"Posted by foodonastump ------------ Wow, dcarch, if there's a book that screams your name, this one is it! Accordingly, I expect it will stir up a lot of controversy. Which all the more makes it perfect for you. ;-) Just from the Amazon review I'd question some ideas, but I'm definitely intrigued. ------- I always forget how to embed hyperlinks, but adding a link at the bottom of a post is a fairly mindless procedure." If there is a Nobel Price to be given in the cooking world, Nathan Myhrvold should be the one to get it. He has contributed so many revolutionery ideas in the art and science of cooking. No. Don't waste your time and money to buy his book, if all you are interested in is more recipes. What a crazy brain this guy has! I absultely urge everyone, expecially if you have children or grandchildren, to look him up in YouTube and see him in action. What this country needs is more people as creative as he is. I have corresponded with him in another WEB site. He is a geek with a great sense of humor also. Regarding links. I admit I have been lazy. I post in a few other forums. Each one has a different way of doing things. I just don't bother trying to remember. Also, sometimes I post from different locations and I don't always have my files with me. Please check out this web site: http://modernistcuisine.com/ dcarch

I understand your situation so well. My boyfriend is ultra touchy about his 5 year old too so I know what it feels like to be in a no win situation. And I've often felt like an intrusion myself. My boyfriend can shout very ugly insults to me as well when it comes to his child. I also understand your disappointment about possibly not having children with your husband. I never considered myself maternal, but I fell so madly for my boyfriend that I actually thought one day it would be great to have a child of our own, but that possbility is very small. He's crazy about his son, but his arrival was not planned and I don't think my boyfriend wants to do it again. There are so many negatives to staying in a situation like that for me that I'm considering cutting my loses as hard as it will be. For you, since you are married and in way deeper than I am (at least legally), I would try counselling. Dealing with three children that are not your own, I can only imagine how overwhelming that is. If your husband won't go with you, then go for yourself. But try to do it with your husband because sometimes people are so clouded by what means so much to them (your husband's children) that they can't see what they're doing until a 3rd party points it out. I know it easier said than done because my boyfriend flat out told me he won't do counselling. It really broke my heart. He's extremely cold at times and it's sad. But even if your husband won't go, you still probably need to go for your own sanity.

I read your posting as an acceptable small vent. As anyone, faced with label reading, shakes head, and wonders why all that stuff is necessary...the ingredient long list. (-and why we keep reading about the major suppliers deciding to 'clean-up' their horrid additives...Kraft taking out chemical dyes and using turmeric, etc) Their sales are dropping. It is all about money. I just completed a 4 day road trip. Prepped all our meals and beverages. All done in a flurry of multi-tasking the few days before. We bought one bag of ice just before the ferry for the pups. (they would knock over a bowl of water) My granola balls failed, but that another issue altogether. I did line up a dozen small bags and made a granola gorp...nuts, dried fruits, freeze-dried veg (good crunch), best addition was the ginger, cured two ways, one salt, the other sweet...cut the size of peas...the only sweet n salty in the mix. Lots of quick snacks can be portioned and made weeks in advance. -mine failed as it was too wet. I should have chopped by hand the dates, (my glue)...almond butter was too runny. I saved it but not as good as in the past....rolled in my granola and coconut flakes...nice small marble size balls. Had a big bag of organic carrots...peeled, cut into snack size, quick two hour pickling, then into food saver portioned bags. (with some olives and red pepper strips)...yes, a big waste of plastic, but for car snacking pulled from a cooler....success All the leftover small packages i tossed into the freezer last night. The paper thin meats with cheese slices will make a nice grilled cheese. Did not eat or make many sandwiches but we had options. Barely touched the humus but was great with carrot sticks...the other three small containers i froze. So we have lots of snacking for a few weeks.... To answer your original question...you can study, read, and learn. But will discover that buying anything packaged and overly processed is your enemy. Any good nutritionist will say the same. Being a NewYorker i've had just about every bar, nut/fruit bar available these days...hundreds of them now. I don't buy them as they are free at work...horribly expensive. We sample them when a new one is on the table, cut into peanut sizes. Some are ok. We like the Chia bars but i would not spend the money personally. Annie, Subway, lol. A young co-worker left a Subway in her hot car over a weekend and it looked the same a few days later... : )

There was a joint fox hunt this morning with guests from several other hunts from various places on the east coast, including one couple that had come from New Jersey. After the hunt we hosted a tailgate brunch. Since the weather was predicted to be cold and wet, I decided to make a squash soup, to use up some of the Long Island Cheese Squashes shown above. Since some of the members are vegan, I decided to (mostly) follow gardengrlz's Thai Coconut Curry Squash Soup recipe from above. The soup was a great success! Thanks GardenGrlz! My as-made version of the soup was: Thai Curry and Coconut Cheese Squash Soup Recipe source: GardenGrlz 1 large Long Island Cheese Squash (like 20 lbs large) 1 Tbsp Olive Oil 2 tsp red curry powder 1 large sweet onion (chopped) 1 large red onion (chopped) 2 red jalapeno peppers (chopped fine) 1 Tbsp ground ginger paste 1 1/2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste 4 cups water 2 Tbsp Better than Bouillon Vegetable base 1/2 tsp salt ground black pepper ground white pepper 2 cans unsweetened coconut milk Cut squash into wedges, scoop out seeds and cut off tough outer shell. Cut into 1" cubes. Place in large baking pan, lightly coat with olive oil, and curry powder, and bake in a convection oven at 400 deg F for 45 min to 1 hour In large stock pot, saute onions and jalapenos in little olive oil until tender. Add ginger paste and continue to stir and cook for another minute or two. Add cooked squash, coconut milk, red curry paste, vegetable base and water. Puree carefully in pot with an immersion blender, and bring to a simmer. Simmer soup for about 15-20 minutes. Add salt, black pepper and white pepper to taste. The amount made nearly filled a 6 quart crock pot.