foodie52

Reading this thread reminded me of Galliano's ad...I believe it must have been magazines. "Fond of things Italiano? Try a sip of Galliano." This must have been wayyy back in the early 70's. What the heck IS Galliano anyway? (Since I never did get a sip of the stuff.)

That link is fascinating. Last week we visited the Fountainbleau State Park just north of the Lake That Is Impossible To Spell Correctly ! It has a boardwalk as well, out into marshland. That's all you see all around you. It was wonderful.

OK: I know this is kind of different and not really answering your post, but what about sun drying some? Couldn't you get some screening and lay a bunch out to dry? Also, ( and this is realllyyyy a stretch! ) Boggy Creek Farm here does smoke dried that are killer.

So..... What did you learn from this experience?

I've tasted one as well. I bet this is a flash in the pan. Tasted like it had been soaked in grape Kool-Aid. Or grape jelly.... Why would you want an apple that tastes like a grape, anyway?

Yes: It's called "McDonalds".

I love dessert but I rarely order it because I know that after a couple of bites, I'll be satisfied and there will be too much left over. If I'm dining with my husband or close friends, we usually share a dessert. But that means that you have to agree on what to have! I wish the dessert portions in restaurants were half as large. I'd love dessert to be more like a "tasting" menu" concept. Instead of a slab of chocolate mousse cake, why not just a couple of bites?Mini tarts instead of wedges. Espresso size cups of mousses. Spoonfuls of wonderful flavors. I know somebody does this. French Laundry does, right? I wish more places did this. Then I'd be happy to have dessert, knowing that I'm not going to leave feeling awful! Too much dessert negates the splendor of the entire meal.

HA! Only if you promise to email me once in a while!

Do i hear.......... PIRATE PARTY!!!

Does Ma Cuisine have outside seating?? And isn't there one called La Grenouille, or was I just suffering from heat stroke when I was there last August? We ate at one of those places: it's on the square and they have outside seating right up to the street.

The flowers one, in my opinion, is the least wacky. Elderberry wine, elderflower drinks, lavender icecream, hibiscus sorbet have all been around quite a while, right?

Smoothies. With tofu for protein. Sipped through a straw.

Shoplifters aren't dying of starvation. They're trying to get away with getting something for free. Let me edit that....the store where I work is very high end. If you are starving, you go and apply for food stamps. Or you go to the local generic mart and steal what you need for your children. Ironically, I don't have a huge problem with that, although I know, I know....morally it's wrong. Thank God I've never been in that situation . But if I had to feed my kids, darn right I'd steal. The shoplifters in our store are either flipping product for cash or doing it for the thrill of it.

Why do you think your food is so expensive? A grocery store's profit margin is usually around 1 1/2 percent. Without the markup of 20 % or so, they'd barely break even. Shoplifting is a huge problem. Some of it is internal, of course. But you have no idea how much stuff leaves without being paid for. I've found empty boxes that contained pricey balsamics countless times. Or truffle oils. They disappear. And vitamins. And anti-aging creams from our Healthy Living department. What do you do? Put stuff behind glass? Tell someone that they can't have a pound of tiger shrimp because they are wearing baggy pants?????

Eww. Too much information. But then again, I eat chicken and there's way too much information about slaughtering methods out there as well. Must keep mind blank..... I was fortunate enough to eat at St. John in London last January. The roasted bone marrow with parsley salad and toasted bread was to die for.

Ah yes...we have a bulk department in our store where you weigh your own items. Produce department operates that way as well. Some people get a thrill out of labelling Kona coffee as Mexican Altura. There's no way of knowing, of course. But I'd say that 95% of our customers have moral standards and don't do that sort of thing. Maybe even more, I don't know. I just feel sorry for them: what else can you do? Cashiers try to look at what they are ringing up. I cashier occasionally and catch the odd chanterelle tagged as button mushrooms for example.. I'll let the customer know that they mislabelled something, and would they like for me to get it reweighed and relabelled? Oh: and by the way: most shoplifters we catch look quite well to do. My favorite was the middle aged man who got caught lifting about 10 pounds of ribeye. When caught, he called his wife on his cell to let her know that he'd be home late. He was driving a Mercedes..... And, an interesting piece of trivia: the most common product shoplifted??? Guess. Shrimp.. Usually stuffed down the pants. I'm serious.

