tejon

I use cloth bags that I take to the store - they're much stronger than paper or plastic, and I don't end up with a pile of bags to deal with at home. Always get funny looks when I do it, though

"To Serve Man....it's....it's a cook book!"

Spaghetti Carbonara made for dinner. Yum

The worst meal I ever had was at a home in London. I was on a youth exchange with my college tour choir, and we were all staying with willing families. Our host was wonderful in every aspect aside from food. I've blocked most of the meals from my memory entirely (they were that bad), but I remember learning to eat dry toast for breakfast, since it was the most palitable thing available at the time. The one menu item that will forever live in my memory was a dinner where the host served cauliflower as a side. It was cauliflower like in shape, with an odd gray-green cast to it. When I went to nudge it with a fork, I quickly found it was soft enough to spread on toast I can only guess that it had been boiled for an hour or so before being set upon my plate, with no seasoning or adornment of any kind. I know the food going into that kitchen resembled something edible, but found myself wishing over and over again that I could have cooked.

If you find a pattern, I would be interested as well :-)

Black! Why didn't I think of that? Perfect! I love the design of the jubon you linked to - it looks simple to get on and off, and more comfortable than something with many buttons. Looks like it would be pretty easy to make up, as well. Thank you

Same here with asparagus. I could eat it at every meal - and have had a pound of asparagus with just a touch of butter, salt and pepper, for dinner when it's in season. Ripe peaches, raspberries, tiny peas, pistachios, roast chicken, rare prime rib, butter, bacon, whipped cream, rice of all kinds, freshly baked bread, chocolate.....I know I'm missing some things, but those are the first that come to mind.

Sure - why not? It's for use at home, so I'm mainly looking for function. Something that isn't uncomfortable or constricting, that stands up to washing, and that will look decent without a lot of fuss. Patterns of any sort help hide any residual spots or stains nicely so I don't have to spend all my time keeping it pristine and can get on with what I'd rather do with my time - cook I've already ruled out any fabric that melts, with fire in mind I will never forget working a Madrigal dinner back in college with the choir, in costume. They were mainly made out of polyester (had to keep costs down and make them easy to wash). The highlight of the dinner was a flaming Figgy Pudding, carried by two men in tunics and tights. One night, one of them slipped. The front of his shirt caught on fire and started to melt as he ran to the kitchen with a stunned look on his face. Those dining all applauded, probably thinking it was part of the show

I'm not a professional cook or chef by any means. I cook for my family and friends, and to amuse myself. So technically I have no need for a chef jacket. However, I have always hated the way aprons fit, and have wanted something more functional that I could put on and move around in without worrying about catching my sleeve on something or staining my shirt. I'm a seamstress, so making one up for myself is no problem at all. My question for those of you who have lived in chef's whites is this - what would you want in a chef's jacket? What kind of fabric? What kind of fit? What kind of fasteners? If you could design the ideal jacket for yourself, what would it be like? I'm assuming I want a fabric that is washable and sturdy, and will be looking at something patterned so stains aren't as much of an issue. I'm also a bit curvy, so any input from the females out there would be much appreciated as well. Any suggestions or comments would be helpful.

I plan a menu each week, then do the shopping for the week in one run - I go to three stores (produce, grocery store, and Trader Joe's), but that's it until the next week. It took a while for me to get the hang of planning out what to eat ahead of time, but now it's pretty simple. I look at what's in season in terms of produce as well as what looks good meat wise. Then I figure out whether there are any nights that need dinner made quickly for one reason or another - do I have an homeowner's board meeting this week, does my husband have classes? I toss in at least one new idea or recipe a week to keep things interesting, and a few old favorites as well. Almost always a meal of dal somewhere in there because we really love it. I leave a lot of lattitude with most of it - sides I make up as I cook them, same with many main dishes. I assemble 5-7 main dishes, then figure what they would pair with in terms of produce or sides and add those in. I don't specify which day each should be made - it's flexible, except for meals that are made from part of a previous meal (roast chicken first, *then* chicken and black bean enchiladas with leftover meat). I keep a dry erase board on the refrigerator, with the menu on one side and room for anything needed at the store on the other (helps to write down "cayenne" when I'm almost out, instead of trying to remember to replace it). This has really helped reduce the amount of spoiled food, and it's especially nice to have ideas and ingredients staring me in the face instead of having to figure out what to make as I'm hungry for dinner. It has also saved a lot of money, which is nice as we're on a pretty low budget. Here's this week's menu (nothing exciting here, pretty simple foods this week): Herb roasted chicken, green beans, rice pilaf Spicy sesame chicken over bean threads, nappa cabbage Lobel's steak (YUM!), baked potato, salad Channa dal, basmati rice, cauliflower Roasted vegetable sandwiches, cucumber salad Chicken and black bean enchiladas, pan roasted corn Gado Gado

That's exactly what cooking rice smells like to me. Clean, like a breeze blowing good things my way.

I'm the redhead, second from the left. My sister, Laurel, is to the left of me - she came along for the ride once she heard dumplings were on the menu Thanks to tissue for organizing the lunch, and to everyone for the wonderful company. I'm still laughing at the number of times the waitresses commented on how much food we had ordered. Not a problem, when it was all so good!

Me, too! I'm hoping we can score an order of the soup dumplings before they sell out. I'm getting there early!

Agreed. I tried chips with Olestra once - and was in pain for hours afterwards as a result. Never again.

