Pat

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.)

I believe it's "fasting." http://www.travelblog.org/Photos/163790.html

We thought she was delightful when we were there early on. She was very helpful and seemed kind of California laid-back. My husband was convinced that she was only there for a fairly short time while they were getting off the ground. He doesn't read the food boards, but he was apparently onto something .

Morbiere and baguette Butter lettuce with avocado, feta, red pepper, radishes, Alphonso olives and balsamic vinaigrette Meatballs with anchovies (from The Silver Spoon--wonderful meatball recipe) Buttered egg noodles with Parmesan Swiss chard with balsamic

I had a couple of beans like that and just enough vodka in the bottom of an ancient bottle to hold them when cut in half. It made fantastic extract. I'd never tried it before and was amazed.

I generally soak the RG beans about 4 or so hours. They don't need a longer soak. They're very fresh. You can probably cook them without soaking, but they will take longer to cook. I generally cook them 1-2 hours, depending on what I am doing with them. I've found that adding smoked turkey parts about halfway through cooking enhances the flavor. I've only tried this with the mayacoba beans, but it should be more generally applicable. They recommend cooking them with onion, carrot, and celery, using the soaking liquid to cook them. Check the web site. There are also directions for posole on the web site, I believe. I've gotten postcards in my orders with directions for cooking it as well, and I should still have one lying around. I can look. I've made it but forget any specifics. I don't know if smoked turkey works for you in that application, but it might. It depends on what kind of beans they are. I'll serve the pinquitos with tacos/enchiladas/etc. I use Rio Zape in chili. You can put the beans in soup, mix them with rice, or whatever you typically do with beans. If you don't want to serve them completely alone, they're nice with the pot liquor, some bread, and a big salad.ETA: The cooking instructions for the beans, plus some posole recipes, are here.

Peanut butter and bacon sandwich. That is oddly appealing to me at some times. I understand what Brett is saying (I think) about how your own comfort foods may not be the right thing when you're feeling unbearably awful. But it may be that other people's idea of comfort foods works. I don't know if boxed mac and cheese is something with particular memories or something you never eat. That's something I never grew up eating and don't especially like, but there have been times I've craved it. Whatever you can actually eat is the best thing. For some reason, the only food that is universally appealing to me, no matter how I feel, is french fries. When I go through periods when I have no appetite, I can always eat fries. They may not do for me what they do when I'm feeling great, but I can always eat them. Food associations are a very strange thing. ETA: In addition to the advice everyone is giving, the fact that you have not been eating your "home" food for a while probably is also a wild card here that will throw things into further confusion.

Chicken soup. It smells wonderful and is making the kitchen warm.

I found the Armenian stuffed grape leaves (yalanche) recipe. My husband's cousin (thank you, Charlotte) dictated the recipe to me one Thanksgiving. It makes more than enough stuffing for a 16 oz. (undrained) jar of California grape leaves--the large ones. I always have leftover rice, but it's so good, I've never bothered scaling back the recipe. The filling is 2 lg. onions, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 tomatoes, cored and chopped 1/4 cup olive oil 2 1/3 cups brown rice 3 1/2 cups chicken broth salt and pepper to taste Saute onion and garlic in olive oil. Add rice and tomatoes; cook about 5 minutes. Add chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook covered for about 40 minutes until the rice is done. Fill/roll the leaves the way Zora described. They should be packed pretty close together in a casserole. If you're making multiple layers, add a layer of grape leaves between them. Cover the casserole* with 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup lemon juice, and 1 3/4 cup chicken broth. You can do them in the oven or on the stove. I cook them about 50 minutes or so a 350 oven. With a lot of liquid in there, it's a good idea to stick an upside down plate on top of them so they don't start floating and breaking apart. *This amount is for a big casserole using a whole 16 oz. jar of leaves.

It was so cold this morning, I decided to make a big warm breakfast: oatmeal with golden raisins and almonds; wheat germ-banana muffins; chicken sausages; and, scrambled eggs.

I guess I'll leave it in the cabinets, then. I really should just use it . I was on this big farro kick early last year and then my fascination dropped off a bit. Last night was roasted whole chicken with bread stuffing and giblet gravy; buttered parsley potatoes; and, roasted fennel. I'm going to make soup from the chicken carcass today and add some of the leftover stuffing to it .

chicken giblets for gravy to go with the chicken roasting in the oven

I have a few. Unfortunately, I can't find my copy of the basic one I make. It's my husband's cousin's recipe and uses brown rice, onions, carrots, chicken broth, olive oil, and lemon. I'll keep looking for it, as I need to find it for me. There's also a cheese version I adapted from something posted by an Italian woman in Australia that was quite good, and a chickpea and lentil version I'd have to dig around for.

Maybe I should make room for it in the refrigerator, then. I know that quinoa is especially prone to rancidity, but I'm not sure about other grains.Last night: leftover lamb chops from rack of lamb, pan browned and crusty (not medium-rare anymore but good nonetheless); baked potatoes; braised baby bok choy with mushrooms and garlic.

I've been making these since I first saw the recipe. It's hard to believe it's been that many years.http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/843

banana-wheat germ muffins fresh from the oven

For the past few years, I've been using the whole wheat pizza dough recipe from The New Basics Cookbook. It's not quite half whole wheat flour, which I find adds some extra body but isn't too heavy. These are the ingredients: 1 cup warm water 1 pkg. active dry yeast 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1 cup whole-wheat flour 2 Tablespoons olive oil 1/2 teaspoon salt This makes 2 pizzas, about 12" each.