Thanks for the Crepes

DanM, The only way I've ever made them was with carrots, celery and jalepeno in soup. Not photogenic, but mmm! Especially with my cornbread in winter or skillet corn cakes in summer. If I was faced with using up a lot in a short time without becoming boring, I'd consider cooking them up drier and spiced in empanadas or samosas.

We all make mistakes in the kitchen and elsewhere in life. What defines us as persons is how we recognize, accept, learn from and pull out of said mistakes. I once knew a wise old Southern gentleman, married to a boss I split ways with in 1993. He told me, "If you're not making mistakes, it just means you aren't doing anything." The world is not as nice a place without him. Edited to add my Bad Cook moments: Worst one was when I was only seventeen so, no senility issue, at all in play. I had an adult male dog who accompanied me almost daily on horseback rides, trained to heel to the horse on the short country road stints we did to get to trails. He was thin and muscular, very fit, so I'd always drain fat from ground beef, or other meats into his kibble. One day I had a mental lapse, and instead of straining just the fat into his food, for some reason, I dumped the whole kaboodle in. I forget what I did to salvage the human dinner, maybe I had more beef? I remember the dog ate extremely well that night. Other moments usually include cooking too much to my taste when I'm also cooking for others. Frequently this involves too much capsacin. You can add hot sauce after the cook, but in order to extract full flavor from crushed red pepper it must be cooked in the dish. The recent lasagna I made was universally nixed by 5 other eaters, only one of which was a kid. I adored it. I also dreadfully overspiced a spaghetti sauce when my husband had friends over as dinner guests. While husband bragged on my cooking prowess, I created a sauce that was too bold-flavored even for me. Oregano was the culprit here, and this was 38 years ago, but still etched into the memory banks. Other long ago incidents involved bleeding into the food after a knife injury. This hasn't happened in a couple decades since I switched to a filet knife for everything except breaking down watermelons and the like. I find my thin little knife a precision instrument instead of a blunt one. If only we were somehow able to amass the experience, knowledge and wisdom of age in the vigor of youth, there'd be no limit to what was possible.

Samsoe cheese from Denmark is frequntly holey, as is fontina from Italy.

liuzhou, Perhaps these are cranberry beans? Here's a link to images from Google: https://www.google.com/search?q=cranberry+beans&espv=2&biw=1097&bih=546&site=webhp&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0CLQBEIkeahUKEwiS0qO0mpnHAhVIig0KHSBvAPA Marcella Hazan recommends these for her Pasta e Fagioli recipe, so I looked them up to see if I could find them. Never have, but I'll know what I'm looking at if I ever do.

I've had muenster cheese in the past with little teeny holes in it that was very flavorful and enjoyable. I have part of brick of muenster in the fridge, and while it melts really well, it is bland, bland, bland, and this is from a person who never developed a palate for stinky cheese. This muenster is like a fattier, more solid version of cottage cheese, without even as much salt. You can even see curds in it, sort of. The Swiss cheese I've bought lately isn't quite as bland as the muenster I'm currently working through, but I remember much, much better Swiss from past experience that had more and/or larger holes. That deep nutty flavor seems to be a victim of the non-holeyness. Holeyness seems not to be a word, but you know what I mean. Bring on the "contaminants" that have not harmed anyone in century upon century, as far as I'm concerned.

Norm, Your food looks great, and I love your serving dishes! Edited: Nothing spectacular for dinner, but we enjoyed it, and while I'm here ... Fried zucchini from neighbor's garden and a chef salad with cucumbers, bell peppers and tomatoes from said garden with iceberg lettuce, boiled eggs and shredded cheddar. I had homemade thousand island for mine and husband had commercial ranch on his.

Franci, Your savoiardi look wonderfully light, absorbent, but sturdy. Perfect for tiramisu. I would love a link to your recipe for ladyfingers. Even if it's in Italian, maybe I can use Google translate to figure it out. I love tiramisu, and it's expensive and not very available around here. I can't find ladyfingers commercially anywhere. I've tried substituting sponge cake fingers, but they are a very poor stand-in IMO.

