azurite

Around here (OR) you can still buy milk in returnable glass containers, 1/2 gallons & gallons. Would that be considered unusual these days? azurite

Because of the praise on this thread for the banana gugelhupf, I made it yesterday. I agree with the previous posts. Definitely good. A friend tried it, she liked it too. She remarked that she could not smell any banana and couldn't taste it that much either. I wasn't quite sure how to take her comments--I don't know if she doesn't like how bananas smell or what. As long as she liked it . . . Am thinking of sending some to my mom by priority mail--maybe she'd enjoy an updated taste of Vienna. : ) azurite

This thread is very interesting and illuminating. I don't drink much anymore, but when I do drink hard liquor, a G & T is my choice. For years, I've used Tanqueray as my gin (for G & T) but last week I was a state liquor store (in OR) to buy something else and saw all these different types of gin . . . . then I found this thread and am now wondering if it's time to try a new gin. It's been warmer than normal this summer, which has also turned my thoughts towards how nice a G & T might taste on some warmish summer evening. Has anyone heard of/tasted Cascade Mountain gin and/or Desert Juniper gin? What did you think? Both of these are stocked in the town's state liquor store. Otherwise I saw Hendrick's & Plymouth gin and can't remember what else (should've taken notes). azurite

"Down & Out in Paris & London" is a very good book. I listened to it--as book tape--before I read it and it reads out loud well. Most recent food related short story I read was in a collection of short stories titled, "Manhattan Noir." The story featured a woman, whose husband has left her for a younger woman, who falls asleep thinking of ways to kill her soon-to-be-ex. She meets him at his favorite restaurant, ostensibly to sign the divorce settlement papers but also to employ murder method #9 ("Nuts to You") she adds peanut oil to her lip gloss, gives her ex one last long kiss--and removes his epi-pen from his pocket as she embraces him. Then she says good bye, catches a taxi for JFK and a new life. So inventive. azurite

Pamela F. I did have a good time. After the meeting, three of us took a Capitol Corridors train to Davis, where one person lives (I live in OR). I thought the CC car was pretty nice for a commuter train (nicer than the Long Island Railroad cars--they have no food at all). We ate at a Nepalese restaurant in Davis--we could walk there from the station. I like being able to walk to where I want to go. If I've ever been to Davis before, I don't remember. Dinner was good, both the company and food. Afterwards, we walked around Davis some more. Unfortunately, Amtrak's Coast Starlight train, that I took to and from CA (to/from OR) was about 1 1/2 hours late to Davis and Union Pacific freight train delays eventually made the train 7 1/2 hours late to my destination (Albany, OR). Amtrak's Cascades line is usually more on time (it's runs over a shorter distance than the CS) although summer is often a time of delays as that's often when the rail corporations do alot of their repairs.

