Thanks for the Crepes

Hi rustwood, and welcome! There's a lot of enthusiasm for all the areas you mentioned, and I think you will be right at home here. I'm looking forward to hearing about your adventures in food. I'm jealous of your pizza oven, and I'd love to hear more about it and what you make with it.

Yes liuzhou, That price is ridicules, for the Victorinox, especially without the hand guard which adds to the utility and effectiveness of this tool. I like the description on the Chinese translated page of it: "hooked tip" which is a point in the design that I failed to mention. If I absolutely had to choose from what is available on your page of, well, what's available to you in China, I'd probably go with this one. Although it doesn't have the built-in hand guard, it does seem to have a convex blade on the side I can see with a bit of a hooked tip. It has a flattened handle for better grip, and at least the handle has a "waist" to substitute (poorly) for the guard. I can't see where the much more expensive Victorinox improves on the design of this cheap one. Please be careful with your current model, because it's much too sharp and pointy for a proper oyster knife, IMHO. It does have the flat handle shape and hand guard though, which are essential features. That blade, though, is an accident in progress, I think. Yikes!

I have no direct experience with the product and I've never shucked oysters for a living, but I have shucked many bushels of them for the consumption of myself, friends and family. I don't think from looking at that plastic shield that it would be very effective or last long. One of the reviews said that it was just hard plastic inside, not lined with anything to grip the oyster, and smaller oysters (which can be the best of the lot) spin and slip around. It takes a lot of torque to twist the shell apart and rupture the surprisingly strong-for-its-size abductor muscle of an oyster. I like a large guard on my oyster knife, because it allows me to use my ever lessening hand strength to best effect. The ones I have are cheap ($5.00 US 15 years ago) with thick textured ABS plastic handles and guards molded in a single piece. The guards are curved to allow me to grip the handle and jam the side of my fist down to create maximum pressure and torque. The handle is flattened rather than rounded, and this helps to get a good grip for twisting. The hardened 410 SS blade is short, not sharp, and thick and sturdy. I haven't damaged one in 15 years, and neither have the stronger men who have used them. Even more importantly, no one has been injured by them. Here is a picture from the site of the manufacturer who made my trusty knives. You might not be able to get it in China, but you might find a similar design, or someone else with access to it may benefit. I always use an old kitchen towel to grip the oyster in my left (non-knife) hand, and I watched some videos on oyster shucking to see if I could learn anything that would be helpful next time we get some oysters. This is the most instructive one I found overall. I agree with her that it's very important to scrub the oysters clean before shucking. Also I noticed in this video that she leaves quite a bit of the abductor muscles still attached to the shells. Her knife seems to have a flat blade, while mine are convex on one side and concave on the other. You want to scrape loose the abductors with the convex side toward the shell and the concave side cupping the delicate oyster. I used have flat-bladed oyster knives with rounded wooden handles, but threw them out when I got my Carolinas because the older ones tended to slip more and were more dangerous. Another thing I do differently than the lady in the video is where she double-folds the towel over the top side of the oyster, instead, I place my holding hand on top of that first fold, and then fold the towel back over my hand just in case the knife were to slip. Of course a Kevlar or chain mail glove is better, but I don't have one. I wouldn't waste my money on the plastic gripper gadget, especially if you already have an oyster knife that suits you.