Wow, Norm! I have to say that is the best-looking hot dog roll I have ever seen. I am sure you are going to say that you got it from a local artisan bakery, or your talented cake-baking daughter made it, but on the outside chance us unwashed masses could get our hands on it, I'm compelled to ask where you got it.

Thanks for your video, GlorifiedRice. Bhavna is adorable, and provides a very good shortcut to this ancient dish. They seem a bit thick and lumpy. I'm still left thinking that the paper dosas I love are better had from restaurants, and I'm extremely disappointed after a bunch of research on this subject. Perhaps they (restautants) have expensive and better equipment that enables them to crank out these thin lovelies? I am quite used to being able to make something better at home than is available in restaurants, at least the ones I can afford. That's usually because I put more love and passion into the effort. This is one instance where I have to still agree with Suvir Sarin. I'm still very grateful for your input on this subject. I've bookmarked your post, and next time I try this, it will be a guide, but I'll try to find urad dal flour at the Indian grocery.

blue_dolphin, Your roasted cauliflower looks just like what I prefer. And you're right; eating it directly off the pan as soon as it cools enough so that you don't burn your fingers or mouth is the way to go for optimum quality and crispiness. I can happily eat any leftovers the next day right from the fridge, though. I still love the flavor, although any crispness is gone, and to me, flavor is not improved by heating, and microwaving makes it even soggier. MetsFan5, Sorry the technique I suggested didn't work out for you. There are many others in the body of this thread. It's just the one I like best, and hoped you'd enjoy it too. Perhaps you might enjoy better Indian deep-fried Gobi pakora or bhajji. These are crispier, but perhaps not as healthy, and for myself, I just really enjoy cauliflower roasted in the way I described and as pictured above by blue_dolphin. Again, thanks to eGullet for a much treasured dish I would not have known about otherwise.

Bojangles is better than KFC these days, and DTBarton is right, stick to the chicken and biscuits. The sides are not so great. It's still not as good as Popeyes's, which isn't afraid to put out a spicier chicken and better sides, but we no longer have any near us. I guess mainstream folks are not up for the delicious peppery flavor in Popeye's Cajun crispy, juicy fried chicken, which is best of the bunch for fast food, with Bojangles coming in a distant second. Has anyone else noticed how Bojangles now sells the smallest little banty pieces they can find? They look only slightly larger than a Cornish hen cut up and fried anymore.

I've read some market research. Maybe I was directed to it by this thread? I'm not willing to revisit it, but it seems to support that the Madison Avenue overpaid suits think that young folks are attracted to a crowded, noisy environment, and are more willing to spend their over-abundant bucks in them. I don't even dispute it. When I was young, I also liked those surroundings. Now I really don't at all. I love peace and quiet while I enjoy a meal, and seek those kinds of restaurants out. adey73, Since we are going there, I will qualify the loudest restaurant patrons I have ever experienced as Latin Americans. I have a favorite El Salvadoran restaurant for the food, but I can't really eat there. They blast TV's, the kids run around screaming with NO supervision, and the adults yell at each other over the din. I get takeout and adore it. The pupusas and huarachachas are favorites. They offer cabeza, tripa, salichicha, lengua, barbacoa de res o chivo, asada, many more, and the best carnitas I've had. I just can't eat in. I have a more mainstream Mexican or maybe Tex-Mex place that is quiet, but sometimes they have mariachi musicians that come tableside and muted Latina musica over a sound system. Booths are deep and comfortable, and patrons are much more subdued, enjoying their dinners and minding their kids. This is where we eat in. Major bonus: it's the only place in town to find hanger steak, which is my favorite behind perhaps a good rib eye. There's room in the world for the young folks' restaurants, of course, but if I'm eating in, please bring on the peace.

Chris, I have no idea, but I'd be very interested in any explanations, because my seltzer doesn't stay carbonated well overnight even tightly-capped with the bottle squished to get most air out and then placed in the fridge, especially if there's not much left in the two-liter plastic bottle. I actually like tonic water, but avoid it because of the sweetener. I Googled, and apparently if you try hard enough unsweetened versions are available. Do you mean that you left the uncapped bottle out on the counter overnight, and it still maintained carbonation, or am I misunderstanding?

