Smithy

I started out with a pocket's worth of them, and then found a hedge where whole branches had been trimmed off by a brush trimmer. Woohoo! There's a bunch hanging like mistletoe inside our trailer, another in a vase (but not putting out much aroma as I'd hoped) and more drying off before I wrap it for freezing. The young leaves have a lovely, delicate scent.

Thanks, JohnT. I expect another chance at oysters in a couple of days, and look forward to trying this. Shelby, the shrimp was my first attempt at Caramel Shrimp from the book Dining with Headhunters: Jungle Feasts & Other Culinary Adventures, by Richard Sterling. The recipe is a Vietnamese treatment that looked complicated but turned out to be very easy, even the first time through, despite some surprises at step 1 below: 1. Make caramelized sugar water by cooking a 1:1 sugar/water mixture until the sugar caramelizes, then dilute with twice the original amount of water and a touch of lemon; 2. Make a stir-fry sauce by mixing some of that caramel water with fish sauce and more sugar; 3. Stir-fry a little garlic, add the shrimp, toss with the sauce, and cook until the shrimp are glazed. He doesn't say what the shrimp should be served with; that's probably one of those things that any fool familiar with Southeast Asian food would just know. In the absence of many small dishes I opted for rice, and during the last few minutes of the rice cooking I set the asparagus atop the rice to steam gently. That trick worked out well, and I'll do it again. By the way, I love this book. It's full of fun stories as well as interesting recipes, and it's one of the few cookbooks I've read straight through - laughing aloud in some parts, and crying in others. This is the first recipe I've tried from the book that wasn't brilliant the first time through. Somehow the sauce didn't seem very balanced to me - the fish sauce came through too strongly. Despite all the sugar it isn't a sweet dish. I think that with a little adjustment - maybe just better fish sauce on my part - I think it will be outstanding.

I think it depends partly on the context. A thin cracker dough will be thinner than a thin bread dough, and both will be thicker than a thin pasta dough. This is one reason I like it when someone specifies a thickness range. I have a cracker cookbook that specifies thickness (inches and millimeters) and includes a pasta machine number setting where appropriate.

rotuts, we're near Rockport, Texas on the Gulf Coast. It was almost All We Could Eat to get through that food, although we managed to share a bit more of his fish. I'm with you about oysters on the half shell! It's a while since I had the opportunity. My own oyster dishes are so hit-and-miss that I rarely buy them when we're here. I'm hoping JohnT will help rectify that. :-) Believe it or not, those weren't the largest shrimp in the market where we shopped yesterday. This place is our favorite, but they wouldn't allow photos. Too bad. The grouper filet was huge and looked fresh; they had other good-looking fish but no triple-tail, so I stuck to local shrimp. These were white Bay shrimp, caught the night before not far away. It defeats the purpose to buy a lot of very fresh shrimp and then not cook it all at once, but I did anyway, so we'll be having more shrimp for dinner tonight. That colander was once *my* mother's!

JohnT, please tell me more! I'd love to have a good oyster pâté recipe.

It's seafood time now! One of our home dishes: A local restaurant's fare... All You Can Eat Fish and All You Can Eat Oysters and one of their wall decorations (made from beer bottle caps - and the entire mosaic encased in, we think, acrylic):

What Shelby said. The photos and descriptions are great. Thanks for posting the link! Did you consider buying morels for the return home? Would they keep?

Fresh bay leaves! Look at the difference between the new-spring leaves and older leaves from the same bush. They're all fragrant.

I'll be interested to hear how it turns out, Crepes. We went shopping today and I considered buying a bag of mesquite charcoal chunks, but decided to wait; we should have other chances at it. We've moved on from brisket country, and not a moment too soon - or perhaps a few moments too late - for our waistlines! We used up our leftovers on the day we moved. This was in part because I wanted something fairly easy, but also to remove the temptation. On Sunday evenings the only brisket place still open is Cooper's, and that's no hardship. I also bought sausage, having discovered that they had supplied the sausage served at the LVFD fundraising feast. The brisket was gone by the time we moved on, but I'd kept that luscious smoked sausage in reserve. I also had bread left over from a baking course I'm taking online. The mise: The stovetop view: Dinner: I had bruschetta on the brain. We'll be eating more lightly for a while now.

