Smithy

It really does depend on what you mean by 'salad', and your tastes. When I hear the word 'salad' I generally think of a leafy green mix or a fruit salad. However, I also make a grilled dinner salad of very flexible ingredients. For example, I may make a grilled dinner salad out of some combination of the following: Skinny Asian eggplants sliced into disks (or ovals, if they're cut on the diagonal), red bell peppers, sliced; asparagus, chopped into ~2" lengths; cherry tomatoes, whole; onions cut into roughly the same size bits as the rest; baby potatoes that were steamed until almost done; possibly some boneless meat cut into bite-sized chunks (chicken, lamb, beef). Once the prep is done, I drizzle or toss each ingredient with olive oil, lemon juice and herbs of my choice, then grill each individually in a basket until done and pitch it into a large serving bowl. (The reason for grilling separately is so you can pull each one off when it's done, rather than having charred onion and barely-done potato because you tried to do them together.) After mixing, I add salad dressing of my choice - usually the same mix as the marinade. Chunks of grilled bread can be added at the end as rough croutons, if desired. The whole mix is a single-bowl meal of very flexible ingredients. Would you consider that a salad?

Like CatPoet, I'll take what I can get in the winter. Although the garlic found in our grocery stores during the winter months often comes from China, I've never seen the Sichuan Single Head / Solo garlic, based on liuzhou's photo. The Chinese garlic I see is just labeled as 'comes from China' and is typically white. If it's fairly heavy for its size, I'll take it. During the summer months when the local crops are available, I look for the reddish stiff-necked types. Samarkand is one of my favorites. I also recall enjoying the Music variety, but now I don't remember what it looks like.

Thanks for that tip. I hadn't thought of adding dried mushrooms to my chicken stock before. I'll be trying that next time; I have packages of dried mushrooms (not nameko) that I keep forgetting to use.

I can't say "I'll never buy store tomatoes" but I certainly appreciate the difference, and love the times when the fresh ones comes out. What variety are those multicolored tomatoes? They'd be beautiful even without the benefit of your plating and photography.

Welcome! Nice to see you decided to de-lurk! There are a lot of us here who get in over our heads on a regular basis, and we always enjoy company so we can laugh and learn. Toward that end: what does it mean to 'run a small-time competitive cooking league'?

Welcome! Tell us more: where is the Hockley Valley? What sorts of foods do you enjoy eating or cooking?

Welcome! We're glad to have you here, and no longer lurking!

I've never tried freezing carrot juice, but I can't imagine why it wouldn't work. I don't think it's enough of an emulsion (like cream) that there's anything to separate when it thaws.

I can't answer any of your questions, but I'm sure someone or several someones will be along who can. In the meantime - while we're waiting for the experienced bakers to turn up - you may find this topic valuable: Macarons: Troubleshooting & Tips. Welcome to the Society and the Forums!

Welcome to you both!

There's probably some place or three in Houston, but since you're a bit constrained in travel you may also consider mail order. Amazon has a number of sets; here's one: APT Egg Plate 6-piece set. If you type something like 'hard-boiled egg molds' in the Amazon search box, or in Google, you'll find information. Speaking of hard-boiled and deviled eggs: how about Green Eggs and Ham?

I am all for being the Most Fun Grandma! There are a lot of great ideas here, but I don't think I've seen piecrust rollups yet. When Mom made pie, the inevitable scraps were re-rolled, spread with butter, sugar and cinnamon, and then rolled into spirals, cut and baked. We called the finished product "cinnamon rolls", and I may have been in college before I realized that most people think of a risen dough product when they hear that phrase. To this day I love doing that with scraps of dough. If you wanted to nod toward more healthful but still fun food, you could substitute some savory filling: pesto, perhaps? Walnuts and honey, for down-home baklava? What about getting little mini-phyllo cups and filling them with, oh, pesto or an egg/cheese mixture or nuts and honey or ham and cheese or (let them fill in the blanks) and baking them? Or fold dough circles around fillings and cook them, along the lines of samosas or mini-pasties or mini-fruit pies. The sky's the limit on the fillings, and the kids can dream up the fillings and form the filled doughs, with you managing the oven and the baking sheets.

