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annecros

eGullet Society staff emeritus
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  1. annecros

    Steven Shaw

    Condolences to family and friends. Sincere gratitude for the priveledge of knowing him. Godspeed.
  2. Back in the day, way back in the day, I waited tables. "Buspan Cuisine" is how we referred to it. I mean - young women on a date would leave like 2/3 of the prime rib on the plate! Outside of that, tuna fish out of the can with saltine crackers. A can of Chef-Boy-Ardee Beefaroni - cold, out of the can.
  3. Quick update on the ladies. Maybelline is laying a large to extra large egg every day. Mona lays a large egg every day or two. Lucille, our special needs chicken, lays a large egg every day or two, sometimes a medium. They free range all day, the odor is no problem because of the space I think, low maintenance/high protein. Everyone should do this. The noise is the only thing I can complain about - but it isn't that bad. The neighbors get eggs, so they don't mind a bit. Haven't found a downside, but our schedule works with theirs. Other people may not like letting them out in the early AM. Also, they are wonderful pets and so much fun! I talk to them, they talk to me, it's all good.
  4. Exactly 2% - a handful that I use regularly. The rest are just eye candy and inspiration. I realized that the Martha White cookbook that I got as a premium is my most utilized.
  5. Absolutely. Adds stability, and just looks neat. I wouldn't post a pic of my compost heap on the internet. There is an old waterbed mattress serving as a cover. Reduce, reuse, recycle.
  6. Bermuda grass is obnoxious. However, the compost heaped on top of it would in fact kill the beast. Any Bermuda grass in your compost heap would be the result of the grass going to seed and sowing itself on top. A good reason for your wife to nag you about mowing the lawn. I've given up and just mow it myself.
  7. This is what I think of when I think of Gourmet. And the wonderful compilation cookbooks I own.
  8. I have a recipe tucked back that calls for "butter, the size of a hen's egg" - hand written and probably dating back to the turn of the century.
  9. We use a very similar method in our sandy soils to the sheet mulching, but we call it a "lasagna bed." Our problem is that most of the real estate in this area is simply years worth of St. Augustine grass growth, and sandy. It is really sad what happens to the soil, and the depletion is heart breaking. Not an earthworm in sight! When we first moved, I laid out my beds, then a layer of broken down cardboard packing boxes (reduce, reuse, recycle)laid directly on top of the turf, a couple of bails of peat, blood meal and bone meal sprinkled on top of that, then a thick layer of compost. I actually got some for free from the solid waste authority. I then put down soaker hoses on top, and then topped it all with a layer of plastic. I kept it moist (the first watering in particular has to be a deep one to moisten the peat) and let it cook for about six weeks. Took up the soaker hoses, tilled it in, replace the soakers, weed block and mulch on top - and went to town. I don't know how earthworms do it - but they somehow can find an oasis of organic material in a sea of really poor soil! You may be able to use a similar method later in the winter right on top of your rye. The rye would be thoroughly killed by the layers on top of it, preserving all the good stuff in the rye and the dead roots will be there to channel moisture and nutrients down into the clay. I have very limited experience with clay soils, but my parents and gradparents stuff thrived in clay. They had a steady supply of livestock manure, though. I think the trick would work on clay as well - excepting maybe the peat. I use a lot of peat to hold moisture in the soil (my soil is too well drained). Composted manure is nothing but a good thing for nearly any soil as far as I know. A good population of earthworms will carry the organic materials into the soil, and of course help aerate it. Check Craigslist or something and see if there is a stable nearby that gives away compost. Composted manure and hay is tomato heaven - and usually the stables are giving it away figuratively if not literally. The lasagna bedding method I described above will catch heat at the surface and cook any weed seeds in the compost rendering them sterile. I do this in the summer over about a six week period because that is my "fallow" season - but you have several months in the winter to build your soil, and your location looks plenty sunny enough to trap enough heat to do the job. This is the third year on my main tomato bed, and when I transplanted last month it was like digging into pure worm castings! I also had the benefit of chicken manure compost from the girls, and I think that helped a great deal. The plants are off to a fantastic start! I did supplement with an organic fertilizer (TomatoTone) at transplant, but they haven't needed the usual liquid fertilizer boost I usually give them about a month in. Do consider a rotation of peas or beans in that spot in the Fall after your tomatoes are in. The only thing I know of that consistently renders better soil than it is planted in. Go get a soil test, and test it again before you transplant. It's worth it.
