Smithy

Welcome! We're glad to have you here. I don't know much about French Polynesian cookery, and look forward to learning about it. Don't worry too much about your English; if we can make out what you're saying we'll be happy. :-)

Somehow, despite my family's southern roots, this never came up in our household. Thanks! I've added this to my list of things to try.

I love oysters. I love the briny sweetness of a good, fresh, chilled oyster on the half shell, or the richness of Oysters Rockefeller. I have made a few oyster dishes that were a hit with my darling as well, but he is more in the "oysters can be okay" camp than the "oh, boy! oysters!" camp. I keep trying to persuade him. One year, my best attempt, I scavenged the beach for good oyster shells that had washed up but not eroded too badly yet, cleaned them thoroughly, then used those as dishes for previously-shucked oysters. I don't remember exactly what I did, but it went along the lines of loading each shell with a small dab of sauce, an oyster or two, a sprinkling of parmesan cheese (and bread crumbs?), and just enough heat to get a cheesy crust. Cleanup was dead easy: throw the shells back out onto the beach. This time, the oyster shells were looking too worn but I collected a lot of large clam shells with the same intent. For size reference, that's the toe of my tennis shoe. I do not have small feet. In the end, I decided against the shells and opted for a recipe from The Commander's Palace New Orleans Cookbook. Has anyone cooked from it? I picked it up for a song this summer at our Friends of the Library Book Sale. It seems appropriate for Gulf Coast cookery. The recipe I chose was Oysters à la Marinière. It looks easy. There isn't much to go into it: oysters, shallots, wine, butter, flour and seasonings. The oyster liquor is supposed to be cooked down slightly and seasoned, then thickened with a buerre manié: butter mashed with flour to make a paste. One confusing thing about the recipe is that it says, on the one hand, to cook the oysters no more than 30 seconds, and on the other hand appears to have them cooking at least a minute while all the other sauce-thickening is going on. I should have checked similar recipes elsewhere, but didn't. I opted to keep the oysters out until everything else was seasoned and thickened. The oysters were warmed, but not cooked through. Whether it was my reading of the recipe or the recipe itself I can't say, but the result was a gloppy, floury disappointment that did nothing to convince anyone that oysters can be good. If someone reading this can explain how it should be done (is the flour supposed to be cooked longer to lose that raw taste?) I'd love to hear it. To add insult to injury, my go-to brussels sprouts treatment was entirely too sweet with the Gravenstein apple-infused balsamic vinegar I'd picked up in Florida. I'll enjoy using that vinegar, but not in the purpose for which I bought it. At least the bread was good. The next morning, my darling allowed as to how he'd had enough seafood adventure for a while, and that night we had comfort food: Polish sausage, potatoes and sauerkraut from home.

That does sound crazy, as though they don't know you've put together a manuscript! Can you just send the Table of Contents and your favorite 10 pages from that? I'd suggest at least one page with a recipe, at least one with an essay, and at least 2 with photos. I'm sure it's difficult to pick 'favorites', but you must have at least a couple of 'children' who are your secret favorites. :-)

Wow! Does she have any odor? What can you tell us about how she was cured? How big is she?

The next morning we woke up - to the extent we'd slept at all - as riddled with mosquito bites as a rural stop sign has shotgun holes. We'd never seen the mosquitoes so bad there! The situation called for drastic action. While he drove to town to find a bug spray that was safe for household use, I started the generator and then the central vacuum system. There ensued a fairly entertaining hour of collecting insect invaders from the ceiling, the curtains, the floor and the air. Catching one of those guys in flight is a bit like aerial combat, involving as it does quick direction changes and mid-air focus. (A loose sock also vanished into the maw of the machine, so when I change the filter bag I'll have to do a bit of digging.) He came home, we sprayed, and a while later I vacuumed up the carcasses. When all that was done, it was time for lunch. I was not in the mood for a salad, no sirree. I had earned something more substantial. This sandwich had all the trimmings... ...including some of Shelby's quickles.