Hey, thanks to you Market St. El and Pamela F. for your suggestions. Pamela F, yes, I am taking the Coast Starlight to and from Oakland and thanks for your good wishes. I took it from Eugene, OR, to Oakland (was going to SF) and back years ago. don't remember that much about the trip except that it was dark when we went by Mount Shasta. Am looking forward to this trip (I'll have a sleeper instead of riding in coach) except that the CS's on time performance has not been good for the past few years. Apparently there are some physical bottlenecks near the OR/CA border and other issues. It's been on time the last few times I've ridden it from Portland to Albany (OR), and while those stations are not far from the start of trip south (Seattle) it's an improvement all the same. Right now, the Empire Builder (Seattle/Portland to Chicago) is the "flagship" train of Amtrak, it's got full dining car service (sleeper car passengers can have their meals brought to their sleeper), plus a wine & cheese tasting, refurbished cars. The menu usually includes some kind of steak, fish, chicken and a pasta dish for the "vegetarians." The food can be fairly good and eating while looking out the window at the scenery near Glacier Park while a light snow falls is an experience. The wine & cheese tasting is often fun, the WA wines pretty good (you can usually buy a bottle or two while on the train), the cheeses ok and from WI. I wish they'd include some cheeses and wines from OR, but not so far. The other routes, if they provide meal service, are being gradually changed over to a kind of streamlined food service. More reconstituted stuff, less food actually cooked. Amtrak did some trial runs earlier this year of a remodeled dining/cafe car, complete w/an updated menu. People who took trains where this car was running, said the food was pretty good. More finger food stuff which seems to be pretty popular and the food will be available for longer periods of time (not just premade sandwiches, etc, as is true now on long distance cars when the dining car is closed). The switch to a "streamlined" service is per Congressional order--Amtrak is supposed to eventually do what the airlines were unable to do, make a profit on their food service. The changed service decreases labor costs (among other things). Amtrak's food service wasn't in good shape (in terms of cost overruns) but I think Congress' edict goes too far and is another way of trying to destroy Amtrak. I believe that first class on the Acela now includes a free meal (and a drink?) brought to passengers at their seats via a food cart. I've heard the food's supposed to be quite good. The Amtrak Cascades (the line I ride most frequently) has a Bistro car that (from what people from other parts of the country tell me) has the best cafe/quick food of all the lines. My quibble is that the Bistro car has only a microwave, so if you order a bagel and want it heated/toasted, they can't toast it, just microwave it (yuck). Amtrak's also going to haul privately owned luxury rail cars (the name of the company is something like DeLuxe Rail travel), and for various prices, you can ride in those cars in, well, luxury. You can pay to have a chef prepare your meals, have cocktails before your dinner, etc. You don't buy your tickets from Amtrak though (at least, I'm pretty sure you don't). Amtrak's worked with private rail car businesses before--some people rent them to travel to sports events in style or just as a leisurely and very pleasant way of traveling, celebrating an anniversary, whatever. The owner of the rail cars contracts w/Amtrak to have Amtrak trains pull the cars. I think this new service is planned (hoped) to be more regularly available/running. azurite

I'm going to be in Oakland, CA, near the Amtrak station (Jack London Square, 245 Second St.) near the end of July. I'm taking the train back to the PNW but will have several hours (or more, depending on how on time the train is) after my meeting ends and before the train is scheduled to arrive. From about 6pm to 9:15pm or so (or 10 or 10:30pm . . . ). I won't have a car, I don't know Oakland, but it'd be nice if I could find a place to eat dinner not far from the train station. Even nicer if the food is fairly good. I don't eat much meat, but I do eat it. I like many kinds of food, i.e., Greek, middle Eastern, Indian, Chinese (although I'm not familiar with all the different types of regional cooking), Thai, Italian . . .. and probably others I've never had opportunity to try. Any suggestions? Recommendations?

A friend of mine who lives in low income housing for seniors and disabled people in a town not far from Portland (OR), goes on what she calls the "produce run" every so often for her apt. complex. She says that, in her area, Albertson's donates surplus/past its prime produce and sell by date bread(s) while the Safeway says that it composts all of it. I don't think she believes what the Safeway management tells her, but I don't think she's physically able to dumpster dive if she wanted to check. She goes partly because, if she does, she and whoever else goes gets first crack at what they pick up. She gets some good stuff sometimes. This complex also has some raised beds so she is able to grow some veggies and a few herbs every year. azurite

Are the photos on the left the actual food? I thought food photos were generally of plastic food, or individual pieces of food are varnished, etc. Is it Denny's (or Marie Callendar's?) where the menu has photos of menu items and they rarely if ever look as good in real life as in the photos. It's true, a few of them don't look all that different (especially if taking the differing levels of photographic skill) and if you take into account that in at least one photo the food I think the Wendy's thing), looks as though it was prepared--or arranged--much more carefully than it was in the right hand photo. Which isn't surprising. Interesting that someone's not only noticed but cares enough to draw attention to the differences between menu photos and the real thing. azurite

