Katie Meadow

Lately I'm into Kettle Organic sea salt and black pepper. Kettle sea salt and pepper come in 3 varieties as far as I can tell: the organic chips, the crinkle cut and the baked. The baked are sort of half baked, pretty dull. The crinkles taste oily and salt. The organic are excellent.

Right, here on the left coast ramps are pretty hard to find. I think I saw them at Berkeley Bowl once, but they looked like they had been to hell and back. Hardly worth the expense for wilted imports. Now at the farmers' markets there are lots of different onion varieties, so that's one place to start if you want to experiment.

I'll second the Nina Simonds book. Techniques for cooking various types of rice noodles are especially helpful. One of my go-to books; used it for years.

Kinda depends on what look you are going for and how much maintenance you want to do on an ongoing basis. There are lots of new alternative surfaces out there now. I am in process of redoing my kitchen counters using Caesarstone. It's reasonably priced, cheaper than granite certainly, can be had in large seamless slabs and supposedly needs little or no maintenance. I'm chosing it because of low maintenance, price, color availability (I am not redoing anything but the sink and counters, so I have to make the counter color work with the backsplash, etc.) Can't vouch for it yet, since it isn't installed. The look of all these materials is very different. Marble is warm and rustic and you can expect it to keep looking more rustic as time goes by, but I've seen it looking beautiful when old and well used. Of course it has to be in the right setting. Granite, at least to me, has a chilly feel, so it's a very different look.There are other aggregate surfaces and suspensions of quartz in various synthetics so it's really worth checking out all your options.

A real Hatch chile is not bland; it is fiery and VERY hot. When I lived in NM that was virtually guaranteed. It is possible that what's selling in southern CA is a devolved seed grown locally. Most all varieties of chiles are blander if grown here in CA than in NM. At this time of year I find my best chance of getting warm poblanos is from some of the Latino stalls at the Berkeley farmers market, but it varies

I'm following this thread with interest. When called on to make something for a pot luck with my husband's family I often just rule out soup. Several members are strict vegetarians and I admit to being depedent upon stock--strong or light, depending on what I'm doing--for the soups I make. I'm not often thrilled with the vegetarian soups made by others; often I find restaurants or individuals compensate for lack of flavor by using too much pepper or too many spices and herbs. Another issue is that one of the family members needs to avoid heavy use of tomatoes, so that limits the ingredients further. And truthfully I just can't stand pureed soups made with pumpkin or winter squash, which often seems to be a vegetarian option. The idea of using just one vegetable to flavor a soup is too subtle for this crowd. They need a heartier soup with a variety of ingredients. Are there some good guidelines or hints for making a basic vegetable stock that will make for a bit more depth?

Learning how to plan weekly menus and shop for the week went a long way to helping get mealtimes under control when I was working and had a young kid. Also making large quantities to provide leftovers for the next day was essential. Simplifying salad was helpful too; washing piles of lettuce and making dressing is time consuming and one of those kitchen chores I just hate. Much easier to just cut up some cukes, radishes and tomatoes and toss with feta and olive oil. Doubling up on vegetables and salad became a good shortcut: instead of having a vegetable and a salad, we often just have the vegetable as a salad. Greenbeans with olive oil, salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice can be made easily while doing something else and then timing isn't an issue either, they can just sit at room temp until dinner is ready. I also discovered that eating vegetarian meals at least half the time meant a lot more flexibility, especially toward the end of the week. I'm a little fussy about not having meat sit around in the fridge, so halfway through the week we don't have any animal protein around. It's either be creative with veggies or leftovers or be forced to stop and shop before dinner. I don't mind doing that now, but dragging a tired kid who has a pile of homework to the store after school was not an errand I wanted to make. Sundays became "vat of the week" day--soup or stew. I got into the habit of making a big batch of tomato sauce and freezing it in convenient sized portions for easy spaghetti meals. Learn to love beans; a big pot of beans is very adaptable. My daughter became a devotee of personal designer burritos. Poaching or roasting enough chicken for at least two meals means chicken in soup or burritos one night and chicken salad the next night. I know there are people out there who say they don't like leftovers. That can make weekday dinners hard!

When it comes to stock I try to strike a balance. I buy a cheaper not organic chicken and/or chicken parts and feet. I cook the living daylights out of it (at a low simmer, but several hours) and don't expect that the chicken will be very appealing or even nutritious after that time. Sometimes my husband will pull of a few chunks of breast or thigh meat after the first hour, and that works for chicken salad or whatever. That way we minimize the waste a bit. I can't justify buying free range or organic chicken for stock. If I am making a soup that wants shredded or pieced chicken I will typically buy Kosher chicken or sometimes organic chicken and poach it delicately until just done, then take it off the bone and add it at the last minute. That way it is tender and moist (even the breast!) and I feel like I am eating relatively healthy. If you are getting supplies at Trader Joe's, they sell Empire Kosher chicken, and it's pretty tasty. The difference in taste for me between any canned or boxed broth and homemade is pretty huge, and ultimately, given that I can produce five or six quarts of strong stock at a time, I can turn that into several generous batches of different types of soup, so I think I'm getting my money's worth. Although I don't analyse it too closely.

