Thanks for the Crepes

I don't know about that. I really like a well stocked salad bar where you can select exactly what you want from good ingredients. I remember some great ones like at the Bombay Bicycle Club in Memphis many years ago, seafood, a forty pound block of good cheddar, many lettuces, prepared salads ... They are practically gone now around here. But then, I've always preferred to wait on myself rather than twiddle my thumbs while someone else gets around to it. I'll probably always be like that until I have to use a walker or wheelchair or mercifully check out in my sleep. Whether the $25,000 entry fee is annual or lifetime membership, that is unreasonable in my opinion. I would expect to see a lot of emirs in this restaurant.

dcarch, I have also been intrigued by the longevity and hardiness of the Inuits and Aleuts in such a very harsh and sparse environment with a very limited growing season for plant foods and not much sun in their long winters. I attribute some of it to the rich Vitamin D content that they cannot obtain from the sun for extended months in their traditional seafood. It's also rich in B12. I think the activeness of their lifestyle also contributes. I do not know what they do to get adequate Vitamin C, but they must be doing something that works for them. Evolution finds a way for life to continue. Life is so persistent and fascinating, with creatures that live in the darkness of very deep almost lightless seas, taking much of their energy from volcanic vents on the ocean floor in temperatures that would kill us humans, weeds that create and spring up through cracks in cement, and the Eskimo people. It is a journey to an inevitable death for all of us who are alive, and it's just stupid to tempt fate by overindulging in things we know are bad for us. I, for one, am going to wring as much pleasure out of my journey as I can.

I'll be following this topic with interest, and hope to learn a lot. I'm afraid I may not have too much to contribute though, since my favorite way to enjoy winter squash is very simply nuked or baked with only butter and salt, no sugar or spices. Butternut is my favorite, and I like acorn, but it is waterier and not as flavorful. I can eat pumpkin pie, but since the 70's when I ate sweet potato pie at the Plough, Inc. employee lunchroom and discovered the best "pumpkin" pie I ever ate was actually sweet potato, I eschew pumpkin. I've tried making soup mostly with my favored butternut, but even homemade good chicken broth seems an adulteration and not a nice one to me. I bought kabocha once at the Asian grocery, and was very disappointed. It was so dry and grainy, I just didn't like it. Maybe I got a bad one? I have nothing to compare my one experience to. I'll be listening and reading for any tips to make kabocha good. Delicata sounds very intriguing, but I've never run across it. Our neighbors across the road in Vermont, used to raise Hubbard squash which are huge, but I've never tasted them. In Googling, I found this kid's rhyme about raising Hubbards in VT: https://books.google.com/books?id=h0tFAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA100&dq=Hubbard+Squash#v=onepage&q=Hubbard%20Squash&f=false And yes, the cutworms are scary, two-ounce creatures! And here's some more info on Hubbards: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-hubbard-squash.htm I always found it amazing that something so huge could develop in our short growing season up there. We tried watermelons several times with no success.

I think people have the "Sleeper" syndrome: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070707/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 What can we trust? The latest is that eggs and cholesterol in general were not the demons we told you they were. I have always been skeptical that shrimp, so seemingly fat free are high in cholesterol, but that is the information out there. So my eating plan is to enjoy myself, eat a wide variety of foods, and eat my vegetables like mom and grandma always told me. Happy eating folks, and live long and prosper!

sartoric, I love kale chips and make them the same way you do except I cook them longer. I like mine extra dry and crispy. It's the only good use I have found for the tough overgrown kale I can get at the grocery store. Such a lovely guilt-free nutritious snack. I used to grow my own and pick it much smaller, and it's good sauteed or boiled or in a salad, but once it gets too mature, the only way I like it is chips. Every time I make it I remind myself how much money I'm saving. The commercially available chips are crazy-expensive. Also use a lot less salt than you think you need. The first time I made them I failed to compensate for evaporation.

