Katie Meadow

So let's just say that "keyboard" is a metaphor and I don't know what you are spilling your eggs on. My keyboard is an actual thing, as I am a luddite who still likes a laptop.

Four minutes to make, 3 minutes to eat, and 2 hours to clean off your keyboard!

So perfect for those kinds of people who never restock their earthquake survival kits. And canned sardines trade value grows with every day there isn't an earthquake. Plus you get an art collection, at least as long as your flashlight batteries last. Win win.

Runny egg and laptop are two words that shouldn't be in a sentence together. Keep that up and move over @JoNorvelleWalker.

If going to UNM means you are a Lobo, then yes. I went to one basketball game. My pack was mainly English Dept, poets, and potheads.

Nothing gold can stay, not even mustard. But there's only one way to find out.

Wow, I had one of those electric jobs in college! No stove needed, just an outlet. You could take it apart and expose the coil, which turned out to be useful in the winter in Wisconsin when the dorm heat failed. The windows had ice on the inside, but I was able to sit at my desk as long as the coil was plugged in underneath me. I dropped out after a year, ended up finishing college in New Mexico. Much better weather. I just wasn't Wisconsin material.

I've tried a variety of sardines and so far Matiz are my favorite. I admit that I have not tried as many Portuguese ones as Spanish ones, and I have avoiding the top tier really expensive ones. Not that anyone asked, but the worst ones were Wild Planet packed in oil. I can't imagine what water-packed sardines would be like.

More pop needed! For years we have been stove-top popping a multicolor bulk popcorn, and we've been happy with it. It pops up pretty big with almost no unpopped kernels. But all of a sudden this same stuff has changed. It pops smaller, tastes less crunchy, and leaves tooth-breaking kernels. It just can't be us. My husband has been making this popcorn the same way like maybe once a week or more for years. Looking for suggestions for your favorite brand or source for kernels that pop up fresh and tasty and are good for stove-top method. I don't use a lot of garnishes. Rarely butter, usually just plain with good salt. Artisan or otherwise, but we eat enough of it so I don't want to break the bank. Thanks!

@weinoothanks for the marketplace visual. Does this operation have a poster for sale? Other merch? Surely there are sardine tee shirts? Wallpaper (the old fashioned kind) that I can use in my little bathroom off the kitchen? If I go to Portugal I want to schedule my visit for the tinned sardine art fair. @Keralawas asking about the smaller fish in the catch. What does Matiz market as baby sardines? Maybe the smaller ones are even more valuable. Maybe a sardine weighing three pounds ends up as cat food. It wouldn't be cost effective to make that big of a can, although the possibility for can art would be fabulous.

I too read the article yesterday. Did I miss something? I don't recall there being any comparison to Spanish sardines; everything in the article was based on a trip to Portugal. I have never tried the Nuri brand that the article highlights. Portuguese and Spanish tinned fish are both considered the best, which must be a magical blend of the quality of the fish caught off the the coasts of both countries and the care and techniques of the canning processes they have developed over many years. I've tried various pricey sardines from Portugal and Spain, and so far the Spanish Matiz are my favorites. Right now Amazon (prime) is selling a 5-pack of Matiz for $17. So a can costs a little less than $3.50. Santo Amaro, a Portuguese brand, sells on Amazon currently a 12 pack for $36 which is a bit less per can. Those are good too, but I prefer the Matiz. The Nuri sardines sell on Amazon as a variety 4-pack for $27, or close to $7 a can. I'm sure they are good, but I'm not ready to spring for that.

I saw one episode and found it so cringey I never tuned back in. As for zucchini, if it takes more than ten minutes from fridge to plate count me out. In New Mexico lots of my friends had gardens, so naturally there were plenty of free zukes. And in those days no one had yet discovered the gold: the flowers. And for some reason gifting a giant overgrown zucchini was not always a joke. I learned it takes a lot of roasted Hatch (original Hatch!) chile to make it palatable. Every once in a while when I get nostalgic for NM I make a green chile squash casserole, but I use various yellow summer squashes instead of zzzz's.

Totally get that. I wasn't expecting the ending either. When he's older. The down side being that he may never eat octopus again. They are just too smart and too entertaining. And well, too human.

Never heard of a fried rice cube, but just let me know to stop by. How big are the cubes? Could you form them in an ice cube tray and then chill them? And do you make the cubes out of leftover fried rice w/fixings, in which case you are making fried fried rice? Or are you using just plain cooked white rice? Did you just make that up?

