Rail Paul

Many US cattle farmers are trimming their herd counts significantly. USDA had a report on that a few weeks ago. With low prices for dressed beef, high feed costs (drought in some areas), antibiotics, and a dicey outlook, some are just packing it in. Classic response in a commodity business, but, as you note, unrelated to artisanal farming.

There's a picture in Saturday's NY Times with a new McDonald's advertisement in Warsaw. McKielbasa has been developed for local consumption. Nowa kanapka McKielbasa at 3.99 (Euro?) Has anybody tried this sausage? Is a potato bun used? (The article, on page 6, mentions the sausage as an element of Polish infatatuation with many US cultural and political values)

How about comparing Alberta beef to the branded Galloway by Choice, and the SterlingzSilver labels?Each has partisans with strongly held views. We had a tussle on Canadian beef eGullet last year as the Fat Guy and posse ate their way across Canada. Perhaps the Fat Dog has an opinion on the subject?

Other than Wegmans, my most satisfying experience in a supermarket after age 16 was in a Fiesta market in Houston TX. Baskets of peppers, an abundance of colorful produce, smells of tortillas cooking, a rainbow of colors and spices, almost erotic in impact... Each Wegmans is different in appearance, design, etc, but has a very friendly, helpful, embrace to the customer. It's hard to explain, but there's a very real sense of passion for good food, nicely presented

White Castle is a real intstitution, drift by the location on Lyons avenue in Irvington at 2 in the morning, and check out the action....Steinbeck would love the inspiration. Women with infants, guys getting off work, a few women of the evening coming down from Coit Street (yup, that's the name, two blocks west), cabbies, and a coupla cops. Just folks trying to get warm and enjoy a few sliders and a warm coffee.

In general, I haven't found Schrambling's pieces worth reading, so I don't read them anymore. In contrast, I like Hesser's pieces, and have mentioned that on several occasions here. Her pairings article yesterday was first rate. First person, detailed, passionate. So, it took Steve Klc 900 more words to say what I said in the first sentence. OK, and he gave more reasons. If Schrambling wants equal time, she's got it, and I'll probably read it here. We return to our normal programing at this time....

Probably 150, ranging from Madeleine Kamman to the Lake Tahoe Women's Club collection of family recipes. Favorite is Christopher Blake's Easy Elegance, a 1970s book of Louisiana favorites, and some of his special treats. Very evocative of a man who was well loved by his many friends. Many recipes from restaurants, friends, or something from Satchmo's cook. I usually put 1 or 2 books or magazines on my work table to get me thinking in unexpected directions. Right now they are Bayless's Mexican Kitchen and Crescent Dragonwagon's Soup & Bread. Next up are the Tahoe / Reno restaurants cookbook and Dannenberg's Parisian Boulangries.

Kings Markets offers a wide range of cooking courses, a few of which have been specifically geared toward "singles" in the past. Many other classes are targeted toward topics which might attract folks seeking other folks. This seems to be especially true of the participation classes, where teams are formed to execute different parts of the meal. In the courses I've attended over the years, men are a very distinct minority, FWIW

Construction has begun, there's a sign and a hole in the ground, which now has an abundance of snow in it. Looks like they're moving along, though not very quickly. The huge Shop-Rite down the street is doing exceptionally well, by most accounts.

I'd say Downingtown will eventually be the closest location, when it opens later in 2003. Until then Princeton and Allentown are about the same distance from Center City. There's a store finder with addresses on the website. The article about Downingtown says Wegmans bought "several" sites from the defunct hardware chain Hechinger's, which might speak well to Maryland and Virginia future locations The Wegmans website has an article about Wegmans and students from the Philadelphia Culinary school cooking at James Beard house. Wegmans edited to clarify Downington status: open as a drugstore, full service store to follow

The website "wines of canada" has an overview of the various wineries currently operating in Canada, with coverage of Niagara region, north shore of Lake Erie, the Okonagan area, etc and Newfoundland. (That's not a typo, there are listings for two wineries in Canada's most newly merged Dominion.) Wines of Canada The listings and descriptions are similar to how I recall the Finger Lakes of New York in the 1970s, with Dr Frank and his gewurtz, Hermann Wiemer splitting off from Glenora to make his own mark, Walter S. Can'tTellMyName peddling his Goat Red wines, etc.

As of Wednesday night, neither the "Grand Menu" nor the "Tasting Menu" on the Trotter website include foie gras. It had been on the menu within the past 2-3 weeks, last time I looked.