MetsFan5, The way I enjoy roasted cauliflower is to just wash the head, turn stem down and shake like crazy over the sink, then turn stem up and vigorously shake dry again. Pat dry with a clean cloth or paper towel, then set it on the counter stem down for 10 or 15 minutes while the oven preheats. When it's drained and air dried, take it and set it stem down on the cutting board. If the head's unstable, you may want to trim off a bit of the stem so it's flush with the rest of the head. Slice top to bottom of the head (perpendicular to board) with a good knife a quarter inch or less if you can manage it, starting from one side of the head. Slice off one side, Then rotate the head, and slice off the other, so you have something more solid to hold onto, then slice the middle. This results in mostly crumbles on the sides and gets less and less crumbly toward the center where you'll get some whole head-sized "steaks". The crumbles are messy, but those are the brown popcorny bits you are after, so these are A-okay. Then I take the slices, pop them into a large recycled produce bag, pour in a bit of olive oil, and shake real good again. First I make sure there's air in there, so the pieces can move freely. Then I get the air out, and sort of massage them in the bag, to make sure those that may have gotten stuck together get their share of oil, and it takes less oil than you may think. I use 2-3 Tbsp, depending on size of head, and it's a gracious plenty. I dump these out divided on two cookie sheets for a whole head. I try to distribute the small crumbles to the center of the sheets and the steaks and larger pieces, stem side out, to the edges of the pan where they get more heat at least in my conventional oven. Then lightly salt and pepper on one side. Again this takes much less than one may think because the cauliflower is going to dehydrate and shrink in the oven. I over salted the first time. Bake, and set the timer every fifteen minutes, take out and flip the pieces, rotating pans, til golden and delicious with some blackened bits. I learned all this from this thread somewhere that took me days to read, but the above condensed info was critical for transforming a vegetable I don't care for much otherwise into something craveable. It's now part of my rotation whenever I spot a nice cauliflower in a store. People have compared it to french fries, and who doesn't love french fries? Or popcorn?

JoNorvelleWalker, Good luck finding your can of cranberry sauce. I stock hundreds of food items, many of them perishable. I usually do a good job of using up the perishable stuff with little to no waste, but in making room for non-perishables ... They can tend to get pushed behind other items on the pantry shelves. I also have a shelf that hangs over a door in an upstairs bedroom with spices and canned goods. Sometimes I drive myself a bit nuts with pretty frantic searches, but I always know it's here somewhere, and usually I find it the first try; if not the second. Occasionally it takes a while. I can definitely relate to your experience. You'll find it.

This happens with the wine list too. It really makes no sense at all when you consider that restaurants make the very major bulk of their profit from alcoholic drink sales?

huiray, Thanks for the links. I think from this we can conclude that no one can agree on what chow mein (which translates to English) as "fried noodles" actually is, or even if it includes noodles. No wonder I was confused. I searched the comments from your first link specifically for "gwailo" and came up with nothing. I Googled, and found a more common translation spelling of "gweilo", but still came up with nothing again in the comments, except a definition from Google to mean foreigners to Canton with a history of racially deprecatory use, but I didn't find any offense in what you said. I guess you mean foreign or native versions? I came up with my own version that is crave-inducing, as apparently zillions of others have too, so I couldn't be happier. It's also a flexible recipe so I can use what I have on hand. So I'll be making this lots of times. I can't wait until the mung beans sprouts are ready! As to your second links, isn't it wonderful that ingredients and techniques have spread across the globe and allowed us all to share our culinary and horticultural knowledge?

ElainaA, I've no idea about how you feel about cats, but when I moved here in 1990, there were lots of voles and snakes on the property. We are heavily wooded and back up to a major creek that is a semi-protected watershed. The cats used to bring me "presents" of dead voles on the doorstep and sometimes live snakes. I've had to chop a couple snakes up with a shovel after getting them away from the cats. Sorry PETA folks, but I did not have time to bone up on venomous or not snakes with my pet or myself in immediate danger, and we have water moccasins here, and several other poisonous ones. Now I don't have any voles or snakes anymore (at least that I have seen). Cats are really good for vermin control. Edit: Females tend to be better at hunting/vermin control than males.

