therese

Answers in order... I did know that I'd use the ledge in the way that I've used it, so yes, I suppose I did know I would love it. The ledge is the same granite as the regular counter below it, so I don't have to worry about messing up a painted finish. My contractor was very good about incorporating this sort of thing into the trim so that it looks seamless. The kids do get to taste pretty much any alcoholic beverage they care to. Boy doesn't like the taste of alcohol, nor does he like fruit, nor does he like carbonation (he won't even drink fizzy mineral water). So he's rarely interested. Girl has always liked the taste of alcohol and doesn't mind carbonation, so she tries pretty much everything. Not as frequently at home (when we're not necessarily drinking anything particularly exceptional) but almost always in restaurants. She tried both the chardonnay and the cremant at Woodfire, for instance. If she really likes something we give her a small pour, but she's a scrawny little thing without much volume of distribution, so it's not much. Weekday breakfasts for the kids are whatever they'd like to prepare. Cereal (generally unsweetened, though at the moment Girl's liking Cheerios with Red Berries), croissants (DFM makes smallish whole wheat ones that they like), cinnamon toast, eggs (Boy likes scrambled or omelets with cheese, Girl likes sunny side up so that she can dip her toast into the runny yolk). Finally, yes, TheFoodTutor and I knew each other before eGullet. But we did meet in cyberspace, on another food-related site.

Well, okay. Be sure to wave at Atlanta as you fly over us on your way to Louisiana (where they've got lots of great food as well). This was great for a giggle this AM, Radio7, so many thanks. You're not alone in your unfamiliarity with the southeastern U.S. Most of my travel involves lecturing, and I've prepared a slide that shows the U.S. with an inset of Georgia, and a star indicating the position of Atlanta (the state capital). This comes in handy in New Zealand, sure, but it also came in handy recently in California, where I was introduced (at some length) as being from Alabama (the information on my first slide, already being projected during the intro, notwithstanding).

Sounds like plans are coming along nicely. As for your undecided issues: 1. Who wants what when it comes to granite (or other counter surface)? And why? 2. We had to decide on the window and door hardware early in the process, and this was before I'd made the wise decision to get a decorator involved in the process. So my husband wanted polished brass (even though I already knew that I'd want brushed nickel sorts of stuff for the cabinet hardward and fixtures because it would go well with the stainless appliances) and because I wanted to keep him in engaged in the process (in lots of different ways) I said okay. In retrospect I'm not sure that I'd have chosen window hardware that exactly matched the rest of the stuff (too "matchy matchy"), but I'd probably have chosen antiqued brass (or just natural brass, except that doesn't seem to be an option anymore). 3. Well, of course you're traveling to Spain to pick out backsplash tiles. And if you happen to eat your weight in ham while you're there, well, it's hard work picking out tile. If you buy them there be sure to get spares. I actually shopped for kitchen ideas in Italy, having grown to like a lot of the space-saving ideas that I saw there back when I was working (or supposed to be working) au pair in college. I even considered getting Italian cabinetry (and had a friend there who could have bird-dogged things some on site), but then I came to my senses. 4. Have fun.

Well, color me impressed: Pan, Abra, and Radio7 all got the answer, or something so close to the answer that there's no point quibbling about it. Gum arabic and mastic (or mastiha) are both tree resins used in a wide variety of things. Gum arabic is generally described as being harvested from acacia trees. There are several varieties in different geographical distributions, and sometimes it's also called mastic. Mastiha, the specific product that I've got, is billed as being from a certain tree (Pistacia lentiscus var. Chia) that grows only on a certain Greek Island, Chios. You can buy it as well as all sorts of products made from it (candy and toiletries, mostly) at a posh chain of shops (well, the one in Thessaloniki is posh, anyway) in Greece called Mastiha Shop. Physical properties very similar to Gum Arabic so far as I can tell. Beads of resin are sold according to grade, and seem to get more expensive as they get older (longer time spent aging on the tree from what I can tell---the woman in the shop was very nice but didn't have too much English, and there's not much non-Greek info on the web). Both Turkish Delight and Turkish ice cream get their stickiness from this sort of material. Mastiha does have a taste, vaguely citrus and camphor to my mind. I've got some toothpaste that contains it (though that might be gone), and I also tried various candies that had been made with it, including some hard candy lozenges, halvah (great combo, and these piece were also coated with chocolate), and Turkish Delight. I collect (hmm, well, I wouldn't say collect, because I don't make any effort to catalogue or preserve the items---let's just say I acquire them) food and travel related ephemera. Here are some of them: The hexagonal yellow box contained Turkish Delight (long since consumed by my children). The other items in this picture are there because I thought they were pretty or funny or they've got sentimental value.

