moosnsqrl

Yeah, it's been a while for us but I think, if you go 'old school' (which in our case means a caesar and steak au poivre) you can still enjoy the glory days. And I also had a good bowl of chowder there at lunch more recently. Based on my personal experience - avoid lobster like the plague!

You're going to make a Viennese sandwich between two slices of (from-the-ridiculous-to-the-sublime) tacos?

I've always questioned your taste in entertainment but puhleez tell me you don't really watch Extreme Chefs!?! Jim's, RedX, the 'dotte and all of the other under-belly glimpses into our fair city I could handle but that is just embarrassing!

The pictures don't really come close to capturing the true vibe, or the booming crowds when it's busy since that was shortly after 7am. I also left out the city's largest collection of bells and the antique furniture and kitchen dioramas that line all of the windows along the front of the building. It's one of those places where I'm there so often I forget how different it may be to some people....when my sister in law was in town last summer, she confirmed through word and priceless expression- Red-X is one of a kind! You couldn't find any toothless natives to pose at that hour of the morning, huh? It's too bad there wasn't a wine tasting this week during your blog . . . I just love the juxtaposition of wine snobs and Riversidians!

Bourdain did the whole "Winter's Bone" thing (including nearly killing/paralyzing the author of the book from whence it came) and made Miz-ery look bad enough (not inaccurately, I hasten to add). I am glad at least that said author is an alum of KU!

That pork *IS* incredible. And, for the record, Nick and I lobbied him to have you and Breann (sp?) join us for the first meal in the tin can. So now you know who your real friends in KC are

Any leftovers from either Port Fonda or the Ad Hoc chicken? Ain't too proud to beg.

I think you could just fill the ol' cajun turkey fryer up with Crisco and set it out on the deck today. No need to heat up the kitchen with the immersion circulator!

Unfortunately, chiliheadmike moved to KY a couple of years ago. You *are* getting close, though.

Calling All Foodies and Amateur Chefs for Twisted Tomato Day Salsa Recipe Contest Kansas City, MO —The tomato…locally grown in a variety of sizes, shapes and colors is a delight to many and always an eagerly anticipated farmers’ market staple. Tomatoes will be featured front and center during the Twisted Tomato Day Festival on Saturday, July 3, from 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Fresh, locally grown tomatoes, including many hard-to-find heirloom varieties will be available for purchase at vendor stalls throughout the City Market. The City Market is calling all foodies and amateur chefs. If you have a particularly tasty vegetable or fruit salsa recipe and can stand the “heat” join us for the City Market Salsa Recipe Contest from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Compete against other amateur chefs for culinary bragging rights and win some great prizes in the process. To register, download the registration form at www.thecitymarket.org. Submit your registration no later than Wednesday, June 30. Kids, the Twisted Tomato Day will offer plenty activities for you as well; try your hand at tomato put-put and see if you can sink a hole in one. Plant your own vegetable seeds and paint with tomatoes with Wonderscope Children’s Museum. Mother Nature will be on site with her whimsical stories and puppets and you can test your farmer knowledge at the National Agricultural Center Trivia Wheel. Additional Festivals will take place the first Saturday of each month. Be sure to mark your calendar for these upcoming City Market events: August 7 Crazy Corn Day September 4 Pepper Party October 2 Harvest Festival

FYI to anyone planning to visit Sebo . . . they are open on Sunday evenings but they do NOT serve sushi. The menu looked good nonetheless but we opted to do something else Sunday and returned Tuesday for some of the best sushi we've ever had.

Yes, and it better be good or I'm keeping the gift

you're just sayin' that because they fed you well and didn't make you pull weeds!

Slightly belated announcement but it's gazpacho martini season in the lounge at bluestem and, if that weren't incentive enough, there are some amazing picked veg (grown by the usual suspects: Crums, Thane Palmberg to name 2) that are also worth a trip. Wonderful flavor, not pucker-inducing like they are at too many places. Loving the okra and fennel most of all!

yes, I don't kid myself . . . whenever the market changes, I'm sure something more lucrative will replace this, but it's still a great idea for the time -- and in a VERY visible area, adjacent to our soon-to-be-fabulous performance arts center. The possibilities are amazing. Small victories.

A local KC company announced plans for a very exciting new project:

I second that. I could really get used to making as big of mess as humanly possible and just tossing it to some poor galley wench and saying I need it back clean STAT! Amazing how fast power goes to one's head. They did a GREAT job and I think we would still be there cleaning if it weren't for their dogged persistence. On a semi-related note . . . Toby, I have your Corningware dish. If you PM me contact info for your north KC friend I will attempt to get it to her before I break it. Those little yellow dots worked - as we stood in the prop pantry staring at probably no fewer than 2 dozen similar white, fluted baking dishes I was ready to abandon hope but very near the top of the first stack, there was the dot.

I agree wholeheartedly on all counts (but sub Aaron's name for mine; I didn't find myself all that amenable much of the time). And I have to add a hearty thank you to my s.o. of 23 years (today, as a matter of fact), who has quietly and imperceptibly become pretty darn helpful; in the kitchen and in life.

