Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Lorenzo, I'd add just one thing: "Thank you, God, for putting us at the top of the food chain for this meal. Amen." With luck, we will always find ourselves at the top of the chain, but it's not a certainty.

When trying to keep oxygen from the exposed avocado, why not just put the avocado half face down in a half-inch or so of oil - enough to touch all the exposed bits? It might be tricky getting the bubble out of the center, but I think it would be doable. You can still use the oil afterwards, can't you? Or, just use oil instead of water and immerse it - it wouldn't take that much, and as I've said, you can use the oil after the remove the avocado - it hasn't gotten dirty.

Decided we needed to finish up the Christmas turkey, so I hauled out my old copy of "Julia Child and Company" and found her somewhat glamorous rendition of turkey casserole (which also is helping to use up the egg yolk and cream and mushrooms that I had around) - but lo and behold, when I went to prepare the "white wine sauce" I kept wondering when to add the wine, and how much, so careful review of the recipe (which refers twice to the necessary "white wine sauce") revealed that there is no wine whatsoever, either in the ingredient list or in the instructions. Just goes to show that even Julia can have an anomaly occasionally (and where, one wonders, was her editor?). I haven't cooked it yet, but it promises great things.

How many loaves does this make?

I try pretty hard to find a use, but when it's impossible, the compost pile is a respectable way to recycle a lot of things (and the freezer, when I can remember what's in it, is awfully useful for keeping a half cup of canned tomatoes that can go in the next vat of spaghetti sauce).

As a territorial sort of person, I was much amazed when I saw my daughter-in-law cheerfully let her sister put everything away in her new kitchen on moving day. That turned my world around, and I realized that help from others is never to be despised. It really, really, really doesn't matter a bit if someone puts the knife in the wrong drawer (my husband does this all the time, and I have learned to consider it a treasure-hunt op rather than an annoyance). Please let yourself appreciate generous gestures without questioning them - you'll be a lot happier, even if there is a subtext involved (you can train yourself not to bother to recognize it). And, of course, you can always just be straightforward and say, "Thanks for much, but I'd really rather just visit with you and deal with the kitchen myself, later."

I've just changed my approach - when I'm cooking for someone new, I go out of my way to find out what food limitations are involved, and then plan the menu around that (rather than my usual style of seeing what's at it's peak in the greengrocery, or what's on sale and good elsewhere). For example, I recently cooked for a couple who at first were reluctant to express any preferences, then admitted that she hated fish and he hated tomato sauces - which made it much easier to create a menu everyone could enjoy. When I'm cooking for a bunch of people, I just make sure there's something there for the vegetarians, vegans, dairy-intolerants, and gluten-intolerants - which is a considerably more daunting task. They may not be able to eat everything, but there will be something for everyone.

I used to be married to a picky sort who couldn't deal with the texture of onions unless they were essentially pureed, and who looked askance at anything other than meat and potatoes (his mother was a dreadful cook, and his attitude was a sort of self-defense); I introduced him to Chinese food and he eventually came to trust me (but not onions). Now my husband is a wonderful eater, in that he'll try virtually anything and give intelligent feedback. I have close family members who don't do dairy or gluten, others who are vegetarian/vegan, and I've decided to look at it as a challenge to my creative flexibility when I have to feed them at the same time.

If I lived with a fuss-budget, I'd probably make him cook half the time, and that might spur his flexibility and openness.

And just to be a wretched nit-picker, it's palate if you are referring to your tasting apparatus; palette if you are referring to your range of colors. (And there is also pallet, which is a wooden thingie that you stack stuff on, if you'll forgive the preposition placement.)

First of all, make sure that the place where you are having the reception will let unlicensed caterers use the kitchen - ours wouldn't, so we couldn't self-cater. To save money and time, serve buffet style. To accommodate all the various food issues that people have, serve something vegetarian (and potentially vegan, if possible; better yet if it's gluten free, and good luck with that!), some meat (we had barbecued chicken that worked out fine), interesting rolls and butter, greenery of some sort, and cake for dessert. I know you said "creativity . . . not the usual fare," but creativity is both expensive and not always suited to a party where the main attraction should be the celebration of the marriage, not the food. With 80 people, there will be a wide variety of food requirements, so the trick will be to have something for everyone.

Please tell us who conducts the testing of the coffee on the "taste-quality scale."

My stone broke in half years ago. I just fit the halves together in the oven and use it anyway; it works fine.

Is there some trick about not squeezing the tea bags when you remove them? I thought I heard that once, somewhere . . .