Katie Meadow

Never having heard of this cake, the name alone caused me to do a little research. An alternate spelling "medovnik" turns up at least as many recipes, so if you are looking for fillings there are plenty of options, all of them more complicated than just swiping with either creme fraiche or sour cream. None of the recipes I looked at used creme fraiche; about half used sour cream mixed with other ingredients and half used condensed milk, also mixed with a variety of ingredients. But back to the name. As much as anyone in my family agrees (and at this point there are no old olds left) our name used to be Medovnik. True or not, I couldn't be happier thinking my name means Russian Honey Cake. Far more appealing than "Runs With Sabre," though not quite as funny as "Pass the Samovar." Regardless, the cake looks delicious, and I've got to make a field trip to the city and check out that bakery.

Yes, I know the frustration. Getting unique types of beans as fresh as Rancho Gordo's means limited supply; my daughter gave me some of their Yellow Indian beans for xmas, and I was hooked, but they are sold out. For certain beans they don't carry, or when they are out of my favorites, I order from Purcell Mountain Farms. The selection is huge, and they offer a number of organics as well. They have terrific rattlesnake beans (just about impossible to find anywhere else) and the best dark red kidney beans I ever tasted.

Any new ideas? We will be in Portland 4 nights. I've checked out the above recs and it appears you have the high-end dining covered. I know Portland has a ton of food carts and "cart pods" so suggestions for those are welcome. Also mid-priced restaurants. We will be staying in the SE near Division St), and will also spend some time in the SW/ downtown, maybe the Pearl. Also recs for cozy appealing bars, especially in the SE. Not looking for glitz!

I don't see why you can't sub any protein you favor--altho tofu sounds pretty weird for this soup. Since Caldo Verde is mainly potatoes and kale, you could use chicken; in that case I would probably use chicken broth for the soup. If you are wanting that smoky taste, perhaps cook a smoked turkey wing to make the broth. I like that smoky pork taste in a variety of bean soups but I don't like the fattiness of sausage or some other kinds of pork. What I do is make a ham broth, using smoked ham shanks. My husband loves to pick away at the meat after the stock is made, and I can eliminate all the fat in the stock before using. It makes a terrific pot of beans. Smoked paprika might jazz up a totally vegetarian soup, if that's what you are going for.

I just did this yesterday! (I was avoiding a huge pile of filing.) I started with the "junk" drawer and then found myself moving on to the rest, taking everything out, cleaning the crumbs out of the drawers (!), and putting only about half of the stuff back in. Then I moved on to the cabinets. Each object went through the "Have I used this in the last year?" test, and if it failed, out it went. (Now if I could only force myself to do this with my closet!) Then, "Do I really need three of these? Which is the one (or maybe two - I'm only human) that I actually use?" and out went the extras. Some lucky Value Village shopper in Seattle is going to be very happy soon. K Chuck it if you haven't used it in a year? That's brutal. Unfortunately I have a basement, which is really not a good solution in the long run.

My goal is to simplify and declutter. My cabinets are bursting with too many pots and pans and casserole dishes, too many specialty cooking items. I'll never use an egg poacher insert, since I don't even like poached eggs. I have a very nice pudding steamer but I've used it once and that was 20 years ago. My recipe collection needs weeding. Who am I kidding? I'll never make tempura at home. Or home made doughnuts. My kitchen is big, with lots of great storage space, but it's embarrassing I have so much crap I don't use. As it is every year, my one vow is to learn how to make great tamales (hold the lard.) Hope springs eternal.

