Susan in FL

Yep, my mind was in the gutter, too... Couldn't wait to click on this thread and see if I would learn about some new kitchen positions.

I think it also depends on where you live and whether you're buying local... how fortunate you might be about what's nearby. I'm spoiled here with fresh local shrimp for example. Used to be living up north that we bought frozen shrimp, but now I've developed a strong preference for fresh. On the other hand, up north, we went "musseling"... We got in the boat and pulled our own from the banks and cooked them that night. Now, to judge the freshness of mussels, we sort of knock on them and if they close up immediately, they're fresh enough. Clams, the same. We used to go clamming or buy them just two or three days out of the water. The shells would be real dark if they were nice and fresh. As they got older, they got lighter in color and dried up some. So I think I agree that a week is pushing the limit for clams and mussels. Oysters, bought fresh, we have kept cold for no more than a week. Here in this part of Florida clams are not such a big deal. Freshly caught fish is more of a big deal. When I go to the seafood market, I often ask what was most recently swimming in the water and we have fish caught within the past day or two. If I need a certain fish for a specific recipe, and it's not something caught locally, I make sure I can trust the word of the people in the market about how fresh it is. Crabs and lobster... Fresh enough if they are alive and kicking. Hope this helps.

Sometimes I make some other potato salad recipes, but "my" potato salad which my son requests every time he visits is Bacon & Egg Potato Salad... Bacon, eggs, a little chopped onion if he's here and a lot if he's not, mayo & Dijon mustard, and a few other secret ingredients. OK, I'll tell. When the potatoes are still warm, add some butter and after it's melted, add in all the other ingredients, including some chopped Claussen pickles and some of the Claussen pickle juice.

Mmmm, wonderful dinners going on here. Dinner for us tonight on this hot, humid, cloudy, and windy evening was this recipe from the August issue of Bon Appetit: Chicken, Rice, and Mango in Lettuce Wraps. Very sloppy picking up the wrap and eating from our hands, and very good! Getting ready to take my seat on the porch... One of the wraps, before devouring it...

Well put!

I'm not sure what made them turn out so much better this time, but I hope I can recreate them next time! What I did: Cooked the grits (one cup) in reduced salt chicken broth -- I had one of those 32 ounce boxes -- and cream. I started with 2 1/2 to 3 cups of the broth and one cup of cream. I brought the grits, broth, cream, and a tablespoon or two of butter to a boil, whisking. Then I turned the heat down, covered it, and cooked until thick, stirring often and adding more broth as needed. At the end I stirred in sharp cheddar cheese. I'm sure the shrimp and their juices contributed to the rich flavors, too.

One thing that is different between internet discussion sites and the guy in the market check out line is that it's written, it's in black and white, it's "on record" -- however you want to refer to it -- and that might cause more concern to restaurant chefs or management. Much like PDC's points, when I read reviews of anything, I give more value to the critic whose tastes are similar to my own. I'm especially like that when reading wine reviews and ratings. Pan, I trust a restaurant recommendation from my brother a hell of a lot more than one from any food critic, too! Nevertheless, I do read every restaurant review I can get my hands on or get on my computer screen, amateur and professional, for educational purposes. Then if I'm going to pick a place to eat, I take it all into consideration... what I've read and what I've heard. In our area, there has been an increase in write-ups and reviews about restaurants and bars lately. Here, it is a good thing. I'm hoping it will improve the local dining places.

