Katie Meadow

I've spent a lifetime thinking that creamed spinach was an iffy proposition at best. The very few times I've had it were disappointing or just plain awful. Then a year or so ago I found a recipe that looked appealing so I actually made it myself. Wonder of wonders, it was great. And easy. Count me a convert. Thirty or so years ago I had a similar experience with meatloaf. I hated it until I learned how to make it my way. Mine isn't simple; it's labor intensive and kind of fussy. And it's one of the few things I can genuinely claim is my own recipe and not just something I tweaked, since I tweak almost everything. I haven't made it in years, mostly because I rarely eat beef any more and because I'm lazy. Making Coq au Vin for the first time was pretty exciting. I had a party dish! It became so routine that my husband now makes it instead of me. I wish I could say I've made a layer cake with frosting, because if I did I would be very proud of myself! Not gonna happen; not in my DNA. Just the idea of cutting a baked cake horizontally makes me run for the xanax. Applying frosting that doesn't look like a bad hair day sends me off for two xanax.

Me too. I wouldn't want any traces of the experiences left around to remind me.

I think pipian is typically make with pumpkin seeds. A pipian rojo would usually involve a hot dried red chile in some form. A romesco sauce is usually made with roasted tomatoes and red peppers that are milder, like a red bell or a piquillo; almonds are the most common nut for romesco, but the NYT has a recipe that uses almonds and hazelnuts. I find that most commercial or restaurant romesco sauce is too heavy on the red bell pepper taste. A good shortcut for making romesco might be to use a jarred roasted piquillo product like Matiz.

Yep, it's a classic. For a period of time the NYT published that recipe every year because it was so loved.

I'll say one thing about yellow summer squash: it's better than zucchini. There is a recipe Summer Squash Gratom all Juanita that I clipped several years ago but can't find online. It's simple and good and uses nothing more than yellow squash and tomatoes. First sauté an onion and/or shallots in olive oil, Add minced garlic and salt. Remove the mixture when the garlic is fragrant and coat the bottom of a gratin dish with it. Slice up 1.5 to 2 lbs medium size squash and arrange it in rows. Make in-between layers of about a pint of cherry tomatoes, halved. Press down and bake in the oven at 375 for about 45 minutes. Take out of the oven and cover the top with grated melty cheese like Oaxaca to taste. Switch the oven to broil and cook again very briefly til the cheese is melted. Additions are called for: fresh thyme and oregano is nice. Roasted green chile is good. Or chop up a fresh Jalapeño or serrano chile and add it to the onion/garlic sautée. I use about 5-6 medium yellow squashes, usually crookneck. I also don't see any reason to make neat rows. Mine are semi-organized, but I don't see what the harm would be in simply piling them all in together. Also I don't see why you can't use whatever firm but ripe tomatoes you have on hand, just cut in chunks. Surely there's plenty of room to improvise whenever you have summer squash and tomatoes. Use spices or herbs generously. We like this just as a side but sometimes make it a main meal by serving it with some version of Mexican red rice. Especially good if you use achiote paste to flavor the rice.

Yes, it's very sweet. When I cook for my family or guests I rarely take requests unless it's something that appeals to ME. On the subject of kale, it seems to me that if you have to boil the living daylights out of it you might as well make collards, instead. Although baby collards can be done like chard in a quick saute. The only type of kale I eat is Lacinato, in soups, but truthfully I often opt for chard there too. I don't know if it was really true kale, but there used to be a vendor at one of our farmers' markets who sold "Baby Russian Kale." It didn't look like kale at all, more like small oak leaves. It was tender and very good. I still am mystified by the kale fad. It is no more healthy than any other dark leafy green.

Maybe he knows his aunt has the best chance of making one that's edible?

I am happy to give you my opinion without even trying it! To each his/her/their own realm. The world of toast is very inclusive. I doubt I would like your toast. I find burnt toast to be be very sad, and cold toast to be British at best and criminal at worst. However, the next time we have an accidental carbon event I'll try and remember to wait until the offending slice is cold, then butter it, and then after one bite, throw it in the trash. Or give it to my husband who hates waste and loves a challenge. If, by some freakish stitch in time I enjoy it, I'll definitely let you know.

I wish I'd known how versatile a popcorn popper could be when I was in college in Wisconsin. When the heat went out in the dorm in winter I bought a funky old electric popper and took it apart to expose the coil. It worked to warm up the space beneath my desk. I'm guessing it was a dangerous fix, but it's too bad I didn't know I could scramble eggs with it as well.

So sorry to hear this. If slow but steady recovery is the best your body can manage, then so be it. Just keep up the steady part. Take care! I agree that it's lucky you live where good take-out meals are available, but that only goes so far when you are feeling crummy.

Thank you @Tropicalsenior. Just this week I've been thinking of branching out when it comes to gingerbread cake and have a couple of recipes that use stem ginger in syrup. Yours and other recipes look easy enough. The commercially made stuff available on Amazon is pricey! Mid to late summer previous years there was an Asian grower who sold at the farmers' market. Her ginger was so fresh it still had the leaves attached. Lovely and yummy.

