andiesenji

The Faire has always put a lot of stress on workers behind the scenes and it is a shame that the managers don't want to spend the money on more trained help. It was the same back in the early '70s when I had my booth there (at the Hope Ranch in Thousand Oaks). One of the cooks was a woman who had been recruited from a hotel and prior had been a cook in the Army so she had a lot of experience. I often met with her and we talked about our Army days. One of the organizers kept asking for extra meals for "VIP guests" that she was hosting, usually at the last minute, then "borrowing" one or two of the kitchen helpers to set up her table and serve her guests. I thought that was totally out of order but I was just a lowly vendor. I showed up one day to set up my booth and learned that Lou had quit. One straw too many. This reminded me that I found a stack of SCA publications from the '70s and '80s. Tournaments Illuminated and Crown Prints. I have been thumbing through them and remembering friends I haven't seen for decades and wondering if they are still living.

Have you had a chance to try out the big melon-cutting knife? I got a watermelon last week and used my huge French knife with the 12" blade.

In western Kentucky, where I grew up, one of my grandpa's stable men would go out into the woods at daybreak and bring back a basket full of mushrooms that grew on trees. He would never pick mushrooms from the ground - I don't know why - but there were a lot of oyster mushrooms and chicken of the woods, honey mushrooms and others that I don't know the names of. It's possible there were few mushrooms on the ground because there were wild hogs that ran in those woods.

June 3, 2017 The Washington Post article. "Its exact death toll is unclear, but the species was involved in many of the worst cases of 679 mushroom poisonings reported in California between November 2015 and October 2016" “These mushrooms are large, beautiful, delicious and deadly, with toxins that are not destroyed by cooking,” wrote the North American Mycological Association, whose Bay Area branch alerted California officials late last year that the death caps were blooming in great numbers." Amateur mushroom gatherers are to blame for this "outbreak" and too often it is enthusiastic novices who make this mistake. Years ago I knew an elderly man (probably the age I am now) who regularly foraged for mushrooms in the area around Cambria, CA. He also taught people how to recognize the safe mushrooms from the deadly. And he told them if they could not carry the laminated sheets with detailed photos and drawings he gave as part of the course, his advice was "DON'T GO." This was before the internet. Since it is now easy to find online photos and suggestions, far too many people are out gathering mushrooms without proper education and in this case, lack of education can be a death sentence.

I forgot to list fried rice. I just made a skillet full of pork fried rice and used half a cup (loose, not packed in) of the Chinese chives. My scallions are not quite big enough to pick and these are an excellent substitute.

You are correct. Like asparagus, it requires a hard freeze during the dormant season to do well. However that can be fixed in moderate climates by dumping a pile of ice on the bed a few times during the winter and covering it with a deep layer of straw and then a tarp. Mine did not grow as well as it did in colder zones but it did well enough. The asparagus did better. One of my husband's relatives worked at Union ice and would bring me 50 pound bags of ice when I needed it. Late I bought a stand alone ice machine when I started catering.

Rhubarb can be tricky to grow, the preparation of the soil is important in some places because proper drainage is critical. you have to dig a very large and deep hole - the size you would use for a small tree with a root ball. The hole has to be filled with a lot of compost and organic material, put rotted manure deep in the hole and then add in compost and leaf mold or loose straw or you can dump in potting mix. It is best planted in the fall and no harvest the first year. I used to grow it when I lived down in the valley but I developed an allergy to it and when I decided to sell the house, my neighbors were invited to dig up and transplant my rhubarb and my asparagus to their gardens. I then planted some bushes in those patches.

I use them in savory pancakes, egg fu yung, rice fritters, in nasi goreng, in steamed rice cakes, in my version of kedgeree with smoked sturgeon or trout (I can only eat fresh water fish), in cornbread, and several other dishes I can't thing of offhand. I have four pots of these and cut them in turn. They must like the climate here because they grow like weeds and self seed all over the place - my neighbor has some that must have blown into the yard last year when I didn't catch all the seed heads. in this photo, two of the pots.

