Katie Meadow

By no stretch do I think of a hot dog burrito with mustardy coleslaw as a nostalgia experience. I think of it as a fusion food that I invented! However, it does work for me without trying to be a proper dog and doesn't set me up for the disappointments of a second rate hot dog since it includes neither cart, papaya nor sauerkraut.

So sad to hear this. With her recollections of Campbell's Scotch Broth, my mother's favorite, she inspired me to make my own from scratch RIP Maggie.

Not a trick! Really just a burrito with the dog, some rice, coleslaw heavy on the mustard, and if I have them, pickled jalapeño or other pickled veg, either inside or on the side, like you would get at any Mexican place worth its salt. I make a really basic pickle, like red onion, carrot, radish, jalapeños if I have fresh ones on hand. I do a similar burrito with grilled fish or shrimp and a slaw with crema, or the equivalent, and no mustard in the slaw.

No, just missing the giant whale, the bird hall and what's left of childhood's end.

I totally agree with everything you are saying! But my mixed up burrito was really good!

Just because I craved a proper cart-grilled NY hot dog does not mean I can get one. The buns suck, as noted above. No time to make sauerkraut, as if I ever would. And yo! Trying hard has never been my idea of grabbing a hot dog. In fact yesterday was the opposite of trying hard. Between sleeping in late as a result of DST and all the NYT puzzles and sections I was far too lazy. But, Mitch, you're so right.

We needed TJ's flour tortillas, which we buy regularly, and we also needed hot dogs. Never before tried their dogs, but my husband googled hot dog reviews and these came up high on the list. They were very good: juicy, not horrendously salty, puffed up nicely on the grill. Also a first, TJ's sweet and hot pickled jalapeños. We were out of pickled at home, so my husband came back with a jar. They are surprisingly hot, hotter than the ones I've made myself. That's good or bad, depending on what you want them for.

And so I did. Instead of a hot dog bun we made burritos, with rice, very mustardy slaw, pickled jalapeños, flour tortillas and, of course, dogs charred on the grill. Always good. Too hard to find decent hot dog buns.

More difficult to zest if you are using a zester or microplane, but easier if you are scraping away the pith from the inside for marmalade and then cutting in fine strips. Once in a while something works in my favor!

I've had delicious meyer lemon marmalade. I make orange marmalade with sevilles and often add either bergamot or a few meyer lemons to the mix for a change of pace. Since meyer lemons are less acidic than regular lemons they may need a similar amount of sugar as sevilles in a marmalade. I I love meyer lemon lemonade and I love a generous squeeze in my iced tea, also lovely on fish. But I think if you making something that calls for lemons in bulk, as in custards, pie or other lemon desserts the sugar level might need adjustment.

Yes!! Now I pretty much need a grilled hot dog tonight. Rain or no rain.

Okay, this is going way out on a limb. Since it might be considered recent memory, which may have more in common with short-term memory, it's possible that I am completely mistaken. Maybe 8 or 10 years ago I was in NY for a visit and remember stopping for a hot dog at a cart on the block of the Museum of Natural History. It was the best hot dog ever, although I'm no expert. But I remember at the time noticing that it was not a dirty water dog, but rather grilled. Are there any carts that grill, now or in the past? Am I crazy? Between the slices and the dogs I'm swamped in primordial ooze. I miss that museum, a lot just now.

I have no idea, but if memory serves, which it doesn't always, it was on or close to the southwest corner of the intersection of Lex and 86th, entrance on 86th. I don't remember ever sitting down to eat my slice, so maybe no tables? Then again, that was a long time ago. Super traditional foldable NY pizza. Good and drippy, minimal options. Wasn't this supposed to be about Chicago Pizza? I went to Uno's once and wasn't impressed.

The planned demise of Papaya King makes me totally sad. I liked it way better than Gray's Papaya, which was much closer to where I grew up on West 86th St. I had no complaints about the hot dog but found the papaya drink distinguishing. On Saturdays, weather permitting, my brother and I spent the day with our dad in Central Park. We would play catch, or rock climb or hang out at the boat pond. Then we would make our way over to the East Side for lunch, which would either be Papaya King on 3rd Avenue or a pizza place on 86th and Lexington which my dad seemed to favor. Then we would take a bus back to the West Side. Weather not permitting we would go bowling on the West Side and and then to a deli for pastrami sandwiches and Cel-ray tonic . It never occurred to me to ask my mother what she did on her day off from us.

