Margaret Pilgrim

Blistered asparagus, green goddess Mac and cheese

This slid past me. There is a huge crop of mallow this year. I never knew you could cook with it, altho as a child I delighted in picking and eating the "fairy cheeses". THANKS for this new window.

For some reason, I find this extraordinarily beautiful, kind of a Van Gogh seascape, had he done those, a sense of motion.

Mexican "frying cheese", olive bread.....yum Really ersatz pasta e fagioli. I tend to use this soup to clear out small amounts of odd pasta. Still, soulful. Toast from homemade loaf.

Sliced oranges with red onion, blood orange EVOO Chili with side of Camargue rice, green onion, cheese

An inspirational video on paella

Mache and butter lettuce Chicken thigh in white wine, red onion, garlic, broth + Camargue rice

Started with a large platter of primo avocado, quintessential flavor, No adorning needed. Husband asked if I could make "hamburgers" "juicy". Like how? Like can you add something...like oatmeal? Or panko? Oh...you mean like fried meatloaf? YES! Okay, Fried meatloaf, garlicky and buttery zucchini, frying peppers. Fried meatloaf? Feel like I'm in a limbo contest.

You can vary your tank of red sauce wit an occasional vodka sauce. Add red pepper flakes, splash of vodka, heavy cream.

Very green "boxed" soup with mandatory splat of Mexican sour cream, olive bread toast. And croutons from homemade bread, because you can't have too many carbs.

Can you point us to a recipe?

While we use tons of both dry and house made pasta (which reminds me that we have little excess flour on hand) , we don't get around to grains often. I have had my eye on clearing out my "collection" of spelt, bulgur, green and yellow peas, black and red rice, and friends. I now see this trove as several weeks of nutrition, push come to shove. The bean stash is a separate entity.

Suddenly, I want corned beef,

Mushrooms with more of that addictive Blenheim vinegar and blood orange EVOO Country style ribs, potatoes refried in butter Beets with tangerine/cumin dressing

With several chains automatically supersizing their sandwiches (Arby's advertises that their meats/fish/chicken "hangs over" the bun), we often split one order. We started that long ago with fair and flea foods. We would get carried away with a stand's claims and each get one of something only to find we didn't like it. So we started getting one and split it and it was ethereal, get another. Often one was enough, especially if there was ice cream or floats or else down te aisle.

We do fast food, including taco trucks, at least once a month en route to the country. And I'm with you! Our bill at Carl's Jr. yesterday was just over $10. It was just over $12 at a taco truck last trip. $27 and you will be able to hear me yelp in BC, CA! You have to remember that I can remember when McDo was born and hamburgers were 19cents.

@rotuts Good point about FP cleaning. In the city, everything goes through the garbage disposal so clean up is no more work than a tea cup. But but in the country, we are VERY careful about what goes down the drain. There, I am very grateful for our lazy-man's electric drip and its filter.

I love reading about and reflecting on how we are all such a good "fit". Corner piece and center cut people. I often smile as I stand next to someone picking out green beans or English peas or zucchini. They often look at me suspiciously and speed up snatching the biggest ones until they notice that I'm reaching for the smallest ones. Everybody happy.

I love your style, Anne. I would always choose dinner fir breakfast, given the option

Repurposed cauliflower soup from Friday dinner party, splat of Mexican sour cream added. Ersatz tomato tart = freshly made dough, last night's salsa boiled down with additional tomato, green onion, anchovy

I quite agree. FWIW, hunger struck early on our ride up here yesterday so we stopped at a heretofore untried Carl's Jr. and risked a Beyond Burger. Ordered one combo, and clerk asked if we wanted it cut in half. Sure. And register receipt showed that request so it is apparently not uncommon and now programmed into the system. This one was fresh, properly cooked and excellent.

Husband and I have low red-meat requirements/desire, so many of our meals fall into the category of cupboard sourced. Green veggies would be missed, but shortages of those occur locally periodically with ecoli scares. As Anna suggests, one learns to substitute and improvise. Think outside one box and inside another.

FP is our method First person to hit the kitchen in the morning, clicks on the electric water pot. I don't allow the grounds to steep as long a prescribed, but do I use a good amount of coffee per pot so I get a strong cup to which I add a healthy splash of rich milk. To me FP creates (my) quintessential brew. FWIW, I like coffee much stronger than husband Morning coffee was always a compromise, mine never being strong enough, his requiring a lot of additional hot water. He switched to tea several months ago and I have been enjoying excellent coffee without inconveniencing anyone.

Our house was centrally located in our small town. All of my mother's grandchildren used it as a landing pad for parental pick-up. A niece arrived one afternoon when my father was home alone. After some small talk, he asked her if she was hungry. "Yes, He looked in the cupboard and asked her, "Do you like ravioli?" "Yes" So he opens a can of Chef Boyardee for this child, whose other grandmother was born in Genoa, and serves her a bowl. She looks at the bowl and says, "These aren't ravioli."

First night in country. Fast and pantry = jalapeno SPAM tacos. Who'd have thought it?! Canned pinto beans, revived aqed tortillas from friidge, guacamole salsa. Fresh lettuce, cheese and fast tossed together tomato salsa. Amazingly palatable. (A little wine helped.) Will not be putting any SF tacquerias or Lodi taco trucks out of business.