I make a chicken stew with artichokes and capers - uses a 1/4 cup of capers. I think it is a variation on a Cuban stew. It is very tasty. Stater Bros market here carries San Antonio in pint jar but also available from Amazon. I also make a pasta salad that uses a fair amount of capers. It does not take me long to go through a jar.

I use a lot of capers. I buy the San Antonio jars - I think they are one pint. The capers are exceptional in flavor. The only better ones I have ever tasted were the ones sold at the Italian market in the Valley where I shopped when I was still working and it was on my way home. They had about 10 varieties of olives and capers and caperberries in their fridge section. I have some olive tongs that I use to retrieve the capers from the jar. The liquid drains off easily. They are narrow enough to go into the skinny jars too. Sorry, they are called "vegetable tongs" made by progressive. Mine are slightly different, earlier models.

The spoon you describe in you original post is a "mote spoon" - I think I still have one somewhere in my junk. It has a regular teaspoon bowl with perforation and the other end is a pointy thing for unplugging the tea spout when clogged with tea leaves. As I recall, it was a Victorian thing as they seemed to have a table utensil for everything. I'll see if I can find an example. 6/2 - OK - I was off by a century. It was the Georgians in the later third of the 18th century who devised the mote spoon or mote skimmer. This lasted into the Regency period until someone came up with the idea of the "elegant" tea strainer to be held over the cup while pouring, rather than use a spoon to fish the various bits out of the cups after pouring. Later, beginning in about 1850, most teapot makers began making pots with perforations between the bowl and the spout so there was less debris going into the cup IF ONE USED HIGH GRADE FULL-LEAF TEA. However, Victorians, who loved vast sets of flatware, with numerous utensils for every purpose imaginable, continued to offer the mote spoons in the "full sets" of tableware. Just one more spoon in a bewildering array. There were almost as many different types of spoons in sets of high end tableware as there were forks - and that is saying a lot as some place setting included 8 forks. Place/ice cream spoon, teaspoon, dessert spoon, cream soup spoon, bouillon spoon, pudding spoon, demitasse spoon and sometimes a bon bon spoon if sweets were to be served at table. All slightly different in size and shape. I used to have a poster with the diagrams of place settings for Victorian era, Edwardian era, the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and ending with the "hippie era" showing paper places and plastic knife, fork and spoon. Here are two examples of self-straining teapots - My great grandmother's Gorham copper teapot 1881 and a porcelain teapot, English, 1910.

I have tossed them in salads but usually stick one on top of a cracker with a dollop of cream cheese. I have also studded them on top of a toasted bagel half, coated with cream cheese.

I had completely forgotten about this topic until I noticed it a few minutes ago. I wish I had thought of it a few weeks ago. A mold maker up here decided to retire and sell all his stuff, some locally, some on ebay. He had several vibrating machines used to settled the granular stuff before firing. He made odd parts for vintage cars and motorcycles. His had cemented flat magnets on top of the shakers so he just had to set the steel mold pan on the top and it stuck like glue. I phoned him just now and he sold everything but he said the magnet idea was given him by one of our mutual friends who bought my old lapidary equipment a few years ago. The magnets would hold molds weighing 20 pounds and they are inexpensive. Neodymium flat discs.

I have a very vigorous patch of lemon balm. It likes the desert, thrives in the heat. I use quite a lot. I also have a great crop of anise hyssop and blend that with some of my teas. It is very good with milk oolong - I had some this morning hot and later poured the rest over ice.

That's why I quit using mine in my old house. And it took hours and hours to heat up and was a killer during the summer, even with the extra AC in the kitchen. (Expensive too)

That's amazing, a truly exceptional engineering work. And it looks like it is sturdy enough to use as a batticarne.

A permanent, brick oven is ideal but very expensive, even with the "kits" - I saw one priced around 995. but you had to buy the bricks and mortar.

