Hopleaf

well? how abotu now. We're less than 1 week away fromt he official start of Spring. I think it's nearly safe to say the "S" word. I see a dethatching rake in my future, and a few hours spent behind my tiller. Ooh, the smell of fresh, most earth...cannot be too far away. Course, we're only expected a high of 36?F today. But June is right around the corner!!

Ok, ok...the snow's melted, the birds are chirping, we had a 50 degree day in Chicago this past weekend. I don't wanna jinx us, but come on...even the Beloved Cubbies are suitin' up for ______ Training. And I certainly have a _________ in my step. And just the other day, the ______ on my back screen door broke. It's almost here folks. What are you gonna do about it!? Personally, I think Puxatawny Phil had his head up his own yaya when he said he saw a shadow. Whatever! Goes to show you can never trust a sub-dwelling groundhog. ....Varmint Kong....Sianara! Oh! He got all a that one! Happy Spr....oooh, almost did it.

Figured we'd hear a lot from our southern contingent. thanks all. It seems so strange to hear about someone (mebane jr.) in a red rider pickin' out plants in the middle of January...especially when I look out my back window (heck, any window) and see a sea of white. Well, lovebenton, I'm gonna try leeks I think. But I'm not sure how to incorporate the "sandy soil" element. Figure I'll just till in some play sand (cheap stuff!) in one corner of one bed and see how they do. Also, more lettuce...emphasis on more. We only did two varieties last year, three plants of each. Once we'd harvested and eaten those, we were sorely disappointed that there wasn't more. But it was our first year gardening. Plus I let the last of each bolt and harvested the seeds. I plan to stagger sow them from the first opportunity through the summer, starting them indoors first. And definitely more tomato plants, but I will implement a Super Squirrel Defense Program, which may or may not include an air rifle. Right now we've been fattening the squirrels up with various kitchen scraps (funniest image is seeing a squirrel try to lug a carrot to a quiet spot for eating...like the rabbit might take it away any second). So maybe come Spring, several of them will have perished from coronary disease and lack of proper excerise (crossing fingers!). At any rate, I'm pledging not to lose a SINGLE tomato to those fuzzy little shits. I'm thinking pressure treated 1Xs with 6-foot lengths of chicken wire top to bottom. Will have to have a hinged door for pruning and picking, but that's a small price to pay if we get the harvest all to ourselves. there remains the possibility also of electrofying this rig, but that might be overkill (speaking of kill, that's a great idea for the damn furry legions of hell!). Anyone have a good recipe for Squirrel Stew? (guess I could check the recipe database.)

Anyone doing anything remotely gardening-related? And shoveling snow doesn't count. We finally got some measurable snowfall in Chicago. About 5 inches fell last weekend and it finally feels like winter. Now it can go away. My garden beds are resting peacefully under about 3 feet of compressed leaves, with some chicken wire and rocks to hold it all in place. Still figuring out what I'll be adding into the fold for next year and what to put in my new beds (expansion in progress!). So, let's hear an update, eh?

wow, my mouth just went completely dry. What a first post. Please indulge us with more, Mark Beemsterboer.

I'm usually not a big fan of corporations leveling taste down to mediocrity, but when it comes to Starbuck's espresso (to date, have never tried their coffee), you can't complain with the level of consistency they get from shot to shot, across the country. That has to be commended. Is it the best espresso I've ever tasted? By no means, but neither are McDonald french fries the best french fries I've ever tasted, but go to any McDonalds (I hasten to say globally, but nationally for sure) and the fries are consistently good (there sandwich products leave much to be desire, but that's another story). I'm an Extra-shot Americano, grande. So I don't really have an opinion on their milk drinks. But I do think the only thing I could complain about how my drink is prepared is how hot the water is they add to make the Americano. Burning my tongue is right up there with severing my own digits with a meat cleaver...something I go to great lengths to avoid. I've taken to asking for a "couple cubes of ice, please" which seems to be a phrase very much so open to interpretation. I've gotten anywhere from two cubes (a standard interpretation of "couple") to nearly a full scoopful of ice (an overzealousness that screams lack of interest). Which brings me to my other complaint, the service. I've witnessed attrocities in customer service before, but nothing nearly as bad as what I once saw at the Starbucks in Chicago's Merchandise Mart. Apparently one particular day a Starbucks employee had consumed one too many espresso shots and when a customer asked for drink to be remade since it wasn't what she order (this in the middle of the morning rush, of course) the employee all but hauled off on her. After a verbal tirade that made this meak midwesterner blush and put my head down in shame for having witnessed the incident, the lady stormed off, probably never to return to another Starbucks.

