Tropicalsenior

What you just mentioned is a great example encouraging adventure in a child. One of Michael's favorite places to go when he was little, was the Pike Place Farmer's Market, where he could sample anything and everything. Some of the vendors that he goes to now remember him as a little child and proudly point him out as someone that they have been serving for over 40 years. He was never told that he couldn't try something and no matter how revolting it looked to me I never let on. The quickest way for a parent to turn any child off a food is to say, yuck.

I can only speak from the example of my family. When my girls were growing up, we sat down to dinner together and everyone ate the food that was set on the table. They all grew up pretty normal and will eat just about anything except green peas. Oh, except for my oldest daughter and her imaginary food allergies, but that's a whole chapter for another time. Her own daughter is perfectly normal. My youngest daughter's partner is a picky eater and they raised 3 very picky children. The children were indulged in every whim and at times they were cooking 4 different meals at a time. My grandson is an entirely different story. He grew up in an adult world and from the age of two he was introduced to all the different cultures in all the different style restaurants available in Seattle. From the very beginning he was taught manners, correct Behavior, the art of conversation, and appreciation for all the people that made the meals possible for him. At 3, his favorite things were escargot and sushi. For him, the child's menu didn't even exist. To this day there isn't anything that he won't eat. In Costa Rica, he has eaten everywhere from The Humble huts in the indigenous reservations to some of the finest restaurants. He loves it all. I can't say that I know what makes picky eaters, but I feel so sorry for them. The most enjoyable part of learning about the world is trying the food of different cultures.

Sounds delicious.

One important consideration that might lead one to mistake the dish of @cteavin as a desert is the appearance. I have seen a picture of it on another thread and it is beautiful enough to appear on any dessert buffet. Until you cut into it you would not realize that it is a savory tart.

In Latin American cultures, almost everything baked in a crust is savory. Occasionally you will find a sweet empanada but they are not common. The nicaraguans have something that they are crazy about that is made with a very salty cheese and a lot of sugar. As for beans, they would never think of putting sugar in them. Most of them think that North American baked beans are totally disgusting. One has to stop and think that the cooking in the United States has evolved by Leaps and Bounds since the 1950s. Before the Advent of Julia Child, cooking magazines, television cooking shows, and now the internet most Americans had never eaten anything in a pie crust except a desert.

Nor would I ever think of something like this as a desert. With the crust, it is more like a vegetable pot pie. I grew up with creamed vegetables and when my girls were young, I could get them to eat any vegetable if I put it in a cream sauce with cheese. I no longer make my Bechamel on the stove, though. I always make it in the microwave. I haven't had a scorched pan in years.

You should wait to sneeze until you are drinking that Jigger of rum. According to recent reports you can disinfect quite a large area.

How long do you usually marinate the meat?

I have a question about the beef in China. Is it all free range beef? Do they age it in any way? Does it have any fat marbling? Whenever I have had any beef stir-fry or anyting of the type that you were talking about in a good Chinese restaurant, the beef seems to be very tender. Is it in the marinade that they use? I could really use some advice because the beef here is terrible. It is a free range, Brahma crossbreed that has no fat whatsoever. The closest thing that they ever come to aging is if the truck on the way from the slaughterhouse to the butcher shop gets a flat tire. Thank you.

They really sound delicious so I asked mr. Google for a recipe and lo and behold, this is what came up. Thank you!

They look delicious. I like the way that you wrap them. They seem to have an extra little tuck that would keep the filling in better. Do you make your own wrappers or do you buy them?

Oh, but you haven't seen anything until you see how the Costa Ricans can confuse things. The Spanglish words for steak is bistec. It sounds the same so it makes sense. But now they are using it for everything. Bistec de cerdo (pork). The other day, I saw boneless chicken thighs labeled bistec de pollo (chicken). And if all that wasn't bad enough, they have started to sell prepared roasts in their Deli cases. First it was rosbif and now we see rosbif de cerdo and the other day I saw pressed chicken loaf being sold as rosbif de pollo. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised at a country that call Spam Patè Americana.

Well, I'm going to have to make it again. And this time I will have to make a full recipe . My Nicaraguan housemate has just gone nuts over it. He even threatened to raid the refrigerator and finish it off, something that he has never done with anything else.

They sure did! Our specialty was eggs pterodactyl. Never ran out of eggs.

What a wonderful thing to do. And you are so right. I have a friend that is a marvelous cook, her tables are gorgeous and her house is perfection personified. However she is always a nervous wreck and can never enjoy a party because she feels that she is being judged and always wonders what she forgot.

