Katie Meadow

The NYT has a pretty good recipe for Green Goddess. Along with parsley, anchovy and tarragon it calls for watercress and chives and home made mayo if you can swing it. Very green. Older recipes often include sour cream. Once you start adding buttermilk and dry herbs and a fistful of salt it starts getting ranchy. Then there are those rogues who try to sneak in avocado. I say, let them eat toast.

@Maggie the Cat : one smart cookie.

Make him an apron with a grinning dog on it. Or one that says something stupid, like, "Eat the Cook" or "Warren Buffy" or "Crackhead."

This topic reminded me that my apron of many many years, despite periodic washing, has some embedded grease and is not very nice looking any more. So I was inspired to soak it to see if I could rescue it. Since I am most likely to wear it when finishing cooking a meal for company after I am already dressed in something I don't want to splatter, the apron itself needs to look passable. I soaked it in very warm water with dish-washing liquid and a few tablespoons of bleach. After half an hour the water was disgusting. I changed it, and re-soaked, then scrubbed the greasiest part. After a turn in the washer and dryer, low and behold it is much improved. It's a very nice apron: heavy soft cotton, mattress ticking stripe, unisex looking, not dopey in any way--and that's saying a lot for an apron. No Eiffel Towers, no cats, no poorly rendered artichokes, no cringe-worthy writing. For most of my daily cooking, other than baking, I just toss on an old flannel shirt if I know I'm in danger of flying fat. don't have to get dressed for a job any longer, so I don't worry about most of my stay-home clothing. But now my apron has a new life, so perhaps it will get more use. Oh, and I agree with a poster above that having a tie strap enables you to hang a towel on your body. If I'm not wearing an apron I am typically found cooking with a towel slung over my shoulder, but which has a habit of creeping off somewhere when I need it most.

None of this sounds terribly appetizing I have to say. And as for calling it hummus, well, I may be totally off base, but my feeling is that if the spread doesn't include chickpeas it probably shouldn't be called hummus. You could call it Chicken Livers with Tahini I suppose. There are plenty of hummus dishes that incorporate a third flavor, but they typically still include mashed chickpeas as a primary ingredient. Babaganouj subs eggplant for the chickpeas, but it isn't called Eggplant Hummus. Personally if I were going to a party I would a lot happier with two spreads: one a classic hummus and the other a chicken liver pate of some type. A martini with an olive works well with both, right? And you don't want to confuse your vegetarian friends who expect hummus to be made with olive oil.....not schmaltz. Just me!

Pressure and induction features add $200 to the already nausea-inducing $161. Just to make rice. I'm not planning on using it for oatmeal or steaming vegetables or whatever. It's just that I want the keep warm feature, and the 5.5 capacity for substantial leftover rice or feeding more than four people. Also I am eating a lot more short grain rice these days, and although I can make very good basmati with one hand tied behind my back in a pot on the stove, the short/medium grain or so-called sushi rice I seem less able to get perfect. And I am hoping never to buy another rice cooker after this one, so I want to get twenty years out of it, or until I forget what it does, whichever comes first.

I'm thinking of buying a rice cooker. I'm looking at two Zojirushi models, both 5.5 cup. Zojirushi NS-ZCC10 5-1/2-Cup (Uncooked) Neuro Fuzzy Rice $161 Zojirushi 604976-NS-LGC05XB NS-LGC05XB Micom Rice $121 The pricier one has the Fuzzy Logic and is made in Japan. The other one is simply "micom," not fuzzy logic, and is made in China. Both have features that are comparable or that make no difference to me. We do eat rice maybe five times a week, and I like leftovers for breakfast as well. My intention is to primarily cook white Asian rice, enough for me and my husband for a stir fry, and then enough left over to refrigerate to use for fried rice the next day, or breakfast, or whatever. The 5.5 cup size seems about right. Many Amazon reviewers and other sites stress the "made in Japan" factor as being important to overall quality. What do you think? And how much difference does the Fuzzy Logic make? Anyone with strong opinions on these two issues please weigh in! Thanks.

Good ricotta....now that's something that I could eat out of the container with a spoon. Lasagne is a treat for me, since I try to avoid eating a lot of wheat or cheese. If it isn't made with ricotta it ain't the real thing. And the labor involved in a respectable lasagne justifies using the best ingredients---at least that's how I think about it.

