Katie Meadow

If I could have a hot dog that's as nice as that one (and with the proper condiments such as mustard and sauerkraut) PLUS a large papaya juice from Papaya King I would be awfully happy.

We don't eat in the car. Maybe a cold drink if the weather is really hot. On car-trips, where most of the driving is freeway driving, we stop at rest-stops that have shady tables. We find a table that is farther away from the bathrooms and the parking lot, and we pack the best food we can manage in a cooler, plastic utensils and plates that are washable and reusable. We rinse them best we can at the water fountain and wash them once we get to our hotel, motel, whatever. Lots of zip-lock bags and napkins. And if we had a dog with us, that was far easier than trying to stop at a restaurant. We take fruit, hard cheese, crackers, peanut butter, whatever is moderately durable on the road and whatever can hopefully last through the night. It isn't as if we have some shiny new vehicle, although I really don't want to add crumbs to my daytime environment. Part of it may be I just don't really enjoy my food if I'm trying to do something else at the same time. And I hate spending money on lousy fast food. If we go through an old main street and see a promising diner or cafe we might stop there, but how often is that really a great experience? When we were in France traveling by car we bought a great set of light-weight colorful plastic plates along with a serrated tomato knife w/plastic handle that has proven invaluable for traveling. And I always have a Swiss Army knife along for the ride. I'm going to keep those plates forever. I can't remember what I used to do to pacify my daughter when she was little in the car. I must have carried along something that wasn't too messy so she could get her carbs, juice boxes and the like.

So......no one thinks I can lessen the heat of these jalapeños by changing to a fresh vinegar solution? My experience with pickled peppers is that if you eat them slowly, over a period of months, they don't lose heat in the refrigerator, but that would be if they were sitting in the same solution the whole time.

After assuming a level of blandness in store-bought jalapeños for many years, I got a nasty surprise. The other day I made some pickled jalapeños and carrots. I tasted one or two of the peppers before using them, but they seemed mild. Well, one or two that I didn't taste must have packed a major punch. Even my husband, who can handle his hot peppers, found a couple of slices of pepper or carrot more than enough heat in a sandwich with other stuff. Basically what I made is inedible for my own uses. So, the question is, if I were to pour out all the pickling liquid which has absorbed a lot of heat and put in fresh vinegar and water solution, would any of the heat still in the vegetables be drawn out into the liquid, making them more palatable? Or is this a dopey waste of time and vinegar? I notice that post #2 suggests the liquid absorbs some heat, but my peppers remain blisteringly hot regardless.

An interesting pho fact: we've been having the pho at our favorite place for years now. Even when it is crowded there are often only one or two other caucasians in there. Last year I noticed a couple (Asian, probably Vietnamese) next to our table. Their pho came with a plate of lovely perfectly thin sliced raw beef. Obviously this was the "rare beef" part of their soup. Indeed when I asked them about it they confirmed that they always ask for the beef on the side. And that is what we have been doing ever since. If your pho place doesn't serve their soup piping hot I suspect this might not work so well. The waiters never blink when we order it this way, so I assume plenty of customers do the same.

Received my Nutri Ninja yesterday and made the mango drink today. I subbed in a small amount of coconut cream for some of the water, cut back maybe just a tad on the lime juice, but basically it was the Bayless Licuado recipe. Started with a very good mango, so that didn't hurt. Oh, I blended it up with a little crushed ice to make it really cold instead of pouring it over ice cubes. Delicious. Chris, I so love your trial system for cookbooks. I wish I had the patience and focus to make such good use of a new cookbook, but after a few dishes I start wanting some other kind of food entirely. Your system really justifies the purchase of these books.

Sorry, but mini hot dogs with bbq sauce and grape jelly sounds like something only a Klingon would love. On what planet is that a favorite app? I grew up in NYC, lived for several years in New Mexico and for many years now in CA and this is the first I ever heard of that. Is it a Philly specialty? I think by definition any one who eats sausages with bbq sauce and grape jelly would not be considered a picky eater. Unless, of course, that was all they ate. Forgive me, you who are not picky eaters (and my husband is included here), we picky ones definitely owe you a debt of gratitude for letting us get away with outrageous and tiresome behavior for years on end, to say nothing of snobbery and crankiness.