I'll certainly be sorry to see this blog end, but I imagine you will be relieved. :-) One request I have is an inventory of sorts, along the lines of how successful you were at 'using things up' before packing up. That is a perennial problem for me, and judging by discussions here on the forums I don't think I'm the only one. Meanwhile, keep the pictures and commentary coming, please!

Congratulations on getting your molds clean! :-D I'm curious about an almond fairy cake with toffee notes. Is this a recipe you can share?

Lovely photos, as always, Ann_T. I like the frame around the chalk drawing with the bread. I'm sure the bread lives up to the photos!

Quail! Oh, it's been years since I had quail! Are you able to buy or raise them, or are there obliging hunters in or near your family?

Welcome! We're all about enjoying food, obsessing over food, cooking it, eating it, sharing it, admiring it, talking about it...you get the idea. :-) It sounds like you'll fit right in!

Raspberry filling in a chocolate (or chocolate chip) cake is a Good Thing. I imagine the above-mentioned coulis would be excellent on a chocolate pie, if you could come up with a non-dairy pie filling. Dark chocolate and raspberries, mmm. I wonder if it's possible to make raspberry fruit leather?

Welcome, Mrsg47! We love to talk about fruit around here: eating it, cooking it, preserving it...and there are a few gardening topics also. What kind of fruit do you grow in your orchard?

You lucky gal! 1. Sorbet. Note I'm not suggesting sherbet or ice cream, but just sorbet. You can make it with raspberries alone, or in combination with nectarines or peaches, probably other fruit as well. 2. Cook them down and strain them, then season as needed (a bit of sugar, possibly some lemon juice to brighten the flavor) to make a coulis that you can drizzle over cake, fruit salad, chocolate,.... This freezes well, as do the berries themselves. The sauce takes less space, of course. Something like this sauce can also be used to glaze a roast chicken or pork, if you don't overdo it. 3. I'm sure you've thought of jams or jellies, but I'll mention them anyway. None of these is a baked product as you asked, so I may be way off the mark, but someone else will be along with their favorites. These are mine.

Is this one of the crumpets Kerry bought, or did you make them this time? I love crumpets. Can't suss why they haven't caught on like English muffins (which I don't like) on this side of the border.

Lovely stuff, huiray, and thank you for the links. Catpoet, I wouldn't have thought something called 'gooseberry goo' would be so pretty, but I'd have been wrong! :-)

liuzhou, the chicken and couscous look delicious. Please tell more about the chicken poaching method. Do you start with chicken cut into pieces rather than an intact bird? Is there a minimum ratio of water to bird necessary to ensure that the bird is fully cooked before the water cools? It looks like a gentle way of treating the meat, in addition to using minimal heat.

Shelby - or anyone else with a surfeit of zucchini - here's another recipe that may help, although I can't swear to its efficacy in reducing the backlog or one's waistline. :-) I stumbled across this in one of my little Saveur cookbooklets: Chocolate Zucchini Cake. The photo in the booklet looks better than the one on the web page: moist, very chocolate-y. Disclaimer: I haven't tried this recipe for myself...but maybe I'll have to when someone leaves zucchini on my doorstep. The photo in the booklet looks very, very good. Saveur's Chocolate Zucchini Cake: http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Chocolate-Zucchini-Cake

That's a shame. What about a grilled vegetable salad? Mine are quite variable: chunks of bell pepper, onion, asparagus, baby potatoes (steamed or parboiled to get slightly tender), skinny eggplant, as determined by my mood and what's available in the market. (I generally add cherry tomatoes as well). These chunks can be marinated in advance, as for kebabs. I've decided that a grill basket is easier than skewers, however. Grill the similar-time items together, and as each is done toss it into a large bowl. I often include chunks for marinated chicken or lamb - again with the shish kebab idea - but the meat can be omitted. Once all is cooked and added to the bowl, dress with your preferred salad dressing - I'm big on vinaigrettes. This is very versatile - you can include chunks of bread, or not, for instance - and the smoky char adds a nice accent to the salad. It's also pretty quick.