Your current food obsession?

Multi-colored baby bell peppers, roasted in olive oil and sea salt until they are browned in places and very limp. I can't tell you how good they are. I'm OBSESSED! Can't get enough.

[Robin Garr]

Mandarin oranges. My current peeland eat snack of choice. I probably average 8 or 10 of those little buggers/day.

Me, too!

Me three, sort of, but I am kind of a tangerine snob: I love satsumas in season (December and January) and eat a half-dozen a day while they last. But I'm so fond of their complex-sweet flavor and appealing seedless-ness that no other tangerine/mandarin really appeals to me. It's sort of like being unwilling to eat West Coast peaches when fresh regional peaches aren't in season. No thanks!

Is there any other tangerine or mandarin variety that comes close to a satsuma?

Do you like clementines? Perhaps too sweet for you?

For me the variety is much less important than the quality. We buy whatever citrus is best, and since we don't live in CA, we usually don't have the luxury of choosing among too many different varieties at their peak. Right now is definitely the tail end of the season and running into a tough fruit month in March. But today got some lovely murcots and tangelos so we're ok for a few days.

For about the past 2 months, every time I can't think of what to cook or what I want to eat I've been cooking and eating Asian noodles, Yakisoba, Pad See Ew,mostly, or fried rice. But, I can pretty much eat Asian anytime.

Jeff, here's my mother's recipe for a non-traditional meat-and-seafood paella. ("Feeds 4-6 hungry woodsmen" is her annotation)

6 chicken leg/thigh combos
1 lb Spanish chorizo, sliced into 1/2" thick slices
2 large onions, chopped
1 sweet red pepper, chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp EVOO
2 cups short-grain Japonicus rice, preferably Calasparra "Bomba"
4-5 cups chicken stock
two hefty pinches saffron, crumbled
12 clams
12 medium-sized shrimp
12-15 snow peas or sugar snap peas

Preheat an oven to 375°. Over medium-high heat, brown the chicken and chorizo in your paella pan. Remove the meat to a plate and pour off the oil. Add the EVOO to the pan, reduce the heat to medium and add the onions, peppers and garlic. At the same time, heat the chicken stock to a simmer on the stove. Place the saffron in a foil boat and heat it atop the covered stock pan. Cook the sofrito until the onions are soft and transparent. Add the rice, stir to coat with the oil and continue to heat, stirring, until, at first, the rice grains go partly clear, then return to a flat white color. Add 2 cups of the hot chicken stock to the riceand bring to a boil. Cover the paella pan, place in oven and allow to cook for 10 minutes. While the paella is cooking, dissolve the saffron in 1/4 cup of the hot stock. After 10 min., add the 1/4 cup of saffron stock and another 3/4 cup of chicken stock to the paella. Place the shrimp into the rice and place the clams atop the rice. Return to the oven for another 10 min. At the end of that time, add another cup of chicken stock and place the peas into the rice. Return to the oven for a final 10 min. At the end of this time, the rice should be tender and the clams should have steamed open. If any clams didn't open, remove them and steam them open in a separate pan. If the rice is still not tender enough, add another cup of chicken stock and cook for an additional 10 min (never needed).

Mark Lipton

[Robin Garr]

Do you like clementines? Perhaps too sweet for you?

Jeff, the clementines I've tried are loaded with seeds. Not that this is unusual for citrus, but satsumas are seedless AND have better flavor to my taste buds, which puts me back at the starting point.

Do you like clementines? Perhaps too sweet for you?

Jeff, the clementines I've tried are loaded with seeds. Not that this is unusual for citrus, but satsumas are seedless AND have better flavor to my taste buds, which puts me back at the starting point.

Then you are eating a small tangerine, as clementines are typically seedless/

[Robin Garr]

Then you are eating a small tangerine, as clementines are typically seedless/

Thanks, Dale. I get most of my produce from a pretty trustworthy mini-chain of local produce marts from which I wouldn't expect lying behavior, but perhaps I'll invest a little time and a few dollars in a clementine quest.

Then you are eating a small tangerine, as clementines are typically seedless/

Thanks, Dale. I get most of my produce from a pretty trustworthy mini-chain of local produce marts from which I wouldn't expect lying behavior, but perhaps I'll invest a little time and a few dollars in a clementine quest.