In another thread, @cteavin asked us what recipe we would be remembered for. Mine was a very simple anchovy dip. And it brought back memories. Years ago I worked for a catering company in Reno and our biggest client was United Airlines. We furnished all the food that went on the airplanes. Yes, in those days they actually had real food. Just before Thanksgiving the stewardesses went on strike, the airline shut down and that cut our business by more than half. About three-quarters of the staff was laid off. The manager of the previous restaurant that I had worked for had taken a new job as manager of the Reno Hidden Valley Country Club. He called me and asked if I wouldn't help out through the holidays or at least until the strike was over. I accepted but with much trepidation because the chef had a reputation of being quite unpredictable. In fact he had a reputation of being an SBO. He had a habit of throwing cleavers at people if he got upset. I decided to try it out anyway and just keep my head down. Imagine my surprise when I met him and Eb was a quiet, docile little Danish man who treated me like his new best friend. The one thing in the kitchen that did seem to irritate him all the time was the meat slicer. It was an old Hobart slicer about 30 years old. It was so old that it was red enamel and anyone that knows Hobarts knows that that they are all beautiful silver machines. However the board refused to buy him a new one and there was nothing he could do about it. His favorite method of washing it was to put it on a cart, roll it to the dishwashing station, and spray it down with the power hose over the drain. One night after a particularly busy night, he rolled it to the station and I looked up just as he picked up the end of the cart and dashed it on to the floor where it broke in about four pieces. He looked and saw that I had seen him. He turned bright red, and muttered something about having to buy a new one, now. At that moment, I realized that he thought that I was a spy for the new manager. When nothing was ever said about it he decided that I was okay and truly became a friend. That wasn't the end of the story though because the board decided to see if the slicer couldn't be fixed before they bought a new one. Hobart sent a loaner that was a beautiful slicer and he immediately fell in love with it. Unfortunately, four weeks later, back came the old slicer. I think that was the first time I ever saw a grown man sit down on the floor and cry. One of Eb's idiosyncrasies was that he jealously guarded his cooking recipes and tips. He even had a little kitchen about 8 foot square with a louvered door in front of it that he would go into to mix up his specialties. After the slicer incident, I could ask him anything and I learned more from him than any other chef that I worked for. Back then, canapes where the big thing and he had one spread that was so good and baffled everyone because they could not figure out what was in it. He told me the secret of the spread and I've used it for almost 50 years. I have shared it many times but never while I was in Reno and I never used it in any restaurant where I worked. So, to make a long story even longer, my favorite quick recipe to take to a party is that anchovy spread or dip.

It depends on how much time I have to make it. Sometimes I make a cocktail loaf of rye bread, but good buttery cracker or potato chips with ridges are also good choices. There have been times when I have needed to bring something at the last minute. I grab a pretty dish, stop at the store for cream cheese and Anchovies and potato chips and wind up with the favorite dish at the party. Just don't be afraid to add too much anchovy.

We might just have mango on the brain right now. It's mango season here and we have had mangos in every conceivable manner lately.

How lucky you are! Within a 12 block area of where I live, there are eight chicken take-out places and four Chinese restaurants. Other than one typical Costa Rican restaurant where I wouldn't order takeout for my dog, that's it.

I usually let the cream cheese softened a little to mix and then chill it again.

It couldn't be easier. It is just cream cheese mixed with anchovy fillets or anchovy paste to taste. I have added dehydrated onion flakes or very finely minced onion but it isn't necessary. It just adds a little texture. I got the recipe over 50 years ago from a Danish chef that I worked with at the Hidden Valley Country Club in Reno. It was his most requested dish and he never would tell anyone what was in it.

When I was first married, I couldn't make biscuits to save my soul. I made some of the best hockey pucks you ever saw. Then after I had been married about a year, a girl from Oklahoma moved in next door. She made gorgeous biscuits, breakfast lunch and dinner. So I asked for her Secret and she reached into the cupboard and pulled out a box of Bisquick. From then on I could make great biscuits. Then I moved to Costa Rica where there was no Bisquick and it was back to hockey pucks until I finally got the hang of it. Now I'm kind of famous for my good biscuits but it's funny how we rely on some ready-mades because they're a lot better than we could possibly make on our own.

That reminds me of the story of the mother that was teaching her daughter how to cook a roast. She cut off 1/3 of it and placed it beside the bigger piece before she put it in the oven. The daughter asked her why she did it that way and she said that that was the way that her mother did it. After discussing it they called the grandmother to ask why she did it. She replied that that was the way her mother always did it. Since the great grandmother was still alive they called her to ask why she did it and she told them that she had to do it that way because her roasting pan was too small.

I like that idea. What type of filling do you put in them?

Just finished dinner and it was delicious. The strange thing about it though was that the cheese and pineapple combination made us think of mango.