Porthos, it sounds like you feel about fried green tomatoes the way I feel about alligator. Knowing, as I now know, that fried green tomatoes (how I loved that book and movie!) are excellent in the right hands makes me wonder whether I should keep checking out 'gator. I know what you mean about the retirement dilemma. I'm a native (central) Californian but don't see my way to calling it home again except in memory. Too many things have changed, and I have a strong love/hate relationship with the L.A. Basin, and it all seems so expensive and crowded. Still there are lovely, inexpensive places in the state to visit for extended periods. Some people cut the cord completely and become 'full-timers', with no fixed address, and that cuts some costs. Cue The Who: "Goin' Mobile! Beepbeep!" My darling suggested becoming full-timers when we bought our first trailer. I turned it down flat, but it works for some people. Maybe for you? Our travels are largely dictated by warmth and sunshine. Thus it was that a few days ago, when we were confronted with this weather pattern... ...nothing would do but we had to drive from Gautier, Mississippi through Louisiana by the shortest route possible and onto the Texas Gulf Coast, where we would be behind the massive storm system and in the clear. We stopped at a Louisiana Welcome Center for a rest break and to pick up tourist information that I knew we wouldn't use. What an exercise in frustration that is! The Louisiana Tourism Bureau does a particularly good job showcasing their culinary heritage. No matter where in the state you are, there's a featured town or 'culinary trail' to be explored. Have we traveled them? No, we have not. Have we been to New Orleans? No, we have not. We had very good reason to keep driving this time, but that's small consolation when ogling guidebooks that include recipes and tempting restaurant/shop information. Here's a website to give a glimpse of what I was holding, longingly, as I dashed through the rain: Louisiana's Culinary Trails. The magazine I picked up is even better. I will also state, for the record, that the staff of the Louisiana Welcome Centers we've visited are exceptionally good at making a person feel welcome. I know that's their job, but some folks are better at it than others. These are among the best. We drove through pounding rain and puddles and past high rivers that anyone from the Southwestern U.S. would envy. Eventually we got into the clear, on the back side of the front, and out onto the Bolivar Peninsula of Texas. I don't know how much longer it will last, but for now there is still-unoccupied beach available for camping, for the pittance of a $10 annual beach permit. We set up, glad to have made it through the rain, and enjoyed the spectacle of lightning in the distance. I cooked the beautiful shrimp I'd picked up in Gautier, added it to asparagus and rice, and cooked the sourdough bread dough that somehow had survived the drive. We fell into bed, sated, dreaming of good food and sunshine... ...and spent the night swatting mosquitoes. How and when they came in we don't know, but they were voracious.

I've had Royal Red Shrimp once before, and thought they were very nice without having a chance to compare them directly to other very fresh shrimp. It was kayb's recent post on Gulf Coast Dining that made me think I should try such a comparison. I've been told that they're far out (and deep) in the Gulf and therefore more difficult to find. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch page on Royal Red shrimp says that (at present) they are not a distressed population and are a "good alternative" (i.e. not the best, but not the worst) provided they're caught using otter trawls. I confess that I've never asked the fishmongers in the towns we pass through how their seafood is caught. It's easy for me to think and read about it at home, even in this home on wheels, but not so easy to ask some shop owner whom I've never met and may never see again.

Ha! I didn't even know The Villages had a theme song. Does it sound anything like "It's a Small World After All"? Never mind, I know how to find out...and I don't think I'd want it stuck in my head. I didn't remember using any sort of dip for the tempura shrimp, so I asked my other half. "No!" he said, "that would have been sacrilege!" It was probably beginner's luck, but it was very good. I've promised to give some of the grouper I bought the same treatment. We'll see then whether it was just luck or I'm learning something. Thanks for the compliments, and I'm glad you're enjoying the photos! We aren't sure quite where we'll be for Thanksgiving. Someplace in central or west Texas. Last year we tooled into Del Rio, TX the day before Thanksgiving and figured we'd pick up something on our way through town. We couldn't even get into the parking lot at their HEB grocery store. The only other place with a big enough parking lot is Wal-Mart. Their meat guy didn't know what we meant by prime rib. We figure we'll plan a little farther ahead this time around...like two or three days.

