Katie Meadow

Most decent knives cost money. So we don't have a lot of them, just enough for the tasks we need. Nothing with wood goes in the dishwasher, including, god forbid, wooden utensils like spoons. I use my knives more often than I run the dishwasher, so letting them sit until the next cycle would be counterproductive. Dishwashers use very hot water; not so kind to wooden knife handles. The argument that you are wasting water by handwashing your knives is pretty silly. It doesn't take much water to wash a knife by hand, and then it's there when you need it. The same argument goes for knives with plastic or steel handles. My little Victorinox paring knife, which I would not by any means call valuable since it's costs eight dollars, has a daily conversation with garlic, so I can't afford to let it out of my sight.

I thought the whole purpose of gossip was to make it again and again, changing it a little bit each time. Ultimately I suppose it isn't very nourishing, or as good as you had hoped.

And the older I get and the more of this thread I read the more I am creeped out by chicken. My mother was famous for the first meal she ever cooked for my dad. It should be mitigated by the fact that she never learned to cook before that growing up, or after that either.. She bought a chicken that wasn't fully plucked and that still had the gizzard, liver, etc. inside the cavity. She roasted it just like that.

My memory is that the real scandal was that melamine was found in infant formula and several babies died of it.

No, I wouldn't second guess anything at this point. So far no metallic taste symptoms but I do use wooden chopsticks often. In my case it isn't the fork that tastes bad, it's just that what's on the end of it often tastes like cardboard. But I have my reliables that work for me. Until they don't, of course.. And then I take another tack.

Crass but good: salmon roe in sour cream or creme fraiche with potato chips for dipping. Upscale version: oven-toasted or fried wonton skins. Love the pop pop. The edible equivalent of popping bubble wrap.

\Of course that's an excellent suggestion and no doubt what my doctor would say. But, simply put, I just don't want to. Go figure. As a chemo patient I'm honor bound to be relatively stupid. Orneriness is one of the few toolsI have left and I'm stickin' to it.

Yum. Do I see a garnish of salmon roe? Potatoes, jammy eggs, smoked trout, what's not to like?

Question about the Rice Factory. It appears they have two locations, one in NY and the other in LA I assume you order from the NY location, but the jasmine rice you ordered says it comes from CA. Any idea how their operation works? Are both locations distribution houses for all products?

These days, due to chemo, my tastes are limited. Japanese food is appealing, but restaurant dining is problematic. Many vegetables don't taste right, but ohitashi, the japanese spinach appetizer is perfect, no idea why, except it's that sesame dressing. The only protein that seems to taste right is shrimp. Also tempura veg with dip taste pretty good. I figure I'm lucky I can eat at all. I eat a lot of white rice. The challenge is getting fiber and vegetables. The other thing that always seems to work is fresh tomatoes on pasta, with burrata. I simply take the best heirlooms I can find (right now purple cherokees and yellow varieties) and chop them up and put them in a bowl. If they aren't ripe and juicy don't even bother. Salt with your favorite salt generously, stir, and let sit for an hour or as long as you can wait, so there's plenty of juice in the mix. Cook pasta such as linguini fine or whatever. Meanwhile throw a few knobs of butter into the tomatoes and just warm the bowl in the microwave. No cooking. Or you can forget about warming and assume that when you dump it over the pasta it will be hot enough. Have the burrata ready to go, halved or not, depending on size and appetite. I like to sauce the pasta individually from the tomato bowl. Once sauced .simply add your portion of burrata to the dish. Yes, it's incredibly plain, but that's what I like; just pasta, tomato and butter and salt. My husband adds shredded basil to his, along with grated hard cheese. The burrata melts a little, but not totally, which is just perfect. I like the contrast of the cold burrata. In the end you are left with a few spoonfuls of creamy tomato soup.

@Shel_B Did you get it at Tokyo Market? I'm sure they won't have a problem with the return. And someone there might know what kind of mold it is.

I can be happy with sweet or savory as mood dictates, or availability allows. French toast, certainly. Leftover pizza, why not. Wontons in broth or out, if only. But there's a major caveat: someone has to put iit in front of me. I can barely push down my own toast in the morning.

Happy Birthday, @Steve Irby. I'm 77. My last few birthdays have been similar. I think about going out, but often end up staying home. There's a local bakery that has a chocolate cake I really like. My husband often buys a couple of slices and that's my party. The last time I actually celebrated was for my 70th. We had a party at the family beach house. Of note was great October weather, a lovely apple pie my SIL baked that had a "77" formed in crust. People stayed overnight and breakfast was leftover oysters and key lime pie. My nephew had never had oysters and he was over the moon, which was hilarious. But the real moment of awe came when a red fox was spotted across the street during breakfast. We're talking about a funky little beach town and a funky beach house with a view of the ocean. In all my nearly fifty years of marrying into this beach house this fox was a one-time only event. Deer always. Wild turkeys wandering about the streets, especially the day after Thanksgiving, just to prove they are still alive. But a fox? I'm guessing never again. This year my birthday will be singularly weird. I will be on the tail end of chemo. All bets are off whether or not a slice of chocolate cake will look good.

What, you don't like their geezer stockings?

I'll take one of those sandwiches. Just hold the broccoli, and anything fetal. And maybe the lychees, although I might trust your zeal on that one. Most all your breakfasts seem fascinating and appealing, or things I might make at a decent hour, like for dinner. As I'm sure I've repeated (geezer time!) I can barely push down the lever on the toaster anymore in the morning, so my husband makes my toast for me. It may be under or over toasted, but I'm learning to shut my mouth.