Smithy

Way to go, Mitch! Thanks!

Do you suppose this is a case of "more than the market can bear"? I've been working on a theory that goes like this: 1. Excellent item gets noticed 2. Excellent item gets promoted 3. Many, many people want said excellent item 4. Not enough excellent item is available, so a substitute is brought in. 5. Substitute is sub-standard, but more people buy it for the name than those who refuse it for its poorer quality. Suppliers do just fine, thankyouverymuch. Just how much wild-caught salmon can the market bear, for instance? How about Parmeggiano-Reggiano? Truly fine peaches? Strawberries? At what point does the promotion outstrip the supply, and then what are the suppliers to do? I think, as a rule, they'll rely on lower-quality substitutes. I'm guessing that's what's happening with the tomatoes.

Oh, Maggie. I'm so sorry. I had no idea just how bad your "personal crap patch" has been. Maybe you have hit on the hidden benefit of the story. I'm betting that it won't be a permanent loss for you, but it may be a permanent gain for Megan. We don't get many of those in this world. Perhaps your mother is helping from afar, now that she's free of her pain. You've shown amazing strength and discipline, with keeping it together enough to do all that cooking and caretaking. You deserve rest and down time, and it may be that you *have* to do the downtime so Megan can find herself. Meanwhile, take a break. Allow yourself to rest. The enthusiasm will come back, but it takes a while. We had plenty of time to prepare when Dad was dying of cancer, and it was still hard when he actually left. Healing took a long time, and the tears still crop up at unexpected times. A couple of weekends ago I finally broke out the omelet pan that had been his father's favorite piece of camping cook gear, and for the first time I cooked potatoes and sausage in it. As I cooked, I thought about Papa, and Dad, and how that pan had been a fixture in my grandmother's kitchen. When Dad and Mom were downsizing and I claimed the pan, Dad told me of the camping trips he and Papa had made, and how it was a favorite camp pan, and how sooty it would be after days in the back country - and how angry Papa was when Nana reclaimed it for the kitchen and scrubbed off the soot. I cooked, and smiled, and was thankful for my family. I think the same time will come for you, in its own time and way. In the meantime, please accept my heartfelt condolences. You have the fire. It will come back. Just bank the coals for a while, and let Megan find her skill.

Wow, I feel like a celebrity! Roasted cauliflower and all its relations for me. Roasted asparagus is a regular household routine now. Drizzled with olive oil, with touches of salt, garlic, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice - oh, my. Fifi's gumbo. Braising, from the eGCI course. It's a technique rather than a recipe, but it opened worlds for me, including... Tagines. Foodman's samke harra, and pita.

I'm so glad you wrote that, Abra. I clearly wasn't thinking last night when I wrote that - or I wasn't thinking clearly. I add preserves lemons and/or olives to my tuna salads on a regular basis. Why I couldn't see it with fresh tuna is a mystery now.

Nery nice, but I notice that while they're offered in red or black, they only come in a right handed model? SB ← Not to harp on this, but I don't see why you couldn't use them with your left hand--just slide the locking mechanism with your index finger instead of your thumb. I just tried it, and though I am useless with my left hand, it worked just fine. ← That's what I'd do. I just always find it curious when companies forget that 10% of their customers are left-handed, but are considerate enough to offer a choice of colors? ← Perhaps, Steve, they just remember that lefties are generally more creative than righties. They can figger out another way better than most of us can imagine another color.

Welcome and thrice welcome to eGullet, Greg! Come on in and set a spell. First of all, your post came through just fine. I'm personally glad you picked this fine thread for your first post. Now that I've brought the Welcome Wagon™ out to meet you, I have to say that I've never tried slow-cooking fish in any vessel, so I can't be much help. I think that you'll need a sturdy fish so it doesn't fall apart too quickly. For instance: tuna or swordfish, yes; grouper no. I'm wondering at what stage you'll end up with a fish stew instead of just good fish. Have you tried slow-cooking fish before? If so, what did you cook and for how long? As for the seasonings - well, I can imagine a slow simmer (or tagine) of fish with preserved lemons and olives, and I'd think it would be pretty darned good. Somehow I don't imagine that going well with tuna, but I don't know sea fish well enough to come up with an alternative. (What fish need strong seasonings to be at their best?) I'm just thinking aloud, trying to come up with something useful. What about shrimp or mussels for this kind of treatment? Let's hope someone with experience pops up soon. They belong to eGullet; they just have to notice this thread. Meanwhile, stick around and keep on posting!

