Katie Meadow

We made an interesting iced tea yesterday using a peach-plum shrub I made last week. Just a splash of vinegar shrub added to sweetened black tea and some bruised mint. My husband thought it was great. I liked it, but not as much as he did.

I love Hamlyn's Pinhead Oats and never found McCann's very appealing. But Bob's is cheaper and more available at most of the retail places I shop, and I like it fine. So I go with that, but out of nostalgia still keep it in a Hamlyn's can. Shel, I have also bought the bulk steel cut oats at Berkeley Bowl, and found them not good enough.

This is a subjective question, but do those of you who have cooked from Jerusalem and Plenty find that the recipes in Jerusalem are a bit more accessible? I don't have either book, but have perused Plenty and just reading the recipes and lists of ingredients made me tired. Last night I made Swiss Chard Fritters with Feta, which I believe is from Jerusalem. It was fantastic, and not overly fussy. I didn't have the same herbs as listed, but used what I had on hand-- dill and chives.

Peets Coffee and Tea has their own black tea blend called Summer House Ice Tea, and can be had loose or in bags. They advocate making a double strength batch, then adding the same amount cold water; for some reason, even if you over-steep it doesn't get bitter. In the old days when I lived in NM I made a lot of sun tea, which was wonderful, but the weather here isn't the same and I find this Peets blend and method makes an excellent brew. If you don't live near a Peets you can order from them or even get this blend on Amazon. After spending time last year in Georgia and North Carolina I admit to getting hooked on sweet tea, although I learned to ask for it "half and half" which was plenty sweet in my opinion. Sometimes I add a splash of lemonade or fruit juice, but usually I just crush up some mint and toss it in. I keep a jar of simple syrup in the fridge so we can sweeten our tea to taste by the glass. Needless to say I prefer this method to the giant pitcher of sweetened Lipton's.

I love salted cashews with a Manhattan but peanuts always seem wrong. Go figure. Marcona almonds might be good too. I rarely eat pate, but a nice mellow pork or rabbit pate on crackers is yummy with a Manhattan, and, along with some lightly salted paper thin slices of kohlrabi, in a pinch constitutes a complete meal.

Can it be called a Manhattan variation if it contains some shrub? I just made a shrub! My appetite for stone fruit is once again (happens every year this time) greater than my ability to eat it, so I took a combo of peach and plums that were very ripe and juicy and made my first shrub. I haven't tasted it yet, as it is mellowing in the fridge, but I don't see how it can not be yummy. But what do I do with it? We love a standard rye Manhattan, so what can we do to add some shrub and come up with a good drink? We have a variety of vermouths, Cocchi di Torino, Bonal, Fernet Jelinek and Amaro CioCiaro. We also have a few very basic bitters: peychaud, angostura, Regan's orange. Also I kinda need a name for my hybrid fruit shrub: It is one peach, one black plum and one Santa Rosa plum. Peplum? Peachum? Plump? Make me a Plump Manhattan, please!

I use low-fat buttermilk all the time, often ignoring instructions to use full-fat. I can't really tell the difference in baked goods or pancakes, honestly, but then I'm so used to it maybe I'm a bad judge. My other solution would be to sub a small amount of low fat buttermilk with whatever full-fat product is around, whether it be yogurt, sour cream or creme fraiche to add a bit of richness.

When I make rice I throw a little knob of butter into the saucepan, and when it melts, toss in the rice with a little salt. I toast the grains first, in other words. After several minutes, when they start to smell delicious (you know, that basmati popcorn thing) I add the water. I think it enhances the flavor of the rice. It's been a while since I made a risotto, but yes I guess I toast the grains in butter before adding the first ladleful of wine. Although perhaps I toast them a little bit more when I make a simple pot of rice.

Okay, not owning a rice cooker of any kind--and not seeing one in my future--I'm just curious. Does a rice cooker allow you to toast the rice first the way you can stovetop? Because that flavor is really yummy. I eat a LOT of rice (mostly basmati) and have been cooking it the same way in a saucepan on the stove since I moved out of a dorm about 45 years ago. I have a number of challenges in the kitchen, but rice isn't one of them. To me it's like breathing. So, Patrickamory and Weinoo, that makes three of us with a little extra counter space.