I think there are basically two types of (cultivated) strawberries (at least in OR): June-bearing and ever-bearing. If you grow June-bearing, then you'll get alot of strawberries ripening all at once, ever-bearing, you keep harvesting them over the course of the summer. Tristar is an everbearer according to the Territorial Seed and Plant catalogue. Last year, my friend's plants kept making fruit into the fall but it got too cold and wet by late October for them to ripen. She has quite a few plants but everyone likes them so much that not that many even make it up to the house. I believe there used to be a fair amount of commercial strawberry growing in OR but apparently farmers had difficulty getting labor at picking time and there were a few wet springs that significantly reduced the crop. I have a native coast strawberry growing (vigorously) in my backyard. I get some berries, pretty small but flavorful. I don't get that many because I have to mow what grass there is or it'll reach 3 feet by May and that means some of the strawberry leaves and flowers get mown as well. I have to beat the slugs to the fruit too. If you really like strawberries, it's not hard to grow them. I used to see strawberries towers for sale, taking up total of about 3 feet square (4 feet high)--if they worked, you might be able to grow them on a balcony. It'd be worth trying, as eating a few fresh picked ripe strawberries in the morning is like eating bits of the sun transformed into flavor.

I used to represent a number of people who received food stamps and a friend (and her son) were on food stamps for close to a year. Pretty much everyone told me their food stamps never lasted the entire month. I was representing disabled people and quite a few of them were too fatigued (from pain, etc.) to cook from scratch or were unable to for other reasons, so if they didn't have friends or family to prepare meals from scratch, the person ate sandwiches or prepared foods. My friend did know how but was occasionally too tired or got home from her job too late to cook. She was able to supplement food purchased with food stamps w/fresh vegetables and fruit from her garden in season, although her veg garden wasn't anywhere near as large as it had been in years past because her increased work hours meant less time for the garden. In earlier years, she had been able to grow enough to almost fill a fairly large freezer full of frozen veg and fruit, plus pick and store (or dry) enough apples to last into the winter. As others have said, poor people often do not have reliable auto transport. If they're living in a rural area, there may be very little in the way of public transport available, and the closest food store may be more expensive than ones reachable by those with cars. There are quite a few people in this county driving poorly maintained vehicles and without insurance because they are unable to afford either but need transport to get to work, obtain medical care or groceries. The Master Gardeners in the county have started several community and kids' gardens--some of the produce goes to those who work in the gardens, the rest is donated to the local food pantry. Both the gardens and food pantry supply (for part of the year) much needed supplements to what food stamps can buy. I live in OR and I appreciate what the governor's doing. Not long ago, OR was high on the list of states w/the most people going hungry. The state made a big effort to change OR's ranking (to one much lower on the list). I hope the WH residents take note of what the governor's doing and themselves do something constructive. azurite

I went to Harrisburg for a conference last week. Based on the recommendations listed in this thread, I and 7 other people attending the conference went to Passage to India for dinner (we could walk there from our hotel). Everyone (including me) was happy with our dinner. Thanks for the suggestions, and especially for listing Passage to India. It's wonderful to be able to have such a resource (all the members of eGullet) for finding restaurants in a place I'd never been to before. azurite

Half a grapefruit, oat groats with dried greengage plums ( actually prunes, I guess) and dried mango, both fruits plumped up in apple cider and stirred into the oat groats. Topped with a few dollops of Nancy's OG non-fat yogurt. Then home made hot chocolate. azurite

What is an "air check signal"?

On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, by Harold McGee. I have the 1984 & 2004 editions. I like the 1984 edition better in some ways. Don't agree with everything he says but I love that he has SEM photos of yeast and the molecular structures of glucose and fructose (at least in the '84 edition). Even now when I look through either edition, I learn something new and interesting or am reminded of something I used to know but had forgotten. I also like Laurie Colwin's books and the Fanny Farmer cookbook. The latter was given to me years ago (am not saying just how many) by a college roommate when I became interested in baking. It was a paperback edition but I kept it for many years, taped it back together, until I found a hardcover edition (the 11th) that I liked. I got it mostly because it had the recipe for applesauce cake that I like. Not all editions seem to have it. Interesting thread, I've gotten several ideas of books to read. azurite

In some places (I think straw's used in the UK), straw works well. But you have to pay for it usually, and here in giant slug land, it might be shelter for slugs (almost everything else seems to be). The carpeting was free. azurite