Lovely and inspirational dinners, folks. liuzhou, I was also intrigued by your green stuffed greens. I may try it with well-seasoned spinach with some cheese like in spanakopita or some less common samosas I've had that are stuffed with spinach and paneer. I love stuffed stuff, and the cabbage would make it easier and healthier, so worth a try. We had fried noodles, or chow (lo?) mein. I used garlic, grated frozen ginger, onion, celery (sorry haters), finely shredded cabbage, minced very hot jalapeno, a little broccoli, shrimp, thin spaghetti broken in half, and the tag end of a very ripe diced cocoa tomato. I used soy, rice vinegar, reserved pasta water and a little toasted sesame oil and chopped scallions at the end, and this is a keeper! Very delicious. There are about a gazillion recipes for this dish on the internet, so I decided to wing it with what I had on hand and sounded good. In my research I read about chow/lo mein and thought I understood until Mr. Wiki insisted there's a crispy and a steamed chow mein. I think this is the point where I said to myself, "The heck with this, let's just cook up something we'll like. I'm hungry!" One fun fact I came across in my fried noodle research is that in Okinawa after WWII, the natives there didn't have much food, and were given Western style supplies. They came up with a yaki soba noodle dish made with spaghetti, ketchup, Spam and canned vegetables fried in mayonnaise. But you definitely have to admire their creativity with limited resources. Apparently is was even good enough that it became popular with the American troops stationed over there at the time. I put on some mung beans to sprout that will be ready in 4-5 days, and will make another batch then since I used the last of the celery.

Kerry, I'd say your fossil chocolate attempt is excellent. "Fossils" immediately popped into my mind as I was scrolling down the photo before I read the caption. Very cool.

huiray, I hope you find some blood cockles, but based on the info from this NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/dining/blood-clams-worth-a-second-look.html I suspect it may be difficult and expensive because of the import bans.

rotuts, Thanks for the link. It's not behind a paywall, but I suspect some of the articles which have a key icon before or after the headline are. I didn't test my theory because I never ask a question when I am 99% sure it will result in a "No" answer that brooks no negotiation. I was a bit surprised to find such strong support in the comments in the GMO labeling article for the NO side, but then I considered the source that attracted the readers/commenters. I had left the site without reading the foie gras article before I came back here and read your remark about Kenji coming in on the side that FG production is okay, at least as regulated and practiced in the US. I thought I didn't need to read it because my mind was already made up, but I went back and read it, and it provided some food for thought at least.

Wow, Hungry Chris! This is the first time I've ever seen an actual fast food photo that lives up to the promo. That looks good!

liuzhou, Thanks for the info on the soup. This would be a great soup without the vegetarian shark's fin which I'm not sure I'd be able to find in my area. I would probably use whole egg instead of just the white. That's the way I make my egg drop soup, and I haven't bought it from our Chinese restaurant since the first time I tried making my own. Mine blows theirs out of the water, and my husband agrees. Do you know how the gelatin based fin substitutes keep from melting into liquid in the hot soup? Additives? If you know, fine, but please don't go out of your way to research. I've seen some of your research, and you are obsessive and really go to a lot of trouble over a casual question. I don't think I would like a gelatin-based substitute for cartilage even if I could find it here. Just curious. I would think long-cooked beef tendons, which are popular in China might make a good substitute. There's a not so great article on wiki that says the fin substitute is made from bean noodles, and I think they would be excellent in this soup. I have mung bean threads in the pantry. Other Googling reveals tofu replacements, and one site mentions gelatin. I can't tell you how pleased I am that real shark's fin soup is diminishing in popularity. Yay! It's hard to drum up any sympathy for creatures that happily chomp on our NC tourists. We've had quite a spate of these lately, and it's most bad for business. A couple coastal communities here are making efforts to separate swimmers from shark fishermen. I was bumped very hard in the lower thigh by one on vacation at Topsail Island, NC in 1996. Fortunately I wasn't bitten, but I attribute that to strong swimming skills fueled to new heights by adrenaline. Still, as you know, I am a proponent of humane raising and harvesting of meat, and finning doesn't come close.

liuzhou, All of the quoted recipes sound intriguing, but the one that has me really wondering is "Crab and Vegetarian Sharks’ Fin Soup". Can you tell us a little about this soup?