Mudpuppie

This morning NPR had a piece about a Scotsman searching for haggis in LA. He finally found it. Fun story. You can hear it here: http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1592237

I think the Two Buck Chuck cab is a decent $7 wine that's a great buy at $1.99. If you're a connoisseur, you're likely to hate it. But if you're not, or you have friends to dinner who aren't, it's perfectly okay.

After reading and re-reading this thread, I just want to say that I feel very cheated. Maybe this belongs in the "Not again, Mom!" thread, but still. Who knew that people made snow ice cream with actual cream and sugar? We just had snow + vanilla. Y'all don't know how good you have it, acid rain or no. Jeez.

Talk o' Texas is the brand that Sam's Wholesale carries in the gallon jars. It is very good, but more dilly than spicy. Interesting! I never would have called them dilly. I'm a spice addict, too, so I feel a little defensive about this. Are the Talk o' Texas spicies it blazing hot? No. But are they spicier than your average okra pickle? I'd say yes. I like them, but maybe because they're the only ones I can get around here.

A female (in this case, a hen) is going to produce eggs regardless of whether there's a male around. This is true for most (all?) animals. In the chickens' case, the rooster just does the fertilizing -- hence "fertile" eggs.

They eliminated the poking. I have my own personal okra rule that I know many won't agree with. Here it is. Controversy awaits. An okra pod whose skin has been even slightly cut, nicked, pierced, or otherwise compromised should never, ever touch liquid until it's cooked. (Hot oil is okay, though.) So if I add okra to anything wet -- tomatoes, stew, anything -- I flour and pan fry it first. For some this might equal overcooking, but it eliminates the slime. Interesting okra fact: Fire ants love okra plants. I don't know if it's the sappy stuff or the flowers or the pods themselves, but they love 'em. I have memories -- possibly imagined -- of fire ants coming out of the pods after they've been picked.

When I lived in Boston I found it at Stop and Shop. Talk O' Texas is nationally distributed -- it's in my local CA grocery store and it's great. They have a spicy version, too, which makes them winners in my book. One complaint, though, is that there are usually a few tough pods in the jar. You can also get it on some mail order sites. My warmest okra memory: My folks made pickled okra when I was a kid because my dad had a garden full of it. We lived in TX, but my parents are both Hoosiers and okra was new to them. Dad didn't know that okra plants are, um, prolific, so they had to put some up. The first time they made it was almost the last. In order to cull the tough pods, they thought it would be a good idea to prick each one with a fork. Makes sense, since you don't really know until you bite or cut into it whether you'll be able to chew it. Anyway, the pincushion okra pods produced okra pickles so slimy that it was like an industrial accident. You could pull one out of the jar and raise it at arm's length and the slime would extend for upwards of three feet. Fortunately they tried it again and made some yummy pickled okra. My worst okra memory: Picking the stuff. This was before dad discovered Clemson Spineless, and after the fire ants discovered Texas. God, was okra picking hot and miserable.

Naw, wouldn't want roosters. Noisy, temperamental, etc. Plus, fertile eggs kind of creep me out. So here's a question, to bring it back to food. Do y'all buy fertile eggs? If so, why? Do you avoid them? Maybe you've never paid attention?

Thanks, now I'm REALLY drooling!

This is me drooling.... Slice the okra up, about 1/4" to 1/2" thick. (Make sure it's dry when you slice. If it comes in contact with water you'll be slimed.) Coat in cornmeal or flour. I often use polenta. Pan fry in just a little oil until crispy. After the okra is cooked enough so that it's no longer wet (i.e., potentially slimy), you can add onions and garlic. Don't add them too early, though, because NO WATER. Yummmm. Sorry, off-topic. But any chance to proselytize about okra. (Actually, I can't think of anything I didn't like as a kid but like now. I must have had good taste back then.)

That's too bad, they're lots of fun. I'm in CA, near Sacramento. I live right in town on a smallish city lot. Per city ordinance I'm allowed three hens, but no roosters. Can't beat the eggs or the entertainment value. I strongly advocate chicken ownership!

Are the egg roll carts gone??? Please say no.

How sweet! We had this on occasion when I was growing up too, but nothing fancy -- just snow and vanilla. Of course, this was in Texas and there was never more than a little snow, so you had to pick the inevitable blades of grass.

Catfish Plantation? The haunted one? It's still there. (I grew up next door in Midlothian.) Braum's had good cherry limeades too.

Sniff. Remember the real Quack's? And the GM steakhouse? (The one across from Whole Foods is still hanging on, god bless 'em.) I don't remember the ice cream place across from Dobie.

I would like to call myself a "farmer of free range chickens." In actuality, I have a couple of chickens who have free reign over my suburban backyard. Free range, yes. Farmer, no. I submit, though, that you will not find happier chickens, or tastier eggs, anywhere. Chickens are complex creatures. No, they're not brilliant. But they do have emotions and personalities. The treatment they're subjected to in factory farms is nothing less than cruel.

