Pat

I've only made it a few times, but I recall that what I served with it seemed to make the difference. I think I may have liked it served with spinach and garlic, but I don't seem to have notes on that. I keep notes rather erratically on the recipes I make, which can be frustrating when I can't quite recall something on my own.

Really good, fresh bagels I'll eat without toasting. Most times I eat them toasted .

leftover twice-baked mashed potatoes

As I recall, they have some cutesy name for them. I try not to think of them as bagels. If I'm starving in the morning, they fill a need for something starchy and toasted, but that's about it.

Deviled chicken drumsticks* Lima beans with butter Twice baked potatoes *I couldn't find the recipe I'd used for this in the past, so I concocted my own deviling mixture, rolled the chicken in that and then in bread crumbs. The crumb mixture was part baguette and part buttermilk biscuits. It worked really well. There was no trouble keeping the crumbs on the chicken through the cooking time either, which is something I sometimes have a problem with. Since I hate throwing things out if I don't have to, I had in the freezer what seemed like an endless supply of biscuits that hadn't risen enough when baked but tasted okay. I'd kept them to thaw for a last minute bread item to go with soups or whatnot. They worked really well as bread crumbs, after being whirred up in the food processor with a chunk of baguette.

I had the feeling that Guinness must have been doing a promotional campaign a while back, because several times when I ordered a light draught beer, I encountered a bartender/server telling me that Guinness had about the same number of calories and that it was low in carbs. There seemed to be talking points that had been established on the subject . I recall one gentleman in particular who did not take a polite no for an answer and repeatedly insisted that I would rather have Guinness than Miller Lite. I like pilsners. I may sometimes drink other beers, but I prefer pilsners (whether they are merely light or "lite" beers. If I'm not concerned about money I'll order Stella Artois or Urquell, but more often I go with the cheap "lite" draught.) I tend to drink light beer because I don't like the strong flavor of darker beers. Sometimes I will drink darker beers--and I have, on occasion, drunk Guinness and found it acceptable--but they are not what I generally choose to drink. It is really irritating to be told that you would rather have something else than what you ordered .

I have done that and liked it. I was just looking at the recipe again recently because someone elsewhere was looking for pork loin recipes. It reminded me that I hadn't made it in a long time.

Those do look like the same thing. Different sources have somewhat different information. I have The Complete Meat Cookbook (Aidells and Kelly), which is pretty useful, but I still feel like there's a lot I don't understand.

I've used leg of lamb to make stew. I wouldn't pay a premium price for it, but if you're getting it inexpensively, why not? I sometimes make lamb stew out of leftover roast leg of lamb, as well.

There are stovetop smokers. I think Zora has mentioned having one (?). There is a thread or portion thereof somewhere dealing with stovetop smokers.I don't make any kind of ribs that often, but I have made beef ribs basically the way I make baby back pork or spareribs. I use a dry rub and long low heat in the oven, and then add a sauce of some kind near the end. Short ribs are kind of squared off. The ones I use most often are the English style. Sometimes they're cut into smaller pieces for sale rather than left whole. There's also a kind cut lengthwise, but you can see where each square is on the slab. These are what I think of as short ribs for braising or these. These are the ones cut the other way. ETA: That last url has links for photos of short ribs from the chuck and plate portions of the anatomy.

A brick with scrapple at Market Lunch. I think the simultaneous political discussion my friend and I were having gave me indigestion, though . I also had a cup of coffee that seemed supercharged with caffeine. Or maybe that effect was a consequence of the discussion too. I'm swearing off discussing politics first thing in the morning, and in crowded public places .

Bittman's Asparagus Risotto, topped with fried eggs leftover arugula salad

I'm not sure what you mean by regular beef ribs. Short ribs are a particular cut--and they can be cut a couple of different ways. I think they're usually chuck, but I'm not too expert on meat cuts. Braising is generally the most popular way of cooking them, but I've seen recipes for marinating and grilling them.

