Katie Meadow

Actually that sounds fantastic! She teaches 3rd grade. Maybe I will see if I can locate a used copy on Bookfinder.com. So do the Marcia Adams books sound great. If there was an easy way to look at some of these suggestions I would do so. Browsing isn't as easy as it used to be. There don't seem to be any great bookstores with large cookbook sections in the East Bay any more. It's really sad. In the interests of time I finally opted out and sent her a package with a jar of our marmalade, for which we made a great label, and a gift certificate. Thanks to all for your help!

Do you know where Albia is? I have no clue if it's anywhere near Des Moines. I spent the afternoon at a mediocre bookstore getting frustrated. Since the death of Cody's in Berkeley I don't know where to find a great selection of cookbooks. I looked at the Braising book and it looks great but it's ONLY slow food, and I don't know if she has that kind of time or dedication. Ina Garten's books have some nice simple recipes, but I have to say that they are skimpy for $35 a pop. The food that seemed most appealing actually and with the freshest farm-like ingredients and unfussy recipes was actually Jamie Oliver's Family cookbook, but half the pages are taken up with pictures of HIMSELF whom he must adore and that seems absurd. Then I got side-tracked and started to swoon over the Babbo dessert book and had to stop myself before I spent the money on ME. Now all I can think about is ricotta cheesecake. So, I'm rethinking and may do a gift cert which seems so...uninspired! I think in addition to that I will send her a jar of the marmalade we made last month. It's very good, and at least it's something a little personal. Even if she's a crackerjack canner she probably doesn't get seville oranges in Albia, Iowa.

Thanks for all your great suggestions. I'm going to paw through the bookstore and look at some of the above titles and think about it some more. I don't know why, but somehow the idea of a book is perhaps more appealing than a gift certificate. I could order one on Amazon, and then if she wants to return it she can--best of both worlds. I know now that she doesn't bake much.

Edwardsboi, $500 for a Bosch seems like a very good price. If it's a model that sells for more other places, it would certainly be worth considering. The lifespan of new dishwashers seems to be 6-8 years. If you pay $800 and get 8 years out of your dishwasher you are paying $100 a year for not having to do dishes by hand. If you pay $500 and only get six years out of it, you're ahead. Often the motor is the same for several models, and the features bump up the price. Frankly I think it's a crapshoot. If I hadn't had a space/construction issue I would have gone for a $500 Bosch (if I had found one) instead of the more expensive Asko. I'm going to update my remarks about the Asko and then I will shut up. My husband is over the moon about it, since we've discovered that it does a great job using A HALF TABLESPOON OF detergent and the lower energy-using cycle (as long as the dishes aren't caked with dried food.) And the racks hold an amazing amount of dishes. In fact, we still have room for more bowls and plates after all our flatware is used, which never happened with the old KA. Now, only time will tell.

Venice. Yum. Alle Testiere was one of the best meals I've ever eaten. You need a reservation. Even with one we had to wait over half an hour (in lovely weather) outside for a 9:30 seating. Full of people like us who were not Italians, but I didn't care. Diners filed out past us in a stupor and recommended one dish in particular. They were right. The recommended prawn dish was unspeakably good. I also loved Da Alberto, for more down-home earthy food and relaxed atmosphere. Check the Venice thread, yah?

