Barbara

I've got a couple of bags of cranberries in the freezer, if you want them. They are from last year (and maybe the year before). Someone in my family (?) gets excited when they show up fresh at the local supermarket--eventhough we have no idea what to do with them. Anybody who would like them is free to PM me.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

This link doesn't seem to be working--it just returns to your post. ---

Our building engineer uses something very much like this to fry turkeys during the holidays. Deelish!

There are ways to protect one's privacy. For example, I started posting comments on Charlie Pierce's Esquire blog and, after awhile, it started showing my name, as per usual, and my age (!). I realized that it was taken from FaceBook and immediately deleted that info and simply added that I live in DC. Also, I was too unaware to notice that all my comments were showing up on my FaceBook page. Took care of that, too--if somebody wants to know what I post to Charlie, then you are going to have to read his blog. For some people birthdays are important; for others, not so much. You can know my name and the vicinity in which I live; but, you better have a very good reason to know anything else about me (and, I don't lie about my age, but I think some people who don't actually know me might be unduly influenced by that knowledge). I actually learned a very great deal about the value of protecting one's privacy for its own sake from my very dear MIL. I wish the young folk could understand that, too.

I'm actually all for this. If you don't want people to know who you are, then don't post. I wish every site did this--the exception being sites where the "owner" knows who you are even if you use a screen name (and this isn't the only site I'm referring to). Of course, a site like this is manageable; HuffingtonPost is not. So use your real damn name.

Dame Edna flees the premises long before the maid shows. I should mention that Sakuramen seems to do bang-up lunch business on Fridays, and from the comments I've overheard (particularly from what I am assuming are Korean-Americans) in those very close confines, they probably should reconsider their lunch time hours. But, what do I know? Except that I am sure the staff would plotz if I showed with Dame Edna in tow.

I can tell you for a fact that they are only open for lunch on Fridays and the weekend. Works for me because my maid comes every other Friday, which usually means I escape to Sakuramen (it's embarrassing, but the staff knows me very, very well and treats me like an old friend--I also tip very well ). Adams Morgan has always been kinda iffy for lunch. Probably has to do with the fact that there aren't many office workers around here looking for lunch--unlike downtown and other spots on the Metro lines. Pickings are kind of slim at that time of day--but Pho 14 is open, along with MixTex and, of course, Astor and a few other places--and TAAN is no longer open for lunch due to the change in "management."

I'm just wondering how many us of grew up with our Mothers keeping a container of "Accent" in the cabinet as a "meat tenderizer?" It is pure MSG--if one can use the term "pure" in this context.

I'm lifting my coffee cup this morning to toast the Nats. (I ran out of gin during the game last night, which didn't end until 12:45 am!) I'm also glad a game like that doesn't happen very often. Still, I'm anticipating the end of the season the way a lot of kids look to the opening of the school year--with anxiety and loathing for the "void."

This would actually go a long way to solving the problems of Liquor-license moratoriums in various parts of the city. It would not exacerbate the problems of young'uns looking to get drunk, since we're talking about wine, but allow thoughtful people to drink a decent bottle of wine with their dinner. Sounds like a win-win to this Adams Morgan resident.

In DC, anyway, the restaurant tax is close to 10%--and, you are correct that 18% is the usual add-on for parties of 6 or more--so, it is very easy to just double the tax to figure out a tip. My problem with upping the tip percentage is that it raises the compensation for waiters, while everybody else's pay is stagnant--or worse. I personally would rather patronize a place that pays ALL its workers a living wage and takes the questionable part out of it. It would certainly spare the waitrons the Church-going folk who leave a religious pamphlet instead of tip. (Obviously,.these are not the kind of places I frequent willingly.) Plus, the Europeans who vacation in the US won't be considered pikers for not knowing the culture here.

OK, so you made me go a dig mine out. (I have so little counter space that I have to store the machine in a cabinet.) Mine is the 5150 model and it came with a lovely box containing the extra blades, other equipment and the slicing/shredding discs--two of which are reversible, giving me four different uses in two blades. Haven't used those, yet, but I have to make a bunch of coleslaw in a week and will have to. It also came with a huge juicer attachment that I doubt I'll ever use.

I found this on Chefs.com: http://www.chefscatalog.com/product/29555-magimix-12-cup-food-processor-85307cc.aspx This is not exactly the model I have. Interestingly, the deal-breaker for America's Test Kitchen was the way-too-narrow opening on the top (and, yes, I have to pare down whatever I'm pushing through). This model seems to have solved that problem. All food processors have their downsides and I haven't used mine often enough to make any absolutes about this. The one I have has THREE bowls--cutting blades for only the smallest and largest bowls and the middle one is the only one you can use the slicing/shredding blades with. However, it seems to be extremely well made and is a breeze to clean by hand (unlike my original Cuisinart food processor). It is also much easier to operate than was my old Cuisinart; however, it didn't come with an instructional manual. Instead, it came with a DVD that I haven't bothered to look at. There is a video on Youtube that I refer to if I need help. It is made in France, not China, always a great plus to me. I hit a sale, so I paid $275 for mine and that included free shipping and no sales tax. However, the model I bought did not come with the egg-beater attachment. But then, so what? I have a KitchenAid stand mixer for that kind of stuff. My Mother gave me the Cuisinart as a wedding present back in 1990 and I only had to start looking for a new one a year or so ago when some of the plastic bits started breaking off. The motor still works, but parts are hard to find. I don't expect to ever have to buy another processor in my lifetime, since the Magimix seems so well made and I don't use it that often. (It turned that pound of basil into pesto in nothing flat). I had looked at the processors on Amazon before I bought this. Some of the negative reviews of KitchenAid and Cuisinart gave me pause and I never could decide. The special offer on the Magimix sealed the deal for me. I guess it all depends on how much you will be using it and in what way. YMMV.