We had a simple dinner tonight of pinto beans cooked in the crockpot with onion and jalapeno peppers, about half deseeded in concession to my husband. I cooked up some good bacon in a skillet, drained off most of the fat, deglazed with some boiling water and added that into the beans with the crumbled bacon. This was really good with my rosemary/olive oil cornbread baked in the oven. I knew I'd have to devote quite a bit of time tonight to prep for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, so this easy dinner was perfect. It also left plenty of leftovers to send home with my brother tomorrow who mentioned several days ago that he was craving bean soup. I candied some walnuts with a little brown sugar, butter, kosher salt, cayenne and powdered ginger for a salad tomorrow. Also for the salad, I carefully freed all the arils from a large pomegranate. I got almost 2 cups of arils from this monster. This was really time-consuming, trying to do it without rupturing any juice sacks. I made up a dressing for the salad with soy sauce, white vinegar (I love the clean, bright taste, although I thought of rice vinegar), frozen concentrated orange juice, grated fresh frozen ginger (lots), a little garlic powder and crushed red pepper flakes. I had to adjust it because I put too much orange juice concentrate at first so it was too sweet, but I'm really happy with the result. I will finish the refrigerated dressing tomorrow with dark sesame oil, sliced scallions, and I am thinking about a small amount of fresh crushed raw garlic, but I may not go there. I'll toss just enough finished dressing with baby spinach leaves and garnish with the arils and walnuts, and for anyone who wants it, Valbreso sheep's milk cheese (feta). I found it too gamy this time, but my husband likes it, and I'll let everyone else taste before adding. Sounds like a really simple salad, but wound up taking hours to do all the components, and I hope everyone likes it. I also decided to do the cranberry/apple compote ahead of time and refrigerate it. I think since it is my substitute for cranberry sauce and everyone is used to that served cold, that it will work well. It is nothing but equal parts peeled macintosh apple sliced into wedges with fresh cranberries cooked down a few minutes with a little white sugar, not even water added. Oh, and a little salt to balance. I think it came out well. It's quite tart and refreshing. I have it refrigerated in a covered glass faceted candy dish I always use for the cranberry sauce. This will be served with Betty Crocker's "Oriental" glazed Rock Cornish hens and other accoutrements tomorrow. Thank you, Norm Matthews, for reminding me of them.

MelissaH, I can usually find kabocha at my Asian grocer, and always at this time of year. I was surprised and delighted to see it in our local mainstream chain grocer, Food Lion, for the first time this fall on Tuesday when I went shopping there, so it's definitely catching on here. I'm lucky to live in a cultural melting pot community with large Latin American, Chinese, Korean, Indian and other populations. There are quite a few mom and pop ethnic grocers and restaurants, but also many of the ingredients are popping up in the mainstream grocers as well. I love it! Do you have an Asian grocer near you in New York? You would almost certainly find kabocha squash there now.

No experience with it, but it interested me because I'd never heard of it. I thought it might be the seaweed kelp, but it seems not to be. There's a lot of info on Google about kombucha, and it seems to be a fermented, sour Manchurian tea.

liuzhou, I always soak dried beans before cooking. As it happens, I have some pintos soaking on the counter right now for cooking up with bacon, jalapenos and onion for tomorrow night's dinner. I find that I get less burst skins this way, but I cook mine in an electric crock pot. There's a thread that has a lot of positive opinions for no-soak oven method beans here: https://forums.egullet.org/topic/99104-no-soak-beans-in-the-oven-in-90-minutes/ So you would probably be fine either way.

Like kayb, I also cook grits and not polenta. I think the difference is the milled corn we use has been nixtamalized, which releases more nutrients from the grain. I just hate gritty grits. If you follow the instructions on the package that is what you get every time. For non-instant white hominy grits, they say to bring 3 cups water to boil, add a little salt, and slowly stir in a cup of grits, cover and simmer for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Bull! No wonder they got their name, not to mention the lump factor. I cook white hominy grits in 4 cups salted water to one cup grits, and you have to stir like crazy while adding the grits in a slow stream. Then continue stirring like crazy for five minutes, mashing any lumps against the side of your pot. A sturdy sort of flat slotted spoon helps with the task. Some batches of grain lump worse than others, and I'm on a 4 pound batch that's the worst lumper I've ever seen, and I am old. After the delumping process, one can actually reduce heat to really low, cover and continue cooking other stuff, but you must still stir every couple minutes or so especially at first or it will lump and stick. The longer you cook and stir, the creamier they become, like risotto, sort of. I always start the grits first when cooking up a meal that includes them. They require all my attention at first, and only become creamier with time. You may need to add more water, depending on your grain and how long you cook them. I had my first grits that I really enjoyed here: http://www.yelp.com/biz/pams-farm-house-raleigh Their great creamy grits are a by-product of having to hold them for service for hours, but it taught me how to make great creamy grits at home. It is not a fast food, but it is a wonderful food, and like good risotto doesn't rely on a lot of adulterant fats to achieve creaminess. That said, I do so enjoy a nice pat of good butter on top of creamy grits, but it is not a substitute for developing the starch like in a good risotto.