Thanks for the information. One more question - do they just die back to the roots in the winter or am I supposed to prune them at the end of the growing season ? I don't know anyone that grows asparagus here in the Pacific NW and I don't know whether that is because it doesn't do well in our soggy climate, or just because it is a "permanent" aka intimidating crop. ←

I made the Orangentorte (Orange Torte with Orange Cream Frosting) on Monday and most of it has been eaten. The three people (not including me) who've tasted it. all said they liked it alot. I cut down on the amount of sugar in the frosting--so it was, perhaps, a bit tangier than it might otherwise have been but I like tangy. The recipe calls for almonds, I didn't have enough almonds so I made up the difference w/hazelnuts. Didn't blanch either nut(s). Tasters remarked on the nice contrast between creamy, tangy and the tastes of the nuts. One person liked the textural contrast between the ground nuts in the cake and the creamy frosting. This is the first torte I've ever made---although I can't remember the first time I ate Sachertorte. When I was small, there was a wonderful Viennese coffee/pastry shop called Eclair down the block from my grandparents's apt. in Manhattan. Every time we visited, my grandmother would go to Eclair, buy some petit fours, some Sachertorte, whatever people wanted. My mother's family comes from Vienna. I'm happy because I didn't find the recipe difficult (for some reason, I thought Viennese pastries/cakes would be very difficult to make), it turned out well, and everyone who tried it, liked it. It was pretty too, once the frosting chilled, it was a very very pale yellowish orange, with bits of orange zest showing through the frosting and providing some more color. No photo because I don't have a digital camera (yet) and don't yet know how to download photos if I had them. I'm not sure if I feel ready to try some of the more ornate cakes in Kaffeehaus but I certainly enjoy looking at Ludja's photos! Something to work towards . . . azurite

I thought they said he was baking the bread with a sourdough starter. We'll see if he manages to keep that alive. Anyway, I sort of anticipate a food crisis, as well as a possible sanitary crisis in the making. He's given up toothpaste for baking soda - I wonder what they are doing for cleaning products in the household with a 2 year old? Will they be cooking their own soap? It isn't hard, but requires the use of lye which has to be packaged carefully and handled even more carefully. It also requires the use of fat of some sort. I know they no longer purchase olive oil so a castille sort of soap is out of the question. Even if they're making their own starter, they'll still need flour, i.e., wheat, either to feed the starter or to add when making a loaf, won't they? Re: cooking your own soap. A friend lived pretty much off the grid in the '70's in a rural part of nothern CA. Her mod cons consisted of a propane fueled refrigerator (plus they had an automobile and a tractor). She used to make her own soap. She told me that one day, she'd set out a large pan of new butterscotch colored soap, I guess so it could cool. She went off about other business and a friend drops by, sees what looks to him like a delectable looking pan of butterscotch left out to cool, takes a piece, takes a nice big bite . . . and discovers it's most definitely not butterscotch. I don't remember now if she told me the ingredients of her soap. She's always eaten meat if she wanted to, so the issue of using animal fats for soap would not have arisen and you can get lye from wood ashes. azurite

When I read an article like this, I always wonder if it's meant to discourage people from taking any action in their life that might decrease the amount of trash they generate, use a bit less power, try to encourage local food producers, etc. "If you're not going to be extreme . . . " then there's no point. The tone of the article puts me off. Contrast that behavior to that of a friend of my mother's--whom I mention because she lives in Manhattan too. She organized newspaper recycling for her entire building (now a co-op) years before it became law in NYC. She's a member of a CSA, she resuses her plastic bags, I suspect she rarely uses her window AC (although she might do better to buy newer more energy efficient ones then to stop using them altogether--but it's her choice). If she has a TV, she doesn't use it, although that's because her eyes are so bad now she probably can't see anything on it, she does listen to the radio and talking books/newspapers . I'm sure she used the subway when she was physically able to do so; she has a working refrigerator and stove. She's in her 80's. I've looked at the locavore site and it doesn't read as, I don't know, simultaneously snotty and condescending, as this article does. I think the locavore site deals only with buying food locally, not doing all the other "low impact" stuff anyway. Nothing wrong with trying to use local foods--I think the locavore thing started in northern CA--where the growing season's so long (and apparently such a big variety of produce is grown) eating locally is not much of a hardship. Might be a bit more difficult (or get a bit boring) if you're in MI or somewhere w/a long winter. Unless "the rules" let you can and/or use a freezer. I notice the article didn't mention whether or not they still ate bread. I don't think there's any wheat grown within 250 miles of NYC. Wonder what they're using as a substitute if they're taking things that far. Perhaps they can eat only locally baked bread. It can be useful to find out how much in the way of extraneous stuff you can get by without, though. azurite