Gautier, Mississippi is an old town parked just across the Singing River from Pascagoula and its shipyards. Gautier has an interesting blend of very old, antebellum-style houses, historical signs, squat brick maybe-hurricane-proof houses, houses on stilts and three-story "smart" houses designed to be proof against high winds and storm surges. One "smart house" for sale boasts that its flood insurance has the lowest possible rate because it's 25 feet above sea level! Amidst these houses, old oaks draped with Spanish Moss, and bayous subject to tidal surge sits Shepard State Park. It's a good place to spend a week or two: good access to food shops, level ground for bicycling, and reasonably private campsites thanks to the heavy vegetation. We didn't spend a week or two, but we had time to dash across the river to Bozo's Seafood Market ("Money can't bayou happiness, but it can bayou crawfish and that's nearly the same thing") and, right next door, Jerry Lee's grocery store. I never expect a grocery store to do justice to ribs, but Jerry Lee's does. I won't bore you (yet) with another shot of ribs and sausage. Bozo's did not have Royal Red shrimp, but they did have freshly caught, never frozen, jumbo Gulf Brown shrimp. I took 1-1/2 pounds' worth. I'll show you later what I did with them. The highlight of our stay there was a visit to Huck's Cove, a local restaurant on the waterfront. It took us several tries over the years to catch the place open; it looks like it should be a jumping place, but perhaps we're passing through at the wrong time of year. One year I even called ahead to confirm their hours, but when we arrived 2 hours ahead of closing time they had already closed: "business was too slow," said the waitress as she was locking the doors. It nearly happened again this visit, according to our waitress, but she had convinced the owner not to close at 6:00 p.m. that evening. Huck's Cove is one of those funny funky places strewn with signs, nautical doodads, water skis, license plates, and other local memorabilia. It has plenty of docking space for boaters to tie up and come in, and on fine evenings you can sit outside on a wooden patio next to the docks. Prominent signs point out that it's illegal to feed alligators. When you come in you're greeted with this sign: The atmosphere is relaxed, the beer is fair (no draft beer, but a reasonable selection of bottled beers) and the people friendly. I don't know whether their alligator is friendly. Our dinners were fried grouper, fried shrimp, cajun fries, a green salad, a "baked potato" salad that turned out truly to be made of baked potato, with a lot of cheese on top. It was pretty good. I've saved the best for last, although it was the appetizer: fried green tomatoes with Remoulade sauce. My darling had never heard of fried green tomatoes (where has he been all his life?) and looked askance when I suggested it. He gamely tried one or two but wasn't really taken with them. That left more for me, so we were both happy. These tasty little devils had a crispy coating and a delicious tartness to the (very green) softly-cooked tomato beneath. As much as I detest frying, I'd make an exception for these. Does anyone have a favorite recipe that you'd like to share?

Thanks for the Crepes, it's a shame you had so many disappointments in that last batch. When you say the chicken crust was neither crispy nor crunchy but fought back too hard, what do you mean? Was it just tough? Or were the flavors overwhelming? I found TJ's description of their 5 Cheese Greek Spiral, complete with a photo, so I have some idea of what it's like. It does look intriguing! It looks like something like the Moroccans do, although from what I've read theirs is generally more sweet than savory. I look forward to reading your impressions on it. Edited for clarity.

My sister-in-law is an excellent cook who no longer enjoys cooking. She spent too many years having to cook for family to enjoy it now; consequently she cooks and eats with a minimum of fuss but gets excellent results anyway. I could and should learn some of her lessons on how to do simple but good food. For starters, she does her food prep in the late afternoon, an hour or two before she begins cooking dinner. Then there is time to visit and enjoy a before-dinner drink before firing up the grill. We ate very well, with considerably less mess and hoopla than I tend to generate. For some reason, probably related to the non-hoopla, I have no photos. There was crab-stuffed salmon (from Sam's Club) one night and grilled shrimp another. She did lovely composed Caprese salads one night that were works of art, but I cannot find the picture I was sure I'd taken. We went through two, count 'em two rotisserie chickens that did yeomen's work as lunch, sandwich meats and dinner. We took advantage as she usually does of the proximity and convenience of good grocery stores with excellent deli counters. We drove off to the Farmers' Market one day. During those market days the community square is blocked off from traffic of any sort and the nearest block's parking is reserved for golf carts, the main mode of transportation in The Villages. We perused the stalls and made some purchases. I picked up tomatoes, potatoes, onions and a jar of olive salad with a nice chili kick. None of the prices was high, but the only price I remember is the $2 pineapple (quite ripe) that I purchased. The Farmers' Market involved more than food. There were jewelry vendors there (my SIL picked up some bling) and a fair-market vendor of basketry from Uganda. I did not need a basket. I love baskets. I had left my Zimbabwean basket, last year's purchase, at home. I bought a basket that will be excellent for bread but will spend the rest of its time hanging on the wall. We then moved on to a regular - that is, fixed in place with regular hours - shop that sells infused olive oils and vinegars. I had a specific desire for basil-infused oil for some dish I want to prepare. I didn't find any I liked, but I found plenty else: Gravenstein Apple White Balsamic Vinegar, Toasted Almond Oil, Mandarin (orange)-infused Olive Oil and a marvelous Dill-Infused Olive Oil that will be killer on potatoes or fish. The vinegar is a lovely blend of tart and sweet: the best blend of really good apple cider vinegar and a nice light white vinegar. I could have sworn I'd come away with equal quantities of oil and vinegar, but it appears I was wrong. In its own manicured way, this huge conglomerate of communities has lovely scenery and diverse wildlife, especially birds. During our bicycle rides we encountered the resident sandhill cranes more than once. They weren't terribly shy. "Just remember," said my darling, "that we're on bicycles. If one of them chooses to peck your eyes out you're on our own." At the end of the week we headed north again. At the outskirts of The Villages there are horse-training areas and polo grounds, but it wasn't until we were well away from the area and into a less-regulated community that we saw this: On the way north to our camping place for the night, we stopped at a fish market and picked up shrimp, grouper and oysters. That night it was shrimp tempura. I hate frying. This was darned good. So much for uncomplicated, no-mess cookery.