Your menu sounds wonderful, Kim, and I join those who wish they were among your lucky guests. I agree with those who suggested another lighter dish like roasted veggies (or grilled if weather permits and you have someone interested and able to do the grilling). Vegans/vegetarians can make a killer sandwich with some roasted zucchini, eggplant, onion, red, green or yellow peppers, tomato, mushrooms or asparagus, with or without some of that provolone. As a meat eater, if I found grilled veggies on a sandwich buffet, I'd add them to my smoked turkey or Italian beef sandwich with relish. They taste good at room temp and will hold well on an open house buffet. I know many think that a crudites platter with a good dip is mundane, but it's appreciated by folks who are trying to keep from packing on the pounds during the holidays. You can also up the ante within your budget with special components like radicchio, Belgian endive, blanched asparagus, daikon sticks, cremini mushrooms, special tomatoes, jicama, and not just sticking to the same old celery and carrot sticks. I still like multi-colored bell pepper sticks on there, along with broccoli florets, no matter who thinks they are pedestrian. A lemon tahini dip is great with fresh veggies, but requires a small container for each guest and could be messy, so with a party of your size, I wouldn't go there. Hummus would work for your crowd. I have made a lighter version of Knorr spinach dip with 4% fat cottage cheese and their dehydrated vegetable soup mix that is great with a crudites platter. Mine contained cottage cheese whirred up in the blender until very smooth and refrigerated overnight to hydrate the dry veggie soup mix stirred in after blending with the other ingredients . No mayo or sour cream in my version. This recipe was popularized by great cooks in Eastern Star and shared with me by them. I used to include chopped canned water chestnuts too, but I've sworn off after experiencing fresh water chestnuts. The canned ones added a lot before the fresh ruined it for me. Now I would go with chopped fresh jicama if I couldn't find fresh water chestnuts. Everyone seems to use Greek yogurt (with mayo, which is the worst fat culprit) to "lighten" it now, but I can't speak to that since I never tried it. Just be sure to heed the instruction to squeeze the frozen thawed spinach as dry as possible if you try it. Here's the link to the original full-fat version from Knorr: http://www.knorr.com/recipes/detail/9278/1/knorr-spinach-dip You're very smart to aim for everything do-ahead with a come-and-go crowd of this size. I'm also very glad you feel up to hosting it!

Everyone's lunches look so good! I was especially taken by sartoric's feast in Myanmar. I didn't know what Shan chips were, never having heard of them before, and went to ask Mr. Google. There's evidence that they are made with chana dal flour, but I also found this YouTube video about a Myanmar/Burma factory that makes and packages them for distribution and sale with potatoes: This factory operates almost completely in the open air, with much of the work done without the benefit of a roof. The chips are dried in the sun on the ground on tarps, then fried over a wood fire, and drained in a grass or bamboo basket. Don't miss the part where the individual bags of finished product are sealed with what looks like a candle or lamp flame. I hoped others might find it interesting as well.