Ouch, I don't know why I always get sucked into the salt threads. The American rant "Don't tell me what to do" has resulted in all kinds of hideous practices, from talking or taking cell phone calls at the movies to monthly mass shootings. Any whiff of control, especially when accompanied by "This is good for you," will be resisted. When it comes to eating less salt, it would be nice to think that restaurants and processed food manufacturers could simultaneously agree to lower the salt content of all their foods. That way the people who eat out most of the time or who buy the oversalted processed grocery products will slowly accomodate their taste buds to less salt. If you cook most of your own meals and don't buy a lot of junk snacks or processed foods it is very easy to reduce the salt in your diet. Everyone I've ever known who has done it claims that their taste for salt simply adjusts. I need comparatively little salt now in order to make my food adequately salty. I cook with modest amounts of salt and sprinkle high quality sea salt on my food as needed. And I appreciate every crystal. In fact, I can TASTE every crystal. More than half the time when I eat out--be it high end or funky--the food tastes too saltly. For a variety of reasons we don't go out often. When following a recipe, I typically cut the salt according to taste (sometimes dramatically), unless it is baked goods. If it's a Rick Bayless recipe I might cut it back even more. When I watch him cook on TV I can't believe the mountains of salt he casually tosses in. Probably there are many reasons to cut back on salt. Several years ago I tried really hard to see if I could lower my blood pressure by strictly reducing the salt in my diet. No bloody marys, no cheetos. The difference it made wasn't enough; for others it does work. Everyone's physiology is different. Still, I'm convinced that decreasing salt intake does not decrease enjoyment once your taste buds get used to it.

janeer, can you provide a recipe for the tomato pie?

Oooh, those orange Ines Rosales are some of my favorite cookies, Kerry. I also like the Matiz brand plain sugared ones. The savory ones not so much. There are a few recipes on line that I discovered when I thought my source for these dried up, but I never made them after finding a reliable source. (That would be The Spanish Table stores: Berkeley, Mill Valley, Santa Fe, Seattle.) If anyone has a tried and true recipe I would be interested too.

I. Don't. Think. So.

The only way I ever eat cottage cheese is exactly the way my father ate it: mixed with a small amount of sour cream (I use Fage or Mexican crema which I have on hand more often) and combined with sliced radishes and cubed cukes. With salt and pepper.

Just as there are some mysteries best not solved, asking me to elaborate on why I think pimento cheese is a deep down bad idea is a pointless endeavor. On a slightly different note, I've never understood the idea of "trying to like something." Yes, some things are an acquired taste, some things not so much, and some food quirks are just not gonna suffer analysis. I'm extremely happy with my dislike of pimento cheese, banana bread, brussels sprouts, corn nuts and a few other things. As my dad used to mispronounce, chacun a son gout. Cheers!

I've been on a southern food kick for a couple of years now (Paula Dean style ain't mine, just so you know.) Last year in Atlanta visiting my daughter we went to a great bar. Most of the bar-food there was pretty decent, and since neither my husband or myself or our daughter had ever had pimento cheese we ordered it. We all hated it. After looking at a variety of recipes--more or less standard--I don't think there is any way on earth that I could tweak it that would make it appetizing. It's just plain weird. It is the one thing southerners have a ferocious dedication to that is completely incomprehensible to me!

Wow, Prawn, that's sneaky. I would be mad if someone plucked and hid the oyster from of my thigh. I would want a plate of spicy chicken oysters as reparation.

Seems to me that whatever types of foods this thread implies (and I'm still not sure of the context) we are most of us talking about refrigerator-ready supplies, not esoteric groceries. I might have dills, I might have sweet chips, but the secret of cheese and pickle sandwiches is to use whatever you have on hand, which is usually what you prefer. Along the same vein, I've been known to eat a sandwich of cukes and radishes on almost any kind of bread but subbing butter for mayo. I don't grow my own chiles, but here in northern CA the hotter ones tend to be found at Latino markets, like Mi Pueblo, the one I shop at often. Although these too vary. In the spring I often found there were some very hot jalapenos mixed in with a medium-hot batch. But just this week I bought a bunch and they were all very mild. I lived in New Mexico for several years, and the variety and heat of chiles were much more dependable there. In CA it's a crapshoot, and most of the fresh green types are mild, including serranos. In the late summer and fall I can often get some spicy poblanos from a Latino vendor at the Berkeley farmers market, but the same vendor will have milder one's earlier in the season. So this time of year I try to roast and freeze small batches to use during the winter. When feeling flush one year I did send away to a NM farm for Hatch and Big Jims, which were very good, but the reality is that mail-ordering chiles is an expensive proposition.

gfweb: in fact, my tuna salad always includes chopped pickled jalapenos. Since acquiring The Homesick Texan cookbook I have started making my own. Her recipe is great, but my best source for jalapenos varies considerably when it comes to heat level, so some batches are mild and some have been so scary hot only my husband can eat them. So it goes. Sylvia, cheese and pickle sandwiches can run the gamut low to haute. I like mine simple, but with a good quality cheddar. When I was little I must have paid zero attention to what my mother stocked, but it could easily have been processed slices and wonderbread. Starter food, yeah? Truth be known my mother was a dreadful cook and there are few foods I had growing up that I remember with nostalgia or want to recreate. She did, however, eat one thing that was remarkable and yummy: cooked bone marrow on rye bread. That's pretty country, but some other country.

