onrushpam

We stop at Merritts often... They are a small, family-owned company. I can vouch for the quality of their plain pecan halves and pieces. Their roasted-salted pecans are a road-trip treat for us. And, I LOVE the Fiddlesticks chocolate/carmel/pecan gooey treats. Merritts The Georgia branch of Priester's is another frequent stop. We use their huge parking lot and field behind for monthly meet-ups with our sister greyhound adoption group from Atlanta. Perry is half-way from us to them. So, once a month or so we meet up there early on Saturday morning and transfer a half-dozen greyhounds. This event is usually accompanied by shopping. Their pecan meal makes great breading for fish! Priester's

I, too, save shrimp shells and make stock. I just throw them in a ziplock in the freezer and make stock when I have a bunch. A few weeks ago, I made Brooksie's Seafood Gumbo with some of the shrimp stock I had in the freezer. It is SO good!

Oh, yes!!! Our first few trips to the UK we stayed in hotels and enjoyed the full breakfast. DH LOVES beans and tomatoes with his eggs now! On our last trips, we have stayed in the homes of friends. We have noticed they eat a very light breakfast (usually just toast and jam) and NO lunch. Dinner tends to be rather late. I need to eat several small meals each day. I have learned to pack lots of little snacks (nuts, dried fruit, etc) so I can slip up to my room for a little mid-day nosh.

We've spent quite a bit of time in England... not in the cities, but in the countryside. Our last trip was a quick run over and back, only there for 3 nights... drove from Manchester to Lincs, stayed 3 nights, drove back to Manchester and flew home. The 3 nights we were there, we were treated to dinner at 3 homes. I will never forget those meals! We were treated like royalty and dined on some of the best food I've ever eaten. The focus was on local foods and game (we are all sporting types). We had venison, partridge, fabulous cheese, and veg of all sorts. And oh, my first experience with treacle tart! I still dream about those partridge and that tart! There were no restaurants nor catering involved in these meals. Everything was lovingly prepared by good friends who wanted to make us welcome. And, they know my passion for food, so each tried to outdo the others! On other trips, we've had some very good meals in out-of-the-way places. Our favorite was in a pub near Swaffham... I can't remember the name of the place! It was a pub in a very ancient building, next to a Norman church. We were staying in a self-catering cottage on a farm nearby. We had two meals there and both were top notch! On one of the nights, I had the best lamb I've ever eaten. Oh... I can't fail to mention the fabulous sizzling Lincs sausages, the mind-numbing plum "wine", sloe gin and all the other goodies we've sampled in tail-gate fashion! And the messy, yummy breakfast sammy Clarissa Dickson Wright cooked for me on the back of her truck. Those were some fun times... gone now <sigh> The food of England is often seriously underrated! Pam

For smaller turks, I just use the bottom of the broiler pan that came with the house/oven before we replaced the oven! It's just one of those "speckled" pans. I set a rack in it and roast away. It's very shallow. Then, I put the speckled roasting pan on the stove and deglaze, make the gravy, etc., etc... I've never had a problem with it. For a BIG turk, I use my old fashioned specked roasting pan. It has high sides and I don't like it so much. Someday, I'll get a big one with lower sides. But, it still works. I've never actually made gravy in it... When I have to use it, I deglaze and dump into a different pan for making the gravy.

The FL spiny lobsters are in season now. I saw some at the fish market last weekend and almost bought them, but realized I really don't know how to prepare them! I've enjoyed them in restaurants, but have never cooked them. I've never seen very large ones here... usually around 2 lbs is as big as they get in the restaurants. I'd guess the ones at the market were smaller than that. So, tell me how to cook them?

Ahh... fond memories, sadly never to be relived! Freezing cold on the coursing fields at Altcar... Breakfast was an egg sammie, prepared by Clarissa in the back of her truck. At the break, we opened the boot and noshed on fabulous pork pie, acquired by friends from their butcher. We always followed it up with the friend's home made sloe gin. Then, we stomped our feet, pulled our hats down over our ears and went back to watching the awesome dogs and hares run! Good times... long gone... I've said I want my ashes scattered at Altcar, but I don't think it will happen...

When DH and I were first married (1974), we lived a couple of blocks from Bamboo Inn... As poor college students both working full-time, we ate many, many meals from Bamboo Inn. I actually have their recipe for the Springfield Cashew Chicken. Haven't made it for years... I just read this post to DH and he said, "Bamboo Inn! I hep you???"

OMG! That is so gorgeous! Could I come to your house and have you teach me how to do that???

These are kinda cool... Clicky

Ooooh, they were SOOOO good! I came straight home and Googled up the recipe. When I read it, I told my husband, "Well, I won't be making these often! Maybe once a year when company is coming?" Our little local market had fresh shelled butterbeans for $2 a quart this morning! (And, fresh shelled white acre peas for $4 a quart). I snagged a quart of each and will blanch/freeze them tonight. They are better cooked fresh, but I have other cooking projects on the weekend agenda. I may go back for more tomorrow... it depends on how much freezer space I have left after I deal with the seafood gumbo I'm making from the shellfish stock I made a few weeks ago.