Yay! I got to watch Rob's videos of making biscochito dough and a about an hour and a quarter of Friday night dinner service at the Curious Kumquat in Silver City, NM. I did not have to join Twitter, download any apps or anything, but I found it curious that Rob would respond on camera sometimes to people posting that I couldn't see their posts. Even more curious is that I could see some of the responses he was getting. He missed a bunch of responses and hearts that I could see while he was washing dishes and grabbing ingredients. I won't be the only one who's surprised that a James Beard nominated chef actually does his own dishes. Rob, I found you engaging, entertaining and funny on camera. You're lucky, because I don't think that's a talent that can be trained for. Many "celebrity chefs" talk very haltingly while trying to cook at the same time. Martha Stewart is one and so is Lydia Bastianich. I'm not a celebrity chef for sure, but when my husband was trying to engage me in conversation tonight between cleaning up the stove from lightly frying homemade tortillas for enchiladas and frying zucchini as the first course, I told him we had to talk later because I was too busy. I notice myself talking very haltingly when I'm trying to cook multiple things, and I can get so irritated and distracted by it. So much respect to you, sir. I think YouTube might get you more exposure, although you seem to enjoy the live interaction on Periscope. People can leave comments and questions on YouTube, and you could come back and respond later instead of in the middle of dinner service. Also, YT videos don't go "poof" after 24 hours. Just sayin'. One question? What was the red sort of bulbous thing on the shelf above your head whenever you leaned into the camera at the plating counter? Thank you for sharing this with us on eG.

There is another thread on stuffed cabbage rolls here along with my opinion on the best way to manage large heads where you may not want to waste any at post No. 132. Host's note: Thanks for the Crepe's specific post is this one.

Smithy, I wouldn't call any of the new-to-me products I spoke of above "disappointments" per se. They all have their merits, as I tried to express. The flavor on the southwest chicken poppers was actually excellent, but the crushed tortilla chip coating lost crispness while soaking up moisture from the filling and became tough and painfully abrasive. I really didn't want to get into it, but in the interest of clarity, I'll say that my and my husband's teeth and gums have seen better days. While we both ate and enjoyed crispy white corn tortilla chips with refried beans with melty cheese and salsa tonight, the coating on these appetizer balls from TJ's was off-putting, but tasted good. I'm still happy to have had an opportunity to try them, and younger folks may like them a lot. I just wouldn't buy them again when TJ's offers so many other delightful alternatives we enjoy more. The only reason I didn't rave about the fresh San Marzano's (they are good, and we had some in tacos tonight) is I have access to cheaper grape tomatoes that I prefer, but others may not. Same with the dark chocolate covered cranberry bits. I just happen to crave a lot of tartness to counter the sweet/bitter, so that one did let me down, but that is just one person's opinion, and I can see other people liking them a lot. They are not cloyingly sweet. Again, I was glad to be able to try them. I love TJ's and don't mean to dis them in any way. I was just giving my own personal honest opinion on some new stuff I tried and I had a lot of fun doing so. Rotus, I cook for only two usually, and I hate wasting anything. What I plan to do with the Cheese Spiral is cut off part of it to cook at a time and return the rest to the freezer. I have a thin, sharp boning/fillet knife that makes short work of frozen stuff. Given the cheese ooze factor, I think cuts of intact ropes, starting from the outside,rather than wedges is the way to go for a partial cook. Still haven't tried it, but will weigh in with my personal impressions when we do.

