Margaret Pilgrim

By request, pork schnitzel, white gravy. And to appease the "greens gods", fried romaine with balsamic. All good.

Good grief. You remind me of a shower cleaning product I saw the other day. Front of label read: "Everyday shower wash. No need to wear gloves. Or pants for that matter."

Pasilla, prawn, green chili and cream pappardelle. When more is actually more.

He don’t do kitchen prep.

I frequently freeze pre-baked mac and cheese for the kids. Never a problem. Also have frozen whole baked casseroles of m and c. This refers to cream-sauce based m and c, not old-fashioned milk and cheese style. I

I peel outer stalks and break in half as you do. Last night I gave husband a plate of stuffed celery, having peeled and removed exposed strings. He returned the plate with several long strings I obviously missed.

Night before last, we put the three enameled panels of our range top in a garbage bag with half a bottle of ammonia and let stand over night. Yesterday, we hosed them down and scrubbed remaining cooked on gunk. First time in 30 years. They looks like new now, and I told husband we were having nothing but microwave packaged dinners from now on. Seriously, even with nightly wipe down, if you cook, your stove is going to show signs of it. Just enjoy yours and worry about deep cleaning it in thirty years. Have fun. (Regarding your request for simple, it no longer exists. My mantra for years has been "On, off and no static.', something I told a car radio salesman several decades ago. He had no idea what I was talking about).

Watching the video of his peeling with a paring knife, It strikes me that he takes off a lot more flesh than the peeler does. Broccoli was the only vegetable two grand-kids would eat. One liked the head, another only the stems. I peeled three years of broccoli stems. Fortunately, their tastes have expanded.

I have one grandchild who adored broccoli, particularly the stems. I have peeled more broccoli than I want to remember. This Oxo Good Grips has been my salvation. Without it, I'm nothing. If I knew his mailing address, I'd gift Jacques one.

I always smile when I remember enjoying tacos at a truck in Lodi. An ancient Latino man sat opposite us. He watched as husband passed me his jalapeno and I put it on one of my tacos, so one whole jalapeno per taco. He grinned and handed me HIS! I was startled but thought I had little choice, so accepted with thanks and split it onto the two. He grinned with glee as he watched me munch down my jalapeno tacos! A lovely memory. And two great tacos!

Chicken pies Homely but delicious.

Haven't been sure lately that the WSJ HAS a copy editor. Shades of Btight Lights, Big City .

Recalls for ecolli and friends are indeed different from "best by" dates that may encourage the timid to toss viable, even palatable food.

A genius move! Honey is sweet! Granola is sweet! Balancing with a neutral carb is brilliant.

Apologies for the pasta heavy unbalanced plate. I shoot what's in front of me. Sicilian sausage and chard rigatoni. So simple and quite lovely.

We enjoy pear ciders, especially alongside porky things, like grilled white or blood sausages. Here's one. Also Pommeau, a light and less expensive alternative to calvados.

Quoting from a favorite commercial, a border collie refuses to chase a badly thrown ball: "That is just so not going to happen". Good luck. I could never maintain that.

Lovely plating! Happy new year!

A personal funny, no visuals. Our son, maybe 5 at the time, was used to rare meat (chops, steak, roasts, pink hamburger). One night I cooked a pot roast. He grew up accompanying us to antique and flea markets, garage and estate sales. He looked at his plate of grey meat and asked, "Mama, is this meat second hand??

Tangentially, night before last I made chili rellenos There was perhaps a half cup of moderately hot oil in the pan and I decided to save it, pouring it into a French working jar, a kitchen staple for me. Dinner over, I start to clean up, picked up the jar and the top 3/4 came neatly away, spewing some oil, leaving the bottom quarter full of oil. I quickly grabbed a fist full of paper towel, crammed it into the remains of the jar and let it sop up the oil. Sent alll eventually into the trash, and clean up was a minimum, but I had never had that happen before. These jars are (I thought) able to take hot contents and have done so for me. Won't try this again.

I find them (pickled pigs feet) in the deli case at local Italian delis. Decent, but none as piquant as those of my childhood nor musseau in France. To sing, these need a pucker to balance the fat.

When I was a toddler, my father thought it was amusing to share his jar of Wilson's pickled pigs feet with me. I thought they were on a par with chocolate ice cream. Today, in France, I order "museau", sliced pig's snout in vinaigrette and herbs. Can't find it here. But most deli counters have (maybe Boarshead) sour (German style) headcheese. Any port in a storm.

While passing the refrigerator, I heard the German (souse) head cheese calling, I relieved a slice. (Retrieved?) I love this stuff. Straight, in a sandwich, cut up in a brisk vinaigrette.

Our portion size story took place some 20 years ago in Northern New Jersey. We were referred to a popular Italian restaurant. Good welcome, good seats, seductive aromas. We ordered as we normally would, maybe a starter and main for each of us. Then the food started to arrive. Quite excellent but enough for a family. We wound up with a huge take out bag which we put in the back of our car. Fortunately it was the dead of winter and we noshed off those containers for several days. We often wondered about the portion sizes. Were they actually consumed in place?

Particularly when traveling, I am loathe to leave a chunk of protein on my plate. I carry ziplocs and slip the offending chunk into one and take it away. It almost never gets eaten, even by someone's pet. But I feel guilty ordering something and not consuming it.