lleechef

Michigan has this perky little motto: "May is Morel Month in Michigan". Indeed it is! Damp nights followed by warm afternoons makes those buggers pop out like it's nobody's business. That would be northwest MI, up by Traverse City. I have found morel patches here where you have to get down on hands and knees to pick them, there are so many. The Sioux City, Iowa area is also good for morels........ They tend to like deciferous trees and burn-out areas. In Michigan, they like cherry tree areas. My favorite 'shroom.......maybe tied for first place with the chanterelle. Roasted guinea hen with morel cream sauce........divine!

I was talking about soup but then the blizzard thing came up and I got distracted by clothier.

blue......no.......red........AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

We had several nice meals at Perico's in downtown Cancun. A trip over to Isla Mujeres is worth it, great snorkeling there. It's about a 20 min. boat ride from Cancun.

The Vintage Inn can indeed get you a table at the French Laundry, it's just across the street. We did not have reservations and were able to get in on our second night in Yountville.

Mayhaw Man is right. This is a truly AWESOME festival, we went two years ago, tickets cost $15.......how can you see Fats Domino and 40 other acts for 15 bucks? I was expecting "carnival food"........hot dogs, a few skimpy po'boys, maybe some thin gumbo. NOT SO! Great food, great music, great crowd. Once again, the Crescent City ROCKS!!!!

Reading The Da Vinci Code. Good read. The girl is a little too "Nancy Drew-ish" for me but that's ok. Still a great book.

Costco is now the USA's largest retailer of wine according to a report by the Associated Press a few months ago. I love their products, especially the meat.

Try Brix just a mile or so north of Yountville. Excellent food!

I will be in Brazil for Carnival. Bahia to be exact, around the Porto Seguro area. Should be fun!

I love the two ways to exit Customs in Charles de Gaulle and Zaventem: Something to declare. Nothing to declare. Of course I always take the Nothing to declare exit. They just keep on smoking their Gauloise cigs and give you a nod........

Lucky you to be in South America! We leave in two weeks for a month in Brazil........Porto Seguro, Bahia. Bring on the beach!

Whale blubber.......disgusting. Also, Eskimo "ice cream" which is beaten seal fat (looks like Crisco) with sugar, berries and boiled fish. Even more disgusting!

For a long term rental go to www.gites-de-france.fr They rent WONDERFUL farmhouses wherever you want to go in France. Lived there seven years back in the 80's and always rent a Gite when I go back. They are in rural areas, so choose where you want to go. In the fall, I would choose Bourgogne, as the new wine will be coming out and there is some of the best food in France in this area. They have all the conveniences......full kitchen, several bedrooms, bathrooms, fireplace, yard, picnic area, on and on........you won't be disappointed staying at a Gite. I never was.

I agree with giovanni on all the above and would like to throw in a few more: Yankee Lobster Fish Market on Northern Ave. for buckets of fresh lobster, seafood and a great lobster or crab roll (they're the only ones in Boston that hand-pick their crabmeat) and all the lobster is shucked daily. Down one block from here is Harpoon Brewery. Another place in the North End: The Daily Catch which is quirky in it's own right; only ten tables and most of the dishes are served in the saute pan in which they were cooked! Their specialty is calamari: fried, in white sauce, in red sauce, stuffed, squid ink pasta and even calamari "meatballs". All are excellent, so is the seafood fra diavolo.

Jaymes, Great article. I left it all in storage in Boston several years ago and came to Alaska. At one point I thought I wanted to go back so I did only to turn around and march right back to Alaska. When you're hooked, you're hooked. I have driven on every single road in the state.......not that we have many but the drive to Deadhorse was unforgettable as was McCarthy, Chicken, Eagle, so many beautiful places. People from the Outside do not understand the pull Alaska has on us. I'm still speechless and teary-eyed every time I see the Northern Lights. Camping on the Spit in Homer or next to Denali, listening to the loons, watching the bears, moose, eagles, you are closer to nature than anywhere. We Alaskans are a different breed.....I guess that's why we love living here. Keep up the good writing.

Anyone who has eaten fresh King salmon or fresh Copper River Red salmon would never ever again buy farm raised salmon. If I can't get fresh wild salmon I pick another fish.

- splash of Grand Marnier - candied julienne orange rind - a small amount of pureed chipotle mixed into creme fraiche

I would say there are more than 27 words in for blubber, as each Native Alaskan tribe would have their own word, and there are easily more than 27 tribes. I tried it once when I moved here, along with the meat. They are both disgusting (and I eat everything). The texture is almost slimy and the taste is like, well, very very rotten, putrid fish. I ate it in Barrow, AK, on the Arctic Ocean and everyone else was eating like it was the best meal on earth, so I didn't just get a bad batch. All in what you're used to, I guess! To this day it is the ONLY thing I will ever refuse to eat again!

When I first moved to AK I wanted to make sourdough bread the old fashioned way (those gold miners didn't have little dried packages of yeast) so the starter consisted simply of water and flour which you let sit to capture the wild yeast in the air. This I did. Made up a batch of bread and after baking it was as white and unappetizing as it was when it went in. Brushed some butter on the tops and turned the broiler on HI on this electric oven I had never baked in. Checked the bread about 60 secs. later and WOOSH, flames were 6 inches high on those loaves and they were pitch black.

When I lived in France everyone bought packages of it at the fromagerie. It kind of resembled cottage cheese at this point. Then it goes into a bowl with a cover and sits in a warm spot for about three days and now looks "melted" and it stinks to high heaven. In the north of France they make a meal out of it....spread on slices of bread, put under the broiler until lightly browned then spread butter on top. It is divine.

Since you're going to be in Yountville, indulge and stay at the Vintage Inn, down the street from the French Laundry. It's exquisite. Be sure to have lunch across the street at Domaine Chandon and enjoy as many tastings and wineries as possible, especially Clos Pegase with all their art. Brix Restaurant is delightful. There are many good eateries in Calistoga as well.