Margaret Pilgrim

I bought a jar for the grandkids' treats. They have been brilliantly fed simple, organic produce. Hosting one 4 year old granddaughter overnight, I put a cherry on top of her ice cream at dinner, She was very excited, put it in her mouth, immediately removed it and said, "It tastes like chemicals!"

Caviar, truffle, uni...I'm a cheap date! Campari! Tastes like the cough medicine my mother used to pour down me.

Complete agreement on both. I find rose a difficult flavor to get right without becoming cloying. However, I do love TD's French cousin, påte de fruit, with its pure fruit flavors. And we noticed that "Coke" had a completely different taste profile in Great Britain and Europe than that that we were familiar with in the US. I compared it to Dr. Pepper. But back to your analysis, I agree that it is no heavenly concoction.

I don't like the concepts as suggested by recipe titles. Wouldn't try them were they created by humans.

Compounding the situation is our flitting between town and country, Glass jars are super for refrigerator and freezer storage, and certainly for preserves and such, but I need a complement of light weight plastic containers for transporting a week of food to the country, Multiple glass containers are HEAVY in a cooler.

Indeed! Small quantities are no problem but we seem to frequently need quart - quart and a half containers for sharing batches of applesauce, chili, ragu. Like last night in the country, son came for dinner and took home a quart of meat sauce, and I had to rob Peter to pay Paul to find a container for him.

Don't knock it! Husband periodically nags me into vetting my hoard and sure as the sun rises, the jars that i tossed in recycle are the precise ones that I need the next day. In addition, I have lots of French working jars, but they ebb and flow into freezer and to son's house, so we either have too many or none. And I did point out this photo to dear husband to show him I'm not the Lone Ranger.

I was apparently taught incorrectly. When my father set up my first checking account, he told me, "You now have money to PAY FOR things you CAN'T AFFORD. Learn the difference." Good advice if improper semantically. IMHO, afford suggests comfortable acquisitions, things that fit easily into your budge rather than strain it or push out necessities.

Indeed. ""Afford" is a function of choice, not ability to pay.

re your #2, I personally hate spiral hams. The outside 1 1/2" of each slice gets dried out. Plus, whatever glaze they use runs into the interior, so that when you go to use leftover ham in cooking you have to cope with that sweetness. Yuck, to me. A good city ham slices easily and in the thickness you WANT!

These are not difficult to make at home, but I've never needed more than a tablespoon or so of oil and never created big flames. Patience until the crepe batter sets is essential, but after that is accomplished, it goes together in under a minute. A good dish!

Print and frame.

If you have 5 minutes on the day of your event, you can bake the crust and make the filling (using Pierre Herme's recipe) the day before, then fill your shell on the day you need it, and away you go. Hermé's filling is IMHO orders of magnitude better than other citron fillings or curds. FWIW, it was one of two and the preferred recipe suggested by the second poster in this thread.

The closest I've come to a RH was being sucked into one of their gigantic warehouse sales when we were traveling. We arrived a half hour before it opened and found maybe 300 people already in line. Husband dumped me at the end of the line and went to find parking. I got in before he returned and quickly found that they were selling nothing in our category of interest. Crawling out over the tops of incoming shoppers, I found husband just before he was about to enter. We figured we dodged a bullet.

I see these seasonally at a nearby Chinese market. No one has been able to tell in (in English) what they are or what to do with them. Thanks for any clarification.

And the backs of the seats had a clip to hold your hat, or else there was the same hooky-thing just in front of your knees on the counter base.

Indeed! The only difference I subscribe to is surface texture. Admitting here that I readily reach for Maldon flake.

Is this version of salted green onions of any use?

Stab several times with a paring knife, then massage with butter. DH doesn't eat the skins, but I DO!

@liamsaunt, I was in awe of you before, but now you are my goddess!

In our and I'm sure other areas, the problem is not incentivizing but making simple fresh produce available at the often meager food shops in the neighborhood. Produce is expensive to source and sell. Often a "produce" section, if there is one at all, will have only a few old bananas and apples, potatoes and onions.

I've had it often. But it's far from my favorite "gravy".

Our son has repeatedly begged me to try to duplicate the meat and mushroom "gravy" he used to buy at now closed Lucca Deli in SF.. I've made a couple of tries, all good but not deli clones. This is not the same as what "nonna" made, but a readily identifiable and distinct thing on its own right. Any thoughts?

Agree with and own books from Kennedy, Bayless, Lambert-Ortiz. But when I'm looking for a fast and simple recipe, I grab either Ortho or, gasp, Betty Crocker enhanced paperbacks. Basic and on target flavors without stress or time consuming shopping or prep.

After watching my then-80-something MIL cut a steak off a whole ham, I have one of these in town and in the country. Dedicated meat saws. One has an elegant wooden handle, the other strictly functional.