Katie Meadow

I just tried the above Martinez variation with my recently acquired bottle of Bonal Gentiane-Quina and it's very good. I used a 2:1 ratio and a lemon twist and it does not taste sweet. Sounds nice. What kind of bitters did you use? Last night I tried a 1:1 rye and bonal with orange bitters over ice. Since it was a very warm evening it was pretty refreshing. I'd like to try 2:1 gin/bonal next. Don't have any maraschino...what should I add? I did try one drink using the Fee bros rhubarb bitters, since that really tastes more cherry, but it was not nearly as good as using orange bitters. I'm coming to the conclusion that the rhubarb bitters was a minor waste of money. It's about the same price as my favorite chocolate bar... Gotta say, love this Bonal Gentiane-Quina.

I have little experience buying in bulk at Whole Foods, but if the product is good that might mitigate some of the negatives (namely price) discussed on a recent thread. We routinely shop Berkeley Bowl, and some of the bulk items are great, but others are not. The cornmeal from Bob's made noticeably better cornbread than the bulk stuff at the Bowl. Bob's buckwheat, semolina and graham flours seem better than bulk flours. King Arthur Flour is always better than bulk AP flour or WW. The dark red kidney beans from Purcell Mountain Farms are far and away better than any bulk ones I have tried. I've never had any bulk basmatti rice I like as much as the packaged Lundberg. No bulk organic or otherwise roasted peanuts seem as good as the blistered ones from Trader Joe's. Steel-cut bulk oats are not as good as Pinhead in the can, but they are a lot cheaper, so during an oatmeal phase I do buy them in bulk. I guess I care less about my oatmeal than I do about rice. On the other hand, the bulk dried fruit from the Bowl is quite good, and so is the bulk organic popcorn as well as various flakes and cereals. And my upscale market where I shop for some specialty items has a very good deal on bulk olive oil, so I'm now using that exclusively. Generally I would say that buying in bulk really depends on the source and freshness of the product, and that quality (or freshness) is not necessarily related only to turnover. Berkeley Bowl has incredibly high turnover, but some of the bulk foods just don't measure up.

I recently was served a Martinez consisting of Old Tom gin, Bonal-Gentiane, maraschino and bitters. I don't know what the proportions were, but I am guessing it might have been 1:1. It was on the sweet side, and listed on the menu as an Aperitif. It was very nice, and the herbal flavor of the bonal was distinct. I might be inclined to try 2:1 gin to bonal, since I'm not generally inclined toward really sweet drinks. Any suggestions for using my new bottle of Bonal-Gentiane? I plan to try subbing it for the sweet vermouth in a rye Manhattan. We don't exactly have a well-stocked bar; there's gin, 2 kinds of rye, cointreau, orange and angostura bitters (and rhubarb bitters, which tastes more like cherry to me) and a few other things.

If you put matzoh in a frittata you'd have a Brei Pie. If you added browned onions and leftover nova, then you might have....a Loxattata?

We almost never eat in the car, except maybe some candy or small snacky things. Like Maggie, for long trips we travel with a big ice chest and pack lots of sandwiches, cheese, fruit, utensils, etc., and typically just water to drink. Admittedly we don't usually take road trips during cold and rainy seasons (well, on the west coast there is actually a dry season), but we always look for a picnic table and a bathroom, which usually means a rest stop on an interstate or some type of small-town park that's easy to get to from the road. Every so often there's a surprisingly nice spot. I need the break, and I enjoy my food a lot more when I'm not moving.

Yes, I'm guilty of referring to it as Whole Paycheck, although the truth is I almost never shop there except when visiting my mom in NY, since it is the closest large store to her apt. We're in car country here I'm afraid, and the extra 10 minutes it takes to drive to Berkeley Bowl is worth it, considering it is our main weekly shopping trip. It's easy to make assumptions about value based on too small a sample of products. I'm guessing that any large market that counts on relatively upscale clientele and in addition devotes so much square footage to prepared dishes is going to come at a price. In addition, I'm not the primary shopper in the house, my husband is. He never goes to WF and he thinks everything is cheap compared to the Berkeley farmers' market. It would be interesting to note some actual comparison prices. My sense has always been that produce especially is priced high at WF. I had some very minor shopping errands to run this morning, including one that necessitated a trip to WF. Before going to WF however, I needed a few things at my closest carniceria. Poblanos--smelling spicy and looking fresh--at the Mexican grocery cost .85 per lb. I also paid 1.99 for a half gallon of Berkeley Farms milk there, which is good quality milk but not organic. At WF the poblanos were 2.99 lb, smelled like nothing and were not as fresh. How much does a half gallon of milk cost at WF? I forgot to check. The next time my husband treks to Berkeley Bowl I'm going have him price some specific items.

