Katie Meadow

I never heard anyone pronounce the L in salmon until a co-worker did so routinely. It drove me crazy.

This recipe is excellent bed-time reading. I fell asleep after two paragraphs. I'll take a simple crispy-skin whole roast chicken and save my mousse for dessert. Make that chocolate mousse, please. Kudos to anyone who makes Keller's dish. With my 75 year old brain......well, I. Can't. Even.

I totally get that. If ovens are scarce that makes sense. I don't have any idea what kind of ovens they are baked in, but usually they are pulled out of a warming oven behind the counter.

I totally get that. If ovens are scarce that makes sense. I have no idea how the baked ones are done. I just know that they are kept in a warming oven behind the counter.

The bakeries in Oakland Chinatown typically offer baked and steamed. I much prefer the baked, and always get the BBQ pork. The baked ones have a golden-brown domed surface. Incredibly satisfying elevenses snack.

Plenty of good material on just the first page. I couldn't read more. The peeps with cigarettes experiment was hilarious and insane.

May he rest in peeps. Probably the worst most insulting use of sugar ever conceived. And, with his degrees in engineering, etc. he could have invented something worthwhile, besides a microwave experiment for nerds. But now he's in the record books. I'm sure y'all could come up with some hilarious ideas for his tombstone.

New tuna for me: Matiz bonito del norte. Very mild. The flavor can't really stand up to being mixed with a lot of other ingredients, but if you have a very simple tuna forward recipe it would be good. My husband wasn't impressed, but I liked the delicate flavor. He said it was mushy; I don't agree. Meanwhile Ortiz bonito del norte continues to steadily climb in price, but right now Amazon is selling a pack of six oval tins, standard 3.95 oz, for $26.95, which is pretty reasonable I think. It's my favorite for tuna salad.

Ralph Fiennes was hilarious. I loved the bread course!

I wish I liked bell peppers. Pepperonata sounds so good slopped on bread. But I just don't. I love long hot chile peppers. I love various kinds of pickled peppers. Once upon a time when I was younger I think I liked bell peppers-- like on pizza, or grilled as a sausage topper or in ratatouille. But now, without reason, they don't appeal. I make one exception, and that is when I cook up a big pot of red beans and rice. One green bell goes into the trinity or it seems like heresy. And after two hours or more of cooking I really can't distinguish the flavor of the GBP.

Yes, I can see that. It doesn't appeal to me, though. I rarely eat beef and I like my oysters small and delicate, raw on the half shell. I've never really liked grilled oysters or oyster chowder or oyster po'boys or hangtown fry. For me the brine is half the pleasure. But I do understand how one might be inclined to throw a large stray oyster into a pot of stew rather than waste it. And I assume you might develop a taste for it if it was common in your neck of the woods.

One more rabbit hole for me! My mother, who was, to put it mildly, not much of a cook, did have a thing for bone marrow. The circumstances under which she would actually have bone marrow at home are murky, but once in a while she would share. We're talking beef bone marrow. I have no idea if she roasted the bones or if she had a few marrow bones in some soup that she scraped out. Anyway, her preferred treat was hot bone marrow spread on fresh rye bread, lightly salted. Extremely delicious. After a brief search I discover that the Germans are famous for bone marrow dumplings. These would be dumplings that are more like matzo balls in my mind. You might mix challah or soft bread with briefly sautéed bone marrow, form it into dumplings, boil them, then pour chicken soup or beef broth over them. Sounds. yummy. But now, @liuzhou, I'm wondering if the Chinese ever make soup dumplings or noodle dumplings stuffed with some bone marrow mix? Do they ever? From what you say it would be pork marrow. I would do it with beef marrow, which I prefer. I hardly ever eat beef anymore, but I will say this would tempt me. I can easily imagine wontons stuffed with a dab of marrow, vi with some version of vinegary hot chile sauce. @Duvel don't hesitate to weigh in on MARKKLÖSSCHENSUPPE!

I would agree that sauce oysters must be oysters that you wouldn't want to eat otherwise, big ones most likely, like the biggest sized quahogs used for chowder. I still don't understand why you would want oysters in a stewed lamb and lamb kidney dish though. But in my dotage my imagination isn't what it used to be, nor are my tastebuds as inclusive.

I already know far more than I did ten minutes ago.

I too dislike bell peppers, but if I'm making something like red beans and rice, and the beans have to cook for two hours or more after the trinity has been sautéed, I wouldn't have a clue what happened to the green bell pepper. I assume it's done its job contributing to the flavor of the final dish. Any situation in which the green bells retains their shape and distinct flavor I'd rather avoid them entirely.

Okay, no purchases lately. Our liquor cabinet looks increasingly like a cabinet of curiosities. My tastes have simplified. But I do have a question for those of you who frequent liquor stores and are into making cocktails with varieties of interesting ingredients. There's a product called Tippleman's Burnt Sugar Syrup. I had one with no idea where it came from and, sadly, it's all used up. I had no idea it was something one might use as a cocktail mixer. I have been using it to make delicious sautéed apples, totally non-alcoholic. So I'm curious, is this something readily found in well stocked liquor stores? From going down a rabbit hole on line I'm learning that a bottle of this syrup can be had at half the price that Amazon charges, if you know where to look.

Fabulous fabulous fabulous! I want dumplings AND one of those black and white stripy jobs that I could repurpose as loungewear after the celebration. So great!

That's why oxtails are nice too for long cooking: great flavor stock, tender meat.

I'm not planning to eat haggis any time soon, and possibly never. If I find myself in Scotland I would most likely stick to drinking scotch and eating smoked salmon and whatever seafood was handy. It strikes me as very weird though that haggis would have any beef, rather than lamb. And also, as a complete no-nothing, do you eat the stomach that haggis is packed in or just the stuffing?

Thumbs up, fingers crossed!

My husband is the only person I know who is fine with fake lime flavor. Green lifesavers, probably jello, although jello isn't something we ever buy. He would happily eat green jello on a plane or in a hospital. I think he sees these things as "free," which of course is absurd.

@weinoo, how do the Matiz clams compare to the Snow BB clams? I've made your white clams recipe a couple of times with the Snow's. No cockles, though.

Those poor minks can't win for losing.

Okay, now I'm curious. I know carrot cake (and often other root vegetable and zucchini cakes) almost always call for oil rather than butter. Is there a reason? Is it moisture? Fresh carrots have plenty of moisture themselves. I'm a very amateur baker, so I usually just follow the instructions when it comes to oil vs butter. I've seen a few chocolate cake recipes that also use oil, but never was tempted to make one. I don't eat enough cake to worry about the health benefits, but I admit to being pretty generous with butter in general. I've probably eaten my weight in butter ten times over in my life on toast alone. Not that I want to do the math.

Not unlike my most recent discovery. The hood over our range/oven has four lights, which I need lately as my sight in dark corners isn't what it used to be. After several compromised years of wishing the lights were brighter I finally asked my husband if the bulbs could be changed to provide more wattage. He informed me that the hood has three stops for the lights and I was only pushing the button for the the lowest one. We've had this range and hood for over thirty five years. Who knew? Clearly my husband doesn't need more light.