Growing up on the upper west side--and around the corner from Barney Greengrass--the lox and bagels on Sunday morning was a no-brainer. As for dinner on Sunday, it was likely the only night my family ate out, and yes, usually it was Chinese. There must be a myriad of reasons for this tradition. First of all there were a million Chinese restaurants within walking distance. And they were open on Sunday. Now most restaurants that close one night a week chose Monday, but I think it was very common in the 50's and 60's for Italian restaurants to close on Sunday. Another reason why Chinese might have been appealing to extended Jewish families is that cheese and dairy was not a major part of the diet, so anyone who ate semi-Kosher would have a wide array of beef and chicken dishes that were dairy free. And if, like my family, you were into pork and shellfish but didn't typically cook them during the week, this was a big opportunity. Plus, all children eat Chicken Sizzling Rice soup, right? Oh, and don't forget the value of sharing: no one gets stuck with a plate of food they don't like, since Chinese food is the equivalent of eating off each other's plates, only much more civilized.

For the record I tried this SF Chron recipe last summer when that article appeared. It is very eggy, and I prefer my popovers less so. I don't know if it would have been better with just 2 eggs instead of 3, but I didn't try it again.

Me, for most stuff that isn't baked goods. My husband makes fantastic bread. My SIL's (husband's side) pies and cakes are supreme. My parents were very limited: my dad made great chopped chicken liver and lox scramble, but nothing else. My mother was pretty hopeless, although she did teach me to spread bone marrow on rye bread. I have no idea where she got the bone marrow, but she must have cooked something. She did make a variety of things no one could even eat but I do give her credit for some likes and dislikes that made a lasting impression: Manhattan clam chowder and HoJo's peppermint ice cream for dessert. My grandmother is remembered (by me only) for her gribenes; if she had any other cooking skills they died with her when I was young. I taught myself to cook during a very strange period during my twenties when I spent a fair amount of time alone.

Wow, I'm surprised at how many people can actually answer the op's query. For as long as I can remember toast has been my main breakfast. I grew up on rye toast and english muffins, but just about any kind of bread I buy now is a good candidate for toast. They are all different. No favorites, I love them all: brioche, plain white, sour or half sour white, bagel, baguette, batarde, challah, corn bread, seedy whole wheat, whatever was eaten the day before when it was fresh. Most all slices I prefer with butter and marmalade. A plain white toast is a good vehicle for Nutella. I don't like breads with nuts or olives or fruits in them, fresh or toasted. Luckily I have a sandwich loving man around, so leftover bread is easy to come by. Mmmm....toast!

I make both sizes: large in a 6-cup dedicated pan and smaller in a muffin tin. In my experience if a recipe makes six large popovers it will make approx 9 muffin size ones. I agree you should start with the equipment you have.

Great selection of Asian rice varieties can be found at Tokyo Market on San Pablo in Berkeley. I'm partial to Lundberg basmatti, grown here in CA. I used to buy bulk basmatti at Berkeley Bowl, but the Lundberg is superior, I think, to just about any basmatti I have tried. But of course I've only tried a small percentage. Other places to check out around the East Bay include some of the Indian markets, on University near San Pablo. Or the market that is attached to Vik's Chat House. The most awesome selection I've seen in one spot was Kalusyan's in NY. They do mail order if memory serves.

I remember making gingerbread houses with my daughter when she was little. They weren't really edible, partly because they needed the structure of cardboard to stay up, and because you wouldn't want to eat anything after it sits around for a week or two at room temperature. Are you planning to eat this? If so, I understand your desire for golden syrup. If not, cheap corn syrup might be more practical option.

I've baked clafoutis in a variety of pans and they always come out nicely. Very forgiving type of dessert, I think. I've often used a ceramic deep dish pie pan (glazed) just because it is simple and looks nice and is at least 10" in diameter.

This morning's NYT obit for Zuni chef Judy Rodgers actually features her iconic roast chicken recipe. Awfully nice, dontcha think?