Okay then, what about down and dirty Atlanta? Holes in the wall, cheap hot spots, legendary funky places, carts, wagons, farmers' markets, etc? My daughter will be going to grad school at Emory starting in August. Considering how little grant money seems to be available at grad schools these days, Michelin stars are not going to be an option--not that they are now anyway. After five years of visiting her in Walla Walla, this will really be a culture shock, since I don't believe I have ever been in any state that could be considered southeastern, at least within memory.

I like to use a full tablecloth to protect my table when having a dinner party. I find I worry less. I don't use expensive linen and I don't use white; something with a busyish pattern hides most minor mishaps that don't wash out. A couple of hems in a cotton tablecloth is about all the sewing I'm up to, anyway. Much cheaper than buying a ready-made one. For special occasions I like to use a centerpiece, but fun ones that kids can enjoy are the best. I have a large low glass bowl, and I would give my daughter the job of decorator. She would put colored glass stones in the bottom, fill with water, plastic fish, floating glass donuts to hold flowers and floating candles--whatever was available. In the low light of a dinner party it always looks better than you imagine. Duck candles always seem to be a hit as they melt in bizarre ways.

Rangetop. Large SQUARE cast iron pan. Low and slow. Watched and fussed over til almost very crisp. Laid and patted dry in an accordion of paper towels. I wouldn't call it the best way to cook bacon, but it's mine.

Red beans and rice is a staple for us. My favorite dark red kidney beans come from Purcell Mountain Farms. They are creamy and hold their shape and have a really nice flavor. I find the most efficient way to make beans is to keep plenty of ham stock on hand in the freezer, and then it's simply a matter of using what's in the pantry. My ham stock is made with smoked shanks, not hocks; the flavor is equally good and there is a fair amount of meat that can be cut from the bones and then added back into the stew at the end, as desired. The other advantage of making and saving stock is that I can discard most of the fat before cooking the beans. The fact that shanks and hocks cost about the same per pound around here makes it an easy choice. First I fry a few slices of bacon, to render enough fat to saute the trinity and garlic before adding the beans. (The remaining bacon is crumbled coarsely and added back for the last half hour of cooking.) Herbs and spices go in after the broth has come to a boil for a few minutes and the fire has been turned way down to a very gentle simmer. I use fresh thyme, cumin, oregano, rosemary and one bay leaf. I also add a couple of little dried hot red peppers, since I don't use any spicy sausages. The beans get cooked at a bare simmer, covered. At about the half-way point I add a splash of coffee, since that's how I've always done my cowboy beans, and it seems like a good idea for southern beans too. Isn't Red-eye gravy made with coffee? Salt is added for the last 15 minutes or so. I like my beans kinda soupy, not gloppy. I serve with minced white onion to sprinkle on. I think I got that from Rancho Gordo, and I'm hooked on it for all my beans.

I grew up using a grapefruit knife to loosen all the sections before eating with a regular teaspoon. Until I left home and was on my own I never knew dedicated serrated grapefruit spoons existed. That's what I use now; one step, really simple. And I wear my glasses to avoid mishaps. No sugar. My MIL always broils her morning grapefruit with brown sugar. Actually I don't eat grapefruit at breakfast. When I really crave it is in the late afternoon while I'm slaving over a hot stove. That's when I eat the other half of the one my husband eats in the morning.

Are black trumpets the same as black chanterelles? I've only had black chanterelles once, when I found a patch of them in the Berkeley Hills. That was years ago, but sauteed in butter and then mixed into scrambled eggs they were memorable. An omelet would be equally nice. Unfortunately I paid a high price for mine, and that was a good case of poison oak, since the patch of mushrooms was inevitably growing amongst a mat of the other stuff.

I'll say one thing for you breakfast people: you are most of you cheap dates! The promise of one runny golden yolk and you're ready to kiss an egg.

