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Kerry, I'm going to take your question as not being from an exclusively North American perspective, so... macaroni and cheese. Seriously. I spent my childhood in Italy, so when my family moved back to the US, I was introduced to a lot of traditional American dishes for the first time, and to me they were as 'ethnic' and exotic as the various Asian and Latin American cuisines that I was being introduced to at that same time. People rave to me about how cosy and nostalgic mac and cheese is for them, and I just cannot like it.

This was discussed previously, in a Q& A session with Harold McGee: Corked Octopus.

Oh noooo... why would you want to make a salad with anything less than stellar meat? True, a salad can be easily designed to hide the shortcomings of one of the ingredients, but a simple, perfect salad made with top-notch ingredients and minimal dressing (e.g. a little of a really excellent balsamic vinegar, which plays off beautifully against both beef and intense, delicate greens such as baby rucola or baby mustard) is one of the pleasures of summer.

I'd sear it, slice it thinly across the grain, and use it in a salad or wrap.

"Treatment of cholorophyll-a with acid removes the magnesium ion replacing it with two hydrogen atoms giving an olive-brown solid, phaeophytin-a. Hydrolysis of this (reverse of esterification) splits off phytol and gives phaeophorbide-a. Similar compounds are obtained if chlorophyll-b is used." (http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/local/projects/steer/chloro.htm)

The chart at the bottom of this page lists the glycemic index and glycemic load of various foods, including agave nectar: http://www.mendosa.com/gilists.htm

What did you bake them on, and at what temperature and for how long?

That looks quite a bit like the first cookbook I started from, when I was 8 (oh, and actually, those drawings are almost certainly vintage 1970s work): the same sort of unchallenging entry-level stuff, unlikely to scare kids off cooking (more likely to bore them a bit, pushing them to seek out a proper cookbook). I once picked up a copy of a work called Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, while I was waiting for my sister at a book shop, and needed to kill something between 5 and 45 minutes. The cover was perfectly pleasant. However, the contents of the book made me want to destroy all copies of it. I wish I could remember what the problem was (I seem to have firmly blotted out all the details), but I recall my search for anything redeeming in the book left me with the distinct impression that it is a cruel joke.

Do you know whether they share any flavour-bearing molecules, as in the example you gave previously, of caviar and white chocolate? Although I can't comfortably wrap my head around this combination, I'm fascinated by the idea that this could yield something palatable, or even better, delicious.

I would really like to hear your report on that combo. I don't doubt you could work them all together in a dish, but when I think about their flavours, regions where each predominates, and various culinary cultures, it feels forced and kind of questionable (sort of like putting Darth Vader, Wolverine, Hello Kitty, Mad Max, and Bertie Wooster together in a room; you could write that book, but...). What makes this seem like a good idea, or at least be palatable enough to be interesting? I'm not being sarcastic: you've clearly thought about this, and I'm curious about the sequence of ideas behind this.

Yeast are classed as fungi (not animals, or, for that matter, plants).

No. Mouths were. Fingers rare in nature. Not for humans! Mercifully, we're not discussing the guilty pleasures of other species I personally have a weakenss for this stuff: http://www.royalunibrew.com/Default.aspx?ID=196&PageNum=3 I can drink this by the litre, and feel that this should be something I'd be expected to be ashamed of, but can't actually seem to be.

I'd simply ask whether there are any ingredients or combinations of ingredients that should be avoided in the food you prepare for them. The common perception of people with any sort of dietary restriction is that they are vocal, even annoying about it, but there are many who are extremely discreet about this sort of thing, and, in fact they've become so used to avoiding certain foods, they don't give it a thought (in which case they can offer useful tips).

Have you tried the health food shops in your area? All else failing, you can order online (e.g. from Just Tomatoes or the like).

That seems as though it may be the go-to solution (it's described here, note at the bottom: http://becca-bakes.com/home/tag/freeze-dried-corn-powder/), and here is a source for the of freeze-dried corn, mentioned in the foregoing blog: http://www.justtomatoes.com/jtstore/pc/Just-Corn-3p58.htm You may also be able to find that (or similar) corn in a health food shop.