Argh. We had this too. With cubed stew meat. Always accompanied by "apple salad," which was a sort of faux waldorf salad with lots of mayo and some cool whip. It was my brother's favorite meal, and he was the pickier eater, so we had this often.

I totally agree -- and there's the bigger issue and I've been trying not to refer to. For you, the extra dollar per carton is worth it. But is it worth it to pay $2 more per pound of [beef, chicken, pork, etc.] if you know that the animal was raised under relatively humane and healthy conditions? And would you pay $4 for a pint of strawberries if you knew that the migrant workers who picked them received a living wage and were not exposed to harmful chemicals? Would you pay $6 for a yummy Big Mac if it meant the cow was happy and the slaughterhouse worker was happy and the truck driver was happy and the McD's employee was happy...? I think people should be totally in charge of their own consciences (and I try not to impose my own conscience on other people), but I think most american consumers are happier not to use their consciences. It's simply easier not to think about these things. And then again, buying free range, cage free, vegetarian eggs does not necessarily mean that you're improving the life of a chicken. (Who, by the way, often live horrible lives if they're part of the industry.) We are just that mixed up.

Actually, I was thinking about sugar-free jello with fat-free dream whip stuff thrown in. And remember the "dirt cake" made out of oreos and cool whip that got served in a terra cotta pot, with gummi worms on top?

Maybe the free-range-organic people aren't very conscientious about shipping their eggs in a timely way. Or maybe your store doesn't have a high turnover in the high-end eggs? They could be sitting in the fridge for a couple weeks at the store. Just some thoughts.

Every year when I go home for the holidays, I take my trusty 10" chef's knife because I know all too well the quality of the parents' knives. And every year, I get at least one knife that "never needs sharpening."

Freshness. The yolk of a fresh egg is much firmer than that of an old egg. In fact, really fresh eggs are very hard to whip, and even if you try to break the yolk in the frying pan, it won't really run. When you buy eggs, there's usually (always?) a date code on the carton. You might have to do some deciphering or call the company, but you should always be able to tell when the eggs were actually laid.

This isn't really true, Pan. Concrete is bad for a few reasons, though the industry maintains that it's fine. Chickens hunt for food by scratching. They obviously can't do that on a concrete floor. There's a deprivation thing here, but I won't go into that because it's a much larger issue. So set that aside. Sure, chickens will eat from feeders, so it's not like a concrete floor will starve them. What it will do is bore them. And a bored chicken is a restless, cantankerous, puglistic chicken. And chickens do love to hurt each other. Now, space is one thing and yes, they need it. But if they're bored, they're going to fight anyway. And if they're wounded, well, that manure-covered floor is going to mean serious transmission of disease. Again, a deprivation issue. But also a consumer one -- if you're buying eggs, you presumably want to buy eggs from healthy chickens. And as for occassionally hanging out with each other -- not really accurate. Chickens flock by nature. They need space, but they also need company. My chickens wuv each other.

"Vegetarian" eggs means that the hens aren't fed feed that contains animal by-products. This is important for one major reason -- think BSE, a product of cows eating cows, sheep eating sheep, etc. What they are fed, or are allowed to eat, is another matter. If they're free-ranging, they most likely have access to insects. (This isn't necessarily the case, though, because "free-range" has no official definition. It could mean that they roam freely through a concrete barn and can't actually scratch in the dirt. In other words, free range might just mean cage free.) I have chickens. When buying feed, there are varieties that are clearly marked "vegetarian" and those that aren't. I always buy the vegetarian kind just because i have a better idea what's in it. In the end, it doesn't really matter. The chickens turn their noses up at the stuff. Personally, I'd always buy the "vegetarian" eggs. Animal products that go into animal feed are the stuff that most people would never choose to eat. And the stuff that hens eat affects egg quality and taste in a unique way. (I never, ever feed my chickens cabbage. ) So for me, I'd just rather have the vegetarian eggs.

Ha! Next time, I'll let you know. I spent today on the Great Curd Hunt and just came home with some. Here's the scoop. Dean and Deluca don't carry it. Oakville Grocery doesn't carry it. Cowgirl Creamery, ditto. GB Ratto's and the Cheese Board (Oakland, Berkeley) were both closed today, but I suspect they would have been good bets. Three out of the five Berkeley Andronico's don't carry it. The fourth (Emeryville, actually) is closed on Sundays. The fifth, the Shattuck location, lo and behold, had some on the shelves. The grand irony is that it cost $6.99, quite a bit more than fresh mozzarella. I sure hope it tastes better than the other, because if it doesn't.... Well, let's just say this: 1.25 hour drive + $2 toll + 1/2 day wasted + $6.99 > ((effort x tastebud output) x last day of vacation).