Dick Stein

 Don't you think you're due? It had been about ten years for me and that was too long. 

Traditionalist that I am I went with Oscar Mayer, spongy white bread,  mayo, iceberg lettuce and house-brand chips. The result is pictured above. Was it good?

For many a year I was quite proud that other than appliances I owned no kitchen tools, pots, pans or gear of any kind that I paid more than $10 for.  

There was just one problem.

I was so proud of my brilliant Thanksgiving pecan pie innovation.  And then I learned the awful truth.

I love gravy. It's like liquid meat. Here's how I make it.

Ever since  I acquired Molly Stevens' All About Braising  in '04 my copy has become progressively more stained, tattered and torn.  In fact, some of the pages are actually falling out.    That's how good a cookbook it is.  Now the long wait is over.  Five years in the making, All About Roasting  is out at last— and just in time for Thanksgiving. 

Hint: It has to do with baking.  But first take a look at picture #2 above.  I've had that picture for years and still have no idea what the thing is or does.  

If you do please share.  And now the answer to the question posed in today's headline.

Last weekend my wife asked me if I would make her some egg fu yung. "You want egg rolls wit' dat?" I asked.  Of course she did.  But why stop there?

According to Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, the Narragansett Tribe  called it askutasquash, meaning  "a green thing eaten raw."  Of course squash comes in plenty more colors than green and usually we cook it. 

Here's two ways.

I clipped the steamed minced pork with salted duck eggs recipe pictured above from a Honolulu newspaper decades ago. After a few years and much use I transcribed and pasted it, apparently with oyster sauce, to the inside of that cookbook.  

I'll post a more legible version further down so keep reading.

Which would you rather mix up some cake or waffle batter in? 

My birthday present, that stoneware beauty pictured above, or some soulless plastic thing?

In this week's Food for Thought Seattle Times food blogger Nancy Leson rhapsodizes over New York style cheesecake. Who knew there were so many other kinds?

The Bulgarians top it with smetana, not the composer but a soured heavy cream. Ancient Romans made it with honey and a cheese similar to modern-day ricotta. The Bavarian Quarkkuchen is put together with quark cheese, not the elementary particle but a cheese made from soured milk. 

It seems almost every nation on Earth has its own version of the waist-thickening wonder.

We've just about reached the end of the season for home-grown tomatoes in these parts – to which Nancy Leson says yes. But to supermarket tomatoes Ms. Leson says "Blah." I say "blechh" to all tomatoes and will not willingly eat one.

Tired of all that quantum foam leakage coming from your regular grocery tote? Say goodbye to yesterday’s tired tote-tech … and hello to the new, improved KPLU “Turbo” Tote Bag!

For a gift of only $60 during our Fall Fund Drive, you too can own this modern marvel of space-age technology.

Web Wednesday exclusive: Make your pledge today, and in addition to receiving the "Turbo" Tote, your gift will count towards our goal of planting trees in a public radio forest (through the National Forest Foundation) in Spring 2012!

I think I've found the secret and it's just two words:

Baking powder.