snowangel

Low tech me (no food processor, no attachments for the Kitchenaide) just uses a chef's knife or cleaver. Works just fine. Go to the buther, ask for the meat (often they have chuck and sirloin "scraps" that they will sell for pennies on the dollar). Chop, chop, chop, form patties and that's that.

No, you did not use the "A" word, but plenty of other people do. I happen to really like eggy pad thai, and it is not common in the U. S. so I usually make it myself. As to the history of ketchup in pad thai (and other thai foods). I believe it goes back to the mid-60's when anything sold at the PX (post exchange; American food available only to those in the military/diplomacy; we, not in any way associated with the U. S. gov't, used to refer to the U. S. as the "land of the great PX") was assumed to be superior and worthy of inclusion in all areas of life. When I was living there, I couldn't find anyone who had even heard of ketchup until the military presence became so prevalent. This would have also been the beginning of the love affair in Thailand with the plastic bag. As a point of reference, I moved to THailand in 1964 and left in 1975 upon graduating from high school. I have been back twice, and am planning a trip with Diana for late 2003/early 2004.

Did the dogs and the chickens coexist peacefully? Yes, they existed peacefully. The chickens, however, did not particularly like co-existing with farangs, as many a human ankle would attest to. I don't recall the chickens having the same fondness for the cook's ankles as mine.

I think fresh is best. Did you know that that carton of eggs that you put back at the grocery because one was broken will be "recycled" -- as in they will take them back to the egg place and put the unbroken eggs in a carton and sell them again? And again, and again, and again as long as a carton comes back with a broken? Just how old are some of these eggs? I have a friend who breaks every egg in a carton with one broken.

Don't forget to check Goodwill, Salvation Army or another such store. Last time I was in one of those, they had cases of 24 jars for $1.50.

Thanks, Mamster. I make this often for our family, sometimes adding other things. One of my fondest memories was trips to Hua Hin and the wonderful hole-in-the-wall restaurant we discovered. On a corner, open on two sides. Dogs and chickens welcome, as were customers. They had basically two dishes -- omelet with crab and crab fried rice. Crabs fresh (sometimes you had to stop a little ahead of time and someone would go out and get the crabs). The crab "bits" were at least thumb sized. The Singha beer was always cold. One other omelet preparation (can't remember the Thai name) is the stuffed omelet. Basically and egg crepe (no flour), into the center of which one would put a stir fried pork/scallion mixture and fold the thing over. I don't recall this, however, as being street food. And, I enjoyed your description of pad thai. One of the things that has often puzzled me is the farang description of "authentic" pad thai. As far as I know, there is no "authentic" pad thai. It varied by cook. No two places in Thailand make it the same way, and I would not presume not to call any of these variations "pad thai." Sort of like chili, I guess.

Yes, listen to the Klink man. I smoked a turkey a few weeks ago. I cut it in to pieces (breast, thigh, leg) so it was easier to deal with and brined it 24 hours. It took about 3 to 3.5 hours at an average temp of 200 F. This was a 14 lb. turkey. Maggie, Lady T, and Aurora were eating it faster than I could cut it, Did you put all of the different types of pieces on at the same time? What kind of beer did you drink?

Growing up in Thailand, I don't recall ground chicken in anything. Any chicken was usually hacked up (a large dice, bones and all). Ground pork, yes. Come to think of it, I don't even recall anything with ground beef. And, I believe than about 90% of my "growing up" larb was with raw pork. Now, this was back in the 1970's, and things may have changed. I'll check out "nam sod" and ask some of my Thai friends about it. It's not ringing a bell.

Now there is a market waiting to happen. I don't know about anyone else, but around here it gets hard to give zucchini away. You are correct, Nick. I don't know of anyone (me included) who grows zucchini here in Minnesota, but come summer, I seem to have a ton of the stuff. One of the tables at our church is always laden with it. Some of the "hidden" ones approach the size of a loaf of supermarket squish bread. I used to come home from work and find it on my doorstep. Torakris, have you tried growing it?

Really Nice and Klink. Thanks for the advice. Makes me wonder, once again, why, under the cooking heading, there isn't a "smoking" section in addition to baking and cooking (listing, FG and JP?). I just assumed that brining was what one does. Sort of like heating up a pan to fry and egg. This all makes so much sense. And, yes, I remember to watch weather, and that it is easier to let the Turkey rest rather than have it not done until 11:00 pm, by which time the little kids will have gone balistic and we'll be too hammered to whatever. And, both of you forgot the most essential part of smoking -- BEER!

My 1975 Wei Chuan Dim Sum cookbook and Maida Heatter's (first) Book of Cookies (Book of Great Cookies?)? This assumes, of course, that said desert island has appropriate ingredients for these two books. If ingredients available were different, I might make different choices.

no, you don't really digress. this dish is one of my favorites. i'd say it has a similar flavor profile to laab. sour, sweet, spicy if you want it. it's such a fresh tasting dish. texturally, it's da bomb. Som tam. Traditionally eaten in Thailand with sticky rice. Yes, it is da bomb. As is the squid version of larb that Torakris mentions. My Mexican neighbors love both. And, believe it or not, they do work with tortillas.

We have many smoking gurus here. Saturday we shall have a party, and many folks are clamoring for a smoked turkey. Although I've done them before (pre-eGullet), would appreciate words of wisdom from our goddesses, gods and gurus. I will use a big Weber, and have smoked enough on said Weber to be able to control (as in keep it low) temperature.

I know. But, kids really like being able to look at glistening jars of pickles and saying "I helped do this!"