While at a meeting recently in Europe one of my Dutch colleagues introduced me to one of his colleagues. "He's from Howda. You know, like the cheese." I figured it out, but only after a few moments of forehead wrinkling.

Sugar? Well, yes, they do look like rock sugar. But they're not, they're way weirder than rock sugar. They're actually weirder in some ways than basil seeds, and that's saying something. Plant origin, dry, chewy. Really really chewy. You could chew one of these until tomorrow and it still wouldn't be gone. I think so anyway---I've not actually done this experiment.

The link didn't pop up exactly at kolang kaling, but I'm guessing that's what you're referring to since they do look like the item in question (and extremely cool, too---that freaky fruit thread rocks). You've got the scale pretty close, but my items are even smaller, closer in size to the lime seeds in that picture. And they're dry, quite dry and chewy. They are of plant origin. [Edited to add that I'm going to bed now. I'll entertain all guesses as to the identity of the mystery item in the AM. And I thought of a couple more cool things to show tomorrow. Where did I get all this weird food?]

Hey, remember basil seeds? Well, I was sitting at work today and remembered another item in my kitchen which should probably also go on the "what the hell is that?" list of consumable items presently in my kitchen: And of course now I'm going to ask if anybody knows what it is. Heh heh heh...

For what it is worth, I saw it at a cheese/specialty store here in Boston about a week ago. Don't remember the price. Almost bought it but since I was walking and already had an armload of cheese, wine, etc. I'll pay closer attention when I am there again. I am an alarmingly frequent visit to the store. ← There isn't a reason in the world that somebody here in the U.S. or Canada couldn't make a great cider. I shouldn't have to go to the trouble of buying a French product. Not that there's anything wrong with French products per se, it just seems silly to not buy local in this instance. It's apples, after all. There are small North American makers of cider and perry, mostly west coast. I tried some a couple of years ago at at Breton crepe place in San Francisco called Ti Couz, but they were all too sweet (and in many instances just entirely too fruity---like an alcoholic Jolly Rancher). Hmm, maybe I should try making some hard cider. We (Boy and The Man, actually) made beer a couple of months ago and it was pretty good. Anyway, if my local Publix starts stocking cidre I'll have no excuse for excessive indulgence on my trip abroad. My last visit to France (for work) included an additional week's stay at a thalasso spa. I lunched (while seated on the balcony overlooking the Mediterranean) on bread with chevre and duck sausage and cherries and strawberries and cidre every day.

The discussion of preparing tongue reminds me of buying one a few years ago at a market here in Atlanta, Dekalb Farmers Market. This place has all sort of interesting things, including lots and lots of offal (I don't think of tongue as offal, by the way, but never mind that for the moment). When I got to the check out the cashier (a young man from somewhere on the Indian subcontinent) picked it up, looked at it, looked at me, looked back at the tongue, and finally said, "Okay, what is this?"

Pas de quoi, Safran. I really do love this arrangement. I knew that I wanted the kitchen to be primarily based on this particular wall with an island opposite. So I could have put the range (or cooktop) on the island and the sink under the window, and that would have been the conventional arrangement. But the range on the island didn't give me the "hearth" feel that I wanted, and I also didn't want the cooktop to be that close to the bar (which I've not specifically shown yet) where visitors sit and keep me company while I cook. Conventional wisdom said that I couldn't have a range under a window, and in fact to meet local code the range had to be bumped out from that wall 6". But the resulting ledge is one of the most heavily used areas in the kitchen: my knife block sits up there, as well as tea making supplies and oil and vinegar and salt and the oatmeal tin and paper towels and whatever else I feel like having up there. Everything's right where I need it, but not down on the counter where it clutters up my work surface. The exhaust hood is actually an island hood (somewhat more expensive that a wall mount type) and I had to look to find one that was narrow enough to fit over the counter.

is that anything like the cider (sidra) produced in asturias in spain? unfiltered, not sweet...but fruity and unbelievably good with octopus? professional at work ← Sounds like it's very similar.

Well, I'm not on a boat. So I guess that leaves morning sickness. Or maybe I've just got a yen for weird candy. I've heard of ginger being good for morning sickness, but I don't think it would have helped me very much. Any more than saltines in any case.

The view's actually pretty cool all the time, it would just be harder to photograph. Atlanta gets really remarkably lush and green, and both spring and fall last a long time. Fall color is often not as spectacular as one might hope, as the combination of sufficient rainfall and cold doesn't necessarily come together properly every year. Spring is fantastic, a flower fairy land. As for the will, well, you could meet my son. He's 14, but very precocious. They are not mung beans. Here's the finished product, along with the remainder of the meal: Here's what remains of the lamb (one of my kids has a thing for marrow): Here's dessert: We drank a shiraz with dinner tonight.