This was quite a tasty meal, though the descriptions make it sound a bit cluttered. Saying salad, pork and rice, and bread would be a lot more succinct . Salad of baby arugula, grape tomatoes, cucumber, red and yellow bell pepper strips, extra-sharp cheddar, croutons; balsamic vinaigrette Braised [leftover] cubed pork shoulder with red onions, garlic, red and yellow bell pepper, pickapeppa and soy sauces; served over whole grain rice blend* cooked in anise-scented mushroom broth, mixed with sliced mushrooms; all topped with toasted sliced almonds Marvelous Market rustic boule with soy spread *Rice Select Royal Grain: brown and red rice, barley, and rye berries, with additional red rice remaining from another container.

I looked the recipe up and bookmarked it. Thanks for the idea.

Spaghetti with lime and rocket. I first got this from a mailing list I'm on back in 2000. I think about making it more often than I do. It seems harder to make in theory than when I actually go ahead and prepare it. Searching around reveals a copy of the recipe here, at the bottom of page 1/top of page 2.

Salad of red leaf lettuce, grape tomatoes, yellow bell pepper, alpohonso olives w/balsamic vinaigrette Meatball subs on Marvelous Market baguette, with buffalo mozzarella

The recipe specifies canned anchovies in oil.

SS was published in 1950, but the revised edition is 1997. I looked through and there are recipes that call for fillets, so this recipe clearly does call for whole anchovies. They specify canned anchovies in oil.The very best anchovies I ever bought--I believe they were in fillets in olive oil--came from Costco, in a large jar. Those were phenomenal. It took a long time to use them, and I never saw those again. I'll look for the canned ones in salt. What I would really love to find are capers in salt. I used to find them on the salad bar at the old Pinecrest Whole Foods. I have not seen them anywhere else. The brined ones always smell like acetone to me, and no matter how much I rinse them, I find that smell/taste hard to stomach.

It's now occurring to me (duh ) that I'm using anchovy fillets. The recipe says 2 canned anchovies, drained and finely chopped, and I didn't even think about whether that means whole anchovies or fillets. Perhaps it means whole anchovies, and that's why 2 fillets seemed to be too little. I usually use 4 fillets. The recipe measures the meat in cups (3 1/2), which comes out to more than 1 lb. but not 2--maybe about 1 1/2 lbs. or so. I can weigh it next time. I probably should know. I just buy 2-3 lbs and freeze the extra. So, that's 4 anchovy fillets to 3 1/2 cups. How many fillets are there in a whole anchovy? If it's two, then I've hit on the right number .

Decadent, maybe, but very good .I've been making a meatball recipe from The Silver Spoon that combines beef with anchovies. I actually increase the amount of anchovies over what is called for in the recipe. The anchovies enhance the flavor of the meatballs beautifully but are not distinguishable as anchovies. I'd give the anchovies in lamb a try.

Last night was improvised pork tacos, made from a hunk of leftover pork shoulder simmered in the crockpot for several hours with some chicken broth. Once it started to fall apart, I added some salsa verde I had in the refrigerator and a little barbecue sauce and heated a while longer. Quite good served in big flour tortillas with shredded lettuce, halved grape tomatoes, grated cheddar, and low-fat sour cream. Forgot to add: served with more of the leftover pinquito beans and Mexican rice. (The rice was a combination of recipes from two different Mexican cookbooks. I hadn't really thought about it, but I was a little surprised to find recipes called "Mexican rice" in Mexican cookbooks.)

There was a place we used to go in College Park years ago (i.e., the 80s) that put Old Bay on the free popcorn they gave out to patrons at happy hour. The first few handfuls were good, but it rapidly became too much. I'd always forget that and OD on the Old Bay every time. I'm sure it sold them more beverages, though . Used a little more sparingly, I'd imagine it could be a decent use of Old Bay.

Near the end of today's chat, there was a long RW story that still has me shaking my head. People took a birthday cake to a restaurant without setting it up in advance (so far as I can tell from the way the story was told) and then, not only expected to have the cake served, but also to get their RW dessert, all for $30 per adult. (There were two kids for whom they ordered extra food.) Tom's response was that communication failed on both sides. To an extent I agree--and the person writing had no idea they would have to pay to have an outside cake cut and plated--but stuff like that must make restaurant staff crazy. (The guests were told they'd have to pay for plates for the RW dessert, as they had already used their alloted plating for the cake. They weren't being charged for the cakeage since they weren't told upfront there was a fee.)

I should have read your post first.(Thanks for the bus information.)