There were very few things I wanted in my mother's kitchen when she died in 2012. Her Oxo good grips locking can opener seemed great, so I took it. It's still great. I have no idea how long she had it before I became the boss of it. That Oxo replaced a real piece of crap in my kitchen, so I may not be the best judge, but it is still a great can opener. Needing to go around twice....never!

@liuzhou Yes, I thought about a bolete. Anyway, you are a brave soul to eat a mushroom you can't identify. You are one of the most adventurous eaters I know!

The bluish ones in the second photo look to me like blewits. When they are young and fresh the caps are nice and convex. As they get older the caps flatten out. I know they are found in Europe as well as the States; I don't know about Asia, but that's what they look like. Not as good as a morel, at least in my opinion. I assume yours are gilled--if not, ignore everything I just said. The ones pictured in the first photo might be matsutake, although the ones that grow in CA have a more white cap, at least when first picked. Do they have a whiff of cinnamon?

Cottage cheese varies a lot. Some I kind of like, others not so much. I buy it rarely, so I can never remember which one I like, which means....I buy it even more rarely. I only have two uses for it. One is with cantaloupe and a shake of cinnamon. Where I go that I have no idea. The other is more nostalgic. My dad"s standard weekend lunch, if we were not going out for a slice, was a mix of cottage cheese and sour cream with radishes and cucumbers, salt and pepper. Every once in a while, in the summer, I get a craving for it.

Freshwater mussels are not the same as saltwater. They look different. And they are endangered. The levels of toxins in fresh water lakes or rivers is killing them and it could make them unsafe to eat.

I have never eaten a peep nor do I plan to. However as a science experiment, applying fire might be interesting. Just make sure you have homeowners insurance and good medical insurance in case you burn down your house or breathe the fumes. This is the stuff of great science fair material! Your kid will be a star, even if he or she comes home with no eyebrows. Try roasting the ones that are already chocolate dipped. You will be two thirds of the way to a rainbow s'more.

We all need a toaster. Even those of us who already have more than one. I have spent a disproportionate amount of time in my life thinking about toasters. The old Sunbeams I used to find at Goodwill worked great for a few years, then kicked the bucket. The perfect toaster is the one that doesn't cost much and works for a few years. And that is still elusive. I will never give up on toasters and it will be a cold day in hell when I allow a toaster oven on my counter. When it comes to toasters, I have now determined that the great is the enemy of the good, at least for those of us who don't have a vast collection of vintage beauties. My only recommendation is this: if you buy a new toaster get one with a bagel button. That means the slot will only heat on one side. Not only does this work for bagels but it gives your toaster a Plan B. When your toaster starts to act up, burning one side of the toast or undercooking one side, the bagel button can be a corrective and a life extender. Oh, and one other thing. Any toaster that brags about its ability to cook fast should be avoided. Cooking fast is never a good thing when it comes to toast. Slow and steady wins. Morning is golden.

True enough, and yet our biggest and best Japanese market in the east bay labels all short and some medium rice as "sushi rice" on the shelves, just to compound the problem. Recently I bought a bag of Kokuho Rose. The package says it is medium grain, but it looks like short grain to me. Before jumping on the onigirazu band wagon I didn't buy much short grain rice. This one's very good, I think. I haven't had the Calrose in several years, so I can't compare.

Tillandsia can be quite small and used in all kinds of extremely silly decorative ways. Someone gave my MIL one that was perched on a ceramic head to look like hair. She had no idea it was supposed to be watered or that it was even alive. Not that I blame her. She's 93. Even I didn't know what it was until I saw instructions underneath. Not a very good gift. Who wants to be responsible for keeping something else alive when you are 93? @liuzhou as you no doubt know, bergamot citrus fruit flavors Earl Grey tea. I don't know where it is grown, but it has a very short season here in CA. That season is congruent (shorter, though) with Seville orange season here. That season is now, which is why we are making marmalade in March for the rest of the year. When available, we juice and zest a few bergamots along with the bitter oranges and it adds a very exotic taste. A little goes a long way, so I can't imagine wanting a marmalade that was primarily bergamot. Plus it would cost an arm and a leg....or a HAND. Frankly that copy about a "bergamot holder" in the Amazon listing must have been translated by someone from Jupiter. Bergamot is dear, but it ain't THAT special that you would want display just one. And I don't see wanting what you can't have as a strange character trait. I thought that was the point! Was I mistaken? Besides, if I had to name a strange character trait of yours it would be your corn phobia!