http://dinnerwithjulie.com/2009/03/10/curried-red-lentil-carrot-and-sweet-potato-soup-with-ginger-and-root-vegetable-cake/ The above recipe is from Dinner with Julie and is called Root Vegetable Cake. I'm feeling sorry for all the kids out there whose parents don't let them have any sugar. This is about the healthiest cake I have ever eaten, and it's actually good. Yes, it does have sugar in it, but you can cut back a little on the amount (I did.) If you happen to have a few carrots and a stray beet (I did) it's perfect. I also bought a sweet potato for the occasion. And I happened to have some homemade apple-rhubarb sauce which I used as the applesauce in the recipe. I used a combo of coconut oil, which I thought would have good flavor for this cake, and mostly grape seed oil. I also cut the recipe in half and baked it in one 9-inch cake pan. I threw in some chopped walnuts, but clearly lots of things could be added. Oh, I cut way back on the cinnamon, but that's because I really don't like cinnamon to dominate anything. And I subbed a little buckwheat flour for AP, because I love that flavor. My daughter self-selected the white diet during her 2-6 years; that is she only ate white food: rice, pasta, potatoes, butter, bread, etc. No green or red or orange veggies would dare come near her for fear of her scorn. She grew out of it, and I really think it happened naturally. True, we don't eat a lot of junky foods in our house and we have always cooked and eaten dinner together, but kids' weird ideas about food come from a source we really can't control, ultimately, and the best you can do is be a good model, as some above have suggested.The only thing I learned about the food wars: pick your battles. There is nothing more cringe inducing than watching relatives or strangers or friends having public food fights with their children. And there is nothing simple about restricting certain foods (or non-foods); it will always bite you back. Seeing your kid eat a year's worth of candy after a Halloween score is painful. Seeing them hoard it and let it rot in a drawer and not let you have any of it is just as worrisome. Anyway, try the above cake if you want the satisfaction of knowing your kid is eating a beet. Well, okay, it's still cake, but at least it has some praise-worthy qualities. My husband loved it with creme fraiche and he loved it with ice cream, but it's pretty good served with fresh fruit.

Lucky then to be in Atlanta where you can shop at Your DeKalb Farmers World Market near Decatur! The variety in that place is staggering, and I'm pretty spoiled living in the Bay Area. I'm assuming you have already discovered it. My daughter lives in Decatur and took us there when we visited. Just amazing.

Just a word about health upsides and downsides. If you read various testimonials by doctors, homeopaths, seemingly level-headed people and nut cases it is clear that no one oil is going to be all purpose useful or healthy. There is one site in particular that cautions against rice bran oil, as it has no omega 3's and lots of omega 6's, suggesting that if you use rice bran oil a lot, you might want to supplement your diet with omega 3's. I have no idea if this should be taken seriously; at a certain point my mind fogs over and I just concede to the benefits of moderation and variety. For baking it seems that any oil that has a flavor you like (or has no detectable flavor) and no objectionable transfat, corporate or GMO factors--if that matters to you-- can be appropriate, and you don't have to worry about a high smoke point for that. There's a lot of swooning over coconut oil for baking these days, touting its health benefits, but it seems to me the benefits might be sweet taste and the fact that it is solid at room temp, so often suggested as a sub for butter, although we all know nothing tastes like real butter. For high-heat cooking such as stir fry or deep fry, it sounds like refined vegetable oils work well, as do rice bran oil and peanut oil. I always assumed that the best oil for wok cooking is peanut, but maybe that isn't a slam dunk.The most recommended peanut oil around these parts is Golden Lion, but it does have a distinct flavor, so you have to like that. Rice Bran oil is suggested for tempura. I don't like peanut oil (or olive oil) for popping corn, so I am going to find myself some rice bran oil and see if I like it for stir-fry as well or for whenever I would have reached for corn oil, which I don't want to buy any more. Truthfully it has been so long since I bought safflower or sunflower oil I don't even remember what they taste like; I associate both of them with the 1970's and tasteless salads and casseroles. Unless I start baking a lot, my oil money is tied up in olive. This has been a very useful thread.

Eww, eww and eww, but that's just personal. There appear to be several modifying factors here. One is how much protective fat is involved. Another is that not all rotten or rancid foods cause problems. And another is that some people (my husband for instance) don't always perceive food as being "off" when others do. I'm super sensitive. I can detect milk that is barely starting to go, so I'm of the school that errs on the side of caution: when in doubt throw it out. My husband is a risk-taker with a poor sense of smell, a forgiving palate, an iron stomach and an abhorrence of waste. Luckily for his own good he does not make a study of what's in the fridge and has no idea how much stuff I simply throw out without telling him.