I got a Magimix through Chefs.com and it came with a bunch of stuff, but not a dicing kit. Damn!

It has more years than I can remember since the last time I was in there. After being sold frozen squab that turned out to be rotten when it thawed and charging twice what Whole Paycheck did for Callebaut chocolate, I decided they really didn't want my business.

Get some "Greased Lightning." It's the best de-greaser ever. Hard to find, but it is sold at Home Depot these days.

My concern isn't about physical aesthetics. If there were no consequences to obesity, then Hillvalley's comments would have a great deal of merit. It wouldn't be anybody's business if somebody were overweight or not and would be/is rude to comment on that fact. I, for one, fervently hope that she writes here about what she finds in Switzerland, among other places, regarding the food culture there and what is changing or not. We might learn something. Underlying most of our concerns are the costs to individuals and to society as a whole for the problem of obesity. These concerns include the growing rates of high blood pressure and the precursors of Type 2 diabetes seen among American teenagers--for a start. The answers aren't nearly so simple as the smoking problem--just stop what you are doing (and there are a whole bunch of ex-smokers in this community, including me). Since most of us, except Rocks, know how to cook and how to read nutrition labels, we are also aware of how much time, money, and effort goes into buying and preparing the most nutritious food. I dare say none of us lives in a "food desert" and even if we did, we have transportation to the H Mart or the Great Wall or Costco. We are all also literate--and the percentage of people in DC who are not is just shocking--and freely exchange all kinds of info among ourselves. This is a very complicated problem. One that involves big business, government, and the way our country has evolved (or devolved) geographically--not to mention the culture. Hamburger Helper, anyone?

Right now, I'm sitting in front of the computer. However, this morning I went to the farmers market at 18th & Columbia Road and found a one POUND box of basil for $8. So, I went home plucked, washed, and spun-dried the basil until I got tired. I put the remainder in a gallon-sized Ziplock Bag. I didn't have enough pine nuts, so I went to the Metro Market a block or so away and got some more. And, took the box and the huge plastic bag the basil came in back to the farmer's truck. I had three cups of pesto in the fridge by 11 am. The three large beets I also bought this morning were wrapped in aluminum foil and roasted in the oven while all this was going on. And, yes, I'm feeling quite virtuous.

I believe that is irrefutable proof of the existence of naturally-occurring testosterone poisoning.

This actually conforms with my belief that modern Americans don't get nearly enough exercise. When you look at pictures of ordinary people during the 1940s and 50s, you rarely see fat people in them. When I was growing up, the "fat kids" were few and far between. The rise of suburbia made the car(s) a necessity and also made walking to anyplace nearly impossible. When most of us travel to places like Rome or Paris, we think nothing of walking all day--with the occasional ride on a bus or subway. And have to climb stairs all the time. We've mostly gotten away from all that--thus the need for gym memberships. Once I learned to ride a bike, I would take off in the mornings and ride around all day. I don't think most parents these days would allow that. David Baldacci is known for his mystery/thriller novels; however, years ago, he published the lovely novel Wish You Well. This took place in the 1930s (IIRC) and concerned a young boy visiting his Great-Grandmother in rural Virginia when his young parents were killed in a car crash. The description of their daily lives was one of unending labor from sunup to sundown, just to sustain themselves. Anybody who read Cold Mountain also realized how difficult food was to come by for somebody travelling on foot through sparsely-populated areas and the difficulties of living on a farm when you were clueless. I've heard that travelling through large parts of Africa poses similar problems. Here, you can't pass more that a door or two without finding places that sell pizzas, cupcakes, ice cream, burgers and fries, etc. All those things used to be only for special treats when I was a kid and I ate in one of the earliest McDonald's in California only on rare occasions. Sermon over.

Rats! 400 mg of sodium is just too high for the way I use this stuff.

I've had to ban Dame Edna from using black bean sauce in the stir-fries and such that he cooks for our dinners. I just got tired of it absolutely ruining every dish he used it in--it's a salt bomb. I just don't get the point of that stuff.

Just saw this in two sizes at the Rodman's on Wisconsin Ave. in DC.

You beat me to it. Picture me, with my Radio Shack transistor radio with fancy ear buds, on the bus going to the Penn Quarter farmers market this afternoon, just so I could listen to the game. I should point out here that the game started at 12:30 and I caught the bus about 2:15. Got home just before 4 pm, put away my purchases and had the radio in the apartment on when Harper did his magic at about 4:15. Does anybody else think it just takes too long to play a 9-inning game? Not that I'm complaining about the results.