The truth is that I have never seen myself as a picky eater, since I eat a wide variety of most foods, but I believe that many of my friends think of me that way. When I look at all the restrictions on my diet due to health issues (work in progress) I wouldn't really see it as "picky," since I associate these dietary variables with something other than "pickiness," which connotes capricious behavior. But when I add up all the dietary restrictions plus things I just don't like, combinations I don't favor and food that is poorly cooked and unappetizing or simply tastes lousy (most fast foods, with some exceptions) I would have a hard time not calling my habits picky. Health modifications include (and I am NOT allergic to anything as far as I know): reduced dairy consumption, modest amounts of wheat products but no other carb restrictions, food generally associated with cholesterol build-up (egg yolk, animal fat, cheese, etc), and excessive amounts of acidic foods. Most of these things I absolutely love, but have chosen to limit greatly. I gave my dog ice cream for her last meal, and that will work for me too, but only coffee ice cream. I eat most vegetables, but I really detest broccoli and brussels sprouts and raw kale. I eat almost all fruits, except I am quirky about bananas. I will eat banana plain sometimes, but I hate them used as "filler" for smoothies--they make everything taste like banana. Banana and peanut butter is one of the most awful combinations I can think of, along with celery and peanut butter. But PB and raspberry jam in a sandwich is perfect. I can't stand commercial peanut butter that has sugar in it such as Jif, but I do like a simple peanut butter cookie made with sugar. I don't like meat and cheese together and I don't like meat on my pizza (yep, pizza is a huge treat for me.) but I will make an exception for clam pizza. I am not fond of organ meats, but like liver pate if it is well-made. I like most all seafood and shellfish, but not scallops. When I look at restaurant menus I eliminate most of the items pretty quickly, and I admit that often the descriptions sound unappealing. No need to go on, right? I'm picky. By the way, I do not consider a distaste for ketchup on a hot dog to be picky. No reasonable person puts ketchup on a hot dog. My daughter did that when she was little, so my solution was to not give her hot dogs so I didn't have to watch her do it. Not only picky, but a bad mom!

Jaymes, Decatur is like a small college town. Very friendly, safe, full of babies, dogs, etc. My daughter has lived there several years. For breakfast I really like Cakes and Ale, in the square, central Decatur. Really sweet, excellent pastry and coffee, very casual. Iberian Pig is good for a light dinner if you want a drink and a couple of small plates; it is tapas. North of Decatur in Druid Hills on the Buford Highway is a Vietnamese place called Nam Phuong. Nicest people, really good food, and I eat a lot of Viet food here in the Bay Area. It's a bit of a drive from Decatur, but not a bad drive. It's in a nondescript little strip mall, but inside it is warm and friendly. If I was in a rehab facility of any kind that's where I would ask you to get me some takeaway. But then Pho equals comfort food in my mind. There are lots of places to eat in downtown Decatur. And if you are frying in the heat, in the square there's a popsicle cart with all natural fruit pops to pep you up--can't guarantee he's still there!

I just returned from 4 days in NO--first time there. After spending an awful amount of money in NY the week before, we opted for one splurge and mostly dives. The splurge was Cochon and it was totally great. The appetizer ribs were about the best I've ever eaten, and the grilled redfish was simple and amazingly great. There were no reservation to be had the weekend of Mother's Day, but we called the day before and picked up a cancellation. We didn't have a chance to try a lunch from Cochon Butcher, but I am guessing the sandwiches are great. We stayed in the Marigny, which was perfect. We were a half a block from the Cake Cafe and half a block from Mimi's bar. Breakfasts at Cake are wonderful, modestly priced and neighborhood friendly. Mimi's turned out well for an emergency late dinner of small plates. We did go to Cafe du Monde, just because it seemed dopey not to. The secret--at least for me and my impatient husband--is to NOT wait on the absurd line for a table under the big tent, but to go round the back to the take-away window. The line was six people, about 3 minutes. Choice of any and all coffee drinks and piping hot beignets in a bag. There's plenty of bench seating and underutilized space to breath over there on the back side. Very yummy! But I think if I had waited what looked to be at least 45 minutes on a Tuesday morning I wouldn't have been so happy with my breakfast. One of the more appealing sandwiches for me is the crossover of banh mi and po'boy, which really seems like a natural thing, although I've never heard anyone talk about it that way. At a very funky place in Slidell we had crawfish by the pound and a soft-shell crab po'boy that was very much like a banh mi but without the pate. It was excellent. Crawfish were good, but I am glad we didn't order as much as they suggested. At least they seemed good, but I have no experience there. Lotta work. We did not spend a lot of time in the French Quarter, but the heat was getting to me and we slipped into Erin Rose Bar. We got sandwiches to go--this time a crossover with shrimp--also great. And I hit the jackpot with the Frozen Irish Coffee. Basically it's a moderately alcoholic coffee slushy. If I could have tolerated being in the French Quarter any more than once I would have drunk six of those a day. We did have some other modest and very pleasant outdoor meals, but honestly I can't remember what they were. Okay, I'm gonna sneak in a non-food related item: don't miss the Backstreet Cultural Museum. If you are a fan of the HBO show Treme or if you know anything about the Mardi Gras Indian tribe culture it's unique.

