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Yeah, pretty much. I often stumble over the best description of its aroma, even among relatively close friends, for fear of seeming..... crude. But it's true. Also, while eating chocolate fondue with a female companion, I was informed that ground cherries (hozuki, japanese lantern fruit) taste like semen.

Going to school in Portland I was fortunate enough to have a cafeteria operated by the prestigious Bon Apetit company. They actually managed to make decent cafeteria food, and one could always opt for a greasyass grilled sandwich if there wasn't anything else palatable. Sometimes, however, they tried a little too hard to act "classy" ... One example that comes to mind is the night they served a "baby octopus salad," which was a plate of dry salad greens, topped off with exactly one half of a baby octopus, about the size of a big toe. It looked like a fetus and didn't taste like much. I think I did ultimately manage to choke it down, though.

I wonder if I have the same sort of plastic glass... my favorite drinking vessel was left behind in my basement by a family of Italians who used to live there. The "glass" is a perfect cylinder, with walls about 1/4" thick, and the plastic is a pale green color. The thing is sturdy as hell, but extremely light.

Udon, thinly sliced sirloin and bell pepper sauteed with chili-garlic paste, fish sauce, egg, and lime juice Baby bok choy braised in chicken stock Honey graham grackers ( Four thousand. )

Tip: After baking a really rank piece of defrosted salmon, in order to deodorize the house, because it's the middle of winter and all the windows are shut, DO NOT microwave a bag of Orville Reddenbacher's "Butter Lovers'" popcorn. An olfactory synergy of unbearable proportions will result. My parents once did this about ten minutes before we had company over. Hehh. Butter Lovers.

For the goat cheese, if you want to take it somewhere sweet: Apple slices sauteed in butter, cider reduction, maybe a couple nuts.

Definitely the cast-iron (enameled). I always use my grandmother's Le Creuset-style enameled iron pot for rice (I always toast it first, then add boiling water) and it comes out perfect every single time. When using this pot, I've never had trouble with too much or too little water, and after toasting and adding water white rice is done in 10 minutes or less. Totally idiot-proof compared to stainless or even nonstick/anodized.

If you've got a water bath (and the pan holding the water bath) sitting between the flame and the thermometer, there will be no difference. If there were no objects placed between the flame and the heated object: The difference between a pre-heated oven and a chamber continuously heated by a flame is that the flame gives off a lot more radiant heat than the wall of an oven would. Although the air temperature in both chambers might be the same, an object exposed directly to flame (even from several inches away) will become much hotter. In an oven, once the heating coil (the thing that heats radiantly as well as by convection) has heated the chamber to the desired temperature, the whole thing shuts off and tries to seal in the heat. In a grill, the "heating coil" (open flame) continuously exerts a high heat, and hot air continously escapes, keeping the air temperature in the thing the same as in the oven.

Stella: what are your thoughts on the texture of the black rice pudding? my aunt sent me some black rice from bali and i made a pudding on the stovetop in essentially the same way you just metnioned - coconut milk/cream, dark sugar, a pinch of salt - but no matter how long i cooked the stuff there was a chewy "skin" on each of the grains. it wasn't unpleasant, but i felt like it got in the way of creating a sufficiently homogenous "pudding" texture. it was more of a dish of sweet rice, less gooey than, say, risotto.

OK, so I went to Herb's today. I had quite recently gorged myself on buffalo wings, so I passed on the Creole Cooler (a buffalo chicken sandwich, essentially?) and got the Parisian. This was a grilled chicken sub with liberal amounts of a thin chicken gravy, cheddar cheese, and sauteed mushrooms. This was quite good. The lemon-pepper fries had great texture and aroma, though they went a little too heavy on the lemon powder or lemon salt or whatever powder was used to impart the lemon flavor. It was a huge portion that made great leftovers. I asked for Dennis, but the woman at the cash register said that he wasn't in. I told her to tell him that Brookline and BU say hi, and she told me she'd write it down so she wouldn't forget. I should scan the menu and post it. Really an amazing variety of sandwiches. On a steak, chicken, or turkey tip base you can get 20 or 30 different sandwiches. One of the new specials has coconut and fried bananas. They also have a great payphone. I'll make sure to go again whenever the Medford Krispy Kreme opens.

I think I'm getting this right... Another interesting element unique to the Persian Gulf area are dried limes, known as noomi basra in Iraq. They can be crushed to make a seasoning powder, or just boiled in a stew. I got a bag of these as a present once, and it was suggested that I do the latter. I'd imagine that it serves a similar purpose as sumac does in the area of Palestine.

Dstone001: I'm on it. I'm from Brookline and my girlfriend goes to BU, so we're all set. Plus, I have absolutely nothing else to do tomorrow. I'll try to take some pictures.

Apologies to those who don't live in or around Boston or Pittsburgh... This is apparently a new one-hour documentary by Rick Sebak, the guy who did "A Hotdog Story" (of which I caught a great rerun during my 3AM snack last night). The production covers east coast landmarks as well as smaller places and military sandwich research. Check it out tonight. Official show website is here.

Keep in mind that "live poultry" and/or "fresh killed" doesn't necessarily translate into "fresh, tasty meat." I've gotten chicken from a place somewhere in the Central Square area (not sure if it's the one you're referring to) that while fresh, was also distinctly unpleasant-tasting. Same goes for Super 88, which I assumed would have really high turnover. I've actually had the best luck at stores that don't kill/cut their own meat, but just bring in the stuff that they know is good.

try the microwave. it's by far the the best method i've tried for cooking brussels sprouts. i cook the trimmed and washed sprouts for a little under a minute per sprout on high and then immediately add seasoning or sauce. it works great because in addition to cooking them through without turning the outer parts bitter, the internal steaming action of the microwave fluffs up the sprouts' layers. this means that when you add your vinegar, it will get soaked up into the sprouts, seasoning them all the way through.

sierra nevada brand mustards are quite excellent. i just finished off a jar of brown/porter.