viva

Question for you fine vinegar folk from a vinegar newbie: do red and white vinegars age differently or at different paces? I started a red and a white at approximately the same time, about a month ago. The red is flourishing nicely - I feed her every couple of weeks. She's got a nice mat floating on top and appears to match the descriptions here. The white is just... there. It smells good - but no mat. I feed it as well, because I don't want the mother to starve. But... is the mother dead? Is she in need of a little fortified wine - maybe some sherry? Or does she just want me to leave her the hell alone?

Thanks Bueno! I've got the sugar in there now...

So... I did a quick brined cucumber pickle last weekend. I’m late to post in the pickle game, but this is in fact the third set of pickles I’ve made for myself this summer. Here are the pickles in progress… just yer basic dill/garlic/salt/pepper. Here's the issue: I usually leave these out on the counter for 2-3 days to get to the right level of saltiness, then stick them in the refrigerator. This week, I've been working like crazy and left them on the counter for (cough) 5 days. Yowza! They're still good, but a tad too salty for my taste. Is there any way to cut the saltiness?

I've heard good things about the Brandywines. I need to find some local growers.

Oh, I think I'd like Early Girl. A rocking bacon & tomato sandwich sounds right up my alley. Very pretty lcdm... what varieties are those?

I used to dream about ordering a solar cooker when I lived in Phoenix. I mean, if not *there*, then where? This site is where I'd cruise the solar cooking info... it's got the parabolic type Andie mentions on it, as well as some other types. Solar Cookers International

Yay... more tomato addicts! This weekend’s haul: German Johnson and Pink Girl - smaller & larger (respectively) pinkish red ones in the center Unknown… big striped guy in the back. The seller called it a “Stripe N’ Green” but he seemed a little fuzzy on the name and I couldn’t find any information on that name online. I usually buy from the same two ladies at the market, who are well versed in their toms, but this one caught my eye from a different seller. Red Zebra & Green Zebra - piled up together on the right On the left, in a black/purple tomato smackdown: the Black Krim, a Cherokee Purple, and an Ananas Noir (aka Black Pineapple – the yellow and purple guy who is slowly turning red & purple as he continues to ripen) Here’s Mountain Gold (on the left…from last week… he took a long time to get really ripe), and Pink Girl getting ready to be used in salsa with broiled peaches, red onion, poblano, and jalapeno. Both were nice, classic, beefsteaky tomatoes. I scarfed that salsa down too fast to get a picture... may make some more this weekend.

I had to post this to give myself credit for the **hour** that I spent shelling and peeling my fava beans: quick blanched here on top of ricotta and a garlic-rubbed baguette, and topped with basil and kosher salt. As you can see, a few still escaped the peeling process (what can I say... I was peeling the favas, drinking wine, and watching a movie all at the same time).

Unfortunately, I have a corporate apartment with no patio, and my growing experience = nil. However, I procure my toms from the Durham farmers' market, and everything at the market is grown within 70 miles of Durham, and the Black Krim appeared in early July at the height of our 90+ degree weather, so... I guess they might hold up in the heat!! Chappie... make yourself hella amounts of salsa and marinara! Today's tom: Lemon Boy. Here on a cheese bread with basil & mozzarella. Lemon Boy is, as his name would suggest, a little lemony, but he's not as tangy as Green Zebra was, and he's a little creamier. I'm with you, Brenda, I like the zippy tomatoes. (Well, and the smoky black/purples. And all the other ones. I love tomatoes.)

We have a story on our web site, in print edition tomorrow. Jim Early says that April date was premature. As it stands, the festival is postponed until sometime in 2008, but he doesn't know when. However, Viva, there is the Lexington barbecue festival in late October. http://www.charlotte.com/breaking_news/story/221347.html ← Hope Springs Eternal. Thanks for posting that!

What a beautiful red set of tomatoes! What varieties were those again? Here's a few of the ones I've been eating this week: The Pineapple: a pretty mottled orange/red - not too zingy, but an excellent cheese buddy. I ate him with a young camembert and a little wine... The Black Krim: a name worth of a Harry Potter character. Smoky, ugly goodness, but not quite as dark on the inside as the outside might lead you to believe. He's here on a baguette with mozzarella and lemon basil, which was a nice bright foil to the smokiness of the tomato. The Green Zebra: pretty much the opposite of the Black Krim. Zippy, bright and juicy. Excellent on its own with a little salt.