  10. It's my understanding the the yolk size does not vary much in the sizing as the amount of white contained in the egg. That is, the yolk would be approximately the same size in a Large egg as an X-Large egg, but the quantity of white would be bigger in the X-L. I would have to double check a reference somewhere to be sure of that. I ran across it when I was checking substitution rates when I was getting mediums from the girls. I used eggs right out of the nest box for carbonara last week, and the sauce was amazingly perfect - set and consistency. Yum. Our chickens, all the same breed and about the same age have laid everything from mediums to one X-L that came in last week. They each seem to take a day off once a week or so, and the eggs seem to get slightly smaller towards time to take a break. I think the market for smalls, and probably quite a few mediums, are in the institutional type foods - yer egg mcmuffins and such. USDA Date Standards Here's the deal with the dates: So, you can have a later expiration date, and your eggs could have still been packed two weeks ago.
  11. I'm bringing in purple hull peas this weekend. It is nearly the only type of crop that I can grow well in the heat and humidity in South Florida in August. Great low maintenance crop - they fix their own nitrogen in the soil - and the hotter and more humid it is the better they seem to perform. They are fungus prone, so a dose or two of Daconil is in order and not handling them or walking through them while they are damp from dew or rain is appropriate. Rotate something else between pea crops, because they also attract a mean namatode. I usually go with tomatoes or squash or even southern greens - as they are from different families. I use ham stock as well on nearly all of my peas. Not that chicken stock would be bad at all. I also freeze the "pea soup" and the few stray peas that always seem to be leftover to dump into a big pot of veg soup with corn, tomato and okra. Yum. You should be able to find fresh peas in the south up until first frost. In fact, the ones right before first frost (that the farmers bring in because they know they will be destroyed) can be quite good. Usually young, and some immature snaps (that I love)! Just try them all - they are all good, and they all have their own distinctive flavor. You can also just make a big pot of snaps in broth, if the frost catches you. They sometimes act as a main at my house, rather than a side, over rice.
  12. sparrowgrass, I must confess I was pleased to hear that you couldn't get rid of all of them. I hope the ones you have left are doable for you. You will need the quality protein to heal properly. Do they seem to miss the rest of the flock? Mine demonstrate real emotion when confronted with a flock mate in distress. Of course, mine are the biggest spoiled biddies I have ever seen! They call me out when it is treat time! I sometimes wonder who is keeping whom. Our predator brush was entirely our fault. She's really come a long way though - and is keeping up with her sisters just fine, thank you very much! She and I bonded over her "hospital stay" on my kitchen table. I carry her around all the time.
  13. I want some! My aunt used a pastry bag and piped her spritz. My imagination is probably running wild, but I am fantasizing that it is vanilla sugar those puppies are rolled in. What is the texture like? Tender? Butter cookie or sugar cookie?
  14. Ruby chard comes to mind. A savory fig tart with the skin side up could be a real show stopper, I think, and something a little different. A pomegranate glaze?
  15. I was concerned about the odor as well, but really haven't had a problem - and it has been a very wet summer. It may be because we only have three, and they range over the whole back yard most of the day. I do litter the run with fresh hay about once or twice a week, and that seems to sweeten things up a bit. That run, by the way, is going to be a vegetable plot this winter. Between the chicken poop and hay, they have created some beautiful soil - we are going to move them this month then turn the soil over and plant tomatoes in that spot. Mine are laying in the coop in their nest box (we had a bit of drama with them laying under nest box the first week they were laying, but we closed that off) and we get 2 to 3 eggs a day. Very reliably now that they have settled in to laying. They line up at the coop at around noon every day and take turns! They do prefer to hang out alternatively under the gardenia tree or a hedge at the far end of the lot during the day. They are coming in at 2 ounces each now, so they are Large - and definitely Grade A! I wish I had gone with 4 hens originally now. I was basing our egg consumption estimates upon what we were eating when we used store bought. We are eating eggs way more often now! The difference in quality is vast - even the 4.99 "organic/free range" are lousy impersonations of eggs to me now. I have no slugs or snails, and very few palmetto bugs in the back yard now. I've seen them eat baby lizards, and even a small garden snake that they tortured for half an hour or so a couple of weeks ago. The neighbor's are wonderful about it! The family next door greets them when they are out back, and treats them every once in a while. I need to make hubby take a couple of pics now that they are fully grown. It's a good thing they love eggs over there as well, because there is a bit more noise back there since they have matured. They certainly enjoy bragging on their mad egg making skilz! There is another flock somewhere in the vicinity that is answering them. I find the noise that they do make rather pleasant personally. Not nearly as irritating as a barking dog, and there is a mocking bird in the front yard that drives me nuts he is so obnoxious. I may ask for another couple of pullets for Christmas, or if one of mine goes broody I might order some day olds. I still want some Easter Eggers back there to add some color to my egg basket. My husband has fallen in love with pictures of the Columbian Wyandottes he's seen on the internet. He says they resemble the chickens he was familiar with in Europe as a child. Lovely black and white plumage. I doubt they are the same breed, but they make him smile, so there. I think one of the kids is making book on whether or not we will have the heart to stew them when the time comes. They really are pets and all have names - we shall see.