More spinach lasagna tonight with a Greek salad, garlic bread, and strawberry banana shortcake for desert. The Greek salad was made with cos lettuce, tomato, thinly sliced unpeeled cucumber, black olives (just California from TJ's; I had no kalamata) and pepperocini peppers, no dressing. It didn't need it. This was topped with crumbled Valbreso "white sheep's milk cheese". It's French, and they are so tetchy about the branding for their own cheeses, it's illegal over there to call it "feta", but that is what it is. If you get a chance to try it, I highly recommend it. I get it at a Mediterranean grocery in my neighborhood. http://valbresocheese.com/about/ I have never understood feta on a pizza, because the grocery store ones are so dry, but I would try it with Valbreso. It is creamy and I think it might melt nicely. The garlic bread was the last of the olive oil/rosemary boule doused in freshly crush garlic butter and griddled. I had a new head of garlic that is very juicy and definitely this year's crop. I needed to use up the last of the strawberries and realized I had whipped cream, so strawberry shortcake. I like a lot of fruit with this dish, and I felt like I didn't have quite enough strawberries, so mentally inventoried the fruits on hand, and thought about the two ripe bananas. After Googling to check if this was a totally off-the-wall idea, I decided to go ahead with it, and boy, was it good! My mother used to make strawberry shortcake with those terrible little sponge cakes sometimes found by the strawberries in the produce department, but I like to bake up very lightly sweetened biscuits and split them while still very warm. I have taken out a package of ground chuck to thaw for tomorrow's cottage pie. Edit: I just noticed that on the Valbreso English language web site, it refers to this cheese as feta all over the place, making me look like an idiot, but trust me, nowhere on the actual imported can is the word "feta".

One reason that turkey is so popular for the Thanksgiving meal is that large groups tend to get together to eat at this holiday. It's the cheapest way to feed a crowd protein that I know of when many stores are running specials as their loss leader at the holidays. I can't even find turkey around here outside that time unless I go way out of my way and pay much more. When you are feeding family, especially if the hosting responsibilities rotate from household to household, some consider it bad form for the more prosperous member of the clan to have lobster or prime rib, knowing that the less fortunate member who hosts next year can't afford to feed the crowd that way. Personally I think this is dumb, but just sayin'. I actually learned to like turkey after learning how to turn out a moist, tender delicious one. Thank you Reynolds oven bags and whoever invented the turkey fryer. Turkey fryers also keeps the emergency rooms in black ink, so what's not to like? I love fried turkey, but I'm way askeerd of the fryer. Many people only eat turkey one or two times a year, so they look forward to it. It makes absolutely no sense to cook even a small turkey for a small household. A capon now feeds my holiday crew and we still have leftovers, but they are reasonable. Cooked turkey freezes okay for a short time, but how much turkey divan, turkey tetrazzini, sandwiches, and so on can two people eat before getting sick of it. I have wasted my share of freezer burnt turkey on the coons even after feeding my dwindling family and sending leftovers home with them. I'm lucky in that since my family has become so very small and most are adventurous eaters, and my husband is just as happy with a well-turned chili dog as an expensive paella I spent many hours on, I can serve whatever I please for holidays now. I understand the attachment to turkey, but am thankful I need no longer adhere to it.

Good to see you here, sartoric! Very nice first post in the Dinner thread. I would have loved to have been a guest at you table. I'm looking forward to sharing more of your culinary life, and have been very jealous of the gorgeous seafood some of your fellow Aussies have posted about. Love your avatar :-)

Shelby, Great-looking cabbage rolls! On the photo of your mise for the filling, it looks like the ground venison and eggs at twelve o'clock, uncooked rice at 9, lightly sauteed onion and celery at 6, but what's at three? Sauerkraut? Freezing or boiling is fine and easy if you're willing to sacrifice a whole head of cabbage at one go. Because I cook for only two, I usually want less than that, and the inner leaves are not suitable as wraps anyway. What I do is slice off the core of the raw head close enough to the base of the leaves to leave the outer spiral of leaves loose at the bottom. Then the raw leaves can be gently coaxed from the bottom intact away from the head. Cut the core again, remove the next tier, and repeat until you have enough to complete the recipe. Then you can return what's left of your cabbage raw to the fridge where it will happily live for quite awhile waiting you to make coleslaw or something else. You will have to either freeze or briefly blanch the cabbage wrappers to make them pliable enough to wrap with my method, but there's less waste. Of course the finished rolls freeze well, so folks might want to just go ahead and use the whole head anyway. I use this same technique with iceberg and other closely headed lettuces. They last much longer than if you just tear out pieces and return the ripped leaves to the fridge. I love wedge salads, but rarely make them, because I know if I cut two wedges, I must very quickly use up the rest of the head or it will go to waste.