Dental issues are the worst. After a 73 year hiatus I've rediscovered cream of wheat cereal. Really good. I must have been two the last time I ate it. Slathered with butter, half n half and, what else....sorghum, my new love. Another good soft treat is home made applesauce cooked with something alcoholic and eaten warm with a glop of butter and anything else that melts and is within arm's reach. In other words sorghum. Feel better soon.

(Alert to @Kim Shook😞 Toast Porn! Looks delicious. Does Moe like salted butter or sweet with his honey? Here's a novel twist: instead of honey try sorghum, which you will no doubt have to order. When we were in Chattanooga we went to a restaurant that served a basket of breads and biscuits with a little ramekin of sorghum butter on the side. Just sorghum whipped into the butter. Now I drizzle sorghum on my buttered toast or biscuits if I want a touch of sweet instead of my usual marmalade.

I'm not surprised that Yossy Arefi's ginger cake packs a punch. She's very generous with spices in many of the recipes in Snacking Cakes. I thought the carrot cake called for too much fresh grated nutmeg, so I cut back a bit and was glad I did. As for the sesame cake, that also has a substantial amount of tahini.but that really works for me. Yesterday I baked the Blueberry Blackberry Ricotta Cake, mainly because my husband came back from the store with blackberries. My experience with commercial blackberries is that they are often tasteless or just off. We used to have several blackberry patches that we could pick from ourselves, and those were delicious; not any more--they've been paved over or sprouted buildings. So, these weren't the greatest blackberries. If I made it again I would just use blueberries. The cake tasted even better for breakfast this morning. So if you like blueberry muffins you will love this cake. The ricotta gives it a really nice texture. I also think cutting back a little on the sugar would be a good idea; that's not unusual for me, though with many cakes.

I always thought Pi Day was just a day: 3/14, or March 14, named for the first three numbers of Pi. Pi Week is silly. I remember it being a fun day on college campuses because people in the math department would bake pies and sell them like a bake sale to raise money for some project or other.

I guess if someone wants to construct my cold salad with a tweezers, be my guest. But I always wonder when hot food is so fussed over. Doesn't significant heat get lost in the process?

Glad you are home, @JoNorvelleWalker ! Assuming your own doctor has access to the blood tests, perhaps he or she can give you ideas about what foods and/or supplements would be useful. Of course bananas for potassium. I recently learned that a good person to discuss these things with is an endocrinologist. Mine had ideas that my GP never offered, some of which were critical.

Continuing with "Snacking Cakes" I baked the carrot cake with dates. My first disappointment with this book. Not bad, just kinda boring. Good for children who won't eat vegetables, but I've had better carrot cake.

Frankly, @Kim Shook, that sounds hilarious and I can picture the two of you trying to figure out the exact right moment to go for the apple. I really like English Toffee. When I'm craving that combination, and am too lazy to search out toffee, I just spoon some salted caramel sauce out of a jar and melt it in the microwave. Then I dip slices of apple into it.

And then there's this: https://www.camelliabrand.com/the-red-beans-parade/ Personally I'm ready to join the Dead Beans Parade. Camellia beans does sell something they call "Small Red Beans" and associate them with Carribbean tradition. This is a way deeper rabbit hole than I originally thought. My guess is they are related to Domingo Rojo beans, but what do I know. So if you want to experiment making red beans and rice with small red beans instead of kidney beans there are clearly many options. Camellia Brand does seem to push their red kidney beans for RB&R.

All I know is that Camellia was started in New Orleans and has been in business for 100 years. The beans they use are not grown in the South. They just got lucky and cornered the Southern market; must be a combination of right time right place, good marketing and product consistency. My knowledge of red beans and rice history is pretty limited, but I do know that the common mythology is that the dish was made on Mondays, which was often laundry day, so a long slow cook was an advantage on a day when doing a week's worth of laundry must have taken a very long time.

I stand corrected. However I also stand by the fact that Camellia beans are kidney beans. It says so on the package. And that is indeed what everyone in the South uses for red beans and rice. RG's Domingo Rojo make fantastic RB&R.