Recipes calling for neutral oil often suggest canola. I thought it was just me until this thread, but clearly there are others who detect a fishy odor and/or taste. I found that some brands were fishier than others, but gave up on canola totally when I discovered grape seed oil. I can't see using olive oil for any cooking that involves very high heat or massive quantities, not only because the flavor seems to get lost, but also because good quality olive oil is pricey, so I too find it wasteful that way. Lately I have been into baking cakes that use oil instead of butter; I'm not experienced enough to sub oil for butter, so I look for recipes that specify oil. Some recipes specify olive oil, such as various Italian style semolina cakes, etc. Others just say "vegetable oil," and leave it up to the baker. In that case, when I feel like a little flavor, I use a mix of olive oil and grape seed, which seems to work pretty well. I do like corn oil for things like pancakes and popping corn, but it would be nice to avoid the GMO's as Andie suggests. I don't find corn oil to be neutral and I like the taste of it, so what might be a good substitute for that corny taste? What do you use for popping corn on the stove top? What do you use in baking?

Two years ago I got a terrible stomach virus and couldn't shake the aftereffects. Finally, after lots of research and talking to my doctor I went on the low-fodmaps diet. I was pretty strict about it for at least six months, and then I started slowly and carefully adding back in certain foods, one at a time to see what I could tolerate, and there are now very few things I can't eat, at least in moderation. So don't lose hope! It may not be forever. I found the low-fodmaps diet to be a very healthy one, since all food groups are in the diet, even for me, as I have to avoid high-cholesterol foods as well. For anyone who confuses it with a paleo diet, you are very mistaken. The only grains off the table are wheat and rye. Many cultivated agricultural foods are fine, and they include the spectrum of green and orange foods. I don't eat a lot of meat any more and would be miserable on the paleo diet. Just about every substitute food for wheat products I find pretty awful, so I just don't bother trying to find gluten-free breads that are tolerable. We started making our own corn tortillas and that was a godsend. They are so good! And I finally got a great recipe for wheat-free pancakes. I eat those or steel cut oats for breakfast. I also make grits (or coarse polenta). I love it out of the pot, but also formed into cakes, and sautéed for breakfast or whenever. I eat a LOT of rice: mostly high quality organic basmatti, because I love the taste. I've discovered fried rice, which is friendly for all kinds of veggies. When I finally re-introduced beans I discovered that some were not a problem, and I make a pot of beans once a week, which I eat over rice. Some things you always eat over pasta can work over rice. Tomato season is almost upon us, and just making a sauce of fresh uncooked tomato with either butter or oil (no onion!) is awfully good on rice. I still have to limit wheat--it seems to be the worst offender, although I can cheat a little. For me it has nothing to do with the gluten, just the wheat. And remember, everyone is different when it comes to these kinds of diets, so all the low fodmaps charts will eventually end up being personalized for each user. When I miss noodles--and I so much do--I go out for Pho or Bun or spring rolls at Viet restaurants. Rice noodles are awesome, although I wouldn't want to eat them in lasagne. A cautionary note about soba: if you read the ingredients for buckwheat noodles you will discover that they are not just buckwheat, but also have regular wheat in them. I know, that's a tough one, because buckwheat is on the good list.

For asian stir fry or asian-style pancakes I use peanut oil. When a recipe calls for an essentially flavorless vegetable oil I use either grape seed or corn oil, although I do think corn oil has a slight corny taste; in some things I guess I like that. I don't deep-fry anything, so quantity isn't an issue. I would say olive oil is my go-to for most everything else, or butter, although I have cut way way back on butter. I never use safflower, sunflower or canola. I find canola to have a fishy taste, which I know sounds weird.

Way less meat, more fish. Most meals now are vegetarian or include only small amounts of animal protein. My diet has changed from wheat-centric to rice-entric. Less butter, more olive oil. Almost no cheese. Way more soup. I have a taste now for salads that have fruit in them, and mix up fruits with veggies, such as tomatoes and watermelon or tomatoes and peaches, oranges and fennel, kohlrabi and apple, etc. I no longer can stand broccoli, but I eat a lot more cabbage--cole slaw and also in stir-fry. Less wine, more brown liquor. Some of these changes are for health reasons, but many are just a matter of what tastes good now. No more scones or sweet bread things. Lots more straight dark chocolate. And not for health reasons. The bigger change in my eating habits is that I eat a bigger breakfast than I used to and my husband and I get around to lunch so late that we often don't eat dinner--we just have linner, and then maybe a late cocktail hour with popcorn. Weird? Maybe, but it works.