Tomatos. Stake (almost typed steak ) or cage? I've always caged (because that was what my grandmother did), some people swear by staking. Any benefits of one over the other?

Depends on whether you want refrigerator pickles or whether you want to can them. In either case, it is veggies with a brine. You may or may not add sugar and various herbs, spices and/or peppers. I think the most important thing is that whatever you are pickling is extremely fresh. I know that when I make cucumber pickles, I pick the cukes, bring them inside and immediately put them into an ice water bath. Two great sources are the Farm Journal Freezing and Canning cookbook and the John Thorne pamphlet called "The Dill Crock." Both cover "refrigerator" pickles and the Farm Journal book covers "putting up" (canning). I tend to prefer the former, but don't have enough fridge space for a year's worth so do both.

Thinking really hard, the only foods I can come up with that I dislike are parsnips (has to do with a smell thing when I was pregnant with one of the kids) and potato chips. Yes, potato chips (if I want salt and grease, I want bacon).

Steak. Hot, warm, cool, cold. Steak.

So, does it count as two cookbooks if one buys one copy for home and one for the cabin? I just purchased two copies of The Perfect Cake (one for home, one for cabin), one copy of Maida Heatter's first cookie book (for the cabin; I have one at home) and a mid-70's copy of Joy for the cabin (I have one at home). THe home books were previously reported. The cabin books are new. I should probably check the cookbook shelf up there and do a count (way under 10). "Cookbooks for a cabin?" one might ask? An all purpose cookbook is always a good thing. As to the baking ones; when it's cold and rainy, and one wants to conserve wood (it's a lot of work to make wood), baking is a great kid activity and cabin warmer-upper. Our cabin is very well stocked with staples. If I could just figure out a way to get a Kitchenaide mixer to work without electricity (and don't suggest a generator -- too noisy)...

Same reason they subsidize so many farm crops. This, as I understand it, goes back to FDR's New Deal, when they instituted price supports. The result was that, since prices were high, production increased to the point where there were surplus crops simply being dumped. This led to subsidization. Willard Cochrane is a leading expert on agricultural economics -- supply, demand, imports, exports. Here is one link: Click!

A dishwasher that unloads itself. Self-cleaning floors. A fridge that automatically ejects (directly into the trash) all ickies. And, we have a cleaning woman. Her name is Susan, aka mom.

Frost warning tonight!

No. Buy and plant or two and put them in. I will put in tomatos and peppers and green beans (the latter from seed) the week after Memorial Day. Remember with tomatos and peppers that if the soil and nights aren't warm, they won't do squat. I experimented one year and put in a couple of tomatos and peppers before Mem. Day and a few about a week and a half later. One week following the 2nd planting, I couldn't tell a difference between them. Enjoy your wisteria! On what sort of structure will it climb? We put in a pergola a few years ago and planted a wisteria. It's my favorite feature of my house, yard and life.

At our oh-so-wonderful little cabin in the woods on a lake, I have one drawer for flatware and kitchen gadgets. In addition to flatware, I have: tongs (indespendible for flipping, reaming, turning bacon, a magic wand for one little 7-year old boys, etc.), one rubber scraper, one wooden spoon, one OXO peeler, one set of beat up dry measuring cups (we do have a liquid measuring cup up with the glasses), one really good paring knife (which I bring home every fall when we close the cabin for a professional sharpening), a finish boning knife and stone, and one microplane (which I added a year ago and which made a great difference), one small whisk. That's it. WIth just these, I seem to be able to cook just about everything. There's no space in the drawer for a chef's knife; it's either that or reducing flatware and sentencing me to more dishwashing.

Jaymes (and others) may recall hearing this story before: It started again last night. It is warm. Daylight goes later. My next door neighbors are immigrants (2 years ago) from Mexico (can't remember where). In the afternoon, a dead pig arrives; it is butchered. Some goes into a huge copper vat over a propane burner outside. Some goes inside for carnitas. Some goes for soup for "the morning after." People arrive. Moms, dads, kids, teens, babes in arms, grandmas, grandpas. The band. They party long into the night, eating and drinking. Sleeping babies are passed back and forth. As the night progresses, the young kids fall asleep in laps and are gently laid onto blankets. They invite us over. I show up with stuff like larp and a great Thai squid salad (hotter than hell) and rhubarb pie and a melon and some ice cream. We can't speak spanish, and most of them (except the kids) don't speak much english (at least we adults are on an equal language footing). But no matter, we know what the other is saying. There is a kindness to my daughter Heidi (the one with disabilities) that one does not often find in a large group of strangers -- they call her "little blue eyed queen" according to one of the teens. Blonde, blue-eyed 7-year old Peter is the darling of the grandmas; by the end of the evening, he proclaims that his head has been over-patted. Diana pals around with the pre-teens, climbing trees, acting cool. Our neighbors would not think of not inviting us, and their friends and families would not think of not welcoming us. We eat, drink, "talk," dance and sing. We stagger home with sleeping kids in arms. The next morning, I hop over the fence to help clean up. Out pops Cruz with a plate of warm tortillas, leftover carnitas, salsa and scrambled eggs (and firey salsa). To return this to food. Pork (carnitas, fried, rinds, fried liver). Homemade tortillas. Rice (not plain white rice; what I call embellished rice), pico, "fried" salsa, fruit. Plus my offerings (which are always well received; warm tortilla with squid/bird chili/cilantro/lime juice salad is a good thing -- fusion?). Lotsa beer. Tequilla shots as the kids start to nod off. As I read the bon appetit article, I wish they had mentioned gatherings like this, unless, perhaps said gatherings only occur in North Minneapolis?