ruthcooks

I never have gotten used to cooking for one so I buy too much. Being one of the world's champion procrastinators doesn't help. But some foods that regularly make it in to my shopping cart are much more likely to languish than others. Cucumbers get slippery, lemons get moldy, feta cheese becomes of questionable age. My number one casualty is eggplant. It sounds good, but usually recipes are a bit of trouble and I put off cooking them until they are "past it". Then I buy them again and start the cycle over again. What is it that you are always buying but seldom cooking?

I never tire of egg salad. My usual is simply eggs finely cut, salt, pepper, mayo, a dash of hot sauce. Other times I add chopped parsley, celery and green onion. Best egg sandwich I ever ate: sliced hot hardcooked eggs with homemade herb mayo on homemade oatmeal bread. (If you make a lot of eggs at once and later need them hot, simply place peeled or unpeeled in hot water for a few minutes and proceed.)

Owned by former graduates of the U. of O.?

Why don't you ask your mother for the recipe(s)?

I think a new cup of coffee is a lovely idea. I don't want hot coffee poured on top of cold dregs in my used cup, because I have to add a lot of cream (or cream-like stuff) to make it drinkable. By then, it's too cold. I had vowed to never darken Applebee's door again, but was there only two weeks ago: the grandson's HS graduation lasted until 10 p.m. and Applebee's was the only place open on the way home. I ordered hot tea and it came with honey. A nice gesture, but I don't care for honey. A not-so-nice idea was serving salsa as "cocktail sauce" for the fried shrimp. And they forgot the cole slaw, but I didn't notice until the next day. Pathetic.

Count me in on the wrap haters. Perhaps we should call them "warps". Once upon a time, I had lovely soft, fluffy warm flour tortillas in a restaurant. Only once. They might have done.

Looks like a great menu...how about posting that chicken pie on RecipeGullet?

If canning pickles sounds too daunting, think marinating. My favorite marinated cukes and onions can be made in a few minutes, and is nothing more than a quick pickle. I've just discovered just how good the onions are on a roast pork sandwich, so plan to do only onions next time. Anything you can pickle, you can do in a small batch, say 2 or 3 pints, and keep in your refrigerator, no worries about processing although I sterilize the jars and they always seal. The Farm Journal recipe for Best Ever Bread and Butter Pickles is aptly named, and the cukes are easy to slice thinly using a food processor. I don't know why the commercial ones are sliced so thick. Other favorites are my Mom's Pepper Relish, great on hamburgers, and Apple Relish, fabulous with fried chicken and soft buttered rolls. I've also made Lime Pickles, shatteringly crisp and colored green, for Christmas.

I buy cookbooks mostly for reading, so if they are entertaining I don't care about pictures. There are many reasons why I don't like pictures in cookbooks: 1) all that heavy stock makes the cookbook weigh too much,as well as cost too much 2) some books contain pictures supposedly from the recipes, but the stylist changes them around to look pretty, sometimes even adding ingredients 3) most books with a lot of pictures contain pictures other than that of finished recipes; I don't need pictures of wine bottles, bowls of lemons, restaurant waiters, etc. That being said, I am sometimes tempted to make some dish I would otherwise ignore, once I've seen a picture of it.

About that link to the coconut cake: some strange directions going on there. On Day 2, it says to let the cake sit for 4 days with the filling in it, yet the entire process is only supposed to take 4 days. Also, it specifies round layer cake pans, then says to cut the cake into squares. Wonder what the original says? (Another lurking reader checks in. I enjoy your Sr. dinner thread.

The other night I saw a movie on TV called, I think, "Love is all there is". It's a farce, lots of slapstick, about two warring Italian catering families. One has a son and one has a daughter, so there is a Romeo and Juliet theme going on also. The "almost royalty" snooty family is new to the area and tries to steal the Sicilian family's tacky wedding monopoly. Lanie Kazan is a scream. In my NetFlix queue is a new food movie, "Simply Irresistable" that I'll be seeing soon. But Babette's my favorite: all those little old teetotallers bravely drinking the wine, and Babette spending her fortune to be able to cook one perfect dinner.

I think this is a great idea, and more useful than the "cooking everything in a book" approach. One advantage is that you can choose a recipe that sounds good to you, rather than Aardvark and Abalone, or whichever recipe comes first in the book. Another advantage is that you won't have to endure 27 recipes for broccoli if you hate broccoli. For those of you who are looking for a reliable cookbook, you might choose and prepare five or six recipes from a single book. This ought to give you a good idea as to the accuracy of the recipes. Some authors give you clues as to their favorite recipes. If you choose some of these, you are more likely to figure out if your tastes are similar.

Pureed vegetable soups--with cream or not--served hot in a mug Piperade--a cooked melange of tomatoes, onion and red bell peppers--with omelets or scrambled eggs Little vegetable quiches cooked in muffin tins with no crust (some may be frozen) Vegetable frittatas Pita pockets filled with mostly vegetables with egg, meat or cheese added if desired Vegetable Souffles, with or without cheese Cabbage pirogue Most of these require cooking, but virtually all may be made ahead.