Over in a thread on lamb ribs, two fine cooks reverse the sequence of when they'd put the meat in the smoker. In that thread, Dave would smoke first, finish later; Chris is thinking to cook first, finish in the smoker. I've been wondering what difference the sequence makes, if at all. I haven't used my smoker enough to really know what I'm doing yet, and I haven't worked my way through the entire smoking thread. I have learned that smoke can be overdone. I'm planning to experiment as I can, but as of this week Northeastern Minnesota is under a complete burning ban. No charcoal fires, no wood fires, no blow torches unless you're within a mile of Lake Superior. (Those of you living with flood watches may marvel that we're in the worst drought since the 1930's.) I don't care to test our sheriff's vigilance quite yet. So.. help me out, here. If you aren't going to cook a piece of meat entirely in the smoker, when do you do the smoking? What are the considerations and tradeoffs? What experiments do you suggest for me, when I can get back to smoking?

I too am an enthusiastic gadget collector, although my enthusiasm is starting to decline as my drawers get more crammed. I've stayed out of the discussion about the stainless steel odor remover until now, because I personally haven't tried it. However, Fifi - may she rest in peace - thought it worked. Read about her stainless steel mushroom here. Hard-headed materials scientist and empiricist that she was, I've always thought there must be something to it after all. She even came up with a plausible explanation. Still...that roller looks like it would send bits of garlic shooting out in every direction. Nah...not for $19, not for $1.90.

I *think* Chistou is the brand and Istara is the type. I discovered Istara last year at my favorite local cheese shop when they were out of Manchego. They gave me a taste of Istara, saying it was similar although not the same. Since then I've spent precious time (and money) trying to decide, with no success, which I prefer. I like them both, very much. The local good grocery store has been expanding its cheese selection. Although the cheeses aren't as good as at the good cheese shop, the place is more conveniently located. I've seen Chistou Istara there. For what it's worth, when I've tried it, I haven't found it up to snuff, and I've begun to wonder whether it's really Istara, or whether I've gotten the type wrong all this time. Nonetheless, I think Istara is the type of cheese. If I'm wrong, then we'll both learn something!

What a great article! I just finished eating lunch and I'm hungry again, and regretting that I won't have time to smoke anything for a couple of weeks...and at that, it won't come close to what Brian's doing. I did pick up a couple of good pointers from the article, though. Brian sounds like a really nice guy as well as a talented chef. I hope his business does well. I wonder if he'd be a good candidate for the eGullet spotlight? Thanks for posting the link!

I've never even thought about pockets in an apron! Yet, looking at that Donna Reed link, I remember I used to see pockets on neighbors' aprons. (In our house, the aprons were strictly below-the-waist affairs, and I don't recall any pockets in them, though they did have rickrack.) Rickrack-trimmed aprons: now that takes me back. My aprons have more coverage but no towel loops or pockets. Pens etc. go in the Mason jar on the counter; towels lie on the counter or loop through the oven handle. Add me to the list of those who want to see your design, Maggie. And if it makes you feel any better, please accept my admiration for the phrase "personal crap patch". I plan to stuff it into my stock of fine phrases (right along with Fifi's "one-butt kitchen") and make it my own. Sorry you had reason to invent the term.

Lovely, lovely writing. Thanks for the update! There's a Trader Joe's in Minneapolis now? Since when? and where?

Uhm, OK, help me with the story, please! What happened? I take it the socks were dry? I haven't burned myself making caramel, but the first time I tried making it I found myself thinking "Funny, the instructions didn't describe these white streaks developing," and wondering why not, when I realized that my mother's spatula was getting shorter. I will never again make caramel without a silicone spatula, or a similarly heat-proof stirring utensil.

Nessa, it sounds like a fun party! I have to ask whether you mean YOU will be belly dancing all evening? If so, I see why you want not to be tired out from cooking! Linda, thanks for offering up that toum ou zeit recipe. I'm always on the lookout for more ways to try making what I know as toumeyya, so as to get as close as possible to my favorite restaurant version. That restaurant (a place in Cairo) uses an egg yolk in their toumeyya. Have you ever tried that? Or does that, in your opinion, change the nature of the dip too much?

Wow, that looks beautiful! It looks exactly as I'd imagined it - but I can see that the addition of brown sugar, corn syrup and chili sauce would all have helped a lot with making it sticky. Thanks for raising a great topic and showing the results!

I cannot BELIEVE there's been dead silence on this topic for going on 10 hours now! I don't have any wonderful ideas. I'm new to barbeque sauces, new to smoking, and only have about 3 (delightful) uses for tamarind. But heck - we can't let this idea sit, now, can we? Here - I'll start, and someone else can come up with a better idea. Sweat some garlic and chilies in oil until they're soft. Set that aside. Mix the (I'm sure it's thawed now) tamarind and passion fruit. I'd go for twice as much tamarind as passion fruit, because I like the tart end of the spectrum, but that's a personal preference. Cook that mixture down - maybe you want to add some white wine, or vinegar, for flavor adjustments? - until it's fairly well concentrated, then add in the garlic and chili mixture. Adjust the seasonings with, oh, some ginger for heat and some salt for balance and, erm, coriander (seed, not the leaves) and pepper (I'm fond of white) until you get a balance you like. Puree the whole shebang until it's smooth. Use it to baste your ribs. I'm too new to smoking to give much advice. My procedure so far involves slow (225F) until done (hours) with occasional basting. Make sure the final baste is done when the meat is starting to get tender but not quite done yet, so the basted sauce has "set". Alternatively, you can take the oven route: set the ribs in a sturdy baking dish, set them at 225F for a few hours, then pour off the fat and add the sauce. Cover and continue baking until tender. This is our usual home non-smoking technique for ribs, and we've been pretty happy with it. I thought by now someone who knew what they were about would come up with something for you. This is, essentially, the tone-deaf leading the orchestra. How does it sound (hee) to you?

