Wholemeal Crank

I don't recommend it either for stainless steel. This is what it did to my thermos, when I just wanted to scrub the tannin deposits away--I had a theory, which I now know was wrong, that perhaps the buildup of tannins was the problem with some of my more delicate teas when put into the thermos: That's steel etched by the tablets.

I used about a 1:10 dilution of household bleach on that one sad stinky pot, and let it soak for about an hour. For less stinky concerns, I've been happy with denture cleaners, toothpaste, and elbow grease. I know the denture cleaners are powerful--they ate a nice stainless vacuum bottle--but hadn't considered them as potentially useful for sterilizating moldy stuff.

Just came here to ask the same question. But there have been other books purchased and some deaccessioned, so a full recount is in order. Still, one book or six for MC?

Welcome, chutney! This is a great place to share and to learn. My dad liked the bargain prices on bulk items at the Food Mill in Oakland, CA in the early 70s. We'd stop there on trips to or from the city, toting a box of gallon pickle jars to be filled up with beans and rices and get mysterious bags of spices and more. I was always disappointed that he wouldn't any of the mysterious cookies and other treats for us to try, but having tried a few such things here and there since, we didn't miss much. It was so much more interesting than the regular grocery stores, and I've been drawn to bulk bins ever since.

I've enjoyed my sessions reading the book, so far distressingly few of them, with food nearby, and while I haven't spilled on it yet, that will surely come in time. But if I wait for food-free time to read it, away from the kitchen, dining room, or midnight snacks, it will take years to get through at present rates--not due to readability issues, it's more readable than most of my trade journals, but simply due to time constraints. And I want to get through that first reading ASAP, so I can start incorporating new ideas and techniques into my cooking. Just this weekend, I made some filled cookies, that might have benefited from a better knowledge of thickening agents to help solidify the filling a bit and preserve their shape better without the inevitable flavor dilution of cornstarch.

I've mostly blocked the distressing details from memory, but I did once leave a kyusu with leaves in it for quite a few days--I expected to come back the next day, and I'd only had one or two infusions of a very classy tea, but I didn't come back the next day, and when I did come back, I didn't remember that it had leaves in it. So.....it was some days before I realized the error--it's a pot I only use about once a week on average anyway. It got bleached, if I recall correctly, copious rinsing, and a long airing out before I used it again.

True enough. I just set up an infusion of the Lao Ban Zhang and forgot to pour it out right away--I know better than to turn my back on any infusion of this tea, it's so powerful--but fortunately it was the first infusion after a while, and the cool gaiwan seems to have save it from something destined to fit Richard's taste to one fit for me. Whew!

More on topic....some HouDe Wood-roasted Shui Xian this afternoon, and starting a session with Lao Ban Zhang loose puerh from Norbu this evening. It is hard to know what a new tea drinker will like, and I almost didn't try the Lao Ban Zhang because Greg warned it could be quite bitter. But a little practice and I came up with a way to brew it that I love. Still, if I'd had it when I was first starting to branch out from my SeaDyke traditional roast TGY and jasmine green teas, I would have given up on the idea of puerh for a good long time to come. Fortunately, I met some mellow ripe puerhs first, then some more aggressive but tasty shengs, and I was ready for this one when it came my way--thanks to a TT&D here on egullet.

The particular Lao Cha Tou I was recommending, the 2009 private label from Norbu, is plummy, fruity, sweet, only mildly earthy, and not at all dreg-like. I would also recommend staying away from Dan Congs, much as I love them, for a little while. They're fabulous teas but not what I'd recommend for a beginner, because it takes a little practice to get the best out of them. I'd wait until you're comfortable with a less expensive Wuyi oolong or two before trying them--mostly because the good ones from Imen are too expensive to use for practice.

Almost invariably my tea-bag drinking acquaintances start out being most pleased by a nice jasmine green tea. Others that are very popular with new tea drinkers are Anji white tea (really a green tea by processing, but usually labelled a white tea); the Yunnan Mao Feng I've been getting from Norbu is exceptionally mellow; strongly floral green oolongs like Norbu's Diamond TGY and Alishan oolongs; and a good silver needle white tea is almost always welcome. I adore the Lao Mansa but would not recommend it as a beginner puerh; when you're ready to start with puerh again, I'd go with the Lao Cha Tou first.

