Katie Meadow

I agree with many recommendations above for roasting poblanos. Pick thick, flattish ones when possible. Don't over-roast or cook too slowly. You don't want the flesh to cook and soften too much; unless they have structure they will be the devil to work with if you are going to stuff them. You want the chiles to blacken fast. Since they are typically available in the fall, I have found that roasting them on an outdoor grill on a relatively high flame is easier and gives better flavor than doing it under the broiler. I've never oiled the chiles first, so I can't speak to that. And lastly, although when I lived in NM it was pretty common for people to put the just-roasted chiles in a plastic bag, I have found that a better system is to lay the chiles out flat on a cookie tray right after roasting and cover them with a pretty damp, (but not soaking), towel. That should not take more than 15 or 20 minutes. The bag method doesn't work any better and it has the disadvantage of making a lot of steam, which means your chiles will be a little watery, which you don't need.

We do our major shopping haul at Berkeley Bowl, a large and always very busy market in the East Bay. There is no self-checkout, which is good by me. They have more checkers than baggers, so we just move in and bag the stuff ourselves, with weight equally distributed as possible and heavy bottles or milk containers or unbreakable vegetables on the bottom, other vegetables and delicates on top layers. The checkers appreciate it and we get it the way we want it. We load the belt accordingly and pack two or three bags simultaneously. We are very organized shoppers; I plan about six days worth of meals at a time, and then we coast for a few days with leftovers, makes pot of beans, shop for fill-ins, etc.for another few days. Major runs, which are typically four bags at a time, happen approximately every ten days, as needed. One of my superpowers is knowing how to pack or box up anything for maximum efficiency. My husband does the shopping these days, He's a graphic designer and we designed a printed Berkeley Bowl list of all our usual suspects. It's organized by how he moves through the aisles. Really clever, right? And verging on OCD.

I like green beans cooked to death with bacon.

Do you think it was always the case that NY Chinatowns had live Dungeness from across the country? My parents did not shop in Chinatown when I grew up. There were many Chinese restaurants within a short walk from our apt and my mother was not an adventurous cook. If memory serves, which it often does not, if Dungeness crabs were on the menu, my mother would have ordered one. The creative mix of culture, habit and memory grows ever more entwined and unreliable. . @MetsFan5, the best technique I learned was to put the live crab in the freezer for just a few minutes after which time they are very easy to handle.

I admit I know absolutely nothing about sous vide, but wouldn't cooking a live crab sous vide mean a long slow death?

sorry, yes, correct: west coast US and Canada

Just in case anyone swallowed that trickster @liuzhou's recent post about the UK city of Dungeness, know that Dungeness crabs are only found on the US west coast. You are as unlikely to see them in England as in China: "The name “Dungeness” comes from one of the most fertile habitats of this species: the Dungeness Spit, a sandy stretch of land in Northwest Washington. The Spit and surrounding community is located on the Strait of Juan de Fuca and named after a desert-like beach of the same name in England." I moved to CA in the mid 1970's. Growing up I thought all crabs were blue claws that we we fished for as kids on Long Island with butterfly nets. What a shocker to discover Dungeness crabs! The big meaty Dungeness were plentiful then and the season, November thru early spring was reliable. Over the years one thing or another has caused these crabs to decrease in number. Periodic oil spills could ruin a season, but most years I couldl go down to Oakland Chinatown and buy them live for under $2 lb. Those days are, of course, long gone. The price of picked crabmeat as per @Margaret Pilgrimis pretty scary. For many years now the season has been either cancelled or delayed. This year it is for two reasons: the meat quality is poor, and there are a great many Humpback whales migrating along the coast who can get tangled up by the crab-trap lines. . When my daughter was little she needed to go to a ENT specialist in SF and we would treat ourselves to a whole crab at a Chinese restaurant near her doc's office. I thought of it as a splurge, but a relatively modest one. And I learned how to cook live crabs at home, overcoming the ick factor. I haven't had Dungeness crab for several years now. It was awfully good.

Yes, that's what I was thinking, one of each. Believe me, at $30+ a pop he'll drink it and like it.