Ah, another kheer fan! I love kheer - the subtle flavor, the contrast of the softest rice with creamy thickened milk around it, the flavor of cardamom, the crunch of a dusting of chopped pistachios. Absolutely delicious, and definitely one of my favorite comfort foods. I will admit I cheat a bit on my samosas. I have made the pastry and fried them up properly, but at one point wanted to make a rushed version. Wracking my brain for something flaky that didn't involve frying, I thought of frozen puff pastry dough. I roll the sheets very thin, then seal the filling inside and bake until flaky and golden. The effect is actually very similar in taste and texture to deep fried samosas, it just takes a lot of the work out of the process (and saves some fat and calories, though that wasn't my original intention). I started with a recipe from Madhur Jaffrey, but over the years I have fiddled with it until it makes me happy. I think what I have now is better than what I tasted back in 1986, which fills me with pride. The biggest compliment I ever got was a few years back, when I prepared samosas to share with a creative writing class. One of the students told me the samosas were as good as her grandmother used to make I recently shared some roasted cumin with a friend of mine who literally swooned and asked if she could have the bag I brought over. I've found that it adds depth to many dishes that call for cumin - something about the smokiness added by the roasting works well in many of my favorite mexican-themed dishes as well. Mustard seeds I usually add to sauteed vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, usually along with some chiles to add spice. By the way, I made your recipe for ckicken tikka masala a few weeks back and really enjoyed it! I did have a question - I noticed that there wasn't any minced ginger in the main recipe (as there had been in the marinade), but it seemed like there should be, so I added some in with the garlic as those are so often paired. It came out wonderfully that way - I was just curious to see if that was how you usually make it up. Added some paratha, rice, and cauliflower and there were no leftovers

I first had Indian food at a fair during college, back in 1986. There were booths selling all kinds of foods, and the something smelled delicious, so I followed my nose. The Indian club was selling samosas with cilantro chutney. It was completely different from anything I had ever tried - the spices were heady and wonderful, and I immedieately adked how to make them. The girl selling them shrugged, said her mother made them, and mumbled something about potatoes, peas, and spices. My only exposure to anything even resembling Indian cuisine before this was American curries. I had decided long ago that I hated Indian food, because curries were so bad (to my mind). I now realize that I simply don't like the taste of American curry powder. This one experience opened me up to trying new foods, and soon I was hooked on all things Indian. I started experimenting with spices and dals at home, and now make a mean samosa of my own, as well as many other Indian dishes of all sorts, including kheer, which is one of my favorite comfort foods. We have dal almost every week, and roasted cumin, cardamom and mustard seeds are now my favorite spices I've served samosas, curries, and spiced rice of all sorts to many friends who swore they didn't like Indian food. I've found that if it resembles something a bit familiar, people are more ready to try something new. So samosas get picked up, as they look like a typical stuffed pastry. Rice dishes also go over easily, and meats with sauces do as well. I've tried offering saag and dal, but both are a bit daunting unless you grew up eating cooked greens or something similar.

Tonight was grilled vegetable sandwiches - toasted bialy slathered with mustard vinaigrette, then topped with roasted zucchini, eggplant, red onion, and red bell pepper, then topped with melted jack cheese. Along side, cucumber salad with a spicy soy-chile dressing. A favorite light summer menu - fast and easy, and good after last night's dinner, which was bratwurst and red cabbage

I love Injera and Ethiopian food in general - anything you can eat with your hands is always a plus in my book . Sounds like a good possibility.

My husband and I will be traveling to Portland on the first weekend of September. We'll be hanging out with friends there for most of the time, but we'd really like to have at least one dinner together alone. Our funds are somewhat limited, so something in the $15 per entree or less category (or with selections available) would be great. We are both pretty adventurous eaters, and love all things Asian, Moroccan (I miss Marrakesh!), Indian, Italian, fusion......the only thing that would really be out is seafood (just not a big fan). I'd love to try something different, and this will be the first trip we've had together since our honeymoon over five years ago (without the kids - woo hoo!), so we're really looking forward to it. Suggestions, please?

When in doubt, I make up some dal and spiced basmati rice - both easy and tasty, but leaving room for whatever strikes me at the time.

For some reason, someone got the idea that children are all incredibly picky and won't eat "strange" foods, whatever those might be. Now, I'll agree that small children can be incredibly choosy, and can appear to live on air or macaroni and cheese for weeks at a time, but they also learn what is typical from what they are exposed to on a regular basis. It's sad that in going to restaurants that often have a great variety for adults, children aren't even given a chance to try something outside the box. I have two boys, both under the age of five. Now, I will say we rarely take them to restaurants of the non fast food kind, but that's mainly because they're both small and have the energy level of speed addicts - so I spare both my husband and I as well as those around us from a nasty dining experience. That said, their favorite foods are a wee bit different than typical, mainly because we feed them what we eat - they love falafel, sushi, hummus (which tastes really good on grapes, my oldest discovered), and cellophane noodles. And neither would touch a chicken finger if you promised them a trip to Disneyland

Tell me what bacon you eat, and I'll tell you what you are.

Or, perhaps, two newbies? I'm just outside of LA, right by San Dimas, and I really, really love dumplings.... - Kathy

"You don't like raisins?" "Not really." "Why?" "They used to be fat and juicy. And now they're twisted. They had their life stolen. Well, they used to taste sweet but really they're just humiliated grapes." Exactly.

I've had a lot of success packing the falafel tightly in a 1 ounce scoop. I don't add bread crumbs or potato or egg, just coarsely ground chickpeas (dry, then soaked overnight) with seasonings. I find if I don't pack the balls tightly, then there can be a problem with breakage. It's also better to have a mixture that is slightly dryer, versus a more wet mix. The scoop also makes them evenly sized, which helps in getting them all browned at the same time. Mmmm....now I've got a hankering for falafel and tahini sauce!