Yes.

In addition to changing the hydration, is it possible you're kneading too much? According to Reinhart's Artisan Bread class, as well as bethesdabakers' book, the stretch and fold method is a good way to develop gluten without losing those nice airy holes.

The packaged yeast I've used has always had a "use by" date stamped on the package. When I've tried using yeast well past the "use by" date it usually hasn't worked - not that it produced a bad taste, but it just wouldn't activate. Apparently the yeasts died. If your packages have those dates stamped, I'd believe them within a couple of months. Aside from that, I think heidih covered it well. Edited for brevity.

I'll play! My first thought was that it was the squatting guy with the hat, but looking at it now he seems to be a bit too well bronzed. OTOH Kerry has turned out some brilliantly smooth, shiny confections that look like gold. I'm leaning toward it being the gilded, er, hyperendowed woman in the bottom photo. Kerry, you'll let us know after a bit more time guessing, I hope?

Excellent corruption; I may adopt it. I had been wondering what interesting condiment I'd been missing out on, and I'm glad you elucidated before I went on a wild goose hunt via Google. As for those potatoes: sometimes the simplest truly is best. I think I'll look for new potatoes in the market today.

liamsaunt, what was in that creamy avocado dressing, other than chunks of avocado? The salad is beautiful.

Shel_B, thanks for the reminder: I too am a fan of Aleppo Pepper, and sometimes use that in place of cayenne. Darienne, the recipe is very forgiving. I don't usually have green lentils, but instead use a blend of orange lentils, brown lentils, yellow lentils, brown or white tepary beans.... It doesn't seem to matter whether they come from a Native American source or the Indian portion of our grocery store, as long as they're roughly the same size and will cook at about the same rate.

I adjust the seasonings slightly: 1 Tbsp cumin instead of their 1/2 tsp cumin (we really like cumin); 1 tsp coriander powder instead of 1/2 tsp; hot paprika instead of cayenne, but no quantity adjustment; 1 - 2 tsp salt instead of 1 Tbsp for others' salt sensitivity (but I add more to my own at the table). Spicy heat note: I think it's pretty spicy, probably due to the mustard seed and/or curry powder, and usually cut the heat in my bowl with a bit of dairy: lebneh, yogurt or maybe sour cream. My DH doesn't think the heat needs cutting.

I have a Weight Watchers recipe called Slow Cooker South Indian Lentil Stew that might fit your bill. It's a dead-easy crockpot or stovetop simmer: throw the stuff in and let it go; garnish with lemon and (optional) cilantro just before serving. Would this be of interest?

Wow! There's some really great (and surprising) stuff there! I'm surprised these days to see civilized airline food. It looks as though you fared well.

Our last brisket adventure was at Laird's Bar-B-Q & Catering. Where Cooper's is large and 7-days-a-week, Laird's is a small operation, closed on Mondays (and Tuesdays? I don't remember). Ken and Esther Laird started this business around 40 years ago, and have built quite a name for themselves. There's a Certificate of Appreciation from the Governor; there are newspaper articles framed. Most of the wall art is Esther's work. She's quite a good painter. Ken is a lean man, and when you consider his work schedule you can see why. He logs the mesquite, cuts and stacks it, burns it to charcoal, operates the pit and cooks the meat in his outdoor kitchen. His wife Esther handles the indoor jobs, with help from at least one server. Ken was happy to chat with me and answer questions. No, he doesn't use a thermometer, either for the wood or the pit or the meat. "After all these years, you can tell when it's right," he said. He told me about a health inspector who came through once and took him to task for not knowing whether the meat was sufficiently cooked. "He was a young feller, all full of himself and wanting to make a name. He told me, "How do you know your meat is hot enough without a thermometer?" I told him, "Give me your hand." "What?" "Give me your hand. You want to see how hot that meat is, I'll put some in your bare hand." He decided my meat must be hot enough after all." I went inside to order before food shut down for the night. I wanted brisket, of course. I forgot to ask Esther not to slice it, their usual way of serving, and came away with a combination of sliced and slab meat. While Esther was preparing my order and her helper (whose name I did not get) prepared my bill, Ken came in and pointed to one of the paintings. "Nancy, did you know that Esther tells people that's a picture of me?" It was a donkey's head, next to a ristra of chili peppers. "Well, Ken - be glad that's the end she painted!" He laughed with delight. I brought the brisket home, and we feasted again.