Had a wonderful dinner at Upperline Restaurant two nights ago. Webpage I had the Thomas Jefferson Louisiana Purchase dinner: the menu emphasises indigenous American foods with European techniques. Chef Ken Smith is an amazing chef. I started with the Turtle Soup with Sherry. Flavors of sherry, allspice and clove stood up to the wonderful dark brown roux of the soup. I then had Sweetbreads with Mushroom Ragout served over crispy polenta triangles. I've never enjoyed sweetbreads so much: they were melt in your mouth tender. Next, I had the highly touted Roast Duck with Pecan Sweet Potatoes and Peach Ginger Sauce. The duck skin was crispy, the meat was tender. The warm peach ginger sauce complemented the dark meat perfectly. The sweet potatoes had a wonderful praline pecan topping. It was excellent. Lastly, I chose an assortment of sorbets to end the meal: burgundy pear was my favorite. Owner JoAnn Clevenger made us feel so welcome: she sat with us and said that she reads egullet once in a while and enjoys it. Mayhaw May apparently is a familiar customer in her restaurant! This was one of the best meals I've had in years. If you're in New Orleans, it's well worth the streetcar ride to get to Upperline.

They don't get any sort of training except on the job. And the nature of grocery store is transient. I work at a grocery store where new hires have to go through quite an extensive interview process, including product identification. But hey: when you're making only $7.50 an hour , there's not that much incentive to learn. Unless, of course, you are planning on moving up the ladder. I believe it when you say that your cashier didn't know what a lime was. So many people eat out of boxes or at a box....the color green is mostly unknown to them.

Mmmmmm.........puffy tacos........ Now in Austin!

Did somebody say....TURKISH???????? Oopsss...did that. But we could do it again some day!

"Excuse me , I heard that you consider my dessert too abstract to consume, am I right, Sir, Madame?" "Why yes..." "The cracking sound of a bitchslap, plate smashing over head, the whooosh of a blowtorch turning on" Very Monty Python....

This is a great thread. What many people don't realize is that cooking involves lots of chemistry. A great book that will answer lots of your questions is Cookwise by Shirley Corriher. Get it as a reference. Keep it bedside for nighttime reading. I love that book.

OK: as long as we are talking about manners, someone please clarify this for me. My parents are in Switzerland. They are in their 70's. I live in the USA. My mother was TOTALLY humiliated when we went to a restaurant with her in Luzern and I asked for my entree to be wrapped up to take home with me...it was way more than I could eat. She told us ( way before I asked to have it wrapped up ) that NOBODY asks for that in Europe! That it is the epitome of uncouth to do that. But I couldn't see that food going to waste, especially with the exchange being as crappy as it is....the meal cost a fortune and it was only a bistro. So I asked for the leftovers to be wrapped up. The waiter didn't blink an eye. And they obviously had the materials in the kitchen to do it, because it came in foil, in a paper bag. So ....is it my mother? Or is it totally CRASS in Europe to take your leftovers home with you?

Roast chicken wing tips. You can eat it all if you chew carefully! Then the scrappings at the bottom of the roast chicken pan. The crispy cheese layer at the bottom of the fondue pot. It was always divided carefully amongst all family members! The fat from a roast goose, eaten late at night on black bread with a sprinkling of salt. I love the collapsed malt balls, too! I thought I was the only person . Maybe we can start a support group?

Set of ironstone Johnson Brothers dinner and salad plates for 4 from England: Goodwill. Porcelain coffee cup and saucer byHutschenreuter: Goodwill. One placesetting of flatware: (knife, fork, spoon), Christofle: Goodwill Donvier icecream maker: ditto So when I have dinner parties, everyone gets different plates and flatware. It's lots of fun.