I made a TJ's run the other day, and have sampled a couple of items that I'm not sure how new to TJ's they are, but were new to me. We picked up the "Chicken Poppers" from the freezer. My husband selected these, and while they had good southwestern flavor, neither of us liked the coating of crushed tortilla chips. It just fought back too hard without being what I consider crispy or crunchy. Chicken is the first ingredient listed, but in little evidence in what we brought home. There were corn, spinach and creamy black beans in the filling, which was lovely, with just a little heat from jalapenos, but made me wish for more kick. There was cumin in there. I read the entire ingredients list, and there was nothing at all in it that shouldn't be there. They use white, blue and red (beet juice, not real red corn) tortillas in the unfortunate coating, so someone really tried. I don't mean to pan these things, they were not bad, but something neither of us would buy again from the same freezer case which also holds spanakopita triangles, mushroom turnovers and other delectables. I also found "Heavenly Villagio Marzano Tomatoes". I have never seen fresh San Marzano tomatoes before, and almost passed them by when my thrifty gene asserted itself. They are $3.99 for 10 oz., so expensive to me. I wound up buying them, because I'm sort of on a bucket list kick to eat or make new stuff to me before I no longer have the option. The package says, "A Mini San Marzano Plum Tomato". They are about 1/2" in diameter and a little less than 2" long, so bigger than grape tomatoes, but much smaller than the plums which I always thought San Marzanos were.They're a hothouse tomato grown in Mexico. While they are good tomatoes, I tasted them side by side with some grape tomatoes I had that I got from a mainstream grocery for $2.79 for the same 10 oz., and the cheaper ones came out on top. I had bought the cheaper ones a while ago, so they had time to develop flavor and ripen on the counter, but still, while I'm glad to check fresh San Marzano's off my list, they are also a would not buy again. Unless of course, I find true fresh Italian San Marzanos grown in the authentic terroir. Also new to me were dark chocolate covered cranberries. I was looking forward to a single unsweetened dried cranberry coated in dark chocolate, but alas, these are chopped up bits of sweetened cranberries combined with the chocolate and then probably dipped and glazed. Not much tartness comes through at all. Others may like these a lot, though, and I will certainly finish eating them. I also picked up many old favorites and the new 5 Cheese Greek Spiral. I haven't tried that yet, but I'm sure looking forward to it, and will report back when I do. If it's good, it will prove a real bargain, I think, given the time, effort and money I expend when making tiropita. Tiropita is supposed to have eggs, and this only has a little egg white powder as the second-to-last ingredient, so we shall see. I'm not going to let it prejudice me, though.

Yes, Chris, I just tried, and the page said "No broadcasts in the last 24 hours" for Rob. I did click on live broadcasts, and was able to watch, so you don't have to sign up for Twitter or Facebook or anything to watch these videos. I must say what was shown to me was very lame, which drove me off the site in a little over a minute, after two separate videos with no selection of what is fed to you at first, and then a scroll that goes too fast to really read. That's okay, because when you make an effort, most titles aren't descriptive of the content anyway. What I got was people jackassing, trying and failing to be funny. No wonder it took a while to catch on. That's no reflection on Rob's content (which unfortunately I couldn't see), and I'm very disappointed that I didn't get to virtually visit his restaurant with special commentary from the chef himself. Maybe if you do this again, Rob, you could give us an advance heads up on eG so more of us could catch it. I'm even more disappointed when I think that realistically, this snow storm slow night may have been the "perfect storm" to make this broadcast happen at all. (Not sure how to make a wistful emoticon.)

Hi suzilightning, I was intrigued by yet another tasty thing to do with zucchini. I had never heard of it. I searched and found plenty of recipes, most of which were sweet. I'm not a big sweet fan, but this recipe for a spicy relish sounded good to me. I also searched for Rea's Farm zucchini relish but only came up with your post where you used it on bison burgers. Would you be kind enough to describe this relish. It sounds promising. There may well be others interested, as many who read and post in this thread are inundated with summer zucchini from their gardens.

Smithy, Sorry your beer didn't live up to its promise. I thought it looked appealing for all the reasons you stated, and would have bought it too. Did you like the alligator from R.J. Gator's? I had it once in a restaurant and didn't care for it much. Another time I got hold part of a fresh tail from one of my husband's construction crews that accidentally ran over one on the way back from working in Florida, cooked it myself, and liked it a lot. They kept it on ice in transit, of course. I'll probably never see that again here in NC, but is sure was good.

I tried to find this with Mr. Google, and the closest I could find was this: http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/12/the-food-lab-how-to-roast-vegetables.html exerpt: Sweet potatoes naturally contain an enzyme that breaks down starches into maltose. That enzyme is most effective in the 135°F to 170°F temperature zone (any higher and it deactivates completely), which means that the longer a sweet potato spends in that zone, the sweeter it becomes. This may explain why I like squash and sweet potatoes cooked in the microwave which speeds them through the starch to sugar conversion zone as fast as possible. I prefer a less sweet result, but it's very good information to have, so that you can manipulate your results to your liking.

