Seagrass, I deep-fry battered dill pickle slices all the time. If you've never tried it, they're sooo delicious! Especially good with a ranch-type dipping sauce. Joe, thanks for all the recipes and tips! I had a feeling maybe a different style of sauce might be best. I'm a sucker for good sauces, so I think I'll try both. Cilantro isn't my thing, but hot Chinese mustard sure is. It would be okay to sub Italian parsley for the cilantro, wouldn't it? And those olives sound great. Will definitely throw some in the pot with the pickles next time. Fried rattlesnake is very common in Texas, but I never got up the nerve to try it. Thanks for confirming that my wussiness didn't cause me to miss out on much, RE. :) And thanks for all the wonderfully clear and detailed instructions! I've fried shrimp several times and oysters once but wasn't totally thrilled with the results. I feel *much* more confident now that I can pull this thing off successfully. Will have a practice session with some shrimp tomorrow. Jim -- great tip about not overmixing. Just like muffin batter, huh? Who knew? I've always stirred to a faretheewell... I was wondering how on earth to get the things out of the shell while still raw. Parboiling sounds like it might work, but any idea how long? (I think the tails are usually around 6 oz.) I also really like your suggestion about using tempura for the veggies! Now all I need is a good appetizer. Linda C., I'm sure you're right about the tails. My friends were visiting near the Gulf Coast, so warm-water lobsters makes sense. And we're so far inland that I'm sure frozen will be the only kind available. So, all you Mainers, we're NOT committing heresy! :) Want to hazard a guess as to how long they should be parboiled? Greatly appreciate all the help! Any more tips and recipes welcome. sm

Interesting. I don't know that I've ever seen that in the local markets. Random story time. My great-grandparents are buried under a rice paddy in a small town in rural southern China. They were the local village - I'm not sure how you'd say it - masters? gentry? landowners? Anyway, they must have been well liked all the same. They had a fancy family tomb. Then came the Cultural Revolution, and the Red Guards went through the country, digging up and scattering the bones of the evil gentry families. The villagers concealed my great-grandparents' tomb by flooding and planting rice over it. By then, my family had long since left China, migrating to Taiwan, and then to New York. When my grandparents returned to China in the mid-1970s, they went to pay their respects to their ancestors. They waded into the rice paddy and placed bundles of ceremonial money in little paper boats, lit them on fire and set the boats drifting. That's the custom. Last time I went to my grandfather's grave, it was pouring rain and we stood over the metal bowl and burned ''money'' (its not really) under an umbrella. Of course, it may simply be that the villagers wanted more space to grow rice. There are many sides to a story. Anyway, rice is important in Chinese culture. But I don't really care for the standard white steamed long grain rice that much. It is a bit like Wonder Bread. I like short grain vinegared sushi rice, fragrant Indian saffron rice, crusty Spanish paella rice, wild rice with and without oyster liquor, congee (rice soup), sticky black rice, etc. As we grow up, we forge our own tastes and leave the old things behind. But not forever. As my grandparents aged, they gradually reverted to their original habits, forgot their English, ate only Chinese food. I suppose that when I'm 90, if I live that long, my favorite kind of rice may again be the plain steamed white rice of my childhood. It's easy on the dentures, you know.

I've lived in Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea. Fried rice in those places don't any sauce - oyster, fish or soy sauce. Most of the time there is pork and onion. Cook your rice al dente, and spread it out on a cookie sheet to cool and dry a bit. Day-old rice is great. Get a wok with vegetable or peanut oil screaming hot, add minced onion until translucent, add chopped leftover pork or Chinese pork sausage (my fave for fried rice is cha-siu style pork), add the rice and stir, stir, stir until all is mixed and hot. The amount of soy sauce is up to your taste -- or skip it and add at the table. If you skip it, add salt to the wok ingredients. Add black pepper. I like it fried until just about to get crisp. I also like chopped scrambled egg in mine. Add any vegetables you would like. Leftovers are great for this. Koreans and Japanese have a fusion dish called "Om-rice" short for omelette rice. Spread beaten egg in a large skillet as if you were making a plain omelet. When cooked, slide it out in one round piece on a plate. Put one portion of fried rice in the middle of the egg and roll the egg around the rice until covered (put the edges on the bottom so what you see is just the omelette part). Served with ketchup! They also put ketchup on French toast! Your mileage may vary!

I made these for New Years Eve one year. Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table Oyster Tarts ============ Lucy Waverman Toronto sun, December 26th,1984 This pastry is sinfull indulgent but simple to make. It is patted into pans because its high fat content makes it break easily. Using oysters is luxurious but substitute cooked mushrooms or other vegetables if you wish. Cream Cheese Pastry 1 cup flour 8 tablespoons butter 8 tablespoons cream cheese Mix flour, butter and cream cheese together in food processor or blender. Press into small tartlets or muffin tins. Oyster filling: 1/2 pint of fresh shucked oysters in liquid 1/2 cup white wine 1 1/2 cups whipping cream pinch cayenne salt and pepper 1/2 teasponn pernod . Drain oysters reserving liquor. Reduce oyster liquor and wine in a pan until 1 tablespoon is left. Add cream, cayenne, salt and pepper. Reduce until cream boils off and mixture thickens. Cut oysters into 2 or 3 pieces. Add to the cream along with Pernod. Place in pastry cases. Bake at 400 °F for about 15 minutes. Makes 16.