Thanks for the explanation, coop. Would you elaborate on the "tool" statement? Would that include a Brillo pad or scrubby which has been used on an aluminum or cast iron cooking utensil? If so, that transference might explain some of the tarnishing issues noted earlier in the thread.

There used to be a vendor in the Paterson Farmer's Market, Pickle King. Barrels and barrels of pickles. Most of their business was wholesale, but they would sell retail. I'll check and see if he's still in business, as I expect to be in that area later this week

tommy - whadayya think of bethlehem store? I haven't been there, but their Nazareth store (north by northeast of b'edlam) resembles the Bridgewater store that area has a significant Latino/a population, did you notice ingredients which might be especially suited to that demographic? Paul

yes. it won't let you play unless you make up an answer for every question. Dunno about that, maybe they tweaked the submission policy. They accepted my abbreviated response, I only answered a few of their questions. I customized my name to see if they bombard me with junk mail and spam...

Great question! I read recipes vociferously. But, I substitute all the time, based on what's in my pantry and in the market. If you understand some of the chemistry and have a sense of balance, it's easy to do. Last night, I changed the Ducasse olive mill recipe to accomodate some blue cheese. (simple version: cook an artisanal larger pasta like penne in chicken broth, add shredded parmagiano toward the end, serve with shreds of ham or duck)

There's much truth to that statement. The immediate situation was a union representation / certification election in Jacksonville TX, as I recall. The result was a successful application for representation by the local butchers (7 of 10 voted for representation). Additional representation efforts were underway in other areas. Rather than face union butchers in the stores, WMT outsourced the meat cutting to independent firms which run the regional cutting centers. The local butchers, who lost their jobs at WMT, had to apply for new jobs at the regional place, with a new employer. According to a quick google search, major efforts are underway by the UFCW to unionize Wal-Mart workers in several states. A major fight is rolling in Washington State where Teamsters represent workers in several stores which will be hurt by a planned Wal-Mart Olympian in Washington edited to change state and add WA state details

Wegman's is an adventure, I never fail to be impressed with something there. The two Shop-Rites I visit have had their beef tenderloins vac shrink wrapped for years. Ten pound pieces in pre-paks. The butcher will open them and cut into request sized mignons, etc.

agreed. in a very crisp way, the review seemed to say "good food, reasonable prices, consider taking a look at this place." Migdalia's Cuban Cafe, 66 South Washington in Bergenfield (201-387-8700). Wonder how her pork stacks up against Fink's, which is my current standard of excellence?

Your dinner sounds wonderful. Could you describe the wild boar stew? I hadn't noticed it on the menu before. thanks

Sunday's NYT letters to the editor section has three views on the article. All have ben mentioned here. One, notes that most Americans have no idea of the amount of adulterated content (genetic, chemical, etc) in their food. Food labeling isn't relatvely ineffective, this writer asserts. Two, having food that exhibits a 30 day shelf life isn't necessarily a virtue. Italians, for example, prefer fresh and local foods. Three, biotech isn't new. For at least the past 6,000 years organisms have been added to other organisms to create foods. The writer goes on to say that not a single injury to an individual has been traced to biotech food.

The butcher is still in the picture, but at a regional center, where she can be watched and supervised. No more smoking out on the loading dock, making out with the guy in produce, etc. (The move to a larger facility is surprising, though, since larger places are much easier to unionize.) In theory, the store will have fresher meat on Sunday night, when there's no butcher, or overnight, for those places which are open. I wouldn't bet on that, however. Wal-Mart is driving incredible changes in retailing. We are probably only 1/3 of the way through the process, which will relentlessly grind many merchants in the middle. (Costco, by comparison, still has butchers in many of its stores, and cuts much of its beef locally. And, has rock bottom prices. I'm assuming their butchers are non-union, but i don't know that for certain.)

This may be new, or special for the Valentine's Day event. I don't recall the tip already added when I visited there last Fall. That would have stood out. If I had ordered a bottle or two of wine, I would probably have adjusted the tip. I don't normally tip 18% on bottles of wine, if I do the selecting and the waiter takes my order.

Agreed on the burgers. Poor Herbie's in Madison has better burgers than Charley's Aunt, in my opinion. Better choice of beers on tap, too. I'm in Chatham quite a bit, so if I want lunch there, I'd put Charley's near the bottom of the list. I made the point that there are better places within a stone's throw, given how difficult parking is in Chatham.