Margaret Pilgrim

Our son was lucky enough to be the best friend of the son of an "about town" surgeon who included him in their weekly dinners at Stars. I wasn't so lucky but adored Tower at Santa Fe Grill and Balboa Cafe.

Soufffles have a bad rap. They are actually incredibly easy and close to foolproof. They just don't "hold" well if not served soon after removing from oven. Once you get the drift of the process, the flavor ingredient (cheese or veg or...) list is endless. Have fun!

Excellent reports and brilliant experiences albeit without reservations during this busy holiday season. We are intimately familiar with the areas you describe. 5, 6 and 7e were"home to us" for some 25 years. Lots of historical as well as constantly updated restaurants and cafes. Well done!

Hats off to you! Well done!

Husband finished the last of our second panettone of the season. I did a small part, preferring something savory at breakfast. Finishing off one is always a good feeling, like vacuuming up the last of the Christmas tree needles. Next one in 2025.

IMHO, naw, stay warm and dry at home and save some money to boot.

I cut 3/4" horizontal slices (heresy, but how we like it) and very lightly grill/warm in a teflon pan, no butter. I eat my portion straight, while husband slathers his with butter.

Every story above resonates with me. This Spring I realized that my back would no longer let me pull off the kind of dinner party we were used to. And husband has a serious medical condition that forces him to eat small amounts throughout the day, which changes the format of our dinners. He also has trouble handling most meat. We have both lost weight and are at "fighting weight". I have little motivation or interest in either cooking or eating. We are surviving/thriving? on pots of soup and baked dishes (mac and cheese; scalloped potatoes and ham, etc) that work beyond one dinner. Husband enjoys dinners of "bits and pieces", a collection of small bites, a platter of assorted dishes, but unless composed from leftovers, this is a lot of work. Our biggest problem of the day is consistently "what's for dinner". I have no solutions but continue to strive for a degree of variety to kindle appetite. All suggestions welcomed!!

Note that this is a great time to pick up last year's walnuts at huge discounts. I recently picked up a pound of shelled halves for $2.99. However, I only will buy good brand packaged year old nuts, never those still in the shell which seem to turn (become rancid) easily.

At whiskey tastings, does one swallow or spit (cracher) as in wine tasting?

In the video it appears to me that those bowls are being used for mise en place rather than mixing. Fine in a professional kitchen where “someone” else is paying for them but certainly a conceit at home.

Until recently I was a super-scraper. But I am suddenly very old. Little appetite. I have come to tell myself that I don't need to continue to be the family compost bucket. Husband has gone to his "happy place", our weekend country place, for a couple of weeks and I have been merciless in purging the fridge, freezer and pantry. If I don't wanna eat it, out it goes. If too much water would go into cleaning the container, out it goes too, as is. Re meat, for years I have converted just about every leftover protein into ragu Bolognese. All excellent and all totally consumed in this second stage of their lives.

When you take a nap and let a beef stew overcook -> grind it up and make ragu bolognese.

For years I have "recycled" books at a local used book store, like Green Apple. Might one of these work for you?

I certainly remember this (Campbell's Vegetarian Vegetable Soup). I always thought it was to differentiate it from their Vegetable Beef Soup. I'm sure it was around in the '50s.

Sounds normal.

In our family, it was one person cut, the other person had the choice of portion. Same effect.

I love my food mill. Case in point: I make "whole fruit applesauce, simply quartering apples and cooking them down, skin, cores and all. Then I put the resulting sludge through a food mill, resulting in velvety sauce. It is amazing how little compostable residue there is. All the goodness is in the sauce. Regarding tomatoes, it depends on one's tolerance for micro bits of skin. No skin with a food mill.

Good article. I grew up in "Driscoll country" before it was that. IMHO, berries need to be warm from the field, picked "a point" and before they reach that tempting but misleading deep red. As in all fruit, to be perfect a berry needs to have a perfect balance of sugar and acid. Simply being sweet, or worse sweetest, can be a recipe for disappointment, unless you've never had a really proper berry, or peach or apricot or cherry.

Some years ago I was having lunch at a nice restaurant. The waiter admonished me that the olives in the salad had pits. I paid careful attention with exception of missing one that hid in a bite of lettuce. "Crrrrrunch!" Resulting in a $1000 crown.

There was for many years a casual spot in our Castro neighborhood called "Squat and Gobble". Amusing, yes, but a turn off for me.

Assuming that we all know that grapefruit is prohibited for those taking certain meds.

Interesting responses that reflect where we each live. (However I don't intentionally feed snakes!)

I use whipping (40% fat) cream and just serve very small servings, between 1/4 and 1/3 cup. That's plenty at the end of a meal. More is almost gag-inducing.

This method is similar to one I use. Fill a heavy (like le Creuset) pot with water and bring to a boil. Separately bring milk to a simmer; let cool until you can hold your finger in it for 10 seconds. Add yogurt/starter to the milk. Empty water from pot, place heat-proof jars in it and fill with warmed milk. Lid tightly and wrap in a blanket (or toweling, or a fleece jacket! or...) Leave overnight or until all is cool. I used this method to show grandkids that 1) you can make many things that you usually buy; and 2) you needn't have/buy expensive equipment for many processes.