To quote Wendy, "no pictures.......you've seen it before......." tonight we had Russ's Chicken, which was renamed Russ's Chicken Thighs, and then was renamed Russ's Famous Chicken Thighs, and now which we call Russ's World Famous Chicken Thighs. Last night's dinner was really really good, but very very unphotogenic. I sauteed pork chops and made black and white rice and black beans to go with it. So picture this in your mind instead if you will... On the plate a serving of Forbidden Black Rice, with a serving of Jasmine rice alongside of it, and then a scoop of black beans spooned atop the rices -- propped against that a chop. I was going to mix the rices, but even after I rinsed the black rice several times, the water didn't clear, so I knew that even after being cooked separately, the black rice would bleed on the white rice. On Saturday night we had a starter of melon & prosciutto followed by grilled goose Florida style (a creation of ours), with grilled Yukon Gold Potato slices and tropical fruit salsa. A tomato salad was meant to go with it, but I forgot about it, and there it sat in the fridge. So we had the salad Sunday night with shrimp and cheddar cheese grits. These were the best grits I've ever made -- almost the best I've ever tasted. The shrimp were our local fresh shrimp, so I cooked them the way I've learned to be the best. I probably would not cook previously frozen or farm-raised shrimp this way. We peel them and put them in a non-stick skillet, no butter or oil or anything, and fire it up. Then when they are browned, turn them over and let the other side brown. They are cooked in their own essence just barely through. Before they would curl up, I add a little chunk of butter and maybe a tablespoon or two of stock, let that deglace the pan and bubble up, and serve. ...All that in probably five or six minutes at the most. On the side Sunday night were sugar snap peas.

Thanks, Lisa and Gary! The event is on the eG Calendar. Sounds good. Gary or anyone who attends, please do report back.

NICE! Indeed this is good parenting.

This is probably too late also, but maybe for another time... crab risotto.

Here are some of the highlights from our recent meals. It looks like we've been on a beef kick. We've been eating quite a bit of chicken and pastas, too, but the meat has been more photogenic and I've been a lazy photograher lately. Lots of grilling is going on here, too. A crab salad, using claw meat, preceeded one of these beef dinners, but I can't remember which one. Here we topped sirloin steaks with Gorgonzola, and had grilled sweet onions and baked potatoes on the side. This is one of my favorite recipes for hamburgers, Napa Valley Cabernet Burgers. We used kaiser rolls instead of foccacia, and Sonoma Cabernet instead of Napa. Guess they would be Sonoma Burgers. Grilled prime rib, pasta, mushrooms, and a great bottle of wine were on the menu for a celebration dinner with Morten. This followed a toast with White Star at 7:19 PM... That was the time of his arrival at BWI on August 15, 1995, when we first met our exchange student from Denmark. He immediately became our Danish son. One photo missing is the pork roast that Russ grilled in the rain. It was possibly the most perfectly cooked, juicy and delicious pork we've made. That was the night I found my camera battery was dead, and I was too hungry to wait for it to recharge. Last night's dinner was pasta with a sauce of veal, fresh peas, assorted fresh mushrooms and herbs, etc., using a good homemade chicken stock. There, I'm caught up.

Smithy!! ...Yes! I am so glad to see you are blogging. I enjoy all the blogs, but I am most interested in glimpses into the lives of everyday people, with whom I think I might find something in common. And your weather... "I wouldn't want to live there, but it's a nice place to visit" ...via your blog of course. You are a flight instructor, how awesome is that. My son is a Navy Flight Officer, and so of course I have an interest in aviation. Please don't hesitate to journal about the flight lunches and show some more scenes from the sky. This is great. Blog on!

No, there isn't. I sort of wish I could say yes; but on the other hand, I'm proud of how I am in cooking and in my work and at home and pretty much in most aspects of life... a self-starter and self-motivator. Very early on in teaching myself to cook I was inspired by cooking magazines, especially Bon Appetit and Food & Wine. I still find inspiration in reading recipes and food articles in magazines, cookbooks, newspapers, online, etc., but any one person, no. That is not to say I wasn't influenced by some people, but I give myself the credit.

Sounds like a great beer bar. Looking forward to hearing about the beers featured tonight. Please report back afterwards!

We love anchovies, too... We've not had fresh ones, unfortunately, but we have enjoyed cheap oil-packed brands and more expensive salt-packed brands. Our favorite thing to do is to eat them out of the can or jar or whatever, washed down with beer. Another one of my favorites is to butter good bread, and top with anchovies. We give them lots of uses: an ingredient in many pastas, not to mention puttanesca; with pizza, but on the side; salads; oh yeah anchovies are essential for the good life. So many brands, I can't remember without looking. None stand out immediately.

This is a stretch, but I want to join in. Mice have been mentioned. I have mouse phobia, and when we lived in Delaware I insisted on killing all mice that we discovered, usually with D-Con. Russ did not approve, being the compassionate person that he is about all things living, even bugs. I say kill. But anyway, one day there was a dying mouse sitting on our couch and I was scared and literally sat on top of the kitchen table for almost an hour waiting for him to get home from work, to dispose of it. Kitchen table.... a kitchen thing... Oh well, that's the closest that I can come up with.