Ahhh... even though I was a longtime Chicago resident, I never supported the Chicago dog. As the emperor in Amadeus said to Mozart: "too many notes." Pure: yellow mustard, chopped onions (preferably from the little onion grinder at Wrigley Field, to be eaten with one hand while watching the Cubs with a beer in the other hand) Pimped: with chili, onions & velveeta. A homemade dog, however, is definitely something I would be interested in hearing more about.

Ooooh - I just clicked on the Black Sea Man link. Freaky!! Can't wait to hear how it tastes. I'll post pics later this week of The Black Krim and the other ones I sampled this week. I like the black tomatoes - I think I'll continue to seek them out, despite their inherent ugliness.

The worst is not caring for the beefsteak and leaving its remains!! The thief better eat what he steals!! What are the usual suspects for tomato-stealers? Raccoons?

Hee... that reminds me of the time I was working in Paris, and someone ordered sandwiches for lunch... I *should* have ordered the jambon et fromage, but I was feeling idiotic and ordered a vegetarian sandwich instead. Vegetarian sandwich = tuna salad. But then, I'm not a vegetarian, so it didn't matter much to me other than being jealous of the ham!!

Trust is the round red guy in the front - he's a pretty-boy red, perfect shape, kind of pulpy. I think it's a hydroponic variety. I have bought these several times and he needs to be very ripe to be tasty (but, I guess, don't they all?). The purple guy in the middle is the Black Krim, who is kind of ugly but tastes great! I'll post a pic when I get around to eating him later this week. Here's Trust sitting atop the Carolina Gold (big yellow guy in the back of my original picture). Carolina Gold is firm and silky inside with very little seedy pulp. Makes a great bottom layer in a stack! But this one needs to be paired with somebody more flavorful or a nice cheese... he's not good by himself just to munch on. The real question is why do I refer to the tomatoes in the masculine?

Today's haul: Green Zebra, Trust, Carolina Gold, Mountain Gold, Pineapple, Black Krim, and Lemon Boy.

Wouldn't it be better to eat a $15 steak twice a week instead of a $5 steak every day? I think it's a fallacy that meat has to be eaten at every meal, or that it needs to be the biggest portion at the meal in which it is served. I can buy a good, locally raised $12-15 chicken or cut of beef/pork that tastes great and lasts me for three to four meals for the week. I've got little stores of duck and pork confit in the back of the refrigerator in case I'm craving more protein. The two Muscovy ducks for that confit cost me $40... but it's so good I don't need very much to make a good salad or to spread on bread, and so it lasts a long time. In between I'll be noshing on summer tomatoes and vegetables and fruit, cheese and yogurt, beans and breads/grains. Carniwhore... that's really funny! A food porn magazine...I'd subscribe. There's no such thing as too many pictures in a food magazine. And speaking of food porn... that was one tasty looking ribeye on the last page. I would *definitely* rather save up to eat something that looks like that rather than eating the crappy Walmart steak on a regular basis.

Really I should have called my burger selections "Pure" and "Pimped". "pure" = plain with cheese "pimped" = peanut butter, jam, and bacon. I can also attest that the peanut butter is good both on top of the burger as well as in it. Pimp My Burger!

April 2008?! $@!%$... I won't be here in Raleigh anymore next year. Dagnabit.

Anything fresh from the farmers' market. Pineapple, Lemon Boy, Cherokee Purple, Pink Beauty, Red Zebra, (isn't there a Green Zebra too?). I just made a batch of fresh tomato sauce with roasted Better Boys. Yum. I've been eating 1-3 tomatoes every day since tomato season started. My breakfast, all summer, has been a slice of sourdough, a spread of soft camembert, topped with tomato slices and salt.

I never knew there were so many nudist coffee drinkers in the world...

Purist: Meat, cheese, and bun. Cheese: I am not particular here, but it needs to be something that melts smoothly. Bun: a well made, lightly buttered and grilled bun... but *only* the bottom side of the bun. I prefer I higher meat-to-bread ratio than eating both sides of the bun allows for. Impurist: peanut butter, a sour/sweet jam, and thick slices of pepper bacon. (As inspired by the Foggy Bottom Burger at Mo's in Hollywood - the bacon is my addition to that otherwise perfectly decadent burger.)

Metric. Metric. METRIC. I can never get the math right. <sigh> This has yielded overages and underages of desired amounts of meat. Then there was the pastry I bought for breakfast at a market in Vietnam that I thought had some sort of orange fruit baked on top. Wrong. Hardboiled egg yolk.

My grandma would have tanned my hide for wearing shoes in the house. Messing up her floors! To this day shoes are the first things off when I come in my front door.