Fortunately I read that at the end of that day, while drinking a very mellow and relaxing tea, and can contemplate the horror from a position of gastroenterological solidity. Thank you for sharing! (and wondering about the sound of a sizzling eyeball)

Those sound like quite long infusion times to me, or at least, very long initial infusion times, although I usually use about 1 gram of tea per 1 to 2 ounces of water. If it's not to your preference, I'd set it aside to try again in a few months, rather than compost it. If you're willing to try again, you might try this 2009 Lao Cha Tou shu pu from Norbu, that I find exceptionally forgiving, but milder on the earthiness than some others. It's available in 25g samples to start. Glad to hear it's working so well for you! I'm sitting at my desk at work, about to give up on the paperwork and head home, surrounded by a pair of gaiwans, one that I was using for some very nice autumn Tie Guan Yin from jingteashop and one for some San Nen Bancha from norbu--such a great evening tea with the comforting toasty-roasty-ness. I love my gaiwans! Earlier today drank some Anji white tea (brewed in a small glass pot rather than a gaiwan, because I love how pretty the delicate needle-like leaves are as they brew), and finished day 2 of a long brewing session with Da Hong Pao from norbu, a lovely tea that forgave me for letting some of it sit overnight in the thermos, cooling to room temp, being refreshed with some hot new infusions, and still tasting pretty nice. Depends on your respiratory rate, but if you're breathing 12-15 times a minute, those breaths come out to 20-25 seconds first infusion, which is pretty close to the timings I use for similar amounts of tea. If you try a larger amount of tea and your infusions are too strong with your usual timing, you can always cut the infusion time, in proportion to how much more tea you put in, and still usually rescue the set of infusions.

Breakfast needs to be simple to prepare, easy on my morning-delicate stomach and eyes, and have enough solidity that I don't start chewing on the edge of my desk before lunch. Some variation on cereal (hot or cold) or toast, on weekends occasionally pancakes or waffles; and milk or hot chocolate; and tea. On weekends, when it can be delayed an hour or two, I have time both to prepare, and be ready to eat, a larger feast. One of the disappointments of my trip to Japan was that it was still so early when we finished our visit to the Tsukiji fish market, that I simply could not face sushi-for-breakfast. A bowl of udon noodles was as adventurous as I could be at 830 in the morning.

I've read quite a bit about 'milk oolong', and there seems to be both a natural leaf tea that is very hard to obtain in pure form, that gives the impression of milk when drunk plain, and a horde of counterfeits including tea treated with powdered milk, sometimes disclosed to the buyer and sometimes not. All the stories about the counterfeit made me reluctant to seek it out from shops unknown to me, and I haven't seen it offered by one with which I've already done business. Where did you get yours? And did it taste like milk? I'm very curious, but wary.

Today, I started with my staple SeaDyke Ti Kuan Yin, very pleasant in the face of a meeting that was long on details and short on interest; then finished a dozen or so brief infusions of some Ya Shi Dan Cong brewed in my tiniest yixing pot; and now am enjoying the best yet brewing of a very fancy Dragon Well--the top grade from Wing Hop Fung. It was a tea that I was so frustrated by that I gave it away the first go round, but by the time it came back into my hands, I was ready for it. Good stuff, and today I'm brewing it very cool--145 degrees or thereabouts--and it's just rich and gorgeous. Tap-dancing taste buds, happy all day.

The Breads of France was probably the first cookbook I read cover to cover. It's a travelogue, a baking journal, and an endless source of ideas and inspiration. I've been working with it--making notes all over the pages, breaking the spine, taping it together, and having a dialogue with it--for 20 years. I even wrote him a fan letter with a variation I'd come up with on one of his recipes, and got a very nice reply. I also have his the revised Complete book of breads and Complete book of pastry on my shelves, and though I rarely follow the recipes precisely from the Complete book of breads--I get inspired but usually end up blazing a slightly different trail, being a wholemeal crank and all--I use the base pastry preparations from the Complete book of pastry frequently with little variation. I still haven't made Normandy Beaten Bread yet. I think it's time for some buttery dough to be pounded in his memory.

