johnsmith45678

Yeah, Napa Valley. Enjoyed it.

California? I thought they'd tracked the tainted spinach to Wisconsin.

Alton Brown weighs in on the spinach e. coli outbreak: http://altonbrown.com/adventure/knowledge/edible_news.html His answer seems to be locally grown. I don't think I agree with him: - This could just as easily happened with a local grower (and if you have many many more local growers, you'd think smaller, local e. coli flare-ups would happen more often than larger nation-wide ones). - I like having produce year-round, damnit! - Martin Sheen was in Apocalypse Now, not Charile.

Is Alice Waters a common sight at the restaurant (cooking, schmoozing, etc.)?

I don't know that all spices are necessarily "spicey."

Right -- tastes aren't usually just one of the 5-7 basic tastes, they are a combination.

Flavor...sensation...sort of the same thing. Spicy is that same sort of flavor/sensation with hot chiles, etc. -- it has a bite to it. Yeah, I'd say Gewurtztraminer can be spicy. Shiraz too. Actually, the Wikipedia article on taste is ambiguous -- at the top it lists seven tastes: bitter, salty, sour, astringent, sweet, pungent (eg chili), and umami; but then lists spiciness under sensations.

Potential hazards of the so-called Frankenrice?

Go nuts...

Good question -- peanut butter isn't expensive (maybe it's cheaper elsewhere too?) here. You'd think the production of peanut butter and oil is related...

ATK recommends storing nuts in the freezer.

How much saffron can you produce if you grow your own -- say from a couple of pots?

Real men eat live raw adult octopus.

Man, that sucks. Hopefully he's able to get it growing again. I'm surprised he was the one and only saffron grower in all the US. Seems like it'd be a lucrative crop to grow here.

Thanks! I googled a bit and found mention here, which mentions it's sold here, but a search for 'saffron' turned up nothing.

Anybody know who sells Pennsylvanian saffron (online, or nationwide chains, or local to Denver)? In one of ATK's books they did a tasting of saffron, and Pennsylvanian saffron was their favorite (followed by Spanish, then Indian/Kashmir). It's Pennsylvanian Dutch, IIRC. I checked Penzy's and Savory Spice Shop, but they don't have it.

I bet it's the frogs in the bags of spinach that are responsible for the E. coli.

I had a cone filter coffee maker that used to get clogged by the f'in filter and flood grounds and coffee all over the counter and floor every two weeks or so. Since switching to a bunn (I think that's what they're called) filter coffee maker, haven't had a single overflow. I wanted to do to my cone coffee maker what they did to that printer in Office Space.

If your flour has mealy worms in it, does that increase its gluten level or just its protein level?

Oh yeah, keeping your balance on super-slippery wet floors -- how could I forget that one? Also being able to slide really far and fast and gracefully on them!

Abso-freakin'-tutely! Look at me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ← I knew all they did to create cooks was cut the end of the sleeves off their straight jackets.

If I am fearless now, what will I be when I am 40, crazy? ....yea.....I gotta work on that one. ←

I can't help with the math problem , but I have a dumb question - how do you add additional gluten? By mixing in whole wheat or another kind of flour, or can you buy gluten in some super secret bottle that I haven't come across?

What exactly is "dead ripe fruit"?

Looks like that site has a ton of info in it. It would be a daunting (and surely thankless) task to try to keep accurate info on all the chefs, restaurants, etc. I didn't see any well-known local chefs in it, nor chefs I know -- perhaps I'll add them sometime...