Badiane

I'm not trying to make fun of your partner, nor am I being facetious when I say this...but if she has swung to that kind of extreme in such a short space of time, she may be experiencing a mental health issue that she is unaware of and it is entirely possible that she requires medical intervention before she hurts herself. There are a host of websites out there that could probably provide you with a counterquote to everything she says...Or hey, invite her to dinner, serve yourself a fabulous meal and hand her a piece of celery and a glass of squashed tomatoes. YUM! A raw food vegan. Hmmm. The reality of that is probably even worse than it sounds. Good luck!

Well, I don't know where Dr. Turner is tonight, but I do have her phone number if you want it... You may be more interested in Dr. Barbara Baker of the Potato Genome Project. www.potatogenome.org Perhaps she could dig up an answer for you.

Wonderful that you are coming! Chilliwack is about 60 miles east of Vancouver and you have to come through here on your way to Hope. I have a couple of suggestions for you... Chilliwack itself isn't a hotbed of culinary activity, but if you are a little homesick and would like to meet some local dutch folks, please stop at: Hofstedes Country Barn (604) 824-1192 45796 Luckakuck Way Chilliwack, BC V2R 5P9 They have a wonderful produce market and a small restaurant featuring homemade food and dutch products, not that you want to buy things you can buy at home, but there you go. If you are interested in a little bit of a side trip to the Agassiz/Harrison Hot Springs area, I recommend a visit to: The Farm House Natural Cheese http://www.farmhousecheeses.com/ 5634 McCallum Road Agassiz, B.C. V0M 1A1 (604) 796-8741

I haven't been to New Westminster Quay for about a year. Unless it has radically changed in that time, I would swap that for a trip to Lonsdale Quay instead. There was nothing food wise there - no good restaurant, no interesting food stalls - it's all kind of low budget shopping mall stuff. I would have to say that it is the least interesting Quayside market that I have ever been to. Unless you have a burning yen to see the Fraser River and a bad casino, there are far more interesting places in Vancouver to shop and eat.

Looks like a slow day on the board today I can't give you any specifics as I haven't lived in the city for a while, but Granville Island would for sure fit the bill of both your posts until you can get a more in depth answer. I personally would head for the Lobster Man for some shellfish and then to Oyama for some meat.

I believe that you can in fact 'can' those sorts of things. Commercial purveyors would use some kind of pressure canning process, which, if you had a pressure canner at home, you could do without a problem. I personally would not try to can meats, although my mother does it all the time and has never had an issue in 58 years of doing so. I don't do lemon curd because I worry about the eggs, but chocolate sauce and caramel sauce, fruit sauces etc all work really well with the same method I use for jams. I wash the jars and then heat them in the oven at 275 for at least 10 minutes - usually however long it takes me to make whatever it is I am making. I boil some water and drop the lids in as well, sterilize the funnel and all that. I fill the hot jars with the hot whatever, put the lid on and wait for them to pop. End of process. Pumpkin butter is the same to me as apple butter, and that works, using the same process, so what the heck. I also use that same process for cooked applesauce with zero sugar and I have no issues. I prefer to freeze my veggies, but canning those at home would require hot water processing that is very simple to do. Same with peaches and whatnot - you just have to follow the process and it works just fine. Now back to my pickled beets that seem to be taking me all day to get in the jars.

I used to work at the Lazy Gourmet...I have made those croutons a time or two...now if I can just remember how. I can tell you this much - it isn't going to be labour intensive nor is it going to involve any high end ingredients. These are what would be considered a freebie - make a buck of something you would ordinarily need to toss, like stale bread, so there is no way she would have let us use anything too posh to knock them up. The wheels are churning...where is that little notebook? 20 minutes later and I have it!... Here's a scaled down for home version...expands exponentially. 3 Tbsp butter 3 Tbsp oil 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (and probably any other odds and ends drying out in the walk-in) 8 slices French bread, wheat bread, bagels etc (odds and ends of whatever) cut into whatever size you like. Melt butter, add oil garlic and parsley. Toss to coat and place on sheet pan in 350 degree oven until crisp. Don't burn them...or you will have to dig to the bottom of the dumpster so you can hide the evidence before she shows up and freaks on you. And trust me, she looks in the dumpster. You have to bury your mistakes. She once asked me if I would consider shaving my arms so I could mix the muffin batter by hand. No, but if you get me some of those plastic gloves like a vet uses, I said, being a smart ass. Next day, brand spanking new box of cow inspections gloves lands on my bench. Oh yeah, baby. She's a pistol. You said 'there was a store front caterer'...are they are no longer in existence?

