Smithy

Hmm. Andie, how high up Mammoth Mountain? Would there be hope for a bay bush in northern Minnesota? Outside, I mean? Or would it need to be brought inside for the winter like my citrus?

What a shame that the employee gave you a hard time about the bicycle. I wonder if it's a new person? or a new policy? Here's hoping the corporate office gives you a satisfactory resolution. They should be interested in helping encourage environmentally friendly modes of transport - not to mention, keeping a formerly-happy customer. Melissa, I'd love to see the interior of the bowl without the potatoes. That looks like a pretty design. And I'm really looking forward to seeing some cookery in the new kitchen! 13 gusting to 24 is a common Lake Superior sort of wind, too. Is Lake Erie a giant refrigerator year-round, so you never know what sort of weather to expect, or does it warm up substantially during the summer? How does the lake affect local growing seasons? Phaelon66, I'm a big-time coffee fan. I look forward to reading more about the roasting. Too bad the Internet doesn't support odors yet. We REALLY need AromaGullet.

It's true: the pink stuff is being increasing marketed to help support the cure. One of my recent magazines or catalogs has a whole page of pink "support the cure" kitchen items; the only thing I remember offhand is the ice cream scoop (the gel-filled kind). KitchenAid was, at one time, marketing a pink version of its stand mixer. I don't know whether that's still offered or was a limited version. Is McDonald's still doing the aluminum pop-can tab collection for, uhm, MS research? It was a big deal about 10 years ago, but I heard about it again only recently.

In addition to the vegan approach, you might look into books that emphasize fat-free or reduced-fat baking. I don't have any specific recommendations. My best friend changed her diet to severely restrict intake of saturated fats. Some of the substitutions she uses are applesauce (or, occasionally, other fruit purees) or canola oil for the usual fats like creamed butter. I can attest to the quality, flavor and texture of the non-fat cakes (chocolate, even) and muffins she makes. On the other hand, she just skips the frosting because she hasn't found a workaround that makes a good fluffy cake frosting. Edited for clarity.

One of my favorite restaurants in Cairo has a sign outside the door, trying to entice visitors to come in. Unfortunately my photos didn't come out, but some of the better text is: Experience the best + the worse as in Aesop's Fable Eat unpronouncable and undescribable dishes at the oldest restaurant

Maybe there was really good oven spring during the baking.

I wish I'd thought of that line!

Sautee them whole in a favorite chicken dish, until they're just warmed through and starting to get wrinkled. Oooh. What a compliment to, say, chicken stuffed with pesto and sauteed in that same pan. The tomatoes give off their juices, the lot gets poured over the chicken...man, that was on my list for tonight, except that I got home too late. Lucky you, with your embarrassment of riches.

For those of us familiar with the North Shore of Lake Superior, Russ Kendall's Smokehouse has been a favorite stopping- and buying-place. There's an article in today's Duluth News Tribune noting the passing of Russ Kendall last Saturday, at 85. Here's a link to the article, although I think the link will allow free access only for a week. According to the article, the store originally was built by Russ Kendall's father in the 1920's. It was a bar and dance hall, with a fish stand in front. The store we know was added in 1953. I didn't know until I read the article that Russ was still working the store into his 80's. He couldn't drive by that time, but he lived close by and just walked to the business. That's the kind of old-country toughness you see up here. More power to him. The family plans to continue smoking fish and running the store. If you want to see some shots from 2005, you can check out this post from my blog of the time. The place looked the same last month. Rest in peace, Mr. Kendall. I hope the family keeps the place thriving for another generation.

I am very, very impressed with your food, your writing, your photography abd tiyr energy! Makes me wish I lived closer! Unfortunately I think I'm likely to be away from the computer until after your blog closes, so I want to say NOW that I've thoroughly enjoyed this, and I look forward to reading the rest when I get back. Have a great weekend, and thanks for doing such a wonderful blog! You've done yourself proud.

Damn, Maggie. I thought you were cooking again. And I thought I was done buying cookbooks for a while. Thanks (I think) for the update. My bookshelves will not thank you.