@Ann_T Best to Moe. And I hope there's some decent restaurant take-out near the hospital!

THE HAND! So I had to see what the Amazon listing was like. They're going begging, not a single review. Hilarious that it is marketed as a Tillandsia holder, but then in the small print tells you it's really a rest for your bergamot. My bergamots don't need much rest, they usually just sit around and do nothing. Besides, I usually have more than one at a time. But the funniest thing is the suggested list of "typical" questions (just in case you can't think of any), one being "Is it easy to use?" Well, that all depends....

Oh, @Shelby your cats must be hard to scare. And to the OP, @mome23, you must think we are insane.

Since I started cooking with a wok forty years ago I have developed a technique and a familiarity based on trial and error such that I can make a simple stir fry practically in my sleep. Most of my stir-fries are fairly similar. I'm very lazy, and for the two of us I am not going to make more than one dish, so the basic dish typically involves a modest amount of shrimp, chicken or whatever protein, plus a variety of vegetables, usually cabbage, choi sum and Chinese chives. For a beginner I suggest reading and trying various recipes or taking a class, although I kind of agree that timing and experience and technique are also a matter of practice, practice, practice. I wouldn't have assumed this, but lately I am trying to teach my husband how to make our basic stir fry and it's trickier than I thought. The things my husband is good at, like baking bread, give you time to think and plan in a way that is very different from the speed of a stir fry. Remember that stir-fry came about because there wasn't a lot of fuel--a short burst of high energy was the best you could get from a small bundle of sticks. Okay, I don't know if this is totally true, but it must be a factor. A decent round-bottom wok is a necessity. My preference is carbon steel. So is the ability of your stove to produce a high flame as needed. So is making sure your wok is sitting in a stable fashion and at a distance from the burner that works well for you. After years of cooking on an under-powered gas stove we finally put in a small-size Viking range that can generate some real heat. I bought an interchangeable cast iron wok burner as part of the original purchase. If you cook with a wok once or twice a week like I do, that was worth the upgrade. I've never done a stir-fry outdoors, so I'm ignorant about that. I've never heard of a sauce packet, but it sounds like you can't get much variety that way. The basic ingredients for marinades and sauces are easy to work with and mostly cheap and will allow for creativity and different flavors. Books can help there, both with suggestions for purchases and ways to combine ingredients. Eventually you will find your favorites, and hopefully you have access to Chinese ingredients, although the basics such as various soy sauces, vinegars, rice wine, peanut oil, chiles etc are pretty available. For me this has become the most efficient dependable meal that I can put together without thinking, and it never gets old.

I'm very squeamish about seafood. And I have a very sensitive nose, which is often a liability, but nothing I can ignore. My strict rule about shrimp and all seafood is that I eat it the day of purchase. We buy wild gulf shrimp here in the Bay Area and I assume it has been frozen once; the price is embarrassing but the farmed shrimp that's available isn't appealing. It would be very exciting to live somewhere with shrimp day boats!

And same here. Chum must have been exhausted. A lot of teal needed for an entree of hearts.

Recently the NYT featured a Tejal Rao recipe called Citrus Salad with Peanuts and Avocado. What was unusual about the recipe was that it included fish sauce, in fact a fairly substantial quantity of it. Another unusual thing was that in the body copy this salad is referred to as "Sicilian." Well, maybe without the fish sauce it could be. The comments on the Times site are all over the map, from "disgusting" to "in permanent rotation." I love citrus salads, but just the thought of fish sauce with either blood oranges or avocado makes me wobbly. I think of grapefruit and avocado salads as being a very Sunset Magazine kind of thing. Nice served cold with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper on a hot day. Mint, absolutely. Fish sauce, I don't think so.

My mold just arrived! Timely, too, considering it ships from Japan. Very cute, but the push-out flap doesn't look like it will last forever. I ordered it before I discovered the Italian Ashtray technique; area in two dimensions is almost identical. Of course I have already noticed a design flaw: the press-top is fitted, so you can't really adjust the thickness of the rice if you happen to want your rice squares a bit thinner. C'est la vie. On the other hand the life expectancy of an ashtray that routinely gets slammed on a wooden board may not be so great either. Next up is probably a Lox Omelet Onigirazu.