I live in a small town on the OR coast. Around 20 years ago, the only organic food you could buy was at the local natural foods co-op, which was struggling to stay in business. Now it's considerably larger and doing pretty well. It now carries organically grown meats and smoked/canned salmon (locally caught), as well as og dairy, produce, bulk foods, etc. Two of the big attractions of the co-op are: (1) the bulk spices: many og, you buy just as much as you need. There's an excellent selection of spices, herbs and teas. (2) You can special order for cost plus 30%. If it's in one of catalogues of the co-op's suppliers, you can order it. The co-op has a small salad and soup bar (og ingredients) during the week which seems pretty popular. The co-op carries two locally made goat cheeses. Nancy's yogurt (Eugene, OR) has expanded her line to include kefir (excellent), cottage cheese, creamcheese and maybe sour cream too and the co-op carries all of that. The produce is not always that great although organically grown produce has improved over the past 25 years--maybe because the growers have had more practice and more time to try different varieties of different crops, find out which work best in one's growing area. think Territorial Seeds Company, a pioneer in trialing seeds (or tubers or cloves) in Oregon, of many, many veggies, some grains and fruits, has been a big help in the PNW (in Oregon, anyway) for those who want to grow organically, whether commercially or for home use. There's a Whole Foods in Portland I've wandered through and I'd say that the co-op's bulk foods, herbs, spices and teas selection (particularly the bulk stuff) is as good as if not better than what Whole Foods offers. By better I mean, bigger variety, and for some bulk foods, I think possibly a better turnover as well. I think some of the co-op's prices are better (lower) too. Unfortunately, the co-op's meat is not local but comes CA or further away. You can get some grass fed beef locally (direct from the farmer/rancher) although one guy just decided to quit last fall--said he was getting too old to look after cattle, even Highland cattle. I get eggs from a friend who has about 15 chickens. When I lived in Eugene, OR, (many years ago) there was an og meat place, that got alot of its meat locally. Another butcher's, that makes some of its own sausages (including great nitrite free hot dogs), also does the cutting up and hanging of game (or used to) for hunters. Can't remember if they sell game as well, it's been awhile since I went there. I do remember one of the butchers told me they still hung beef (local), as I thought that might be interesting to try--but I'd have to remember to go to Eugene at the right time, May? Or maybe it was in the fall. Last summer at my local Farmers' market, there was a guy selling locally grown, og (or free range/grass fed) beef and, I think, lamb. He looked like he was doing well, selling out of some stuff. Also there was the mushroom guy, selling his certified organic mushrooms, shiitake, maiitake, and I can't remember the 2-3 other types. His place is on my way from the coast to the valley so if I go by during business hours, I may stop and buy some mushrooms. There's been some excellent organically grown produce for sale at the Farmers' market for at least the past two years, as well as "no spray" berries and other fruits. Supermarkets: Safeway stocks og dairy (O brand, Horizon, Organic