My mother never used eggs in her stuffing and I've never done it either. I know the idea is't uncommon, but I can't see the reason for it. Does it come out like savory bread pudding? I guess I never felt the need for a binder, preferring my stuffing to be a bit jumbly. If it's moisture that is needed try an apple cut into small squares mixed in. If you carefully sew up the front and main openings that provides plenty of moisture.

I have some jazzy colorful plastic chopsticks which I don't use. I also have a couple of pairs of lovely gifted ivory ones that have remained buried out of sight for years. I like wooden chopsticks best. I tend to use the cheap wooden unvarnished ones by default. Also I would suggest that those who are just learning to use chopsticks go for wooden ones that are often shorter and easer to grasp than ones that have slick finishes.

Thanks. More questions, bear with me! I'm really asking because I am trying to put together a gift of canisters and coffee for my hard-to-shop-for husband. He usually gets a dark French roast and brews it pretty strong in a variety of methods. I drink minimal amounts of coffee, perhaps a cup two times a week. My husband drinks a couple of cups every day. Let's say I order two 12 oz bags of "moderately" priced coffee (enough to qualify for $50 free shipping; do you think it will stay fresh in these canisters for at least three to four weeks? That is just a wild guess as to how long he takes to go through it. I am making the assumption that Sig Eater and you both drink coffee daily, so our shipment would last a little longer than yours, based on a shipment of 1.5 to 2 lbs. I'm bad at math and far too lazy to really keep track of how fast he goes through it. Thanks again for the help!

What are your favorites from George Howell? Also, how much coffee do your order at a time? Do you store more than 12 oz of beans at a time in that vac canister?

Talk about putting coffee back on the front burner. Jo, you are the Original Pioneer. Rig up some kind of pulley system from your kitchen window so you don't have to go down to the creek every morning. I'll be on the east coast in May and will stop by for a cup of...Jo!. By then you should be able to make it in your sleep. Then when you wake up, you'll have perfect coffee with lovely curls of steam rising from the cup.

Enablers R Us. I'm going to skip the book and go right for the "house."

Clearly nothing gets past George. "Only I decide what goes in this thing. And if you try to put me in it you will regret it for the rest of your life."

It's chilly this morning and I don't feel like getting out of bed until my husband turns on the heat, so.......it's time for a rant! You've heard it before, of course, but that so-called lasagne was one of the few times I've had to confront in real life the vegan substitution problem. My dwindling circle of friends as I get older are omnivores and vegetarians, but not vegans. When I think over my (also dwindling) repertoire of hits I realize that quite a few of them are, in fact, totally vegan. Chinese stir-fries top the list if you like a variety of vegetables and greens and tofu. And it's easy, although good equipment like a wok and a range with strong BTU's helps. As @liuzhousuggests, Italian pasta dishes also offer lots of options. Besides pesto, if you don't make it with cheese, the variety of meatless tomato sauce dishes is wide. I particularly like to add garlicky sautéed cauliflower or artichokes. Grated hard cheese for a topping can be optional for non-vegans at the table. Casseroles using a variety of grains and veggies baked in the oven are also no brainers, and can be really satisfying. And curries! Any number of great vegetable curries can be made using coconut oil instead of butter. Cauliflower and tomato curry is a favorite of mine. Skip the raita and serve it with fresh cooling fruit. Grain salads are excellent. I have one I adore that's made with bulgur wheat, swiss chard, olives and pine nuts, with a tangy shallot dressing. Cuisines that don't rely on butter offer a lot of choices. None of the many vegan dishes I often make don't require a banner headline advertising that they are vegan. They are not called burgers or lasagne. They just don't include animal products nor do they try to recreate versions of dishes that showcase eggs, cheeses or other dairy or meats. My mother always made her potato salad with an olive oil dressing, like for a nicoise; she was not a fan of mayo. For soups or beans, make a really good vegetable stock. That alone goes a long way toward flavor. Many "cream of" green soups are great without the cream. Croutons fried in garlic olive oil to garnish soup cannot be overstated! Okay, done. .

