gulfporter

I agree with others that the only thing worth eating at Wendy's is their baked potato. When I worked long hours, I'd buy one on my way home and use it as the base for a quickie dinner frittata when I didn't feel like spending much time in the kitchen.

I "inherited" a black Kenmore smooth cooktop. Not what I would have picked but there's no gas service where we live and frankly I like the looks of the cooktop. I tend to sear foods outside (Florida) on the side burner of my propane grill. I did manage to put some light scratches on the cooktop from some pans/pots. I found that a dab of toothpaste will take those light scratches away; done when the cooktop is cooled.

Dare I admit we buy TJ's boxed wine?

These thin Moravian cookies. http://www.salembaking.com/about-moravian-cookies/

I found this at the American Egg Board site (www.aeb.org). I can't be sure, but it sounds as if the bag I have (from Winn Dixie) isn't packed in an altered environment since it lists sodiam benzoate and citric acid on its label. Refrigerated Whole Hard-Cooked, Peeled And Unpeeled Eggs, Plain or Pickled, Wedged, Sliced, or Chopped Mechanically or hand-peeled and either packed in a liquid solution of 0.1% sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate (mold inhibitors) and an organic acid (usually citric acid) or packaged in an altered environment with inert nitrogen to extend shelf life.

The ingredients label on the bag o' eggs reads: Eggs, water, citric acid, sodium benzoate.

Did you rinse them first? I found both batches from 2 different stores to be the same as home-boiled. I wouldn't say that if I was still back in AZ and had a neighbor who gave me fresh eggs from her small brood, but compared to standard grocery eggs that I'd boil myself, I found the pre-boiled, pre-shelled to be a good substitute.

I just discovered these. And yes, I'm aware I can make them at home for less than 1/2 the cost, but sometimes I'll pay for convenience. I've never been a fan of peeling hard-boiled eggs and it always seems I'll get a wayward batch of 'sticky' shells whenever I want to make a pretty plate of deviled eggs. What's surprised me about these is the expiration dates. I bought a bag yesterday at Winn-Dixie (August 19th) and the stamped expiry date is October 2nd! When I bought a bag at Trader Joes I don't recall the length of time on the expiration date, though it did say to eat the eggs within 7 days of opening the package. I must say I enjoy not adding any more steam (and heat from the cooktop itself) to our Florida house, this time of year. At 60 calories each they are a suitable mid-morning snack (and no peeling on my part!). We also use them for a spur of moment cold plate meals, along with cheese, smoked fish, fruit; I usually do a quick deviled egg prep for those meals.

FYI: Hellmans is known as Best Foods, west of the Rockies. I was a lifelong Hellmans fan on the East Coast and when we moved to AZ, I wondered why no one stocked it. We recently moved to FL, and I tried Dukes when it was on sale and we liked it as much as Hellmans, so I buy either, depending on sale price. Though the stores where I buy Dukes does not sell it in squeezables (or perhaps Dukes doens't make it in squeezables).

I bought this el-cheapo one a few months ago. I don't know that it'll work with a carrot (haven;t tried). BTW, the 'holder' that comes with it is useless....just use a paper towel to hold the zucchini. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vegetable-Spiral-Slicer-Fruit-Cutter-Peeler-Kitchen-Tool-Spiralizer-Twister-New-/311291359414?hash=item487a6930b6 I've used it a few times for cold zucchini salad recipes I found here. Haven't used it in a few weeks. http://www.buzzfeed.com/melissaharrison/vegetable-noodle-recipes#.rnROeD3EO For under 10 bucks, get one of these, see if you like it, use it, before making a Kitchenaid investment. Re: using vegetables as a pasta substitute, that's not popular at our house. BUT, I do lighten pasta by using half fettucine and half carrot strips. The carrot strips are simply long threads made via a standard vegetable peeler. I usually top with grilled shimp and a light 'sauce' of olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and lemon zest, some chili flakes.

From Jalisco, Mexico, the birote salado. It is a sourdough and saltier version of the bland (IMO) standard bolillo (roll). We traveled extensively around Mexico and I never saw birote salado other than in Jalisco where it is used as the base for the best sandwich on the planet (again, IMO), the torta ahogada (translation: drowned sandwich). From Scranton, PA and other cities with Lithuanian ethnic populations, Lithuanian rye bread. It is very sour, extremely dense, we sliced it almost razor thin and ate it at every meal (it was often all we had for weekday breakfasts, slathered in butter). On my visits to Scranton in the late 1990's my mother said she couldn't find it anymore, that the last bakery making it had closed. A friend of mine who visited family in Brooklyn found Lithuanian bread there and he'd bring it to me (in DC Metro) and I'd overnight to my mother, up until her death in 2004.

