Katie Meadow

Turkey neck pot au feu-- so in my wheelhouse, @weinoo. I always throw extra necks into my turkey stock so we can indulge. The closing of Brennan's in Berkeley was extremely sad. It was an excellent bar and a sort of hofbrau/cafeteria/restaurant all rolled up into one. Best Irish Coffee in the world and the only place I knew that made a great Mexican coffee. The food was classic: roast turkey dinner with fixings, meat loaf, corned beef. You could also order a turkey wing or a turkey neck with a variety of sides. How perfect is that.

Humble apologies are due. I haven't been terribly nice about summer squash, and now I beg the pardon of all yellow long squashes. I thing they taste better than zucchini. Tonight I made a recipe called "Summer Squash Gratin alla Juanita." Juanita More, I learned from five seconds of research, is a well known drag queen in San Francisco. Her recipe for a casserole is very simple and involves yellow squash, fresh tomatoes, shallots, garlic, cilantro and chile. I used some roasted poblanos from my freezer. I didn't pay too much attention to the ratio of squash to tomato, but the amount of tomato should be enough to keep the casserole moist, as there is no other liquid involved. For the last couple of minutes after baking, the dish gets a snowfall of Oaxaca cheese and a brief turn under the broiler. I used less cheese than the recipe called for, since I didn't have that much in the fridge and I prefer less cheesy anyway. The tomatoes caramelize a little under the broiler. Really, although I expected more of a potluck sixties hippie thing, it was much better than that. Delicious. We had it over/on the side of long grain rice. I used a mix of dry-farm early girl tomatoes and sungold cherry tomatoes. As long as the tomatoes are flavorful I don't think it matters much what they are. Happily there are some leftovers, always a bonus for those of us becoming lazier by the day.

My mother ate one and only one sandwich when she was out at a deli. Turkey, ham, coleslaw and russian dressing on rye. We called it the Natalie. The bread was not toasted. There was never any swiss cheese within a mile of this sandwich.

Forgive me. I don't have any enlightened ways to deal with pattypan squash. The name is cute, though. Here's my pathetic contribution, having cooked them maybe once in my life: they don't deserve their own thread. They should be lumped in with all summer squash. Zucchini may have a case for its own thread, but only because most of us actually remember what it looks like and because the fried flowers have a certain panache. Plus zucchini is available all year round, whereas many "summer squashes" are more local and more seasonal. Yeah, don't tell me I'm cranky, I already know. The air here in the Bay Area is so foul from smoke that I can't decide whether to stop breathing or just give up and buy some marshmallows and graham crackers. On the positive side, I already have plenty of chocolate.

I am one of those people who don't like green bell peppers, although I like many fresh green varieties of New Mexican chile, which I roast and use in a variety of dishes. I can't stand bell peppers raw in salads or on pizza. That said, one green bell pepper is all it takes to make a big pot of red beans and rice. After a couple of hours of cooking with onions, garlic, celery, smoked ham or ham stock, good quality beans and all the usual suspect herbs and spices you won't know it's there.

This is an interesting list: https://www.southernkitchen.com/articles/eat/8-best-black-southern-cookbooks This list must have been published before Toni Tipton Martin's Jubilee, since it includes her earlier book. The Edna Lewis/ Peacock book was my first intro to some of these dishes. I don't believe you can find just one book that will do it. Not that one book on anything will do.

David Lebovitz"s Moelleux of Summer Fruits, currently featured on his website, is dynamite. I've made it twice, the first time with plums and the second time with peaches. Both excellent, but we preferred the plum, as the fruit was tart. I made two changes. Both times I used the reverse ratio of AP flour to almond flour, so the balance was in favor of AP flour. The second time I made it, instead of a tsp of vanilla I subbed in !/2 tsp vanilla plus 1/4 tsp almond extract, which I really liked. The plums didn't need to be peeled, making it even easier. We're talking very simple recipe here; basically the whole thing can be put together in the time it takes to heat the oven. Plums are my favorite summer fruit for baking. Many varieties work well in baked goods and many are available all summer and into the fall. And because they are so common, it's easier to find them in the right stage of firmness and/or ripeness. And mediocre plums get sweeter and tarter when baked. DL recommends using apricots, which I'm sure would be delicious, but timing is everything, and their season is short. Speaking of plums, I've made several small batches of jam. If you have an excess of berries they can be mixed in with the plums. I don't bother to peel plums for jam, so it's easy to make in small batches for immediate use. And plums are so forgiving! Very ripe is perfect for jam, but even somewhat ho-hum plums make good jam. Just throw in half a scraped vanilla bean and a splash of framboise or cassis. As usual, @David Ross, your huckleberry porn is as annoying as can be. If they grew in these parts I would train in bear-wrestling. A huck shake was one of the high points of my life. And that was followed by huck pie.

