Lox on a bagel...forget the cream cheese...try hummus and chopped chives...couple of capers.

I cook lentils in chicken stock with a finely chopped onion, about 8 finely chopped garlic cloves and an envelope of Sazon. Drain and toss with a dressing made of lemon juice, olive oil, a little salt, pepper. Toss in chopped walnuts and capers. I also love a bit of chopped kim chi on top. I eat a bit of this at almost every meal.

The back garden is great...not the sidewalk tables and not inside near the bar...very noisy.

Art Cafe since they expanded table space and not kitchen space is struggling. Not going there as enthusiastically as I used to. Service is TERRIBLE and food not so good. Conversation with a server confirmed the struggle. I still like Skylark. Also Harry's.

Menton1..when was the last time you were at the Skylark?? It's nicer than you describe...clean and bright. I think Temptations fits your description of the Skylark. Every time I go into Temptations I get a claustrophobic feeling. It's not clean...always sticky tables, trash on the floors. Service is not great.

Freshly spruced up with the original classic furnishings...long counter, stools and booths...spacious. Open grill. Always FRIENDLY STAFF!! My grandchildren insist on going for breakfast whenever they visit. Skylark's signature dish is Johnny cakes (cornmeal pancakes)...my favorite with real maple syrup in a pitcher on the table...no stingy little plastic thimbles. My grandson is a great fan of the granola pancakes. Good coffee. Full breakfast menu. Great for lunch...fine sliders...order however many you want. Haven't tried them for dinner yet but based on friends experiences we will soon.

-----
Skylark Restrnts
84 Main St, Nyack, NY 10960

I also have a shiso plant in my garden that's growing like it's on steroids. I finely julienne a couple of leaves and use on top of uncooked or gently browned tofu slices with a covering of finely chopped fresh garlic and ginger, soy, sugar, rice wine vinegar, chili garlic paste.

Not only the coffee but the coffee maker. I use a Bialetti pressure pot...concentrates the coffee flavor. Melitta from the supermarket or Starbuck's Verona dark roast.

I've been collecting CI for years: new, vintage, thrift store, street discards. I don't use them for a long simmering tomato sauce...yes, uses up the seasoning. For the lingering tastes issue, I have a dedicated fish CI so the fish tastes stay only in that pan and I can put pan in oven or broiler. My three cornstick pans turn out a great product. Recently, I was lucky enough to find a large nicely seasoned square grill pan on the street...one's trash, another's treasure.

Not a book but the movie "Waitress"...there are recipes posted on line. I made several...very good.
The best is Falling in Love Mousse Pie.
http://community.tasteofhome.com/foru...

Does this qualify as odd? We got a new fridge. Over the years, I've saved the veggie bins from fridges that have passed through our lives. I've fitted the old bins into the new fridge so I have a series of drawers except for the top shelf. Odd part: I've labeled the drawers and we know where to put things...cheese (also for nuts and salami type things), bread, 2 veggie bins, fruit and potatoes and onions. Works great!

Funny you should ask...I just bought a can of Chatfield's at the health food store...it's undutched...alkaline free...before I open it...anyone use it? any opinions?

I saw the heading and haven't read through the 76 replies yet...I'm registering my disappointment and warning not to expect anything exceptional from seasonal offering Silk Pumpkin Spice...tastes like NOTHING. Being a Silk product, it's fairly healthy except for
24g. sugar. No spice flavor, no eggnog flavor...good for using in anything requiring a soy milk product with a sweet bent. I seem to remember Silk making a decent eggnog product last year. Haven't seen it yet.

My own solution is Trader Joe's line of Indian Fare...use the pouched veggies or legumes as SAUCES...add sauted onion, garlic, meat, poultry, fish, shellfish...make fresh fragrent basmati rice, buy your naan or pita and have on hand hot pickled lemon condiment and chutney of choice. I make a nice raita to go with...getting hungry.

From a regular size block...3"x5"??...I guess that's tub. Adding tofu is sort of by taste and the seat of your pants...you don't want to loose the pesto intensity, color and texture...start with a smaller amount and go from there.

I make mine garlicky with pine nuts...my innovation is to make it slightly lighter without compromising the flavor with about a 1" slice of tofu. You'd be surprised...

Scirocco, I just posted to yours about a year ago about tough rib eye steak...just experienced same...check out my intended solution.

Here it is a little over a year later than the original post and we just ate part of a perfectly grilled rib eye steak which we also soldiered through. I eyed this steak suspiciously when I cut it out of the vacuum sealed pouch...steak from a local farm coop...clean meat, no hormones, etc, etc. Suspiciously because there was no marbling to be seen in the main body of the steak. I'm very happy that the cows get to run around and stay fit but doesn't work when you want a tender piece of meat.
So my solution for the remaining slices of pink, tough rib eye steak is to make a classic
italian tomato sauce and put in the slices to cook along...not minced up...whole slices. After a couple of hours cooking, if the meat is tender and tastes like anything, I'll dice and throw in the sauce otherwise, I'll just dump the meat and enjoy the sauce.

Oldies but goodies: the Inspector Maigret series by George Simenon describes the many wonderful classic French dishes prepared for the Inspector by his wife, Mme. Maigret.
There's also a Mme. Maigret cookbook.

Try Pacificana on 8th Av. & 54th St. Brooklyn Chinatown

Aside from home recipes Park Slope Brooklyn restaurant Al Di La on 5th Av. makes light, light, light heavenly Gnocci.