Happy birthday, Matilda!

Brussel sprouts=evil.

Bacon=best use of pork this side of Alabama barbecue.

I've had brussels sprouts done right, and they're... okay. They're scarily easy to turn bitter and evil with just a wee bit - like, seconds - of overcooking.

Or substitute something that's not the Devil's vegatable (this rules out brocolli and cauliflower, among others).

Whyfor the cauliflower hate? What does it taste like to you? To my tongue, it's inoffensive, a nice vehicle for all my favorite sauces since it doesn't interfere with them, but really just too nondescript to warrant hatred.

They're scarily easy to turn bitter and evil with just a wee bit - like, seconds - of overcooking.

The creaminess of the dairy really takes the edge off any bitterness from the sprouts.

They're scarily easy to turn bitter and evil with just a wee bit - like, seconds - of overcooking.

This sounds like another one of those supertaster/rest of us issues, because I never worry about overcooking brussels sprouts. Cooked in the oven with olive oil/salt/pepper, the more you cook them the more browned and delicious they get. (I mean, you don't want to burn them or turn them to mush, but IME they get sweeter, not bitterer.)

I don't have a good segue into this but has anyone seen the new PETA ad featuring Alicia Silverstone (it's on youtube if you haven't seen it).

It's not really work safe. Alicia emerges out of a swimming pool totally nude (with a rear shot) and then lies on the edge of the pool and poses, there's a voice over where she's saying something about how she feels better being a vegetarian.

Over on the vegetarian forum I'm on I said I didn't like it because it objectifed women and it was sexist, pushing the idea of sex more than vegetarianism. However, there are a few people (men and women)who are saying that I'm over reacting and the ad has nothing to do with sex at all. There's no sexual imagery in the ad it's just showing a healthy body and what someone can look like if they go veg. But no sex

Am I over reacting? I see it and all I see is seduction and sex, I can't really see how it's just about showing what a healthy vegetarian can look like.

Is BaconSalt vegetarian? I miss bacon flavor in somethings and BACOs, while good on salads and baked potatoes aren't that great for cooking.

I cook brussel sprouts the same way Jessica does, I hadn't tried brussel sprouts in a long time then I saw the Barefoot Contessa cook them and she made them look good so I tried them.

P-C, I dunno whether to congratulate you or not. I'm glad you were able to be so honest about your feelings. Maybe a few times of being so blunt with your mother will help her to be more sensitive about the times when you are being more subtle, so that she doesn't have to get her feelings her while you are holding to your boundaries.

Also, if her feelings got hurt, I can promise you that there are a million ways to hurt a mother more seriously. She loses perspective: You are an awesome young man, bright, hardworking, and generous, and she forgets to appreciate that, at least when she is talking to you.

There's no sexual imagery in the ad it's just showing a healthy body and what someone can look like if they go veg.

I sure as hell never looked like that, even after 3 years of vegetarianism. If using Silverstone's body to say that was how you look after not eating meat, is either blatant lying or using sex to sell it.

I love everything about that recipe but the brussels sprouts.

I was thinking it was a recipe my BFF would love...if only she liked brussels sprouts. She doesn't dig most of the cruciferous veggies (I was going to say ALL but I just looked up a list of them and i know there are things on there she eats).

I love all vegetables.