I thought the 'gator was middling: maybe worth trying again, but not worth seeking out. The batter layer was crispy and good but didn't mask the flavor of the meat, which is (IMO) how the coating should be in fried food. The meat was mild and firm without being chewy. I can't describe the flavor except to say that it was mild, savory, and unlike anything else I've tasted. This was my second time trying alligator. The first time I bought some at a seafood market. I don't remember how I cooked it - probably a skillet saute - but I thought it mealy and flavorless and my darling thought it tough and flavorless. I ordered it at R.J. Gator's on the assumption that they'd be able to show it to its best advantage. It that's as good as it gets, I'd neither avoid nor pursue it.I think wild game needs special knowledge and handling, and farmed 'wild game' may be just as tricky. I've had wonderful bear and moose despite the fisheye many people give the concept. I once had potted beaver tail (of all things) put up by one of the most unlikely gourmet cooks I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. (This gentleman once got up at a public meeting about a proposed industrial plant expansion. He had worked there back in the days before any air scrubbers and described the dying trees of those early days. As a result of the air scrubbers that had been installed, the vegetation was thriving again and the forest was populated by "the tastiest-looking gray squirrels I've ever seen!" Bless him, he knew how to cook.) I had never known beaver tail was edible. This was delicious.

Thanks, that helps a lot.

Thanks for the Crepes, thank you for your kind words - and for your help on the test forums as well! We're in Mississippi now, getting ready to move westward and drive through the (predicted) driving rain. I'm finishing up a bottle of a local beer: Mystery Romp, brewed by the Crooked Letter Brewing Company in Ocean Springs, MS. I confess, I got it as much for the label and the clever writeup on the box as for its promising components, and it's a good thing the box is entertaining. (My darling commented that to him it's a mystery romp when we switch sides of the bed.) The blend of mocha and porter just doesn't work all that well here. Curiously, he thinks it tastes heavily of chocolate mixed into porter while I think it tastes like coffee dumped into a can of beer. Still, it's drinkable for a 6-pack's worth, stretched out over several days. We have hopscotched through Alabama, Florida and now Mississippi, dodging rain (or being drenched) and visiting family for several days in The Villages, "Florida's Friendliest Hometown". Over the next few posts, which may not come in a timely manner, I'll write about our food and meanderings. In the meantime, here are a few teaser photos from our stay at The Villages: Market Night Happy Hour stand With 2-for-1 drink prices during Happy Hour, this was $7 worth: and they do have beautiful landscaping and views: The night shot was the view just outside R.J. Gator's, where one night I had fried alligator and a large dinner salad: The others at our table had fish and chips, or fried fish, and their dinners' photos came out even more poorly than mine. It might have had to do with Happy Hour.

The advantage to RecipeGullet is its searchability - by recipe title, tag, topic or author. It's harder to find a recipe when it's buried in the Dinner topic or some other topic that doesn't pertain to a specific food. On the other hand, recipes posted in those topics allow discussion and questions. I'm with you: I'd like to see comments allowed on RecipeGullet. The ratings are of less value to me - but, as noted in earlier posts, this crew is astute enough that I'd place more value on ratings as long as they included reviews and member names.

