Katie Meadow

I could see a robot being a good foraging companion. Years ago I found the nicest patch of black chanterelles, and nobody else seemed to know about it. Unfortunately they grew very happily among poison oak. I could get a case of chanterelles but paid the price with a case of its bedding. But recipes? It might be hard to distinguish the AI ones from many of the weird ones created by "adventurous" humans whose numbers are legion. As for cookbooks I rarely buy them any more. I fit right in to the demographic who finds maybe two keepers in any given book. Better to get the book from the library and copy those, color and all.

@Ann_Tand @JoNorvelleWalker I haven't eaten chicken cacciatore in years, but now I'm listening. Not that I plan to make it for breakfast, but I'm thinking ahead to when I have family coming over the December holidays. After visiting my daughter, her husband and two toddler twins last spring it really brought home to me how different it is to cook for 4-6 people than for two. At least this time around I'll be in my own kitchen, which will help no end. So point me in the direction of a good Chicken Cacciatore recipe that I can make in a big dutch oven and maybe even get leftovers out of it. My husband and son-in-law are chicken lovers and the twin girls eat more than you would think. Any one-pot dish that has protein and vegetables and can be eaten over spaghetti sounds like a winner.

I totally agree with everyone that an improvement in hospital food would be a very good thing. It's about money. I just don't believe that most hospital budgets have that flexibility. Hospitals have been closing across the country, especially in smaller cities and towns. So getting care itself is hard for many, let alone better food. Perhaps I am unnecessarily pessimistic about this. But I don't see accessible health care for all Americans as being a priority among many of our politicians. And I also agree that many people who spend time in hospitals don't have the luxury of ordering out or of friends and relations bringing in something. I've been there myself, several times when I was younger. I wish it were otherwise, believe me.

Why would anyone expect hospital food to be good? You are lucky if it is edible. First of all, they want you to have lots of reasons to get the hell out of there. And given hospital budgets, would you rather they spend their money on meal service or on good doctors and nurses? I want my surgeon to have steady hands, an up to date license and be well paid for good work. @liuzhoufound an excellent solution with takeout. The next best solution is to have your loved ones bring you food. When my husband had surgery years ago the hospital was a 45 minute drive from home. My daughter and I discovered a pretty nice Viet restaurant near the hospital where we ate lunch most days and then brought back something yummy for him at the hospital. @weinooin the days when you got meals on planes I seem to vaguely remember people saying that you should indicate ahead if you need a special meal, and the general feeling was that specifying a Kosher meal would often result in better food. I did it once, but of course can't remember anything . But then nothing about flying has ever seemed enjoyable to me. Except when we flew during the pandemic we had racked up some miles and splurged on first class seats. Masks were required in those days, the seats were roomy, no stranger to climb over and the bathroom never had a line. I was surprised to find that on a 4.5 hr flight they actually fed you in first class. What they brought us was unidentifiable and inedible.

Yes, I know ham appears in many topics, but I want to know what my options are a far as ordering online. Here's what I want: A half city ham, bone-in, good quality. I want to glaze it myself, because many pre-glazed hams seem too sweet or too much the same and many recipes for glazing sound really interesting. So, my questions are: 1) Which is better tasting meat? the butt end or the shank? My understanding is that the butt end is more flavorful but a little harder to carve. Do purveyors of half hams give you a choice? 2) Is there a down side to spiral cut? I believe we are capable of carving a ham ourselves; picture perfect slices is not essential. 3) Does only the shank end come spiral cut because it has only the one bone? 4) This would be for xmas, so I have time. I assume if you order a fresh ham the purveyor will tell you when to order it. Fresh would be my choice, without knowing much about it. I don't like defrosting meat. 5) What are your favorite places to order a city ham? 6) Price. I'm not looking for budget, but never having done this before I don't want to break the bank, either. We have one local butcher in the East Bay that has very good quality products, but their city hams are $27 per pound. That seems really expensive: a seven pound ham would be almost $200. I've noticed that a few places will ship for free if it is your first order. It would be, since I never order meat on line. So did I forget any important considerations? My daughter, her husband and toddler twins are coming over the holidays. Dad and the girls seems to especially like porky products, and we will be away for several days so it would be nice to have something that will serve us for a few days. Thanks in advance. I have no idea what I'm doing, really!

I've never had Lundberg Jasmine rice, as I'm not a fan generally of Jasmine rice. But I always have Lundberg Basmati on hand. I pretty much use it if I don't want Japanese short grain /sushi rice or Italian Carnaroli. Their organic Basmati was awfully good, but I don't see that around anymore; the non-organic is just called "natural" or some such mystifying term.

Sorry to hear your opinion about spice oil in the Matiz vs Nuri. Just comparing prices on the two spicy sardines on Amazon, the Matiz are selling a 5-pack for about $19. The Nuri are sold in a 2-pack for almost $15. So, a pretty different price point. Can't not try the Matiz, given that. I'll see what I think of the quality of the spicy oil.

Perhaps I should post this in the Stupid Questions topic. But do people actually EAT gingerbread houses? It seems to me by the time you are ready to stop gawking at it, and all your friends and relations have already gawked at it, it's gone on to cardboard heaven. I made one once, when my daughter was little. Never again. And I certainly didn't find it edible.

