Smithy

I took this course in 2013 and found it immensely interesting and useful. The teachers are engaging, the tutors invaluable, the platform frustrating...ok, so it wasn't perfect, but it was good enough that I'm going again. (Maybe the discussion platform has improved since then.) It's free, although now they invite donations. The class starts June 17. Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science

Today's sourdough rosemary olive oil breads. I haven't had much time to bake lately, so I split today's batch into a boule, saved for later.... and a batard.... which helped form dinner: I've been working on proportions as well as technique. In past attempts I've added olive oil and rosemary in separate steps. This time, I mixed the olive oil with the rosemary, let it all steep for a few minutes, then added them to the dough. What a difference! It emphasized the rosemary considerably.

The Duluth, Minnesota Farmers' Market is more about the food. There's almost always a small group of acoustic musicians playing in the center of the building. They're more about jamming together than about entertainment, but of course it's both. Among the market stalls are a few craftsman types who sell soaps or beeswax candles, but most of it is produce, flowers, honey, preserves and baked goods. It's open now but our growing season has barely begun.The Visalia, California Farmers' Market - downtown, Thursday evenings - is an open-air street affair with one or two electrified performers and a broader range of goods: cheeses, street food, artwork and crafts in addition to the produce and flowers. Thinking back on my last opportunity to go there, it was still more about the products than the performances. I'd sure love to get there again; there were excellent cheeses available.

I've had chocolate stout layer cake that was to die for, but I haven't tried making it myself. If anyone has a recipe that would be a good launching point, I'd like to see it.

Those crab burgers look great, liamsaunt. Is there a difference (other than the buns and accompaniment) between those crab burgers and crab cakes? I'm always on the lookout for good crab cake recipes. The prosciutto crunch is a great idea.

Welcome! It looks like you'll fit right in here.

Thanks for the writeup, Rob. It gives me some places to check out next time I'm down there with time to wander. I'm delighted to see Talmadge Farms' products distributed down there. Have you opened the beet pickles yet?

Everyone has certain preferences or dislikes, and to some degree the difference between being "selective" and being "picky" depends on the observer. (Per Bertrand Russell: "I am firm, you are stubborn, he is a pig-headed fool.") The point of the original post, as I understood it, was dealing with extreme examples: those (adults) who will eat only a very few things, won't branch out, won't try other things, and by association end up restricting their companions' food choices. If I have someone over for dinner who is a vegetarian, I'll serve vegetarian food so we can all enjoy it. But the person who is (say) vegan, gluten-intolerant, and won't eat anything yellow or red because it looks "icky" is likely to be more chore than fun.

Ranz, you have me thinking now about brai. Here. Soon.

There may be something to that, but I suspect it has more to do with a couple generations' worth of Americans who haven't had to do without. If you're truly hungry, you'll eat what's in front of you. I doubt there are picky eaters among the populations (even in this country) that don't know where or when they'll get another meal. Getting back to the original question: no, I couldn't live with a picky eater. I once had the dubious pleasure of hosting a niece and her family for the weekend. I'd been assured that the children weren't picky eaters and "would eat anything", but the truth was quite different. I had planned kid-friendly meals (macaroni and cheese, for example) with nothing too adult/unusual, but at every turn there was a wail from the 8-year-old: "What's this?...I don't LIKE it!" without even having tried it. It turned out in this example that she'd been raised on Kraft Mac & Cheese from the box, and didn't recognize the real McCoy. It's funny now, and she's turned into a lovely young woman, but it took a while for me to be able to laugh about that visit.

Given my lifestyle, starting from seeds isn't practical. I finally found live plants at a 2nd-choice nursery yesterday. My 1st-choice nursery only had garlic chives. The woman there expressed surprise that mine had died; she thought it was as hardy as mint. I hope these survive. I really needed chives a couple of days ago for my dinner. :-(

Beautiful dinner, Shelby. I'll bet you're glad to see the sun! Are those chives or spring onions chunked onto your enchiladas? My chives died and I've had them on the brain during a surprisingly long search for more plants...so I may have a skewed view of your photos.

That looks delicious, FauxPas! Very summery and simple.

My most recent attempt seemed like a good idea at the time. We had a package of smoked pork tenderloin from our most recent visit to Llano, Texas. I've been saving it for a special occasion. The Beer Cook-off seemed like just such an occasion. A smoked pork tenderloin sounded too strong to stand up to the delicate fruity flavors of the apricot wheat beer I last used. It needed something more muscular. Moose Drool Brown Ale is a heavy, dark, slightly sweet - malty? - brown ale from the Big Sky Brewery in Missoula, Montana. It doesn't quite taste like stout, but it has that sort of body, with a hint of chocolate at the finish. I thought it might compliment smoked meat nicely. The elements of the dish: chopped onions, diced potatoes, butter and oil for a slight browning, and the beer as the deglazing and cooking liquid. The tenderloin was already fully cooked, so it needed no more heat than enough to warm and brown. Meanwhile, I'd set up sourdough loaves using a starter inoculated with the apricot wheat beer. They look good, don't they? The practiced eye can probably tell that they were overrisen before baking. The slices looked like biscotti. The flavor was good, but I couldn't detect any apricot. That's what I get for not studying up on beer-batter loaves. Dinner: It doesn't look bad. It didn't taste bad. It just didn't give any hint of beer in the meal. The smoked pork tenderloin sounded delicate to us, but once out of its package it asserted its smoky porky salty nature like tartan at a ballroom dance. The muscular beer quite failed to assert itself. This leads me to wonder: what beer is a good compliment to ham? I don't think the smoke is the issue; I think curing salts overwhelm the rest.

