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My local goat-cheese farm sells the young baby males in the springtime (say what you want, but then stop eating the cheese - it's all a natural cycle).
I love young goat meat - it's less gamey than older meat, and I save every bit (at that price, I'd better!) Bones make a great stock base, throw in tomatoes, thyme, a potato & there's dinner! I have leg meat waiting to be turned into a curry of some sorts, but honestly, I don't understand what the issue is against eating goat. Maybe this is my Caribbean roots speaking, but, it's food! It's good food! Why are you eating Cheez-Its instead?!?

Pastis always brings back the memory of sidewalk cafes in the South of France. I once asked particularly for olives to make my moment complete and the waiter looked at me as if I had asked for something as ridiculous as the bill after the drink.

While the BF loves Absinthe, I prefer pastis. It has a much more mellow flavour. It's like a walk in the park, as opposed to a hike in the Himalayas. And who wants to go mountain climbing for a summer cocktail?

The cold pantry is the majority of the fridge.
We have 8 different kinds of hot sauces (4x Caribbean, an Egyptian, Frank's, Sambal Olek, some dull German one that came in a cute pepper-shaped container), habanero garlic, kimchi, homemade mango chutney, 4 different kinds of ramps (1 gift, 2 attempts to find a local version of the fantastic one we found in France, 1 butter), capers (small & berries), green peppercorns, anchovy filets, pickles, cheeses in oils, jalepenos, 2 kinds of miso, preserved lemons, olives, tapenade, chopped garlic, chopped ginger (time-saver on weeknights), grated roncal for topping things, duck fat, bacon fat, mustard (dijon, yellow, with tarragon), horseradish, pumpkin seed oil, mayo, tomato paste, red pepper paste, curry paste, soy & Indonesian sweet soy.

There might be more things in there, the only thing I know for sure: it's hard to fit things like meat & veggies in there anymore.

Kenji: thank you for posting this & taking the mystery out of it! I've been longing for xiao long bar for so long and never had it explained as simply as this. You're right: this is the kind of thing one can make at home, assuming one has time.

@Jwink3101, @sfgoo, totally agreee with the low/no salt alternative. I haven't been able to find the 30% less salt version, but considering how salty it is, I'm not sure a 30% reduction would be sufficient. I've been toying with the idea of making my own, using ground celery seeds instead of celery salt.

If anyone has tips an sodium-reduced Old Bay, please post!

I have been known to order off of the kid's menu regularly, mainly for the 2 reasons already cited: 1) portion sizes and 2) some sit-down chains just have more attractive kids menus. When I've done this, I've normally had a side salad and at least one glass of wine. Never gotten a strange look yet, but being female probably helps.

I would do a leg of lamb, braised in a tomato/garlic/rosemary/red wine sauce with lemon zest & rice on the side - something like a pilaf (think "Big Fat Greek dinner") If you go this route, a Greek friend of mine imparted the secret ingredient of their cuisine: a pinch of cinnamon - not much! Side of grilled zucchini with yogurt-mint sauce or some eggplants, maybe?

rib eye

The statements above are true: enjoy your parents and the poor cooking. They do it for you & they cherish the holidays with you. I sat down to Thanksgiving dinner this year, to stuffing I didn't like, squash that I'd do differently and the greens were, IMO, wrong. But, I know that they were made for us, for the special occasion, and what matters to me is that we were all together at the table.

Btw: I'll be using Christmas to make the turkey with the stuffing I want. And the whole time, you can bet I'll be missing my family! :-)

Ritter Sport just came out with an extension of the game: The Chocolate Market. Sadly, it's not made of chocolate but you can only get it by purchasing a whole lot of chocolate. Guess this way, you can have your game and it it too.

Has anyone else there heard of this? If so, how about an English translation of the rules?

Mouthwatering! Yum! I'm also a huge fan of Vada but I don't know where they're from. The ones I had were like little tiny donuts, it was years ago but I'd love to know what they are & to have some more. Any ideas?

does Cakespy know about this? It looks like it'd be right up her alley?

Like any liquor, there is good and there is bad. Would you judge vodka based on Absolut and Smirnoff?

As a patriotic ex-patriot, I buy 12 year old Canadian Club whenever I am home in Canada. However, this is greatly different than the 12 year old CC that is sold (and bottled!) in the States. For a true treat, try the 20 or 30 year olds, much more preferable to a Scotch or whiskey, IMO. But for a fair comparison, do your legwork, get out & buy the good stuff, ie, the stuff actually bottled in Canada. You'd never think it was the same stuff, mainly because it isn't.