hjshorter

Meat, meat, meat - especially red meat. Steaks, cheeseburgers, lamb, mmmmmmmmm. Ice cream, especially Baskin-Robbin's Mocha Almond Fudge. Salads. I couldn't stand cooked vegetables. Garlic in any amount was intolerable too. This was all with my first pregnancy. With my second I developed Gestational Diabetes early on and had to follow a very specific high protein diet. While pregnant with my first I couldn't abide the smell of cheese. Of course, that Christmas my in-laws decided to send us a 3-month cheese delivery from Williams-Sonoma. A trip down the cheese aisle at Whole Foods sent me running for the Ladies room. I had to quit eating it until after I delivered.

I would disagree with these two examples. In our area Jamaican and other Caribbean cuisines are considered "ethnic." I'm not sure whether it's about race or the degree of perceived assimilation into the larger "American" culture and the assumed attendant prosperity. For example, Italian used to be considered ethnic, but I'm not so sure that it is anymore.

Sara Moulton had a guest a few months ago who had a cookbook out for slow cookers. Her recipes looked pretty good. Click

I swear I searched for a previous thread... Thanks!

Funny you brought this up... I have been working my way through a large chunk of Ghiradelli milk chocolate purchased at Trader Joe's the other day. Also, red meat, lots and lots of red meat. Cheeseburgers, steak, meatloaf, etc. And water. PMS cravings are weird but they got nothin on my pregnancy cravings. Those were strange and extremely specific.

Has anyone else had this stuff? Who came up with the idea? I just had my first today - Green tea flavor - and boy it was weird.

I was feeling sympathetic, until I checked out her website and read some of the crap she's written. Her article about Madrid in particular really steamed me. After sneering at American tourists, she has the nerve to complain several times that her server didn't speak English. Her snide comment in the TV dinner article about working mothers didn't endear her to me either. And who cares whether she has a microwave?

That one was by M.F.K. Fisher, and my first introduction to her writing. This book has had the most influence on my thoughts about feeding our kids, more than any of the "child nutrition" books out there.

Holy cow, I thought we were geeks! Seriously, I had no idea there was such a book. We have a friend it would be perfect for, but chances are he already has it.

The mint aren't all that. I had high hopes for them. And I'm sorry to hear that the coffee ones aren't good either. Guess I'll try the peanut butter. If those disappoint there's alway Double Stuf.

After an in-store tasting of the aarabiatta (decent), I picked up a jar of each Batali flavor at TJ's yesterday. One thing we noticed - they are several ounces smaller than the standard jar, like Classico, or Barilla. I guess this in keeping with his "sauce as condiment" aesthetic.

Eighty-two here. Less than I thought.

I had never tried it before. It's terrific - a noticable difference from regular old spring water. I think I'll get a case the next time I go.

Thanks for the tip! I have family in No. Va. but always forget to buy my booze when I'm over there. Inspired by this thread, I made a trip today to the TJ's in Gaithersburg, MD. What a haul for $50! Gruyere, pasta, Total yogurt, chocolate, a couple of sauces, Fiji water, and the best - tuna in olive oil for $1.50 a can. That's $2 less than I pay for olive oil packed tuna at Whole Foods.

What a great idea! Frozen french fries are blanched in oil before being packaged, so they're halfway to cooked. I bet the packaged potatoes that are in the veggie or dairy section - I think they're called Simply Potatoes - would work too. Or are those just precut and not cooked?

I have many cookbooks, but these are the ones I wouldn't do without: Fannie Farmer, either the 1965 or 1986 edition Asian Noodles Nina Simonds Mastering the Art of French Cooking Quick and Easy Indian Cooking Mahdur Jaffrey Tapas Penelope Casas Cookwise Shirley Corriher True Thai Victor Sodsook Home Cooking and More Home Cooking Laurie Colwin and My 20 year collection of clippings and handwritten recipes, wich will get organized someday.

I bought a 1943 edition of Joy of Cooking that's fascinating, with information about sugar and meat rationing, care packages to send overseas, etc. My mom never used Joy, so I had never seen it until I was an adult. Is it worth getting a newer edition?

You're not the only one who lives in a state with stupid liquor laws. I was a little baffled to hear everone talking about booze at TJ's because there's no such thing here in Maryland.

I did too. I remember Vincent Price's cookbook being one of them, and a subscription series from the 60's by the Grande Diplome Cooking School. I wonder if my mom still has them?

I love Time Life's Foods of the World, and scoured bookstores for them for years. Finally I found the entire set, including the recipe booklets, at the Goodwill book sale about ten years ago. I snapped them up for $20. I still love reading, and cooking from them.

I haven't seen a thread on this, and I'm curious, so here goes: What was your first cookbook? Was it a gift? Do you still use it? My first cookbook was the Betty Crocker Boys and Girls Cookbook, published in 1965. I don't remember ever making anything from it. My daughter will probably get it eventually. It's a relic. The first cookbook I remember using was my mother's edition of Fannie Farmer from 1965. I searched out my own copy and still use it.

We routinely gather up all the extraneous crap and hand it to our server. It's in their best interests, since we are usually accompanied by a small child who sees everything as a potential projectile.

I'm reminded of the commercial for A1 from the 70's - "Is a hamburger chopped ham? No, it's chopped steak!"

We have reservations tomorrow night at the very unfashionable hour of 5pm. I'm looking forward to trying some of Steve's desserts!

I've had success with Alton Brown's method. He uses 1/2 chuck and 1/2 sirloin, about 5 ounces per burger. Click here I like medium rare, so 4 mins per side is as long as I cook it, and I make a fairly flat patty to avoid the hockey puck result.