From reading many of your posts over the last few years I have an inkling of your baking skills. If YOU can't make edible wheat-free bread no one can.

I was on a wheat-free diet for almost two years. It didn't take long to give up on finding a wheat-free bread that wasn't awful. I found exactly no commercial products--and that includes artisanal bakery "bread"--that was worth eating, so I lived on rice, rice noodles, corn tortillas and granola. I found one recipe for wheat-free pancakes that was very good, but outside of that, all wheat-free stuff tasted slimy, some more, some less, but still. So I just made a life without sandwiches and, god help me, baguettes. I now eat modest amounts of wheat and never take it for granted. Toast is golden.

A wood floor would be softer and warmer than a tile floor, and feel better to bare feet (at least in my mind) than a vinyl or linoleum floor. I have to agree with several posters: barefoot cooking is a risky activity. Underfloor heating is wonderful, but not cheap. Also it isn't a cheap fix when it breaks. Perhaps it is more common on the east coast, but here in the west there aren't that many contractors who install it or maintain it, so do a lot of research before committing.

Elaina, what recipe did you use for the Pastiera? It's beautiful.

I'm partial to two pairings: tomato and pineapple (like on a pizza or an asian soup) and tomato and fresh yellow peach, as in a very simple preparation of alternate slices, with maybe a sprinkling of balsamic or fig vinegar. Both tomato and peach need to be perfectly ripe for it to work well; it occurs to me that a hunk of burrata cheese might be nice with that, but I'm just daydreaming here. I know the tomato-watermelon combo is fairly common, but it isn't my favorite. To my tastebuds yellow watermelon has a more vegetal quality than red, and seeing as I salt both tomato and watermelon, I should try that and see if I like it better. And as for putting chunks of tomato into a mixed fruit salad, I would think...not.

I examined my stash of buckwheat noodles and lo and behold one pack has no salt. There's more variety in these noodles than I would have thought. What does "zaru" indicate? My go-to simplest sauce for noodles is the Momofuku ginger scallion dressing (easy to find on line). Works on hot noodles and room temp noodles. Never tried it on cold, but it's hard to imagine it would be bad. The recipe makes an enormous quantity, so I cut the ingredients by half. And I use less ginger than suggested. Also I don't mince ginger--I find that grating on the microplane or even the box grater makes it juicier and infuses the flavor better. Great on buckwheat or udon and probably on rice noodles as well. Add-ons welcome, like thinly sliced cukes, radish, chopped peanuts, etc.

Udon noodles are also very high in sodium. Recently I've seen some Japanese noodles that are "low sodium" but have not tried them. It doesn't stop me buying them because they are so yummy but I never salt the water when I cook Japanese noodles. I'm not sure I can tell the difference between the soba that has yam as an ingredient and the soba that doesn't. Is there a difference in flavor or texture that you notice?

Spring in NY is just another word for Great NY Noodletown soft shell crabs. They have the biggest juiciest ones ever--they must have a huge turnover. I'm not sure when the season starts, but soon. I'm coming in early May and I'm SO excited! Oh, and if you find yourself at MOMA you can take advantage of the excellent Halal truck on the southwest corner of 6th ave and 53rd St. Order the chicken and rice with white sauce and just a dab of red sauce unless you take your food five-alarm hot.

If your buckwheat noodles were truly wheat-free and you really couldn't tell the difference between them and the typically available ones--which are made partly from wheat--anyone who avoids wheat would like to know what brand they are. For a period of time I was not eating wheat, and I could never find 100% buckwheat noodles. I eat modest amounts of wheat now, and I'm very happy about that, but there was a period of time during which $2.50 per serving would have been a bargain for a noodle that actually tasted like a noodle. (For those who don't know this, buckwheat is not a close relative of wheat and is usually okay for those who are gluten-free.)

Does anyone who frequents this thread make an "English Muffin Bread" loaf? We have tried one so far, and it was very good, but didn't really remind me of the taste of an English Muffin. Just want to be pointed in the direction of a recipe someone swears by. Thanks!

