Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

salad is my favorite meal.... lots of greens, escarole, watercress, spinach, or regular romaine or leaf lettuce. bibb is good when i can get it..... sliced red onion, avocado, grapefruit/oranges/apples/pears (whatever i have in the house), shavings of cheese (cheddar, reggianno) or soft goat, mozzarella - pistachios or sunflower seeds, cucumbers, tomatoes, whatever you have in the house..... pressed fresh garlic (if i'm feeling like i need a zing of flavor), fresh herbs, basil or cilantro..... tossed with extra v. olive oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime - a sprinkling of sea or coarse salt. and if i want a little something extra - grilled chicken, a leftover piece of steak - if i'm feeling flush shrimp or salmon - parma proscuitto or smoked salmon.... very, very satisfying. a nice piece of toasted peasant bread to dip into the leftover dressing.... oh yeah.

have you tried heating the tortilla before you try to roll or fold it? heating makes it much more pliable. you'd be surprised. you can put it into a hot, dry frying pan (turn once) or stick in in the oven wrapped in foil, or popped into the microwave.

lay your proscuitto slice down and put a pinch of fresh arugula salad and wrap it up.... drizzle with ev olive oil and bp. makes a nice first course.

i love to do my own breadcrumbs when i have leftover bread .... let it get hard or toast it.... then add garlic, romano cheese, fresh parsley and S&P to taste..... great for making chicken or pork cutlets. or stuffing stuff ....

if i have extra fresh mozzarella - i'll pop it into the freezer really well wrapped or in a plastic container.... i won't eat it as fresh cheese anymore but will use it in cooking. like making lasagna or something like that.

there is nothing like a good meal shared with good people and good conversation..... maybe you need to seek out those who share the need... i've spent my whole life eating and drinking with friends and family.... always a nice feeling.

years ago i made dried sausage with an old italian lady in newark, nj, we chopped the meat by hand, seasoned it - stuffed it into casings through a funnel and then she hung it in her garage..... it was during the winter months.... i'll never forget the experience.....

happens to me when i'm in "menu overload" .... i.e. having people over and planning on many different things .... one or two which never get made....

as long as this doesn't translate into other areas of your life.... and if it does .... well there's always the line, "it's my life!"

you can add whole eggs into a vitamix drink and never taste a piece of shell. do you know how hard an eggshell is?

hello my old friends!

simon - i recall seeing/hearing/reading that some of the good hotels use this method, as it cuts down on staff & inventory. maybe they're using a frozen product. don't know how you'd go about finding out, though... just a thought....

long live the street entrepreneurs who keep it interesting and keep the people fed for not a lot of money!

i usually don't like that sort of thing ... but this recipe looks very good.... i love the idea of pan toasting the corn a little bit. i may have to try this one out when i'm feeling really decadent!

never heard of gritty ricotta..... but cottage cheese? in a lasagna? i guess in a pinch... but the curds are whey (get it?) too big!!!!

do you put fresh parsley in your ricotta? if you're not washing your parsley enough, that could be where the gritty-ness is coming from.

as far as the grated cheese, like others above have said, if it's not really finely grated you might get a litte chewy nodule. but that's always a nice surprise to me...