Trying to use up turkey is a chore. This year we ended up with a lot of leftover turkey, partly because a few people opted out due to sickness, and also partly because my husband carefully wrapped up a generous mix of white and dark meat for a guest to take home and then forgot to give it to him. Today's project is stock, having a good size carcass and bones etc. But yesterday I actually had a quart-plus of turkey broth ahead of the game because I always roast a couple of wings and necks the week before Thanksgiving as our gravy demands it. So I made the NYT recipe for a soup with turkey, farro and chickpeas, with minor tweaks. It was very good and I highly recommend it, with a major caveat: use dark meat only. I have never yet found a good use for leftover breast meat, although through force of habit I eat one turkey sandwich on the Friday after. I shredded the leftover dark meat odds and ends and added it only at the very end to warm them up in the soup. The recipe also calls for Baharat spice mix, which I don't believe I've ever had (at least knowingly). I made that too, since the many spices are ones I typically have on the shelf . Never had that before and it was really nice and different. We topped off our bowls with a dab of harissa at the table. Excellent use of post Thanksgiving material.

Persimmon people take note. Here's a link to David Lebovitz update of James Beard's Persimmon Pudding: https://www.davidlebovitz.com/persimmon-bread/

It was awful. And I certainly wouldn't call it lasagne. Tofu simply can't replace ricotta and mozzarella.

Did I miss something? Please tell me you are not in the hospital again!

Like seedless watermelon: when they lost the seems some flavor went along for the ride. No seedless watermelon compares to the best seeded once. As for for low-flavor / poor texture green beans, I help them out two ways. One is to roast them with olive oil ad salt, which concentrates the original string bean flavor. I also think long-cooking with bacon or smoked ham product and tomatoes helps them a lot. Or maybe it just helps me. @Margaret Pilgrim you must have a good source for haricot vert, because I have found them often to be just as tasteless as bigger ones.

My experience for the last few years is that green beans aren't what they used to be. Every once in a while I will get a batch that is not tough and actually tastes like green beans. But mostly they are nothing to write home about. Even in summer from the farmers' market they are hit or miss. Hope springs eternal: I keep on buying them anyway.

This holiday I will be grateful for many things, but most importantly for growing old on eG. When I repeat stories or content or dopey opinions no one blinks twice because no one remembers anything, just like I don't. Old ideas always seem fresh. Enablers keep succeeding despite our better judgment, which is probably just getting worse. Some members have really quirky likes and dislikes; the ones that get repeated are no less weird than they were the first time I heard them. I'm content knowing that I will take my own picture of @JoNorvelleWalker's bedroom to my grave. I also have absurdly conflated snail broth and hatred of corn, and the person responsible for that is the only person on earth who knows both things intimately. I owe my successful learning curve for making Scotch Broth from scratch to eG. I must have learned a multitude of other things as well, but I can't remember what off the top of my head. Cheers! Here's to Chum and AnnaN and everyone else.

I'm far from a vegan, but my husband's family includes a lot of vegetarians, so veg entrees for holiday meals is nothing new to me. When it comes to vegan dishes I prefer the ones that were never conceived with meat, dairy or eggs to begin with. I just can't get my head around subbing cashews for cheese or tofu for anything. Various bean soups and stews are often easily put together without compromising flavor by using vegetable stock and/or a tomato base. Add roasted artichokes or cauliflower to marinara sauce with pasta; non vegans can always have grated hard cheese on the side. Hummus and babaganouj for apps are terrific when made from scratch, and can be complimented by a variety of veggies for dipping or breads and crackers for spreading. This thanksgiving one of my sisters-in-law is bringing something she is calling vegan butternut squash lasagne, despite the fact that no guests will be vegan as far as I know. I'm having a hard time looking forward to that one, but I will save my judgment for next Friday. She's not a great cook to begin with, so that won't help.

There are plenty of them on eBay. If you google "pecan and nut cracker" you will find them; they vary from vintage to new and in between. If you google "nut cracker" you will be down a frightening xmas rabbit hole that goes to the center of the earth. I don't know if this contraption was originally designed for pecans, but that seems to be the operative word. Maybe pecans are particularly difficult to crack. I wouldn't know.