fifi

Great lesson. I looked for a link to the Houston Chronicle archives and couldn't find it so I will paraphrase... A few years ago, one of the medical schools here, Baylor I think, did a study. They had folks come in and eat chiles. Before the chile consumption they stuck this fiber optic thing down into the stomach to look at the stomach lining. Some folks had great linings, some not so great. Then, after the chile consumption, they looked again. They found no effect on the stomach lining from the chiles, either from visual evidence or from symptomatic descriptions from the test subjects. (I wonder how much they had to pay these folks? ) I think that the thing about chiles being actually helpful for stomach ailments has to do with the fact that we now know that almost all ulcers are caused by a bacterial infection and peppers do have some anti-bacterial properties.

I don't have upper cabinets to get the lighting from under there. (I had these in my previous house and, you are right, they are great. But, I am a short person and I hate upper cabinets. I will have plenty of storage without them so I left them out and opted for windows instead.) Do the perimeter lights give you ample lighting? Are they the more focused diretional spots? Thanks.

Jason... I am interested in your lighting. It looks like you have a general lighting recessed sort of in the middle and then what looks like additional recessed lights around the perimeter over the counter areas. Is that what I am seeing? Can you describe them in a little more detail? How did that work out? I am laying out the lighting plan for the house and I am paying particular attention to the kitchen.

I have done this for years. I usually wait for the stuff to go on sale. It usually does around the holidays. I do 8 - 10 cans at a time. I get my big canning pot out, put a dishcloth in the bottom so I don't have to hear the cans clatter, and simmer away for about 4 hours. It is a good idea to scrub off the label adhesive before you do this so you don't gunk up your pot.

My favorite bumper sticker is "Out of Estrogen, and I have gun". In Texas, that is not an idle threat.

I just go with a somple brine... 1 cup Kosher salt to a gallon of water. See Dave the Cook posts.

That would be an interesting piece of food history. Please ask. My mom is long gone so I can't ask her... theoretically anyway!

I am perplexed by this thread. It seems to be just about completely negative. I had wonderful experiences cooking with my mother from the age of 5 or 6. The same with my sister (older sister), who imagines herself as my other mother. Somehow this doesn't square with some other threads. Whassup?

I don't do duck but I am going to start doing that, actually mainly for the fat. The more I hear about duck fat, the more I am wanting to get me some. I have bought goose fat in a can (a French product) for doing David Rosengarten's roasted chicken. I am also wondering if goose fat from an actual goose might not be better as well. To hell with the actual bird. I want the fat.

Sunshine used to also make these "fudge" cookies. The cookie was a lighter chocolate with a filling that was the same color. They were my favorite "dunkers" for years. I can't find them anymore. Damned elves.

That is really interesting. Yes, mom used to take the same approach to her deviled eggs. I wonder if there wasn't some published recipe that started it all. My mom's potato salad with the celery seed is the only one I ever came across. If I wanted to do some research, I would start with cookbooks from the late '40s. Of course, it could have been something in the newspapers and one could never trace that.

Updating the statistics... We now have, what?, 1120 views on this thread. I am adding ambra to the list. That makes 4.

Oreos, vanilla wafers, dunked in a cold glass of REAL milk... not that low fat crap. The vanilla wafers are a childhood thing. My dad had stomach trouble for a while when I was very young. He would get up in the middle of the night and have milk and vanilla wafers. Sometimes I would hear him and toddle in. He would pour some milk for me, give me some cookies and we would sit there and indulge. Funny thing is, we never said a word to each other at those times. We just sat there with our milk and cookies and "communed". Any other time with my dad I was a jabberwocky, asking endless questions. But milk and cookie time was silent. I treasure the memory.

I fogot to ask... Where do you get those neat smilies?

Ain't that the truth. Is the rest of the world really so timid of garlic? Are cookbook and recipe writers really trapped in that delusion? Look at how the Emeril Live fans go nuts when he adds "about 40 cloves" of garlic. (Oh dear. Maybe I should edit that out. Let's not start another Emeril rant.) edit to add: My latest revelation is the concept of cleaning up and saving the chicken fat from making stock. I got that one from eGCI!

Good going on the blog. This one is fun. I also found writing about what I cook and eat a somewhat strange experience. Not in a bad way, mind you. I still wonder if doing it affected what I actually cooked/ate?

Be careful when browsing that book in a bookstore! It got me kicked out of a Barnes and Noble in Sioux Falls, SD! Explain... Expound... Inquiring minds want to know.

I see a trend here. A well stocked pantry and freezer + leftovers => fast dinner.

I can't help you there. But I do have to ask if this is an uncommon or completely off-the-wall craving? Do we need to add you to the list of the mysteriously afflicted?

I read through this thread rather quickly but I didn't see the "secret" to my mom's potato salad. Hers was pretty much the standard... red potatoes, a sprinkle of vinegar on the potatoes, onion, celery, sometimes some pimento, sometimes some diced pickle, boiled egg mixed in the dressing. The dressing was mayo (Hellman's) and a little mustard. The "secret" was celery seed.

I buy dried peppers and make my own "pepper flakes" or powders. Or I buy my powders at my Latin market. I am not sure why you would want to try to separate the seeds. I use the pepper with seeds on pasta, pizza, etc. and that is just part of it. Pepper powder or flakes with seeds is just another product.

I know that during the week, inspiration and the need to cook is rare. I do my cooking and get my creativity kicks on the weekends. That is where the freezer and my little jars come it. I like "pots of stuff", stews and soups. I put that up in small serving packs, ziplocs or deli containers from the kitchen supply. Cooked meats like pulled pork go in foil packets, ready to put in the toaster oven. The little jars are for my condiments, sauces, roasted garlic from when the fresh garlic comes in, seasonings, etc. Then, I can get something out, heat and eat, roll it in a tortilla, whatever. Not a lot of cooking goes on during the week. This is easy because I am only me. When my son lived with me for a couple of years we kind of did the same kind of thing. Maybe we got ambitious and made a Thai curry from leftovers or made a sauce and boiled some pasta. But not a lot more.

The room temperature/acid effect on bacteria makes some sense. They wouldn't be as affected at lower temperatures I don't think. I have to admit that I had never thought about the olive oil solidifying and breaking it. That explains what has happened to me in the past, I just never thought about it because it didn't happen that often. When I do make homemade mayo, I usually use it up right away.

My sister tasted the "sweet lemons" and went... eeehh.

Most days my breakfast is not adventurous. I like my coffee with "moo" (canned milk) and a spoon of sugar. But that is the ONLY sweet thing I can stomach in the morning. For a while, I was trying to eat healthier and put oatmeal on the menu. I tried it with butter and some of Prudhomme's seasoning. Pretty good. A sausage kolache is a favorite, especially if the sausage has a pepper kick to it. And then, there is my favorite McD's sausage and biscuit. I love a full breakfast when I am traveling. I prefer buffets 'cause I can get all of the bacon I want to go with my biscuit and gravy. My favorite in the world is the breakfast buffets in Mexico... chiliquiles, refried beans sprinkeled qith fresh cheese, eggs with a spicy salsa. The Dutch breakfasts are pretty good, as long as I stay away from the fish! Some of their meats have interesting seasonings that I can't quite identify. I never did get used to that broiled tomato in England, though. (I am a tomater hater.)