Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

You can also try using a pate au choux dough instead and fry that.

I had my gall bladder removed in 2003 due to stones and 'disease' (I was 29 at the time) AND had an onset of lactose intolerance at the same time.

Certain foods, generally those that are fattier, go through me very rapidly due to the bile not being there in sufficient quantities. However, over the 6 years, I've become less likely to get sick that way. I don't know if it is being more careful or just adjusting. Still, in many cases, if it is something I really enjoy, I go for it anyway.

I do take a lactase pill, but not daily, only when I have more than a cup's worth of dairy. I can have a glass of milk or cheese, in most cases, and not have the lactose issue. I am more likely to have the gall bladder issue since there would be the fat as a problem. (ie, with pizza).

Get the right diagnosis. And even if it something like lactose intolerance, I daresay you can still eat things you enjoy in moderation. Frankly, I'd rather be uncomfortable in the bathroom a few minutes if it means not giving up things I really enjoy.

Canned cranberry sauce is ok on a sandwich or something, but I hate it with the meal. I've been making my own for the past couple years and changing up the ratio of other fruits. One year, I did a multiberry cranberry sauce. Another year I used apples and spices. That one was kinda like a 'real' version of that cranberry apple compote crud they put in TV dinners.

Yeah, well it's Ning. Bleh.

I know it sounds strange, but try ebay for your vanilla. It's very inexpensive and the quality is several orders of magnitude better than the little thing in a jar from McCormick.

I agree with @Joy Manning. I season as I go, which lets me correct as I go.

Learning to use salt was hard, I admit. As a kid, my grandmother over-salted everything to the point that I thought it was inappropriate for food. My grandmother's mashed potatoes tasted like lumpy pretzels. Combined that with the 'health' issues sodium received and I swore it off for many years.

Like @windattack, I grew very sensitive to it.

When I learned more about it (and thanks be to Alton Brown), I changed my tune. Finding out that something tastes more like itself was part of the reason. I did a test with two halves of a tomato, one salted and one unsalted. The salted one wasn't salty, it was more tomatoey.

So now, boiling water gets salted for potatoes or pasta. Meat gets salted. Veggies get salted. Everything gets a little to fit the newest quantity and tasted. I use kosher during the cooking process and sea salt in my magnum grinder for finishes and at the table.

And the point of it all? Salt it, but never taste the salt, that's too much.

For a great alternative in (West) African dishes to black pepper, try using grains of paradise. You can get them from TheSpiceHouse.com or World Spice Merchants.

They are peppery, but also have hints of cardamon. It would add a lot more complexity to the dish, if that was your wish.

On rainy days, if I went out to lunch at work, we'd go out for some Vietnamese pho.

Santa Monica Seafood is OK. Very over priced, all things considered, at least to me (grew up on the Chesapeake Bay), but they do have a great selection (just no blue crabs!). If you do have a specific seafood need out here, it seems that SMS or going down to San Pedro are your best bets. For most seafood, I've found that the 'specialty' versions of the grocery stores do OK.

FWIW, Costco seems to have the cheapest canned crab meat. I just made MD Crab Soup.

Butcher info would be nice to have, since I just moved to West LA myself.