We get "Cuties" around here and we used to get the same ones back in North Carolina, so they may be available in your neck of the woods. They're very delicious.

[Jenise]

Then you are eating a small tangerine, as clementines are typically seedless/

Thanks, Dale. I get most of my produce from a pretty trustworthy mini-chain of local produce marts from which I wouldn't expect lying behavior, but perhaps I'll invest a little time and a few dollars in a clementine quest.

We get "Cuties" around here and we used to get the same ones back in North Carolina, so they may be available in your neck of the woods. They're very delicious.

Cuties are great. Usually. But depending on the orchard and chain of custody issues in getting to the marketplace, some lots will be better than others. Best I've had this season? Not called Cuties, but obviously the same fruit, a five pound box I bought at Trader Joe's on Tuesday. There are about three left. I can't leave them alone.

We prefer the Satsuma Mandarins, even though the season is very short, we stock up as much as we know we can eat. Then the Cuties come into the markets, they are not as flavorful but peel easy like the Satsuma. Right now we are getting a type of orange from our local Country Organics Market, that is large, very sweet and the inside is the color of pink grapefruit. They are juicy and wonderful in salads. I have not seen the owner to ask where he is getting them, but did ask their kids, ages 9 to 13 who run the cash register, but they did not know where the oranges were coming from, only that they get them in everyday. We also tried the Halo oranges a few weeks ago, but they were not so good. Maybe it was an early batch.

I think most of the major brands such as "Couties" (sic) and "Halos" actually transition from one type of Mandarin to another to lengthen the season for availability. IIRC, they start out with clementines and then switch over to Murcotts as the season progresses. FWIW, I prefer the Murcotts, but like 'em all.

Then you are eating a small tangerine, as clementines are typically seedless/

Thanks, Dale. I get most of my produce from a pretty trustworthy mini-chain of local produce marts from which I wouldn't expect lying behavior, but perhaps I'll invest a little time and a few dollars in a clementine quest.

I find that (at least around here) the only clementines that are almost guaranteed to be sweet, juicy, easy to peel and entirely seedless are "Maroc orange" - i.e. clementines from Morocco. Those are my obsession. I buy them by the case. Skip the first week or two's worth, though, they don't get to their best for a couple of weeks after arriving in our market.

Well! Like everyone said, clementines generally come from either Spain or Morocco. They are seedless, easy-peeling, quite sweet, and, oh, yes, addictive!

Jeff, here's my mother's recipe for a non-traditional meat-and-seafood paella. ("Feeds 4-6 hungry woodsmen" is her annotation)

OK, so two sittings for us.

2 large onions, chopped

1 large fennel bulb

...a foil boat...

Adorable.

...then return to a flat white color

I like your previous advice about looking for the white dot to reappear.

Add 2 cups... add the 1/4 cup of saffron stock and another 3/4 cup of chicken stock... add another cup...

Oh. This contradicts my (admittedly, limited) experience: I think I should put in all the stock at once and then never disturb the rice again (except to push meats into it).

In any case, thank you. This is just exactly the sort of thing that Jim will eat. It is also a good choice for jeebus (i.e., having winos over to the house for dinner).

You're most welcome, Jeff. This recipe has been a hit with everyone I've served it too (I avoid serving it to my Spanish friends out of cultural sensitivity ) and it's great for wino-infested events.

Mark Lipton

[Jenise]

Well! Like everyone said, clementines generally come from either Spain or Morocco. They are seedless, easy-peeling, quite sweet, and, oh, yes, addictive!

Really? Foreign imports? That normal in NY? My box says product of the USA--California, I'm sure.

Well! Like everyone said, clementines generally come from either Spain or Morocco. They are seedless, easy-peeling, quite sweet, and, oh, yes, addictive!

Really? Foreign imports? That normal in NY? My box says product of the USA--California, I'm sure.

Certainly was, a few years ago. When I get back home, I'll check a few crates. (I'm on the road in MA now.)

Certainly was, a few years ago. When I get back home, I'll check a few crates. (I'm on the road in MA now.)

There are two crates of clementines in my corner shop: one from Israel ("Jaffa" brand) and one from Morocco ("Maroc" brand).

ETA: Just went to another nearby store: Israel and Spain. They had crates of Florida tangerines next to them, which is deceptive.