Tonight I made a white spinach and artichoke lasagna. Barilla pasta, bechamel with a little Chardonnay, spinach with sauteed onion and garlic, a bit of crushed red pepper, canned artie hearts from TJ's sliced into about 10 thin wedges lengthwise from each piece, and layered into the pan with a middle layer of large curd creamy cottage cheese mixed with a couple eggs, oregano and parmesan cheese. No tomato and no mozzarella. Topped with bechamel and parm. It smelled really good cooking, but unfortunately, I believe I oversalted at least one of the components. Husband doesn't agree, and I'm didn't kick it off my plate, but Note to Self: when you add parm and wine, cut the salt! I use cottage cheese in lasagna by choice. I tried ricotta one time. It's a bit more expensive, and I had always coveted it, but was disappointed when I tried it. Then again, there are many grades of ricotta, so perhaps I shouldn't give up on this whey cheese.

Too bad about your jalapenos, Tri2Cook. Your stuffed jalapenos sound really good, and it's a shame there was no flavor in the peppers. We had that problem for a while, and then we acquired quite a large Latino immigrant population. I'm lucky enough to be able to get good hot jalapenos, tomatillios, nopales and just about anything else I want for Latin American ingredients here. I try to taste before cooking, because the husband can't take much heat, and usually scrape out at least half of the jalapeno membranes and seeds. Dang near killed myself with some fresh salsa I made for myself one time with the full strength seeds in. I don't know if you have any Latino markets in Ontario, but if you do, you should be able to find hot jalapenos. They do not put up with our dumbed-down Gringo peppers.

Welcome Richard! I enjoy and learn from all of our members, most of whom are U.S. based, but I especially enjoy tales of cooking, culture, food markets and ingredients, and techniques from far away countries. Oh brother, can I relate to the Trial and Error Cooking Academy! I found myself stumbling around the kitchen cooking for a family of four at only nine years old after my first stepmother died. There wasn't a cookbook in the house, and if it wasn't for the kindly Italian lady across the street who mentored me, I really cannot imagine what I'd have done. I'm still making my share of errors because I like to experiment and go on cooking adventures, but with a lot of help over the years I keep having more and more successes. You will find lot's interesting, nice people who are passionate about food and willing to lend a hand to help out on your culinary journey. I'm so glad to see you here, and I'm looking forward to hearing about what's going on in your culinary life in Spain. Please don't be a stranger.

huiray, I really like the look of your rice in the above photo. What kind is it, and how do you achieve such separation on the grains? My rice can turn out sticky even when I saute a bit in fat before adding the water. Not something I'd kick off the plate, but your's looks especially good tonight.

The chicken enchiladas with homemade tortillas turned out really, really well. I put a few of the carrots from the stew, grated muenster cheese, scallions from the deck planter, chili powder, Goya Adobo con pimienta and some of the gelled broth from the stew into the filling with the pulled chicken. I like to first grill and then lightly fry and blot the tortillas for enchiladas. Doused the rolls with canned Las Palmas enchilada sauce, baked and added more shredded muenster on top for the last five minutes, and served with shredded lettuce salad with avocado, grape tomato and Pancho's "Mexican" copycat dressing. Tonight I cooked a thick ribeye over charcoal along with zucchini, white onion, and some thick sirloins my brother brought over and wanted me to cook for him. I nuked some big Russets, served them with butter and sour cream, and this amounted to a very tasty meal. Who ever heard of tough ribeye? The past two times I sprang for it was. I was so thankful the ribeye was tender as well as full of flavor this time, and pleased that my brother said his sirloin was cooked perfectly. We roasted marshmallows after dinner. Tomorrow I think we'll polish off the last of the chicken enchiladas with the rest of the steak sliced up for tacos and maybe some refried beans with cheese.

cyalexa, That recipe for claufoutis will make a sweet, eggy, not very deep chocolate result, and be more custard than cake. It's not what I thought you were looking for, but that's not to say it wouldn't be good. I am sure it is if it came from St. Julia. It also eliminates the problem of excess moisture trapped with the fruit underneath an upside-down-style cake because the fruit is placed on top cut side up so moisture evaporates into the oven.

