MySiuMai

Thanks for the recipe possibility. I know that Bernard Clayton has a Pullman loaf recipe that is supposed to be good. Someday when I'm inspired I'll give them a shot. Yesterday I bought some German-manufactured bread... Mestermacher....very thin sliced. Cello-wrapped, no preservatives. I thought it might be a good alternative. Well, sad to say, it isn't. I used the whole-rye version (though I also bought a "loaf" called their Health Loaf but haven't opened it) and made thin little sandwiches with red onion, braunschweiger, a swipe of tintern cheese and a bit of mayo and a nice leaf of bibb lettuce. The ingredients were great, but the bread--which I had hoped might have the nice texture of a date-nut loaf--instead tasted simply bland, plastic, and dry. A disappointment. In some ways it doesn't even seem thoroughly baked. For some reason am I repeatedly attracted, lately, to the concept of tea sandwiches with yummy fillings: egg salad, liverwurst, tapenade, date-nut loaf with a nice monterey jack. Little green onions. Chives, watercress, radishes, etc. Don't mind me...I'm just venting/drooling. I'm going to settle for a Trader Joe's chicken enchilada topped with quark and salsa verde!

But beware. For some odd reason they chose to have this event during the West Seattle Junction Street Fair. The two main blocks of California Ave. (one running in front of Mashiko's) is closed and parking is a bitch. I'm not sure where the Street Fair bandstand will be, but in times past it has been at the end of the Ave. near Mashiko's, so there could be some aural competition. Anyhoo, just thought I'd warn you all that I doubt this will be an optimal time to visit. MySiuMai

Now if we could JUST get them to put one in West Seattle. For pete's sake, we have to drive to Burien, Queen Anne or the U District for a fix. Sad to say, but I can guarantee I'd be better patron to them than I am to (she hangs her head in shame), our lovely PCC.

OK, here's an issue that's bugged me for awhile. I occasionally run across recipes calling for "thin white bread"--particularly for appetizers. (But today I see a similar note in the new Fine Cooking in a berry pudding recipe. But I digress...) Mention is frequently made of the Pepperidge Farm bread. I swear, I cannot find this stuff in the northwest. I even did a web search looking for distributors, etc. but no luck. I'm sure there are decent substitutes for those rare occasions when you NEED a thin white bread. But I'm just wondering if I'm a crazy person....Has anyone else seen the PF around the NW? And does anyone have a favorite substitute? MySiuMai

I decided to admit that cooking just isn't interesting me right now. So off I headed to Trader Joe's to stock the freezer in the garage. I can now provide an all-hail to their albacore tuna steaks (which I simply marinated in soy and wasabi and seared for three minutes per side), their pre-seasoned frozen rack of lamb (defrost overnight and then ready in thirty minutes), and their cheese blintzes (thaw, pan-saute in butter, and top with preserves of choice). And all so reasonably priced! (And no, I'm not a shill for them...just grateful!) Last night I poached some chicken for a salad. Wanting to save the poaching broth for a stock (but wanting to cool it quickly), I divvied it up into two containers for the fridge. Unthinkingly, I put some of the hot broth into an untempered, heavy glass salad bowl. As I walked across the kitchen, the entire bottom of the bowl dropped away and hit the floor. The recently boiled broth sloshed over my hands. I went to bed with my hands in bags of frozen peas! Perhaps it's a GOOD thing that I'm not in a cooking mood. God knows what tragedies have been averted

I'm with you all the way, Nick! Small sprouts, boiled--then cooked for ten minutes or so with melted butter and sauteed garlic, a dab of grained mustard and lemon, and some diced ham or pancetta. Toss in some breadcrumbs/parm/black pepper as desired.

I went with the Jackal method (since 1 this afternoon), and the house smells luscious. Just checked, and it's already pulling apart nicely. I might get to eat sooner than I had planned. I'll report back later. And thanks to all who replied. You guys are great.

I'm running out the door to water aerobics, but I thought I'd post in hopes of an answer this evening. My grocer had pork leg roasts on sale today. Hadn't seen one before--and it was a deal. My snooping on the web indicates that, as I thought, it might be best ground and used in asian dumplings, a la pork shoulder. But then again, other recipes describe rubbing it with oil (though it's already fatty on one side) and slow cooking. The oil (both added and original) bastes the quite lean meat, and the fat turns to cracklings, supposedly. Though it would seem that cracklings would require high heat.....oh well. I welcome your suggestions. It's about a 3-pounder. Help!

How does that work? Wouldnt the side opposite you get shafted on their Rainier view? Ben Sorry, it's from an old Almost Live skit. They had guys with big wrenches at the base of the needle... Well, let's just say it's about the only memorable skit from that program. Only memorable skit? What? Have you forgotten the High Fivin' White Guys? In the 80s they had an infamous "The Space Needle has collapsed" episode. (It began as a "Breaking News" piece.) Quite a few people freaked out, and I think thereafter there was a tighter line drawn between the graphics used by the news dpt. and the show.

An entire can of smoked baby oysters (Santa used to bring them for my stocking!) An entire can of garbanzo beans. Plain. Canned beets. Love 'em. Pickled or not. Chive cottage cheese with toast and jam (for breakfast) An entire head of cauliflower, steamed, topped with a curry/cheddar/mayo blend, and browned. Fresh dates stuffed with chunks of havarti or monterey jack Egg noodles and a bit of onion tossed into Campbell's Cream of Mushroom, thinned (!) with a tad of sour cream or quark. My weird danger food: Kraft Singles. Can't eat just one. It's almost obsessive. ...and Velveeta does NOT have the same mouth "feel." I think this must be a past-life passion.....(we never had this kind of stuff when I was little....perhaps it's a literal taste of the forbidden!). Or a couple of boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese, with a few shakes of crushed red pepper.

Jason, this is so neat! Thank you. Ever since enjoying Molly O'Neill's "New York Cookbook"--with its wonderful descriptions of the boroughs and their specialties--I've wanted to go spend some extended time in NY just to wander. Your photos were the next-best thing! When I was there last, in 1999, I hoofed it around Chinatown. Most memorable moment: When the driver of a truck pulled to the curb just ahead of where I was walking. He came to the back of the truck and threw the doors open to display piles of pig carcasses! Also managed to visit Russ and Daughters and have a sandwich at Katz's Deli. I really wish I could convince myself to fly more often..... It's interesting--I live in Seattle, but I rarely go to our famous Pike Place Market. It's just too darned touristy.....The NY markets seem more real to me.

A friend came to me last year and said "Gary (her husband) wants only one thing for his 40th birthday: He'd like to host a party at your beach house." I agreed to the plan and arrived late in the afternoon on the designated day. There's NOTHING like walking into a kitchen filled with wonderful smells--from roasting prime rib, to garlic, to fresh crab and salmon, tons of fab appetizers--all at the ready.....and you HAVEN'T HAD TO DO A THING! I sat down with a plate, got a beer from the keg, and met 40 wonderful strangers who left my house spic and span and provided a weekend of fun. If you know and trust the folks, I can recommend it! Bottom line: If you build a groovy kitchen, your friends will come. MySiuMai (offering her first e.gullet forum post)

"Emeril's whiskey sure packs a punch," said the bamboozled broad wryly.