  16. Planning the menu for family gatherings. I literally take months to do it, and draft up time tables and guidelines for myself so everything comes together at the end. Babysitting a nice pot of stock, checking and skimming all afternoon while it just barely simmers. Planting a tomato seed and nurturing it for months, with the final salad or pot of tomato soup in mind.
  17. I've got some small copper molds I am thinking about doing mini-rum cakes in this year. I had some leftover pound cake batter the other day that I folded into one and it made a nice two person sized cake. Would like to play with candy more this year. Intimidating because my humidity doesn't always cooperate. Homemade jerky is definite this year, but I want to put a twist on it. Still thinking...
  18. Silpats. Ever since my hubby scored my first silpat cutting dumplings, no one touches my silpats. Never, ever, touch my silpats. I use them, wash them, store them. Nobody has any reason to touch them.
  19. Candy thermometer. Super cheap - no more squinting into the murky abyss of cold water. D'oh.
  20. OMG. Did Paula Deen help them develop this? ← Actually, if it is original recipe fried chicken filets - and had a big fat biscuit on the side with honey - I might do this once a year. In fact, a dollop of honey instead of "the Colonel's sauce" might be in order. Will they still give you a honey package at Kentucky Fried? I haven't been in ages.
  21. Funny. There are only two people to feed in my household, though some food does get "rehomed" from time to time. Excess: Butter: Five pounds in the fridge now. I will use it all - no worries - and will pick up a couple of pounds this weekend to keep the inventory number right. FIFO, mostly. Sugars and syrups: Yep, slews of those. Flour: Six types Yeast: Buy it by the pound. Most people don't do that. Cinnamon: Yep, one pound bag of 5% oil Vietnamese. Nothing else will do. Copper molds: 21 of them adorning my dining area. They just make me happy. This is the biggie: Obsessed, not just excessive, with growing and producing on my own. Three hens laying eggs. In excess of 50 tomato plants to go in the ground. Peas. Greens. I really need to put in more peppers and herbs this year. It used to be flowers, now it is food stuffs. Eh, whatever things: Knives: Not real big on them, but seeing where I need to boost the inventory. Milk: Half gallons. Usually store brands. Vinegar: Cider, white and one bottle of rice wine.
  22. The 2005 eGullet Society Mug has been relisted on eBay. We will continue to relist it until our inventory is exhausted, and then it will be gone forever! Bidding has been opened on the 2006 mug, and the previous 2005 mug is on its way home. Listing here! Any Donor or Member who is interested in purchasing these mugs in multiples (2, 4, 6, etc.) please send a PM directly to me - "annecros" - with your shipping address, and we will discuss details. The Society is currently reducing our inventory of commemorative coffee mugs. Once we liquidate our inventory, this mug will never be available again! Less than 20 2005 mugs available - so get it while you can! Bid on it now, or "Buy it Now!" for $15! This is our heaviest commemorative mug, and our first one! Genourous size, holds heat well. This is my goto mug for Chili! As always, let me know if you have any questions, here or via PM. (Thanks to Society Member David A. Goldfarb for photographs.)
  23. I just checked mine, and it holds 16 ounces comfortably. Hope this helps.
  24. The 2006 eGullet Society Mug has been relisted on eBay. We will continue to relist it until our inventory is exhausted, and then it will be gone forever! Find it here: Click for eBay Listing Any Donor or Member who is interested in purchasing these mugs in multiples (2, 4, 6, etc.) please send a PM directly to me - "annecros" - with your shipping address, and we will discuss details. The Society is currently reducing our inventory of commemorative coffee mugs. Once we liquidate our inventory, this mug will never be available again! Less than 20 2006 mugs available - so get it while you can! Bid on it now, or "Buy it Now!" for $15! Great deal! Click here for eBay listing Front: Back: Great opportunity to add to, or complete, your collection. Please feel free to ask questions, and I will do my best to assist. (Thanks to Society Member David A. Goldfarb for photographs.)
  25. I don't think I could have been prouder if I had laid them myself! Hubby made omelets accompanied by his best Julia Child voice. Maybe you can keep a few favorites while you are laid up? I would hate to part with mine - but it is like keeping any pet. I couldn't imagine the three being split up either. They really all have their roles to play, and depend upon one another. Judging by the egg coloration, I think I have at least two of the three laying. I was pleased that the shells were very thick as in my mind that can only be an indication of good health. And of course, they tasted great. It has been quite a long time since I've eaten one out of the nest box. I think I will be feeding them the store bought eggs in trade for their wonderful gifts. The coon quit showing up. Figures. I know he'll be back when I least expect it, though.
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