fresco

I don't have any problems with people using a mix if that's what works. But can there be anything more basic than the ingredients for pancakes?

Cumin is very good dusted on fish before frying for fish tacos, and generally goes well with a lot of Mexican food.

Good topic. Restaurants tend to reflect immigration patterns, and there has been next to no immigration from Germany, for instance, since about the 1960s. It is curious, though, that there are not more Filipino restaurants in Toronto--there is a place called Tamarind on Yonge Street. Until about 1990 or so there used to be a place at Bay and Bloor called the Danish Food Centre, two restaurants in one, as I recall, one a place that served mostly opened faced sandwiches, which were great, and the Copenhagen Room, a little more upscale places that served full dinners. It was, I think, some sort of offshoot of the Danish consulate and probably subsidized by the Danish government.

I'd have thought Corian was doomed to oblivion, simply because of their dumb, super-restrictive licencing and servicing policies. Is it even installed much anymore?

The issue is, does it result in a better or worse wine selection. And for a whole bunch of restaurants which offer half a dozen well known, low to mid priced wines, I don't think it makes any difference either way who produces the wine list. I'd be shocked to learn that this is the case in restaurants which pride (and market) themselves on their knowledge and selection of wines.

If the stuff the purveyors is pushing is seasonal produce at the height of its perfection, or something available only because of a market quirk (kobe beef produced in Canada, available only because Japan banned all beef imports) it would be a benefit, not a problem. But I don't think this is what you are getting at. If a restaurant managed to get all the remaining stock of a pretty good wine at a great price and passed that great price along to customers, wonderful. But does this happen often?

By "we" do you mean people in developed countries?

Think the French also pay a lot of attention to their digestive processes, especially the liver. Don't French pharmacies have all sorts of preparations should your liver get out of kilter?

This was the guy who wanted to bring to America all the birds mentioned in one of Shakespeare's plays or sonnets or whatever. He's also responsible for the starling plague.

I'd be curious to see what would happen if the membership of PETA were required to live with flocks of wild geese crapping all over their yards, and herds of wild pigs rooting around.

It's the Canada geese that are the problem here.

The goose population in and around Toronto is completely out of control. But any suggestion of harvesting these beasts and distributing them to food banks has been stymied by the animal rights people. Shows where their priorities are.

I think the wild hogs in Georgia are descendents of domestic hogs. But domesticated "wild boars" have become a nuisance in many places where they've been introduced, including Alberta and Germany because they slip out of pens and breed like crazy. There was a story a couple of days ago about a a wild boar invading a house in Berlin. Apparently there's quite a herd of them around Berlin.

It's -35 here with the wind chill, and not likely to get much warmer for a few days. We're having friends over tomorrow to eat guacamole and fish tacos, drink margueritas and watch Like Water for Chocolate on DVD. It will be good to forget where we are for a few hours.

Rabbi, your contributions continue to be some of the most amusing stuff on eGullet. Not to suggest for a moment that your family was not entirely unique in their craziness, do you think it would have changed dinner time in your home at all were your mother to have realized that almost everything that she overcooked was overcooked in exactly the same way in millions of non-Jewish households across North America and the UK by people harboring precisely the same suspicions about unfamiliar ingredients?

I'd love to, but I have to warn you that fresco does all my demolition, and he's really expensive. But I'd be happy to undo Heather's kitchen.

Mark, how wine-savvy is your average customer or is that a tough one to answer?

"He tossed all the parts he called inedible into blue trash cans he'll sell to plants run by Valley Protein in Winchester. Valley Protein was unavailable for comment. According to the Department of Environmental Equality Web site, ingredients like those Mullins trashed will be slow cooked in large vats until they become so dehydrated that the protein parts separate from the fats. The result will be a grainy, semi-moist substance that looks like freeze-dried coffee. This substance can be used in manufactured meat like hot dogs, in fertilizer or dog food." So the only difference between plant food, dog food and hot dogs are that hot dogs come in a casing.

Hell, Vintages will not even allow their customers in Ontario to reserve stuff in advance, and wouldn't deliver if you threatened them with a rocket launcher. Trying to find, and buy stuff on, on a Vintages release date is a combination of treasure hunt and rummage sale. This is, keep in mind, a government operation.

Be careful. It starts with our candy, but soon, you move on to poutine and pea meal bacon sandwiches on a bun. And then your friends start noticing that you pronounce "out" and "about" oddly. And you start saying "eh" at the end of every sentence...

If you're inclined to drink Coke or its corporate cousins, it probably doesn't seem like a big departure to cook with it, or them. I'll stick with wine for drinking and cooking.

I think that some care, consideration and respect does encourage more people to post and generally makes this site a more pleasant place. If no holds barred verbal wrestling produced more eloquent and rewarding posts, I'd be all for it, but all of the evidence is to the contrary.

Really happy to hear people are using buckwheat. One of the great underappreciated foods, IMHO.

Buttermilk.

Pasta with pesto. I make a bunch of pesto every fall and freeze it. Guaranteed to get me through any failure of inspiration, spell of laziness, etc.