deep fry is as much an event like a crawfish boil rather than a preferred technique.

The displays are lovely and entice. I think we forget about the issues in factories - uummm bug content acceptability in flour for instance. Having it sprad out is visually stimulating. Something we might not be aware of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Food_Defect_Action_Levels Having a cover on something is sometimes to me (opinion only) like those antibacterial wipes by the grocery carts - mental more than science perhaps.

When my hairdresser and partner sold their biz which was a biz downstairs and living upstairs ( an out of the blue cash offer because of a 1031 exchange that had 10 days to close ) they bought a very small van type motor home and decided to hit all the continental states in a year. They had a blast and motorhome stilll used alot. They ate well. Thanks for sharing your food from various locales.

Does the food so lovingly described in Rick Bragg's newest book fit that profile? "The Best Cook in the World"

Yes they look dry. I'v only had them from the Viet market that sells homemade warm ones for the Carib clientele. Usually more filling than dough and lots of flavor.

My immediate thought is a quick cooked hot pot or soup with a good stock or broth perhaps hiding in the freezer. At this point I don't think time is your friend for dentation or texture. I love duck and goose so seeing it wasted pains me

The recipes are generally called strata but that is so so common - just don't understnd "unusual" in general...

I am a winter squash fan and the most foreign/non-US one I love is kabocha. My favorite garden writer Margaret Roach did a fun interview here. I think we just have to experiment. My Aussie sis uss "pumpkin" all the time - sold in wedges - like many in US use sweet potatoes. https://awaytogarden.com/libyan-pumpkin-spread-and-jamaican-pumpkin-curry-with-lucinda-scala-quinn/