Glad you like the refried bean idea, BlueCedar!
For the Oriental curry sauce, I get Ottogi brand medium or hot and put 1/2 to 2/3rds the amount of powder per water recommended. http://www.ottogi.co.kr/english/product/powder/powder01.jsp


AHA! A manoeuvre from my mother's snob-her-origins-and-everything-and-everyone playbook sussed!

I'll never tire of fresh rye bread with cold butter and a glass of milk.

Whipped butter and sugar, on it's way to being sugar cookies, before adding anything else, I like a big scoop of the sweet greasy butter. Awful, I know, but sooo good.

To which I'd reply: "Only someone with low self-worth looks for validation in external variables such as class or breeding."

Such great ideas!

My favorite lunch is spinach sauteed with olive oil and Goya salad and veggie seasoning mixed with a can of tuna sans mayo. Simple, delicious and healthy.

-Noelle

Yes.

After reading the customer reviews, I bought a used copy of the book. Can't wait to read it!

This time of year I love tomato sandwiches! Freshly baked bread, mayo and a couple of big slices of fresh tomatoes right out of the garden, little fleur de sel and fresh pepper ground over it and I'm near heaven

I LOVE malty Assams, what kind were you drinking that morning?

Flannerygrace, it was one of Murchie's loose tea assams... either Assam Superior Golden or Tippy Golden. Both are very strong and very malty. We drive up just over the border into BC to buy it from the Murchie's in White Rock. Being a Canadian, I developed an addicton to their teas many years ago. Not cheap, but so very very good. If they ever start adding custom duties to tea, I'm in trouble.

Not sure where you're located, but Murchie's does have a website. Here's the page with the assams:

Murchie's Teas

Thanks Sharon, I'm in Washington state but way across in the northeastern corner

I've purchased Murchie's tippy assam, it is wonderful! In the past I've purchased some estate assams from Uptons tea and some of them such as Meleng are just superb. They have a terrific website at http://www.uptontea.com

Have you ever tried Barry's Irish Gold or Glengettie? They are malty assams blended with Kenyan and are great breakfast teas.

No, I haven't. But of course now that you've recommended them I'll have to get some. I see they both come in teabags, which is good because I use bag tea at work. Thanks for the tip!

And if you ever order from Murchie's again do try these (if you haven't already):
-- Irish Breakfast = my standard "alternate" to straight Assam
-- Empress Afternoon = my usual after-work cuppa, medium strength, very nicely balanced
-- Prince Charles = another nicely-balanced medium strength tea
-- Russian Caravan = very different, the smoky Lapsang taste makes a nice change
-- No.22 = a black/green tea blend. I drink this late at night when I want something light but zippier than straight green tea. And also when I have a bad cold, and drink more than my usual amount of tea to help relieve the congestion and coughing. Believe it or not, if it's 2am and I just can't sleep because of congestion/coughing, I find a cup of this will usually help soothe me into sleep. But I have a fairly high caffeine tolerance... your mileage may vary.

wow, Blue, you really know your teas. why not, on a separate thread, share some of your ample tea lore and erudition with us... I don't know my teas, really, like "Orange Pekoe", etc. What's an "assam" and what's a "Lapsang souchong" ?

I'll second that motion, Blue

Oh man...I LOVE beetroot. Being 100% Polish, with Russian on my mothers side - there's no surprise!
I can eat beets in any form, but recently I have taken to cooking with roast beets and I have a great pasta sauce which takes no time at all to prepare.
I cover freshly picked and washed, unpeeled beets with a little olive oil, wrap them individually in foil and roast them at gas 4 for about 2 hours. When they are ready, the skin comes off easily and I leave them to cool. They last about a week in the fridge like this, no problem.
Beet pasta:
1 large oven roasted beet
fresh spaghetti
3% creme fraiche
a small amount of french BOURSIN soft cheese
fresh dill
fresh ground pepper
maldon salt flakes (they sort of stay crispy)
Literally chop up the beet small, tip it into the cooked pasta with all the other stuff - dill last.
You have a beautiful milky pink pasta, which looks amazing.
If you love beet, this is heaven, clearly if you don't...then this is hell!
MB