heidih

loan will be a breeze - you have3 smarts, history and cred !

they are boring in my opinion. Do a quick sniff and if there is any fragrance cut in. I'd persoally treat it more in a cucumber salad way. It does not support itself flavor-wise

Circumstances have thwarted my vegetable gardening in recent years but I couldn't stand it anymore so I did a few herbs. I have fantastic local certified farmers markets so access is lovely but going out and picking - well not matched by shopping despite the frquent frustrations. SO I did some shiso, mint, thyme, and lemon verbena recently. The ridiculous rosemary is 2 years old! Pathetic. I used to have hedges of it at my cottage. This was a gift from a vendor - I think it is a dwarf recumbant variety. I don't use it that often so it is ok. Rosemary in my culture is for rememberance - a funeral herb. The men woud have a sprig pinned to their suit lapels with a tiny pale blue ribbon bow.

I just opened my September Westways (Automobile Club of Southern California monthly) and am enjoying the Mailbox with "reader's reminiscences of foodand familyleft a delectable. lasting impression".

I love your expanded definition of farmers markets Wow those are whoppers! I think it is a Bic crystal cap - my favorite must have pen - inmy purse, car, and all over the house...

As a singlwton I love small batch "jams". I am not a canner. I am also for some reason not a fruit eater = SO - the 2 white nectarines and yellow peach from Farmers Market last Sunday were getting soft spots. I sliced, sugared lightly, added a bit of water, pinch of salt, dash of white vinegar (no lemons), touch of cracked pepper and chile flakes, and a drop of bitters. Slowly simmered. Walked away and got lost in an article for school...heard step mom commenting om strong smell of my compote...Well! it was a serendipitious slight carmelization and I love the taste. Tomorrow on toasted intense sourdough (has bit of whole wheat, spelt & rye) and goat cheese crumbles. Yes! Very brown so no image but oh yes on taste

I appreciate that blue_dolphin follows the recipes and/or notes minor changes and why. I, however, am incapable of following a recipe out of sheer willfullness I think. BUT I have been intigued by the posts about the green bean w/ pine nut vinegraitte (sp). I picked up a bag of lovely green beans at Farmers Market Sunday and they needed to be used so I riffed and am so enjoying the result. I roasted per the recipe and then dressed as follows: Dijon mustard, tons of rough cracked black pepper, very hot red chile flakes, fish sauce, fresh squeezed burstng with flavor off the tree orange, and a touch of cider vinegar. Appied while beans were warm. Thinly sliced red onion and raw garlic were in the bowl. Then added a good dose of well crushed and well toasted almonds and peanuts. Thank you for the inspiration!

My Chinese fermented black beans were in a jar and at least 18. Suddenly they got a touch of mold so I replaced recently. I must have accidentally contaminated them at last use. My S & B Oriental Curry Powder tin from Japan has a best by date of 12-24-2004. Still fragrant. I used a smidge in a cauliflower soup last week.

Pizza guys Ed Levine, Adam Kuban, and Scott Wiener discuss pizza toppingsin this podcat https://www.seriouseats.com/features/special-sauce-podcast There is some love for real v. canned pineapple and fatty v. deli ham involved.

Yes, I've noticed that the huge Hispanic megamarkets like Vallarta have been expanding their client base to include other ethnicities like Middle Eastern and Caribbean, and South Asian ("Indian"). 99 Ranch Market was pretty much all Chinese focused when I started going 27 years ago. It is now very inclusive of South East Asian cuisine. The clientele has steadily come to include folks from South Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. I love it. There is a lot of ingredient overlap as well as common interest in both quantity and freshness.

@Shelby I want your bounty AND the lovely basket!

You mean the peel is edible? I'll have to ask my avocado guy.

Well that was a disappointing dud of a Fearless Flyer in the mail today! Usually there is something that at least intrigues me. The only thing that caught my eye was "salmon sweet potato treats" - oops DOG treats

PS: I think the LosAngeles Times also requires subscription for recipes.I have an accidental e-paper account I've never activated. You can read articles to an extent and then need to pay. Why should a paper be free? All those little boys even during hardest times running up and down the street hawking papers - we've been willing to pay in the hardest of times. Now we expect everthing free on the net...

Agreed . Dave. I feel bit guilty when I look at the beautiful ideas on the Guardian's food page. The box pops up to pay voluntarily. I just read for ideas but still I AM using the info. Something to think about.

That "mascot" is now considered horribly politically incorrect. Fritos themselves, on the othr hand, are wonderful. Once or twice a year treat and I savor them. (I have zero self control unless I establish extreme rules...)

Not in the realm of the above posted comedians but this Sherman's Lagoon one the other day stuck me as very eG. Sherman is a great white shark who lives in a tropical lagoon. The cartoonist is active in saving our seas on a policy and activism level. http://shermanslagoon.com/comics/august-8-2018/

Good one Dave. Evaporated milk is an under rated product - seems to have fallen out of fashion. Since it is sorta heat stable it makes things creamy easy.

@gfron1 Yes I was a bit surprised at Rodale. Seems they caved/suckered to Instagram/Pinterest popularity versus skill & knowlege!

My sister is left-handed and seems to have adapted without special tools. She does cook most days and entertains w/ cooking frequently. She went through that bit about converting (early 60's) until her teacher told my Euro parents to ""quit it!" in no uncertain terms. There is even a German expression bout using the "pretty" hand! She resolved many inconveniences like spiral notebooks by developing a beautiful upright penmanship. I've been forced left due to arm/hand breaks several times. Amaing how the mind adapts. After a 9 month lefty situation I couldn't seem to train my mind to use the mouse on the right again. Had a freak moment when I used someone elses mouse and thought I'd screwed up the poor boy's computer....it was a left handed mouse - who knew? Can openers were not a problem but scissors I'll admit as challenging.

Here is a link to the GrubStreet article http://www.grubstreet.com/2018/08/foraging-cookbook-pulled-because-recipes-might-be-dangerous.html

It was a blessedly cool morning. My phone was buried in bottom of my bag. We got there as set up in progress so chatting was easy without a crowd. Just tomatoes, corn and stone fruit (yellow & white nectarines and pluots) for me. Had too much at home to justify proper treatment of anything more. Oh there were decent sized Hass avocados for $1 and I got one. Same farmer had these adorable little dragon fruit - like goose egg size. He said they were the flouro magenta inside. After too many disappounting dragons I did not indulge this time but they were cute. Many farmers come down from the central valley and they said the smoke issue from our fires was intense. One young one said "well at least we are coming to the rainy season" - entire surrounding crowd shrieked and said pretty much "in your dreams unfortunately!!!"

On days like that I just keep telling myself "1st world problems!" On the never again spectrum - this is an oldie - I will never again leave an anxious piggy of a pitbull in the car while I zip into the market for one item...having left a grocery bag contanng 5 pounds of raw rice he could get at. Thank goodness no vet bills were involved but it was a tense few hours!

I got the idea from Kenji's VERY detailed potato salad analysis here https://www.seriouseats.com/2010/07/the-food-lab-how-to-make-the-best-potato-salad-done-right.html Of course being the "just enough" anti-measuring goof that I am I just add a decent splash of plain old white or cide vinegar and don't use sugar.

Hey I'm the nut job that tells the produce guy he has a rotten orange in the bin - smell makes me crazy