Sawdust?? Well, that would qualify as gluten-free and high fiber. As for the other: think of it as realizing just what a wide world is out there, ready to explore! With luck, the learning goes for a lifetime. Is there a baker alive who thinks s/he knows it all? That person is probably insufferable. The masters move on to teach the rest of us, but I'll bet they keep stretching to see what's just over the horizon.

My bread is getting better. I was quite proud of these: Lean straight white batard; Mick's country sourdough boule. My dinner guests were as pleased as I. Then last night, I turned out these: A tad overrisen before they went into the oven. The flavor's good, but they're best sliced lengthwise lest the slices be mistaken for biscotti. Too bad I don't have the fixings handy to make muffaletta sandwiches.

This weekend I visited an estate sale nearby. The day was the fine, sunny spring day we enjoy up here with leaves rustling and apples blossoming, and the cheery weather carried over to the gang waiting in line. The house is a beautifully kept log home with golden varnished wood inside and out. The basement area was clean and open, and had probably been the woman's canning area, judging by the sinks and roasters and jars packed among small appliances, books and tables' worth of old kitchen tools. I spotted my favorite style of lemon squeezer - only $5 on the first day! I thought about taking it. I resisted: I have two already (this photo is of one of mine) and have given others to all my friends who would appreciate one. I didn't need another. Maybe it would find a good home with someone who needed it. Up the tight wooden spiral staircase I went to the main living area. The kitchen had cabinets with tin panels in the golden wood frames, an old-fashioned compressor-on-top refrigerator (running) and a heavy enameled cast iron multi-chamber stove designed for propane. The dining room had a generous table; the living room looked comfortable with a stone fireplace going up through the middle of the house as is proper. The place had a wide variety of dishes, glassware, table linens, musical instruments, games, crocks (the original point of my visit), artwork, furniture - all displayed in a comfortable array. As I wandered I got the strong sense that this woman had loved to cook and to entertain, and she'd loved her family and friends. The place had the feel of a life very well lived. I mentioned it to another woman who was perusing at more or less the same pace as I (we'd been discussing crocks earlier) and she agreed. Then a young woman who was looking through the cookbooks turned to me. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop," she said, "but it's so nice to hear you say that! This house was my grandmother's, and you've described her exactly." We chatted for a bit about the warm feeling of the home, and I learned that the granddaughter was looking for books with her grandmother's handwritten notes. Back down the stairs I went, to check out a pressure cooker I'd seen before. "We're interested in the same things," said the first woman I'd been talking to. She didn't want the pressure cooker, so I claimed it. Then I had an idea. "Do you like to cook from scratch? Do you use lemons and limes in your cooking?" I asked. She did. I pointed to the lemon squeezer. "Do you know what that is?" She didn't. I told her. She was impressed. That squeezer has a new home now, and I hope it will be well-loved and -used. I came away with a 2-gallon Redwing crock in excellent condition (at a good price, relatively speaking) and these: The deep fryer ($16) was new in the box, never opened, and will be tested sometime this week. The pressure cooker was in excellent condition, all parts intact, $5. I used it last night. I am a sucker for vintage fabrics. These didn't cost much, and when I use them I'll think of this woman I never met who gave such a warm spirit to her home. The two upper right books are locally-produced books from the Lutheran Church ladies. Experience suggests that I'll never cook from them, but they're local history and I half expect to find names I recognize. The "General Foods Cooking School of the Air" book seems to be a companion piece to a radio cooking show from long ago, hosted by one Frances Lee Barton. The other two books speak for themselves. The Sunset book has already been put to good use.

I was joking about the control and assimilation bit. I agree with you that a life so driven toward that 'work' is out of balance. It sounds dreary to me, but I've known other people who loved their work to the exclusion of all else. I've also known people who considered food to be mere fuel. I've rarely eaten with them.

These are the people developing our future communications. Can control and assimilation be far behind? Gah.

Welcome! You opened a lot of avenues of inquiry here. Do you have specific plans for "the food industry" yet? For instance: are you about to start culinary school, or have you landed your first job in a restaurant (what kind of food, what position?) or are you going to work for the Ministry of Agriculture as a meat inspector, or...well, you get the idea. Next, what do you think of as Scottish food vs. exotic? What sort of food do you like to cook and eat? I see you've made a foray into the world of charcuterie already. Excellent!

The salad looks beautiful. I've had that sort of vinaigrette before, with the boiled-egg yolks. About half the time it seemed really to hold together as an emulsified blend (using my whisk) and the rest of the time it was delicious anyway. I haven't tried it since I got an immersion blender; maybe I'll (heh) give that a whirl.

I would feel betrayed if I ordered a meat pizza and found kernels of corn on it. I wonder what a windmill has to do with Mom's cooking?

I'm with kayb about the charcuterie. The lettuce heads are amazing, too. What a lovely abundance spring is bringing!

That looks outstanding, David! I picked up a deep fryer at an estate sale this weekend. I think I'll have to try onion rings soon, using your tips. I have a bagful of fresh Vidalia onions. They're also quite sweet. Aside from regional pride, do you think the Walla Walla onions are significantly different from other sweet onion varieties? I refreshed my sourdough starter today in two ways: the classic way (equal weights of flour, water and starter) and substituting the apricot wheat ale noted earlier for the water. As I write this, both starters are looking quite lively. I plan to bake tomorrow using the beer-refreshed starter, and see whether the flavor comes through.

I'm sorry for the family emergency. Your links look great, so I hope you'll be posting a live update later.