Katie Meadow

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.

That looks better than what we had as kids: Bonomo Turkish Taffy. Same technique, smash it into pieces. Not very good, really, but we had a good source. My brother went to school with Michael Bonomo.

I'm into root beer floats like crazy in hot weather. Currently I'm partial to HD coffee for my ice cream in a float. Salted caramel ice cream also works, but for me it is a bit too sweet. Yes, I know, most people automatically go for vanilla. Fussy about my root beer, though; I like it on less sweet spicy side and made with cane sugar, not corn syrup. Delicious and comforting.

I never had Kraft Mac n Cheese as a kid, and only bought it for the few years that my toddler daughter refused to eat my home made version. I thought nothing could be worse until I tried Annie's. Changing the name is like putting lipstick on a pig, but I really am not nostalgic about the product or its blue box.

Ya mean Jordan Almonds don't come from Jordan? Okay, yes, joking. I'm sure we can do stale here in the US as well as anyone. A very quick wiki check and it appears more likely that candy coated almonds were Italian in origin. And two sources say that their first mention is in The Decameron. They must have stocked up during the plague. Greeks and Italians have them on the table at weddings. That seems nice!

Yes indeed. And I assumed that the traditional staleness of the almonds was part of the overall perfection. After all, by the time we get them they've been aging on a container ship from Jordan, right? Probably the ones on that ship that got beached on both sides of the Suez Canal were better as a result of the delay.

that sounds promising. I don't think I've ever had a Jordan almond and exclaimed, "Wow, delicious fresh nuts!" Perhaps I need to get out more. The next time I pass a WS on a shopping trip to a mall (which may very well be never, given there's a snowball's chance in hell that I will ever wander about in a mall ever again) I will check it out.

Not that there isn't plenty of bad pizza all across America, but I'm surmising that the bad pizza in Asia is more.... creative.

I moved to CA in the mid seventies. At that time it wasn't hard to buy fresh Pacific sardines. They were cheap, and delicious grilled. Between 2006 and now the local sardine population has collapsed by 95 percent. It is hard to imagine what Monterey was like in the heyday of Cannery Row. Experts say climate change is partly to blame, but probably overfishing factored in as well. With the availability of canned Spanish and Portuguese sardines and their popularity is it possible the same fate awaits that market?

Use the tongs at the dinner party but when the guests laugh about it tell them that it was gifted to you. Unless of course the intended recipient is at the dinner. In that case just tell them the truth.

Thanks @weinoo for the suggestions. Never had cockles but def up for that. What do you do with? And I am going to try the sofrito. Years ago I was on a Daisy Martinez kick and became obsessed with her yellow rice and finding uses for achiote paste. I did make my own sofrito but these days I just don't have the energy to prep for prep. As for Duvel, don't worry, my lips are sealed. I am pretty sure that The Little One, who isn't so little any more, previews Duvel's in-box and tosses the unimportant messages any way, .while snacking on octopus

Have you tried the Matiz piparras? Green pickled peppers with a really unique (to my mind) flavor. What other Matiz products do you like?