Joy says don't sprout tomato seeds (same nightshade family as potato) and fava beans. Also seeds/beans intended to be planted may be treated with not just preservatives, but pesticides, fungicides, and other stuff you definitely do not want to eat. Make sure your sprouting seeds/beans are food grade.

I definitely like the ability to comment, and I find ratings of little value without discussion of why the rater placed that value on his/her rating. Comments alone would add a lot a value to me, since I could ask questions of the author before investing time and money in the ingredients. This group is a skilled and astute bunch of cooks, and when they put their heads together, can come up with very impressive culinary creations. I didn't like roasted cauliflower very much after reading the original rendition of the recipe, but after perusing the entire very long thread, with everyone's tips, tricks and refinements, it's one of my favorites. Also, remember, this is NOT Yelp. We know each other better, and a recommendation from one member may carry more weight than another based on our individual preferences and knowledge of the author's food philosophy and known practices. Even on Yelp, I have certain reviewers I know and look for their posts. I live in a much smaller community than, say, NYC where that strategy probably wouldn't work at all, but eG is an even smaller community than mine. It's fine with me if the ratings go away since so many members I like and respect seem to want them to. I understand it could be very hurtful to have a recipe you spent time and effort generously offering up rated badly. I agree that ratings do seem a little un-eG. When I first discovered the Cook-Offs, I was delighted that they were a think tank instead of a competition, which the topic title called immediately to mind. I am lobbying to keep the comments, because I think they add tremendous value. Edit: I believe most recipes are currently posted in the threads, and not in Recipe Gullet. Perhaps the ability to ask questions and discuss there would encourage more actual use of it and allow us to find them more easily?

Hi kayb, You need to make sure all your equipment including your hands are as clean as possible to start. Joy calls for 3 TBSP of sprouts measured into a 1 qt jar to make 1-1/2 c of sprouts, but I have found that that much dry mung beans CRAM my jar which is over a qt. when mature. I use 2 TBSP and it still fills the whole jar. It could well be different for alfalfa, which I've never tried, but only because I cant find the seeds in edible quality locally. 1. You pick over and rinse the beans. I find this easiest to do by measuring them into a plate dry, picking out anything iffy, putting into the jar, putting on the strainer lid, and then rinsing in there. 2. Then you add warm water. I have always used what I'd use to proof yeast and had success every time. Let this stand about 24 hours. 3. After the initial soak, dump out the soak water, and rinse your beans well with cool water. I rinse about three times. Then drain really, really well. Too much retained water will cause nasty stuff to grow, especially at first, before the seeds have gotten going. Once they do, they are capable of using excess water. When I start them out, I always brace my jar so it won't roll sideways, and prop up the bottom on an angle where all excess water drains out slowly in an area on my counter where a couple tablespoons of water aren't going to bother anything. Once they sprout roots and leaf shoots, you don't need to worry about draining so much. You will need to do the rinse/drain step twice a day until they are ready to eat. 4. Joy doesn't mention this step, but I'm adding it from experience. Once your beans have sprouted enough to have most of them cracking their outer hulls away from the beans, and this will be when the central roots and stalks are emerging, you need to remove the hulls. I don't like hulls in my sprouts, and if you wait until the beans start having small root branches and stalk branches, it will be much more difficult to extract the hulls. I do this by scrupulously cleaning my sink and stopper with soap and hot water, filling it with cool tap water and dumping the partially sprouted beans in. Many of the hulls just float off at this point and can be skimmed away. I like to gently extract every last hull sorting through them manually. I don't know how they do this step commercially, and it can't be the way I do it, or the product would cost a lot more. Also this is the point at which I discard any beans that are retarded in their development or look iffy along with the hulls. I have also read "somewhere" that to get mung bean sprouts to look like the commercial ones they must be sprouted in a dark closet. I sprout mine on the counter where they're exposed to very filtered sunlight, so they so develop tiny leaf buds at the top which start to green and some branching rootlets. It's virtually impossible to get all the hulls off at that point. I do not use the closet method, because I'm afraid it might encourage something nasty to grow. 5. Joy says that it takes about five days from start to finish, and I have found this true with mung beans. Once you have mature sprouts, free them from their jar into a produce bag and refrigerate. Use within a few days. There is also a note that if you sprout soy beans, you should cook them at least briefly (about a minute) to neutralize an enzyme that interferes with digestibility. They specifically state that mung sprouts may be enjoyed raw. Happy bean sprouting.