I definitely want to try this. I have a cooler full of winter squash and need to work my way through them. I love the idea of the sweet/hot chile jelly with it! Too bad that we're so far apart; I'd cheerfully swap you a butternut squash for a jar of that jelly. One question about your gratin, before I make a stupid mistake by guessing wrong, about these instructions: "Fresh tomato sauce, thinly sliced butternut squash cooked until just tender, fontina or gruyere, thyme--no sugar, no maple syrup, no cream or milk, just squash, tomatoes and cheese, baked just to melt the cheese." Is it really a 2-step process, then? Slice and bake the squash, then assemble it with the rest of the ingredients and bake long enough to melt the cheese? Do you drain the squash? Bake it covered or uncovered?

I wish I could, but I don't remember the chemistry behind it. I am providing the concise summary of the reason behind the elaborate water treatment needed for my former employer's power house. The process began with very clean water, filtered it further, de-ionized it and then added certain carefully selected ionic compounds to prevent corrosion of the boiler tubes. If more thorough information comes back to me I'll PM you (and anyone else who asks) with more information. I was very surprised to learn that water can be too pure to be good for equipment such as boilers!

If the water is too pure it will have a corrosive effect on the pipes, given enough time. I wouldn't expect bottled distilled water or filtered water to be that pure, but truly de-ionized water would be. Do you suppose they're just erring on the side of caution?

I think I have an "Amber Cup" or two stashed away as well! The seller couldn't remember the variety, but it looks much the same. I'll be interested in your report, David.

MelissaH, if you like making stuffed pasta the squash can make a good filler. I found it a bit sweet on its own, but spiced with a bit of sausage or ham, it's good. It's even better with sage butter. :-)

Very cool indeed! I think the countertops are going to look wonderful, and I'm impressed by your ingenuity on ways to save money! How will your penny/nickel tiles be sealed? Are you going to encase them in acrylic? Yes, do please keep posting on this topic!

How do they (supposedly) soften the water? Do they have on-board ion exchange systems, or is there another mechanism? AFAIK a filter by itself won't do the job. Water hardness and pH are definite factors in dish detergent requirements. I've been interested (and surprised) over the years at how much the water's essential properties influenced my needs for cleaning agents.

Lisa, can you elaborate on this, please?

So there I was one evening, washing dinner dishes, and I noticed a small gap between the sink and the counter at the right rear corner. How odd. I finished the dishes, went off to bed and mentioned it to my darling the next day. "I have visions of the sink dropping right down into the cabinet with a load of wash water," I said. "Oh, don't be silly," said he. "They can't do that; they're supported by a flange." It was a small gap. Perhaps we was right. The next night, washing up after dinner, there was a CLUNK and the sink slipped considerably deeper at the corner. Water didn't quite start splashing down into the kitchen island below, but I wasted no time finishing the dishes and emptying the sink. I didn't take time to take a shot of the entire perilous setup, but here's a closeup of the view after I got it empty: I emptied the cabinet under the sink. For the life of me I couldn't see what was holding the sink up except for one bent clip and some peeled-away caulking. I parked the large cutting board atop the gap. It sticks out at the corners in a perfect booby-trap for the unsuspecting person blundering toward the coffee maker in the morning. I opted for the lesser danger of annoying my darling in the middle of the night and warned him not to use the sink and to be careful of the cutting board. I doubt he slept well that night. Early the next morning, we investigated. It was almost as bad as I'd thought the night before. See that red circle? There used to be a clip there. There was another at one end. That's it: that's what had been holding the sink up under this fancy counter. That, and the plumbing. The good news was that we hadn't planned to move that day. More good news was that the plumbing wasn't damaged. We decided that we needed bacon and eggs to fortify ourselves before a trip to the hardware store. Town and the hardware store were far enough away that we stopped for groceries also. The Piggly Wiggly grocery store chain has expanded beautifully since its early days, if this store is any indicator. The aisles were wide and well-stocked, with a huge variety of good foods. We thought we didn't need much - which meant we came away with 2 full grocery bags. For some reason I didn't take photos inside the store, but it was a beaut. On the way out we spotted a small place that looked like it was on fire. It was close to the pickup, so we investigated. Ribs! It was a rib joint, and the smoke was from the smoker! We bought dinner, although it was still well before noon. Dinner that night was toothsome. Delicious. The ribs were perfect. We weren't supposed to be doing this so early in our trip! But we'd earned it. And the sink is repaired.