Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

@embolini9, I'm with you.

For the few days I intersect with the corn season in northern Michigan, we eat it hours after it's picked, and we steam it and butter and salt it. That's the way it is. We never get past that.

I agree, right from the stalk, the raw corn is tender and sweet without being cooked at all.

The rest of the year (when I'm either too far from a farm to eat the corn the same day it's picked or it's out of season) I don't buy corn on the cob.

My mom made this salad dressing pretty much daily when I was growing up:

lemon juice
olive oil
salt
pepper
Shake these in a salad dressing shaker, or whisk them in a bowl.
Rub the salad bowl with an open clove of garlic and toss the greens with the dressing.

I make it frequently now too. It's nothing special, but I love it. It's clean and light for a side salad. While the rest of middle America was developing an obsession with ranch dressing, I was eating this.

The beauty of this simple dressing is that it's ridiculously easy and good on a daily basis. You could very easily add in fresh herbs, dijon, shallot, or whatever else (I add lemon zest much of the time). To be perfectly honest, as plain as it is, I seldom look for ways to make a fancier dressing because I'm so happy with this one.

Citrus

You'd never be able to put lemon zest or juice in anything. The lack of zest alone might kill me.

And seriously, PerkyMac brings up the VERY important question of cocktails...gin and tonics with no lime for eternity would be a shame.

I love berries. Grew up eating raspberries of the vine in my backyard. But lemons and limes carry so much weight in so many savory and sweet dishes.

I have a cast iron grill pan. It has a designated burner. Pre-heating takes a minute, but I love it. I'll preheat while making eggs to char toast or grill anything or even to reheat pizza (love that crunchy bottom).

Be sure you have very good ventilation. They definitely smoke. I don't have an exhaust fan (at all) so I have to put a regular fan behind it to blow smoke out the window. Fortunately there's a window behind the range, otherwise, I don't know what I'd do.

I got my first bunch a week ago. I made ramp risotto with them. I put the whites in at the beginning of the risotto, then held the greens until the very end, just like I would do with spinach.

corn casserole... had it once over 30 years ago and maybe my memory is playing tricks on me but i thought it was awesome at the time. I was sitting with the person who made it and it seemed so strange at the time. I'm going to guess it's an old southern type recipe. She was layering corn, small chunks o' butter, crushed saltine crackers and sprinkles of sugar in a casserole and then baked it. I think! Does anyone have a recipe like this? I'd love to try it again. (It does seem i tried it years ago and ended up with a soggy mess.) Maybe i should use a "real" recipe, huh?

I like Fage but find it very overpriced for a rather small cup -- Oikos is good, but lately I've switched to Chobani Greek yogurt--available at Whole Foods and other stores in northern New Jersey -- it comes in flavors, but I always get the Vanilla and add trail mix, gogi berries, etc. to it -- delicious -- and the price is less than Fage,

I've been making my own yogurt, using Fage as the initial culture, and when my culture starts to get worn out, I buy another little Fage. I have the Donvier yogurt maker, as well as the Donvier yogurt strainer to strain off the excess liquid, and the resulting strained yogurt tastes just like Fage, for about 1/3 the price.

toaster oven is the way to go... I have a Black and Decker model that I use almost everyday. It toasts perfectly, IMHO. I use it as my go-to personal oven. I even went out to find casserole dishes that would fit the toaster over so I could avoid turning on the big oven for a mac & cheese, for example.

I saw a TV ad for a Kenmore toaster oven that has some extra features... when mine dies down, I might check those out...

toaster ovens are fine, I use them for broiling and light baking/reheating, and I also use the tin foil tray for melty things! but they take way too long and use too much energy for just toast. that's why I have both...plus my old sunbeam automatic 2-slice is so fun to watch as it gently lowers the toast and slowly raises the toast when done.