snowangel

Some friends invited us over for brunch a couple of weeks ago. The hostess served each person ONE slice of bacon (overcooked, by the way). ONE slice. Diana, Peter, Paul, Heidi and I all agreed that it was worse than not serving bacon.

A couple of my kids love cottage cheese. Peter likes it best straight out of the carton, in front of the fridge with the door wide open. Last night, he used it with pear halves to make a cute little bunny salad from the 1957 Betty Crocker Boys and Girls cookbook (purchased for me the day I was born). It also makes an interesting (in a good way ) addition to scrambled eggs in lieu of milk, if one is on the eggs with dairy for scrambled eggs way of thinking. I always buy large curd with the highest fat content. What do you do with cottage cheese? And, a question. In a couple of places, I've read that "they" recommend that you store cottage cheese in the containers upside down in the fridge for "optimal freshness." Why? Since I'm lucky if Peter can get the spoon out of the container and the lid back on, I've never gone this route.

Check them out from your local library, look them over and decide which you want to get first. You can always keep renewing them, of course...

The set of three Chefmate stockpots are on the clearance shelf at Target. I didn't check and see how much the price was reduced. None of the other chefmate items were on clearance.

It helps to grow in and amongst other plants. It seems to bolt less rapidly when it is somewhat shaded, so I stick seeds in whereever I need ground cover.

Larb, larb, larb While not traditional for breakfast (at least in Minnesota ), here is a ton of info on larb. You'll note I'm not the only one with a passion for the stuff.

Thinned with a little bit of milk, it reminds me of something I had in Sweden a few years ago -- filmjolk. It is dynomite as a beverage, and especially on cereal for breakfast. Anyone know anything about filmjolk?

Yes, Janet, thanks for a wonderful article. Enter Diana (my 12 year old budding chef daughter). She is vigilant about makes notes on recipes ("great," "add more of this or that," "was the person who wrote this on drugs?" "you mean they gave space in a cookbook for this?"). And, when she or I make up our own recipes, or modify existing ones, she makes notes about "added xxx quantity of this or that" or "cooked longer or shorter or hotter or cooler" or, in the case of our own creation, gives approximate quantities and directions. She keeps all of the latter in her own recipe book, along with how well (or poorly it turned out, "so I don't make the same mistake twice"). She and I have a philosophy that as long as one is not using really expensive ingredients, there's not a whole lot to lose. And, we subscribe to the theory that if dinner is a real disaster, one can have bacon and eggs and toast on the table in just a few minutes, treating the disaster as a not-so-amusing amuse. Yes, Diana is wonderful. And not just in the kitchen. P. S. Diana used "mirepoix" correctly in a written sentence for a 2nd grade assignment.

scrub well, use as you would cilantro. Mince finely. It is more intensely "cilantroey." Due to many, many Hmong in our area, most cilantro sold in my neighborhood (at Asian or regular grocery stores) is sold with roots on. $.29/bunch, so why bother to grow it?

Bingo!

Diana and I find larb to be an especially filling breakfast; one that sticks with us for a long time.

Breakfast would not be a "first thing in the a.m. upon arising" thing in our house. Probably stems from the days when I worked outside the home and the kids got breakfast at day care or at school. I love breakfast. But not until I've been up for a couple of hours. Same with the kids. If I don't eat breakfast, I have munchies all day long, even if I eat a decent lunch. If I eat breakfast, I eat far healthier throughout the rest of the day. Our favorite breakfast is eggs and toast (bread, English muffins, bagels). Eggs poached, scrambled, over easy, whatever. Or oatmeal; steel cut; with 1/2 and 1/2 or cream. Or blueberry pancakes (wild blueberries hand picked and frozen; we pick every late July/early August in far northern MN on recently logged granite hills). Always fruit as a side. Cold cereral is not in our vocabulary. I think it's in aisle 12 at Cub, and I can't recall the last time I trod down that aisle.

Diana and I think larb is breakfast of champions; washed down with glasses of water, followed by glasses of 2% Kemps milk.

Yes, and it will be in the 30's tomorrow and Thursday with snow flurries predicted.