My understanding of feminism is that it calls for women (and men) to have the power and freedom to choose what one will do or to find out, by effort, training, etc., what one is able to do, as opposed to be told: this is what women/men do, you can't do what the other sex does, that's how it is (not unlike a class based society). So a man should have the choice to stay at home and raise his kids and a woman to be a research scientist, without having to struggle with a great deal of negative peer and/or societal pressure to behave otherwise; that both sexes should have the pleasure of doing well what he/she likes to do w/out having that pleasure spoiled or even ruined by guilt for liking it (because you're "unnatural" to do so) or being good at it instead of whatever tradition or the culture says you're "supposed" to do and like doing. If a woman wants to stay home w/the kids and she and her partner/spouse can afford for her to do so, why not? It has happened that "women's work" has been work that is poorly paid (and sometimes it's because women are doing it) pretty often . It is certainly not unheard of for women to be paid less for doing the same job that the man in the next office is doing, or in the next MD's office. My college roomate taught me to cook--beginner's version of stir fry. That, sandwiches and lots of baking for a year or two when I lived with and near students who liked to eat what I baked. My former roommate (still a friend) told me last year that until she met me, she didn't know that anyone could learn to cook from a book--since that's what I did after she got me started. Carrot Top and EllenC, I'm sorry for what happened to you. It happened to a friend of mine, who, among other talents, is a good cook/baker. I was around during her horrible and lengthy divorce, her confidence was greatly shaken and the family disrupted much more severely then was necessary. On the other hand, her (their) son, despite his father's neglect, is doing well and is a pretty good cook too. Sometimes, cooking and kitchen clean up can help you find out about important aspects of someone's personality, before you become deeply involved. While I was in college, my bf and I decided to trade cooking and cleaning for an evening--one evening he'd cook dinner, I'd clean up, next night, vice versa (it's a long time ago, but I think it was his idea). We both lived in dorms (in suites, not hall dorm), so these dinners involved persuading our suitemates to leave for awhile, etc. First night, he cooks, it's pretty good, I clean up. Second night, I cook, we eat, he seems to like the food. Time is slipping by, soon my roommates will be back, but the bf seems strangely reluctant to start cleaning up. Finally, I ask him outright, "when are you going to clean up? My roommates will be back soon, things are supposed to be clean and out of the way by the time they get back." He hems and haws for awhile, tries to put me off, but eventually it comes out: he never really meant to do clean up. He was sure that I would do it, somehow, even though he'd said he would, I was supposed to understand, well, I'm not sure what I was supposed to "understand." That men don't have to clean up even if they say they will, because it's just not something men "do"? Because it's "women's work"? I blew up, he cleaned up, our relationship started going downhill as of then. If I'd been smarter, I would've dumped him then and there. Since then, I've dated good cooks, non-cooks, and at least two divorced men who were gradually learning to cook and I think were enjoying themselves although each guy was still pretty shy about offering a dinner he cooked himself. My impression was that neither guy had cooked much during his marriage(s). No man I've dated/had a relationship w/since then has been as big a jerk as that first college bf. Not in the kitchen, anyway. azurite

Four or five years ago, a guy I've known for years started making and selling flat spatulas and small spoons out of whatever wood he comes across. He sold them at my local farmers' market at first, but has since shifted to a smaller and newer farmers' market in a town that might be about 10 miles closer to where he lives, or perhaps he just likes the ambiance more. I think the larger spatula/flat spoons go for anywhere from $10 to $15, depending on the size and the wood. The shapes vary, I think because he allows the grain of the wood to determine the size and shape of the spatula or spoon. When a friend's son moved out (he was 17 and he likes to cook when he has time) to attend school in a city (the friend lives in a rural area), she asked Peter (the guy) to bring a box of his spoons over so her son could pick out one or two to take with him. Peter gave him one of his choices as a going away present. I thought that was a nice way of sending someone off to start a new chapter of his life. Since Peter's worked for years in the woods of foothills of the Oregon Coast Range and the CR itself, he sees a fair number of different kinds of wood. I can't remember now what my two spatulas are made of (or the spoon--holds about a teaspoon of whatever), I think one might be holly (hollywood?). I really like both of the spatulas--you can use them for almost all the same things you can use a spatula and a big spoon for and they are so easy to hold and use. Never have to worry about scratching anything. I don't use the small spoon much, perhaps because it's in a drawer, so I don't remember I have it. My set of measuring spoons hang from a hook on the wall, easy to see. azurite

[ 10. Revised clue: Birthday cake (and party) ruined by a seagull...or two...or... Hitchcock's "The Birds"? azurite