Margaret Pilgrim

This is the confession cubicle, no? Husband brought home some microwave “movie popcorn” . Later, we were paying our tab at Amphora Nuevo in San Anselmo, and I absently dipped my paw into their (pre Covid) bowl of truffled popcorn. I hate truffle salt and oil but this, their proprietary product, is OMG delicious. So of course add both to our staggering bill. Fast forward to our first post lockdown dinner and I was looking for a stress free cocktail bit. Guests’ first reaction was amusement over such a simple and retro bite, then their first samples turning to gay abandon as they stuffed their faces and emptied the bowl. We replayed this twice with different groups with the same reaction. Heartily recommend.

I LOVE Oaktown Spice! We use the Solano Avenue branch. As I remember, Food and Wine named them the or one of the best spice dealers in the US. And, yes, I love being able to buy the sachets of product rather than bottled, not least saving a dollar or so. I found that the half-cup in the sachet filled two normal spice bottles. Ad, yes, Lundgrens are excellent rices.

Totally agree. Ii am put off by possibility of contamination and loss of fragrance/flavor when exposed to open air. Many spice markets offer bins of spices from which you fill a bag. Charming but off-putting to me. There is enough bulk transport of product before it is packaged for sale. I avoid it at retail.

Brilliant!

So I might describe them as lacking the astringency of capers and are not cured in vinegar. As you wrote, only seaweed flavor as usually sourced.

I did.

I quite got that, having read that portion of your post. My question regarded their flavor, other than sea, seaweed, etc. I am familiar with seabeans and how they can be cured and therefore distinctively flavored.

Took me to wakame or similar, but thanks. Heidi answered the question.

Maybe use words The immediate antecedent was seagrapes. Your link takes me to references, pther than seagrapes. Help? i.e., what is their flavor profile?

Is their effect somewhat like capers?

But what is the sweet little machine you bought to replace it? Is it now chopped liver?

In the larger scheme of things, a balanced diet is probably better medicine than taking the large quantities of a single food source necessary for medicinal affect. If your diet includes normal intake on a very regular basis, there may be some small benefit. These thoughts are from my "mental notebook", totally my own take.

Do you want to hear the time, some 40 years ago, when I dyed my kitchen yellow while making chowchow? The relish was delicious; the stains memorable.

Blistered peppers Barley soup

More windows to open. Heidi, can you share how you make your Ethiopian fresh cheese?

Wow! Many thanks for these. I can mentally parse most of your dishes but the zucchini in buttermilk and garlic sauce is beyond me. Can you give us more detail?

Your wok looks like it may have come from SF iconic Wok Shop . Well done. If you feel like researching it, the engaged proprietors might be willing to discuss it with you.

Copy to hard-drive! Many thanks.

I have never heard of Baby Duck. Deprived youth.

We. too, leave butter out at room temperature. In town, that works fine year around but in the country, in summer, butter does melt and pool. I use a butter bell with some success, although you have to replenish the water with cooler water as it heats up to room temp.

Well, er, quite right. We know you are sedulous, but it's hard to envision your curling all of your butter. And, as you say, to what end?

Don't you always curl your butter?

A shame you have no butter. It would be interesting to see what kind of curls they create.

In California, some wineries label sparkling wines as champagne Others simply as sparkling wine The more exacting the winery, usually the less precious the labeling.