ludja

My girlfriend makes a green bean salad like this. She blanches the green beans, cools and tosses with sliced red onion, oil and vinegar. The tomato sounds like a great addition. This salad is nice because it keeps well for a BBQ. ← This is one of my favorite summer side dishes/salads--green bean and tomato salad. It's cold, slippery and tart; a great foil with bbq or grilled meats. Add some black pepper too and if needed, balance with a pinch of sugar. (It is not added to give anything near a sweet taste). I add the onions finely chopped, rather than sliced. Other nice variation: replace some of the oil with Austrian pumpkinseed oil. This adds a wonderful deep note to the vinagrette. Or sub sweet (Vidalai, Maui, Walla Walla) onions for white or red ones.

And i thought the French were culturally sensitive.. , may be it wasn't a French mime.. ← He must have been Belge or Canadian. He followed us around for awhile making the "I'm so sad you misunderstood, my tears are flowing"" mime gestures. ← That is too hilarious!

Interesting story, troyml. Some of my relatives in Austria with ties to the farm did eat corn occasionally, but it was definately a country treat eaten among family rather that anything you would see in a restaurant. They used the same corn that was used to feed the pigs and chickens, etc. and I think it may have been a harvest treat at the end of the season. Now that the part of my family over there is not farming anymore, I don't think they east this anymore. The preparation is to strip the corn of its husk and then lay the corn directly on the coals, turning it until it is roasted. The kernels range in color from yellow to brown to black. Wipe off the ashes and then eat with salt and butter. Over here in the U.S., my family and I do still grill corn like this sometimes and the roasted flavor is delicious. This prep works better though, with the heartier, 'less sweet' yellow type of corn can be harder to find nowadays.

Stromboli is really just a folded up pizza. Calzones generally have ricotta and no sauce on the inside. Sauce is served on the side for dipping. If I'm wrong, I'll let others correct me. ← That's what I've understood as well, at least for Italian-American calzones. In addition to ricotta, calzones will also usually have some mozzarella and grated hard cheese like parmesean or romano as part of the base filling.

It would be very nice to make a Viennese Iced Coffee with it--fill a parfait glass with scoops of well-frozen ice cream, fill with strong, iced coffee and top with whipped cream. Or you could make an espresso affogato in a dish-- ice cream w/an espresso poured over. For something fruity it might go nicely with a plum and nectarine compote or with a peach cobbler. And I wonder how a bittersweet chocolate sauce would taste with it?

Oohh, this may be something I would also like to try; Steve Sullivan being the founder of Acme Bread. Does it use whole wheat flour? Thanks!

I've always been captivated by the name of the Bois de Boulogne but did not have a chance to visit there in my first sojourn in Paris. Would this be a good place for a picnic and stroll through the park? (I realize it is outside of Paris and would therefore be more of an expedition).

Nice photo, and thanks for sharing that idea! The only thing I've tried adding to this point has been lots of chopped fresh parsley. Looks pretty and adds a nice taste as well.

This is what I see most often. The meat, seafood, etc is weighed on an extremely lightweight piece of plastic/wax paper. When the proper weight is agreed upon, this assembly is then finished with wrapping paper. With this procedure, taring is insignificant. The paper weighs a small fraction of an ounce. In any case, almost all balances have a tare feature so it is probably used even with the lightweight paper.

Although they might not freeze well for some applications, you can successfully freeze whole berries for use in smoothies. Toss them into the blender still frozen. Another avenue for some 'short term' preservation would be to make some strawberry sauce. Cook with some sugar and lemon juice and then pureed. May also add in a little Cointreau or Kirsch once it cools down. I would think it would be ok for at least a week. Eat with poundcake, pancakes, ice cream...

Holy radish! It is amazing how such a simple preparation can completely change my appreciation for a food. I really thought I did not like radishes. And now, every day at 5:30, I am having a snack of bread with butter, salt and sliced radishes. Cool and spicy, and so perfectly crunchy. And dare I exagerrate and call those delectable little squares of radished, buttered, salted bread - beautiful? ← Oh, I'm glad you found a new treat! And in this case so simple and obtainable. One of my favorite little 'trucs' that I discovered on this site is to make homemade Vietnamese inspired lemonade as follows: juice of half a lemon pinch of salt sugar to taste dissolve in a little water, add ice cubes and then top with club soda It tastes like a really good lemon soda. The salt really does it. I think Jason Perlow posted this a long time back. To keep this a little on topic, I don't get lemons from a CSA, but do get a nearly limitless supply from a friend's lemon tree.

Thanks for sharing your vacation, family and lots of good Southern food with us. Homemade fried chicken is such a treat and this thread has me yearning for some... (Nevermind the Carolina bbq...)

Although I'm not sure of the reason, corn on the cob has not traditionallly been "people food" in most of Western Europe.

Walnut bread with cheese is an excellent combination. In the Bay area I often buy Acme's Walnut Wheat Bread to serve with cheese as do many local good restaurants. I have made a good, non-sweet, walnut bread that might work for you. It's in Carol Field's "The Italian Baker". It uses all white flour so it is an easier dough to work with than one with whole wheat flour and it uses packaged yeast. I don't have the cookbook though (yet!); I took it out of the library. I'm also curious to hear if people know of a good, non-sweet walnut-wheat recipe.

Besides the booth on Saturday Farmer's Market, there is a permanent restaurant inside where you can also get their oysters.

sillier than usual post...

I agree that coffee adds a great richness and nice slightlly bitter component to chocolate cake--especially when both the cake and frosting are chocolate. Perhaps just making a nice mocha frosting would suit what you are looking for.

Good point--- here's a link to a recent post of mine for casual and good places on Hwy 1 inbetween SF and Santa Cruz (i.e. you should be driving here a little before you get to Big Basin): link ( Tres Amigos is just south of the junction with Hwy 92). Please ask if you have any questions about either. They both have great food. edited to add: there are also many very beautiful beaches with easy access located between Hwy 92 and Big Basin on Hwy 1. It's fun for kids (and adults!) to go tidepooling, searching for creatures and shells in between the rocks.

For the part of your trip that goes thru Mendocino, Sonoma and points south (before you turn east) there is already a lot of information in the CA forum. Have you checked that out yet? Unfortunately, I don't have specific recs for the second half of your trip... (i.e. once you turn East...) Sounds like a great family trip!

I started a Clamato thread so discussion can continue on there if wanted... The thread also has a link to pre-existing "Bloody Caesar" thread...

Good comments that I agree with. After reading the following quote, I can also see making the case for it (the Bloody Caesar--rather than Clamato itself) being a Canadian specialty, even if Bloody Mary's are sometimes made w/Clamato here. click edited to add: I was wondering if we had any threads on Clamato and found this old one on Bloody Caesars... click

My favorite pastry shop in SF! In addition to the sweets, I really like the savory tarts and sandwiches. Thanks for sharing some of your adventures; it is fascinating to get a peek behind the scenes. And sorry for your kitty's illness; it is a very tough thing to go through.

It's available in the U.S., maybe just more or less in some places...

Specialty from Montreal/Quebec: trempette (bread soaked with maple syrup and topped with creme fraiche or cream)

The citrus only ideas are nice. If you feel like some green herbal touches though, I would go for a mix of fresh parsley, tarragon, chervil, chives. (2x parsley over other herbs) Also nice to add would be some lemon juice and lemon zest. It will look pretty and should not be overpowering. If using tarragon though, add it sparingly to taste, as it does not take a lot to contribute its flavor.