I also recently wrote a letter, this one to a restaurant. My son-in-law had passed on a "Chicken Caesar" salad to me because he can't abide chopped onions. Chopped onions? Caesar salad has to be one of the most abused recipes of all time, but this one took the prize. "Dear Sirs: I was privileged to have my first Caesar Salad many years ago in one of the Cardini restaurants which claim to have originated the salad. Today, I had a so-called Caesar Salad from your establishment. The Cardini Salad contained: A fresh lemon and olive oil dressing Hearts of Romaine Lots of freshly grated Parmesan Anchovies Garlic croutons of French bread Your “Caesar” salad contained: Something that claims to be Caesar dressing,made with vinegar and soybean oil Romaine outer leaves About a teaspoon of powdered cheese A smidge of anchovies in the dressing, per label Cold pizza crust? Red Onion!!! Tomatoes!!! CANNED mushrooms!!! The Cardini salad also contained a coddled egg, but most everyone has given up on that due to health reasons. Yours also contains cold fried chicken, but since someone else ordered my salad, I cannot fault you for that. I hope that the chicken and bread were warm when purchased, but I do not hold out much hope of that. How can you sell something as a Caesar Salad when it contains not a single “proper” ingredient from the original, and four totally improper ones?

Every time I get somewhere between 300 and 400, I prune. Here's what I usually sell or give away: 1. Cookbooks that were gifts. Usually these are from travellers who bring back regional or local books. Sometimes they are just plain awful, and sometimes they are worth one reading but not valuable for the recipes. 2. Cookbooks which have very few recipes which look interesting to me, or which I use. I copy those few recipes on the computer and get rid of the books. 3. Cookbooks which are for cuisines I really don't like. This would include any which are known for spicy hot foods. Although I do keep a couple of Mexican and Indian cookbooks to round out my collection, I rarely cook from them. 4. Cookbooks that are sold at giveaway prices; I'm a sucker to buy these. I'm really bad about this, but with the cheap prices on the web can't stand to give up a bargain. 5. Cookbooks that I've ordered sight unseen. Many are disappointing when you actually have them in hand. The books I almost always keep are Regional Americana, series from authors I like, and books from French or other European cuisines. The books I almost always get rid of are books from restaurants or from famous chefs, like those from the food channel or from pretentious restaurants--although I've vowed not to buy that kind again.

I always, always break and/or separate each egg into a custard cup, so never have this problem. It used to be, however, that I had many batches of egg white refuse to whip to their usual volume or worse, produce a cake which would shrink. I traced the cause to not-so-fresh cream of tartar. I switched over to adding a few drops of lemon juice to the whites and never have such failures now. I don't even have cream of tartar in the house, for fear it will ruin something. By the way, you can use freshly squeezed lemon, or frozen juice from that yellow bottle. I suspect vinegar might work as well, but it doesn't sound appetizing.

Yes, there certainly is a difference in taste. Where red raspberries can be quite tart, black raspberries are usually sweeter and more mellow in taste. Purple and gold raspberries are sort of in-betweens. Blackberries are more similar to black raspberries when cooked, as in a pie or jam, but fresh blackberries are really sour and somewhat bitter when compared to fresh black raspberries. Black raspberries need to be watered or the fruit can be so seedy that it cannot be used fresh. Also, I believe the plants are susceptible to some sort of blight so are not as easy to grow. They grow berries next year on this year's new growth. I love black raspberries.

Ever since I was a teenager, I have had dreams about someone named Bill. The interesting thing is that I never catch sight of his face--or at least I don't remember that part. It seems like he knows who I am, but is toying with me in remaining anonymous. In one of these dreams I am attending a party and go into the kitchen. The hostess has made decorated heart-shaped cookies, with the guests' names written in pink. As I stand there looking at all the pretty cookies laid out on the kitchen counter, a man's arm reaches around me and picks up the cookie labeled "Bill". Before I can turn around, the dream ends.

I had a good recipe years ago, but inadvertently got rid of the cookbook. It had a spice I had never used, perhaps Spice Parisienne?

I once spent days making Sauce Espagnole, and swore it tasted like canned beef gravy. Since I never opened a can of it myself, having tasted it only at other people's homes or buffets, etc., I can't answer as to brand. Back then (70s) I think the most popular brand was Franco-American. I decided homemade beef gravy from a pot roast was an easier and tastier sub.

You might like to read this thread: Are you a supertaster? Most of the food preferences you mentioned you have in common with supertasters. This would not hold true if your tastes have changed just recently--you are born with it. The way I look at it is this: not everybody has to enjoy greens and black coffee.

Ever heard of a pie safe? Piece of "furniture" that people used to keep their pies and other foods in before refrigeration. I believe the "safe" refers to keeping away flies, bugs and critters, however. Last summer I went to a small reunion where lemon meringue pies sat out on a kitchen counter for at least 4 days. They were pretty sad after all that time, but no one got sick from eating them.

One of the winners in an old Pillsbury Bake-Off was Veal Stew with Buttercrumb Dumplings. More elegant, I think, than cobbler topping, and delicious too. The dumplings were the drop kind. Each was dropped into melted butter and then into bread crumbs, then placed on top of the stew in a casserole and baked. I never made the veal stew part, but have used the dumplings on other stews.

Disenfranch-fried: no longer eats McDonald's potatoes

What was the menu for your catered brunch? Those Danish look absolutely wonderful! I used to have a catering company named Cachet` and loved to do brunches. There is no reason for me to travel to Seattle, but if you were cooking a Cache` dinner every night I'd make a special trip.