I've had a couple of long grain red rices, some from Thailand and at least one from India, that were quite delicious, reminding me a lot of Basmati. I do buy them from time to time as a treat, but need to limit the varieties I keep on hand because I don't go through it fast enough.

So far Monday just two teas: some 'Drum mountain white cloud tea' (a gift to a tea friend who shared it), light and delicate white tea; and now 2006 purple bud Haiwan sheng puerh from Norbu, gongfu cha instead of the more common bulk brewing.

Glad to have been of some help. Your reply prompted me to go back and reread the 'resteeping' topic, and to notice, in retrospect, that I had quite possibly chosen the worst possible tea for such a comparison. One common feature to a lot of nice shu (cooked) puerh, as those Rishi tuo cha surely were, is that the tea tends to not change that much first from first steep to last, at least as compared to sheng (raw) puerh. So the same experiment run with a more interesting tea would likely yield a lot more difference--and without having done lots of head-to-head trials since, I've done plenty of bulk brewings with a tea that shone in gongfu cha, but was was flat, insipid, or downright horrid in the bulk session. Hence, my preferences as noted in my previous post, and caution about taking the results of the pu tuo experiment too seriously.

Those look delicious. Glad they worked out so nicely.

I like Thai black sticky rice to eat with curries and stir fries, and for making sweet sticky rice dessert with coconut and mangoes, and it makes a terrific breakfast (prepped the night before in the fuzzy rice cooker) when seasoned with some toasted pine nuts and some fresh or dried fruit. I prefer brown basmati for most middle-eastern meals or pilaf-type dishes. I have a weakness for exotic rices, and have tried a bunch of others here and there--red rice from Bhutan and black 'forbidden rice' from China, brown basmatic from India, pecan rice from Louisiana, etc, but the basmatic and the Thai black rice are the staples that I always keep on hand. I also enjoy, but don't always have on hand, the Lundburg Wehani rice and their Black Japonica blend. The third staple rice I keep in my pantry is short grain 'sweet' brown rice, that I mostly use for baking--10-20% rice flour adds a nice crunch to some cookies etc, but I almost never cook that rice otherwise.

Today, sencha start, then some Bai Yun oolong, a very nice thermos full, and a nice ending of spicy tulsi (holy basil) with cassia buds, cardamom, and saffron.

A very good series of brewings today: a winter alishan oolong from norbu; silver dragon white tea from wing hop fung; then Korean oolong from Hankook. Had a much better than anticipated bulk brewing of the alishan, and if course kept on with the alishan until the kettle ran dry.

Little of this, little of that. Yesterday, started with some Xiang Bi Luo from Wing Hop Fung, a rather random green tea that resembles a Bi Lo Chun, shared with several colleagues--I think I gave them the best of these leaves, from the first infusions, and the last few I drank were kind of 'eh'; then a very long & lovely dialogue with some Da Hong Pao from Norbu, one of those things I'd been craving for a while, many infusions; and ended with another session with a new Dan Cong, Ya Shi, that I did a little better with than the first time, from Tea Habitat. Today, a rush/bulk brewing of a shu pu from Wing Hop Fung, a nice reliable thermos o' tea under the circumstances (dump in chunk of pu, add hot water, close thermos, wait half an hour, open lid, pour, hope it's drinkable.....and it was); now enjoying the opposite, relaxed gongfu session with "Tsou ma fei" spring Alishan oolong from Norbu. Very nice.

Happy book-day to me, happy book-day to me.....books are here, made their cross country journey just fine, although the case was not so lucky (note: these were purchased 'used' and were not in their original packaging). They're very large, and not quite as heavy as I expected, and as beautiful as I'd hoped. I may not surface for a few days after diving in.