azureus

The problem isn't insurmountable. Where I live in eastern South Dakota, local produce is available seasonally at the Hy-Vee grocery chain and at the super Wal-Marts. These stores make it a selling point. The most common local products offered are green beans, sweet corn and pumpkins. Several varieties of melons that are grown in Forestburg, SD are offered seasonally as well. I've also seen apples from Minnesota, so they're at least "mid-western" apples. For consumers, Farmer's Markets are a good compromise. When all of the local producers congregate in one location it becomes nearly as convenient to shop there, and buy locally, as it is to shop at a large chain. This only works in the warm months here, however. During the winter, we're more than happy to rely on fresh fruit and veggies shipped in from California and elsewhere. However, reliance on local produce isn't guaranteed to prevent the next outbreak of e-coli or anyother food-bornes disease. It just means that the outbreak won't be spread across half of the country. April

Wow! What a beautiful display. Your photo should be in food magazine! You mentioned upthread that you don't refrigerate your eggs. How long do you leave them out before you consider them unsafe/inedible? Just curious. April

I was definitely not allowed to play with my food when I was a child. Foodplay began when I was at university, and away from my mother's watchful eyes. The "mashed potatoes" served at my residence hall were actually reconstituted dehaydrated potatoes. No one really liked them. They did make an excellent adhesive, especially on the days when cheese had been added. My friends and I made many elaborate structures from stacks of dishes, cups, and flatware, all held together with potato glue. Rarely, we made simple molecular models from butter knives and oranges. The food service staff no doubt hated us. I was also in a local herpetological society (the study of reptiles and amphibians) while a student. A year's free membership was awarded to the person who brought a food item to the Christmas pot-luck that "most resembled a reptile or amphibian". I won one year with a cheese log sculpted into the shape of a Wagler's Temple Viper. The scales were slivered almonds that I painted using paste food coloring. The second year, I made molds from realistic toy models of frogs and reptiles and cast them in vanilla almond bark. I was too poor to use white chocolate back then! Again, I used paste food coloring to paint the animals realistically. I still have the molds, but I have yet to realize my ambition to make an entire edible terrarium, complete with hard candy "glass". Still in college, a friend of mine made miniature rubber band-powered crossbows as gifts one year. We used them to shoot large marshmallows at each other. When we moved out of the house we lived in, there were mummified marshmallow remains behind the furniture. I love the panna cotta brains and the bloody ladyfingers! I'm going to have to hiint to my neighbor that her daughter needs to have a Halloween party this year. . . April

By the power of Google: Oxylobacter bacteria degrade oxylate in the gut, thus reducing the amount absorbed. That is the most beautiful rhubarb that I have ever seen. Mine never gets that red. I'm really enjoying your foodblog, Therese. April

Is it a cross-section of bone marrow? April

No, the cake calls for the zest of two lemons, a meringue, plus fresh berries both in the batter and on top. Here's the link: Ligurian Lemon Cake I'm sure that it's not authentic, but I have no idea why Pierre Herme gave the recipe that title. This website has this to say about popular sweets in Liguria: However, Adam's actual experience trumps any claims on a website. April edited to fix the quotes

I finally did a little research. A google search on "Ligurian Desserts" turned up some possibilities, but few recipes. A Ligurian website mentioned cookies called canestrelli and gobelletti, which are apparently made from pasta frolla. The Martha Stewart Living website had a recipe by Pierre Herme for a "Ligurian Lemon Cake", so it's guaranteed to be authentic, right? The weather is nasty today, so maybe I can finally stay inside and cook something decent. April

Thanks for your report! Success at last! I'm now encouraged to try cardoons again this summer. Obviously, your success shows that I didn't remove enough strings when I prepared mine last year. Your sformati sound wonderful. I wonder if a soft goat cheese would give a smoother texture? (And hopefully taste good without overpowering the other flavors.) So, on to Bagna Caoda next? April

That wasn't in Chicago, was it? I just had a friend divulge last weekend that he did this at an Italian restaurant there. He said that he drank most of it anyway, because he didn't want his dinner companions to laugh at him! April

Unfortunately, there's no guarantee. The digging will probably stop, but then the eating of the tasty plants might begin. It depends on the culprit. Did it return last night? April

Cover your pots with pieces of chicken wire. That will keep most critters out until your seeds germinate. You can remove the wire once the tops of the seedlings touch the it, or you can leave the wire and allow the plants to grow through it. Could the culprits be cats? Cats love to dig in soft soil. April

You're right, I misinterpreted your post. All-green leaves increases the number of possibilities of what you have. You could plant annual herbs in the bed after the bulbs are done flowering. April