Okay, the most country meal I can think of is plain store-bought white bread with sliced farm-grown tomato still warm from the sun and mayo. A close second is a basic cheese and pickle and mayo sandwich, also on plain white bread. I don't even know why these seem country, except that they are the kind of sandwiches I associate with bare feet and sandy summers on Long Island, not with the school year in NYC. Must be accompanied by Squirt grapefruit soda or cream soda. Hmm, I can almost imagine potato chips in a tuna salad sandwich. Maybe next year.

Like cdh above I have no clue what this thread about. However, I do have strong feelings about meatloaf sandwiches. Despite the fact that my meatloaf has a very slight amount of tomato paste mixed into it and a tomato based spicy glaze, I never ever put ketchup on meatloaf. When it is hot, I just like it with a little of the pan juice. When it is cold, in a sandwich or just sliced on a plate, no ketchup touches it: I prefer dijon mustard. And I don't see the need to break up a slice of meatloaf or to slice it thinly, which, at least with the meatloaf I make isn't easily done since it tends to be coarse rather than mousse-like. One thick slice for a sandwich works quite well. More out of curiosity than anything else, this idea of adding potato chips to a sandwich is alien to me. How or where did that habit come about? I grew up in NY and no one ever did it that I remember.

I have absolutely nothing scientific to contribute, but my experiences with fresh squeezed citrus juice have led me to the conviction that the fresher it is the better, and even an hour or two can make for a an off flavor or just less brightness in the taste. Since I am no bartender here and all citrus juices squeezed for cocktails are used immediately, I'm really talking about juice that is for drinking straight or in "ades" or for cooking or sauces. In fact, ever since a couple of very obvious deteriorations several years ago, I'm practically phobic about not letting citrus juice sit around. Pledge. Eww.

The following paragraph appears in the website referred to by the original post. Need anything be said? If the author is correct, they seem to be making a bit of extra work for themselves, no? "Chick-Fil-A's got quite a bit in common with California burger chain In-N-Out burger. Both serve reasonably priced tasty food of a markedly better quality than your typical fast food establishment. Both harbor a cult-like following of zealots. Both hire and retain extremely upbeat and friendly staff—you can't help but feel just a little more gay after stepping into a Chick-Fil-A. And of course, both restaurants were started by families with extremely conservative Christian principles." I've never had Chick fil-A, but there must be a lot of ways to make a fried chicken sandwich. Bakesale Betty's works for me, but of course that's not exactly fast food, (although they are fast given the line down the street during lunchtime) nor is it available except in the East Bay, but all it takes is a good bread roll you like, your favorite fried chicken and your favorite non-mayo slaw. David, your idea of pickle brine is interesting. You might try going on line and searching out Betty's cole slaw recipe, which really makes a super sandwich. My daughter is in Atlanta and claims Chick Fil-A is good. Personally I would prefer to see her on the picket line.

Growing up in NY a burger (and I'm taxing my memory here, since when I come to NY a burger isn't on my to-do list) was composed of nothing more than a bun, lightly toasted if you were lucky, ketchup, the meat patty and some pickle chips. Or you could add cheese--yellow in those days. How do you put Irish on it? So what exactly is a west coast burger, at least from an east coast perspective? When we make burgers at home here we use mustard, mayo, ketchup and have a plate with sliced red onion, tomatoes and lettuce, and either pickles or roasted green chillies. I've abandoned the traditional bun for toasted slices of good quality batarde or rustic french style white bread.

Mmmm that looks yummy, soba. How do you make boozy french toast?

So far I've bought corn about five times this season (it has only appeared at the farmers' market the last week or so) and it has been hit or miss. The first corn I saw was at Mi Pueblo, the giant Mexican supermercado, and that a few weeks ago. It was surprisingly good and reasonably priced at 3 ears for a dollar. The last few purchases have been from the Berkeley farmers market, but the corn from the vendor I preferred for the last couple of years wasn't as good as previously, and not as good as someone else's corn. Yesterday I bought corn from two different vendors. One batch, a milk and honey variety, was excellent--a nine out of ten. The other batch seems okay but not supersweet. We ate the bicolor corn right away for a late lunch, and today I will see how the less good corn is in fritters. Total crap shoot here!