Katie Meadow

Hmmmm......what to do....... Well, you could try Gabrielle Hamilton's caviar sandwich: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/magazine/caviar-sandwich-holiday-gift.html On New Year's Eve, before my brother and I were old enough to go out to parties, my parents, in a not-typical gesture, would sometimes leave a party in order to come home by midnight. They would treat us to caviar at midnight. Their choice of beverage was often ice cold vodka. So, caviar was a once-a-year thing for me, and still is. Now we buy American caviar, some of which is really delicious, and we make the above sandwiches on NYE. I know GH has had a long nostalgic relationship to Pepperidge Farms white bread, but I don't; my husband bakes a very good white loaf that's makes a fine sandwich. I'm sure PF is also great, one a year. The first time I had caviar was at a very fancy party, some friends of my parents. There was what to me seemed like a tub of it, and there were little mother-of-pearl spoons for dipping in. I remember being transported and it is possible that I didn't even know what it was. I found out quick enough. I was more than happy eating it right off the spoon.

Growing up I have many memories of my parents eating raw clams. My mother was particularly into them. Summers in "the other Hampton" we ate a ton of shellfish. But I never witnessed any interest in oysters, which is strange to me. I really like the briny east coast oysters. My dad did eat a live Scungilli he found on the beach one time just to gross us out. No idea how he knew what they were or that you could just eat them raw, alive and sucked out of their shell while playing with your kids in the surf, but then he did have a longs and sometimes mysterious life before I was born.

Number 5 new thing to eat in the south: Brunswick Stew. I only had a few bites, but it was good. Made by the barbecue place that we all liked. I never knew that the main ingredient that makes it different is BBQ sauce in the stock, or mixed in at some point. I am guessing that Community Q simply adds scraps of their ribs or brisket and their own KC style sauce. All recipes I've come across use canned tomato and frozen veggies: frozen corn, lima beans, etc. It seems to me you could make an awfully good stew in the summer with fresh veggies and leftover BBQ meat, if you are lucky enough to have any.q There's also a breakfast place close by called Rising Son (yes, SON) and they make the largest biscuits I've ever seen. You couldn't call the Cathead, unless you meant a jaguar or cougar. Designed for sandwiches, I think, but very good warm from the venue and very good toasted for breakfast this morning. My Son in law made a Broadbent bacon-biscuit sandwich for his dinner.

I have not found it easy adjusting to the lowering of restrictions. Eating out only three time since the pandemic, only the last one, a few days ago at a pub's patio, seemed sort of familiar. I felt much anxiety in the airports and on the plane. What an incredibly strange year and a half we've all had.

@DuvelMaybe crudités of common vegetables? Salmon instead of meat? Salmon Teriyaki? Something else Teriyaki? Grilled Chicken with choices of white and dark meat and a salsa or chimichurri on the side? A warm potato salad made with some pickles and the usual suspects? Any fresh English Peas around? Always a treat as far as I'm concerned, whether in Japanese potato salad or hot with butter and salt. I would be happy to come over for bland food, as long as you were cooking it.

Publix has plenty of Hagen-Dazs! Even pistachio, which I never see in the Bay Area. Publix is my new friend. But they didn't have Broadbent's bacon and my husband couldn't find any Anson Mills products. He might not have known where to look and he hates asking for directions. He comes from a family where all the men seem to have a built in compass. He knows what direction he's facing even in unfamiliar places. Well, usually.

If only. My brother and his ex were into macrobiotic and all kinds of bizarre diets. My poor nephew couldn't believe what was available to eat when he started going to other kids' homes for dinner. The chances of a four year old eating an umeboshi plum in America are pretty slim, especially once they learn about Kraft mac n cheese and PB & J.

Don't forget about Olympias! Teeny little things that almost disappeared and are now, slowly, making a comeback. I've only had them a couple of times, but they are fantastic. If they are for sale or on a menu get them.

