Katie Meadow

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.

I love pork neck bones. I throw one or two into chicken stock. What I love even more are smoked pork neck bones. They are a great addition to smoked ham shanks for making a ham stock. I have found two sources for smoked neck bones and they are by no means equal. One source is a under smoked and bland. The other, a small local butcher, has fantastic very smoky and meaty ones. The meat you can pick off is more delicious than the meat from either smoked hocks or shanks.

My husband, who has great eyesight for teeny things, spent his working life as a book designer and newspaper designer. He looked at it and agreed that the type for the recipes seemed to be black, but not a true black. I don't know what that means, but he agreed that for a cookbook the design lacked common sense.

Update and some comments on Yossy Arefi's Snacking Cakes. Last week I found the recipe for the Simple Sesame Loaf from the book somewhere on line. It was delicious; good warmed, good toasted. At first I was amazed at how strong the tahini/sesame flavor was, but the more I ate the more I loved it. That was additional incentive to order the book. I just received my copy. So many of the recipes sound great, but I have one big criticism: the book is poorly designed. The type is tiny and pale, in addition to being a thin font. The remarks preceding the recipes are even paler. Right away I noticed some repeated paragraphs. Also the binding could have been upgraded to something that was more likely to stay flat, although that's a common problem with cookbooks, as it cost money to make a well-bound book. I admit my eyesight isn't what it used to be, but good grief, cookbooks should be easily readable when sitting open on a counter. The design is also space-wasting, so there is room to have upped the size of the type. Okay, hopefully this won't frustrate me so much that I can't make some of the recipes, but doing so will be a chore that could have been predicted by the publisher.

I've always heard that if you are subbing oil for butter, you use about 3/4 the amount. So a recipe calling for 1 cup of butter would be replaced by 3/4 cup of veg oil. Since I usually use whichever a recipe calls for I can't speak from experience, so more research might be warranted.

My trip to London, at least fifteen years ago, resulted in a fistful of candy bars stuffed into my suitcase. I was over the moon at how hilarilous these two were: 'Cranky," which I gave to my favorite sister in law. The plan was to carry a bar around in your purse, and if anyone was having a meltdown you simply held forth the candy bar and said "Cranky?' The other was the infamous Yorkie with the words of caution on the wrapper: "Yorkie: it's not for girls." The maker removed the phrase from the wrappers several years later, but I thought it was a great marketing gimmick. What girl wouldn't buy that? I bought several as gifts. I can't remember anything about the taste, since I only bought them for the wrapper.

Thanks! That' operation is my idea of a dangerous sinkhole.

I really like this pistachio paste, but haven't seen it anywhere except on Amazon. Unfortunately it is currently out of stock, which is very sad for me, since my jar has only a few teaspoons left. I can't attest to cooking with it, since mostly I either put it on toast or just spoon it from the jar and get transported. Very very good. And not cheap, of course. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0763T4QWS/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_6?smid=&psc=1 Pistachio isn't really on topic, though. As for chestnuts I've always loved them roasted from a cart on the street, but strangely I don't like chestnut desserts.

Adding cooked cauliflower has the same benefit. And with respect to ricers I never found that made a significant difference in the glue department. With the addition of cauliflower the stick blender is easy and effective in achieving a nice light whip. I think I had rutabaga once, that someone put into a soup. I should try it.

Wholeheartedly agree. Especially if someone else is willing to make them exactly the way I like them.

Saw that piece in the paper this morning. I have a great fondness for Frank Bruni.

Same here. My first purchase of a cookbook in many months. Hasn't been delivered yet but I can't wait! It appears that now I am a cake person and I prefer it as a snack rather than a dessert after a filling meal.

This is a most peculiar discussion. I have never found the combo of seafood and mushrooms to be appealing, and I have always stayed away from it, but I thought that was just me. Where did the idea come from that they don't belong together? Meanwhile, despite any accolades for the pairing I probably will stick with my aversion. In my old age I have to admit that I am less inclined to experiment as well as being more picky about what's appetizing. No judgements here. Well, there is one combo having nothing to do with seafood and mushrooms that I do think is insane: that's peanut butter and bananas. I know, off topic.

We never used self-rising flour until my husband started baking biscuits. For reasons unknown it makes better biscuits, or at least it does so for his biscuits. I haven't found any reason to use see-rising flour for anything else. It's a little salty tasting, which is fine for biscuits, but for most recipes that use AP flour I think it is safer to use the baking powder and salt as specified.

We buy organic free range eggs. These days we are paying upwards of $8 for a dozen. And we are eating and using more eggs than we used to. That's due to changes in diet and increased interest in "snacking cakes."

I don't see me making one either, not in the rest of this life time, and I like beans! Actually I did make cassoulet once, a zillion years ago. The duck confit alone was exhausting.

If my mother thought anything was French she was in favor of it. She was very fond of tongue. That would be beef.

When I clicked on this topic I misread it as Butter CANDIES. And I thought whoa!, disrespectful? But now I agree; especially disrespectful of the cow who gave up the goods. I burn through a pound of butter, and it's not an insignificant chunk of money. So a candle seems unbelievably stupid, which goes without saying. I like my butter evenly spread over my toast, and not dripping on my open book. Oh well, reading by candle light? That ship has sailed. Knowing nothing about TikTok I assume that in addition to being made of butter they are scented: "Burnt Butter," "Peanut Butter," "Salted Caramel," "Nightlight," "Butter Me Up, Buttercup" and "Oreo." And currently under development, "Street Lamp" and "Footprint." Go Gen Alpha!

Moe is a man of very catholic taste.