Katie Meadow

Last year I discovered The Aprium--that's 60% apricot and 40% plum. (As opposed to the plumcot, which is 50/50 and the pluot which is 60% plum--as far as I know.) Saturday morning at the Berkeley Farmers' market I bought something I've never seen before: the vendor was calling it a nectaplum. I don't know what the percentage of nectarine to plum is but it was delicious. I grew up thinking the nectarine was a cross between a peach and a plum, but according to Wiki, that's not true. The nectarine is some adaptation of a fuzzless peach. They don't taste like peaches to me, though.

http://www.willsavocados.com/index.php/avocado-varieties Here's another site describing varieties. Will's sells avocados at the Berkeley Farmers Market and other Bay Area venues. For a couple of weeks they had an avocado called a Gillogly, which I had never seen before. It is large, with a very long gourd-like neck. It's fabulous, so if you see one grab it. Here's some info: http://avocadotrees.com/discover.htm Will's classifies avocados as Mexican and Guatemalan styles. The Mexican style is less fatty, and includes the Fuerte, Bacon and Zutano. The Fuertes has always seemed watery to me, but maybe I've never had a good one. The Bacon avocados have good flavor, but they aren't creamy and wouldn't work well for guac, I shouldn't think. I've never seen a Zutano. What they classify as Guatemalan style are the higher fat avocados such as Hass, Gwen, Reed and Pinkerton. I especially love the Gwens, but they are all great.

What can we call this? Last night we made a cocktail of 2 parts gin, 1 part Bonal Gentiane, and a dash of rhubarb bitters. It was delicious. I totally love Bonal. Basically I was trying to make a Martinez, but we don't have maraschino anything. I subbed the rhubarb for angostura, since it's pretty sweet, tastes like cherries to me, and I can't figure out what to do with it anyway. So gimme a name for my drink if it isn't a Martinez.

Steven, you make a great case for simply cutting back on animal protein--at least to start with. Maybe eating it only two or three times a week, max? If a vegetarian diet can make a person feel healthier, as your friends say, then it stands to reason that eating mostly veg will make you feel mostly better. Fewer critters will die to grace your table, and being choosy about sources can at least go some distance toward a more environmentally friendly diet. Your body might adjust over time and start to like it. Cold turkey may not be the best way to change a diet that your body is used to. For me, having strict rules just promotes anxiety. Sometimes I find that just knowing I'm allowed to eat something is enough to make me not crave it.

Steven, I would echo Simon. In your original post you identified health, ethical and environmental reasons as all contributing to your desire to try eating a veg diet, and you promised to elaborate, so I would like to know more about what is compelling you to do something that your body seems to be resisting. For me, I find that cravings for various foods can say a lot about those foods and a lot about what your body really needs. I had to give up certain foods/drinks for a number of years, and discovered that I tolerated and grew not to miss some of them, but others I desperately desired. For instance: chocolate, coffee, red wine, citrus, tomatoes. I discovered that my desire for chocolate and red wine lessened as time went by, but my desire for tomatoes and sour fruits simply skyrocketed, to the point that I would look at my husband's pyramid of grapefruits and burst into tears. I was a vegetarian for a number of years, but when I hit menopause my body clearly wasn't happy with that, and I started eating modest amounts of beef, chicken and fish. When it comes to animal protein I have mostly environmental concerns, and ethical to a certain degree. But I find that my general feeling of health decreases with long periods of no animal protein. When it comes to health, I have definite proof in my cholesterol numbers that eating foods high in animal fat like ice cream, cheese, fatty meats etc have a negative impact. I understand that just as consuming less salt lowers blood pressure in some individuals and not for others, I know there are genetic factors that affect cholesterol levels. That could easily be true when it comes to eating meat and fish. Some of us may need those types of protein more than others. The only way I am comfortable with this is to acknowledge my own health needs, and try to eat environmentally sustainable foods. I'm of the camp that believes animals feel pain (and that includes lobsters) so I know that there are ethical issues which I must sacrifice for health ones. If I were like my two brothers in law, who both eat a strict veg diet which includes mountains of dairy fat and tofu, I might be happy eating no meat, but frankly that doesn't seem like a sensible idea, given my particular issues.

The weather or season is usually not right for this breakfast, so when there is a cold-spell here in July or August (last week) I jump at the chance to have this treat: steel cut oats with a fresh ripe peach as a topper. The last half of the bowl is best: by that time the remaining peaches have settled in and become warm and melty. Nice with plums or pluots, too.

