SylviaLovegren

This sounds incredibly delicious.

Over easy? I use a large skillet with plenty of butter, bacon fat or olive oil, depending. Flip when the white is just set and let cook for about 30 seconds. You need a smooth pan and a good spatula.

Absolutely they are worth it. They are better than supermarket and they're free! You'll feel very virtuous. Pick carefully and wrap each in newspaper, pack gently. Check periodically to make sure nothing's rotting.

Which It's Greek to Me? My husband's family is Greek. They felt that the one in Ridgewood was substandard. The one in Westwood, however, is really good. Huge portions and excellent home style cooking. Everything we had there was good, but for a large group I'd get at least a big Greek salad and a large pastitio. Then whatever.

Starbucks is OK, but their Pike Place blend is just horrible. Unredeemable. Like burnt dirt.

I don't want to pick nits, but the biggest "landmark" is probably Union Square Park. Much closer than WSP. Oops. Just goes to show ya I'm really a Jersey girl and not a new Yorker.

University Place is in the Village. The biggest landmark in the area is The Strand book store, but Washington Square is nearby. Google maps is your friend!

For first thing in the morning coffee is the only thing. And a cup of freshly brewed coffee is actually good for you, full of micronutrients as is any plant food. It's when it's been sitting around that it becomes a negative. Tea in the morning means I'm coming down with a cold. In the afternoon tea is good, especially with a snack. Depending on mood, black tea or Earl Grey, or buckwheat green tea.

Wow, great stuff. All very helpful -- I'd completely forgotten about the bacon thing. And yes, the impact of the internet -- and chef contests! -- are all really important. Kale I missed entirely -- off to go do some research there. Thank you all so much! One more question -- salted caramel: was that more 90s or 2000s? I'm still busy eating it myself, so I consider it ageless...

My husband highly recommends Saigon Market on University Place near 12th Street in the Village. S.G. is a sit-down place and is fairly comfy ambiance, also delish and cheap. For quick food just around the corner on 12th Street between University and Broadway there's a tiny hole-in-the-wall place (NOT the falafel place -- stay away!) that has fusion modern food, sandwiches, etc., for around $7. Mostly take-out but you can sit upstairs, but it's cramped. On University Place between 12th and 13th is Newsbar -- an inexpensive place for coffee, snacks, excellent soups and sandwiches. Very nice people -- if there's a tall blonde guy say "Ross from Toronto sent me!" Right across the street from Newsbar is a little sausage vendor, don't remember the name, but very cheap and good.

Hi all, looking for help! I'm updating an article on general food trends in the US that had originally covered 1960-1999, but need to add the last 10 years as well. Wonder if I can pick your brain for fads that you remember from the period. Just off the top of my head, I've got: Specialty salts (i.e., Himalayan pink salt) Foam Sous vide Bite-sized desserts (cake pops, etc.) Cupcakes Red Velvet Cake Mojitos Specialty brewed beers and artisanal liquors Flavored "martinis" Quinoa Locavore Sliders Acai/goji berry Gluten-free If anyone can think of particularly trendy or favorite items from the 2000s, I'd love to hear. Or if there's a particular food or drink that became really OUT during that period, that would be interesting, as well. Thanks for your help! Sylvia

Ha ha ha. I was just thinking about my shared household experience, but you beat me to it.

Venison would be very "authentic" for a Thanksgiving meal, just not traditional.

The unsalted rice has a slightly sweet starchy taste which seems perfect with Asian food, which tends to use salty sauces. However salted rice seems to fit much better with Western and Middle Eastern dishes, in general. Obviously, personal preference has a lot to do with it -- make rice any way you like!

You are BORED with PIE?! There's not enough room in the universe for my envy. Gosh, pie. I actually have a really good pumpkin cake recipe,a sponge that is rolled around a cream filling...question is, where the heck is it? Very light, pretty and unusual. If I find it, I'll post.

Thank you both for the education. My husband's family is Greek and god forbid I should call the coffee they make in the briki "Turkish" -- I'd get shot! (His ancient grandmother used to say very sternly, "Greeks drink Greek coffee. Turkish coffee is only for Turks.") My husband lived in Egypt and Saudi for a number of years and was always talking about the cardamom coffee (mostly from his time in Saudi, I think), but insisted it wasn't the standard dark coffee flavored with cardamom and I couldn't figure out what he meant. When I read him your description of the green roasted coffee, thin and odd, he said, "Yes, that's it!" Eureka!

Strictly traditional here. Baked turkey with butter and herbs, my 1950 Betty Crocker bread/onion/celery stuffing (although I add pecans and sherry-soaked raisins) baked separately with fat/juice poured over. Sweet potatoes with butter and just a smidge of brown sugar (I've tried doing them all kinds of ways, but this is the one everyone likes the best). Brussels sprouts finished in brown butter. An apple/cabbage salad. Cranberry sauce made with cardamom and honey from a recipe from Gourmet years ago. Mashed potatoes and gravy. And for dessert, pumpkin pie with whipped cream. I save trying new things for other holidays. For us, the tradition of Thanksgiving is an important part of pleasure of the day.

What is the Arabic coffee like? The only "Arabic" coffee I've had has been Turkish coffee, made in a briki, very finely ground and boiled up, with sugar. Sometimes with added cardamom.

Never had it but it sounds good. Does yours have cardamom in it? I found this recipe on line My link It uses evaporated milk, which makes sense.

A quick search shows that Manic Coffee carries Intellegentsia's beans - gets them delivered freshly roasted a few times a week, according to the web site...that might be a good start. Wow! Thank you! I'm in the Manic neighborhood (in more ways than one!) a couple of times a week. Had their espresso coffee on the spot but never looked at beans for sale. I'll be there Wednesday morning. Manic was all out of Intelligentsia but they also carry Social and I got some Guatemala. Quite delicious! Thank you -- what a difference to my mornings! Will try some of the other beans and the Intelligencia, as well.

You could make a nice glaze using either plain or brown sugar cooked to a syrup in water or orange juice (2 cups sugar to 1/2 cup liquid), flavor with a little vanilla if you like. As to help converting the recipe, no idea! But good luck.

We had our first paw paws ever today, found them under a tree while hiking outside Toronto. They are very odd. Texture like custard, flavor like melon/banana with vanilla and bubblegum thrown in. Ours had a slightly sickening over-sweet taste -- the bubblegum effect, I think. My husband and I agreed that if one found a paw paw while hiking or playing in the woods and didn't have much of anything else to eat, the paw paw would be considered fairly good. But we wouldn't spend money on them. Perhaps there are different varieties?

Egzackly.

I used to go to a diner in Culver City, CA, that had the BEST fried shrimp sandwiches. On homemade white bread with mayo and a lettuce leaf. Yum. Ladies Luncheon places at old department stores in the U.S. all used to serve shrimp or crab salad. Those places are all gone now, sadly.

It's an interesting phenomenon. If you look at old US cookbooks or magazines, there was a fair amount of fish served. And in the 50s and 60s things like anchovies and sardines were very big as appetizers, cocktail food, etc. Boy, did that go away. If you don't eat fish/seafood the smell and texture are very different than land animals. And the slightest bit of tiredness of the fish and the smell gets nasty fast. I grew up in the Pac NW and was used to absolutely fresh right out of the water fish and shellfish -- often caught myself or by another family member. When I moved to L.A. I couldn't tolerate fish there because it tasted so old. Same thing with most of the fish I found in markets in NJ -- not fresh! Nasty! In Toronto, fish is so expensive we just don't bother mostly. So now I'm one of those Americans who mostly only eats canned tuna...