Finally I had an opportunity to open my one can of Marzanino tomatoes. I added them to Marzano DOP 28 oz cans to make a big batch of sauce. Before adding I tasted them out of the can. Not very exciting, a bit murky. It's hard to find good 14 oz cans, so this is a low priced option and for now available at TJ's. I think the 14 oz cans of Mutti cherry tomatoes are better in flavor and texture and add brightness to a batch of sauce. I'll stick with them if I only need a small can. I use just one can for long-cooked green beans southern style if no fresh cherry tomatoes are available, or in a vegetable curry in the winter if fresh heirlooms are also not to be found.

Very few posts about rhubarb in the last couple of years. I can't get enough of it and the season is winding down, at least in stores in northern CA. I'm lazy, so I just like to make a compote. Hot, cold, room temp, all good. For my compote I use mostly rhubarb, some strawberries, a splash of white wine, sugar of course, a small cinnamon stick and the seeds from a scraped out vanilla bean. Some times I add a dash of creme de cassis, sometimes a dribble of anise extract (careful, it's very potent!), sometimes a splash of sambucca. I prefer it on the tart side. Great with vanilla ice cream or a dollop of creme fraiche. What do you do with it?

My tribe! I eat a sizable breakfast, although not a very creative one, on the late side. Then we eat our main meal mid to late afternoon. It usually gets pulled together some time around four pm, give or take. I too like a cocktail and/or snack later in the evening. Sometimes it's dessert! I get up on the late side so I'm rarely hungry at regular lunch time. And if I wait until normal dinner hour I'm often too uninterested to cook or too cranky. Plus I've had some issues with my eyes and can't really function at my best once the kitchen is in deep shadow. Working currently on better lighting, but I really prefer my two meal schedule at this point.

And if they can get you to take their zucchini then you are equally treasured.

It's gefilte fish, only haute. Sans gelee. Having made gefilte fish only once, using Northern Pike, I speak from experience: his little dumplings are far easier.

With the exception of cinnamon and ginger and most gingerbread cakes, I pretty much don't like spicy or hot elements in my sweet treats. I love chile in savory dishes, but not in my dark chocolate bars or mixed into any chocolate desserts. I like black pepper, but not in a cookie. Cardamom has always been a puzzle to me. Fine as an ingredient in curries, etc., but in coffee or pancakes or sweet breads forget it. I absolutely can't stand anything pumpkin pie spice, so I pass on pumpkin spice latte or pumpkin pie. I love sweet potato pie but I make it without the traditional pumpkin spices. And I'm not fond of cakes that are described as "spice cake." So don't expect to bump into me at National Pfeffernusse Day events!

Me neither. And the infrequent restaurant visits I make are mostly Vietnamese or sushi joints. I've never eaten a McDonald's burger. I've never eaten lab-grown meat. I've never eaten eggless or vegan mayonnaise. I've never had poutine, nor do I want to. I've never had pfefernusse, whatever that is. But it's fun to say.

Blackberries are my absolute favorite berry. All the reliable patches we used to pick have been plowed under for one reason or another. Some patches were thorny, some not so bad. Yes, long sleeves were advisable. The biggest danger was if they were growing entangled in poison oak. I don't understand why the commercial ones are usually so mediocre or unripe. Always seems like a waste of money. Once in a while we would make a pie, but often I just ate them in a bowl with cream poured over. Heavenly.

Five minutes, which is about the time it takes to make a thermos of tea. I don't cook breakfast. If my husband decides to make biscuits or pancakes I time my appearance for five minutes before anything is ready. Ordinarily I just eat toast and fruit. If there's leftover pizza that's exciting and, since my technique for heating it involves popping it in the toaster, it takes about as long as toast. We eat an early dinner, so I'm hungry in the morning. And please don't talk to me. My husband gets up earlier than I do, so the butter and marmalade are already out. He even cuts my bread for me, mainly because I am bad at making even slices and he seems to be a genius in that respect. He doesn't want me to cut my own because it means his next slice will always be a wonky correction. Just let me know when it's ready, @blue_dolphin!

Not at all ready to pull the trigger, but I found the Hubs website shipping info very elusive. Can anyone here tell how much they paid for shipping?

I have never been fond of green bell pepper, but until I joined eG I had no idea how many people hated them. I will use one when cooking red beans and rice because it seems like heresy not to. After a couple of hours cooking with the beans they pretty much disappear. Otherwise I have little use for them. Raw? No way.

@liuzhouI think of peanut butter and peanut sauce as very different critters. Peanut butter should be as simple as possible: ground up peanuts. Jif and Skippy, the two most widely used peanut butters in America, are highly processed and full of sugar. Most of us grew up on them in PB & J sandwiches. For that classic I prefer a more natural brand with no sugar added, like Adams. I'm not so into it that I am willing to grind my own nuts, although that can be wonderful. Perhaps I am culturally off base ur just of limited experience, but I think of peanut sauce as a more complex sauce for Chinese noodles or dipping sauce for certain--mostly Asian--snacking items. But for an easy hack in making Asian style peanut sauce I'm very happy with Jade brand All Natural Sichuan Peanut Sauce. It has heat and flavor. There are plenty of other peanut-based sauce products out there on store shelves, but I'm not wild about the other ones I've tasted. I didn't mean to dis the use of peanut butter as an ingredient in making sauces. I'm sure there's no end to the variety of sauces that can be whipped up by a talented cook; it's just one of those things I don't tackle. Hope this makes sense.

Ditto. May your stay be short.

@weinoo, I would have thought Balthazar could do better than just ketchup.