rancho_gordo

IN California at least, I think if someone gets physical in any sense, they can bypass the whole HR, probation thing and show him the door. Don't know what happened of course, but the big cheese should not be slapping the staff under any circumstances. Even if he's very, very upset!

One of my customers wrote this book, One Bite at a Time and I've used it for everyday cooking. It's really a fine book that you should check out. The great thing is finding menus both the caregiver and the patient can enjoy together. The author is an avid farmers market fan.

Not my scene in any event, but the last time I was there, the valet locked the keys in my running car and no one bothered to tell us until after the dinner and we went out to get the car!! Isn't that insane? I haven't been back, in case you were wondering.

Let me help you! IMHO, one of eG's best threads ever. It will either inspire you or send you running the other way. I hope it's the former. edited to add: what is Mrs Dash? A spice blend or salt substitute? Something else? I remember something called Crazy Jane's Mixed up Salt in the 1970s.

I have to go to Mary's a lot (in Napa and sometimes Sonoma) for kiddie events, etc, and I used to dread it until I discovered the Napoletana. You're right! It's very good.

Good girl! Isn't it amazing how little regular trash you have when you compost? What a waste garbage is! Between composting and recycling I now have one small shopping bag worth of garbage a week now. I caught Rachel Ray say the other day "GB, garbage bowl". I'm a little tired of trashing such a dim bulb, but how silly to give something a nickname and then call it by it's regular name as well. I realize she's a very busy gal, but "GB"?

Perhaps partly because we are bombarded daily with images, ads and reports stating otherwise. I have kids- you can tell them that commericals are fake and they will agree but they really don't get it. It's on TV so it's true. It's colorful and you get a free toy, so it's cool! And then it's in the schools, too? It's just not a fair war of information.

But there's much more money in corporate America. When the playing field is level, then your argument would make more sense. And who is causing the trouble? The health food advocate who just got a grant that will last six months or the corporation offering their "food", toys, and bright happy commercials along with their obesity, higher insurance rates and fat-bombs. I think we've had this discussion in many forms here. In the end it's your politics that will rule.

I have this one. Called a "food grinder". It's in a very nice box on the shelf never used. Is this the one? Can you adjust the grind?

The grain mill seems to be for "low moisture" grains. Do you think the meat attachment would work? Why not? Chris, which one are you referring to?

Your Mexican store will have the corn and the Lime. The Lime is in little packlages called CaL. I can send you that if you get stuck, but it should be pretty easy. I can also send you regular corn for masa, I'm just out of the green dent corn from Oaxaca for the year. This is the step I am most leary about. How do you contril the grind? Tamales want a coarser griond than tortillas (although I've made tortillas from tamal masa (pre-lard) and they were nice and almost rustic. I'd always heard the hand crank grinder mentioned in the blog was for dry ingredients. So this is the step that's most confusing to me. Maybe you should buy a metate!

Everyone has such different standards. I don't envy the managers. But for an example of why a customer may not complain at the moment, I ate dinner at the very popular Slanted Door in San Francisco. We had an 8:30 reservation on a Tuesday night. Many, many things went wrong and it was incredibly expensive for a really mediocre meal. Where to start? I didn't want to embaress my friends and I felt the staff were incapabable of making anything better so I wrote a letter within three days. It was only three paragraphs and I think anyone would have thought my complaints valid. And to put it in perspective, I think I'm pretty accomodating. We all know those "special needs" types who confuse being picky with being particular. I'm realy not one of those folks. I really wanted to like this meal. As a footnote, this was in June. I sell at the farmers markets and let them know that (the farmers market is held in the same building as Slanted Door). Apparently they read the letter to the manager of the farmers market and his staff when they were at the bar one night!! As of today, I've yet to hear word one from Slanted Door. Guess where I'm never going back!

Just need to add that those bleached white bricks you buy at the grocery store are a sad imitation of real lard and I'm sure the over-bleaching and processing have some less than savory side effects. You need to know a good butcher, make your own or move to San Francisco and get the carnitas drippings from La Palma.

You started out by saying there is no such thing as an heirloom, making it clear that perhaps you don't understand what the term means. Then you asked for names. I supplied them. You ignored them. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer tomatoes whatever their journey.

its absolutely true! name me one "heirloom" variety that has been exclusively cultivated in the americas! they were long known in europe, and eaten since the 1590ties. discovered by spanish conquistadors the tomato was taken back to spain and distributed first to the mediterranean countries, and in the 17 century as far as russia ( where by the way some very yummy breeds originated the "black from tula" for example). when the huge emigrant waves hit the united states the settlers took the seeds with them. i dont say that from this point on there was no more cultivation going on, but i do say that most "heirlooom tomatoes" you can find quite identically in italy or spain or germany or austria or poland or hungary or greece or russia. the same thing is by the way also very true with potatoes ;-) cheers t. ← Aren't you the one who said upthread there's no such thing as an heirloom tomato? Of the top of my head, there's Cherokee Purple, Zapotec Pleated, Punta Banda, Oaxacan Pinks. There are more. Obviously Black from Tula is not on the list. I can't believe I'm having this conversation.

most, if not all of the breeds that you know under the confusing name "heirloom tomato" have been "developed" in europe... ;-) cheers ← That is absolutely not true. There are some, even many, developed in Europe. But there are plenty, if not most that I'm interested in, that were developed in the Americas.

I remember a time not too long ago when chilhuacles would have been a prize. I think they still are! Any poop on this chilcoztli chile other than being somewhat similar to guajillo? Is it worth growing? Can you save me some seed if so?

I was just told that the original HKFL in SF on Geary is still there and in fact thriving under new ownership since 2003. The one in Millbrae is a smaller branch of the same restaurant. No need to discover Millbrae's charms just yet! My friend who used to love hosting us there used to call ahead and speak with the manager, choosing the menu for the whole evening and getting lots of special things not listed. As a guest, all I had to do was pick my cocktail. It's somewhat dressy and I get all warm inside thinking of those meals.

There used to be a Hong Kong Flower Lounge on Geary- with a full bar and very swellegant. I spent many happy evenings there. Did it close? I've lived here all my life and I couldn't tell you where Millbrae is!

Wait, I'm not quite done: You think just because you made a little money you can get a new hairdo and some expensive clothes and turn yourself into a lady. But you can't, because you'll never be anything but a common frump whose father lived over a grocery store and whose mother took in washing! Ok. Now I'm finished.

With this money I can get away from you. From you and your chickens and your pies and your kitchens and everything that smells of grease. I can get away from this shack with its cheap furniture. And this town and its dollar days, and its women that wear uniforms and its men that wear overalls!

Among my friends, in Italy they just call if caffe. One other hint- if you are like me and not the most wonderful housekeeper, the temptation is to leave the old grounds in until you use the pot again. Luckily for me this is daily but I notice things just work better if I've cleaned the pot and its had ample time to air dry. When rinsing the part that actually holds the coffee, I like to roll it back and forth between my fingers under water until the screen is loose. This is probably voodoo but it makes me feel like I'm helping.

I've never thought about it. The whole hominy is so wonderful, I only make grits as a leftover treat when I get tired of the whole corn. But I do have a grinder somewhere around here, so I'll try it and report back!

PLUG-OLA: I sell Red Osage corn hominy/posole on my website. It's an heirloom variety and when ground in a food processor after being cooked becomes grits.

Is this Joe's Taco Lounge? Yuck! Please go visit Fish or almost anywhere else. It's amazing that with the per capita income/wealth in marin that the food is so generally awful. There are a few exceptions but not many. The Fish guy is from Masa's. And he sourced a lot of their food from vendors at the farmers market.