Margaret Pilgrim

@liamsaunt I may hate myself tomorrow, but I'll have some of each, thanks. Absolutely perfect midsummer dining.

A woman who worked for my sister was enthusing about her favorite breakfast, "bastard eggs". When I said that i didn't know them, she answered, " You put butter in the frying pan, then the eggs and you keep spooning the butter over the eggs until they're done." Ahhhhh....basted eggs. She liked her version better.

This may be the most delicious video I have ever watched. I LOVE Uncle Roger! Thanks much!

These two alone make a superb supper for me. Many thanks. And that hummus presentation is stunning!

Perhaps Momofuku's pork steak with ramp ranch dressing might be a good way to deal with these chops. I sub jarred cocktail onions for the pickled ramps which are both hard to find and expensive. Delicious either way.

I fool you not. You really can't go wrong. I just dump some flour in a small bowl, about a cup, add a beaten egg and some salt, beat together, add water to make a batter similar to pancakes. Bring a pot of water to boil. Set your gismo over the pot, dump the batter into the gismo's cup and repeatedly slide the cup over the pierced frame. Maybe have to add batter again. It is all cooked in a minute or two Drain and wow your guests. Of course, there are proper recipes, and you can sex up the batter with herbs or veg purees (beet or spinach), but even the simplest formulas are divine. So...find your guilty purchase and ENJOY!

This my go to, my dinner party secret weapon, and my, "why not just for us" tool. I have one in the city, one in the country, have given one to son. And actually, have passed on at least a half dozen more. I buy them for a dollar at garage sales (after trying to convince the seller of their utility) and hand them out at dinner parties when guests go gaga over spaetzle. SO simple and the perfect "sop" for all good sauces!

I don't do BM, but husband does. AFAIK, his recipe is a short can of Spicy V8, shot of Worcestershire, big squeeze lemon (preferably Meyer), vodka, over ice. No garnish. Often enjoys with cheese stuffed celery.

What a wonderful question! The OP looks to recreate a sauce he enjoyed in Moscow. I would love to hear the (many varied) shawarma sauce memories or recommendations of eGers. What a panoply of white sauces!

Beets with orange EVOO and apricot balsamic Quite delicious but the plate was more artistic mid-plate Teriyaki chicken skewers....with basmati and oyster sauce chard

Indeed! With multiple choices per product I find myself in fascinating discussions with fellow shoppers who actually know what they are doing! Very interested in helping educate.

I am lucky to live 5 minutes from San Francisco’s second Chinatown. Dozens of providers of fresh noodles and (warm) fresh tofu, soy milk, rice noodle product. Inexpensive and good. Once again, the difference between putting food on the table and food adventures.

liuzhou makes excellent points which are somewhat universal. I would guess that an Italian local would tout local flour preferences in pasta, would suggest that a trattoria was the convenient place to sample time consuming preparations, and would have opinion on his region or village specialty. We need to differentiate how natives live and how foreign cooks interpret national cuisines. There is a huge difference between how native people cook Monday to Friday and how dabblers cook when motivated to experiment. Having been responsible for putting dinner on the table for over 60 years, I find cooking a boring chore that is elevated to some level of "fun" when I make something off-the-wall.

My point is that it is easier to engage a new cook with a fanciful preparation than a tedious classic procedure, regardless of how necessary it may be to learn to chop an onion correctly. One more thought, many complicated and difficult dishes are not so hard to accomplish IN SMALL QUANTITIES. Enough for two or even four people is usually manageable.

Did you watch the video?

Of course Liuzhou's advice is practical. But when approaching a new cuisine it is often more fun to try the impractical and romantic. That's the way I introduce friends to cooking, one fantastic dish at at time, before they settle into how people really live day by day. So...you might think about pulled noodles Or "biang biang" noodles https://www.chinasichuanfood.com/biang-biang-mian-biang-biang-noodles/

Talking about life?

You are correct about additives. I have ignored them. My bad but tastes good.

I am a great fan of Mexican sour cream, a staple in my kitchen. It is lightly salted, ergo seemingly less tart than our commercial brands.

Do I see that you are accenting with lime?

This is true of all of these concentrates. I use them as boosters to natural and pan juices rather than as the single source of protein flavor. Used alone, your cooking starts to taste like diner food and frozen meals.

In line with Paul's eschewing too much dairy, I have switched to making chocolate sorbet. No dairy but both cocoa and 72% chocolate, plus a splash of the chocolate essence (faux eau de vie I wrote up above). This makes a luxurious, scoopable "ice cream" with excellent texture and deep, satisfying chocolala flavor. (Secret weapon: I serve this with a dollop of softly whipped cream flavored with a drop of anise oil. This combination is complex and/but refreshing. Also is superb on flourless chocolate cakes.)

In the country, we have seasonal mice indoors. Or "a mouse". We have found that they like fruit. Blenheim apricots a favorite. We leave a baited trap when we close up the house. In the city where we have rats. They eat windfall Golden Delicious apples from our tree, and strawberries, given the chance, i.e., when they beat us to them. But they are well fed city rats, really rather beautiful little animals. Lush and fat. Fit for a Disney movie. We don't trap them. Certainly don't poison them with the number of birds and neighbors' cats who wander through our yard.

I will repeat here a trick of mine or rather one of David Libovitz. Eau de vie de cacao. But, tantalized by his reference, we were never able to source it. Not here, not in France. So we improvised by steeping best quality cocoa nibs in vodka. Left to sit for a month or so and you have an essence of chocolate. Ours has been snoozing for maybe 5 years. Time to start another batch. But to what end? Add a splash to chocolate cakes, mousses, ice creams and, wow, to chocolate sorbet! And a tad for guests and the host/cook if you are so inclined. This is an extraordinary flavor boost with minimum expense and no effort.

Usual peppers Cauliflower soup with fried oysters, curry oil