Some answers to life's persistent questions about Crum's Farm: Anyway...someone asked about the crops we had planted... Here we go... bottom of the hill to top Hoop House...tomatoes, cukes Broccoli, asparagus, garlic, green beans, onions, eggplant, peppers, beets,tomatoes, kale...red and tuscan, chard, cabbage, pattypans, zucchini, yellow squash, At the Edwardsville field...potatoes...Kennebec, Purple Majesty, German Butterball, Banana, carrots, onions, turnips, leeks We have just planted the last two seasons some apple, pear, damson plums, blackberries and red rasberries. Yes...strawberries are in the plan for next year! We have a small herb garden. Mostly basil to go with the tomatoes, right? Already gone for now is lettuce, spinach, greens, peas, spring onions and garlic, radishes...fall however is just around the corner... Itis rhubarb that I have started in the greenhouse...soon to be company with broccoli, cabbage, lettuce....I'm sure I'm forgetting something.... Oh yes...our bee keepers names are Ivan and Paula Owen...their number is 913.788.5017 and they sell from their home across from Providence Hospital. Hope this helps answer the question about what we grow!

It was great meeting you and mom and, even though you're focaccia hogs, you're always welcome

Let's see, chard of several varieties - the chef's in town like the green stuff best because the red stuff 'bleeds'. A row of a couple of varieties of kale. Some cabbage, broccoli, summer squashes of several varieties, eggplants, peppers, onions, garlic, asparagus closer to the house. I'm trying to recall what she told me was in the greenhouse - I think it might be rhubarb starts. She wants strawberries next year and is clearing a spot where the old compost heap had been. There must be potatoes because they were in the root cellar. And of course tomatoes - tons of the cherry varieties especially. There was also an apiary - apparently taken care of by a neighbour. I did get some pictures of that. Got to be lettuce in there somewhere too - but I didn't recall seeing it - must have been behind the fence to keep the critters away. They planted some fruit trees last year - apple and pear as I recall - a couple didn't survive the winter. I actually have more pictures of the crops and various tress than I have of people - what does that say about me as a photographer? ← you took a pretty good shot at it - I'll add a couple of notes . . . They do grow potatoes but on some leased land a few miles away (quite near me); the corn is also grown there. I believe there is/was fennel in addition to what you listed. It's way too hot for lettuce here now; when Aaron and I visited in June they had a beautiful patch of lettuce that was already too bitter to do anything with - same thing happened to me this year due to an early hot spell. We'll try again in the fall. Believe it or not, I am alrealdy looking forward to the heirloom dinner at Starker's. I couldn't make the bluestem one last night - just too soon after the 4 days of gluttony - but I think by next Monday I'll be ready to climb back on the horse. Did you ever figure out what the trees were?

I thought it was *I* who convinced you. Sniff, sniff. You call that *good* bread? Dude, we could've gotten that out of a freezer case and thawed it! I am obviously KIDDING and, again, can't tell you how much it meant to the Gathering that you made the herculean effort to drive all the way down and produce such incredible edibles for us. i think we're almost even for the foie in Ann Arbor. I think you should sell your story and become an ad rep for Best Western (think "no, but I slept at a Holiday Inn last night!"). You're the best. Again, thanks for being such a trooper.

See I thought this dish was a home run. It was my favorite of the evening. I think this was just one of those risk-taking dishes that people are going to love or hate. But to me it was brilliant. I also couldn't really taste the flavors and I thought the cake was dry. This dessert just didn't work for me. ← As painful as it is to agree with Fat Guy, I :wub:'d the beet dish - I loved the counter point of sweet (beets, scallops), slightly spicy (arugula, well-rinsed onion) and [searching for words here] semi-astringent (radish - in this case, not as a rule) and the blossoms. In fact, I just did something similar as an after-salad to cleanse our palates from red curry leftovers, which rocked! Paula, our venue manager/hostess, treated their small staff to curry for lunch today and told me that she probably should have paid us (vs. us renting the space) in light of her enjoyment not only of the food but the people she shared a table with and opportunity to learn from everyone. I think she intends to amend the rental contract to ensure she is an "invited guest" at all future events, but the catered ones won't be nearly as interactive as what she was subjected to Saturday. She looked here for pix from the event and will likely continue to do so, so bring 'em on! Also would appreciate recipes (esp curry, Kerry )

Lest you think Fat Guy is joking, I give you more than likely the first poolish ever created at a Best Western: Fat Guy measured out the bread flour while I measured out the active dried yeast. Add an equal amount of water (by weight) to the flour and yeast. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon to incorporate it all. Cover and let sit in a nice draft-free corner. ← I'm sure all of the other guests will awaken with a strange, inexplicable yearning for freshly baked bread. I don't know if there's ever been a thread on hotel room cooking, but there should be. I've done some pretty bizarre things using a/c or heat registers, in-room coffee makers, honor bar fridges emptied of their pricey contents (to be replaced later) and an odd array of Dopp kit items adapted for uses far from their original intent. Throw in a vending machine down the hall and you've got a "Next Food Network Star" challenge.

There's always room for root beer milk