kayb

That's it. No added sugar in the traditional. Not much in the honey vanilla. I'm not fond of the texture of the brown sugar cinnamon, and I don't like the dark chocolate at all. But I love the honey vanilla.

Y'all, don't be hatin' on peanut butter. In fact, if you want some primo peanut butter, try this kind. My personal favorite is the honey vanilla flavor. Full disclosure: It's my kids' business. Still damn good peanut butter.

There is a small "chain" of burger places in Little Rock called Big Orange (I think there are three, all in Little Rock, AR), that has without a doubt the best commercially prepared burger I have ever eaten. Anywhere. Local farm-raised beef, locally baked bread, top-notch condiments and add-ons (the avocado and blue cheese burger is, I swear, a Gift From God). If you're EVER in Little Rock, do not fail to eat there. The truffle fries are pretty awesome, too. A similar, but not quite as good, burger place/small chain in Nashville is Burger Republic. And of course, a million Mom and Pop burgers at diners and dairy bars across the land. My personal favorite of those, and I'm not sure if it's still in existence, was the Dairy Freeze in Hiwasse, AR, a tiny wide spot in the road that's probably now been swallowed up by Bentonville. Fondly known to all as the Hiwasse Hilton. Best burger ever. Hand-patted, flat-top grilled, piled high with lettuce, cheese, onion, tomatoes, bacon. Have mercy! I had one there one night with Bill Clinton, back when he was still governor of Arkansas. He'd never been there, and I had ridden to an event with him to interview him for the newspaper. We passed it and I mentioned it (knowing his fondness for cheeseburgers); he vowed we'd stop there on the way back, and we did. Gotta love a small state where you know everybody; I'd called them and given them a heads up not to close at their usual time!

The zucchini trick is my next effort, as soon as the garden yields me another zuke or two.

Ahhhh...Island time! I love this time of year!

@ElainaA, I'm so happy you do this with your excess produce! I have a soft spot in my heart for hunger ministries of all kinds. Way to go! @HungryChris, I did make it out there and picked tomatoes and cucumbers. Am ordering some black plastic to put down between rows and plants and smother out the damn bermuda. Better'n nothing. Hope you get good news and some restrictions lifted at your doctor visit -- but please don't bend too many rules! Eyesight (like mobility) is not something with which to take chances! @Shelby, definitely next year for green beans! And barbecued rabbit.... So glad your garden is recovering somewhat. Good to hear you'll have Silver Queen. I've just learned my annual jaunt to a conference in N. GA, where I generally buy my Silver Queen on the way home, has been called off , so I guess I'll make do with the ubiquitous Peaches and Cream, which is good stuff, but it ain't Silver Queen. Garden squash and tomato-cucumber salad tonight!

That's a thought. I hate to get one for as small as my garden is, and with the knee messed up, I can't kneel, but the seat might work. Then again, I may just muddle through this year and try again next year!

During my enforced absence from the garden, which is now just about taken over by grass, the damn rabbits ate the green beans again. I give up. Liquid Fence is not worth the $24.95 I paid for it. No more green beans until next year, when I can put a fence up. Crabgrass is also prolific in the squash/cucumber bed, though I'd thought the spreading vines and leaves would shade it out. No such. Have been getting a few zucchini and yellow squash. Cucumbers, which are supposed to be pickling cucumbers, are turning out to be little globes, but very cucumber-y. Big tomatoes are not bearing much at all, but cherries and Romas are pretty prolific. I have graduated from crutches and knee brace, now in just an ankle brace I can wear with tennis shoes. My ordered cane arrives tomorrow (have threatened the children that the first one to tease me about it, I will use it to whack them soundly), and once it's here, I'm journeying to the garden. Probably to weep, as I won't be able to do much but survey the damage. Thank God for sturdy tomatoes!

@rarerollingobject, that grilled cheese is a thing of beauty. I want one. Now. Might check your local farmers' market. Several of our area beekeepers sell their honey there, in half-pints, pints and quarts. I tend to buy it a quart at a time because I use a fair amount of it. They also have local honey at the local organic foods store (like a baby Whole Foods, but better quality and lower prices), that one can dispense (warm!) from a big vat into pint or quart containers. I do that a lot as well.