toolprincess, Not Grand Asia, though that is a nice, huge market. The last time I got lobsters at GA, though, they were muddy tasting, like they came from a dirty tank or something. I have NEVER not loved a lobster besides those. "My" pan-Asian market is S-Mart at 1000 Ryan Rd. in Cary. http://www.yelp.com/biz/s-mart-cary-2 I can and do walk there frequently. It's Korean owned, so if you're looking for Korean ingredients, it might be worth your trip, but don't expect anything on the scale of Grand Asia. I have found some really interesting stuff at S-Mart, and I love looking around and learning about the exotic ingredients. It's always an adventure for me. I found muscadine grapes there, which I've never seen in another commercial setting, and wonderful fresh water chestnuts, which are a pain to peel, but have ruined me for the canned variety for life. Also Korean melon, which I tried for the first time in my life and did not care for (too flat-note sweet), but you can't have a food adventure without taking a few risks, can you?

Personally, I would enjoy the regular yellow cake usually used with pineapple upside down cake better than chocolate with fresh figs to allow the fig flavor to shine though more. I'm quite jealous of your abundance of figs, cyalexa. That said, I know I am speaking eG blasphemy here, but I adjust baking recipes to my own taste without hesitation now, but I've been baking for about 50 years, if you count "helping" my mom when I was eight and younger. I've reduced sugar in cake recipes that sound too sweet to me, and the world (or the cake) does not collapse, and I've enjoyed the results. I've also frequently added cocoa to chocolate cake mixes and then adjust the water until it looks right with good results and deeper chocolate flavor. This technique also serves to cut the sweetness. Cocoa is a finely milled powder like flour, you must remember though, that since it contains no gluten, it probably won't help support the loft of the cake. If I were trying to do what you're trying to do, I'd start with a chocolate cake recipe I already knew and liked and closest to the texture and flavor you're trying to achieve and adjust the liquid and fat down a little to compensate for the liquid from the figs and the butter from the upside-down-style topping usually placed in the bottom of the cake pan with the fruit before the batter is poured. I don't worry at all anymore about cutting sugar by up to half in cake recipes. I've never had a bad result, but I am not a pastry chef either, and we have some very talented ones as members here. Maybe someone will chime in with more technical advice for you. Good luck with your project, and enjoy your figs. *Sigh* I almost never see them fresh, and I love them dearly.

I got so hungry while viewing some of the professional quality photos and reading about people's dinners, and looking at the stunning food from BKEats' new restaurant, I had to have a snack quick. I tore up 3 slices of good processed white American cheese, added a couple Tablespoons of hot commercial salsa, shook in plenty of crushed red pepper, added a couple TBSP milk, and nuked for a minute and a half. I used up the tail end of a bag or tortilla chip crumbs which are fine with cheese dip, but not with salsa to me. Not gourmet, but I have to say that for something that took less than five minutes to create, it was delicious!

Like ElainaA, I also stewed a chicken tonight. It was a humongous one over 6 pounds, and I hauled out my seldom used Club cast aluminum Dutch oven. I put garlic, white onion, carrot, celery, potatoes, turmeric, parsley and thyme in it, and it was very satisfying. I served it with very good olive oil/rosemary bread sliced from a boule (purchased). It hasn't snowed here, but we're having very unseasonably cold weather, especially the nights. Brr...! I have a ton of meat left after I deboned the carcass, so I think chicken enchiladas tomorrow with homemade tortillas from maseca. The other day I made pepper steak, which was also a hit. The Asian store has shaved raw rib eye for a couple bucks more a pound than ground chuck at the mainstream grocery. I used that, green bell peppers, white onion, nice Roma tomatoes, and I have always like to throw some celery into the mix. I also like to shake in a little crushed red pepper, not enough to make it hot, but it adds and interesting note. I sent servings out to the neighbor who is nice enough to let us borrow his vehicle to go to the grocery sometimes and to my brother. They liked it too. It's a very hearty-seeming dish to be so vegetable-heavy and healthy. I serve it over white rice, as is usual. It was crisp-tender on the veggies this time like I always shoot for, and sometimes overcook a bit. I picked up a tote of McIntosh apples the other day (my favorite), and we've been munching on these as dessert, and really enjoying their crisp, tart sweetness. I'm so glad McIntosh are more widely available now.

Congratulations Daniel! The reviews I've read have been nearly 100% raving. I wish I could come up and try your amazing-looking porchetta or a meat and cheese plate. How will you be doing the BBQ shrimp on the po' boy? I'm so happy for you.

Chris, I've learned a lot from Kenji and the Serious Eats website, and I'm really looking forward to learning even more by following your adventures here. Thanks for sharing them with us!