I'm doing some research for my mother. She's going to be in Florence in mid-May with two and possibly all three or her grandkids, all of whom have good appetites and appreciate good food, especially when they are being treated to it. My mother is 90, so she doesn't want to stand on line, nor does she want to go way out the way at night just to eat. So...centrally located perhaps, and not budget-busting, since she will be paying most of the time. She asked me to look up Camillo and Cibreo. Camillo sounds delicious, but a bit pricey. Cibreo sounds fun, but will she be standing on line just to get in? I've been reading upthread, and it sounds like the following are recommend, but I don't have a great sense of cost on most of them. Osteria De Cinghiale (not always great?) Sostanza (get the steak Fl.?) Trat. Antellesi Alla Vecchio Bettola Za Za (lunch spot near the mercato?) Osteria Vini e Vecchi Saproi Trat Sabatini (rustic, no tourists?) Da Caffagio (sounds terrific...good value?) If anyone has some details about the above or other easy to navigate restaurants in easy to find locations, reasonable prices, whether or not reservations are taken, etc., that would be very helpful. One of my nephews is in the restaurant biz in NY and hates places with tourists; he'd rather have mediocre food than hear English spoken. The other nephew is like a vacuum cleaner and loves everything. My daughter generally likes less meat and more veggies, but knows a good thing when it's on her plate.

Bear with me, and you'll see this is a toughie. My daughter is studying in Athens. Her computer broke the first day. The mother of a friend she met there is now visiting her own daughter and hand-carried a computer for us all the way from her home in Albia, Iowa, to Athens--and I don't mean Athens, Georgia! Okay, so this is a really nice woman who teaches 3rd grade in a small town in Iowa who did us a huge favor. I want to send this lovely woman a gift. I begged my daughter to quiz her friend about her mother's interests/hobbies etc and all she came up with is that this woman likes "kitchen stuff." I guess that's a start. I tried to get whether she was a great baker or whatever, but I don't think more info is forthcoming. After all, these are 20-yr olds who are off in a million directions during every conversation. My daughter's only suggestion was that Iowans eat corn and potatoes, which shows you the perspective of a Bay Area native who grew up eating an ethnic stew around Telegraph Ave. If I hadn't blown all my money on my kid's new macbook I could afford to buy her a nice cashmere scarf for those Iowa winters, but I really can't afford that. What about a cookbook? Could be something heartland specific, or maybe Italian? Something perhaps without a lot of hard-to-get exotic ingredients but sophisticated, for someone who must do some cooking?

Your LA grandfather simply likes what he grew up with. No crime in that, but it's a big world out there with some heavenly oysters. There are only a handful of species harvested in the US. What makes for so much variety is location, location, location. And size isn't an indicator of species or place of origin. The Hog Island Sweet, grown in Tomales Bay in CA is sold in five sizes, xsmall through xlarge. One of the smallest oysters is the Olympia from WA state. It's tiny and delicious! There are a couple of websites that are very good for info on oysters. One is more scientific and the other has detailed maps showing the many US locations where oysters are grown and harvested. One is The Nibble.com (look under oysters) and the other is oysterguide.com.

It is yummy, and really convenient, once you've make the stock. I first got the idea from a NYT article about cooking collard greens. I don't really care for meat in my greens, but I like that smoky ham flavor, so I started to freeze the ham stock in small containers for when I made greens. Now I've graduated to quart containers for cooking beans. I could never have participated in that no-shopping challenge. I would have been drinking ham stock all week.

I eat a lot of beans. Sometimes I use cannelini or a cranberry beans and make a hearty Italian-style soup with kale and other veggies. Mario Batali has some good recipes for soups like this--there are lots of variations. These days I am into beans 'n' rice. I have been experimenting with different beans, like rattlesnake (hybrid of the pinto and better, I think, but hard to find!), rio zappe, flor de mayo and pinquito. The rio zappe is a good stand-in for red kidney beans--they are a dark reddish bean, hold their shape well, and are meaty. I have a basic method, and vary it according to my mood--sometimes more like red beans 'n' rice, sometimes more southwestern style, very simple, charro style or without the tomatoes. Any beans over rice can be dressed up or topped with different fun things. My husband likes his southwestern-style beans extra hot, so he adds roasted green chiles or cheese if there is some. I like it simple, and usually just add a sprinkle of minced white onion, salt and a squirt of lime juice. Because I don't like fatty soups, instead of adding a ham hock and cooking it with the soup beans, I like to make a ham stock. I use smoked ham shanks instead of hocks, because they are meatier. So I make a large pot of ham stock with the shanks, onion, celery etc, then take the meat off the bones when it's very tender--at least two hours--and skim the fat. I freeze the stock and use it for cooking the beans that I serve over rice. The ham can be added back to the beans or used for hash or salad or whatever you like.