Spoiled, I am. My husband is getting better and better at cocktails, so if I am alone I'm likely to drink something straight up. Like rye, these days. If the weather is really hot I might pour Martini & Rossi Red over ice; it reminds me of my week in Venice.

I always think of green tomatoes as a late fall harvest, when there are still unripe fruits on the vine, but the weather is threatening a frost and you want to salvage them. Faced with that problem, you need to come up with inventive ways of cooking them, since they aren't worth much raw. Hence fried, pickled, green tomato pie, etc. At least that's when we ate green tomatoes when I lived on a farm. But I suppose if you love fried green tomatoes there's no reason not to pick them that way on purpose.

Not the liquor store, in fact Trader Joe's. Bulleit Bourbon! $19.99 a bottle. That's good, right?

Clearly the signs are legion. Many of the above can be a tip-off. For me it's when I look in the refrigerator door and see either or both of these: a row of commercial bottled salad dressings and/or a plastic lemon squeezy.

Okay, day six. By the time we finished breakfast (toast and marmalade as usual) it was late morning, so today was clearly shaping up as a linner day. Around 1pm I was staring at a picture in the SF Chron food section of a peach with caramel sauce, so I had exactly that for a snack, with a little salt sprinkled on. Excellent. By the time we got a meal together it was almost 5pm. We had more burrata (I bought two of them, and splitting one works well per meal) and one of my favorite grain salads: bulgur wheat, blanched chopped swiss chard, chopped olives, a little tomato if we have some, shallots, parsley and cilantro, garnished with toasted pine nuts. Dressing is simply lemon and a little olive oil. I've determined that what I don't like about most deli grain salads is that there is often too much dressing; that ends up being wet and usually too vinegary. Less is better, for me. Great with the burrata on the side. My husband also finished up what remained of the babaganouj and we had a fresh baguette as well. I suspect he has in mind a late mint julep (what else can be done with a pint of mint simple syrup?) and a bowl of popcorn. What's the takeaway for me? I'm thinking four or five days is about my comfort level for a vegetarian diet; I'm happy enough, but after that my body wants a real hit of animal protein. Tomorrow I have plans to make red beans 'n' rice, but I can't see making it without the ham stock that's calling to me from the freezer. So, legitimately I can't claim to have eaten strictly veg for a week, but I can claim not have had any actual chunks of meat or fish. It's hard for me to imagine life without chicken stock, at least. When it comes to food, I'm very much in favor of moderation in all things. On Tuesday two of my favorite 20-somethings are coming over for dinner and I'm working up an appetite for grilled shrimp. Two more appreciative guests I've never encountered; they eat a ton and they appear to like just about everything that walks or grows. I like a challenge cooking for picky eaters or people with food issues, but these omnivores are a kick to cook for.

The funniest part of this whole experiment is that my husband hasn't noticed yet. Typically we go two or three days without animal protein at dinner, but this is day five. Our lunches are often haphazard, so he's had a couple of turkey sandwiches, but hasn't said a word about the fact that dinners have been strictly veg. Lunch today for me was leftovers from the fridge: green beans and babaganouj with crackers. Dinner was a nostalgia casserole of rice, zucchini, tomato with fresh basil and Mexican oregano, and a very modest amount of cheese mixed in; a holdover from seventies cooking. On the side was some delicious burrata, a fennel and radish salad, and a taste of pickled mustard greens which I made from a recipe my brother uses for his homegrown greens. A bit strange all together, but no one could say it wasn't healthy.

I would expect that a vegan diet is lacking the mouthfeel of fats, but most vegetarians I know eat plenty of omelets, brie, ice cream and chocolate. Dairy and eggs is a way of getting protein on a vegetarian diet. Although most whole grains and legumes have some protein, vegans need to work hard to find sources of protein beyond tofu. And, among many of the people I know who are past 50 and who have been strict vegetarians, many are now eating fish and chicken, because they just find their bodies need it. As for very little cooking, one of my all-time favorites is uncooked tomatoes on pasta. If you cut them up and add salt and basil and let it sit for half an hour, then dump it with added butter or olive oil onto a plate of hot pasta, sprinkle with some pecorino or whatever, it's awfully satisfying. Of course the tomatoes have to be great to begin with, or it's ho-hum.