I can't promise this is "only the best", but I'm an avid listener to The Splendid Table and think it deserves a high rating. Each week the show features a Road Food segment by Jane and Michael Stern, a couple of interviews with some writer or chef or food explorer, a trivia challenge and a (pre-recorded) call-in section where Lynne answers questions. I swear I've gained 10 lbs since I started listening to that show. The Splendid Table now can be downloaded in podcast form. Follow this link to get to their podcast page; otherwise, if you just go to The Splendid Table's home page you'll find a link to that week's show podcast.

Blogs are always a fascinating look into someone else's life. Thanks so much for taking - no, wrestling, wringing out and beating into submission! - the time to show us a bit of yours! I too love the whimsy of your shop and admire your energy. I'm thanking you a bit early since I'll have to be out of touch while you're wrapping up. I'll look forward to catching the rest after it closes. Oh, and thanks for providing an opportunity for one of the funnier phrases I've read in a while, courtesy of MarketStEl: "The triumph of hope over experience" . I'll be using that one often. (Thanks, MSE!)

This cracks me up, because I can relate. I remember when I bought my first house and was installing the hose-style shower head that had moved with me through several rentals. I looked at the old fixed shower head, tried to figure out where to save it this time, and realized "Hey! It's MY house! I can throw this old sprayer away! Yahoo!" (I didn't do it, though, and 8 years later when I moved to a new house, the original went back into place.) I can't decide whether it's the leek pie or the coffeecake making me drool most, or just the idea of roasting my own coffee. I am very impressed with the amount of cooking you manage with so little counter space. What kind of accommodations do you find yourself making for that? For instance, do you try to minimize the number of dishes you dirty, or do you clean as you go along? Or do you just use whatever you need and then do a big washing-up later? I also want to know about the garden-owner. It looks as though Godzilla was a paintball target.

HEY!! Oh, you mean another Nancy. Carry on. Well, how are their immune systems? I think the catbox story upthread has my aunt beat. I didn't see it, but Mama remembers seeing the cousins' cat wandering around on the kitchen counters when food was being prepared. (Well, the cat was fed at one end of the kitchen counter to keep the dog from getting the food.) Mama was prepared to forgive that bit, but when the cat casually strolled along the counter, through the sink and across the cutting board that held the fixings for some salad or other, she quietly resolved to skip certain of her favorite foods that night.

Welcome to blogworld, Jessica! Your store looks like a lot of fun. I know I'd walk out lighter in cash if I were to visit! I'll be interested to see/read your strategies on getting good meals together with a time crunch. Our home schedule doesn't run as late as yours, but we frequently find the same time constraints. Do be sure to tell us about your avatar, too. Is that just an unflattering photo, or has that cat been living it up for along time?

I finally had a chance to make musbacha tonight eager to try an excellent Tohum tahini highly recommended by Ana Sortun. The recipe of course came from Paula Wolfert. ← Tarelki, that looks beautiful! Thanks for bumping this topic back up from its 5-year sleep, and welcome to eGullet!

Wot she said. Merci! Encore!

Thank you for the photojournalism. The virtual tours are fine viewing and reading. One of today's lessons for me is that Occitan is a living language. I only read the word a couple of years ago, and had assumed it was a defunct Medieval tongue! So.. does it bear much resemblance to modern French? Is it a language that people are actively working to preserve, or is it so well-rooted that it isn't threatened? I'd like to ask more, but even with the wide scope of the foodblog perhaps I'd best hie off to an encyclopedia. Maybe you can talk about how food terms differ in Occitan vs. French, or whether the Occitan speakers tend toward different food traditions. Upthread there was some discussion about getting the proper wines for certain foods without the American obsession on "pairing wines" with food. It sounds less fussy over there. Can you talk a bit about whether there's much variety in styles of given wines there? For instance: if one wants a nice crisp white wine here in the States, it isn't enough to just say "sauvignon blanc". You have to decide whether you want one that's been oaked, or that hasn't had so much as a toothpick near it. Then you can start deciding where it should come from. In my limited experience in France, the table wine was a simple, well-balanced red (or white) - not worthy of note, but very drinkable and inexpensive, no matter where we went. Was that simplicity a result of our cheap travel method, or of a cultural difference between the countries?