When I first saw this thread I thought someone snarky like me would respond to the question, "How much water does pasta need?" by saying: A lot. End of thread. Hah. It's amazing how easy it is to just keep on doing things the way you were taught. I make pasta the way my mom did, with lots of water in a big pot. No measuring. Rolling boil. I had a roommate who learned to cook pasta at a simmer in a small pot, stirring frequently. That made the pasta gummy, which made it stick together; hence the need to keep stirring. Even if you cook your pasta at a rolling boil, if you have too little water in the pot it takes too long for it to come back up to a rolling boil after adding the pasta, and you still get pasta that's being soaked instead of cooked. Does the low 'n' slow method mean that the pasta releases a lot more starch into the water? Perhaps losing too much starch results in degradation of taste and texture? If I wanted thick pasta water I'd probably toss out the pasta too. No one has mentioned the direx on the back of the Japanese udon package: bring water to a boil, add udon, bring it back up to a boil, add a glass of cold water. Bring back to a boil, do it again. And again. Then remove from heat and let sit. I follow the first steps, but find that letting it sit has no advantage over continuing to boil another couple of minutes. And I only do the glass of water thing because it makes me feel so very Japanese. Does anyone have any insight into this technique? I find I like my udon a little toothsome; not quite so al dente as I like my s'ghetti, but not too soft, either.

Okay, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you are gettin' a bit picky. Give your great guy a break! The truth is that your lovely SO eats most things from most of the food groups! He appreciates really fresh fish (I'm with him!) eats some shellfish and crustacea, eats most meat except game and exotics, and likes a variety of ethnic foods AND is willing to try stuff. I was in France last year and didn't eat octopus or any of other things on his no-no list (okay, except mussels) the whole time I was there, and I ate really really well. There's plenty of great food in France on his good list; it isn't like the French are eating roast crickets or antelope. More likely roast chicken. If he doesn't love foie gras then he's a cheap date and as you say, more for you. Given a choice I would probably go with steak frites rather than haggis myself, not that haggis will be on the menu in most Parisian restaurants. You will have a great time!

Hi Terrasanct, how are you? Yeah, the prices are shocking on an appliance you haven't costed out for about 10 years or 17 years! Pretty hard to find one with a stainless steel interior tub for under $600, if that's what you want. My inlaws got a decent GE for their beach house that holds a lot of dishes and cleans well, includes a good wineglass clip and a deep top rack and that was less than $500 I believe. I have a friend who is happy with an Amana that was in that same range. $900 sounds more like a mid-range Bosch to me. I looked at a Bosch for under $700 that I would consider low-end. The lowest-end KA was priced at $679, and a little higher than the lowest-end Bosch we could find. Both of these come with the $50 energy saver rebate, and so did the Asko. These all have stainless tubs, and are quieter than the cheaper American ones. Sears Kenmore Elite, the competition for the European dishwashers, is supposed to be highly rated, and Sears has the best deal on installation, but the low-end models were priced higher than the lowest Bosch or KA when I checked. I have a friend who is looking now as well, and he's a super-careful researcher. He was told that installation on all these new dishwashers is more complicated than it used to be, so that swayed me not to have my husband install it, since he's only moderately good with plumbing.

The mention of Pho Ga upthread got me in the mood. I never order it when I go out for Pho, since the beef pho is so great at my favorite hole-in-the-wall Viet lunch place. I made a rich Asian-style stock over the weekend with lemongrass, ginger, and star anise and lots of chicken pieces, feet and backs etc. Then tonight I made a very simply soup with tender chicken, rice noodles, scallions and a shredding of thai basil and coriander and a little garlic-hot sauce on the side, since I didn't have any jalapenos. My husband always want heat, but I like my pho ga unadulterated and simple as can be.

