Katie Meadow

@ElsieD The tomato should be flavorful and not rock hard, but not yet red and ripe. The breading should be applied with a light hand; not so thick as to overwhelm the delicate tart tomato. A shallow fry is fine, no need to deep fry. Generous salt and pepper. Fresh herbs, minced, or dried as taste dictates. Love it as a side, but also in a fried green BLT. Best eaten right away! When you see them on a steam table they probably won't be very good. Anyway, it isn't a major commitment, so try it and see what you think. The first time I tasted one I was a convert. And I grew up in New York where most people have never tried it.

For me, speed isn't the goal. The goal is to not have to do it myself. I don't care how long it takes my husband to shuck corn. I just go do something else somewhere else and return when it's done, grateful. There are some kitchen chores I just can't stand, and that's one of them. However, if I found a tangle of cornsilk in bed I might think twice. I'll stop now.

A few years ago we were on the north side of Lake Pontchartrain and stopped at a shack run by a Viet family. They served up very good banh mi and crawfish in a giant vat sold by the pound, which were basically just dumped on the table to suck and pull apart. They were not at all muddy, but quite spicy and also extremely salty; it was hard to taste the meat, to tell the truth, so I don't know how representative they were. I have more patience with small crustacea than either my husband or my daughter, both of whom gave up on them before I did. There are photos of me as a kid doing a perfect dissection of a lobster on a wooden table, looking like nothing else in the world existed. Needless to say I was usually the last one to finish my meal growing up.

I love the iconic packaging; it's always seemed so mysterious. The few times I've seen it in a prominent display it always looked like an art project (I think I saw towers of Spam in Hawaii.) I don't remember anyone I knew ever buying or eating it to my knowledge. I have bought and opened one can, and that was several years ago, mostly out of curiosity. I tried it fried in slices and tried it with potatoes, cut in little cubes for hash. Neither method convinced me to ever try it again. I found it really horrid. I wonder if most of those people who like Spam didn't start eating it in childhood? Clearly there are many things people eat in this world because they grew up eating them. Surely no one ever ate Peeps for the first time as a 60 year old and then continued to eat them. Or did they? Fess up! Upthread someone mentioned the Paul Theroux quote. Yes, it's racist, and it would be hard to put it to the test.

A hybrid tomatillo avocado salsa makes a nice dip for chips or a salsa for your choice of taco filling. I like to roast the tomatillos and blend them with some ripe avocado and the usual suspects: roasted green chiles, lime juice, garlic, cilantro, etc. It is thinner and more tart than the typical guacamole. Also good drizzled over slices of ripe tomato.

@HungryChris, I too love FGTs and they are not easily found at farmers' markets around here, even at the end of tomato season, when you would think they are more common. I especially like them if the batter is lighter, like a tempura sort of thing. They make for an addictive fried green tomato BLT.

Wonton wrappers make for pretty decent apple fritter-like things.

It's hard to grasp how many ways that is impossible food. Sausage flavored sausage. Chicken processed to taste not like chicken. On purpose.

But apparently you missed the corn as well. Glad to hear you're okay. If only you could get eG to pay you to keep this thread alive. Oh wait, that would be a really bad idea.

A first aid kit and an airbnb cancel each other out. It would be hard to hurt yourself on any knife you find in that kitchen. You only ned the first aid kit if you bring your own knives. So I bring neither and feel totally justified in going out instead of cooking in. The only time I remember wishing I had a real kitchen on vacation was in the south of France. Those markets just about killed me.

What is this thread about, really? It appears to be useful for talking oneself into or out of certain appliances. Or trying to justify not needing something or justifying your love of something. I've been reading about the CSO on eG for years, and I now feel very happy knowing that I will never get one. I've come to the conclusion that I don't really want anything that's multipurpose at this point in my life. I like all my single-purpose appliances. We have purchased two new appliances in forever. My husband upgraded his ice cream maker to a much better model and we gave the old one to my nephew. I got us a top of the line Zojirushi rice cooker that looks like a white space capsule and that I make short grain rice in several times a week. I can still make excellent rice on the stove but this is the closest thing to magic in my kitchen. I admit that I am getting lazy in my old age. Things I most likely will never own: 1) a sous vide rig. We don't eat a lot of meat any more and what else is it good for? 2)a pressure cooker or slow cooker. I'm not in a hurry and love my cast iron enamel pots. 3) a stand mixer, even though they are very handsome and come in fabulous colors. My husband makes great bread and he seems to like kneading. I don't bake much and make do with a hand mixer.

And then, @Ann_T , after you shelled the peas, roasted the beef and baked the Yorkie, it was 8 a.m. and Moe woke up and requested eggs and biscuits for breakfast. I'm coming back as Moe in my next life.

They do in fact look like day lilies. Very pretty. What are you going to do with them? I've only used dried, and only when making hot and sour soup.

In Mexico many years ago we became enamored of the small limes available at all the markets for cocktails and limeade, and those colorful squeezers were everywhere. I still love mine, but it really isn't big enough for anything but a small lime. If I were to measure, I believe my wooden citrus reamer is the most productive way to juice a lemon or a lime in my kitchen. And for some reason I find it satisfying. Yes, you do have to strain the juice or spoon out the seeds afterwards, but that is an easy chore.

A flat surface seems to be the most reliable and consistent way to make a sharp, effective crack in the center of the egg--helpful if you are separating the white from the yolk. But it seems to me that using the same surface every time you break an egg means that you know exactly how much force to use. And my counter is always available.