Good idea. When my husband goes to Publix this morning he can check to see what Anson Mills products they might stock. Also he can look for Marsh Hen, aka Geechie Boy, and see if they have a presence there. We are all blown away and and tired, so tonight is takeout from Community Q (the shortest abbreviation of barbecue you can devise.) My daughter has cravings. She didn't have them while pregnant, so she's making up for lost time; she wants Q's brisket and mac n cheese. I ain't about to make that from scratch right now. She doesn't remember this: she wouldn't touch my home made mac n cheese but she was a major fan of Kraft as a kid. Two portions of stale poor quality elbows and toxic powder we referred to as Agent Orange. I had my own desperate moments in those days. Whatever was left in the pot was mine.

Being in Atlanta and finding out my daughter and her husband love red beans and rice, I set about collecting ingredients. Smoked ham shanks don't seem to be popular, only hocks. Too bad, I like the meatier shanks. However, Broadbent's bacon, something I've heard about on Eg for years was very available. Never had it before and it was delicious on its own and in the beans. BLTs are planned in the next few days. Now, about those beans. If only I had packed some of my stash of RG Domingo Rojo to take with me. Okay, so I went with the South's favorite, Camellia. No contest. Not very exciting, but did the job. But the Domingo Rojo is an addiction. Before I discovered them I used to order the organic dark red kidney beans from Purcell Mountain. They are good, way better than Camellia but not near as good as those RG DR's. One thing can be said about Camellia beans: dirt cheap and no shipping. So, along with the redfish and deep fried okra from several days ago, the tally of new-to-me Southern specialties stands at 4. Still can't find a source for varieties of Hagen-Dazs, but our first planned trip to Publix is tomorrow will also be a first. Hope against hope, desperately seeking Cookies and Cream. Can't say as Krogers is a very appealing store.

Thanks, and I agree about Ben and Jerry's. We made a recipe from David Lebovitz book and that was too sweet AND too custardy for me. Good god I'm picky. Right now I have a laptop and a baby on my lap. My husband is on a CVS run for syringes and ice cream. This is so surreal! After spending a year and a half in lockdown with every comfort food I need now I'm whining about ice cream. And I should have packed some RG beans in my suitcase.

My brain is scrambled. Daughter and Son in law is correct.

My daughter and SIL get plenty of Jeni's here in Atlanta. I find it far to sweet as well. I sent my husband on a run for Hagen-Dazs coffee at Krogers and all they had were teeny tiny individual servings containers. But he did find some HD cookies and cream, which I rarely buy and it tasted delicious. It's just an ice cream sandwich with less sandwich with a sticky texture. And I mean that in the best way. Not exactly ice cream but up there at the peak of. best things ever, the twin girls came home yesterday and they are the most beautiful babies I've ever seen. They are buttermilk and strawberry. But back to ice cream. Buttermilk Strawberry is right in my wheelhouse. We make a really good buttermilk ice cream and when we get back home I am going to add strawberries, roasted. Yesterday I made Gabrielle Hamilton's Strawberry Milk, which uses a ratio of 3 cups whole milk to 1 cup buttermilk to a pound of macerated berries.. Okay so it's not ice cream, but you need a lot of good sustenance when nursing twins. Or to keep you from floating away when you are a new grand parent. Okay, I'm rambling. Rambling is the new cogent.

I'm currently in Atlanta, so everything I google comes head's up Atlanta. I definitely need schooling on the difference between high tea and tea, but clearly it is regionally inspired. I did google High Tea and the first thing that came up is a place in Atlanta called "Dr Bombay's Underwater Tea Party." Actually most of the money from their tea service goes to support women's scholarship in India, but you can't top the name. Atlanta seems to be very imaginative when it comes to their businesses. In Avondale Estates, just east of Decatur, there's a pub named "My Parents' Basement." And yes, started by three nerdy high school friends it features a wall of comic books that you can read at leisure while you sip obscure draft beers.

The only time I had eel that wasn't served on sushi rice was in Dillon Beach, where my husband's family has a house. It's a small seaside town south of Bodega Bay. There's an eeler who lives there and gave my MIL a whole skinned cleaned eel. That would be a salt water coastal eel. It was delicious, delicate white meat sautéed simply in butter in a skillet. I imagine fresh water eels are very different when cooked simply like that. American Unagi eels, I assume, are raised in fresh water tanks, since unagi is typically a fresh water fish, no?