@Duvelhere's my suggestion for movie night. Have you seen "My Octopus Teacher?" Wonderful movie, and a little sad at the end (just a head's up.) Don't watch it right after eating octopus for dinner.

I don't do polenta, but I DO do grits. As Andie and others suggest, if you know you are going to fry up slices later, cook the mixture a little bit further than you might ordinarily.. Put it in whatever you like for a mold. I've always refrigerated it overnight. Before cooking in ample butter or oil, I press the slices gently on both sides with paper towels to eliminate more moisture. And I agree that patience is the key to minimize sticking. However, there is always a little bit of popping during the sauté time no matter how much I try to reduce the spatter. Cast iron works well, but I suppose well seasoned carbon steel or non-stick pan would get the job done too.

Wow. My shopping excursions with my mother were usually at Bloomingdales, which wasn't exactly known for glamour. I don't even remember them having a restaurant. For sustenance we would end up at a nearby Chock Full O Nuts so my mother could indulge in her favorite snack: date nut bread with cream cheese and a cup of coffee. Shopping with my mother for anything was mostly not a fun thing, so I latched onto the date nut bread like being thrown a life-saver. It wasn't until 60 years later that I got a serious craving for it and learned how to make a good loaf myself.

The confusion over the various greens seems ubiquitous. Several Asian or Chinese cookbooks that I have provide illustrations of all kinds of leafy greens, cabbages, etc. One book contradicts another, and so on seemingly endlessly. And the best I can do is let you know what my market (big and popular but not specifically Asian) calls my preferred "cabbage." Shopping in Oakland Chinatown, where the variety of leafy greens is enormous or course, I just have to go by what I like and not worry about what it is called. If it is lovely and fresh it is worth a chance, since these greens never break the bank.

This looks like what I buy once a week and use primarily for stir fry. Usually we can get it baby size, like baby bok choi, but sometimes it is bigger. The market typically has it next to or in close proximity to bok choi and they label this dark curly one choi sum, or choy sum hue. I prefer it to what I think of as baby bok choi, which is of a similar shape but a pale green and not curly, at least in these parts.

The luddite's road to Rome: Bring water to a boil up to the level of your basket steamer. Throw in beans. Start tasting after about five minutes until beans are the way you like them. Dump into a colander. When it comes to green beans I am resigned to expect disappointment. At least half the time we buy them they are woody or fibrous or blah. Even farmers' market beans in summer are not a guarantee. I'm guessing @Shelby's garden beans are delicious, a true thermal mess o'beans. I wouldn't know a thermal mass if it hit me over the head.

I grew up on undercooked green beans. My mother, early in her marriage, rebelled against canned or overcooked green beans. Her vengeance was to only serve them as a salad and always far too crunchy. I love hot green beans that still have some bright color but absolutely no crunch. I also like long-cooked southern style green beans with bacon, and green beans oven-roasted until starting to blacken.

Where exactly is this recipe for @weinoo's spaghetti with clams?

I too have mostly given up beef. Part of it is it's a very individual, perhaps, small then, way to help the planet. The other part of it is that I just don't crave large hunks of any kind of meat. About twice a year I get a craving for a green chile burger made from ground beef (mostly that's about missing New Mexico) and we grill the patties outside. Mostly I prefer my meat in small doses, like part of a stir-fry with vegetables. And that includes chicken. Eating a big piece of chicken does not appeal either. I would say I rely on pork for flavoring dishes, and use ham broth frequently when I cook beans. I love Char Siu stir-fried with noodles or in a banh mi. I eat seafood, (except octopus) Asian cooked duck or duck soup, and I definitely eat dairy products from all sources, in moderation. When I see pix of rare steak taking up half a plate I don't wish I had some.

I'm going with the fluffy damp pith hypothesis. All I know is from experience. Lemons grow greenish gray mold and get softer. Limes just get hard as rocks when left to themselves. Very different.

Too bad it is really seasonal, but some version of pears in wine is my favorite dessert to make. Not difficult, but you do have to get pears that are the right degree of ripeness. Versions seem endless. Very easy to bake go-with: Dorie's 3-ingredient almond crackle cookies. Both are especially good if you have GF guests, which I rarely do. I admit that I do have another personal best, but I don't make it often because my husband makes fun of it: it is blood orange jello with brandied whipped cream, or any fancy whipped cream that suits you. Too bad blood oranges have an even shorter season than good pears, but it's actually pretty exotic. And the blood oranges have such deep flavor that you can cheat and sub in a percentage of less expensive oranges, like cara caras to keep the color intense.