Katie Meadow

TJ's does have plenty of stuff that's not often found other places and decent prices. And, at least for me, it has six or seven items that I am hooked on, so I keep coming back. I am a coffee ice cream person. I admit that O'Connell's coffee ice cream is very very good. But TJ's is delicious and it literally cost 4 times less. I am pretty much not interested in the rest of the stuff they sell, and my positive record taking recommendations here has run has not been stellar. But I do appreciate very much the ones that have been great. I realize that many agers do not live close to a TJ's. I have no idea how much those six or seven things are worth to me if determined by driving distance. I'm five minutes by car. And 15 minutes from another. And 20 minutes from a third one. The Bay Area is lousy with them. The NYT recently had an article on the TJ's carry all bag. Apparently you can make good money if you take a load of them to the UK and sell them on the street for a ridiculous sum. Aren't there enough promotional cloth bags that you acquire free? Best recommendation recently: that triple cream Delices de Bourgogne. Worst: Kringles, or whatever they are called. Chacon a son gout, as my father would say in an impeccably bad accent. It's almost midnight here in CA. Why am I writing about TJ's for gods sake. Because I'm on what appears to be a fairly strong steroid.

I love to watch when people are dexterous and elegant eating with fingers. I never learned that, so I don't try. I'm just a white Jewish old lady and did not grow up with South Asian or Ethiopian parents. Without untensils I eat the following: tacos, sandwiches, chicken wings and pizza if it usually pizza. Also I have a bad habit of grabbing the pope's nostrils off a hot roasted chicken. Nothing to brag about there.

Thanks tou you @blue_dolphin for enablement. I found a copy of Nancy Silverton's Twist of the Wrist for dirt cheap in great condition on eBay. I like it a lot. She has a very nice way of recommending specific ingredients and then letting you know what good options are available, and whether some of the ingredients can just be omitted. She's exacting and fairly practical at the same time. I will say this though, many of the recipes have lengthy ingredients lists and complex techniques, so I am not so sure all her shortcuts make things quick. Partly because, probably like you, I rarely use canned beans anymore. I'm trapped in RG quicksand . I look at canned beans and can't do it.

This id almost a reverse of the topic, but in the last few months I'm hearing the use of "cooked" on political blogs. Google definition below. But on these pods it is very specifically political. In modern slang, "cooked" primarily signifies thatsomeone is in a bad situation, facing trouble, or defeated. It can also be used to describe someone as extremely tired or affected by drugs.The term has roots in older slang and is frequently used on social media, particularly by Gen Z, to indicate a dire or hopeless circumstance.

Exactly. I love my ceramic spoons. I just sang their praises on the soup vs table spoon discussion. For wontons and wonton soup I always use chopsticks and the spoon.

Very clever. I hate soggy wontons. Our take-out Viet restaurant packages pho similarly. Broth in one container, noodles and everything else in a separate one. When ordering pho in a restaurant I always appreciate it when they bring the thinly sliced beef on a plate so you can add it in yourself and it doesn't get overcooked.

What is the difference between cream of coconut and coconut cream?

So you want to shave a popsicle without making one first? I wish I was with you and we could get high together. I'll bring the shave-ice machine we gave our daughter when she was seven, which would be thirty years ago. We can mix up a batch of flavored sugar water and freeze it in the provided mold and then shave it, and voila! Now that I think about it I'm surprised I never tried to make real espresso shave ice with that thing. And now I wonder where that thing is. In the cavernous basement? Under the bed? Under your bed? @blue_dolphin we may need your help.

When snag becomes gag. If you keep buying it they'll keep making it. I'd love to see the packaging for the Chinese version. Shelby you kill me. You're such a cheap date. When my husband disappears I grab caviar. The grape caviar is good, but the raspberry is better.

She had me at butter, she lost me at glucose, potato chips and pretzels. I would suggest trying the TJ's version before making your own. It's a labor of love. Or a waste of good potato chips. Compost indeed. I once went to the original Milk Bar and tried the cereal milk ice cream. Fawful, but then I was over thirty. I'm sure my four year old granddaughters would think they had died and gone to heaven. I shudder to think what would happen in the evening when the coffee grounds and the sugar take wing. Christina Tosi doesn't have a sweet tooth. She has fangs.

@blue_dolphin, you did indeed post about the lima beans before, but it was in the succotash thread. I have no doubt that I have repeated myself more than once (haha) in a number o f threads. So, for all of you who know me too well, thanks for not pointing it out. It's only going to get worse. I have a sister-in-law who told the same long boring story twice during one Thanksgiving dinner. Her excuse was too much wine. No one at the table was rude enough to call her attention to it, but we sat in stunned silence the second time around. That was a relatively memorable turkey day.