I don't know if it's the electronics involved or what, but given everything I have read and heard, we should consider ourselves lucky to get seven or eight years out of a new dishwasher today. The dishwasher in the house when we moved in was about 30 yrs old, a KA on its last legs. Our replacement was a KA that lasted 17 yrs. Maybe this new Asko will last 8 years? Will the next generation last 4 yrs? Sad.

Here's my update on the dishwasher search. We did indeed get the Asko that fits in our space. The limitation of the short Asko that complies w/the American Disabilities Act is that the manufacturer appears to have made the judgement that the distance between the lower and upper racks needs to be about as tall as in the standard tall tub models, so the sacrifice is in the depth of the upper rack. My wineglasses just barely clear the top, but they do clear it. In the showroom I was only able to see the regular size model, and the top rack is fabulous. This one is not adjustable, which I didn't realize, since some of the publicity materials were misleading. Aside from this problem it works great, so far! With the absolute minimum of soap and no Rinse Aid (we don't have hard water) the dishes are sparkling clean. The machine, as expected, is about 100 times quieter than the 17 yr-old model it replaced, but it isn't completely silent. I am guessing the Bosch may make a quieter dishwasher, but this one is pretty quiet and it's fine for us--I can't hear it in the dining room. The only design flaw is that there isn't a lot of variety in the distance between the dividers; they are very close, so, depending upon your dishes, you may have some bowls and plates that don't fit as economically as they might.

Abra, where can I find Joan Nathan's poppy seed filling recipe? FG: what, no poppy seeds? Rustic is good--they look yummy, and very jammy.

Amazing! I'll check it out. The bitter almond oil sounds intriguing as well. Thanks to all!

I purchased a pricey little package of sweets made by an Italian bakery in Torrretta, Sicily. The bakery is called Pasticceria Sua Maesta and the translation of the product is simply Soft Almond Classical. It's like a soft cookie but it isn't a flat cookie shape, and the ingredients are: sugar, almonds, apricot kernels, glucose syrup, invert sugar, egg white, honey, vanilla. They are quite dense, and there's a slightly bitter taste that must be from the apricot kernel. How you get an apricot kernel in the middle of winter is beyond me. And how you get the kernel out and usable in a cookie is also beyond me, but these are so good I'm ready to try. The bakery has a website (in Italian, of course) and I believe that this little morsel belongs to a type of pastry called pepite di mandorle which appear to have a few different shapes. Does anyone have a recipe for such a cookie, or can anyone suggest a book of Italian or Sicilian foods that includes one?

Tsquare, it was already notched or (more likely) gouged out in '92 when the remodel was done to accomodate the the KA that just went kaput. Our problem was that we didn't replace cabinets but we did lift the floor up because we put down a mortar bed and ceramic tile. Thanks, Catherine, those words are music to my ears. I also found some friends of friends who like theirs so much they put another one in their second home. For better or worse it is now on order.

If you are interested in a comprehensive and informative site about eating fish (among other things), check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium site. You can get details about mercury levels, endangered and overfished species and sustainably farmed fish. It's a fantastic resource. Then you can make your own decisions about what to buy. Some fish are simply a perfect storm. The four fish highest in mercury are also severely overfished: tilefish, swordfish, bluefin tuna and shark. The speed with which some species are becoming endangered is really shocking. Thirteen or fourteen years ago here in CA we were buying locally caught Atlantic King salmon steaks for as low as $6 or $7 per lb. Three years ago the catch was small and the price was often $20 or more per pound. Last year salmon season was canceled entirely in CA. This year will probably be the same. There ain't no more left. The awful truth is that if people continue to pay high prices for overfished species they will be fished until they are gone.

