> > For sure, and I understand that there were entire
> > regiments made up of Irishmen, and some of them did 
> > pretty well, with undereducated but sagacious ones
> > frequently becoming officers.
> Sure did as I recall. Noncoms at least.  

It's worse because I have high contrast turned off,
because it's incompatible with a lot of Websites. I
read Bonbons on toast. As I understand it, the Irish
regiments had Irish officers, perhaps not all the way to 
the top, but you got Irish majors and colonels and such.

> > > They're not bad.  Not worth fussing over but not bad.
> > I do recall having sampled raw potato and also
> > finding it unimpressive.
> Raw sweet potato is also oddly not good.

As an annual or biennial ritual I take Swisher to
Kava's, a local breakfastery, and I buy him his usual
waffle with a side of bacon, and I get some mostly
savory but massively starchy platter, and today I ordered
the inconceivable or intractable or inedible platter,
which is ham, sausage, bacon, Spam, eggs, and potatoes,
side of toast, pancakes, or biscuit. I got the short
stack of pancakes, enough in itself for a meal; what's
relevant is I asked for hash browns extra well done,
so the cook took a (12 oz) serving and cranked the heat.
Result: quite crispy on the outside, raw inside. The
waitress asked if I needed them sent back. I sighed and
said I'd eat them, which I did, the crispy part anyhow.

> > Yeah - I'm fond of latkes and latkelike things,
> > with maybe a few exceptions.
> Starch plus oil plus heat usually equals good things. 

As I said, I ate the crispy parts.

> > I suppose, but I wonder about the toxicity of
> > potatoes given its reputation (there are those 
> > who claim that were they a newly introduced 
> > foodstuff, they'd be banned in short order).
> They'd have to ban rhubarb too. The leaves can really put the hurt on 

As with most of those rules, there are caveats. That
is mostly true if you're inclined to urinary problems
and if you like rhubarb leaves enough to down a large
serving, several times in a short period. If you eat 
only normal amounts of vegetables and alternate with
other less problematic things, you should be fine with
them. The original French Larousse noted that people
in the provinces eat the leaves and I think provided a
recipe. The original English translation from Hamlyn
faithfully reported that, but there had to be an 
erratum slip put into each book sold in the US because 
some agency raised a stink.

> you. My great-grandfather thought ripe tomatoes were poisonous; I 
> agree but not for toxicity reasons.  

I like ripe raw and cooked tomatoes. They do have a
peculiar alkaloidy taste, which I've gotten over. It took
me decades. I'll note that unripe tomatoes have more of
that taste.

------------- Recipe Extracted from Meal-Master (tm) v6.30
------------------

     Title: Chicken Thighs Marengo
Categories: Low-cal Chicken
  Servings:  6

      6 x  Chicken Thighs(2 lb),skinned      1/2 t  Salt
    1/4 t  Pepper                              2 t  Olive oil
      1 c  Sliced fresh Mushrooms              4 x  Green onions, sliced
      1 x  Clove Garlic, minced              1/2 c  Dry White Wine (or
Chablis)
    1/4 t  Dried whole Thyme                   2 x  Med tomatoes, cut in
wedges
      1 T  Minced fresh parsley

   Trim excess fat from chicken. Rinse chicken with cold water, pat dry.
  Place in a shallow container. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
   Coat a large skillet with cooking spray; add olive oil. Place over
med-hi
  heat until hot. Add chicken to skillet; cook 2-3 minutes on each side
  until lightly browned. Remove chicken from skillet, and drain on paper
  towels.
   Wipe skillet dry with a paper towel. Recoat skillet with cooking spray;
  place over med-hi heat until hot. Add mushrooms and cook 2 minutes,
  stirring frequently. Remove mushrooms from skillet, and set aside.
   Recoat skillet with Pam. Place over med-hi heat until hot. Add green
  onions and garlic; saute 1 minute. Stir in wine and thyme. Add reserved
  chicken. Bring mixture to a boil. Cover; reduce heat, and simmer 25
  minutes. Add reserved mushrooms and tomato wedges; simmer 2 minutes or
  until thoroughly heated.
   Sprinkle with parsley, and serve immediately.
  PER SERVING: 175 calories, 18.6 g protein, 9.2 g fat, 3.9 g carbohydrates
  65 g cholesterol, 1.4 mg iron, 262 mg sodium, 20 mg calcium.
  source unknown

-----