Did they cook quickly? Did you stop them cooking in time for them to keep their shape? I've always winged it when it comes to succotash; it's one of those things I didn't grow up with. I take corn kernels off the cob and sauté them for a few minutes with a little garlic and basil or other herbs. Mix the corn, lima beans and halved cherry tomatoes and a little red onion and dress as you like. If you are into bacon cook a few strips first, then fry the corn in the bacon fat and add broken bacon pieces to the salad. Would be good with Indio oregano and roasted green chile, you think?

I don't go there either. As a former card carrying member of the SF Mycological society I would never advise eating raw mushrooms, even the white buttons from the grocery store.

Like so many people I have rather negative memories of lima beans. Many years ago there was a man who sold fresh shelled butter beans in very limited quantity at the Berkeley farmers' market. They were fabulous. At the time I had no idea they were either closely related to lima beans or were actually lima beans by another name. I finally tried the RG baby lima beans. I cooked them very simply with onion, a little minced celery and carrot, and garlic, in vegetable stock. They cooked surprising quickly and a bit unevenly, and some did not retain their shape. By themselves in a soupy bowl with generous salt they were delicious. A drizzle of Frank's didn't do them any harm. They were really creamy, but not potato-like, more silky. I had intended to use some for a succotash, and I did, but I think for that purpose they might have been better if I had cooked them less, so they had more integrity. I think they would be great cooked with ham stock I think they are too delicate and cook to fast to make good use of a ham shank or smoked pork neck. My marriage to Domingo Rojo is now an open one..

@blue_dolphin How do you like to make slaw with it? What else goes in? Do you use it by itself with oil or mix it into mano? What else do you do with it? I've got a bottle of the one pictured on the right.

I tried the Delice de Bourgogne cheese today. Delicious, and a deal at $14 lb. One thing, though, it's pretty salty, so beware if you are not a person who likes salt. Still, creamy x 3 and rather addictive.

A hallucinogenic bolete? What's not to like?

Another vote for burgers on toasted bread. I hardly ever eat beef any more but once in a blue moon I get a great yen for a green chile burger cooked on the grill. Usually it's an Italian batard, or it could be rye. I just find those buns to be inedible.

I thought for ten seconds about springing for a Vitamix, which was seriously discounted yesterday, but the truth is I use a Ninja bullet thing for smoothies and find that the Bamix immersion blender works great for creamed or blended soups. So my haul for Prime days was, to say the least, modest. The Sciara pistachio cream I like was reduced. My favorite cotton socks were heavily discounted, so I bought a pack of those. So,no serious investment that challenges my counter space. I can't bear spending time scrolling for deals. Usually I'm glad when Prime Day is over.

The one thing my granddaughters like more than a dip is a choice of dips. Do a taste test with them and give them three dipping sauces to pick from. Then let them rate them on a scale of something: flavor, dipworhiness, whatever is fun. Although I don't eat chicken nuggets I can imagine that honey-mustard or duck sauce might be a hit. The girls will dip just about anything in guacamole if it isn't too spicy. They also will drink soy sauce out of the bottle if given the chance, so Asian style dips that include soy sauce might appeal. A mild BBQ sauce would work. Then you can upgrade them to paprika aioli or hot queso.

There was grower at the Berkeley Farmers' for several years that sold fresh Piment d'Esptete peppers. They were delicious. I haven't been to the BFM in several years so I have no idea if those people are still there.

To respond "like" means the sun has not stated to set. That's just lovely.

Rare duck is stomach-cringy. But so is any rare poultry, as far as I'm concerned. I love that hanging Chinese BBQ duck. We used to make Bahn Mi with it. And also duck noodle soup. Now long gone, there was a great restaurant in Oakland Chinatown that served Duck Leg Pho. So good.

This is completely irrelevant, but I always loved the name The Violet hour. I also liked Bar None in SF. But the latest great name for a sports bar that only screens women's sports on the TVs is in Portland. It's called The Sports Bra.

Indeed. Unless you live in an isolated environment like a farm in the middle of nowhere, it doesn't seem necessary to store potatoes for the long term. I usually buy Yukon Golds and keep them in the fridge. Potatoes are my go-to when I've eaten through most of my shopping list. They seem fine for at least ten days. I don't know how much longer they would last in the fridge since I've never tested it.