About two years ago I determined to see if I could lower my cholesterol to avoid going on drugs, so I changed my diet by eliminating fatty meats (except as an occasional treat) all dairy except for modest amounts of 1% milk, limiting butter to morning toast, and eating only an egg or two a week. I didn't lose weight, although that wasn't my primary intention, but I did lower my cholesterol by a lot. Then about a year ago I had a terrible stomach virus and I just couldn't shake the after effects. To try and settle my gut, I cut out wheat completely. I still ate lots of rice, corn products, barley and most other grains and in no way limited carbs. I ate fruit, potatoes, etc. I did not cut out sugar, and ate plenty of dark chocolate, because I just had to have something good around. I lost weight steadily for the last year and felt better as well. In fact, I lost a little more than was good for me, without an across the board diet, and only by limiting animal fats and wheat. It may not work for everyone but there is something to be said for not going low-carb, just going wheatless. I'm sure everyone is different, but it may be worth a try if the though of giving up all carbs makes you miserable. Yes once in a blue moon I cheat and have pizza. But restaurants are not hard to navigate if you have Asian options that don't put cheese and bread and wheat pasta on the front burner.

For almost thirty years I've been familiar with vegetarians at Thanksgiving, since there have been times when exactly 3 out of 12 people at my in-laws' table have eaten the turkey, which I cook every year. The stuffing has always been vegetarian, and split between cooked inside the bird and cooked in a casserole dish. The dressing/stuffing is chestnut and corn-white bread, using a bit of apple and the usual suspects with fresh thyme and sage, adding vegetable broth to moisten the dressing that cooks outside the turkey. Someone always makes a vegetarian entree, that might range from enchiladas to lasagna to spanakopita. This year my SIL is making the recent NYT veg recipe for portobellos stuffed with nuts and rice and lentils. There are always mashed potatoes, yams, vegetable sides and a green salad and a fresh cranberry-orange salad. A popular side has always been that standard southern casserole, Spinach Madeleine. I would be thrilled by a dinner with an Indian twist, but if your guests are looking for something with that New England vibe, I would think that basic ingredients are easily available to you where you are. If fresh cranberries are not available, I would go with whatever refreshing tart fruits are to be found. Various chutneys could be a great accompaniment to any traditional thanksgiving. And I agree with anyone above who is against faux meat. No tofurkey, please.

For daily use we use cloth napkins. 100% cotton seems to wash out fresher and cleaner than a poly blend. I also use tablecloths on my kitchen table, and cotton dish towels, so I have many opportunities for the napkins to get washed. Most all these and the napkins as well are older and not considered valuable by any stretch of the imagination. All are patterned--checks or stripes; solids are begging for trouble as far as I'm concerned. After a meal I fold up the napkins. If there is obvious food staining they get tossed in the laundry. If perfectly clean, they get a pass. Sometimes a napkin gets a pass several days. My husband and I use and reuse our own napkins, we don't share. To launder all kitchen or dining cloths I like to add a little extra hot water. Once in a while I will use a few drops of bleach in the machine and that seems to help keep linens clean. I don't have huge parties. At most there may be ten people at the dining room table on special occasions. I do have one nice dining table cloth and one nice set of a dozen napkins to go with. They usually get washed after each dinner party. For hors d'oevres in the living room or for messy meals like BBQ cheap Ikea napkins do the trick, but I try to use paper products judiciously. I use bar mops for most spills or counter cleanup, old cloths for squeezing out wet lettuce or veggies, and have a venerable collection of cotton dish towels that I use liberally when cooking. As for blowing noses in napkins, well, that's not something I do or want to see anyone else do, especially not at my house. People who tend to blow their noses after spicy foods or whatever should carry around a hanky or a kleenex. For the very rare times I need a stain remover, it's Zout.

I wonder if there was any hot chili in the air around the old plant, or if the size of the new one means you can't hide the evidence. None of the articles I read about this noted how close to a residential area the old plant was. The new one is just enormous. Some people are more sensitive to smells that others, and a number of people interviewed said they were coughing and choking from the residue of the plant. If that's true, it's pretty serious. When I'm roasting 10 chiles in a pan the air in the kitchen can get pretty inflammatory. I love Sriracha, but I wouldn't want my throat to sting when I walked out of my house. Personally I know I couldn't live over a hamburger joint that spews greasy smoke all day. Yes, anything is better than a paper mill, but I would be more likely to give the residents of that neighborhood the benefit of the doubt than assume we should all have to chose between one irritating emanation and another. Just read Andie's last post, above. Sounds like adding insult to injury: not only do some of the workers at the plant have to breath roast chilies for 8 hrs a day, but they get to take their work home with them as soon as they exit the building and live with it until they clock in for their next shift. I wouldn't want to say how bad it is before standing in their shoes.