Steven I admire your ambition--and your ability to keep the ingredients straight for three types of legumes and three pots at one time. Your omelet looks yummy. I've been thinking I should probably get more protein, since most of my veg meals have had little cheese, and no eggs. Being a dedicated vegetarian would be very hard for me, since cholesterol is something I have to limit. Some of my husband's family are diehard vegetarians and they eat mountains of cheesy entrees. I have to admit, I am starting to look forward to some shrimp in a couple of days. Today's lunch was an avocado salad with red onions and a peach smoothie. This evening we made mint juleps for the first time. Really tasty, but they made me wish I had some cheese straws to go with. That bottle of Bulleit Bourbon is disappearing quickly. The rest of the meal was sort of southern too, but only if you mean southern Europe. As you noted Greek and middle eastern food lends itself to a vegetarian diet. I grilled eggplants on the barbie and made Baba Ghanouj. I love it when it's still warm. Along with that we devoured most of a baguette, Greek salads and some surprisingly flavorful blue lake beans from the farmers' market, dressed only with a squeeze of lemon, olive oil and salt. My husband is chowing down on the leftover rice pudding, but I'm too full.

This was one of those disorganized days in which I can't really figure out how to make lunch and dinner, so we have linner. Linner happens usually somewhere between 3 and 4. We might have a late cocktail hour and/or a snack or dessert later, it's rarely planned. Today there was a snack around 1pm: smoothies, made from peaches, sorbet, a little bit of vanilla ice cream, and milk. Excellent, and very peachy. I've been craving rice pudding, so I made some of that. Linner was one of my stand-by summer salads: french fingerlings, snap peas and radishes with a creamy mustardy curry dressing, served warm. It was accompanied by a very simple avocado salad, with salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil and some fine shreds of red baby onion. Also there were crackers and my new favorite cheese, something labeled Pecorino Classico, and which makes lovely thin curls and can also be used as a grating cheese. Surprisingly unsalty. The rice pudding is chilling, so I am guessing there will a late-night snack. And since my husband recently went on a business trip to Louisville and came back with a new-found fascination with bourbon, a shot of that may be called for as well. I'm still on a Bulleit rye kick, but now Bulleit bourbon is challenging it to a duel. Not at dawn, in case you were wondering.

Cut and run. Maybe it was just a lousy recipe. Wouldn't be the first one.

Let me be the first to admit (in this thread, anyway) that zucchini bores me to tears. However, I feel it's my duty to eat it every so often. In my gardening days I learned after the first year never to plant any of it because it pops up anyway, regardless of intent. I do love the blossoms, although I've never been that successful frying them myself. My favorite way to eat zucchini is to make pancakes. In season I add fresh corn. A generous amount of grated zukes, a little flour and minced herbs, some egg, scallion, etc. There are scads of recipes out there. They lend themselves to dress-up, and are equally good with a dollop of dairy based or tomato based stuff. Best if you grate the zucchini and salt it, let it drain, then squeeze it out before mixing into the batter. I prefer them very vegetal, and not too eggy and they don't need much more than a thin film of oil or butter to get a little crispy. You can use up a LOT of zukes this way.

Tuscan and the ubiquitous curly kale I prefer to use in soups; you can throw in the raw leaves and they cook in 20 minutes or less. Tuscan--and I assume that's the same as Cavolo Nero or Black Kale--is more delicate, so doesn't need quite so much time, I don't think. The only kale I like for a braise or quick saute is baby Russian kale, but it isn't easy to come by. For lunch we had sandwiches and slaw. A cabbage in the fridge had seen better days, but a spicy dressing hides a multitude of sins. The slaw was unusual, but very good. I used about 50/50 mayo and Fage, and added a big dollop of left-over chile salsa, plus some minced dill pickle and celery seeds. It sounds a bit weird, but it was addictive. My sandwich was cheese and pickle, once again. Okay, enough pickles already. I'm having a gin and tonic now with some TJ's blistered peanuts. Dinner will be simple: a quinoa and corn melange, with roasted green chiles. The corn is from yesterday's market, just sauteed with onions in butter, then mixed with the cooked quinoa, with chile and cilantro folded in. On the side we are having Greek salads with none of the fixings; in other words just cukes and tomatoes, olive oil, squeeze of lemon, since we have no olives or feta.

Last week and again today I purchased a kind of avocado totally new to me. The avocado people at the Berkeley Farmers' market always have terrific fruit: the stand-by Hass, and in season Pinkertons and Gwens (I love these!) But this year there's a new one called the Gillogly. I looked it up and officially it is named the Don Gillogly. Shaped like a gourd, with a sort of neck and dark skin that peels off easily, it's not quite as dense as a Hass, but it's very creamy and really fabulous. Anyone else seeing these?

