lperry

I have a jar of "petits fleurs" honey from the south of France near Toulouse. The gentleman who collected it told me it was mainly chestnut, but not enough chestnut to put that on the label. It is pretty strongly flavored, but I really like it. This Christmas on a side trip we picked up a jar of gallberry honey at the Okefenokee swamp gift shop. That's definitely a south Georgia/north Florida specialty. We had it when I was growing up.

There are five or six old pear trees on my uncle's farm, so we get a lot of pears. If they are firm when cooked, spiced pears preserved in vinegar/sugar syrup are great. I've made pear cranberry chutney, and several pear jams from Christine Ferber's books. Pear ginger and pear chestnut come to mind. They also dry beautifully and then you just chop them up, cover them with rum, and use them next holiday in your fruitcake. When everyone has their fill of pears, we pick them up off the ground and toss them to the cows. You don't have cows, do you?

Indispensable for chili pepper prep. I'm also a wimp and use them for washing dishes in really hot water (the thicker, latex ones).

^ I agree with the reusability of bags that haven't had anything bacteria-inducing in them. I've reused them for nuts and curry leaves. The one that held my Wallace and Gromit inspired Christmas Wensleydale, however, got tossed because some liquid got into that little pocket. I didn't want to risk it. That's a great idea to wrap first then seal. I'll do that next time with cheese. -L

I received a fish spatula. (I never could bring myself to buy one when I have so many others). And my favorite present of all, an old "Best Bundt" pan that belonged to my great Aunt Nettie. It is yellow/orange on the outside with stencils of flowers and various animals, and white on the inside. The original "non-stick" finish, I think.

When the book came out, the Washington Post did a story with Amernick, and the technique they (or she?) chose to highlight was this one. I saved the paper for the photos (only to have a well-meaning BF recycle it!), and I can't seem to find it on the website. At any rate, I got the impression that this technique was something new and worthwhile - hence the full page of photos and big feature in the food section. I remember that the layers looked very clean cut and flaky. I haven't tried it because I rarely use puff, and then I cheat with Trader Joe's.

It doesn't look disastrous to me at all! I hope you try it again with something that might be better with the dark chocolate flavor. Next go round I am going to fill with berries and whipped cream. German chocolate cake was never something we had when i was growing up, and I've never had one that wasn't from a box, so it didn't occur to me to make it by the recipe. My inspiration was the little dark chocolate-covered ginger candies from Trader Joe's.

I made the Demayo chocolate cake, filled it with homemade pear/ginger preserves, and frosted with bitter chocolate sour cream frosting (which was a bad choice). The cake is incredible (I have a post-demolition photo that I will upload when I get to a computer with an image processing application). This is definitely going to be my go-to chocolate layer cake recipe. I only had 9" pans, and the cooking time was a bit longer than hers, but it came out incredibly moist. The tricky part for me was that it is a very delicate cake - I broke one of the layers just moving it from the rack to the plate - and I needed a much softer icing (maybe a ganache? Maybe even seven minute?) I was very happy with the ginger. The bite went really nicely with the dark chocolate flavor of the cake. -L Edited for photo. This is a post party shot. As you can see, I am not the worst cake decorator on the planet. If, however, the worst cake decorator were to die... It tasted good, anyway!

Now I'm picturing someone sitting in an airplane with a jar of jam, waiting for that telltale *pop*!

They will seal just like a mason jar lid, but only once. If the lids are brand new and the sealing material is still pliable, they should work fine, and if you are planning to give them away and not use them again, it's really a nice option, I think. They look very pretty! -L

$8.99 at Target. I love it! I've already made an amazing amount of space in the freezer from transferring things from plastic containers to these little bags. A wonderful gadget!

Do you have Harris Teeter? I had problems finding it this far north (that would be the DC Metro area), and someone suggested HT. They have it in some of their larger stores here.

Obviously, we need an odd food item exchange. Between all of us, we probably have any number of delicious and ethnically authentic meals just waiting to be cooked. Edited to say - I Googled tarbais beans. Now I need some.

Some friends and I have a semi-solution. All of us are compulsive interesting-food-product buyers/hoarders, and we also have friends and family who bring us food as gifts from various trips to different places. Every time the guilt comes on, (or we just run out of space), we vow to buy produce only for two full weeks and just cook out of the pantry. The original rule had a "no eating out" clause in it, but that tends not to work very well with schedules. Plus, by the end of the second week, if you only have a jar of cinnamon honey and some sambhar powder..... It is a fun way to use things up because I find myself being more creative than I usually am. And you also have the added advantage of creating more space for more *new* interesting foods...

The issue that has kept me from getting a big sealer (I borrow my Mom's periodically), is the inability to open and quickly reseal the bags. Much of what I want to seal I freeze and use in little bits over time - nuts, curry leaves, cubes of herbs and lemon juice etc. The only thing that kept me from buying this little one was the worry that the bags wouldn't hold a seal. So now I have no excuse!

So??? How are the bags holding in the freezer? Great? Not so great?

How about a Roomba?

Here's another vote for old beans. If you have a pressure cooker, you can throw them in that for about five or ten minutes and they will soften up. -L

Hmmmm. That's a Virginia location, but I'll give it a shot. Right now the nice people at MacArthur's are seeing if they can special order for us.

And I thought I was being clever keeping the cork with the winery information on it.

We had it at Jaleo (I know, controversial choice, but I am one of the lucky ones who has always been there on an "on" day), so it should be out there. It's a 2001 Rioja. I found it for sale at a New York retailer just by Googling. No luck at the Calvert-Woodley website. I may just check a map for the closest place to me and give them a call. I checked the Bodegas Riojanas website for a distributor and only found one in Spain - how might one track down a local distributor?

*bump* I live in northern Virginia and frequent a locally owned wine store that is run by a friend. She is unable to get a Spanish wine that I want because it is not distributed in VA, but told me that if I had it in a DC restaurant, a DC vendor could probably get it for me. I checked both MacArthur's and Schneider's websites and had no luck. Does anyone have a recommendation for a wine store in DC that can do special orders? -L

^ I also have an apple peeler, but it isn't a POWER apple peeler. I'm thinking something like this could bring a whole new dimension to apple butter making.

Will it work with apples too???

Resurrecting the thread - We ate with some friends at the DC Jaleo Saturday night. I'm going to try to remember everything. Red sangria (very nice), and a lovely 2001 Bodegas Riojanas Vina Albina reserva rioja. Just perfect with the tapas. All in all we ordered: Patatas bravas (I think there were at least three orders over the course of the evening) One of the seasonal tapas - asparagus with lemon dressing and manchego Mushrooms in garlic and herbs Homemade chorizo with garlic mashed potato (the sausage lovers at the table pronounced this the best they had ever eaten) Seared tuna with sesame seeds A seasonal beef dish - I can't remember the name And then - the vegetable paella. Oh my. Just wonderful. So much saffron it clung in threads to the dishes when we were finished. Silky eggplant, roasted peppers, cauliflower, zucchini.... A lovely meal, great service, and wonderful atmosphere. -L