heidih

Oops - I did not realize about the fresh water. Thank you for the info. Perhaps because I generally kept just a few days I did not experience problems.

As I get older I have come to realize that I am no longer willing or even able to bother eating things that are less than the best. Now, this is not with all foods, but I first noticed it a few years ago with stone fruit. I grew up with a productive backyard orchard that had a variety of plums, peaches, apricots and nectarines. We mostly ate them off the tree when dead ripe. Over time I never purchased much stone fruit and thought I just did not care for it though I had been an avid consumer from those trees. A few years ago I plucked a peach from a "wild" tree and was immediately transported back to my childhood; concentrated essence of peach. I tried the very good farmers markets locally and was left unimpressed. This year my feeble ancient peach managed to gift me with just a few beauties (normally the birds poke holes and mess with them when they are still green - and don't get me started on the scarab fruit beetles). At the same time my dad's plums were in a 20 year prolific & delicious cycle, and a neighbor crawled down a hillside into the canyon and presented me with 6 small nuggets of apricot heaven. Have you experienced this, and with what foods?

One of those days where I decided that I was going to "shop at home" rather than going out. Foraged dandelion greens from the "lawns" and clipped off some parsley seed heads, nasturtium flowers, oregano flowers, sorrel and various mints Had lemons from Dad in the fruit bowl. The result was a chickpea blend that incorporated all of the above along with some toasted walnut oil for smoothness. The shrimp enjoyed some of the lemon and mint, and the lumpy looking thing is cornbread made with the only corn meal I had - polenta. Dandelion greens and green onions in there. A lovely snack- going back for seconds.

I treat it like tofu - keep it in a sealed container with water and change water every couple days.

Quite a meal Kerry et al - would love more detail on the pork hock beignets as they look expertly fried; wondering about the sauce and was the filling just shredded tender juicy hock? Also what is the dark shredded stuff on the bangers and mash - thin crisp bacon or onion? Man....

Silkhat - you may want to jump over to this topic http://www.eatyourbooks.com/

Soba - you know how you keep getting echos of the same idea and then can't get it out of your head? - well your lobster salad dovetailed with this post I thought sounded lovely. Perhaps a lemony lobster and potato salad is in my very near future http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2013/05/lobster-and-potato-salad/

Lovely looking burger Chris. If you made the rolls yourself, can you give us a rough recipe? Also on the liquid smoke was that because you cooked them in the pan and opposed to on a grill?

I think that is the mucilaginous one. Like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/271180442452?hlp=false&var= (Malabar spinach) I usually use it in a soup or just saute with garlic

To expand on that you may want to check out this article from Modernist Cuisine on the Maillard reaction as well as the link to the caramelized carrot soup http://modernistcuisine.com/2013/03/the-maillard-reaction/

Shel_B - are you perhaps looking more for the type of caramelization that comes from a well roasted vegetable. Good carrots just rubbed with the smallest amount of nice oil and salt and roasted are simple and wonderful. I find that eliminating all oil yields a somewhat dry and chewy result.

Anne - the fish & chips looks perfectly fried. Can you elaborate on the sauce?

PV - I am a big fan of watercress soup but generally puree mine with the stick blender. Did you leave yours unblended?

Franci! you have to give us some details on the eggplant dish

I remember making this butterflied leg of lamb from Sunset magazine back when it was published. It was very well received.

2013: munchymom (2013): Livin La Vida Locavore: November 18 - 25, 2013 sobaaddict70 (2013): la-cuisine-du-marche: May 24 - June 1, 2013 Dave Hatfield (2013):a-food-adventure: October 13 - 19, 2013

Heh. Well, it *is* sort-of, uh, Thai, in inspiration... :-) It looks like a nice soup. Gosh I was being a sweet little old lady and thought the poor thing had a cold - that seems like a soup to cure ills - no judgement on style

The one I used to make back in the dark ages used cheddar. Now I am on a mission

As to the bread - as a passionate teen baker I did a cheese bread that was a top seller at every bake sale. I must locate the recipe and add pepper(s). It was in some County Fair Blue Ribbon Recipes book I got from a cookbook club. Thanks for the reminder. Did you toast it or just eat it room temp? Don't own a toaster so I just set the slices on the oven grate in a hot oven and turn once.

Soba - do you make your own vanilla sugar? Method? I grew up with a whole vanilla bean kept inside the shaker of confectioners. I imagine yours was granulated and the bean either whole or pulverized?

Generic brand microwave kettlecorn dusted with red pepper flakes and ebi furikake. It has just the right blend of sweet/salty and has just enough of the fake seeming fat to allow adherence of the flavorings. The bowl however has this nasty feel when washing up akin to the spray oil coatings like Pam.

When my tangerine tree is in overdrive I squeeze the juice and freeze in ice cube trays, then store in zip lock bags. They don't stick together so it is easy to pull out a few for a drink, sauce, marinade etc.

Here is the eGullet friendly link to the book LINK

I agree - today we can get the ingredients rather than having to resort to substitutes and we also have the luxury of often being able to taste the dishes authentically made in restaurants. I gave the Japan volume to a friend of my son's who is a student of Japanese culture. He found it enormously relevant and helpful in giving him a cultural base.

Along those lines, this squeezable baby food was a new one for me the other day......