On the average we eat animal protein maybe twice a week, but it just so happens that I made my shopping list for the week last night, and it is pretty much vegetarian. If there's any time of year that it's easy to make veg meals, it's now thru Sept. The only non-veg thing planned is a pot of beans. I don't put meat in it, but I use ham stock for flavor. I never eat meat for breakfast; basically it's toast with marmalade or cuernitos from the Mexican bakery. I need my carbs to feel happy. Lunch today was a cheddar cheese and pickle sandwich, using home-made bread (husband's forte, not mine.) This sandwich really needs fresh bread, I think. Today at the Berkeley farmers' market we loaded up, and everything we ate for dinner was from that trip. We had delicious corn on the cob, a salad of sliced heirloom tomatoes and avocado, and peaches for dessert. Later for a snack we'll polish off leftover key lime pie made by my talented neighbor for our 4th of July picnic in her back yard. Typically we don't eat dessert. Soba, I wish I had your talent with a camera and your dedication to artful simple meals. Everything you make looks fantastic to me.

Here is a link to a recipe for corn fritters from Fine Cooking #100. It is simple and seems foolproof, and I'm not a person who generally makes much fried food. These are not really deep-fried, so the quantity of oil isn't scary. The recipe calls for whole milk and some sour cream. I haven't bothered using sour cream in years: 2% Fage works fine here. These are addictive, and I can eat them with or without salsa. If someone else would do the cooking, I would certainly have them with maple syrup for breakfast. I'll happily eat corn on the cob daily, if the corn is good, but I also like it combined in salads with quinoa and grilled poblanos, or with bacon and fresh shelling beans and okra in a succotash, in Mexican Tortilla soup or in combined corn-zucchini pancakes. Cut off the cob and sauteed in butter (with or without basil or chives?) and just dumped over fresh tomato slices is no-fail as well. And I haven't tried making it myself yet, but there's an artisanal ice cream place around here that makes a dynamite fresh corn ice cream. With a sprinkle of sea salt and/or a drizzle of caramel it's out of this world good. http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/fresh-corn-fritters.aspx Oh, and this is great too, especially for kids, but it is a tad labor intensive. My daughter invented this when she was seven or eight and wanted to help make salad for a potluck. For a while, corn, peas and carrots were her only vegetables: Cut corn off cob, steam very briefly. Shell English peas, steam or boil very briefly, so they are still tender (Shelling peas--always a good job for someone without knife skills). Cut carrots in very small dice. Steam very briefly, or not. We dressed it with just salt and olive oil and a little squeeze of lemon, but any number of dressing could work well. If you don't put any little flaky green herbs in it most kids seem to like it.

My latest discovery: TJ's chocolate hazelnut biscotti. They are crumbly, not too sweet, addictive. They have completely replaced Famous chocolate wafer cookies in my arsenal. And they make a delicious crumb crust. I made a lemon cheesecake using about half and half graham crackers and these biscotti (I didn't have enough of either without combining them) and it was excellent.

Yes.