If you have outdoor wildlife, which I do, and I battled with them for a decade or so to try to keep them out of my outdoor cans, you can just feed them your meat bones and leftovers directly. I place it on the edge of the woods, and it is all cleaned up by morning. They used to climb into the outdoor trash can, rip open the bags, and strew paper and plastic trash everywhere to get into the cans because they smelled the meat bones and other edibles (to them). Now I wash pretty much all the trash, because I have to do so anyway for our great recycling program. My one indoor trashcan receives only what the recycling program doesn't accept, and adds up to one bag of trash a week. Rinsing styrofoam containers and other trash the recycling program doesn't accept like plastic film that has come into contact with food, and throwing edibles (to them) wildlife keeps the open trash container from stinking during the week and pets are not tempted. Just saying, an alternative way to solve your problem. But if you live in apartment, it may not be viable for you.

ElainaA, Here's another one that wishes they could have joined your party. Great food and great conversation with interesting folks. Shelby, I'm so happy you were able to make the splurge on what looks like some awesome seafood. I know it's difficult and expensive to find in Kansas. Judging from your photos you did great justice to premium ingredients. King crab is a favorite of mine. I appreciate it even more after watching several episodes of "Deadliest Catch". Those guys go through the ringer to bring us this product. How did you like the fiorelli? I've only run across it one time as a dried pasta, and to me, it has the same problem as dried farafelle. Because some of the pasta is a single layer, and some is folded into itself so that it is thicker, I find that I must cook the thinner layer well past al dente in order to cook the white core left in the multiple layers. It's not for me, and I find it a shame, because I find both of these shapes of pasta very beautiful, especially the flower-like fiorelli. It may work better with fresh pasta, but I have never experienced that. liuzhou, I hope you are better soon. That is such a bummer to take medicine that is supposed to fix your problem, and have it make you even worse. Your "beautiful people" pepper looks something like what we call cayenne here with the pebbly, not smooth surface to the flesh, and it's about the same size. Yours look like dead on to what I was gifted from a neighbor who grew them. Here's Google images on cayenne, but some are clearly red jalepenos (the plumper, smooth fleshed peppers with more rounded ends): https://www.google.com/search?q=cayenne+pepper&espv=2&biw=1097&bih=546&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CJ0BEIkeahUKEwinnc75g7zIAhWT74AKHYIeCzc liamsaunt and cyalexa, Very delicious-looking homemade pizzas! Tonight I made nachos for dinner with a blend of colby and cheddar. I didn't have ground beef in the house, with which I usually make the nachos, cooked up with chopped white onion and fresh green jalapeno and plenty of seasoning. I did have a can of chili, so I made it with that in hot dishes on the side, because I despise soggy nachos that some restaurants serve. It was my first time trying nachos with chili, and I prefer my normal method with the seasoned ground beef. It was okay, and the husband liked it better than I did. I especially don't like restaurant nachos with a gloopy cheese sauce that make the nachos soggy before it even leaves the kitchen. They must have real natural cheese for me to enjoy them. I also have to have lettuce and tomato as de riguer and we also had Trader Joe's excellent canned whole olives in the dish, sliced by yours truly. I can't stand sliced black olives from a can. I would love the convenience, but they seem to use substandard olives with a taste I can only describe as dusty. It would have been nice to have some sour cream dusted with some good chili powder I have, but I didn't have sour cream either. I don't think I'll make nachos this way again. They seem very popular on restaurant menus, which is where I got the idea.

Thanks, GlorifiedRice, I don't think I've seen these, but I have access to all sorts of mystifying veggies in my local markets, many of which aren't labeled in English. If I ever see them, I'll know what they are, and will definitely grab some.

My mom was an RN, with a mostly absent navy officer husband. I remember making "Fruit Cocktail Cake" with her as a small child. It amounted to dumping an undrained can of the fruit into a box of cake mix. Interestingly, many of the responders to this thread have similar backgrounds with indifferent-to-food potential mentors. Maybe that provides some insight into why we are so focused on food now? My real food mentor was Mrs. Polito who lived across the street in Vermont, after my mom died and then the stepmother died. She grew stuff in her garden and shared her recipes and gardening knowledge with me. We canned many quarts of tomatoes together, and I'm sure she's the one that inspired my passion for all things food.