So. Getting back on topic. I grew up in Florence, and my experience and conclusions (supported by other Italians I've known who've lived outside of Italy) are that going after the best tomatoes locally available is more likely to bring a dish to the desired place than trying to match/parallel what would be used in Italy. Some general guidelines regarding size and texture would be useful, but emphasizing the importance of becoming familiar with what is locally available seems far more important, particularly since many Americans seem to prefer sweeter tomatoes than Italians do.

Don't know that I'd go so far as that; if you buy something uncontaminated, transferring it to a sealed container keeps it that way. I can think of just one occasion that I bought something put it in a container that sealed well, and found things hatched in it. The problem is you can't really tell if it's contaminated or not when you buy it. Some bugs, especially weevils, will not hatch unless the temperature gets pretty warm. I used to sell whole and milled barley, wheat, oats and corn. Corn was definitely the worst. But as has been mentioned, a day or two in the freezer will kill the eggs. Absolutely! Still, whether you have your pests trapped in a container or trapped outside of one, it does mean you have the problem isloated, and you can control their spread to uncontaminated food. My boyfriend once staggered home with about a dozen bags of spelt flour that were deeply discounted; he was delighted. I was... less so, since, when I looked at the bottom of the bags, found that every one was contaminated with wriggly little larvae (nope, he hadn't noticed). Well, since it was a gift, kind of, I couldn't throw it out, so I scraped off alll the visible fauna, put all the bags in a bin liner, and shoved it in the freezer for about a week. Then, I opened every bag, sieved it to remove remaining life forms, packed the flour in plastic tubs, and put it back in the freezer. I did use it all, although I never did get around to mentioning it to my boyfriend, the time never seemed quite right.

First thoughts are: 'What sort of pan are you using?', 'Would you consider switching to a recipe that uses weights, instead of volumes (like the one that Kerry Beal posted upthread, 5 posts back)?', and 'Do you have an accurate thrmometer in your oven?' Macarons can be exacting, and if your measurements aren't consistent from one batch to the next, it can be really difficult to pinpoint where a problem is.

Edamame!

Don't know that I'd go so far as that; if you buy something uncontaminated, transferring it to a sealed container keeps it that way. I can think of just one occasion that I bought something put it in a container that sealed well, and found things hatched in it. Depends. Insect can find the smallest of holes to get in. Just opened a pack of new fresh bought Gold Medal flour. It was crawling with tiny bugs 1/3 the size of ants. dcarch Ack. So unpleasant for you. I should have clarified, though: by 'tightly sealed container', I mean a glass or firm plastic one with a lid with a seal, and that has to be twisted or levered off; any bug that can get into those belongs to a category I hope to never encounter. When I'm shopping, I usually examine the bottoms of paper or carboard food packages before buying, since (I guess?) stockists don't, and it's not that unusual to see really obvious traces of infestation there.

Don't know that I'd go so far as that; if you buy something uncontaminated, transferring it to a sealed container keeps it that way. I can think of just one occasion that I bought something put it in a container that sealed well, and found things hatched in it.

Storing everything in sealed containers it is simpler and more effective in the long run. I've watched plenty of people wage intermittent chemical warfare on various invertebrate invaders, and it just keeps on, until the food is made inaccessible.

Discussion of quality variation, here: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/98705-all-panko-is-not-created-equal/?hl=%2Bpanko

I'd have way more napkins on hand than you think you'll need (cloth, I guess, since usually, when I've come across a 'no plates' thing, it's been intended as a 'green' move): the combination of nice clothing + fried/otherwise potentially messy food + no plates is almost guaranteed to mean that at least some guests will use napkins as plates, and the absence of plates itself increases the chances of accidents requiring napkins.

I'd say that when the two awards a cheese has received are for... package design, it's a distinct red flag (yeah, I know, old post, but I clicked on the link in it for the first time and, well, let's just say this is even better than I'd hoped for ).