Used Dave's method tonight for a couple of pretty little chuck-eye steaks. Despite a minor brain-fart on my part (forgot to dry the steaks before tossing in the pan), the results were outstanding! I've done a lot of chuck-eye steaks... but, tying them never crossed my brain. It works like a charm! Thanks, Dave!!!

I had the most heavenly butterbeans I've ever eaten at Watershed the other day. Recipe here: Clicky

Nathan, If you wind up at Ft Benning, let me know... I'll help you with a couple of fun weekend roadtrips!

I've been wanting to visit Watershed for a long time... finally made it there for lunch today. We completely enjoyed it! DH and I shared the shrimp grits and then I had the veggie plate. Every bite was wonderful. DH had the pork sammich, but I didn't taste it. He had some sort of decadent parfait for dessert... I know it had pecans and caramel. I had a bite and it was wonderful. Now that we know how easy it is to get to Decatur from our friends' farm in Newnan, we will definitely be back! Oh, and our server was charming and helpful! Good food plus good sevice... what more can we ask for???

Because I am obsessed with cooking a special diet for some old and/or sick dogs, I shop 3 different markets, watching the ads for what I need. In that process, I often score some good deals for human consumption. Last week: chicken thighs $1 lb chuck eye steaks $3 lb. Recently, I've found: fresh shelled field peas (white acres, pink eyes) for $2.50 a quart, and they even had some snaps left in Haas avocados $1 each Asparagus $1 lb Fabulous Easteran peaches $2 lb Bone-in rib steaks $4 lb Always lots of good pintos, black beans, etc. that are dried, but in the produce section and WAY better than any I've ever had I try to shop the ads and hit the store that has the most "bang" on any given day. Wherever I go usually involves a longish drive. Of course, I also shop our local growers' markets and spend $$$ on the really good stuff. It sure helps to fill in with the bargain buys!

I'm guessing they may have a supply problem on these... I needed some replacement bags and couldn't find them for a couple of weeks. Then, they had the starter kits at Publix, but no replacement bags. They finally got restocked on everything last week.

I love this recipe. I think I tried it because someone else on EG recommended it. Stracoto with Porcini Mushrooms I whiz the sauce/gravy with my immersion blender.

Malawry's recipe has become my standard for making pups! I've used milk soured with vinegar and it worked fine. I also once used some of the buttermilk powder, but mixed it with lowfat milk instead of water. That also worked fine. I think I even did them with just plain milk and they were acceptable. I can never get anything but low-fat buttermilk. Didn't know there was any other kind! Last summer, at the beach, I didn't have any flour. So, I did it with just the SR cornmeal mix, leaving out the flour and baking powder. Not as good, but still acceptable. A good friend puts a can of stewed tomatoes in his. Weird, but good!

I do my MC almost the same as Amanda's, but I use butter (no stock) and half-and-half (no eggs)! I think I'll try using the stock first, then adding half-and-half. It's also really good if you make a succotash with field peas and corn. I particularly like White Acre peas for this. I think I know one item that will be on the menu for Sunday evening when we have some friends coming over after we spend the afternoon working in the greyhound adoption kennel! Off to the farmers' market tomorrow AM!

We've had several large-group meals at the Landry's in P'cola. Each time, we called ahead earlier in the day to make the arrangements, but it's always been fairly short notice. They have treated us well. Both food and service have been good enough to keep us going back. Haven't been to the Black Pearl, but got dragged to the Crab Shack once... NEVER AGAIN! Pam

I made the Martha recipe (or one very similar) several years ago and they were VERY good. The recipe is forgiving, because I am NOT a baker and they turned out well! I need to make them again.

Rachel, if we ever get to meet up, your DH and I will be fighting over those crispy fish tails! Daddy would go fishing and then fry up his catch in an old electric skillet out on the patio. He'd break off the tails and hand them to his eagerly waiting little twin girls. I still love those crispy tails. My favorites are the tails of little crappie! I've been to the Dreamland in Birmingham. Went with a bunch of friends after a long day at a dog show. I can't remember how many racks of ribs we ate, but it was a LOT. The guys just kept ordering more. Still, I found it strange they offered nothing but ribs, served with loaves of Sunshine bread still in its wrapper and beer, Co-cola or sweet tea. No slaw, no beans, no other choices. I seem to remember 'nanner pudding at the end?

You probably already know this, but if your egg ladies don't have eggs, check with your local feed store! Our feed store buys lovely eggs from customers and has them in a fridge in the back. They are often of the colored varieties, blue/green/lavender. It's always fun opening the carton to see what jewels lie inside! If they don't have eggs at the feed store, they can undoubtedly tell you where to get them.

One of my favorites for cherry/grape/yellow pear tomatoes is to toss them in a skillet with a little olive oil, sprinkle of salt & pepper, a pinch of sugar, sometimes a little minced garlic. Cook just until they start to "pop". Sprinkle with minced fresh basil and serve immediately. (These don't hold well at all, but they take 2 minutes tops just before service).