heidih

Alo a recent Serious Eats podcast with former White House executive pastry chef Bill Yosses brought up the devotion to Mounds bars - the original with dark chocolate and no nuts. Now owned by Hershey but has a great history.

Also Canada and the NE U.S. are the "go to" for maple syrup. There are various grades and flavor profiles.

The US pretty much dominates world almond production with my home state of California being at the top of the heap. Almonds come in all kinds of "flavors" these days, but you might consider trying the Blue Diamond Smokehouse ones; a very traditional gift here. A small bag or container can be found in most markets and Walmart, Target and Costco have them in quantity.

Since you will be in Louisiana I'd suggest Tabasco hot sauce. Pretty USA iconic.

I'll bet it smelled great cooking and the browning on the green beans looks tasty. I am now on a mission to find my identicl twin colander - it HAS to be in the garage - most likely in a Tetris skilled only accessible storage box....

On the olive oil in mayo - Kenji over at Serious Eats explains: "You see, extra-virgin olive oil droplets are composed of many tiny fragments, many of which are bound tightly together, preventing our taste buds from picking them up. Whip the olive oil with enough vigor by, say, using a food processor or blender, and you end up shearing those bitter-tasting fragments apart from each other. The result is a mayonnaise with a markedly bitter flavor. Not only that, but these tiny fragments actually decrease the efficacy of emulsifiers like mustard and lecithin, making your sauce more likely to break" If you want some olive oil flavor he suggests brinking the mayo together with neutral oil and then whisking in some olive oil.

Hunter being there -also 3 french hens, 2 turtle dove, and a partirdge in a now decisuous pear tree

I scored the carcass. The look of relief on my friend's face was priceless; no way she was gonna deal with it. Of course this morning the medium stock pot had gone into hiding so Big Boy was pressed into service. Smells so good. Sh did a traditional bread stuffing (yes stuffed in bird) so the celery, onion, poultry seasoning are subtley present. I pulled off enough meat for a little bowl of mayo based salad but I won't pain your eyes with the image as I added some of the cranberry sauce - my plate with pickled beets alongside is a magenta fiesta. I love turkey and this was just a 16lb mass produced one. Sorry bout image - new software changes have robbed me of my skills

We are no stranger to camel milk - check out Lior's posts here and maybe ask her.

Your zucchini always appeals. How did you make the "pancake"?

Well I am way beyond done with this stupid weather - we've managed 68 to 71 for a week with overnight low in high 50's BUT predicted 88 byThanksgiving. So so erratic the plants can't adjust. GGRRR!!! I've pretty much given up and only have some herbs and radishes (for the greens) - if we should have any rain I will forage mallow and dandelions -some mallow chubbing on the drainage water from the one pot

Oh yes Annna =miso plays so well wth winter squash!

I have stuck to my no knead 5 minute knead - not even Dutch oven, just parchment on sheet pan at 440 convection. I always toast except for first few slices -currently smeared with liverwurst -all good

Well I've jumped the gun a bit. Usually wait until the day after Thanksgiving to get in baking mode. However, since the gifting seems to get all bunched up around Christmas week, I'm calling it Holiday Baking and have started. I've narrowed my offerings down to 4: spiced pumpkin bread, spiced chocolate chip cookies (classic Tollhouse recipe + warm spices), Linzer rspberry bars, and baklava. I've been using calamansi as the citrus in the baklava for the last couple years and my source reports that her two trees are positively exploding with juciy fruit. I might have to include a jar of calamansi marmalade in her gift basket. Yesterday I made the bread and cookies. I will pick the calamansi next week and do the remaining baking the following week; planning to give to my friends around the 15th. I am baking in stepmother's kitchen - baking powder "best by" date is February 2012 and soda looked tired but I tested them and they were lively. Everything pretty "brown" so far but hiuse smelled wonderful. It was undr 70F so that made it a bit more seasonal. Will post the baklava glmour shot and the fuit tree.

Should you hear an odd woman knocking on your door saying " Hello its Heidi - ready to do dishes for food" = that will be me - keep a look out

But it is just a bowl -0-beans. The serving suggestion should be for "Hoppin' John" or "Texas Caviar" -check out those US sub specialties!

Just got back from local major market Ralphs (Kroger child). The 12 oz frozen vegetables are on sale for $1 so I picked up a spinach and then the black-eyed pea caught my eye....really????? Southern Style- what cuz they only eat them "down there" - ingredients = peas + water!!!

Perhaps take the buckwheat in a savory direction- congee style or room temp "salad" like this from my fave Ottolenghi https://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/buckwheat-and-rice-salad-with-dried-cherries-and-hazelnuts-shop

Oh I munch the whole thing - the hull is not thick. These seeds were almost blue looking (!) when raw so they look perhsp deceptively overdone

I am currently in major seed roasting mode concurrent with my winter squash play. The attached image is of seeds from a gifted Jack-o-Lantern pumpkin and a buttercup. They are different from one another and the perfect snack to keep on the counter. I want to taste the seed rather than a coating spice so I have arrived at the ideal method for me: rinse lightly if lots of guts attached (though they add flavor as Steven mentioned earlier- just don't want them to burn before seeds done). Then I soak them for about half an hour in very salty water, drain, let dry a bit, and roast at 375 till done. Like nuts they continue to cook after removed from oven so take care.

@blue_dolphin Where did you source the agave buds

I will confess to being quite fond of the spinach-feta wraps. Whole wheat wrap with egg white, spinach, and feta. Heated to crisp up edges and melt cheese. With 2 packets of their sriracha I;m good to go for hours and happy.

Born and raised in Southern California and we sure as heck never referred to TacoBell as Tex Mex. It started, as what at the time, was standard at local taco places (like this standard http://titostacos.com/ ) and over time has embraced soft tacos and other items including the crazy stuff. Kind of like what are referred to as American Chinese standards - Americanized renditions, often of Cantonese roots. I haven't eaten there is maybe 25 years, but I do see the ads.

Not food related dislike; think the worst bits about Beverly Hills you've ever seen on reality TV! I also did a number of projects there that I was proud of but are part of a painful past..... Culver City is the site of Vespertine - the restaurant gfron reviwed recently. I still have nightmares about working with that architect 26 years later.

Long ago I vowed never to set foot in West Los Angeles, Century City, or Culver City ever again. I may just have to eat my words... http://www.laweekly.com/restaurants/mario-batalis-eataly-la-now-open-at-westfield-century-city-8816577