I’m very curious about the return of Molly’s sense of smell. To what does she attribute this? I, too, lost my sense of smell when my nerves were severed in a fall and skull fracture when I was 21. The neurologists told me “cranial nerves don’t regenerate” and that was that. I remember tasting my favorite caesar salad after the accident and wondering why it tasted like cardboard. My sense of smell returned slowly, and I’ve never understood how or why. I, too, am a passionate cook and, just this week, came down with a terrible cold and my first experience w/asthma. I haven’t been able to smell anything for a week now, but this morning caught a very faint whiff of a lemon ginger muffin. I’m once again hoping for a full recovery.

I’m under the impression that yams don’t grow in the U.S. I’ve heard this time and again from cooking instructors and chefs on television. Are they incorrect?

I usually use a combo of one apple on the soft, sweet side and another that maintains its shape and is more tart, core them, but don’t peel them and cut them in fat slices and put them in a pot with a lid. No liquid necessary and within 30 minutes they’ve perfumed the house and are pink and soft. I smush them with a wooden spoon and they’re ready to be eaten. We love the peels mixed in with the pulp. Another apple that’s good cooked down on its own is the Golden Delicious.

GREAT article! thanks so much for maintaining your sense of humor and sharing it with us.

I have a similar “sauce” in my refrigerator at almost all times. I mix a 16 oz. container of labna with crushed garlic, lemon juice, s & p, grated cucumber, mint and olive oil and then put it all back in the container (of course there’s “extr” so we eat a small bowlful almost immediately). It’s good on fish, with meats, eggs, beans, chips, on sprouted bread w/smoked salmon and capers. It’s our go-to condiment.

I love Emily Luchetti’s A Passion for Desserts that was a gift to me from a friend. The cranberry pumpkin upside down cake was, once again, a huge hit this Thanksgiving.

I’ve been baking the same pumpkin bread for almost 30 years from a recipe that came w/my Cuisinart food processor. It’s fabulously moist from oil and maple syrup with a lovely small-crumbed texture. I decided to walk on the wild side and try this recipe because the intro made it sound so good. Perhaps if I’d never made my old stand-by I would have liked this one well enough. But I’d have kept looking for a better recipe. There was nothing thrilling about this bread.

I’m a big smoothie fan and have been whipping them up for decades. I started with a Cuisinart blender that was wonderful and, when it died, I decided to splurge and bought the KitchenAid which I’d seen everyone on tv using. The bananas emerged from their whirl in chunks. I gave up on it and brought it back and bought a Waring (sorry, VitaMix in any incarnation is out of my league and over-the-top decadent for my usage). Everything I put in it blends thoroughly. My smoothies consist of yogurt, banana, juices and other fruits. And I’ve whipped up a lot of veggies and sauces, too, all beautifully. I wonder if the Waring user who wrote in is using enough liquid.

Don’t know if you thought you were making a joke, but my daughter and I had octopus hash last week in Seattle at Lola. It was poached octopus with grilled cauliflower and leeks and it was delicious!

I’m sure your recipe is quite delicious, but I’ve always wondered why smoothie recipes are more complex than I feel they need to be. For 20+ years, I’ve been throwing a ripe banana, a big blob of plain, lofat (and now organic) yogurt, a glug of whatever juice I have in the fridge that seems compatible, and sometimes another fruit that’s seasonal, like peach, berries, mango into the blender and whirring it till it’s smooth. Nothing needs to be frozen. It tastes great and I feel very healthy for having drunk it.

my understanding is that it’s not just a dislike or any aversion. it’s a genetic thing that causes some of us to feel that it tastes like dishwashing detergent. none of us say “we just don’t like it”. it tastes the same to all of us who can’t eat it. i wish it was simpler and i wish i liked it, but i just don’t. if you give me a spoonful of salsa w/one bit of stem in it, all i can taste is cilantro...and it’s very unpleasant.

Not-for-the-Birds Millet Cookies by llondon on Jun 11, 2008 at 4:16 PM PDT

These cookies are really good. I made them with dried cherries and milk chocolate chips and people in my office and my neighborhood loved them. I have to say, they are at their best straight out of the oven, warm.