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We all know we're supposed to brush our teeth after meals.  But has the humdrum of everyday tooth brushing got you down?  Maybe it's time to mix it up a bit.  Think outside the box.  Move on from mint.  We stumbled on a toothpaste collector who has an amazing selection of toothpaste.  You've got to see it to believe it.  It includes Hopalong Cassidy toothpaste.  Who knew those cowboys were careful about their dental hygiene?   And Scotch Whiskey flavored paste at 6 proof. We don't know if it prevents tooth decay, but it just might liven up your morning.  See Dr. Val Kolpakov's entire collection here.   While you're there, check out the recipe for ancient Egyptian toothpaste, dating back over 1500 years.  Soot and gum arabic, anyone?

Let me know. Mine is homemade corn tortillas, pinto beans made with lard and lots of salsas.

Mary writes:
Roast chicken with dressing (stuffing) and gravy.  For sure wild strawberries for dessert, eaten on my childhood Wisconsin back porch watching fireflies.  Is there anywhere in LA to buy or eat wild strawberries?  I have exhausted my own search. I'd be so happy to find a source even though most likely waiting for next summer.  Thanks for this and for your great show. Tried growing them, unsuccessful so far.

Joel writes:
Mine would probably be:
start with Fleur des alps, Rebulochon style with a good bread;
Poppy bagel (from a real bagel shop), cream cheese (not the whipped kind), lox (paper thin, the kind you get only in NYC), tomatoes; fresh squeezed OJ; fresh fruit (cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, marinated in dark rum); a variety of chocolate desserts with a good moscato.

Fuchsia Dunlop

I've been making delicious Hunanese chopped salted chiles for the last few months.  I've apparently been lacto-fermenting and didn't realize!  The recipe is in Fuchsia Dunlop's book "Revolutionary Chinese Cooking" if you're interested, although it's not the most complicated recipe--just chiles and salt.  As condiments go, salty, spicy, sour can't be beat.

Ok, so here's the recipe: 
 
1 lb very fresh red chiles
1/4 cup salt
 
1)  Wash the chiles and dry thoroughly.  Cut off their stems and bottoms and chop coarsely with the seeds.  (Wear rubber gloves if you're sensitive.)  Place the chopped chiles in a bowl.
 
2)  Add 3 and 1/2 tablespoons of the salt to the chiles and mix thoroughly.  Place in a glass jar and cover with the remaining salt.  Seal with a tight-fitting lid.  Leave in a cool pace for a couple of weeks before using, then store in the refrigerator once opened.  The chiles will keep for months.
 
Ms. Dunlop says this as well:  "(The chiles) are used in stir-fries and steamed dishes (steamed fish heads with chopped salted chiles is currently one of the best-known and most popular Hunanese dishes), and also is offered as a relish with noodles and other snacks."
 
I used short red jalapeno chiles because that's all I can find around San Diego.  I very rarely see long chiles ( I guess they're Korean or Thai) but never red ones--only green.  The red jalapenos have a pointy end and are pretty hot, but I can't say what the authentic Hunanese chile would be like, heat-wise. 
 
I basically throw a spoonful in with stir-fried tofu or veggies or whatever.  But the thing I like the most is to eat it with steamed, short-grained Japanese Haiga brown rice that I've mixed with a pickled mustard-green Japanese condiment called pickled takana (or karashi mentai takana).  You can find it in the pickle section of Japanese markets like Mitsuwa and it comes in a flat plastic puch.  It looks like a chopped up mixture of greens with a little red from red pepper (but it's not hot) and has sesame seeds, cod roe (although it doesn't taste fishy), and spices.  I don't know if it's supposed to get mixed with just-steamed rice, although I think I've seen bowls of something that looked like it at the ramen places, but I think it's a good way to get more veggies (pickled or not) into me and it's super tasty.  I just mix a spoonful of pickled chiles into my bowl of rice and cry my way through dinner.  I don't know what it is about the chiles I like so much:  you're chewing on some rice and get a little nugget of salty/sour/hot that is such a kick in the butt. 
 
So, I hope you try the chiles and let me know what you think and if you come up with another way to eat them.  Maybe I'll add them to my sauerkraut and make the world's tastiest Hunanese German weenie...
 