Not being a breakfast person beyond anything that can be put in a toaster, I had breakfast for dinner the other night, which would make a great breakfast for breakfast. The current issue of Bon Appetit (on Epicurious I assume) has a very good recipe for Bacon and Leek Risotto with poached egg. I made it and served it with a fried egg instead--but with a runny yolk--and it was delicious. It requires less butter and cheese than most risotto. Having this for breakfast using leftover risotto would be a snap.

Confession time....I don't heat up my plates although I know it would be nice. Question: how should you heat up plates that have a gold rim? I assume you don't put them in the microwave. Can you put them in a warm oven? The oven will be in use up until the main is served. I'm having my husband's siblings over for dinner tomorrow and want to use my lovely Limoges plates inherited from his family (I still don't know why I was lucky enough to get them) and which they never see otherwise.

The only way I know of for steak and chocolate to be happily married is to include some unsweetened cocoa in a dry rub for grilling, along with red chile, cumin, paprika, what have you. Steak and white chocolate should go under a new thread called "two disgusting ingredients." Add smoked salmon to the same plate and that may qualify for the already existing "three disgusting ingredients." I've never been a big fan of surf 'n' turf meals, but a mouthful of smoked salmon and rare steak seems particularly unappetizing.

That's the problem with young people today. They never learned proper keyboarding, and mistakes are made. Of course upduck has its own problems.

It never occured to me to cook my beans in duck stock; usually I cook them in ham stock. Actually it sounds like an interesting twist, and I think I even have some duck stock way back in the freezer. Upping the duckiness is brilliant, but I am going to play editor and just use the verb " to duck (up)," as in, I'm going to duck up my red beans 'n' rice. Or, alternatively, I'm going to upduck my roast potatoes.

I have just about no experience with food coloring, since I don't bake a lot and I don't buy a lot of processed foods. Once in a blue moon I'll eat Cheetos, since I have no plans to make them myself, with or without bright orange dust. My cousin used to whip up fantastic jello using only fruit juice and gelatin and fresh fruit. One of my favorite desserts is a Blood Orange Jello made from fresh squeezed fruit and served with an alcoholic whipped cream. As for Red Velvet Cake made with beets, hordes of people weigh in on how to do that if you google it, many of them testifying that the use of beets keeps the cake moist. I would guess that a little beet juice could color a lot of cake without adverse effects on taste. Maybe it would even be an improvement.

Once again back in Walla Squared, and as always, there are new places to eat or places that, surprisingly, I missed before. We got in late Friday evening and had dinner at the relatively new Brasserie Four in the space which used to be Grapefields Wine Bar. Clearly if we had come with no reservation before 8:30 or 9:00 we would not have been able to get a table right away. We weren't terribly hungry so we ordered a bottle of sauvignon blanc from France on the waitress's recommendation and it was delicious. We split an appetizer of mackerel and potatoes; the mackerel was fabulous, the potatoes very plain but perfectly cooked. The bread was excellent; I didn't ask where it came from, but I should have. Then we split an order of moules frites in a white wine pernod broth, also very tasty--and not too salty. And there was plenty of it for sopping up with the bread. They were really nice mussels from Penn Cove WA, which are not easy to find even in the bay area. PEI mussels are far more common in CA than Penn Cove, which is too bad, since Penn Coves are really wonderful. Dessert was a tarte fromage blanc, which was fantastic, served with a gooseberry jam on the side which sounds interesting but was too sweet and not necessary. The tart was perfect just plain by itself. Good espresso, too. Our hotel serves a buffet breakfast but it's unspeakably bad, so our typical morning routine is to cruise by Starbucks for a NYT and then round the corner to Coffee Perk or the Colville Patisserie for food and drink. I like the coffee at the the patisserie, but I have to admit that I much prefer the casual atmosphere of Coffee Perk, where the tables are like desks and there is usually a student sleeping on the sofa in front of the fireplace who looks like he has been there all night. It's just endearingly comfy and friendly. Everything at the patisserie is super flaky but sweeter and more buttery than I can handle in the morning. Coffee Perk's pastries are pretty poor and also far too sweet, but they toasted a bagel for me. The patisserie is always full of tourists and parents; Coffee perk is full of townies and professors and students working away at their laptops, or snoozing. My daughter ran into two of her fifth grade students from the public school where she teaches. (They are on break this week, not truants.) Saturday afternoon we had sandwiches at Graze for lunch. Also packed, mostly with students it looked like. I'm not ordinarily a sandwich person but these were great. We split a pulled pork and a somewhat untraditional banh mi. Dinner that evening was nothing special, just pizza at Olive before a performance. Never been there before. Today we had an exceptionally weird day. We decided to see what could be seen at the Hanford nuclear facility, which no longer produces plutonium, but exists as a major toxic storage site. They are giving tours for the first time this year, but they are all booked until 2012. It turned out to be a snafu we will remember always, but suffice it to say we are pleased to report that what is now a large functioning nuclear power plant has excellent security. As a result of our being detained we came back through Pasco hungry and grumpy and stopped at the first Mexican cafe we saw that had a lot full of cars. Los Pinos turned out to be a hot ticket. The goat was outstanding, and we improvised our own goat burritos with their hot corn tortillas, home made salsa, rice and and chopped lettuce. Also a very good Tamarind soda. On the way out of Pasco we stopped at the Panadaria Viera, and that place is a trip. I've never seen such whacked out cakes and such a big selection of pastries. I solved my breakfast problem by buying some excellent cuernitos (like a Mexican croissant, but not really)--a personal weakness. My daughter was unable to resist a guava filled glowing neon pink triangle affair that looked like it came from Hanford as well. None of us had the nerve to try it. For dinner my daughter made a pasta primavera with some very good early Walla Walla asparagus.