lovebenton, I'm definitely not the wisest contributor to this thread, I've asked my fair share of questions, so we'll see what the "experts" say, but as a suggestion, are you sure the peach variety you're growing is suitable to your climate? it almost sounds as if it'd be tailor made for a shorter growing season. Just a hunch, something to look into. And the only other possible explanation that I can think of is location. Location. location. Real estate matters most when it comes to plants, as I'm sure you know. Is the peach tree getting more sun than it should, thus perhaps sparking it's blossoms. I know that Februrarys in Central Texas can be awefully warm at 2:00 p.m. but can still dip to near freezing at night (how do I know this, you might ask, me being a hard core midwestern type...well, my sister lived in Fredricksburg for some time). I could definitely see a peach tree sitting there on a 65?F Valentines day, love in it's pit, the sun's warmth in its fuzzy skin...and then all of a sudden...oops, oh, a blossom...oh well it's warm let's go with it. know what I mean? (pardon the plant personification...er...and the allitertion). If it turns out you have a marginally acceptable zone designation for this peach tree, and the tree is small enough, you might consider transplanting it...now would be best as the root systems of most plants start to batten down the hatches for the winter. Alas, this is all hypothesis. Tell us more about your wonderfully long growing season, most of us northern types have already put our beds to...er...bed.

My pleasure, Pinga. Wow, that's such a specific question, I haven't a clue. I'd suggest posting it at either of the two sites I mentioned. And also, I subscribe to Horticulture Magazine, an excellent publication. They also have message boards, but I'm not sure how informed the people on it are...if the publication is any indication though, it's worth looking into. I can't seem to get the message board pop-up window to work on my computer. At any rate, here's the link to their home page: Horticulture Magazine And I'm not sure if there are Agriculture/Horticulture Extensions in England, but is there an official resource in your area that's botany-specific? Perhaps someone else here has some suggestions for Pinga. Any fellow British gardeners out there? (Pinga, I think you're the first!) Good luck, let us know what happens...

There probably are tons of gardening message boards out there, but the two that I think are closest in member enthusiasm and knowledge in comparison to eGullet (they don't compare in terms of software, but who does, gardening or otherwise) are: Fine Gardening Magazine (Taunton Press) has the Over the Fence Forum populated by gardening enthusiasts as well as their fine editorial staff: Over the Fence Garden Web is a decent site that has a pretty solid forum as well: Garden Web Enjoy!

and post count means nothing. just ask tommy.

So would the Wine Clip make the $1.99 Entre Nous Table Wine I saw at the store the other day (fine, I bought a bottle, but come on! a $2 bottle! at the very least you can cook with it!) taste more like a $1.99 Entre Magnetico? And how did you ship the Wine Clip you sent to South Africa? There is International Fed Ex, you know? I admire your conviction, Dennis. But this is as hoaky as the Ginsu knives of yesteryear. Does the Wine Clip come with an As Seen on TV sticker? or have you not yet branched your marketing out to include late night info-mercials.

Nevermind! I just read Human Bean's post above. Guess I'm tossing that bottle I have.

I'm gonna try this. I've been eating cottage cheese a lot lately, as it's low in cholesterol (at least the 2% variety is). Any idea of the shelf-life of flax seed oil? Rancidity factors? The bottle in my pantry is probably a couple of years old.

Just invested in some manure. First time poop purchasor here, thank you very much. And it wasn't too pricey...only $2.49 for a 40# bag. Gonna mulch it into my beds along with the leaves from last year's gutter cleanout. Still loving fall...course, I haven't raked one leaf yet. But I plan too. I'm looking at making an enourmous pile and toss my two-year old in there.