This a great experiment; I do it on a small scale every week. Typically we do our big shop on Sunday. Usually by Friday and always by Saturday we are into "kitchen sink" or scrounge mode and I get very creative. But I could never survive this challenge, and here's why: We buy almost no canned or jarred or frozen foods. (And that's not a "why would I in California" whine!) We used to buy lots of Italian canned plum tomatoes, but I can't eat tomatoes right now. Anyone who has a pantry full of San Marzanos and a few boxes of pasta can probably make it through the week--if they are allowed to buy milk. Nothing like milk and cereal for dinner--too bad, no blueberries or bananas! Anyone who usually overbuys can probably make it too. We also don't freeze any pre-made meals or any meats. My small freezer now contains 1 bag of edamame, several quarts of stock, and what's left of a bag of stone-ground grits--about 1 cup. We don't buy crackers or cookies or chips. (Okay, yes, I indulge in Panzanella once in a while, but no longer on a regular basis!) 90% of our pantry items are carbs, most used for baking bread. So yeah, we could bake a few loaves and eat nothing but peanut butter sandwiches, chicken broth, rice and popcorn all week. And I would start with a major deficit: by week's end I'm lucky if I have two zukes and a potato in the veg drawer. How are you factoring eating out? No one should be allowed to eat out more than they usually do, at least. We don't eat out ever, and that includes lunches. My husband bags his, and I eat leftovers. The two of us can't make it on one bag of edamame and two zukes and no other vegetables. If my normal budget included two or three dinners out and all lunches out I might be able to survive this. I would do pretty well if a future challenge went like this: do the weekly shop, no further shopping allowed all week, no eating out, and you use up everything you bought, ending up with empty shelves in the fridge (except for condiments of course)--no rotten food, no waste. I'll wait for that one! Good luck to all on this one!

What do you do when you have nothing but zucchini, 3 potatoes and an onion in the house? Make Deb Madison's Zucchini and Herb Fritters. Okay, yes I had basil (one out of the three herbs suggested), eggs and bread crumbs, which was all it took. They are excellent--better than they have a right to be. (They cook more like pancakes, with very little oil in the pan.) My husband wanted sour cream on his, but I liked them plain. Fresh salsa would be very good. Serve with pan-fried potatoes with caramelized onion. Bruce, that butternut squash with curry leaves looks perfect. Is that all there is to it, as you describe? Can you get me the recipe?

Thanks, Linda. The racks in the Asko are pretty great--the top one is adjustable like the Bosch. The basket is way cool: it can be positioned anywhere along the front. Well, for that price it better be well designed. Another good feature (and I think the Bosch has this too) is the short cycle, which is only 35 minutes. I never run back-to-back cycles; we don't have enough friends or enough flatware. This model has the controls on the front, and a little LED indicator light which appeals to my husband. See, I'm already justifying this purchase on the basis of about $75 worth of gimmicks. So, Asko it is. The sticker shock is palpable. We were already feeling a pinch when we decided we wanted a lower end KA or Bosch and were thinking we would have to spend $600-700 to get that. We also would have saved on installation. I think we could have installed a KA ourselves, but just in case anyone wants to know, the Asko has a reputation for complicated installation, so we are not going to attempt it. This is indeed a very helpful thread.

No apologies and no surrender to this claptrap about pineapple. The combination of pineapple and tomato is one of the nicest ever. We are persecuted but we are no fools. When you and I meet in hell (where else will we get that ideal char on our pineapple?) we will have a crispy thin-crust wood-fired pizza with fresh pineapple chunks and modest amounts of mozz and tomato sauce. There will be no ham, or anything else to gum up the works on this perfect minimalist pizza. And don't believe that stuff about the Pizza Mind Control Ray. I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist, but if it does, and is used from a subterranean fortress like Sam's batcave or the subway or something, it can't penetrate the earth's crust, or ours, which shall never be soggy. ("No crust shall be soggy on this earth," remember.) Now get me out of here before someone hurts me.