It's a little pouch that looks olive green, because it contains gall (which the liver produces and helps the animal digest lipids; the bladder is just a storage receptacle). If you're looking at the rounded, convex surface of the liver it would be on the underside, generally sort of snuggled in between the lobes of the liver. It's generally removed during processing of the chicken carcass, but occasionally one gets missed. You can just remove it yourself. The gall is bitter, so a big bite that includes the gall bladded can be an unpleasant experience.

I'd say we drink about the same amounts of wine and beer. It really depends on what we're eating. With last night's country ham dinner we drank hard cider. The Schramsberg Cremant demi sec is a sparkling wine that we first tasted on a tour of Schramsberg Vineyards over 10 years ago. A cool place to visit, but I think you need to call ahead and book now. So not in the least bit raisin-y, and nowhere near as sweet as ice wine (which I usually find throat-grabbingly sweet) but still so sweet that you wouldn't consider drinking it with anything savory. Or at least I wouldn't.

Oui. And it looks like ludja must have been hard on your heels, so she gets credit as well.

All my sympathy as regards the cold. I'm between colds at the moment, but will surely be sick again soon. Preferably not with consumption, of course... But since you like the view, here's one that includes the breakfast room, right before dinner. Girl is doing her homework, and you can see the golf course in the background. This view's less impressive, at least on film, once the leaves come in. There's another room to Girl's right (you can use that hutch at the corner of the breakfast room with the soup tureen as a reference point), a screened porch. It's not yet furnished (it's on order), but will contain a wicker love seat and occasional chairs and a round table just big enough to seat four. We included this room in the design because we like to eat and relax outside, and this way we can do it without the company of mosquitoes (and under a ceiling fan): Another view of the screened porch. You can see some of the open air deck beyond it: Finally, the hearth, an oblique shot that I took while making dinner, a bit blurry:

Vermouth? I bought some Cinzano bianco today. I like it chilled, over ice, and with a slice of lemon. ← Okay, then, I think that settles the question of our having been separated at birth conclusively: my preferred aperitif is vermouth, on the rocks, with a twist. Except that I generally take sweet red vermouth. Which would make me Rose Red to Jensen's Snow White. This beverage is similar to vermouth, but a bit fruitier. A bit more like sangria (though not sangria).

More dinner:

Dinner tonight (looking a bit wrinkly from the butcher's wrapping paper):

Another hint: it comes from Podensac.

?Chimay ← Nothing so esoteric this time 'round. This beverage comes in two varieties, and each has its fans. The variety I've purchased comes in a green bottle, the other option comes in a colorless bottle. I drink it over ice with a slice of lime.

Ah, now there's a question that has started the eternal arguments. Just what is the "correct" way to make scrambled eggs? Therese, since you like games, add this to your repetoire. If you ask a bunch of people how they make their scrambled eggs you can get the most amusing discussion going. Before you know it the purists (who only use eggs and salt) are calling the liguidists (add water/milk/etc) heretics, and then you get to the people who add seasonings. Makes those holy wars seems downright tame at times. So what is <i>your</i> correct way? It's your blog, you get to be right. ← Heh heh. I don't feel strongly about the milk/no milk question (and have shown my son that both options work) and am also fine with adding mix-ins as long as they're added at the last minute. I generally make them with eggs and salt only. It's the cooking temperature (and hence the rate at which they cook) that I emphasize with Boy: lower heat so as to give a nice soft fluffy product, as opposed to higher heat for an omelette. Nothing so depressing as dessicated browned egg shreds being passed off as scrambled eggs.

If by lighter you mean it's the one that's less sweet, then yes, that's the one. It's desribed as "draft" on the box. Other Hornsby's hard ciders that I've tried include Green Apple and something else that escapes me at the moment. I really like hard cider, but the sort of hard cider that I really like is the sort that I first drank as a teenager when I lived in France. Cider is available pretty much everywhere in France, but in Normandy it's very widely available and it's just about free. Or at least it was then. Anyway, it's pretty hard to find French cider in the U.S., at least in Georgia. And I probably wouldn't be too excited about paying a premium price to drink it if it were available. If I'm going to pay a premium price I might as well just go to France, right? There's now an increasing number of U.S. manufacturers, large and small, who make apple and/or pear ciders. They're pretty much all (to my paste) overpoweringly sweet and fruity. Hornsby's Draft (not the other formulations) is less sweet and fruity, so more to my taste. It's also slightly higher in alcohol (6%), and I think I remember it being somewhat lower in calories (though I'd have to check on that, not entirely sure).