A week in New York seems like a good topic, so I will just add MY week in ny to this thread. When I travel I'm inclined to eat out once a day, and scrounge or even skip a meal for the remainder. Besides, I'm visiting my 93 year old mother who isn't really into destination dining, doesn't have a huge appetite and needs to have an excuse besides food to go anywhere outside her own neighborhood. I have to plan our meals carefully around activities, and there's typically only one window a day. Monday: Matinee movie Cave of Forgotten Dreams at the IFC. Only a few short blocks from there is Buvette, good according to recent reviews. We got there early so we had almost the pick of the seats. One problem: most table seats have no backs, so we opted for backed stools at the marble bar. Fortunately we got the corner seats toward the front--very nice. We got sloshed (I know I'm a cheap date, but these drinks were substantial). If you like your martini with more than a rinse of vermouth, speak up. I had a rye Manhattan that was excellent. Due to space limitations, the bar is stocked with one type of gin and one type of rye, etc. Everything was delicious. Can't remember my app, but it was great, and then I had rabbit in some kind of mustardy sauce, very tasty. Dessert, though called a Tarte Tatin, was really just an apple tart. I can bake a better Tatin. Tuesday: After seeing the miniatures show at the MAD we ate a late lunch at their restaurant, Robert. My mother reserved a window table, so you can't ask for a better view. Truth to tell, it made me a bit queasy if I lookeddown. I had a crispy-skin sea bass served with a pancake-like bed of grated potato and fennel. The pancake was crispy on the outside and creamy but still toothy inside, and fish was tender and plentiful. Really good. My mother had steak frites, which was cooked exactly as she ordered it. The frites were disappointing. Wednesday: We were invited out with a friend of my mother's for dinner at Blue Smoke. She and her friend always get the Memphis style, I ordered the Kansas. Mine were fattier and more succulent, both were good. Also liked very much the sweet potato fries, although they aren't technically fries, but they were yummy. I ordered the collards, and they weren't bad, but too salty, which is typical. Actually all the food at Blue Smoke seemed pretty salty to me. Thursday: My mother had a doctor's appnt and wanted to go to the Marimekko store, both on the upper east side. We decided to try Lukes Lobster for a late lunch. She insisted she knew exactly where it was, so I didn't bother to take the address. Mistake. Lesson learned: don't ask anyone for direx who doesn't have a smartphone. Okay, so the lobster roll was very good. Lots of large chunks of lobster, tender, toasted buttered bun and thankfully very little mayo, the way I like it: not lobster salad roll, lobster roll. My mother thought the lobster could have been tastier, but it was fresh and with good texture, and the price is right with a drink and good chips. Friday: I met an old high school friend for a walk from her place in Chelsea to Chinatown and ended up at Xi'an on Bayard. Loved the dumbwaiter, loved the waiter, loved the noodles. Ultimate comfort food. We did not have anything with a lamb's face. Saturday: We had tix to "Through a Glass Darkly" at the NY Theater workshop (really great!) so I figured my big Momofuku Noodle moment had finally come. We arrived as the doors opened. What a scene. Is it always like this or more so on the weekend? Within 15 minutes it was packed, with people waiting outside. The asparagus was dynamite, and I loved my pork belly bun. My mother I think was sort of horrified at the amount of fat in the bun, but I thought it was ethereal. We had a noodle dish that was also very good, and a so-so snap pea salad. The noise level was just too much for my mother, so we didn't linger. Sunday: My brother came to town and the three of us had a very sentimental meal at Mezzogiorno. No one ever mentions this place, but my family has been going there for many years, and it's been consistently excellent and always a lovely experience. My mother has a thing for a Sardinian white wine they always have, and it was a perfect on a warm night. My mother had a big plate of prosciutto and figs and other things, which she loved. My brother and I shared an artichoke app and the tuna carpaccio, both fantastic. Then we both had soft-shell crabs: small crabs but three of them per plate, and succulent as can be. We were both in heaven. My mother had vitello tonnato (sp?) which she liked, but it doesn't appeal to me. I think she's eaten most everything on their menu. Dessert lived up to the rest of the meal. My mother had zabaglione that was excellent, and my brother and I both had the blood orange sorbet. Three large scoops each served with a frozen mint leaf (yum!) and it was terrific. Just a snarky aside to Chez Panisse Cafe: your sorbet desserts are stingy. Mezzogiorno is not cheap; definitely the priciest meal of the week, but then we did eat a lot of food. Monday: I always fly out of NY in the later afternoon or evening, and my tradition for the day is not negotiable. I always have a chicken and rice plate (white and red sauce of course) from my favorite truck on 53rd and 6th, luckily just four blocks from my mother's apt. Never disappoints, and enough food so that I can pack the leftovers for my dinner on the plane. Since my trips to NY are typically a week, I would love to hear what others do for a week in the city. PS don't ask what happened to the line width in the first few paragraphs, but I haven't a clue how to correct it.

Okay, that's one of worst sandwiches I can imagine. It rivals one my MIL made for my husband in kindergarten: peanut butter and mayo on Wonder Bread. I'm pretty conservative about sandwiches, and stick to just a few types, and always make them exactly the same. BLT: Only in summer when tomatoes are great. Turkey: On white bread with butter and lettuce, but only if it's the day after Thanksgiving. Otherwise on a baguette or batard with garlic mayo, chopped pepperoncini, tomato, lettuce. Turkey, ham, coleslaw and Russian dressing on rye. Tuna melt: my own quirky tuna salad and my own quirky method. Cheese and Pickle: cheese and pickles can vary, within reason. Always with dijon mustard. White bread preferred. Radishes allowed in. PB and raspberry jam or PB and Nutella. Multigrain bread preferred. Rarely made except for air travel or hiking. I would jump off a bridge before I would put bananas or honey in a sandwich. Grilled cheese. Has to be cheddar, and has to be grilled w/butter in a cast iron skillet. Banh mi. On a baguette, but never sour. Must have pate, either grilled shrimp or Asian BBQ pork, mayo, Maggi, cukes, pickled daikon and carrot, cilantro, hot peppers.