Give 'em hell, @Shelby!

Me too! Thank you!

I believe I'd be acquiring myself a pellet rifle and taking to bird-hunting. Birds and squirrels have, to date, left my tomatoes alone. Liquid Fence seems to be working on the green beans. Grass is overrunning the garden since I can't get out and work it. Squash continue to bear nicely; cucumbers are stubbornly slow.

Potato salad is my comfort food. Potatoes, boiled in heavily salted water. Eggs if I feel like it (generally I don't). Sweet pickle relish. Dressing of Hellman's Mayo, ballpark mustard, ketchup or ripe tomato relish, onion salt (don't like raw onion), garlic salt (don't like raw garlic), Lawry's seasoned salt, paprika. Chopped crisp bacon is an acceptable addition; celery and bell peppers (can I hear an Amen, @rotuts?) are assuredly not. I will eat this for dinner with nothing else. Or for breakfast. Best while warm. My German potato salad is small red potatoes, cooked in the skin and sliced or quartered; bacon, fried, diced, and set aside; the bacon grease, with some coarse mustard, some caraway seed, some chopped onion added and sauteed until the onion's soft; a healthy splash of cider vinegar, and some water from the potatoes if needed. Plenty of black pepper. Tossed gently. Also served warm.

So, no apparent food shortages? I recall hearing so much about food shortages in Moscow, particularly. Cold War propaganda, I suspect.

TOMATOES! Not a LOT of tomatoes, but tomatoes, nevertheless. @Shelby, I wish you were here so I could share this early harvest with you!

I will be glad to see these! Love African food.

Here in northeast Arkansas, we're fairly fortunate; there are a couple of poultry farmers/sellers in the area, and at least one health food store sells locally grown and processed chicken. I buy mine, whole birds, directly from the farm, about four at a time, and keep them in the freezer. I ALWAYS wash the birds, rinsing them and picking out bits of entrails missed in the cleaning process; these are definitely not kosher chickens, as they have a fair amount of blood left in them and that does not add to the taste. But when it's washed and roasted or braised, oh, my, it's good chicken. From the chicken Daughter No. 2 roasted (photo on dinner thread recently), I just yesterday picked off the meat and made a really good chicken salad with mango, mandarin orange sections, grapes, almonds, mayo, lime juice and curry powder. Pretty good stuff.

Brown the chorizo, drain it if it's particularly greasy, and scramble it into some eggs, or use it in a quiche or a breakfast burrito. Also good with fried potatoes and onions. As for the andouille -- can't go wrong with red beans and rice! My version, which is far from authentic Cajun, uses andouille, ham and chicken, tomatoes, and assorted spices. Pretty wonderful stuff.

Can you dehydrate them? I've never tried, but would think it ought to work...

Confit it! I rarely ever use whole-clove garlic any more, as I don't care for the taste of "raw" garlic. I get the four-pound bags of peeled cloves from Sam's (yes, I'm lazy), poach them in the IP in olive oil, and put them in the fridge covered with a layer of oil. They keep, and I use them from the plastic container, for months.

I have sort of cobbled together a method of doing at least SOME stuff in the kitchen, despite my ankle/knee injury. This particular meal, a brined and roasted chicken with new potatoes and carrots, involved assistance from my non-cooking daughter, who was spending a few days to help take care of Mom. The dialogue was hysterical, but I'll leave you with just the photo; her expression says it all! Dinner was respectable!

@Shelby -- Oh, no! I am SO sorry! But thank God you and your house are (mostly) OK. We're hearing we're going to get a bad summer as far as heat and drought goes -- hit 100 for the first time a day or so ago. I almost hate to post this in light of your recent bad luck but -- first squash and zucchini. I MAY have my first tomato this week, beyond the cherry ones. My yellow cherry tomato is bearing prolifically; my red grape tomato, biggest plant in the garden, is lagging behind. Romas haven't started turning yet.

Pretty impressive airline food.

Just about as perfect a lunch as there is.

Oh, how these photos make me long to go back! I believe my favorite place in all of Tokyo is the Tsukiji fish market. Thank you for posting these. I could almost taste many of these delicacies.