Margaret Pilgrim

Lodi tomato with goat cheese Rerun of Viet spiced ground beef grilled in lettuce With Thai corncakes and nuoc cham.

I am hypocritical about protein. The only current hesitation I have is toward octopus because of its intelligence. But pigs are also intelligent and I eat pork. However, if it is in a butcher case, there is no protein I won't eat for emotional reasons. Yet if I were to have to go to the farm and select an animal to be killed for my dinner, I would immediately become a vegetarian. So logic and absolute conviction obviously do not come into play. I am morally bankrupt. re flavor and texture, I resort to my old maxim, "there are no bad foods, only bad cooks".

Also cableless. Am somehow also living (well) without Food network. 😛 i love MIng. i enjoy the show's format of having two chefs with completely different approaches create from the same ingredients, yet in a spirit of cooperation rather than competition. Also that the recipes are immediately available online if you have interest after a show.

We pass through Lodi, going and coming, at least twice a month. We love the Mexican food trucks and farm stands. And its enormous Walmart Superstore. 😝 But If i had several days to spend between SFO and Sacramento, I agree that the Shenandoah Valley offers a more scenic and stylish stay. (While we frequently attend events in the Sonoma area, I find it's become very trendy and upscale with much of its charm contrived. If you do go this route, make sure to book far in advance as lodging sells out early.)

Are we talking about emotional or taste aversion?

The French consider aged canned sardines the finest. You can buy sardines with the name of the boat that caught them and the date they were caught, then keep them. Kind of like wine.

We're not going to worry about YOU, tiger!

This has been a delightful romp. Anna is a trouper but, more important, a raconteur without peer. We acknowledge that her stay was serious for her, but she turned it into an unforgettable gift to us. So we, and certainly, you, Anna, look forward to your busting out on Thursday... And we all hold our breaths for your encore.

Hamburger puck and potato with Bearnaise. Very happy making.

Fish. Never fish. Not in cheap dives unless they're taco mobiles. Not on planes. Never in hospitals. Am surprised you survived the scent. As they say, thank God we're sturdy peasant stock!

This article is not meant to be funny, but it did make me laugh out loud. or maybe bleat is the more apt word. The writer suggests that we buy a set of similar containers to get the same effect. Also says she lost 40 pounds after organizing her refrigerator in this way. She checks the rainbow's need before shopping.

Scary how it mirrors what we've seen on your trays. I think I'd go with the vegetarian burger. It has to be made off-site, and, really, how much worse can a hospital veggie burger be from a McDo or BurgerKing? Certainly a better gamble than the beef burger or chicken breast, aka "seagull".

Amen, Sister! I often feel like M.F.K.Fisher, writing of living in Provence, shopping at the weekly market, then watching the produce progress from prime to rot.

Fruit. A sliced peach and a slice of plum croustade. 😀

@#$%, @#$%, @#$%! I had a chitarra for years and never got around to using it. Gave it to an Italian friend. Have regretted it ever since. Sobbing, as I see your beautiful product..

Staying positive, I remember a fabulous dinner in outback France by a young chef and his wife. Returning the next year, we found his sweet little dining room closed. Inquiries informed us that he had move "to the city" and a job as food director of a medical facility. Wishing your hospital the best.

Scalloped potatoes with ham, by DH request. Something from his childhood. No pic of plate. DH served and somehow dumped mine upsidedown, resulting in an unphotogenic white and pink blob. Accompanied by butter braised zucchini, delicious but not much more attractive. Backyard plum croustade.

I have to ask is this food is prepared on site or brought in frozen. As you describe the carrots, there is no disguising frozen carrots. And I have to wonder if the kitchen would really go to the effort to make faux ribkets from scratch. And if so, why?

Reminded of a McDo in Palmira, P'A, where DH and I would stop for breakfast while attending an event at Hershey. In the week of our stay, we felt unofficial if peripheral members of a group of oldsters who apparently used McDo as their morning club.

Don't laugh. It's long been my desire to have every CEO of every car company go for a ride in every seat in every model. Same for airline execs. And I have to wonder if Sara Blakely has ever worn Spanx for 12 hours.

Hey, I've felt that way in not a few restaurants!

A friend who volunteered making sandwiches for a soup kitchen was instructed to always spread both filling and butter or mayo over the entire slice of bread, crust to crust, to ensure the sandwich was not dry. Apparently not a universal rule.

Agreed. Sorry for the digression.

This was my first reaction after reading your first post. As a weekend in-patient, I've always felt that I was simply a contributor to the hospital's bottom line. Which leads me to my second conclusion as a patient, IMHO, length of hospital stay and number and sophistication of tests ordered are in direct correlation to patient's insurance coverage. Earlier this year, I had to remind the hospitalist that the test she was recommending "since we have some time to kill before the MRI machine is available" was a duplication of coverage of another test already administered and read. "Ah, yes. I guess that would be redundant."

I always loved Arrowroot biscuits. Then I learned about Petit Beurre.