Luckily for me, I've been liberated from the notion that saturated fat and cholesterol are bad for you. In fact, I firmly believe they are good for you. This is one less thing I need to feel stress over, and eliminating stress is great in terms of health. Read The Cholesterol Myths by Uffe Ravnskov. The book's web page is: http://www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol.htm Also check into his organization, The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics here: http://thincs.org/ One skeptic I particularily like is Dr. Malcom Kendrick. You can find his articles here: http://redflagsweekly.com/kendrick.html They are all worth reading, but I recommend you start with 'So, What Does Cause Heart Disease?' here: http://redflagsweekly.com/kendrick/2003_aug01.html I did great on a paleo-diet, and I mostly stick to it for day to day eating. I lost weight, eliminated my hypertension, and cured my migranes. Since I don't worry about cholesterol, I can't give you my recent numbers, but before I learned to stop worrying and love saturated fat, I did get a blood test and found that my numbers had improved considerably (HDL way up, Triglycerides way down) And that was after being on my mostly red meat paleo-diet. My doctor's advice on seeing the numbers: start cholesterol lowering drugs immediately. Of course, I refused. Best of luck, and please pass the bacon (and steak, and butter, ...) Hey, I did say unnecessary animal and sat. fats.

Well, I'm religious about making my sandwich every work day cuz I hate buying $10 lunches at the Corner Bakery (only worthwhile dining option near work). So, mostly, I just buy the slices of faux cheese, and Veggie slices is predominantly soy-based, but it still has some dairy in it (just the caseins, I believe) so it's not for the lactose-intolerants (and as a side note, I think that's the main distinction between Veggie Slices and Toffutti, which doesn't have the creamy texture that Veggie Slices has). But I did get some shredded Veggie Slices (oxymoronic labeling there, shredded/slices?) and tried it on a Nacho platter and over chili. It tasted more like block cheese than the slices, but it didn't melt nearly as well as the slices. The first test with the slices I made grilled cheese sandwiches, sautéed in a little olive oil instead of butter, and the cheese really melted well and had that creamy american cheese flavor.

Check this link out to read a remarkable story of a quick thinking, beer drinker who saved another man from a burning car using beer: Brainy Beer Drinker

See! nute yeast? maybe that was what I got. Pretty sure it was brewer's yeast. it didn't taste bitter to me. Course, I've been known to like a bitter or three. Between your own knees father!

What's your vector Victor?

really? i mix it in orange juice or water and gulp. maybe i need to try it on popcorn. the kind by Lewis Labs? yeah, really. I dunno about the Lewis Labs kind. I just buy the stuff in the bulk spice aisle. Is it good in oj? or water?

Surely you jest. Stop calling me Surely.

and just as a side note, you may want to encourage your 17 year old to season with something a little more healthy. a suggestion as an alternative that still has a bit of a cheesy feel to it, brewer's yeast. I put this on popcorn and I swear it tastes like cheese popcorn. Try it, I'm serious!!

Try Sargento Foods, I know they have a division where they sell stuff like this to other companies that make further processed foods. Think they called it their Business to Bussiness division or something. Kraft probably makes their own. and might also sell to others. that's the route you want to go

you said you had to stand in your closet for the one shot and it seems like that would be off to the left of the refrigerator. Any chance that you can put your fridge IN your closet? then you could put a cart, rather permanently to the left of the sink. I second the notion of using the verticle space available, and the pot rack is a great idea that worked well for me in a past apartment. The corner you have is a waste of space. There's nearly nothing that can be functional under the cabinets in that corner. You might want to put something that you wouldn't need regularly back there. Maybe your dish drying rack could go back there. maybe a corner shelf unit that you could store spices and other dry goods. I don't think putting a cutting board on top of your stove is a good solution. How many times are you cutting something while something else is cooking? Lots. I'm much more in favor of the cutting board over the sink, and get one with a hole so you could rinse veggies through it without having to move the board. I have a long rectangular one with a hole on one side. Forget where I found it...Carson's? And that 1.5 L wine bottle is taking up WAY too much space. Drink it already!!!

There's a place in Ogunquit called Jonathan's. It's more formal, I guess, but the food was pretty good.