kiliki

Mikey used roast chicken for beach tacos 2 seasons ago.

Chips and salsa (good chips and good salsa, that is. Like Jaymes' salsa! Or a homemade pico de gallo). I will eat myself into a stupor. So, I try not to buy my favorite chips, the ones that I really have no control with (Que Pasa Thin Style Organic). Instead I buy some kind of blue corn chip from the co-op that isn't nearly as good, so I don't eat as many. Or I cut up tortillas and make my own in the oven with just a little oil.

Found out more about Picnic (from the Weekly)...this sounds like a VERY cool addition to the 'hood.

I think grocery store carrots are generally bland. My local natural food store carries some fantastic carrots from a local farmer, in season, and the farmer's markets have good ones as well, but I don't bother purchasing grocery store carrots anymore.

I have tons of sprouts--peas, lettuce, spinach, radishes, the teeniest carrots poking up--but everything is definitely behind.

I've bought fresh masa from the Mexican Grocery in the Pike Place Market, though not for a couple years.

I still have not warmed up to this group--I don't find them or their cooking particularly interesting. My husband falls asleep every episode. The palate test was great though! As was the last "technique" challenge. So much better than vending machine challenges. I wouldn't have served coho at a "fancy" event, sous vide or not. It's okay, but more in the "oh look it's on sale and in season, I'll put it in red curry and it'll be my monday night dinner" sort of way.

My two new favorites are both fast and easy and great for worknight dinners: Sunset Magazine's Japanese Style One Pot Supper and Mark Bittman's sesame crusted fish from the tv show "How to Cook Everything."

Definitely dry them for the best browning. The drier the better--I let mine sit on paper towels for a few minutes, then blot them some more.

I haven't been charged for bread since wheat prices have shot up, but I still can't get over how obnoxious it was to see bread and butter on the menu last year at Momofuku Ssam Bar for $8. I buy a whole tube of that same Vermont Butter and Cheese Co. butter for $3.99 at Whole Foods.

Bloater paste??? What IS it? Cali: Thanks for the heads up. I get CI so I''ll check out that recipe--I'm assuming it was recent? I'll look in Baking Illustrated, too. Cathryn: I've always liked Ina's recipes so I'll bet hers are good. Thanks!!

Can anyone pass along a great recipe for a savory scone--maybe some kind of cheese and herb (I'd love to have the recipe for Dahlia Bakery's Sweet Potato Parmesan scone, if anyone has anything close to that)? The couple recipes I've tried have been leaden--nothing like the super light, crumbly Dahlia scone--and I don't want to keep trying random, bad recipes.

It's kind of sad to lose the Couth Buzzard, though. Ken owns the building and as long as he gets his permit, is kicking out the bakery (no big loss), Allusia and Couth Buzzard-not sure about the game shop.

And at 68th in Greenwood, in the new Fini condos, some promising signs went up: One space that is supposed to be an independent coffee shop has watercolor drawings of (Parisian) macarons plastered around, and lists of French desserts on other signs; there is also a liquor license application up for a place called Picnic, "a beer and wine specialty shop" (though I heard the condo sales rep say it would be an organic grocer). Maybe that's why Ken's is expanding...

There's a new awning at 85th and Greenwood (in the former cabinet shop) that says "organic desserts, gelato, juice, smoothies."

The market is thronged with tourists but apart from the fish vendors who will ship salmon for them, the food vendors don't cater to them. Tourists just don't buy lettuce and raw meat and ethnic ingredients. They mostly just walk around taking pictures of those things. I like Frank's Produce when I'm there and need a few things but in general, I like the organic wednesday and sunday stalls better--they are set up on the cobblestones. These are actual growers selling their produce, where as the produce stalls at the market no longer have their own farms (they used to, but the farms are all suburban subdivisions now). The closest farmer's market to you would be the Queen Anne market. It just started last year, so I don't think it's as big as other markets, but it might be worth a visit.

I totally agree-I bet Bayless about had a heart attack if he watched last night's show. Hey, all Mexican people are poor, right? There can't be any fine dining there! He probably thinks the same about Chinese food. (Who was it, Spike?) I am not into this group and the shows have been pretty boring IMO. Maybe it's just because it's still new and I don't "know" everyone, but there was zero anticipation on my part about who got kicked off.

I saw Jean-George eggplant ravioli recipe in Food and Wine recently that used wonton wrappers, so it's not just the Food Network chefs. That sounds like what here are labeled "wonton wrappers."

Thanks for the link...it hadn't even occured to me to investigate something like that but it looks interesting.

Bryan, did you find anything decent in Whistler?

It really is worth going to for the variety--you just don't see as many kinds of starts at nurseries. The lines LOOK really long, but they move fast (just like the big plant show they have at Sand Point). This year's sale is right before we go to France for two weeks so I have to decide whether I can trust our 11 y.o. neighbor who brings in the mail to keep them alive while we’re gone.

This doesn't really answer your question, but I've read in every pickling/canning book I've picked up that there's a huge difference between pickled and canned food safety. It's very hard (impossible?) for botulism to survive in the salty, vinegary environment of pickled items. Plain old canned foods, on the other hand, do provide a more receptive environment.

I'm a big fan of raised beds-like Melkor, I manage to cram a lot into my raised bed in my smallish city lot. I grow everything anyone would grow in a regular garden in my beds, though I provide trellises for some things, so they grow up rather than sprawl and take up room (like cucumbers). I'm using this spiral veggie cage for the first time this year: Veggie cage So, grow whatever you like to eat! I generally only DON'T grow things that are cheap and abundant at farmer's markets, like garlic or zucchini. Exactly how shaded will these beds be, though? Most veggies and herbs need full sun, though I've never gardened in as hot a climate as you are in, and so perhaps that makes a difference (maybe another Californian can comment on this).

Often it's obvious but once in a while they fake you out. Same with Project Runway. Once or twice last season we didn't get to see what the winner got (Sara won an entire stocked pantry but I only learned that watching her exit video), but they always won something. Unless there are no prizes this season I'd guess that's the case here. Ohhhh but Andrew is annoying.

Mine did. I didn't have a recipe for "real" (cooked in the jar in a water bath) carrot pickles--all of the carrot recipes I saw were for quick pickles, where you just pour brine over them, then eat them within a month or so. They stayed beautifully purple for that type of pickle. I've cooked them in a stir fry type dish, and they did keep their color (they dulled a bit) though they turned the rest of the dish purple, which wasn't entirely appetizing. I was so disappointed the first time I cooked purple beans! I didn't know they lost their color when cooked. I've only done them in my dog proof 2' deep beds but I'd think you'd be okay--it's worth trying, anyway!