Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Wait, Necco Wafers, really? Massachusetts: The Commonwealth of the Halloween Candy No One Will Trade For.

@PoorOldMama The anchovies are meant to add a layer of depth and not really a taste—but then I actually like the taste of anchovies, so if your people are really sensitive, don't take it from me. You could easily substitute a small amount of diced pancetta, bacon or Italian sausage, browned and removed before you cook the garlic and rosemary, and added back at the end. You could then omit the olive oil and use the pan drippings to sauté the garlic.

@lemonfair I've made it a few times, always using some unusual hot pepper or other from the amazing array we get from our CSA. I'm a huge advocate of tossing in whatever you have. There's no reason that wouldn't work in a recipe like this! Now that you mention tinkering, I usually up the lime juice by a lot, too, since we like things on the punchy side around here.

I don't order that way on a regular basis, but when we're trying to create a festive mood for a group, I don't think there's a better way to make people feel a little special than by having a surprisingly bountiful order show up at the table. Well, maybe picking up the tab is a better way—but when we take it upon ourselves to order with abandon, we usually do that, too.

I do also fancy myself the other kind of menu whisperer, sussing out not just the best overall dishes on the menu, but also the best matches for particular dining companions. Usually I keep my mouth shut, but if someone is having trouble deciding what to order and I know them well enough, they may find themselves the recipients of a little unsolicited whispering.

@she likes pie Thank you for the feedback! I'll try to feature some of those veggies in the coming weeks.

@elaineathon Figures! I guess (and am quickly confirming here) that maybe we Americans have a little less tolerance for weird-sounding foods—never mind fuzzy ones.

@toad3000 (and, really, everyone) I'd certainly like to make this column as useful to local eaters as possible, wherever "local" is. My experience with CSAs, famers' markets and home gardens has been that they do often include lots of veggies you wouldn't find in the supermarket, and that this is one of the reasons that people enjoy them.
Kohlrabi in particular was featured because lots of people requested it. But maybe it's just me and the hairy gourd over here in left field? Weigh in, serious local eaters: what do you want to read about in The Crisper Whisperer?

Love the bowling idea, and my husband used to play baseball with zucchini bats as a kid in real life. Next week's post will indeed be about kohlrabi!

Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone! Looks like a kohlrabi edition sometime soon would be useful. Maybe a shriveled kohlrabi edition.

@bananamonkey The Onion had a fabulous article on dolphins evolving opposable thumbs and taking over the world a while back. Is that not a real newspaper?