It was, in our family, my grandmother. She always left a quarter. My tactic, however, was a bit different. I would always "forget" something at the table and search out the server and leave an appropriate tip. We went out to eat with a group of people the other night, and someone at the table, as I ordered, questioned what I was ordering. "You should really order this instead of that, that sounds yucky, why would anyone order that?" I ordered just what I wanted, and finally said "BECAUSE I WANT TO EAT THIS FOOD. NOT THE FOOD YOU WANT ME TO EAT." It was an early evening.

Dirt under the nails -- a grand sight. It was 93 here today. It felt so good to sweat and be really and truely warm. As an experiment, about a week and a half ago, I put some soil from pots that I didn't empty out last fall on top of the compost, and scratched in some lettuce and spinach seeds that were about 3 years old. The ground, at the time, just seemed to cold. They are coming up beautifully -- lush and green, so one of my compost bins is now wearing a nice, green crown. This reminds me of when we moved the outhouse at our cabin. We moved the outhouse, and filled the top of the 55 gallon drum with some of the soil we removed from the hole for the new 55 gallon drum. For about 5 years, every year, the old "hole" was adorned with the lushest, most magnificent tomato plant. Although zone 3, it was full sun, and somewhat protected, and we had great tomatos.

Have we discussed spicy (this would not replace the bacon/salty/fried theme, just augment)? This afternoon: one bacon sandwich, sans bread, lettuce, condiments (it just sounds better if one describes it as a sandwich). bacon sandwiched between bacon. Followed by main dish, an asianish chicken soup with lots of nam pla and about 1/8 lb. of priki nu (bird chilis) thinly sliced.

Did a google (that usage will be in the next Websters ) and came up with this. Gardenweb But are they as erudite, witty and wonderful as e-gulleters? More importantly, do they measure their daffodils?

Also popular on da Iron Range in northern MN. Unlike a calzone, the "crust" is flakey -- not yeast.

Sick of scrubbing dirty counters? Had it with mopping the floor and constantly sponging up spills? Tired of smelly cleansers? No longer interested in trying to find replacement mop heads for your purchased-a-month-ago-but-obsolete mop? Bogged down by cleanser clutter? Then the Peel-O-Counter and Peel-O-Floor products are for you. When that counter is dirty or that floor is sticky, just peel off the top layer, revealing a nice, new layer, free of gunk and stains. Using the same technology as Post-It-type products, the new surface is clean and shiny. Crystal clear, the natural beauty of your original floor and counter shine right through. Dozens of layers ensure a sparkly kitchen for many months to come. This miracle product will simplify your life beyond measure. Just think…no more tense moments at the dinner table when Johnny spills yet another glass of sticky juice. No more shrieks when you find your two year old painting dolly's fingernails on the kitchen floor. Within days, your family will notice a calmer, more peaceful you. Not available in stores, call 1-800-SUCKERS to order for only four monthly installments of $29.95. Order within the next 15 minutes to receive our special bonus offer – Peel-O-Kitchen Sink. But wait, there’s more! We’re so excited about Peel-O products that we’ll throw in Peel-O-Table and Peel-O-Cutting Board. 100% guaranteed or your money back.

Tonight, Peter made the "candle salad" (pineapple ring with 1/2 crosswise cut banana in the hole topped with cherry on lettuce leaf) from the 1957 Betty Crocker Boys & Girls cookbook that my grandmother bought the day I was born. He just loves that cookbook. He wants to do the "bunny salad" next (pear halfs with cottage cheese tails).

In this part of Minnesota, it's whatever Applebees, Perkins, Olive Garden, etc., are serving.

No, that's not being cheap. Call it "enviromentally responsible" -- both in not tossing something useful, as well as not bringing another thing into the house to store (and for which one has to buy batteries). I date everything, and never put a leftover in the fridge in a container that is not clear. I got really sick of pulling yogurt and cottage containers out of the fridge that were full of something unidentifiable. I also subscribe to the philosophy that a deep freeze is not a safe deposit box.

We miraculously escaped the band of snow that blanketed a good portion of the Midwest yesterday. It is 55, brilliantly sunny. A quick perusal of my garden reveals that I HAVE RHUBARB NUBS! I will begin my spring ritual of getting up extra early and having my coffee outside, checking what's growing, how much it is growing...those quiet moments before the kids get up.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts has a wonderful restaurant. It's more of a cafeteria, but serves innovative and inexpensive sandwiches, salads, soups and desserts.