I'm not sure if it's dairy free, but look into Olivio... http://www.olivioproducts.com/ It's an olive oil based substitute. Comes in several variations. Of course if you are baking, there is always lard

The best thing about it is that when you pass out with one in your hand, you don't wake up in a sticky puddle with ants crawling on your lips because it has no sugar in it! Told you I was an addict. Before it was brought into Canada, we used to make border runs for it - we live about 20 miles from the nearest crossing - and we seemed to get the same guard all the time and he started making fun of us. We hadn't gone for months, but a few weeks ago on the way to Seattle he spotted us in another line and came running over like we were long lost relatives. It was very funny - he calls me Coke and my husband is Mr. Zero. Homeland Security indeed...we could have been straddling a missle and he would have waived us through.

I was told that no, there's no difference. The reason for both is guys are hesitant to drink something called "Diet", but they will drink the same stuff if you call it "Zero". Must be the love of the Z or something. I was told this by the same person who told me they were the same thing. ← There is a huge difference. It's a completely different formula. And to we that were once addicted to the Real Thing (with sugar), the difference is incredible. Diet Coke is nasty stuff...tastes aspartame-y. Coke Zero tastes and smells like real Coke. I may be among only a handful of people on the planet to whom this makes any difference, but believe me, Coke Zero is the best thing to hit my fridge since the raw milk Epoisses I got for my birthday. I haven't had a Coke with sugar for nearly four years - and to get my hands on a Coke Zero nearly brought tears to my eyes. I had a six litre a day habit (the real thing with sugar) and trust me, I can discern every nuance.

^Oooo...Epoisses...smells like feet, tastes like heaven. Sadly I only know where to get it in Seattle. Does anyone know where I can get fancy jam/preserves jars, of the sort that Bonne Maman uses?

Angie...welcome here...I am making a bee line for your store this weekend

Can you tell me where you are located, Samasutra?

Would this be a just for the science of it experiement? Because that stuff really isn't good for you. Olestra causes, among other things, anal leakage. I could elaborate but I haven't had lunch yet and I don't wish to be grossed out. I do find brown rice syrup a handy binder for granola bars, if that sort of 'diet food' is of any interest to you. And I am the queen of low carb desserts that taste like crap but look nice and aren't fattening Happy to share recipes if desired. But somehow I get the feeling you are more interesting in that sort of frankenfood like fat free mayonnaise and fat free ice cream. Closest I can get you to that is how to make pudding pops with sugar free jello.

You should check out the school garden/cooking program that Alice Waters has going...I'm sure you could get ideas aplenty. One thing you might do is have them grow things in pots - I'm assuming your school is not equipped with a garden - and have them use those things in cooking. It's important to know where you food comes from, right? You can grow basil, chives, cilantro and whatnot, things that spring up fast and are ready to use quickly. You could even make that part of other lessons. One thing that I experienced in the first days of cooking school was a taste comparison class. The idea is that you get something nasty, like Kraft grated parmesan, and taste that alongside some really good parmesan. This gives them an idea of what is good and what isn't. You could do a McD's burger vs and burger you grill yourselves etc. Emphasis the ingredients and suchlike and you may have some converts. Or you can do a range of things - I recently was in a Greek market and the lady there had some time to kill so she offered me a feta tasting. They had fetas from $2 a pound to $15 a pound, and the difference was astronomical. She explained what each was good for - some for cooking, some for salads, some just for eating etc. Very interesting and now keeps me from wasting money on more expensive items when a cheaper one will do and vice versa. And there is nothing wrong with it being a tad on the Fear Factor side...nothing too gross, but maybe a blind taste test of various jams, or different fruits or types of chocolate or something like that. After all, one of the best ways to get a kid to eat something is to get his friends to eat it first. Just ask Jamie Oliver. I'm sure Maria Montessori would approve

I have been wondering about my fish sauce lately...it's about 2 years old and has developed all these wierd transparent rocks at the bottom of the bottle. But of course fish sauce is soooo expensive that I just keep using it anyway Hasn't killed us yet. But I do wonder what the rocks are all about.

Around here, the Mennonite Treasury is the definitive authority. I'm pretty sure 'Food that Schmecks' is heresy of some kind. Never one to worry about these things, I am going to order a copy today I'm not making my own sausage...but I am going to tell my sister that I am and then watch her make her own version. What is sisterhood without some fierce competition and a few dirty tricks? And I happen to have watermelon rind pickle in the fridge...just made it and it should be nicely ready in time. All I need now are some pig tails.