Thanks for the many suggestions. I will make it again, with some adjustments and increased seasoning. I believe I took the recipe from Sweet Amandine's blog. She does not note that it is too wet, nor does she comment on lack of flavor, but she does note--and I agree-- that it is indeed better after a day or two. We are still eating it. There seems to be endless amounts of it, but of course I think that's because it is less than perfect. She warns that the recipe makes more that will fit into a deep dish 10" pie plate, which I also found to be true. I would say it would easily feed 8, maybe 10, depending upon how central to the meal it will be. I don't know if DL's original recipe calls for a sprinkle of parmesan on the top, but Amandine does. It could be that some added to the puree would help boost flavor as well. I did use a generous grating of nutmeg. Yes, what looks like a crust is a thin layer of egg that forms on the bottom. I'm after a fairly simple vegetarian pie (I have a lot of vegetarian relatives, so I'm always looking for stuff I can feed them) so I wouldn't add pork to it. I suppose I eat lot more chard than I do spinach; the flavor of fresh baby spinach is pretty delicate and might get overwhelmed by meat or smoky flavor, but once the kinks are worked out, it could be a very nice side dish. It is an incredibly lovely color, and does hold its shape well, and appears flexible when it comes to serving temp--always useful.

It isn't that I've never eaten terrible food cooked in a home kitchen--we all have. But this thread is kinda mean. Agreed, it is sad that so many people have never had the opportunity to pick up basic cooking techniques, but frankly I don't think most of the cooking or food shows that have multiplied like mice on the food network or elsewhere are even really trying to help anyone learn anything. You have to assume that those people who are poor cooks and yet still invite friends over are either very brave or really so used to their own cooking that making changes is simply not on the horizon and they are comfortable with what they know. So it goes. You just hope that if you invite them over to your place they enjoy the food and have a good time.

Yep, that's totally the recipe.

Remember Stouffer's Spinach Souffle? Good, right, in its processed and salty way. And then there's the southern classic Spinach Madeleine which was more homemade and easy, because all recipes called for frozen spinach, but not very healthy for those of us trying to limit our butter and cheese. So now I've been trying the David Lebovitz spinach cake recipe that's all over the place; food bloggers must really like it because an awful lot of them have a verbatim or slightly adapted version. It is healthy, and looks beautiful on the plate cut in emerald wedges. I've made it twice now, once from the original and once from an adapted source, and both times found it rather bland and watery. I want to really like this recipe. Does anyone have success with it and love it? I'm going to try one more time, perhaps not use so much of the cooking juices or make sure the spinach is totally dry after washing or add some tasty herbs. Has anyone tried it using chard or other greens? Maybe spinach just has a lot of moisture?

Ah, the arrogance of right handed people! Including my husband. Although secretly he is in awe of us lefties. I rarely have kitchen accidents of any kind and I do all the cooking in the house. My husband can bake bread like nobody's business but his knife skills are pretty bad. Left handed people have a long history of learning to adapt to less than perfect tools and that is a plus when it comes to solving kitchen problems of all kinds. I use left handed scissors, which make a big difference. The single most important left handed utensil I own is a ladle, with the lip on the correct side. A right handed soup ladle is a worthless piece of crap! It occurs to me that my husband, when he dishes up his own portion of soup, has never complained about the ladle, so he earns my admiration for either a brilliant adjustment or being silent in the face of adversity. I don't remember seeing an ambi soup ladle, with two lips instead of one, but they must exist for mixed hand couples. But the worst decision we ever made (he convinced me it was a great idea, and I never imagined how inconvenient it would be) was a right handed FAUCET arrangement. The stem of the faucet was actually left of center at the back. Just think about that for a minute. I was always having to work AROUND the stream of water and my left sleeve was often soaked as a result. Such a great day when we got rid of that thing.

I make fruit and nut bars adapted from the Alice Medrich recipe, using mainly dates, but also a mix of apricots and cherries. I add just a little cocoa powder to the mix, but basically it is a pretty healthy grab-and-go kind of snack--great for air travel or long drives. And best of all, you can slice it up and freeze it in packets and it doesn't seem to suffer at all for being frozen. Am I late to the party? Every restaurant in Portland offers bacon-wrapped dates, some more celestial than others. Pitted dates get stuffed with an almond (marcona in some cases) and a dab of either goat cheese or blue cheese. Then each date gets wrapped in one slice of bacon and either grilled or roasted or broiled in some fashion. Fabulous for a party, very dangerous if you are alone.

Thanks Dan. At my next opportunity I will try another Fernet, but perhaps the subtlety of Jelinek is what keeps me drinking it; you take one more sip just to figure out what it tastes like. There's a mysterious medicinal quality to it, but the menthol isn't dominant, at least to my tongue.

In Portland I had a rye cocktail made with Fernet Jelinek. I liked it so much they gave me a freebie of straight Fernet Jelinek as an after dinner drink. I can see how people could love or hate this stuff. I'm crazy about it, and just located a bottle of FJ here at home. I've never tasted Fernet Branca.....can anyone compare these two Fernets?