Jennifer

Dear Evan,
I had to write you to thank you for making my hour at the gym such an enjoyable time! You see I'm not totally keen on going to the gym but since I started recording the Good Food Podcast it's actually a pleasure. Sometimes I've started laughing outloud and before the other people at gym thought I was crazy, but sine I've shared what I'm listening now I have people coming to me and asking "what's the subject today?" Lol!
I'm a portuguese pastry chef and really enjoy everything food. So once again thank you and keep up the good work helping me loose the pound I gain from my work!
                 Rita

Tvdinner

Hello,
I listen to your podcast every week. I heard the goat cheese chocolate woman talking about corn and chocolate and I had to write to you. It's just a funny thing maybe you can pass on to her. I work night shift, so sometimes I buy a frozen dinner to take for my late night lunch. I know, they are not great, but I'm a sucker for the stuff. Sometimes I get one that has a chocolate "brownie" and corn. It's always just a little bit mixed together so it comes out as a chocolate and corn brownie and it's DELICIOUS!! I tell people and they are grossed out, but I swear, it's a great combination. :)
Great show!!! Thanks
Cindy

Preserved Lemons

Dear Evan:

I have been using these that I made myself in something a little unusual I think. I heard about these lemons on your show I believe and made lots of jars of them. I am not sure my friends know quite what to do with them but they are happy to receive.

Low or Non Fat Yogurt

Berries

Ice

One piece of preserved lemon

Splenda (I have to watch carbs)

Blend to make a smoothie.

The combination of the sweet/fruit/lemon/salt is SO GOOD!

I love your show and listen to it every Saturday.

Cardie

Eagle-Rockdale Community Garden

If you come to our community garden please come see my Hoja Santa plants that took quite a bit of tracking down to find. Now I need some recipes J

Rick Browne traveled around the world in search the best grilled foods in his book, The Best Barbecue on Earth: Grilling Across 6 Continents and 26 Countries, With 170 Recipes. He is the host and producer of public television's Barbecue America.

• 12 lemons with unblemished skin
• Kosher salt

Scrub the lemons under running water and pat them dry. Cut a thin slice from both ends of each lemon. Set a lemon on end and make a lengthwise cut three-quarters of the way through, leaving the halves attached. Turn the lemon upside down and rotate it 90 degrees, and make a second lengthwise cut, again three-quarters of the way through the fruit. Pack as much salt inside the lemon as it will hold. Place the lemon in a sterilized wide-mouth 1-quart canning jar. Repeat the process with the remaining lemons. Press as many lemons into the jar as possible, leaving some air space (1/4 to ½ inch).

Seal the jar and let it stand in a warm place for 30 days, shaking it each dry to distribute the salt and juice. As the lemons pickle they shrink, so if you like you can start adding additional lemons as the rinds of the first lemons soften and the juices in the jar rise to cover them. If the juice released from the fruit does not cover any added lemons, cover with freshly squeezed lemon juice, not water or processed lemon juice. This will prevent the top lemons from darkening.

To use, remove the lemons from the jar as needed and rinse them under running water to rid them of excess salt. Remove and discard the pulp, if desired. There is no need to refrigerate after opening. Preserved lemons will keep up to a year, and the pickling juice can be used two or three times over the course of the year to start new batches of lemon.

I just wanted to thank you for your mention of Mother's Milk Bank today.

Babies need Good Food too!

A lot of people don't know that breast milk is available to sick or premature infants and many nursing moms don't know there is a safe place to donate their milk.

I've donated there in the past and I am sure they really appreciated the coverage!

Note: To donate, call 866-

On today's Good Food we hear about French dining etiquette -- how you never ask for seconds of cheese and what it means when the host brings out a carafe of fresh orange juice (psst, it means it's time to leave!)

Have you ever inadvertently offended your gracious host in another country simply because you didn't know the etiquette? I'd love to hear about it.

GF Music Vol 2

I tried to get this to embed but for some reason, Apple isn't cooperating. Here's a link to the Good Food Music, Volume 2 that our Music Supervisor, Gary Mecija put together. We get a lot of requests for the music on the show and so he decided to put a new list of 14 tracks together.