I've been following this discussion without really investing any energy into the debate, or forming a strong opinion on the brewing or legal "issues" presented. I thought I would add another perspective, that of a twenty-something Dane who is just an everyday beer lover, not a brewer, not one who posts on any food or drink -related forums, not a foodie, not an attorney, and does have a lot of Danish pride. My Danish son, to whom I've referred in posts quite often, is here and read about this elsewhere. He was eager to ask me if I heard about it. It was a pleasant reminder to me that not all read so much into these sort of things. His perspective: "That's cool!" Meanwhile, I am very pleased that we have these thoughtful and well presented discussions and friendly debates on our developing eG Beer Forum! On this and other beer topics, I look forward to reading the continuing points of view from our growing number of well-informed beer enthusiasts. This thread reminded me too that I've never seen a mean-spirited post from eG beer people. Like the old Bud Lite commercial, I love you man!"

Oh my goodness, what's going on... second to Andie's headline, I just saw this one: Man Helps Coyote Stuck in a Pickle Jar. There are some strange food-related headlines. The stuck coyote was actually saddening.

Here's a link to the post. This was quite something... Just got comfortably settled out on the porch, beautiful sunny morning, with my coffee and new wireless laptop and opened the browser to my start-up page -- where besides the news headlines I have some eGullet headlines via RSS. There, lo and behold, I read Andiesenji killed a rattlesnake with a WHISK! Andie you've made it to the big time. You and your whisk, on the front page. A culinary adventure like no other. And thanks Rachel.

I'm so glad to see there are other fans of Marcella's lemon chicken. Chufi, thanks for the paraphrase on the recipe. That's real close. I think it's turned up to 400 for only the last 20 minutes, but that might not be so significant. I've made it many times, too, but I keep reading the recipe each time because #1, my brain doesn't remember the temp., etc. and 2nd because I don't want to mess with success and accidently change anything! I did LOL at the thought of paraphrasing anything that Marcella authored, though... is she not the wordiest writer for even her most simple recipes?!! Tonight Russ cooked something he often fixes for himself when I'm not here, a basic pasta and marinara sauce with anchovies and shrimp added. Very good! I was glad I was here for it.

I like your solution: if you don't like the picture, make it smaaall . From now on, a good indicator for me whether you liked your dinner or not will be the size of the posted photo . Well, here are big pictures of the past two nights' dinners. The recipes are big favorites of ours, and both dinners were a big success. Last night I made Marcella Hazan's "Chicken with Two Lemons" (Roast Chicken with Lemons, on page 327 of Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking -- my book automatically opens there, where the binding is split down the length of the it). This is my all time favorite way to roast a chicken. It's always juicy and tasty. I usually use a kosher chicken or brine it if it's an ordinary supermarket chicken. Last night it was the latter, and the lemons were so big I just used one. I really want to try this recipe with a Smart Chicken, if I can find one. Russ looked at me a bit perplexed when I took so many pictures of it after taking it out of the oven. I explained to him that for those of us nuts about everyday food photography, a pretty roasted chicken is a beautiful sight to behold. To accompany it we had our favorite frozen vegetable, leaf spinach, and oven-baked potatoes which were first rubbed with peanut oil and coarse salt. Monday night the old favorite I made was Linguine with Tomatoes and Basil (and Brie and garlic and olive oil ) from The Silver Palate Cookbook. We usually make this once a year, in the summer. It's too decadently good to have it any more often than that.

Sounds like from his description that it did not. He did say it was a light sauce.

I've certainly used other vinegars on greens, so sure, why not malt vinegar? Make my own, huh. I would at least like to read the article. I do not begin to know what the process is like. So you had a hand in McGuire's, too. That is one of the places I miss since my son has moved to California. I liked the beer.

Brad, you got married in Denmark...! That surely qualifies as a Danish connection. I don't know if that ranking on beer consumption is true either, but same here about my experience. The Danes we hung out with surely love their beer! Green label... sounds familiar. I'll ask Morten about it. We once drank Danish beer out of a green plastic bottle.