In case anyone is interested, I've managed to answer my own question about keeping down the python population in the Everglades. Apparently they taste fine, but are full of mercury and people are warned not to eat them.

Okay, so which snakes are the best tasting? Which are not so good? Supposedly American rattlesnakes are tasty; is there a Chinese rattler? I don't know why these questions never occurred to me before. I''m reminded of a wonderful section of John McPhee's "Rising from the plains," which recalls the childhood of geologist David Love. At one occasion the infamous murderer Bill Grace stops by the ranch and David's mother serves rattlesnake on toast. Too late they learn he's not a fan, but David's mother, the coolest of cool, convinces him it's chicken. it's quite funny.

I'll take your word for it. And if anyone offers me grilled snake I will try it. Maybe the pythons in Florida don't taste as good as Chinese snakes. When you've eaten snake does the waiter tell you what kind it was?

So funny. On road trips I too carry a serrated tomato knife that's about that size. At some town in the south of France we bought that knife and some wonderful bright colored plastic plates--I couldn't resist--and stuffed them in my luggage. That was pretty much my only personal shopping in France, so very restrained, right?

I too travel with my own tea bags / loose tea / filters. Many of the packets of tea that are provided on planes or at air bnb's or whatever are not what I would choose. It's a small thing and avoids grouchiness. I also always have a little container of flaky salt in my purse, and sometimes, if I remember when I'm traveling, I bring along a small adorable bamboo spork so I can avoid asking for plastic. All these are minimal and take up no real space. Unless we are on a car-trip and plan to stop at rest-stops or picnic areas, I don't travel with any utensils and don't plan on doing much cooking. As a rule, trips with hotel stays or rental lodgings are my big opportunity to NOT cook. There's a story behind the salt stash. One day several years ago my nephew's wife and I went out for local artisan ice cream. If it's summer, and it's being offered, I rarely resist fresh corn ice cream. This time it was obvious after one lick that this ice cream was crying out for a little sprinkle of salt. I noticed on the board that salt, along with several other add-ons, was 50 cents. Really? About 10 grains would have been enough. So ever after I have carried a little container of good salt wherever I go. I don't really need it often, but when I do, it's makes me happy.

I've pretty much stopped eating beef and lamb. That's out of a combined sense that they are the worst offenders environmentally, but also because I just don't have a taste for either any more. I might eat a green chile burger if tempted, but it would be a very rare occurrence. I don't eat octopus for reasons stated above. Chicken and pork are still on the menu, but in modest amounts. I eat just about any seafood that is sustainably fished and non-toxic, which, sadly, doesn't leave tons of options. With the exception of American or Canadian trout I won't eat farmed fish. Plant based protein doesn't appeal. Tofu is okay but I don't seek it out. Raw oysters are a favorite, but anything that can move on its own is off the table. Really. Lost in the wilderness or post apocalypse? I don't speculate. I might eat snake if it tastes like chicken. I assume it's white meat. But it must not taste very good, because otherwise wouldn't we be able to keep down the python population in the Florida swamps?

Just curious. Does the recent infatuation with kale represent perceived health benefits or the "discovery" of an underused green? If you look at the vitamin and mineral content of kale versus other dark leafy greens it rates average. It doesn't have distinct advantages over spinach or chard. They are all good for you, with some variations. To me kale is inedible when presented raw in a salad. I've never long-cooked it the way collards are often done, but then I prefer baby collards cooked in a saute pan and finished with a modest amount of ham stock rather than simmered for an hour in the more traditional way. I used to see baby Russian Kale at the farmers' markets but it seemed like a different plant from the thick curly stuff that is more common. I suspect that kale became popular on menus as a salad because you could call it "Kale Caesar," which was funny the first few times I saw it. Pickled mustard greens can be great, but you never hear about pickled kale. I assume someone tried it and decided it didn't measure up. And anyway, how did kale sneak into this hospital thread? You have to admit, it's hard to kill it.

What could possibly be overdone about whipped cream, ice cream and chocolate sauce for breakfast? As an appetizer, it appears!

I've had many crowns. Only one permanent one failed. I get whatever the common local anaesthetic is (I believe it is more often lidocaine now and not novocaine), like most of us do for the first part of the crown work and it takes me a while to get numb as well. But you might try to find out why there is swelling and bruising; that doesn't seem right. As for those Swedish fish, well my dentist used to do a hilarious thing to remove the temporary crown. The patient bit down hard on one of those adorable confectionary jujubes, then snapped open his or her jaw. Worked like a charm. She doesn't do that any more, but I haven't asked why. Maybe the idea of using candy as a normal dental tool struck some people as weird.

Giving Batali any time on eG makes me uneasy, but if we have to talk about him I'm in favor of keeping our priorities straight. The crocs, the bun and the shorts are not relevant. For too long women have been judged by their looks and their clothes and their weight, so maybe to focus on anything but his reprehensible behavior is to weaken any argument against him and his ilk. The fact that so many men have escaped the justice they deserve is really unfortunate, but it helps if the high profile perpetrators get at least a fraction of what's due. You think he's aged? Look what happened to Paul Manafort and Jeffrey Epstein after a couple of weeks in prison. Right now I'm just hitting a low point. The Guatemala story above the fold on today's front page of the NYT made me sick.