Like the polite person upthread, I think I'd add a spot of lemon juice (or possibly vinegar) at a deglazing step to brighten it just a bit. Otherwise, I think it sounds pretty good. There are a few small things I'd do differently. Some come down to personal preference on flavor profile, and some come down to sequence, which affect the number of dishes to be washed and the way flavors interact. Flavor profile: I prefer sweeter peppers, so I generally use red or orange peppers, instead of green, for dishes like this. You could mix them, for added color and flavor interest. I also like the peppers soft (you indicate that you don't) so I'd make sure to sweat them well down, or roast them in advance until they're collapsed. (You can even add layers of flavor by sweating some of the peppers until they're collapsed and caramelizing, then leaving some barely-cooked and crunchy.) I'd add olives to the mix, because I adore olives, and I'd go with brown or portabella mushrooms instead of white. Small stuff, personal preferences. The Teflon pan will prevent good caramelization of the veggies, and I think - if I'm reading your post right - that you might be missing a flavor trick or two, partly by cooking things separately, and partly by using that Teflon pan. Here's where the sequencing comes in: In one pan, sweat the peppers and mushrooms in oil until they're soft and starting to brown. They'll throw off liquid as they cook down. Don't cook them all the way down, though, because you'll need that liquid. In another pan, heat oil; sweat the onions until they're getting soft but not browned yet; add the chicken and brown the lot. (Consider dusting that chicken with some of your herbs before browning it.) Remove the chicken to a barely-warm oven to keep it warm without cooking much further for the moment. Have those chicken stock cubes thawed already, and deglaze the pan with that stock and with the peppers and mushrooms. As the sauce starts to cook down, put the chicken back in and add the tomato sauce and olives. Adjust seasonings as appropriate. Cook until the chicken is barely done. There is a risk, with these chicken breasts, of over cooking, so you have to watch that part carefully. I note that you say they can take a couple of hours of slow simmering, and that they pick up more flavor that way. In that case, ignore the comment about "cook until the chicken is barely done" and do the slow simmer instead. There's probably a way to do this in one skillet only, but at the moment I'm having trouble visualizing the timing to make it go right. Anyway, you might find a bit more flavor this way, but it's small stuff. It sounds to me like you've got a pretty good thing going already.

I keep thinking I need to make inventory lists like those: what's in the freezer, the pantry, the other freezer, and so on. I never get around to it. Well, I may have once, but I didn't keep it up. As a result, I rely on the mental inventory and DH relies on random search and luck. Nice beer and wine stash!

The garlic geese are hilarious! The ring is gorgeous! Clever you, for designing that ring. The food looks like it lived up to the setting. Tell about the sauces, please. John's cod and your pork both have nice-looking sauces on the plate. What are they? What's in the middle of the cheese plate, and what's drizzled over that? That looks especially pretty. Happy birthday to yez. 53 is a funny age. At 52 one is finally playing with a full deck; at 53 there's a joker in the pack. I like to think of it as my first wild card.

Those are all cruel cheats. What about this? It's an office birthday party. The cake looks luscious and rich: moist chocolate cake with dark chocolate frosting. The cake is moist. The frosting is beautiful. I take an edge piece, already savoring that frosting, and discover that ... the frosting is chocolate with peanut butter. It's strange: I like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, but for some reason I generally don't like chocolate and peanut butter mixed together. I especially don't like expecting rich dark chocolate and getting peanut butter instead! I'm probably in the minority, though. I certainly made myself an enemy the year that I specified that MY birthday cake should have NO peanut butter, thankyouverymuch. If looks could kill, I wouldn't have survived to that particular birthday.

So...how about White Wine Worcestershire sauce? Is that strictly a Yank invention? I'd never heard of it until about 10 years ago. A couple of years ago they stopped calling it White Wine Worcestershire Sauce and started calling it Worcestershire Sauce for Chicken ("the Rooster Booster") instead. Lea & Perrins markets it as well. Does anyone else here use it? My husband and I are always on about what a particular sauce needs. His flavor preferences run a bit sweeter than mine, and he'll often grab the White "woozy" (thanks, Anne) where I might have gone for the regular, or for something entirely unrelated. I must admit, though, that a pork steak drizzled with this particular sauce and then grilled can be pretty darned good.