I understand the cynicism. I too know folks who rarely cook, and some who live on a steady diet of tasty (to them), but horribly unhealthy stuff, and never worry about it. I also think that the behemoths in the agribusiness industry are being moved in the right direction by consumer demand. The younger generation grew up with the internet where it is so easy to learn about things, share information and stir up interest in and support for changing something, and very hard to keep dirty secrets. They are a demographic segment that is the darling of the Madison Avenue suits. Even if young people don't cook much, they still have to eat, and that is why companies like Amy's and Chipotle are sending shock waves through the corporate boardrooms. As always in America, it is all about the bottom line. I, for one, am so glad that things are looking way up for the health of consumers and the treatment of the meat animals raised for our tables. I hope the progress keeps up. I believe that it will. It takes time to get a morbidly obese cat like McD's, Monsanto or ConAgra moving, but I really think that it is too late for them to close the door on this, because that horse has definitely left the barn. It's a maverick they hate, but they can no longer ignore it. For quite a while on most days, a news article or two about the movement for better, healthier food and better treatment of food animals comes across my radar. Some of them have been in the Wall Street Journal. Here's an AP article link from my local TV station in Raleigh from today: http://www.wral.com/consumers-behind-accelerated-shift-to-cage-free-eggs-in-us/15105922/ As these better practices become more mainstream, I think the prices will come down too. I realize it will take some time, but I think the momentum is there at this point. I see progress daily, and I am looking forward to more. Education and free access to information is such a beautiful thing!

Very interesting thread! Thanks, Kim Shook for starting it and everyone who contributed. I love the idea of being able to add peanut flavor without the usual accompanying high fat. Where did you find yours? Where could one find the unadulterated product like Kim has, hopefully without resorting to online sources? I have access to pan-Asian (Korean/Chinese/Thai/Japanese, and I'm sure others that I'm too ignorant to recognize), Indian, Mediterranean and Latin American grocers locally as well as some halal markets I haven't checked out yet. Is this a product of an established culture or a Modernist Cuisine ingredient? Either way, I'm intrigued.

Norm, I love your DIL's little white lie to get your sister to relinquish her hold on hosting the TG family meal (which she'd already agreed to). I always like a light, but delicious option to break up a heavy holiday meal. Asparagus is considered special by many, and it's very delicious grilled or roasted or even boiled. I also like a salad with light, but festive ingredients. Boston/butter/Bibb lettuce is expensive, but an excellent candidate for the holiday table. I know it isn't the time of year for it, and the weather may prohibit, but if you have someone in your party who likes to and is competent to grill (you can't do it as the host), and the weather permits, I have an idea for you. Grilled veggies: like asparagus, onion, zucchini, eggplant, peppers, or mushrooms. Just tossed with a little olive oil before grilling, sprinkled with a bit of kosher salt after cooking, I think they might make a delightful and light addition to your holiday table.

Hmm... I have grown brussels sprouts, and been astounded by how the insects love chomping them. I also hate to waste anything, and adore artichokes. I have tossed many a stalk onto the compost pile, but I won't again, not before getting the "marrow". Thanks to everyone who contributed to this piece of my continuing education.