My mother is turning 80 this year. She has decreed that there will be a family party held on August 20 in honor of said birthday. It's going to be in the back yard of my parents home, and my sisters and I will be doing the bulk of the cooking. It's going to be a come and go affair for about 80 people, 60 of whom will be over the age of 75. Mom has further decreed that this is to be a 'Faspa'. Faspa is a low-German, Mennonite term used for a typical late afternoon lunch that for generations has been served in Mennonite homes. The lunch consists of fresh, homemade buns, butter, jam, coffee, and cheese. Faspa can also include fruit preserves, sausage or other sliced meat, and dessert. On a Sunday, Faspa would have been the evening meal, and often relatives and friends would stop over unannounced. So...being the cooks that we are, we need some fresh ideas on an old classic. We can't just have buns and cheese and coffee, can we? No, that would be wrong. So very wrong. Where is the fun in that. Every Sunday of my growing up years, I dutifully ate buns with cheese and jam, some sliced summer sausage and syrup cookies. It's just so ordinary. Sure it's tradition, but can you help me put a spin on it to make it special for Mom's birthday? Only caveat is that these are some elderly folks, and the ingredients have to be normal and recognizable...no sushi, nothing overly spicy, etc.

Wow...these are some grisly tales. We don't have a bad cook in the family. In fact, we are all so accomplished that it's now become an 'anything you can do, I can do better' competition. At our recent Father's Day celebration, the conversation went something like this: Sister 1: Oh you made that cake, did you? Well get a look at this 16 layer trifle. Sister 2: Cake? Yes...well, it's so small...so I made these blueberry turnovers as well. Oh, and some peanut brittle. Sister 3: Trifle? Again? Hmmm...I see your trifle and your cake and raise you three lemon meringue pies AND some coconut covered marshmallows. Mom: Oh good...dessert. Here's six fried chickens, a ham, some potato salad, a coleslaw and 4 dozen buns. Me: Chicken? Again? I didn't think we'd have enough, so I did this beef tenderloin...and that artichoke salad Dad likes. Oh, and a strawberry tiramisu, a cheese plate and some of that salami. Dad: How many people are coming? I thought it was just the six of us! It's disgusting. My husband has gained 60 pounds since we got married.

I made a lot of money off that sassy wit in the late 80's. Ling...check out Canadian Living...they have a million ideas for making red and white desserts

We will be spending the day in our subterranean storage locker in the basement of the building, with our feet in buckets of ice, drinking Slurpees and whining about the heat. When it cools from an inferno to a sauna, we will probably have some chilled asian noodle salad.

Bruce Swift is indeed a sincere and capable individual. And very generous with his time and knowledge. Unfortunately he is not going to be selling any salmon this summer. He is in the middle of renovations to the fish production facilities. He is still producing wasabi tho, so is still a worthy stop on the tour. We are fortunate enough to be regular shoppers at many of the stops on the five area farm tours - kind of makes up for never getting to go to a decent restaurant.

It says right at the top of that recipe that the person submitting it had the exact same issue. I think it's just a quirk in the recipe - that's twice the butter called for in any of the recipes I have used (been on a pound cake blitz this month). I would just chalk it up to wierd science, smack the crust down with the back of a spatula and cover it with a glaze No one will know. If anyone says anything, just look at them with pity and say 'aw, can't you get yours right? All the best cakes are done this way'

I have learned a great deal about jam making in the last few years, and I will tell you my experiences, hopefully they will be helpful. If you want to use a lot less sugar (which you do), forget about being able to store it in the pantry. Even if you seal it, it won't keep. Sugar is what preserves the fruit. You will have the best luck with freezing it. Oh sure, it will be okay in the pantry for a while...but then the top will turn black and it will be yucky. If you want to store it in the pantry, you need to sterilize the jars and the lids. you need to fill the jars while they are hot and put the lids on right away. This will keep the creepies out. If you only want to freeze or fridge it, it's not such a big deal, as your mother will tell you. I sterilize my jars by putting them upside down on a cookie sheet and putting them in the oven at 250 for 10 minutes. Sterilize the lids by dropping them into a small pot of water that has just boiled and been removed from the heat. You can purchase a handy magnetic wand in the canning section at your local supermarket for less than three dollars. That solves the issue of pulling the lids out of the water without touching them. You do not need to heat process jams. So you don't need the big canning pot. I would recommend that you use a Christine Ferber (or other european style) recipe, as they are a) designed for small batch jamming, b) don't use that much sugar and c) don't use pectin, commercial or otherwise. I don't think any of her strawberry jams even use apples in any way. I have several recipes if you want them, just pm me and I will send them along.

Those little discs are called 'oblaten'. They are used in a variety of situations - and are very common in German pastries - in order to keep the sticky stuff from sticking to the pan, sticking to the paper, sticking to your hands etc. Perfectly safe and intended to be eaten.