I'm looking to buy two Chinese green teas: Jasmine Pearl and Yong Xi Huo Qing. Can anyone suggest an on line retailer where I can get both teas--good quality and reasonable prices? Thanks much!

Shel, I go to TJ's on Lakeshore in Oakland. Which one do you go to? I only buy a limited number of things there, but so far have had no problems. Then again, I don't typically buy fresh produce or dairy. I do buy the Empire kosher chicken once in a while but check the date and try to get the latest packaging. I notice that one product with a short shelf life that I like is the TJ brand organic cherry juice that's not from concentrate; it's far tastier than the non-organic 100%cherry juice from concentrate, which lasts longer in the fridge and costs less. The following is my list of other TJ's regular purchases: chocolate biscotti, Valrhona 71% dark chocolate bar ($2.99 for a big bar!), Barbara's Puffins and Oat Squares, TJ's frozen in the pod edamame and Bulleit Rye, all of which seem to be consistently okay. For fresh products we usually go the the farmers' market or Berkeley Bowl.

I don't eat chicken very often, but when I do I go out of my way to buy high quality kosher chicken or organic. Foster Farms is ubiquitous here in CA supermarkets and I have steered clear of it for years, not that I have based my decision on anything other than intuition and taste. The older I get the less meat and poultry appeal and the fussier I am about where it comes from. By no means am I a fanatic about organic only foods, but I guess my feeling is that if I am going to shop for it, cook it and ingest it I might as well reduce the unknowns and try to maximize the benefits, whether those benefits are from lack of antibiotics or choosing sustainably and humanely produced foods. Unless you are willing to go to the farm and the kill floor to check it out you still won't have any guarantees.

I would love a bit of clarification about nixtamalization, so Steve, please chime in as one of your comments confused me. Does nixtamal the name for alkaline treated corn that has not been ground? My understanding is that nixtamalized corn is whole corn that has been treated with alkali such as lime, then cooked or soaked and washed. Then it gets ground and becomes fresh masa. At that point it can be used to make tamales and corn tortillas, or it can be dried, which is the product we buy as masa harina or instant masa such as mass produced by operations like Maseca. So if the tortillas in NY are made with Maseca or instant masa flour they are still nixtamalized. They just won't be as good as freshly ground nixtamalized corn (duh), but they still have some of the benefits. Is this not the case? We've been making home made tortillas, and although I can go out of my way to buy fresh masa here in Oakland, the fresh stuff doesn't keep, so if you want spur of the moment decent tacos, making them from Maseca is def better than buying packaged corn tortillas. Now, let's say I wanted to go half the extra mile. Could I take Rancho Gordo hominy (yummy--made posole with it many times) and grind it to get a better product than Maseca? Would I treat it like Maseca and just add water to make tortillas?

Tomato sauces made with butter: for some reason just that one idea created a sea change in the way I cooked and tasted food. Can't even explain it.

Inspired by this thread I made pickles last week. I checked out the Bittman recipe, the Mark's Daily Apple and the treatise by the fermentation god Sandor Katz. I like the Bittman time frame better; I can't imagine leaving the pickles out to ferment for 10 days at room temp. I thought they were perfect after less than 24 hours partially covered, and then good for a week in the fridge as directed. I prefer a half-sour crispy pickle and these were great. Hard to find half-sours outside of NY! Good advice is to buy the freshest pickling cukes you can find and pickling them right away. Also cutting the pickles lengthwise in half allows more pickles per jar.