JEL

i'm hardly a pro......... keep us posted on the squeeky curds, they are so much fun to eat.........

i'd buy whole chickens, cut them in half, then grill them........ give them a huge baked sweet potato that was finished on the grill with the chicken........loads of butter, honey and brown sugar...... a massive tossed spinich salad with everything on it from bacon to eggs...... feed the leftover desserts like you said, (btw sorry we missed the party)....... that's pretty easy, and still high quality chow for anyone......... you eat a half chicken, a big potato and a load of salad, then a little dessert.......that's plenty for lunch........even for those guys.....

woods........ if i was going to make a hard cheese i would start with some simple cheddar curds.......... they're fun to eat, (squeeky), and you wont wrap up a bunch of time in affinage........ i make mostly a fresh chevre, that we sell commercially, but i made a few hundred pounds of an interesting bloomy rind cheese this summer, it is in a 6" wheel and about 1 1/2 " thick....... a few weeks ago i took some of the acid set curd we make and rolled in in ash, then sprayed it with a pen. candidium..... it has grown a VERY nice bloom, it is in the fridge now, waiting to become nice and gooey.......... i hope to make a few hundred pounds of a washed rind / trappist style cheese yet this fall before we dry the goats off...... there's a lot of things that can be done with an old refrigerator as a ripening cabinet, including growing molds on store bought chevre logs.... or how about growing a white mold on a cheese formed from a high end cream cheese, and blue cheese crumble....... fusion cheese.............blue notes on the inside, agressive white mold on the outside, high fat content, and a dessicating gooeyness that makes you want to eat it with a spoon.......... crazy?????????

heating the airspace in my milk pasturizer.................... airspace must be at least 5F over the temp corder.............. *note to self........order a backup*...................

i seen some mexicans use it in some carnita's a few times........ splendid..........

pie crust, absolutely......... especially a savory pot pie.......... even better is popcorn, popped in the stuff...................

hard boiled and pickled............ the brine can be almost anything as long as it's hot as hell........ nothin like a few of those with some icy beer after work..................

i'm grateful for all the city dwellers who romanticize about those soulful, bossomy areas where food is not just prepared, but actually created...... living in those areas, and creating that food, is a lot of hard work.......... and there's not much romance in that......... i left the comfort of my bed this morning at 4 am to milk goats........ just got home......... rural people that i've seen and known, don't really dream of city life, most have never been very far from home.......... they toil, in physically demanding work, and do as best as they can....... they romanticize about getting into heaven............... i think what your really dreaming about is being able to "travel" to all those quaint places and enjoy the local fare............. i know i do the same thing.......... i've also learned that wherever i'm living, i'm romanticizing about how good some food would be from somewhere else.......... regards, john

yep....great job........... for those who haven't met the "varmint family", you are missing out on a beautiful thing.......... when i see families like that it gives me a real sense of hope for the future............ let those kids get a little older and you can send them down for some "real life farm experiences"..........with pay........... best to all..........john

that's a good point............. the milking does have oodle's of roon in the barn, and they do have access to outside paddock, and, pasture......... active, and healthy animals yield the best quality and quantity of milk, so it's in our best interest to look after their needs............. goats that are dry, cool, and happy are our best friends............ everything from individual identification of animals, computerized records, to an evolving haacp plan is helping us assure that the products we provide, come from a sustainable and healthy sytem.......... regards to the "family", come back any time................ we sure enjoyed yesterday with y'all.................. john

can't wait till wednesday................

sweet potatoes are a pretty healthy food, baked, and finished over the coals with your steak, chicken, chops or fish........... toss a spinich salad, loaded with the summers best, and you've got a pretty healthy meal........ unless...... your thinking about how good some melted butter would be on that sweet potato, so you melt some. then you add some brown sugar and nutmeg, just because. it's carmelizing a little, acting quickly you slice a bananna, and a pear into the syrup. not stopping there, you grab some of those toasted pecans, and put theose in too...... turn the damn thing into a candy bar......... it was great........

rich or poor, i think they're more inspired by their "activism", than anything else.......

roast a pork shoulder with some garlic, onions, and celery....... slice the pork and put it in a slow cooker with fresh basil and oregano...... season w/ s&p... deglaze the roasting pan and add the juices to the meat........ italian pork right.... heap it on to french bread w/ some handmade motz, into the oven to melt the cheese and crunchen the bread........ hand grate some parm, or pecorino romano on top......drizzle w/ olive oil........ pickled peppers on the side....... crowd pleaser.......

how about some fresh caught lake erie perch......... or walleye.......... find some good local kielbasa........ sweet corn....... and the fresh fruits of the summer....plums, peaches, apricots.......... you know.... how can it get better than that............