Friends who did a partial reno of their kitchen last year took out a 36" stove and replaced it with a Thermador induction cooktop. I'm pretty sure it has 5 burners - I remember the middle one has concentric rings on the surface. They put warming ovens below the cooktop. They were going to put in side-by-side wall ovens but for the present (then) were using countertop ovens until the other part of the kitchen was finished. They also got the newest 600 CFM Thermador range hood. I just phoned and asked James how they like the cook top and he said it has been fantastic. They have 4-year-old twins and wanted a safer cooktop than the gas range. They have since installed the two ovens

Staff note: Please see this link, https://ooni.com/blogs/news/uuni-becomes-ooni-faq, for the company's change in name from Uuni to Ooni. I have subscribed to The Grommet for some time and have been intrigued by some of the things they offer. However, this is really interesting - in spite of being made in China and I really don't like to buy things made there - I wish I was ten years younger and with the energy to take advantage of it. The Uuni Wood Fired Pizza Oven is only $299.00 and compact enough to fit in even fairly small patio areas - as long as it is far enough from the house AND has an efficient spark arrestor on the chimney.

Right. I get the JUMBO HEFTY plastic bags with slider. They are 2 1/2 gallon so larger than the Zip-Lock bags. In fact, I just placed an order earlier today from Target, which is offering "buy 3 get the 4th one free" through the 27th. So I ordered 4 and they applied the discount automatically in the checkout. And these boxes have 15 bags each instead of 12 in the regular boxes. Even with the shipping, these are cheaper than Amazon Prime with free shipping. I use these all the time. I keep small gadgets bunched in them by "category" and lids that don't fit my lid racks because of odd shapes, my silicone covers, ingredients in small packages also bunched together and hung up (seasonings in packets especially because they slip down under things) and packets of condiments. Also socks, scarves, wool items that I want to keep moth-free. Sweaters folded nicely store in them perfectly. etc., etc., etc.

I add the dry milk to the other dry ingredients and make sure it is mixed well with them. This explanation on this site is very good. Years ago I found a few recipes in Peter Reinhart's books that included milk powder. One, The Bread Baker's Apprentice, has several, as I recall. This is one I prepare often - I use a bread machine to mix and knead it on the dough cycle, remove it and pop it into a plastic bag and put it in the fridge for at least 24 hours, often longer - 2 to 3 days. It is as close to foolproof as any "artisan" bread. For a more complete list of possible additives and how they affect the dough, there is this page on the Cookistry website.

unglazed terra cotta works just fine. I used to have a portion of a 6" pot in one of my Cambro containers, most the bottom and a triangular piece that included about 1" of the rim. I had it so the top edge of the rim protruded above the level of the sugar. About once a month I would put a couple of drops of water on that exposed edge so there was no need to take the shard out and soak it. I managed to break it when shifting the sugar in that container to another after I did something stupid and cracked the top edge of the container. As it was in several pieces, I just put them in the trash and never replaced it. Glad you reminded me, I should buy another pot and do the careful breaking of the unwanted parts. (I score the pot with a carbide file and then use tile clippers).

Except for King Arthur flour co and a couple of companies that sell on line (more expensive than NIDO) Nido is the only WHOLE MILK powder I have been able to find in local markets. Twenty five years ago, both Carnation and Milkman offered Whole dry milk as well as the low fat and non fat but now every big company only offers the low fat or non fat options. When did full-fat milk become a liability? Vallarta Supermarket has a large section of dry milk and NIDO is prominently displayed. I was told that it is widely available in Mexico because fresh milk spoils quickly and many people have no refrigeration. When I worked in my mom's bakery in the mid-1950s, we added whole milk powder to bread dough, rolls, sweet rolls and even Danish as a way to extend the life of bread and prevent rapid staling. It helps retain moisture in white, whole wheat and even rye breads.

Most of the commercial bakery suppliers sell milk powder in 50 pound bags. When I was catering and baking large batches - in which I used whole milk powder - I bought NIDO powdered whole milk in the 1.6kg cans by the case. The product is EXCELLENT. At the time I bought it at the local Mexican supermarket because none of the regular stores carried WHOLE MILK POWDER. They gave me a discount for buying a case. Now it is available at Walmart. Free shipping

Very clever. I just use one of my large Cambro containers, UPSIDE-DOWN. I set the cake on the lid, lower the container over it and pop it into the lid. Then I secure it with duct tape under the lid, crisscrossed and up the sides and fashion a carry handle. Works great for tall cakes and I have also transported croquembouche in the biggest ones.