Our recipe is pulled from various sources and has evolved over the years. We've been doing this for many years since we realized that we liked marmalade far better than most jam and that most commercial marmalade wasn't what we wanted it to be--either too solid or too thick-cut or too sweet or too expensive. So this is what we do: Juice the fruit, and measure it and add twice the amount of water. Start heating up in a large heavy pot. Put most of the pips (I usually use about 3/4 of all pips) in a porous cloth bag--basically an old rag tied with sting. I try to add mainly the seeds and as little pith/pulp as possible. Add the pip bag to the juice and simmer 20 minutes. Meanwhile scrape the pith from the rind and cut finely or as you like it (I like it very fine, with no white pith.) After 20 minutes simmering add in the cut peel and continue to cook at a lively simmer 25 minutes. Take out the pip bag and let it cool. Measure the liquid and then put it back into the pot. Add 3/4 cup sugar for every cup of juice. I do sort of squeeze a little extra goop through the pip bag, but then toss out the rest. My marmalade does not get cloudy. The sugar and juice mixture then gets cooked down until the desired temp is reached. We like to pour the marmalade into pint jars when it reaches about 211 degrees. I believe the temp as which you get an ideal consistency (one you like best) is going to vary according to how much sugar you use and how many pips you use, but that's what works for us. Sometimes if we don't get at least 3 1/2 cups of juice from the sevilles at the beginning we will add a little of whatever is at hand--half a grapefruit, a lime, a lemon, whatever. Sevilles have a pretty distinct taste, so a little of some other citrus goes pretty much undetected. Bergamot IS detectable, especially the peel! In my post above I made an error. What I meant was 18-22 half pints total for the year, not pints.

Wow Kerry, that's the most different method from mine that I could imagine. Fp, I wonder if you get better or fresher sevilles in southern CA than we do in the Bay Area. My husband has a theory that as the season winds down the sevilles become less juicy. Last year the crop seemed better than this year. We make 4 batches a year and usually get 18-22 pints, which lasts until the next February, with a few for gifts. In the past we have made a batch or two of marmalade using some bergamot (not too much!) but this year for the first time in years we're not seeing any bergamot around. They are usually available from the very end of December until about mid February, although not easily found. Is there any bergamot in southern CA this year? Just curious. Maybe it was a small crop this year.

I base the ratio on volume, not weight, since sevilles give up varying amounts of juice. Sometimes 4 lbs of oranges will yield as much as 3 1/2 cups of juice. Yesterday we made marmalade and 4.5 lbs of sevilles gave up only 2 1/2 cups. Also the sugar doesn't go in at the beginning for my recipe. We simmer the juice along with twice the quantity of water and most of the pips and cook it down for about 45 minutes (zest goes in halfway). Then we measure the total liquid and use a ratio of 1 cup juice to 3/4 cup sugar, That gets boiled down further until the optimal temp is reached.

Toast. It's what's for dinner. Every toaster has its idiosyncrasies and most of us adjust. It is possible to spend buckets of money on a high tech toaster and still not get the toast you want, because toast isn't a science, it's an art. And ultimately of course the desired result is personal. Plus the fact that every kind of bread toasts in its own particular way. Me, I like toast that doesn't cook too fast or too slow. Too fast usually means dark, but not golden. Too slow often results in too dry, as well as much annoyance, and toast should be a peaceful enterprise, start to finish. Toasting should be like maintaining a good relationship: no fussiness, no hovering, but no negligence either. A healthy breakfast means you love the way your partner makes your toast or you are just as happy to make your own. The new $4 or more slice of toast craze is not news, really, but I found this article linked to from Lottie + Doof to be very touching. If you need your toast and other things very fast, this may not be for you. It's a long and winding road. http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/toast-story-latest-artisanal-food-craze-72676

Most of us who have cut back on salt in the past few years would agree that salt sensitivity is affected by overall consumption. The more you reduce salt in your diet the more restaurant food and processed foods seem too salty. If someone made a pie crust with salted butter I think I would be able to tell. And if I had to cook with a substantial quantity of salted butter I would taste frequently and adjust for the salt. Didn't it used to be more common to purchase salted butter? I grew up with it; I don't think my mother ever considered the difference. If a recipe called for unsalted butter you would have to go out and search for it. Now I use unsalted butter routinely, but every once in a while salted butter seems so right: for instance on rye toast or on a toasted bagel with sweet cream cheese on top of it. My husband hates salted butter, but for me I guess it's nostalgic, which seems weird now that I think about it. Salted butter rarely makes an appearance in my house, and when it does it is usually the result of an accident or someone else buying it, so it seems like a special treat!