Yeah, but it starts with NY water. By late afternoon it's more of a rich stock!

Those look very good. I agree that a good use for zucchini is in fritters. And it can be combined with a variety of other vegetables in the batter. Kohlrabi, corn, chard, etc. Fritters with a generous amount of fresh dill would be excellent with the other stuff on that plate. Even zukes perk up when they are fried and crispy. A good way to hide them, if you really need to, is to add them to a pureed green chile chowder. A couple of potatoes, a few roasted tomatillos, roasted green chile, broth, cilantro and so on. Very forgiving.

Terroir, c'est vrai? Same for dirty water dogs I suppose.

Not wild about zucchini or summer squash. Like broccoli zucchini isn't exactly a summer vegetable, since both are available year round. I'm love/hate about melons. I love a really good cantaloupe or a really good watermelon . But I am not fond of all the super-sweet melon varieties like Sharlyn and Crenshaw. Can't recall names of several others but if they are too sweet I don't want them. Not wild about bell peppers, either, although I do use a green one if I am making red beans and rice. Other peppers I DO like, especially hot ones.

Probably the same way a person like me detests broccoli but loves cauliflower and eats roasted brussels sprouts.

That's exactly what I used to do. I'm beyond that now.

Life is short and getting shorter. If I had to pick apart a pinch of peppercorns I would put myself out to pasture.

Oakland Chinatown. There is a fish market on 8th st between Franklin and Webster that had good prices and live crab tanks. It is a couple of doors down from a good Chinese pastry place. I confess that I have not bought live crabs for several years. The local crab season here has been in big trouble for a while, and the price of crab is high during the season, if indeed there is a season. And in addition to that, I also admit that I have become quite squeamish in my old age and the idea of dropping a live critter into boiling water gives me the willies. Yuen Hop is the noodle factory and large store. That's on Webster between 8th and 9th. Sometimes their noodles can be found at Berkeley Bowl and Tokyo Market, but not reliably. All their extruded fresh wheat noodles and wonton and dumpling wrappers are excellent and come in a great variety of sizes and thicknesses. For roast duck to-go I like Best Taste on Franklin. I haven't tried any other places for whole or half a duck in years, but there are so many places that could easily be good. Also on Franklin is Tian Jin, the dumpling window. Decent dumplings and sweet little walk-up window. If you don't make your own dumplings it's an option. Mine are better!

Yeah, me too. Up to my neck in lobster stock.

Not going to make my own noodles. Is this dish cold? Cold noodles would suit me. We are having a hideous heat wave here in northern CA.

@blue_dolphin, do you have a simple recipe for a basic tart lemon popsicle? I'm not looking for anything with yogurt or other dairy, just a very plain lemony icy treat. Egg white would be okay if your favorite recipe includes it. I have a mold. And my next door neighbor has lots of really fragrant lemons. Thanks, it's so hot here in the Bay Area and of course you know very few of us have air conditioning up here.

Looks lovely. What's in it?

My picture of your lawnchair is a little different. It has the sprouts included. Does anyone remember Haitian cotton? We had a couch made of Haitian cotton. It sprouted when it got wet. Funny now, but disgusting then.

They're adorable. What's not to like? Simple raw tomato sauce is my favorite, and getting more play as I get lazier. Olive oil is always good, but have you tried it with butter? Chop tomatoes. Salt and let sit fifteen minutes or half an hour. Apply lots of butter to hot pasta with a splash of pasta water. Add tomatoes and juices. Good god I love butter.

I made this: Moelleux of Summer Fruits currently up on David Leibovitz's website. It is described as a "soft" cake. Anyway it is delicious and very easy. I used plums. I'm sure peaches or nectarines would be great as well. I made two alterations: I switched the ratio of AP flour to almond flour. I reduced the sugar to a scant cup. I would caution against using fruit that is super ripe. My plums were just the early side of ripe, and that was excellent. I am guilty of cutting back on the sugar for much of my baking, especially fruit cakes or pies. I like tart. It was great the day of and it was great for breakfast. What's left will be gone by tonight. Oh, and the sides get seductively crispy.

Mulberries this time, from a friend's tree. Not enough on their own, but luckily I had a bunch of plums. So more jam! Different that straight plum, just as good.

Cold pizza isn't really a hangover cure. I think it's just the first thing you see in a box on the floor when you stumble from bed or the couch. It takes fewer brain cells to eat it for breakfast than anything else, and usually you don't have to walk as far as the kitchen. I say "you" because I really don't mean me. It's been several decades since I ate cold pizza.

Agreed. And by the way, @fondue, I suggest that FORGETTING 100 + recipes is a better indication.