Tropicalsenior

For several years my husband and I spent Thanksgiving at friends of ours. They were both Boeing engineers. She was Cuban exile, probably one of the most intelligent women I ever met but she wasn't much of a cook. I can only describe the turkey as turkey jerky. The rest of the meal was Cuban style sides and not exactly what you would expect for Thanksgiving. The rest of the guests were mostly Cuban expats. They were wonderful company and we always had a great time so nobody even paid much attention to the food.

I don't suffer from dry mouth but I do eat too fast. It goes back to my days of working in restaurants when you always seem to be eating on the Fly. Lately, Foods just don't seem to taste as good. Well, last night I decided to try something different. I had a small bag of Doritos and I ate them very slowly and chewed them thoroughly. I was amazed. They actually tasted like the Doritos I remembered. So there definitely is something to letting the saliva do its job.

I bought my first panettone of the Season yesterday. Carlos's family is here for the weekend and I bought it for their breakfast today. It's made in Costa Rica and not the best but I love it all and I will happily eat mediocre with the same enjoyment. No picture of the panettone itself, it really wasn't that photogenic and we ate it all. It was the equivalent of about $12. Believe it or not, the best that I have had here I bought on an after Christmas sale rack at our little Chinese store for about $2.

Mine is only two and a half inches tall and a little less than 4 in in diameter. They had them in four sizes and this one was the smallest.

It was on a thread about salt pigs if I remember correctly.

This post and responses to it have been split from Salt: Iodized or Not?, to maintain topic focus. That could very well be because salt corrodes metal terribly as anybody that has lived near the sea or in an area where they use salt on the roads can tell you. I can't tell you how many salt shakers with metal lids I have thrown away before I learned my lesson. I keep mine in a little terracotta pot that I got at a Chinese restaurant supply store. I love it. @liuzhou tells me that it is a funeral urn but it is so small that it would have had to have been for a very tiny person. I can buy things from Amazon but living in Costa Rica, the price of shipping and customs is usually three times the price of the item.

Here it is impossible in the supermarkets to buy any salt without iodine. I'm not bothered At All by the taste of iodine but I make my own ham, corned beef, and pickles and I don't like to use iodized salt for preserving. I used to be able to buy kosher salt from a Jewish deli here but it went out of business so now the only place that I can buy it is in macrobiotics store. Right now my macrobiotic Guru is looking for some for me and he is even having trouble finding it.

I'm not a fan of jerk chicken wings but that is one beautiful plate.

That's not a family that's a crowd scene.

I don't think that I would try it because at that temperature and for that time you are really baking it to finish it off. I think it would be pretty raw inside and just get gummy.

I'm so glad that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. After the year that you had you deserve it.

There's a bakery here in Costa Rica that actually bakes bread in the shape of crocodiles and turtles. I have to admit they're not quite this elaborate.

Very interesting and very unappetizing. Thank you.

It probably won't be great for everyone.

I'm wondering about the crust on these. Is it hard or is it soft? Usually ciabatta has a very hard crust which is why I don't really care for it. I agree with you totally on hamburger buns. The ones that we get here are so sweet and so soft that they fall apart before the hamburger is consumed. I always use some type of French roll if I don't make my own. As for pronunciation, my knowledge of Italian is limited but I do know that the c is pronounced with a ch sound and the ch is pronounced like the letter k.

I'm waiting for an offer from @gulfporter. The climate there is a little more to my liking and the food, although maybe a little bit too spicy for me, always looks great.

Chili's are technically a fruit or a berry. They impart a spicy flavor but the question remains, are they a spice?

I agree with everything you say except this. Although they both come from the same Berry the difference is in the Harvest and preparation of that Berry. The Taste is completely different and they are not interchangeable. This article gives a pretty comprehensive overview. I wondered when somebody would mention that.

Me too. That's why it's the one spice that I wouldn't want to be without.

Our choices are very interesting. Technically, thyme and coriander are herbs and not spices. But I'm not about to quibble over that because we all reach for our spice jars and just consider them the same thing. The really interesting thing is to look at everyone's choice and remember their meals from the dinner thread. I can see where everyone is coming from. This is a great topic.

I don't think you can remove black pepper. It is one of the oldest and most important spices of the ancient spice trade. "The spice trade involved historical civilizations in Asia, Northeast Africa and Europe. Spices, such as cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, pepper, nutmeg, star anise, clove, and turmeric, were known and used in antiquity and traded in the Eastern World" This is from an article in Wikipedia. It may be the most common spice but it can change the nature of a dish tremendously depending on the type of pepper used.

"Peppercorns are the most widely traded spice in the world," That is a direct quote from this article by McCormick one of the biggest Spice companies in the world.

Mine would be black pepper.

And if you want to see the real thing just go to the Smithsonian. She donated her kitchen and it is on display there. It is quite impressive.

I certainly can't claim to be an expert on Petit fours but when I was working for a company that catered for the airlines out of Reno in the early seventies it was one of the desserts that was served In first class. I remember watching the pastry chefs make them. They were two layers of sponge cake filled with Jam. They cut them into two inch squares and put them on a rack and poured almond flavored icing over them. Each was topped with a Jordan almond and then decorated with a filigree pattern. They were delicious but very very sweet. This article gives a very comprehensive description of the many types of petit four. Personally I can't see that the preparation of any of them warrants the price that they charge.