I didn't mention it in my OP, but at Trader Joe's, it was the shopper's child who was doing most of the strawberry re-arrangement. The kid was maybe 4 years old??, small enough to sit in the front of her cart. When we lived in Mexico, everyone (certainly not just expats) sanitized their own produce. I was told that in MX neither the growers, the wholesalers, nor the retailers did any sort of washing of their produce, and of course, local growing conditions may not meet US/CDN standards. Often produce went straight from farm to consumer as I often bought produce direct from farmers off of their pickup truck beds. The produce concentrate we used there was Microdyne; it literally was sold in every produce section of every market and also in small neighborhood tiendas; a few of our friends used a few drops of chlorine bleach instead of the Microdyne. But everyone I knew, foreign or native, used a sanitizer of some sort. I should add that I contracted e-Coli twice while living in Mexico; the first time I almost died (no joke). Each time from undercooked ground meat (even my MXN doctor was appalled: "Senora, I am Mexican and I do not eat rare hamburgesas"). I should also add that my husband contracted shigella (3rd world dysentery) from a posh restaurant in DC-Metro (he was so sick for so long before we read about a restaurant we had eaten at being closed by the Fairfax County Health Department!). He also picked up a few mild stomach bugs in MX, but not anything life-threatening. It could be we are a bit more sensitive to bacteria than others. I have never used any sort of a produce sanitizer in the US, but am now reconsidering doing so. If you use one, what do you use? I googled Microdyn and it is not readily available in the US, based on my searches.

This is the 2nd time I've seen this in 2 months. First at Publix and last week at Trader Joe's. People opening two or more of those little plastic pre-weighed boxes containing fruit (in one instance it was strawberries, the other was blueberries) in the produce section and going through them by hand, making their own little perfect basket. And conceivably, leaving in their wake, a number of dismal berry baskets for the next customer, containing all their caste-offs. At first glance, this seems wrong to me. Yes, I have had my share of throw-away berries from these baskets after getting them home, no matter how hard I peer into them from all angles (especially from and at the bottom of said containers). But it never dawned on me to actually open a few berry containers and 'pick my own.' Is this an accepted practice these days?

We've been living in a small Florida beach town for the past 18 months (and before that, in Central Mexico), so maybe this isn't as new to others as it was to us. A nearby eatery which posts its weekly specials on FB, advertised glazed pacu ribs. We had to google pacu to find that it is an Amazonian piranha-like fish. These ribs were spectacular! The 'ribs' were a cut of flesh hanging onto 3 or 4 long fish bones. The meat was sweet and tender and it was perfectly glazed with notes of citrus and black pepper, then served over a cabbage and apple slaw. A perfect meal for a warm Florida summer evening in a delightful outdoor patio. The restaurant is Pia's Trattoria in Gulfport and we hope they get more pacu in the future!

Just to clarify...this was fresh, not canned. When I bought it in the markets, it was already removed from the husk, and sold in baggies by weight.

The huitlacoche I ate in Mexico was mostly dark, with a few lighter specks mixed in...ratio estimate would be 90/10, dark to light. I never saw it in the fields or on the husk.

Oh how I envy those of you with fresh huitlacoche! The presentation I loved the most was when it was used as a simple filling in a crepe, maybe it had a bit of fried shallot and reduced with heavy crema?? It was served in the La Capilla restaurant just off the main Jardin in San Miguel de Allende and when we visited there 6 summers in a row, it was always one of the first eateries we went to and I always ordered the huitlacoche crepes.

And let's not forget, it wasn't just Mom, Dad was there, too. Two adults, one child. Hmmmm.....lots of options available to responsible parents. One parent could have easily taken the child outside for a walk (I believe umbrellas exist in Maine), or to their car, or home (or hotel or vacation rental since I believe they were vacationing). While the other parent waited on getting the order to-go.

This is getting a lot of coverage. I'm on the side of the establishment owner in this case, based on the facts as I understand them. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/portland-diner-crying-toddler_55ae550ee4b07af29d56518f

I went with this recipe for a confit of salmon and it was wonderful. Thanks to all for your suggestions. http://www.foodiesite.com/recipes/1999-09:confitsalmon

Back in my gardening days, this was favorite recipe for dealing with over-abundant zucchini: ZUCCHINI MOCK-APPLE PIE Zucchini: 6 to 8 c. zucchini, peeled, seeds removed, sliced2/3 c. fresh lemon juice1 c sugar1/4 tsp nutmeg1 tsp cinnamon Crust:4 c flour2 c sugar1/2 tsp salt3 sticks butter Directions: Peel the zucchini, then cut in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Slice into appx. 1/3 inch thick slices as you would for an apple pie. Simmer in lemon juice until tender...20 to 25 minutes. Add sugar and spice and stir. Set aside and cool completely. To make crust mixture: Combine dry ingredients, then cut in butter until pea size. To assemble: Add 1 cup of the crust mixture to the cooled zucchini mixture and stir. Set aside. Put 1/2 of the remaining crust mixture into a greased 13x9 pan, pressing down to form bottom crust. Bake 375 for 10 min. Remove bottom crust from oven, and top with the zucchini mixture. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Distribute rest of crust mixture over zucchini. Return to oven and bake at 375 for 35 to 40 min. Let cool at least one hour before slicing and serving.

The duck fat poached fish looks great, sounds great.....but no recipe (sigh).

I have almost 2 cups of duck fat on hand. I'd like to use it creatively and wondering if anyone has any ideas for me. I have it my head to use it as a poaching medium for seafood (shrimp or salmon or ??) along the lines of poaching lobster in butter, but I'm not sure if that's a good/great/awful idea. PS: I have been slathering the duck fat on corn on the cob, then grilling them and it's been a big hit, but I'd like a recipe that is either a substantial appetizer/small plate or even a main course. Not looking for anything flash-fried, something more subtle and creative. TIA.

I buy eggs (locally produced) at a small produce stand. While they sell them by the flat, I buy them individually since I am not baking much these days. Two months ago they were 16 cents each; this morning they were 22 cents each.

Eat something French today. I'm making a batch of madeleines.