Pork Burger for me........ 80/20...... shake on some custom pork spice #0763, mfg by custom foods, Oswego IL...... grilled medium... toasted sourdough bun.... mustard, (any kind)......... sides, sliced cucumber, onion, and the perfect tomato.......splash of balsamic vinegar, s&p....... the perfect ear of corn, (or 6-10 ears), prepared any way but boiled, slathered with fresh goat butter, and olive oil, kosher salt and cracked black pepper...... dessert, the summers best watermelon, eaten with your hands, out of the rind in big wedges....... beer.........

anything that Lucy takes a picture of..........

chris, i have the answer to your dilemna........ your spoiled......... i grew up on a farm in IL , we had all home raised meat, poultry, vegetables and fruit........ i never knew why people ordered a pork chop or a steak........ or ate off of the abominably bad salad bar, when we had so much GREAT stuff right at the house..... kids took cold cut sandwiches on wonder bread in their lunch and i had ham or roast beef on homemade bread.....

best fish recipe ever......... ingredients, 3 kids, worms, bamboo poles, bobbers and line, a bluegill pond, coolers, ice and beer, sharp knives, stuff for breading, a cast iron skillet and some crisco.....did i mention beer........most impotantly, springtime and hungry fish........ special technique, as you catch the fish, throw them into your beer cooler, the beer will get a little slimy but just rinse off the cans in the pond before you drink them. when the beer is gone, or the worms are gone, go home to clean the fish...... make the kids help you clean and fry the fish.....while you have a few more beers...... no side dishes are necessary for fresh fried bluegill, other than some tarter sauce, or some homemade horseradish sauce........ fish cooked in this manner are always delicious because you are so damned hungry by the time you get to eat them..... and it's a spiritual thing too ........... trust me on this one........

lucy = proof there are angels among us........... thank you so very much........ *wipes tear from eye*

i did that only i filled it with proschutto, and a blue goat cheese, then breaded the whole thing and baked it........ like a pork cordon bleu.........yummy

i'm a kabob addict myself....... make a mexican one with pork marinated in lime, garlic and cilantro..... use roma tomatos, zucchini and yellow squash, red onions and jalapenos for the veggie bobs....... i drizzle some evoo on before cooking just so the salt and pepper will stick.......l brown corn tortillas on a stone..... guacamole, pico de gallo, an ear of corn, case of negro modellas........ great way to eat healthy, delicious, simple and cheap......... homemade warm shortcake, strawberries and heavy cream for dessert... i can't wait for summer.........

i'd cook outside "cowboy style" and tell the kids to like it.......... damn right.......... cast iron, gas burners, pots of stew, chilli, soups.......... some great bread....... paper plates/ bowls, and a big garbage barrel to put it all in......... i don't know if this was a good answer or not, but i would make the most of the adventure.....

anyone familiar with the different traditional preperations, and the ethnic groups they coincide with......... i've heard all kinds of stuff about how the different cuisines want different size animals/cuts etc........ i'm wanting to dig a little deeper here than just an array of recipes, i can find them all over the web....... needing some 411 with a little depth including markets where these meats are available..... best regards, john

i'm not much of a "dessert" cheese eater, rather, i prefer it as a lunch, or light dinner..... today i was nibbling on a triple creme that had blue mold on the inside and white on the outside.....some crusty sourdough, and a beer...... i love washed rind/trappist style cheeses with crunchy raw vegetables, and summer sausage for a quick farmers lunch....... what i really have been into lately are mixed milk cheeses, one favorite is a combined natural rind cows milk blue with sweet goat curd. the spiciness of the blue and the fresh tanginess of the goat cheese is absolutely wonderful. weather i crumble it on a salad, broil it onto a steak, add it into a hot wing dip, or in a potato grattin........... i like to get off the beaten path a little, i'm not really a white wine, fruit and brie kind a guy.....