Thanks, I discussed wood types with quite a few brisketeers in Llano, and they all used mesquite - only mesquite. They also said they all use it because that's what they have. (Mesquite is ubiquitous in that part of Texas). It burns long and steadily, and according to them is an ideal wood. "What about oak?" I asked. They didn't know, but they guessed it would burn too hot or too quickly. (Oak? Hmm.) The next day I noticed some camping neighbors with a portable smoker for a family reunion, so I asked them. They're from farther east, and they use what they are used to: oak! I like the flavor of hickory-smoked meats too, but have never noticed a sharp unpleasant flavor from mesquite. The charcoal briquettes that I picked up once with mesquite sawdust included in the mix were another matter, however. I won't do that again.

I guess I'll have to keep and eye out for Shake Shack now. That sounds luscious!

This is going to be fun!

You do indeed! They also had nice garlicky fries. Dessert was peach cobbler (the styrofoam cup at upper right of one of our plates).

Thanks for the Crepes and Shelby, thanks for that additional information about net casting! I've never had a chance to try it, but your descriptions match Pat Conroy's. As far as balance goes: this gent had the advantage of casting from a very solid surface - not a rocking boat - but it would have been a long fall with a very hard landing if he'd gone over the edge. The Llano Volunteer Fire Department serves the City of Llano as well as the surrounding rural area: about 650 square miles, according to their web site. Their main fundraiser is their annual fish fry and barbecue. Last year we had so much fun that we scheduled our trip to make sure to hit it again. The day before the Big Event I happened by the Fire Hall and discovered that preparations were well underway. Men were laughing and working hard and confirming schedule details, but they were happy to answer questions and let me snap photos. One team of men was cooking down chunks of mesquite in a chimney. About every half hour, a shovelful or three of coals would be moved from the chimney to the barbecue and distributed for even heat. As with all the other 'cue operations I checked, nobody owned up to using a thermometer, infrared or otherwise; they just went by feel and long experience. They also used bagged mesquite charcoal. At what stage they mixed the wood and the charcoal chunks is something I either didn't ask or don't remember. Meanwhile, another team was busily prepping briskets for the grill. "Blur my face!" laughed one man, "I'm a wanted man!" (I heard that from several people in Llano, but they all made sure I knew they were joking. ) They had a pan full of a bulk spice blend that they bought in large bags: salt, pepper and "pork salt", which I finally worked out was curing salt. By "bulk" I mean very large bags. I don't remember how many they said they'd use, but here's the bag that was in use, atop a chair for easy access: Each brisket was unwrapped, coated thoroughly in the spice mix, then stacked and taken away for cooking. They cooked all the briskets that day, then wrapped and chilled them overnight. The next day, the briskets would be warmed before serving. I didn't ask about the other dishes that would be served; I thanked them, said "see you tomorrow!" and continued my stroll. The next afternoon, we drove over to the Big Event. What a turnout! People come from all over the county to support this barbecue. People were lined up to buy dinner (donation, no suggested amount) and raffle tickets ($1 each), and then lined up at the buffet. What a spread! The tables were all packed. A live band was playing a combination of Texas swing and standard rock-and-roll songs. People who were done eating sat around and clapped, or got up and danced. The energy was wonderful. We loaded up our plates far too enthusiastically, but how could we skip anything? We had driven because rain was threatening, but it didn't happen. We should have walked waddled home. We could have used the exercise.