Katie Meadow

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.

@blue_dolphinPotato and Cauliflower mash is a favorite. I add garlic, butter of course, sometimes creme fraiche or a little bit of chèvre. .. And although I don't often venture far from toast for breakfast, leftover mash is always a treat. I never thought of making pancakes with it, probably because there isn't usually enough left over, but that sounds excellent. Added flour? Egg? what else? A generous handful of chopped chives would be nice. What do you do for pancakes?

Since you are laughing I assume there's no truth to it, right?

Where did you ever get such a thing? And does it have a name? Just curious. I really don't want one.

I got it in my head at a young age that water makes eggs tough and cream makes them tender. Not only do I not know where I got that idea, but I've never added water to my eggs so I don't even know if it's true.

I don't bake russets, but once a year I stab the living daylights out of a bunch of yams. It's my way of coming to terms with the fact that only about three people out of a crowded tableful even eat them. One of those three is my husband, who would consider it a crime if they didn't make an appearance. The worst part of it was the fight for oven space. Now many of my husband's family are scattered to the winds and, thank the gods, the group is becoming more intimate and less chaotic. Speaking of Thanksgiving, which isn't really the topic of this thread at all, I hear that fresh turkeys have doubled in price as a result of avian flu. How many more pandemics are gunning for the holiday? My husband says that if a fresh farm turkey costs more than $150 this year he might think twice. Needless to say, our Thanksgiving has always been three turkey eaters and a blizzard of vegetarians. Strangely the turkey eaters are the same three people who eat the yams.

@weinooThe very few times I have had a bouilliabaisse the rouille was served on the side. My mother's way of eating it was to spread the rouille on a piece of toast and float it. I always thought a bouillabaisse was defined especially by the use of saffron, so the flavor was different than Zuppa di Pesce or Cioppino, but that you could enjoy it sans rouille if you chose. Whatever, it looks scrumptious.

That's a pretty high number for 30 days in essentially the area of one state. There is no verified mention of what mushrooms were eaten But it stands to reason that if there's been rain lately during the late summer and fall months, there will be a variety of fruiting shrooms that may not be easily identified by amateur foragers.

No one has mentioned "The Taste of Mexico" by Patricia Quintana. I've had this book many years and have no memory of how or when I got it. It's lovely. A large elegant book organized by region, it has expensive paper and beautiful photography. Curous, I checked Amazon and it sells for a whopping $65. However it appears there are lots of used copies floating around at very reasonable prices on eBay, Abe's, etc., many hovering at $10 or so.

The Chinese idea of American fast food looks as unappealing as American fast food in America. Though I admit I am not a fan of Kewpie mayo on anything, so maybe I'm a poor judge.

@BetDI love that the cards and hand-written recipes have illustrations. The book's illustrations, at least the few I can see, also are wonderful. Fantastic archive.

To be fair, fast food fries may once have been potatoes, but most of them have been processed to the point of "what is this?"

What did they think was in them?

Brebirousse d'Argental ! Haven't had it for several years, and forgot how much I like it. A sheep's milk brie-like cheese with a bloomy orangey-red rind (that's the rousse part). From Lyon environs, I think. Anyway, if you like ewe's milk cheese, it's a great one. There's a Vacherousse d'Argental, which I've never had, which is cow's milk, and as you would expect, has a red rind.

If you are making Chinese food at home in the US and can't find Shaoxing wine you probably can't find most of the other ingredients in the recipe, either. And whatever dry sherry you come up with it will not be as affordable, that's for sure. I go through a bottle of Shaoxing in a New York minute. Not drinking it, of course.

Or a bigger hammer. But really, a cleaver with a hammer assist? See you again, here, soon, @Smithy. My safety test: would I let my husband try such a stunt? No. A cheap cleaver will never replace an expensive butcher. Maybe that's how the finger got into that pumpkin pie.

I've done stir fry pork and fresh green beans with a scatter of pickled vegetables and also without. I typically have those pickled vegetables that come in the squat brown crock. Useful, for a change of pace.

I'm too busy chewing on them over the sink to do anything else with them, I do very much like pomegranate molasses though I've never bothered to make it. I use a bit of it in my granola and also very much like it as an ingredient in my charoset, which uses dried fruits along with the requisite fresh apples and walnuts. Yum. Bricklayer's sandwich.

Those look really nice. In my experience the fresher the better for boiling peanuts. Which is why they are seasonal, And I don't think they last well beyond two or three days in the fridge after boiling. Here in the bay area some of the farmers' markets have fresh ones this time of year. A lot of the vendors who grow and sell peanuts around here seem to be Asian.

Hope you are doing better by the day. I would kill to have the variety of good Chinese delivery that you've been enjoying. Or, for that matter, even to have a handful of good Chinese restaurants. You would think that in my part of the East Bay / SF area that the options would be great, but that isn't the case. I know of a couple of good ones in SF proper, but the drive is far too long for just a meal. I'm envious!

I've never had Christmas limas, nor do I remember any RG beans being bitter. Although I admit that I don't order a lot of variety when I order beans. I'm kinda stuck on certain ones. A chestnut texture would not be a favorite for me. Message Steve and see what he thinks, maybe?