Wow, Dean. You've been a mainstay of the organization for as long as I've been hanging out here, and it's good to know you think the place can go on without your guidance now. The Kitchen Renovation thread (was yours the first?), the Pig Pickin's which I only saw vicariously, the participation and encouragement during my blog...those are 3 highlights for me. Actually, I've just enjoyed reading whenever you posted. I do hope you'll still be around, just enjoying yourself instead of working? Thanks so much for all the work and help you've done, getting this place going so that amateurs like me could find it.

I like the way you're doing the photo montages: sometimes a full-sized photo, sometimes two smaller photos abutting or overlapping each other. Thanks for the house photos on top of everything else! We also love to sit out in the hot tub and watch the stars. It's tough to stay up late enough to do it at this time of year, but the season is coming on fast. The Weber grill trick sounds like a great way to control mint. We use the lawn mower to control ours. Do you use mint for things other than drinks? Edited to add: the sweet flow and angularity of your great-grandmother's handwriting looks so genteel, and reminds me of the handwriting of my forebears. I think the approved style of cursive writing, as taught in school (do they still teach cursive writing in school now?) must have changed a lot over the past few generations.

Good grief, Suzi. I hope you're still catching up on your sleep. When you do wake up and get back to the bottomless maw that is the blog (aren't you glad it only lasts a week?) I have a customs question for you. I was very surprised the first time I ordered coffee at a stand in New Jersey and got it already sweetened. It's been long enough now that I've forgotten the terminology, but it seems to go something like: coffee, white = coffee with cream and sugar; coffee, black = coffee without cream but with sugar, and... I've forgotten now how that goes? I think some of your left-coast readers will be interested. If I wanted coffee with cream but no sugar, what would be the standard way to ask?

This is really, really good advice. Our double-bowl sink has a divider flush with the sink top. I've never overflowed it yet, but I worry that I may someday. The rest of the advice is excellent, also. Make sure the items you want to put in the sink will fit in it. I like having a double sink - I prefer having a clean side and a dirty side, or a wash side and a rinse side - but I do wish one or the other side was large enough to accommodate our large roasting pans, cookie sheets, etc. My parents' last house had a sink that I'd have expected to like, because the large side was big enough for large pans and the small side held the garbage disposal. However, the discrepancy between the two sinks was so large that the small bowl was barely usable. Maybe what I'd really like, if I had the space, would be a small prep/rinsing/garbage strainer sink along with a double-bowl sink like our present one - except with the lower divider.

Great comment, abooja. Thanks for coming out of lurk mode, and welcome to eGullet!

I use empty cardboard tubes - like the ones that paper towel comes wrapped around - for storing tongs and keeping them closed, or for taming the cords that go with appliances (that electric skillet I rarely use) when they're in storage.

I just looked at your Green Goddess dressing recipe. It looks really tasty, and - hooray! I grow those herbs in my garden! I'll remember that about adding more vinegar, though. I tend toward the tart/sour end of the taste spectrum myself. One question, though: I've never heard of Dijon vinegar. What's it like? Is there a good substitute for it, if I can't find it? Edited to add: your chicken Waldorf salad is beautiful, and it's making me hungry although I just finished lunch.

Yes, I'd like to know that silver cleaning tip, please. I don't understand about the ice cream maker bowl. Do you mean you're storing the empty bowl in the bag in the freezer? Why use a bag? For myself, I can't stand to see that ice cream maker bowl take up space in the freezer without being useful. I puree whatever fruit looks good, with a touch of lemon usually, then put it in a plastic tub (formerly purchased with potato salad) that just fits inside. Not my original idea, but I put leftover broth or tomato paste or roasted red pepper puree or lemon juice in an ice cube tray and freeze it that way. Then I have 1.5T cubes of whatever, ready for a sauce or stock at a later time. I also whirr up basil, parsley or other selected herbs with olive oil and garlic, and freeze that in the ice tray for a bit of winter brightness.

Can you post a link to it?