I've just had Nuri sardines for the first time, but since they are the spicy variety it makes no sense to compare them to the Matiz plain ones which is what I usually eat. The Nuri are very good. They seem a little hotter than the Nuri spicy mackerel, and I like them way better. The mackerel is not as tender and it is far more salty In the past I've always eaten sardines with a little red onion and a squirt of lemon on toast. But now that I'm liking the spicy oil, I'm into them on sushi rice. One can is a bit stingy for two people, as with most sardines, but all the spicy oil gets used on the rice. Next up I'm going to order some Matiz spicy sardines, and see how they compare. My stockpile of sardines in growing. The lemon and tomato varieties don't really appeal to me.

Don't get too excited. It's serviceable and relatively healthy!

@TdeVHere is the recipe. Very flexible. Not sure where it came from but it is heavily adapted by me. ROOT VEGETABLE CAKE This is like a carrot cake but using any combination of beets, carrots, sweet potatoes, yams or even some butternut squash.You can use slightly more applesauce and cut back on the oil. The recipe makes one 9 inch cake. Double it to make a layer cake or a large bundt cake. I have never frosted this cake, but it certainly could be done to glam it up a bit, like with a cream cheese frosting or whatever you would do to a carrot cake. KM 1 1/2 cup AP flour 1 cup sugar or less 1/2 T baking soda 1/2 tsp or more cinnamon, to taste 1/2 tsp kosher salt 1/2 cup neutral vegetable oil, such as grapeseed or sunflower 2 large eggs 1 tsp freshly grated ginger, or to taste 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 1/2 - 2 cups packed coarsely grated carrots, beets, sweet potato, yam, etc. 1/2 cup applesauce or other fruit sauce—I had some stewed rhubarb so I subbed some of that 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, or nut of choice. Preheat the oven to 335 F Spray the pan with nonstick spray or fit in a disk of parchment paper, buttered, and grease the sides. In a large bowl stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In a smaller bowl whisk together the oil, eggs, ginger and vanilla. Add that to the flour, alternating with the applesauce and grated veggies. Stir by hand until almost combined. Add in nuts and stir just until batter is blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the top is starting get springy and the edges are pulling away from the sides. Cool the cake in the pan for about 15 or 20 minutes. Then loosen the edges with a knife and invert the cake onto a wire rack to cool completely. Invert again onto a cake plate. If you decide to frost it, make sure it is totally cool. Substitutions and additions: 1/2 cup or so of grated unsweetened coconut 3/4 c applesauce and 1/3 c oil. You can add a tsp or two of unsweetened cocoa powder to the dry mix. You can sub 1/4 cup AP flour with buckwheat or corn meal. You can sub golden or brown sugar for some of the white sugar.

I'll check tomorrow.

Check out the Nigel Slater recipe @JoNorvelleWalkerreferences above. I have that one too.

For a while several years ago it seemed like beets were all the rage in cakes, mostly chocolate cakes. There were several recipes I found for baking Red Velvet cake using beets instead of food coloring. I never tried, because in order to get the color you have to use a LOT of beets. I did find one keeper, but it wasn't chocolate. It was a cake that used grated carrots, beets and sweet potatoes, all raw. Two cups of mixed vegetables for one modest cake. Good and moist.

Me too. A few months ago in Asheville we frequented two restaurants that featured soup dumplings, both with different strong points. But we learned our lesson: soup dumplings don"t like to travel. So, both of us with lousy colds, we dragged ourselves a few blocks for dinner. No walkable Chinese restaurants where we live. Well, that's not really true. There is one up and down a steep hill, but it is pretty bad. @liuzhou, I want to live in your apartment building.

My cast iron diffuser is great. And it was cheap.

My mother loved tongue. So I grew up eating it without having any idea what it was. I can't really remember when the revelation came about, but I'm pretty sure it gave me pause. How long did I hear the word Tongue and just let it fly over my brain?

All that comes to mind is fried cinnamon doorknobs, bedsheet lasagne, wall scones.

Okay then! Coming soon to a table near me.

So @Shelbywhere's the recipe for those otherworldly potatoes?

Good, because raisin shame is beneath you. You're far too tough of a cookie.

Maybe the fig-wasp thing is a halloween prank? More than creepy, I'll say. Thank god for short term memory loss. The next time I have some fresh figs I won't remember having read that. At least I hope not.

Also very moving: the June 6 New Yorker article about Schjeldahl's daughter, Ada Calhoun, and her struggle coming to terms with her childhood and her recent memoir. Talk about a long and winding path that loops around Frank O'Hara and returns over and over again to her father. I haven't read the memoir. Yet. Maybe I'll make the fig bars and dig up my dog-eared copy of Lunch Poems.

I'm on team @liamsaunt. Rum Raisin ice cream is a punishable offense. Prune Armagnac is also terrible. Cloying and gummy. In my 70+ years I've never known anyone who orders Rum Raisin or keeps it in their freezer. And while we're at it raisins have no place in rice pudding, but everyone know that.

No, we do not. You are correct that technically all the things labeled yams are in fact an orange variety of sweet potato, to distinguish them from the less sweet white fleshed sweet potato. Real yams are indeed a different animal and rarely seen in markets in the US. If you want to make a sweet potato pie you learn to buy the orange fleshed sweet potato labeled as yams. The clue is they have a redder skin and the varieties are typically Garnet, Jewel or Beauregard. Around here in Northern CA the Beauregards don't show up often but they are really good. Maybe they are grown more in the south? I just stab them and bake loose on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Yes they do seep a little but not enough to make a difference as far as I can tell.