Anyone have good info about what to buy or what to avoid? I'm in Decatur and the DeKalb Farmers Market has a huge fish dept. But having grown up in NY and then lived in CA the recommendations for sustainable species, wild caught species is mind boggling in a new place with a zillion choices. So far we bought Redfish, wild caught, and it was very good. Never had it or cooked it before, but we simply baked it in the oven with Cajun blackening spice mix and lots of butter and it was very good. I eat a lot of wild gulf shrimp in CA, so that I know about that. But what about grouper? Striped bass? Snappers? True cod? Anyone with suggestions as to what's good and might be fresh caught in the Southeast/ Gulf area would be in my debt! So far we are just waiting for our daughter to give birth to twins two days from now if not sooner, making huge shopping lists so we can prepare food for them all. They have a kitchen that's missing certain essentials, so that doesn't help. Take out options are good. The other night we had some of the best Szechuan food I've eaten in years--way better than what I've found in the East Bay. The two of them are pretty heavy users of local takeout since the pandemic, so that's sort of a treat (we ate well over the last year or so, but we cooked. And cooked some more.) Some of their friends just stopped to bring lunch from a Laotian place they all like!

the problem, it seems to me, is that we are many of use very quick to equate American food with what is basically American junk food. Truly this is unfair and I too realize how complicated and uncomfortable it is to drop further down the rabbit hole. You have no reason to apologize.

AKA Velveeta. Serve with Texas Pete's hot sauce. Furikake potato chips on the side.

Be kind to Gen Z even if their sense of entitlement and confidence seems off kilter. They are growing up in dangerous times. And they are a major voting block, the most diverse one yet.

“TikTok is the biggest thing that happened to me in my career, and honestly the reason why I am where I am today,” he said. I thought that was hilarious! Gen Z livin' large! Can't wait to read that kid's autobiography, due out any day now I'm sure. And where are you today? In your parents' kitchen taking pictures of yourself and reflecting on your storied ten minute career. Don't forget to thank your mother; it was only yesterday you were you were being SV'd in amniotic fluid.

Alexia makes a version of tater tots that works for me as a desperation snack. They are baked in the oven, so it isn't instant gratification and requires a little patience. Good with a whisky or a whiskey.

So did I, but either way it's a dopey name. Never been to one. I have to say their evangelical donations put me off. We have Bakesale Betty here in Oakland and after years there is still a line for the fried chicken sandwich. Her coleslaw is spicy, no mayo, excellent, and they bake their own bread. Chicken fried to order. If you are addicted to fried chicken sandwiches and find yourself in the East Bay, try Betty's. I haven't been in a few years, but the outdoor set up is hilarious: ironing boards are the tables. I don't remember any chairs. I never even heard of a fried chicken sandwich before Betty's made such a splash. Also Betty's hair was a fabulous shade of blue. Messy, juicy, crispy wonderful sandwich.

Black bean sauce clams seemed very common when I grew up in NY and also frequently on menus in SF. Maybe I'm delusional, but I see them less often these days, at least in the Bay Area. It's also true that I go our far less often than I used to, and don't find the Chinese restaurants here in the East Bay very compelling. But black bean sauce clams along with hot and sour soup and sizzling rice soup were our standard orders on Sunday nights out on the upper west side, along with egg rolls and ever- present duck sauce and hot mustard packets.

There are plenty of loquat trees in back yards and front yards in the Bay Area. Every once in a while there's one that produces large juicy fruit. Maybe most of the trees get ignored and so they seem to have smaller mediocre fruit. When you come across a good one it is indeed a treat.

Elizabeth David is a personal favorite: her writing, her sensibility and her unique place as an influencer. Although she is British as can be, her recipes and techniques bring in a lot of Italian and Mediterranean flavors. I guess I am as susceptible as others when it comes to British culinary stereotypes so I don't think of her as being in a classic British tradition.