TRK

I have a very weird story to add to this discussion. I had a friend visiting from England. We were in our mid-twenties at the time, so were of legal drinking age, but young enough that it wasn't absurd to wonder. We went to dinner, not intending to have a drink, and she left her passport at home. She ordered the tequila prawns, and the waiter asked for her ID. We were surprised but explained the situation (from another country, no driver's license, passport at home). He refused to bring her a dish cooked with alcohol in the sauce without proof of age. We ate elsewhere. That seems like a crappy waiter abusing his authority to me, because I can't imagine even the most zealous cop enforcing that law (no wine reductions for anybody under 21, for instance). I don't know the law in NYC, but in Oregon, where I used to live, many pub/restaurants got fined regularly in undercover sting operations. They would send in underage kids to order alcohol, then fine the restaurant for serving them. If NY's law is the same as Oregon's, it isn't just the minor who is breaking it, but the restaurant owner as well. I would understand a policy of not serving minors under those conditions. However, if the general practice is to ignore the law, and the server went beyond the policy of the restaurant, I would be pretty upset.

It is funny, I am as anti-Starbucks as the next guy, but I was reading The United States of Arugula recently and discovered that the two guys who started Starbucks were involved in the Free Speech movement at Berkeley. In fact went to jail with Alice Waters' boyfriend and co-creator of Chez Panisse. It is ironic that two guys who were once so anti-establishment started a business that epitomizes capitalist dominance and conformity to so many now.

The taste I dislike is definitely the flavor of the flour. I just prefer the flavor of red wheat in relatively unflavored quick breads like pancakes. For strongly flavored things (like banana bread or muffins) where the flavor comes more from spices and sugar, I don't think you would notice it. There the difference would be mostly texture.

I have a KA 600 pro series mixer. It works fine (though it is very loud). When I make 4 (1 lb) loaves of whole wheat bread, I have to break it into two batches or it will stall the motor and force it to shut off. Otherwise it works well. If you look in the manual, you will see that they have limits about how many cups of flour to mix at any given time. The limit for whole wheat flour is about half that for white. I haven't had any trouble with it walking.

White whole wheat is milled from whole white (as opposed to red) wheat berries. I have used it, and also used whole wheat pastry flour. I find that the white whole wheat does result in a lighter (in color and texture) than WW pastry, but also has a very distinctive flavor. It is by no means as light (in either) as unbleached flour. I would be very nervous about making a cake with this flour, I think it would result in a very heavy result. Perhaps if you treated it more like a torte, you would be okay, but do not expect the texture you are used to in cakes. I have used it in breads as well as pancakes and other quickbreads. I like it in bread, but find the flavor too odd in chemically leavened applications. I prefer to use regular (red wheat) whole wheat pastry flour for those.

I am a beer brewer but have been thinking about starting a mead for some time. Right now my only problem is a shortness of funds and a lack of interesting local suppliers of honey. If anybody knows local honey producers in the Monterey area who don't charge an arm and a leg for honey (the guy I talked to at the farmers market wanted more than it would cost to get premium honey shipped from a brewstore), please let me know. One note, I have read on another forum that the sweet mead yeast some people had trouble with has a tendency for stuck ferments. That Rob Stagis' experience seems to back that up. What I have been told is that the best way to get a sweet mead is to use a dry mead or wine yeast and let it ferment out, then stabilize with sulfites or similar, and add honey to taste. I haven't tried it, but that was the advice given to me. When I get around to brewing my first batch, I will update this thread.

That list looks very East-Coast centered to me. My all-time favorite winter seasonal is Deschutes Brewery's Jubel Ale. They happen to also be my favorite brewery overall. A lot of people like Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale, but I think there are many better seasonals out there. Tim

I don't have a strong opinion, but I have a funny story. I once taught a foreign graduate student to cook pasta. I lived in a coop and we had a program where non-residents could come and pay a fee to use our kitchen and supplies. He came for a trial run and looked concerned when I told him we cooked for ourselves. He asked me to show him how to boil pasta, so I did. Put water in pan, put on stove over high heat, boil water, add spaghetti, stir, cook until you take out a piece and it is done. Then I left him to it and went to make my own lunch. I returned when I heard the screams. He had used too small a pan, with the flames licking up the side of it. The pasta was sticking out the side and the dry part had caught fire. Needless to say, he went elsewhere for his meals. That, I think, is a situation in which breaking the pasta would have been not only acceptable but wise. Tim

Well I finally made it through that whole thread and felt I needed to add a little. Been lurking for a few days, high time I posted. I will never again: Make cookies with gluten flour. Not high gluten flour, gluten flour (you know, 80% gluten). I lived in a coop as a student. We kept our flour in 50 lb bags stored in plastic trash cans with labels on the lids. I decided to make cookies for 40 some people. Made up my trusty chocolate chip cookie recipe in bulk. Got lazy at the end, and decided bar cookies would be simpler. Put the entire batch into a big professional sized cookie sheet and put it in the oven. When it was done, you could pick it up by one end and dangle it in the air, swaying gently (or vigorously if you like). The crazy part was that I left it there, and it got eaten. Everybody stopped by, tried a bit, and decided that the chocolate was worth it I suppose. Make Thai curry with strange curry paste. My first attempt, the recipe called for fish sauce. I was in the asian market, the only white person there and too embarrassed to ask for help. I figured fish paste was close enough. Brought it home, made the curry. Not only was it spicy, but that fish paste had sharp little bones in it. So the little wounds from the bones were inflamed by the spicy curry. I still don't know what that stuff was for, but I expect it involved straining before use. Tim