If your plants are in the allium (onion) genus, they will exude an odor similar to onions/garlic/chives. Offhand, I can't recall any alliums with green and white leaves. Did the plants form bulbs underground? There are many small species of bulbing plants with leaves like you describe. Potatoes can winter over, you'll know for certain when it sprouts. Were you weeding in a flower bed or a vegetable garden? It's a bad idea to taste any plant if you don't know what it is. It better to take a sample of plants into your local nursery to have them indentified. And one further warning: gardening is as addictive as cooking! April

If you can't find the right filters, you could probably achieve the same effect with watercolor papers (found in art supply stores or sometimes hobby stores) laid on top of an old window screen. I'm interested in your results, as I don't like how the cheap dehydrators also cook fruits and vegetables. April

Composting isn't recommended in areas where tomatoes are prone to diseases, especially fungal diseases, because the compost often doesn't get hot enough to kill the spores. You'd then be spreading disease when you till the compost into your garden. Healthy vines could go into the compost with no problem. You don't need to hand-pollinate your tomato flowers. Most varieties self-pollinate, although you will get higher fruit-set if insects are present. You can "trip" the flowers by shaking the tomato vines or by brushing your hands across the flowers. This basically shakes loose the pollen in the flowers so that they get fertilized. I've found that kids love to help out with this method. Sigh. I can't even put out seedlings in my garden for another month. April

The parts that aren't dark brown were soft and focaccia-like. I think that I just stretched the pizzas too thin, especially the first one. Probably the texture would be different if I had dimpled the dough properly. April

I had a small, Lazio-inspired lunch on Friday: Rigatoni con Asparagi e Ricotta accompanied by Pizza Bianca Both recipes are from David Downie's book. The pasta was quick and easy. I really was able to make it in the time it took to boil the water and cook the pasta, as promised in the book. I feel inspired to make variations on this--I'd bet it would work with fresh favas or shelling beans, peas, or even broccoli. The dough for the pizza bianca took forever to rise with only 1/2 teaspoon of yeast in it, far longer than the 2-3 hours called for in the recipe. I resorted to setting the bowl of dough on top of a heating pad. To increase the heat in my oven, I put all of my stone baking dishes on the top oven rack, and my pizza stone on the middle rack. I rolled out the dough and baked the pizzas directly on the stone. As you can see, the first pizza was wrinkled and uneven, while I totally forgot to dimple the dough on the second disk, resulting in something resembling the surface of Mars! The pizza was tasty, and made a nice complement to the pasta. April

Definitely pie-- fruit pie. And it had better have a substantial, flaky tasty crust. April

I think that I should move to Chicago and open a foie gras speakeasy. April

Have you heard of Filaree Farms? They carry a huge selection of heirloom garlics. I ordered several varieties from them to plant in my garden last fall. I can't comment on how those different varieties taste until they're ready to harvest this summer. Add me to the list of people who finds that home-grown garlic has far superior taste to the store-bought kind. Plus, you can harvest the green tops and use them like chives in your cooking. April edited for grammar

You gave a recipe for Spicy Gingerbread here: Kruidkoek April

Chufi, when I saw your blog this morning, I was going to ask to see your local markets. You beat me to it! So what's for dinner tonight? Were you tempted by any of the fish even though you don't usually cook with it? I can't wait to see what you have in store for us! April

I dry many of my own tomatoes and use them to thicken sauces. It works well. Rebecca, we seem to have hijacked your jarred sauce thread. April

I'd send you some if I could figure out how to get it there! April

Uh, you got your Claussius Clapeyron terms backward. Higher pressure means higher temperature to boil, higher temperature means more bond breakage. But, if it is volatile compounds that are boiling away, then a closed vessel, like manufacturers may use, is the best bet. I'm also relatively certain that there are distinctions in tomato variety and additives that fall under "spices and herbs" that assist in the extra "tomatoey"-ness. ← I have to side with jsolomon in this. My home-made sauces taste quite tomato-y. I simmer my tomatoes in large stock pots over low heat on the stove for several hours. The large surface area of the pots helps remove extra moisture for a thicker sauce without producing an "overcooked" flavor. I freeze my sauces, which further preserves the taste of "freshness". The long processing from home-canning does affect flavor. Last fall I put up single-variety batches of heirloom tomatoes in different colors--yellow, orange, red, and black. The flavors of each variety have remained tasty and distinct despite the long simmering. The soil that the tomatoes are grown in, and the amount of water that the plants receive can also affect the flavor. April