On a peanut specific thread somewhere TJ's blister peanuts were recommended. I tried them and they are great. They were all out of salted, so I bought unsalted and added gray sea salt as desired. Excellent. Since I've cut back on salt I am guessing the salted blister peanuts may be saltier than I require, so this works perfectly; my husband and I can customize our own bowls. Really addictive peanuts. I've also lately been buying the house brand vegetable root chips and like them far better than any of the Terra products. And somewhere upthread someone mentioned the Pomegranate juice. Not quite as good as Pom Wonderful I think, but a close second and definitely good value.

For a fabulous breakfast or brunch try Tartine in the Mission. I've always avoided it on weekends, but during the week, both times I've been recently, there's a crowd of babies, parents (and dogs, but only at outside tables) ensconced for leisurely morning hours. May is often quite nice, so outside may be a good bet. Best croissant in the Bay Area, I think. And the fruity bread pudding is a close second. That would have been right up my daughter's alley when she was six months. That and a cold beer. And the dogs provide extra entertainment.

Of course ruining expensive ingredients is annoying, but I'm not sure it's something to cry over. All-around bad cooking like the Thanksgiving meal described above isn't worth crying over either, especially if someone else did the cooking. Let's put a positive spin on this. Any meal that incompetent and awful should be turned artfully into a good story for later, and be a source of laughter, not tears. As I practice cooking over the years, making mistakes and learning from them, I am more and more amazed at how dreadfully many Americans eat--and for so many reasons. Some people eat only in their comfort zone and only what they grew up with--and that might be good down-home from scratch cooking or it might be the use of heavily processed ingredients and a reliance on dried soup mixes, Kraft parmesan cheese, etc. My mother never had anyone to teach her anything about cooking. She was a pretty bad cook for the most part. A few things she managed to get right if she had the luck of using a good recipe, but she never got down most basic techniques, and many mistakes became ingrained habits just because she got hold of the wrong recipe 60 years ago. Almost everything I learned from her had to be unlearned. That's sad, but sort of laughable. So, positive. I want to eat a meal that makes me cry because it's so wonderful and not because it's so dreadful. When I first heard about Grant Achatz's signature dish with the burning leaves I thought that could make me cry. Although I think living in the Bay Area where no one burns leaves routinely means that I'm just as likely to weep with nostalgia at the smell of burning leaves as I am at the food that comes with. That, or the smoke is irritating my contact lenses.

One of my most memorable meals was a grilled steak that sat atop a mound of barley that had been cooked with moderately peaty scotch. No idea how it was done or how much scotch went into the liquid, but it was fabulous.

Blether, I rarely have enough fresh tomatoes to use up making ketchup, and if I did I would probably use them for something else. My confession: I use Italian San Marzano canned tomatoes for my ketchup, along with onion, cider vinegar, some source of sweetness or combo thereof, dry mustard, allspice, ginger, ground celery seed, cinnamon and cloves and either a little cayenne or the late addition of a dollop of good BBQ sauce to get a little smoke and heat in the mix. With fresh tomatoes I can so imagine making something better, but this ain't bad and only takes an hour, total.